baby

Newborn baby rescued from rubble of Venezuela quake

Global Edition

Venezuela earthquake deaths near 1,000, with millions more in need

BY BRIAN CONTRERAS WITH LETICIA PINEDA IN CARACAS

  • "Even before the earthquakes, millions of people across Venezuela were facing food insecurity, collapsing health services, protection risks, and limited access to basic services," the UN and other aid agencies said in a statement Friday.
  • The death toll in Venezuela's twin earthquake disaster approached 1,000 Saturday and millions more were feared to have been left without sanitation and other basic needs as first US aid flights trickled into Caracas.
  • "Even before the earthquakes, millions of people across Venezuela were facing food insecurity, collapsing health services, protection risks, and limited access to basic services," the UN and other aid agencies said in a statement Friday.
The death toll in Venezuela's twin earthquake disaster approached 1,000 Saturday and millions more were feared to have been left without sanitation and other basic needs as first US aid flights trickled into Caracas.
Facing public outrage at the response by local officials, US-backed interim Venezuelan leader Delcy Rodriguez said the country was "not alone."
The United States said one runway at Simon Bolivar International Airport was now functioning and that C-17 US military planes were landing there, while a naval ship had arrived off the coast.
The UN humanitarian agency OCHA said search-and-rescue teams from at least 17 countries were being mobilized to help find survivors.
But the search for survivors saw desperate attempts by local residents to claw away rubble from apartment buildings that collapsed in Wednesday's double-quakes. Experts say the first 72 hours after natural disasters are the key, narrow window for finding the living.
There was joy in the hardest-hit coastal area of La Guaira, north of Caracas, when locals pulled an infant alive out of the wreckage on Friday, some 32 hours after the magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 tremors.
In one social media video, a man welled up in tears up as he held the baby in his arms.
The death toll from the quakes, that struck within a minute of each other, had reached 920, with the United Nations' aid chief Tom Fletcher warning AFP the figure could rocket.
The UN migration agency said it had examined available population and damage data and had determined that "up to 6.76 million people could be affected," and would "require emergency shelter, safe water, sanitation and hygiene services, healthcare, protection support and essential relief items."

'No help'

Venezuelans -- already battered by years of a failing economy and the turbulence of the US intervention to topple leader Nicolas Maduro in January -- were furious at the government.
Yessica Mendoza was forced to transport her own daughter to a morgue in Caracas after 25-year-old Yesimar Rodriguez and her husband Jhomel Anaya, 26, did not survive the tumbling debris of their home in La Guaira on Wednesday.
"We were the ones who pulled them out ourselves. No help ever came," the bereaved mother, 43, told AFP, adding that the couple would be cremated without a wake due to the rapidly advancing decomposition of their bodies.
Some Caracas residents jeered Rodriguez as she visited a destroyed neighborhood on Friday.
"The government isn't doing anything for the people," residents yelled from behind cordons next to a pulverized building.
The government on Friday restricted access to La Guaira state, and the UN's Fletcher told AFP more than 50,000 people were missing in total.
"It's a very, very complex emergency response," he said.

Venezuela already in trouble

Rodriguez said she had spoken with US President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who "reaffirmed their commitment to supporting the response efforts."
The US said earlier it was sending a disaster response team of more than 250 personnel, including three special search-and-rescue units with dogs trained to locate people trapped beneath the rubble.
Venezuela's worst earthquake in more than a century has come after the oil-rich country endured more than a decade of economic collapse.
The crisis has hollowed out hospitals and public services, driving millions to leave the country.
And the country is still in a fragile political transition six months after the US ouster of Maduro.
"Even before the earthquakes, millions of people across Venezuela were facing food insecurity, collapsing health services, protection risks, and limited access to basic services," the UN and other aid agencies said in a statement Friday.
Earthquakes of similar magnitude claimed more than 200,000 lives in Haiti in January 2010 and 73,000 lives in Kashmir in October 2005.
Those killed in Venezuela included 28 Portuguese nationals, five Spaniards, two Brazilians, seven Chinese nationals, one Chilean and one Italian-Venezuelan. 
Venezuela's northern coast sits on a boundary between the Caribbean and South American tectonic plates, but had not experienced a major quake since 1997.
Minutes of silence preceded Friday's World Cup 2026 matches to honor the victims of the tragedy.
bur-cc/sms/msp

US

Iran says US violated peace deal as both sides trade fire

BY BY AFP TEAMS IN TEHRAN, WASHINGTON, JERUSALEM, BEIRUT, MANAMA AND DUBAI

  • Iran said "these brutal attacks... are a blatant violation" of the deal to end the war, which began with US-Israeli strikes on Iran in late February.
  • Iran accused the United States on Saturday of violating their deal to end the Middle East war, after Washington launched strikes on Iranian territory and Tehran responded with attacks on US targets in the Gulf.
  • Iran said "these brutal attacks... are a blatant violation" of the deal to end the war, which began with US-Israeli strikes on Iran in late February.
Iran accused the United States on Saturday of violating their deal to end the Middle East war, after Washington launched strikes on Iranian territory and Tehran responded with attacks on US targets in the Gulf.
The exchange of fire, which came after Washington accused Tehran of attacking a cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz, raised doubts about efforts to keep the crucial waterway open while both sides negotiate a final deal.
Israel, meanwhile, launched strikes in Lebanon and Hezbollah's leader Naim Qassem rejected a deal to end the conflict that has threatened to derail the wider US-Iran peace effort.
US Central Command (CENTCOM) said the latest American strikes, which targeted Iranian missile and drone storage sites and coastal radar positions, were a response to "unwarranted aggression against commercial shipping by Iranian forces" that "clearly violated the ceasefire".
Iran said "these brutal attacks... are a blatant violation" of the deal to end the war, which began with US-Israeli strikes on Iran in late February.
Its Revolutionary Guards said they had struck US sites in the Gulf region and that "if the aggression is repeated, our response will be broader".
HA Hellyer of London think tank the Royal United Services Institute said "Iran is likely to continue calibrated, low-level coercive activity in and around the Strait of Hormuz... to create persistent pressure on international shipping without triggering a wider conflict".
He said November's US midterm elections give Washington "incentives for a quicker agreement" while, for Iran, "a drawn-out negotiation accompanied by controlled pressure in the strait can work to its advantage". 
Bahrain said it was targeted by several Iranian drones early on Saturday and accused Tehran of "sabotaging peace efforts".
Also on Saturday, British maritime security agency UKMTO said an "unidentified projectile" damaged an oil tanker in the strait.

'Projectile impact'

On the US strikes, Iranian media reported an explosion at a pier in the southern city of Sirik late Friday. It quoted a military source saying a "projectile impact" caused the blast.
"Sirik Port is operating normally," Mehr news agency later said.
CENTCOM described the operation as "a powerful response to yesterday's attack on a commercial ship that was transiting the Strait of Hormuz".
US President Donald Trump had earlier denounced what he described as an Iranian drone strike on the vessel as "a foolish violation of our ceasefire agreement".
Iran has warned vessels not to enter or leave the Gulf through the strait without permission, but ships have continued to move, some using a route not authorised by Tehran.
Despite the latest flare-up, oil prices have fallen sharply on hopes that traffic through Hormuz -- through which in peacetime around a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas exports travel -- would continue to recover.
The economic impact on Iran remains unclear, but on Saturday the country's statistics agency said that year-on-year inflation had hit 88.6 percent, up from 68 percent in February.

Lebanon threats

Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war in early March, when militant group Hezbollah launched rockets at Israel in support of Iran. That provoked an Israeli invasion and fighting that has also undermined the US-Iran ceasefire.
On Friday, Israel and Lebanon signed an agreement supported by the US aimed at securing long-term peace between the two countries.
But on Saturday, Hezbollah's chief Qassem rejected the deal. He called it "humiliating, shameful and a surrender of sovereignty" and labelled it "null and void".
He instead called for the full implementation of Washington's deal with Tehran, which includes an end to the fighting in Lebanon. 
Hezbollah has repeatedly called for a full Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon, but the Washington deal does not appear to provide for that.
On Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted Israeli troops would remain in the so-called security zone they occupy in southern Lebanon and civilians prevented from returning until Hezbollah was disarmed.
And on Saturday, Defence Minister Israel Katz said he had told the country's troops "to prepare for an extended stay in the security zone".
Earlier in the day, the Israeli military said it carried out an airstrike on Saturday targeting suspected militants in the south -- the first such attack since Washington announced a framework agreement between the two countries. 
Lebanon's National News Agency then reported early Saturday evening that Israel had carried out fresh strikes in the south of the country.
burs-amj/dcp/dc

culture

Thousands ride through Rome as Vespa celebrates 80 years

BY JULIETTE RABAT

  • The celebrations began on Thursday with the inauguration of a "Vespa Village" at the Foro Italico, a sports complex in the north of the capital, and culminated on Saturday with the grand parade through the streets of Rome.
  • An icon of the Italian way of life, the Vespa was celebrating its 80th birthday on Saturday, as thousands of riders paraded through Rome on the legendary scooters. 
  • The celebrations began on Thursday with the inauguration of a "Vespa Village" at the Foro Italico, a sports complex in the north of the capital, and culminated on Saturday with the grand parade through the streets of Rome.
An icon of the Italian way of life, the Vespa was celebrating its 80th birthday on Saturday, as thousands of riders paraded through Rome on the legendary scooters. 
A few donned biker jackets despite the scorching heat while others opted for t-shirts, the hum of their machines filling the capital with a colourful buzz.
Organisers said some 25,000 Vespas took part in the parade.
Some rode solo, others in pairs, whizzing through the city centre -- even along streets usually closed to private traffic.
"We brought our Vespa over from the United States. We travelled through Germany, then via Vienna ... and I then rode my Vespa from Austria to Rome, a journey that took two weeks," Texas resident David Baamonde told AFP-TV on Saturday.
"For me, the Vespa is a way of life, a sense of carefree living, enjoying the moment, discovering scenery -- it's a lifestyle," said Italian Andrea Musco.
Featuring in cinema classics like "Roman Holiday" and "La Dolce Vita", the Vespa has a long association with the Eternal City.
"The history of the Vespa, which accompanies the birth and rise of Italy after the Second World War, is in a way an iconic symbol of our history, of our culture," said Roberto Gualtieri, the Italian capital's mayor.

'Vespa is special'

The Vespa, which means "wasp" in Italian -- a reference to the sound of its engine -- was born on 23 April 1946, when the first patent for its manufacture was filed in Italy by Piaggio. It is still produced at the Pontedera site in Tuscany.
It was "the symbol of an Italy emerging from the war and getting back on its feet," Gualtieri said, adding that he was "proud" that Piaggio had decided to organise the anniversary in the city.
"Telling the story of 80 years of the Vespa is, in part, telling the story of how Rome has managed to capture the world’s imagination", particularly through cinema, he said.
The celebrations began on Thursday with the inauguration of a "Vespa Village" at the Foro Italico, a sports complex in the north of the capital, and culminated on Saturday with the grand parade through the streets of Rome.
Thousands of "Vespisti" from all over the globe turned up in the scooters, which are instantly recognisable because of their rounded lines, their brightly coloured metal bodywork and their round headlight mounted on the handlebars.
Andrew Ward, 57, and his sister Julie Stover, 63, came from the United States and rented a Vespa in Rome to take part in the parade.
"We had scooters and motorcycles our whole lives. But I always wanted a Vespa and eventually we got Vespas. Now I have two!" Ward, a regular at "Vespisti" gatherings in his country, told AFP.
"It’s a high-quality scooter. And it comes with a certain status. It’s classy, you know. It's not like the cheapy scooters that you see on the road all the time. Vespa is special," Stover added.

Social significance

Designed to be a popular and affordable means of transport, the Vespa -- which benefited from all sorts of innovations derived from aviation, Piaggio's core business -- also has social significance.
Its history is intertwined with "the history of a country emerging from the post-war period, that wants to move, that wants to get back up," Matteo Colaninno, executive chairman of the Piaggio group, said at the presentation of the celebrations.
"And this desire to move is not just physical mobility," it is also "a kind of drive toward economic mobility and above all social mobility," he said.
"Today, the Vespa has become a global phenomenon; we are on the verge of 20 million vehicles produced" since 1946, Colaninno said.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, photographed on Thursday sitting on a white Vespa in the reception rooms of Palazzo Chigi, the main government building, praised the famous scooter as representing not only "industrial excellence" but also "one of the most cherished Italian icons in the world, a symbol of Italian creativity and style".
"It's a legend," said Franco Gaudino, 52, speaking to AFP as he took part in the Roman event with his club from La Louviere, in Belgium.
Illac Diaz, originally from the Philippines, said that "the nice thing about the Vespa is you bring friendship".
"There's no place where you park without people becoming friends. So Vespa is like a family," said the 52-year-old, who has just bought a house in Trieste, in northern Italy, where he plans to acquire another Vespa as soon as possible.
jra/dt/cw/rh

heatwave

Latest developments in Europe's heatwave

  • Toddler dies in France A toddler died in hospital after being found in a hot car during a severe heatwave in the French city of Marseille, health services said, in the latest such death nationwide this week.
  • Here are the latest developments in Europe's heatwave.
  • Toddler dies in France A toddler died in hospital after being found in a hot car during a severe heatwave in the French city of Marseille, health services said, in the latest such death nationwide this week.
Here are the latest developments in Europe's heatwave.
Scientists have shown that recurring heatwaves are a clear marker of global warming driven by humans burning fossil fuels, and warn they are set to become more frequent, longer and more intense.
Munich Pride to go ahead
Organisers of the Pride March in the German city of Munich said it would go head on the weekend despite the heat. 
Paris Pride was postponed after the police said they would close it down to ease the burden on health services.
Romania red warning
Romania's weather agency has issued a red heatwave warning, to start on Monday and run to Wednesday, covering almost the whole country. 
Paris emergency calls almost double
The French capital's hospital authority said emergency calls in the capital had risen by 80 percent in the past week, compared with the same week last year.
France heat to break
Meteo-France said it expected all remaining red alerts to be lifted by Sunday night.
Swiss nuclear plant stops operations
The nuclear reactors at Europe's oldest nuclear plant Beznau were shut down Friday, its Swiss operator Axpo said.
"The temperature of the Aare River reached 25C again yesterday and today. Sufficient cooling is not in sight," Axpo said on its website, adding that as a consequence, the plant "has temporarily shut down both reactors".
Toddler dies in France
A toddler died in hospital after being found in a hot car during a severe heatwave in the French city of Marseille, health services said, in the latest such death nationwide this week.
German, Swiss, UK records
Germany saw its highest temperature ever recorded at 41.3C in the western city of Saarbruecken.
The UK and Switzerland, meanwhile, clocked their highest ever June temperatures with 37.3C in an English village called Santon Downham and 38.8C in the Swiss city of Basel.
Records 'shattered'
The heatwave has "shattered numerous temperature records" and is having "major impacts on human health, on ecosystems, on agriculture, on labour productivity," the spokeswoman for the UN's World Meteorological Organization, Clare Nullis, told a news conference.
Eurostar evacuations
Hundreds of passengers were evacuated from two Eurostar trains in Belgium after breakdowns left them without air conditioning in the midst of a sweltering heatwave, the country's rail agency said.
Front heads for Balkans
The heatwave moving from Western Europe was set to bring very high temperatures to the Balkans. forecasters said.
Temperatures of up to 39 degrees were forecast in parts of Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Montenegro.
Dutch festival cancelled
Organisers have cancelled the four-day techno music festival Defqon.1 in Biddinghuizen in the central Netherlands, scheduled to start on Thursday, its director Sander Bijlstra told the ANP news agency.
The Lago Lago electronic music festival in Stroombroek meanwhile said it would restrict alcohol sales.
Poland fire warning
Heat combined with record-low May rainfall have significantly increased the risk of fires in forests and national parks in Poland, officials warned.
A spokesman for Poland's long-distance rail operator, PKP Intercity, told AFP the heatwave was expected to affect traffic, with overhead power lines sagging and rails deforming. 
Battle re-enactment scrapped
Organisers in Belgium said they had cancelled this weekend's reenactment of Napoleon's defeat at the Battle of Waterloo because of the heatwave.
burs-jxb/cw

fishing

Farmers fear drought as Italy's longest river runs dry

BY TAIMAZ SZIRNIKS

  • The first bloom of the season has appeared, but part of the field is already dry and starting to crack.
  • Seawater is seeping into Italy's longest river as the waterway starts to run dry in the heatwave, hitting a farming heartland that produces the milk for Parmesan cheese.
  • The first bloom of the season has appeared, but part of the field is already dry and starting to crack.
Seawater is seeping into Italy's longest river as the waterway starts to run dry in the heatwave, hitting a farming heartland that produces the milk for Parmesan cheese.
The Po River has never fallen this low so early in the year, raising fears of a devastating drought in July in this corner of northern Italy.
On the bank of one of its branches, farmer Federica Vidali looked anxiously at her sunflower field. The first bloom of the season has appeared, but part of the field is already dry and starting to crack.
One of the two canals that irrigate it has been shut because the seawater would enter and damage the crops.
"We're left with the water that others are willing to leave us. But we're not second-division farmers!" Vidali told AFP.
The Po River's flow has collapsed in a matter of days, dropping below 300 cubic meters per second, compared with an average of around 1,500 in June, according to Aipo, the interregional river agency.
"It has never dropped so fast, so early," said Stefano Calderoni of the Italian irrigation association (Anbi).
Sandbanks are multiplying, depths fall to barely one meter in places, and the river's few remaining fishermen swelter in the heat.
"Before, we used to pass on the left; now the passage is to the right of the sandbank, and it's very, very narrow," said Daniela Cuoghi, a surveyor for Aipo.
The many Alpine lakes that feed the Po Valley, Italy's agro-industrial heartland, are still about 60 percent full. But farmers are drawing heavily from the waterways to irrigate fields parched by the heat.
It rained this winter, but the mountain snow that used to replenish the lake has already melted due to climate change.
"We're not in a drought situation yet, but at this rate, there's less than three weeks of water left in reserve," said Damiano Di Simine, an expert with environmental group Legambiente.
Drought last struck the Po Valley in 2022 -- but only at the end of July.

'Really big problems'

Further downstream, at the river's mouth, the situation is already serious: seawater has pushed about 20 kilometres upstream.
Saltwater is beginning to contaminate farmland reclaimed over the past five centuries from the delta marshes.
Barriers have been placed in the river to stop seawater, but they only work if river's flow is strong enough.
"We'd need almost double the current flow for them to work," said Rodolfo Laurenti, the engineer in charge of irrigation in the delta.
Laurenti called for cooperation and solidarity between regions to manage water in the event of a crisis.
Farmers are also considering new dams or water retention basins, but "we're afraid that all these structures will still never be enough," Laurenti said.
A few kilometres closer to the sea, clam fishermen are also struggling with soaring June temperatures. The heat has warmed the lagoons, boosting the growth of algae that cover the shellfish.
They must also clear algae from the nets protecting clams from invasive blue crabs, which arrived from North America in recent years.
"On top of all the problems we already have, we now have this crazy, long, and unexpected heat," said Paolo Mancin, head of the local fishermen's cooperative, standing with in water at 31C.
"Macroalgae are forming, there's a high mortality rate among clams... If it were something that lasted a week, we could get through it.
"But this prolonged heat is now causing really big problems."
tsz/dt/rh

Israel

Lebanon, Israel and US sign trilateral framework pact

BY W.G. DUNLOP

  • The deal "begins to put in place a framework for lasting peace and security," US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said at the signing ceremony, noting: "It's the beginning of the beginning.
  • Lebanon, Israel and the United States on Friday signed a trilateral framework agreement aimed at paving the way for a peace deal between the two long-time Middle East adversaries.
  • The deal "begins to put in place a framework for lasting peace and security," US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said at the signing ceremony, noting: "It's the beginning of the beginning.
Lebanon, Israel and the United States on Friday signed a trilateral framework agreement aimed at paving the way for a peace deal between the two long-time Middle East adversaries.
The agreement -- which includes a pilot effort in which Lebanese soldiers take control of two areas occupied by Israel, as well as a process aimed at disarming Hezbollah -- is the result of five rounds of talks in the US capital.
The deal "begins to put in place a framework for lasting peace and security," US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said at the signing ceremony, noting: "It's the beginning of the beginning. There's a lot of work ahead."
Lebanon's ambassador to Washington, Nada Hamadeh Moawad, said the accord "is a first step on the road to restoring Lebanese sovereignty and territorial integrity, securing a permanent and final cessation of hostilities (and) enabling our people to go back to their land."
And Israel's US envoy, Yechiel Leiter, said that under the deal, "Iran is out, Hezbollah is out, and the road to peace between Israel and Lebanon is in."
Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the broader Middle East war on March 2 with rocket fire aimed at Israel to avenge the killing of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli strikes.
Israel responded with heavy airstrikes and a ground invasion, and its troops continue to occupy swaths of southern Lebanon, where they have been carrying out extensive demolition of homes and other buildings.
According to the agreement, whose text was released late Friday by the State Department, Israel and Lebanon "declare their intent to conclusively end the conflict, address its underlying causes, and to therewith formally conclude any state of war between them."
It also establishes a process by which the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) would restore "sovereign authority over all Lebanese territory," pending the "verified disarmament of non-state armed groups," particularly Hezbollah.
That in turn would allow the Israeli Defense Forces to "progressively redeploy out of the Lebanese territory," the agreement states.
Despite the deal, Israel and its bitter enemy Hezbollah -- which is part of the Lebanese government but also maintains a powerful armed wing outside state control -- made clear that major differences remain.

'Pilot areas'

Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said earlier Friday that Israel has "no option but to withdraw completely from every inch of our Lebanese land," and that its forces "must leave unconditionally."
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu however said in a pre-recorded video shared with Israeli media shortly after the framework agreement was announced that Israel has no plans to exit Lebanon until Hezbollah gives up its weapons.
Prior to the release of the text, Netanyahu said his country's military would allow the Lebanese army to take control of territory in "two pilot areas" -- one south of Lebanon's Litani River and another north of it.
According to the text, "the LAF will assume full and effective security responsibility in these zones, internationally supported reconstruction efforts will begin, and Lebanese civilians will be able to safely return to these areas."
Rubio meanwhile said in a statement that the agreement establishes a "clear and structured process" to disarm Hezbollah and its infrastructure, as well as a US-facilitated military working group to help implement the deal.
Washington's top diplomat also said the United States would commit $100 million in humanitarian assistance in coordination with the United Nations, and would reimburse Lebanon's army for $30 million as it seeks to "improve the capability and capacity" of those forces.
The United Nations chief of humanitarian affairs, Tom Fletcher, hailed the agreement and called the signing in Washington "a moment of hope and opportunity."
Under US pressure, Lebanese and Israeli officials began direct talks in April in Washington, and a truce was announced on April 17 that ultimately failed to stop the fighting.
A new but very fragile ceasefire was declared this month as Tehran insisted Lebanon must be included in its deal with Washington to end the broader war.
The conflict has displaced more than one million Lebanese and left more than 4,200 dead, according to Lebanese authorities.
wd/mlm/mjf

heatwave

Swiss glaciers facing drastic loss from heatwave: expert

BY ALEXANDRE GROSBOIS

  • Once the reflective white snow coverage from winter is gone from the top of the glacier, the darker, more absorbent grey surface of the bare ice is exposed.
  • Swiss glaciers are set to lose an enormous amount of ice due to the heatwave battering Europe, the head of Glacier Monitoring in Switzerland (GLAMOS) told AFP. The snow and ice accumulated last winter by Switzerland's glaciers is expected to have all melted away by Monday, marking the alarming second-earliest arrival on record of the tipping point known as glacier loss day.
  • Once the reflective white snow coverage from winter is gone from the top of the glacier, the darker, more absorbent grey surface of the bare ice is exposed.
Swiss glaciers are set to lose an enormous amount of ice due to the heatwave battering Europe, the head of Glacier Monitoring in Switzerland (GLAMOS) told AFP.
The snow and ice accumulated last winter by Switzerland's glaciers is expected to have all melted away by Monday, marking the alarming second-earliest arrival on record of the tipping point known as glacier loss day.
All further melting between now and October will see the size of glaciers in the Swiss Alps shrink.
In data going back to 2000, the only time that the tipping point arrived even earlier was in 2022, when it came on June 26.
The grim scenario is driven by the current heatwave, as well as the one in May -- both coming on the back of another winter with poor snowfall.
"We're just seeing enormous ablation, ice melt rates and snow melt rates all over the Alps," GLAMOS network chief Matthias Huss told AFP on Friday, as multiple Swiss weather stations registered new all-time records.
"We are three months too early compared to a healthy state."
This century, the tipping point, on average, has been reached in mid-August -- itself already bad news for the nation's glaciers, which are shrinking at a staggering rate.

Glaciers in 'very bad state'

Much of the water that flows into the Rhine and the Rhone, two of Europe's major rivers, comes from the Alpine glaciers.
Huss said he had just returned from the Rhone Glacier, and in the 10 days since his previous visit, "there was one metre of ice melted in the vertical direction -- one metre of melting within just the last 10 days".
"It's very impressive to see, and this is just the effect of the heatwave."
But, said Huss, "one heatwave alone is not a big problem for glaciers". 
"The problem is rather that we have very high temperatures that last for a very long time.
"The more days that are added that are very high temperatures, not even mattering whether it's 35C or 40C, this is just very bad for the glaciers."
Huss said the "very bad state of the glaciers at the moment" was down to a "combination of bad circumstances", including less snowfall, and the arrival of dust from the Sahara Desert in March.
He said 2026 was "surprisingly similar" to 2022, which for glaciers was "by far the most extreme year ever recorded in the Alps, with melt rates shattering everything we had seen before".

Melting away

He said this year had seen 25 percent less snow replenishing the surface of the glaciers compared to the 2010-2020 figures.
Meanwhile May was warm, causing the snowpack to disappear earlier.
Once the reflective white snow coverage from winter is gone from the top of the glacier, the darker, more absorbent grey surface of the bare ice is exposed.
This absorbs radiation more quickly, meaning extreme melting produces an accelerating feedback effect, worsening the situation even further.
While the full scale of this year's damage will be measured in September, "it is clear already now that we will have very strong ice loss also this year".
Glaciers in the Swiss Alps began to retreat about 170 years ago. 
The retreat was initially modest but in recent decades, melting has accelerated significantly as the climate warms.
The volume of Swiss glaciers shrank by 38 percent between 2000 and 2024.
Huss said Switzerland had already lost 1,200 glaciers in the past 50 years, and there now only 1,300 left.
"Those lost were small glaciers, but they were still relevant in peripheral regions of the Alps," the glaciologist said.
"If warming continues as it did over the last decades, by 2100 we will only be left with some little remnants of ice."
ag/rjm/ane

passport

Trump unveils new US passport -- with picture of himself

  • The image features a glowering Trump leaning on his desk and his signature, with the text of the Declaration of Independence in the background.
  • President Donald Trump on Friday unveiled a rendering of a new limited-edition US passport to mark the country's 250th anniversary of independence -- featuring his stern-faced likeness.
  • The image features a glowering Trump leaning on his desk and his signature, with the text of the Declaration of Independence in the background.
President Donald Trump on Friday unveiled a rendering of a new limited-edition US passport to mark the country's 250th anniversary of independence -- featuring his stern-faced likeness.
"The U.S.A.'s New Passport, which says, 'Welcome, but be good!'" Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform featuring the passport mock-up.
The image features a glowering Trump leaning on his desk and his signature, with the text of the Declaration of Independence in the background. It appears to be based on a portrait taken by White House photographer Daniel Torok.
The opposite page shows a painting depicting the declaration's signing in 1776, with the words "United States of America 250."
The White House posted the same passport rendering, with the words "PATRIOT PASSPORT."
The State Department -- which had previously announced that a commemorative passport with "custom artwork" would be available from July 6 -- did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In April, a department official said the Trump-themed passports would only be available at in-person appointments in Washington "for as long as there is availability."
Trump has aggressively put his personal stamp on government institutions, with banners of the president flying outside several government buildings, and the Treasury Department saying his signature will soon appear on the one-dollar bill.
Trump also added his name to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts -- until a court ruled that it should be removed. 
He will be the first sitting US president featured in Americans' travel documents.
sst/msp

economy

Globalization isn't dead, just 'transformed,' says IMF chief economist

BY ASAD HASHIM AND ERWAN LUCAS

  • "Well, it's certainly not dead," he told AFP in his office at the IMF's headquarters in Washington, pointing to solid global trade-to-GDP ratios. 
  • While the global economy has faced shocks and trade turmoil, globalization is not dead -- it is simply being "transformed," the International Monetary Fund's chief economist told AFP Friday in an exclusive interview.
  • "Well, it's certainly not dead," he told AFP in his office at the IMF's headquarters in Washington, pointing to solid global trade-to-GDP ratios. 
While the global economy has faced shocks and trade turmoil, globalization is not dead -- it is simply being "transformed," the International Monetary Fund's chief economist told AFP Friday in an exclusive interview.
The world's lender of last resort will release an update to its World Economic Outlook on July 8, with all eyes on whether -- or how far -- it revises down growth estimates from its April update due to the economic fallout of the US-Israeli war on Iran.
By then, however, Chief Economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas will have moved on after completing a four-and-a-half year tenure that saw the IMF grapple with the economic fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic, Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Washington's upending of global trade through tariffs and the recent war on Iran.
Reflecting on a tumultuous time for the world economy, Gourinchas remains confident that recent upheaval in global trade caused by US President Donald Trump's tariffs are not necessarily ending globalization -- just adjusting certain bilateral relationships.
"Well, it's certainly not dead," he told AFP in his office at the IMF's headquarters in Washington, pointing to solid global trade-to-GDP ratios. 
"We haven't experienced de-globalization," he said. "We have experienced (that) it's being transformed."
Gourinchas, a 57-year-old Frenchman, said the latest movements should be seen mainly as "a desire to reduce the bilateral level of trade between the US and China. I don't think that is something that is a mystery for anyone."
Since returning to office for a second term, Trump has targeted US friends and foes alike with punishing tariffs, saying he intends to rebase manufacturing to the homeland and to address what he terms unfair trade practices.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer have described globalization as having taken economic integration too far, causing economic pain for American households while benefiting those abroad.
For Gourinchas, however, the latest trade turmoil -- which has seen major US trading partners retaliate with tariffs of their own -- has provided opportunities, too.
"Other actors have stepped in," he said. "The supply chains have adapted, the Mexico's, the Vietnam's of the world have stepped in... the connector countries that have been able to grow on the back of this."
Still, it depends on how far Washington and other advanced economies push this fragmentation of the global economy, he said.
"If the strategy is not just to disengage from China, but it's to disengage more globally -- which I don't think it is, by the way -- I don't think it's sustainable," he said.
He is skeptical, too, on whether the drive to move industries to the United States will end up boosting employment, saying it is "very, very hard" to see that happening. New factories in advanced economies are expected to rely heavily on technology and employ fewer workers.

'Middle-income trap'

For the world's emerging market countries, there is another challenge in a fragmenting world economy: What will drive their own growth, if not demand from larger economies?
The last decade has seen growth in developing countries stall, with the World Bank's Chief Economist Indermit Gill referring to it as a "lost decade" for many.
Gourinchas said that emerging economies had shown remarkable resilience through the shocks of the last five years, mainly due to greater supply-chain integration -- but that resilience was not infinite.
"There is this concern about potentially having a middle-income trap for many emerging market economies," he said, pointing to limited sources of growth in a world where advanced economies were turning inwards.
Since the 1990s, China has been seen as a shining example to be emulated by developing nations -- an economy that capitalized on cost disparities to create an export-oriented growth model that it rode to vast success.
But in a world where advanced economies are potentially "closing up," while China continues to provide cut-throat competition on manufacturing costs, can any of these emerging economies use the same path Beijing did?
"That leaves a very narrow space for them to actually enter into an export-led growth model, which has been the recipe for development and success for many, many countries," Gourinchas said.
"A country like India, for instance, is very unsure whether it can follow in the footsteps of China," he said.
After the IMF, Gourinchas will be headed back to a career in academia at the University of California, Berkeley. 
aha-els/mjf

conflict

Russia-annexed Crimea declares 'emergency' amid Ukraine strikes

  • Russian air defences shot down 660 Ukrainian drones overnight, including over the capital Moscow and the annexed Crimea, its defence ministry said Friday, one of the highest figures since the start of the conflict.
  • Authorities in Russian-annexed Crimea on Friday declared an "emergency situation" in a bid to ease the fallout from increasing Ukrainian aerial attacks on the peninsula.
  • Russian air defences shot down 660 Ukrainian drones overnight, including over the capital Moscow and the annexed Crimea, its defence ministry said Friday, one of the highest figures since the start of the conflict.
Authorities in Russian-annexed Crimea on Friday declared an "emergency situation" in a bid to ease the fallout from increasing Ukrainian aerial attacks on the peninsula.
The announcement comes amid fuel shortages and power cuts triggered by the Ukrainian attacks on logistics chains and oil facilities across Crimea, the rest of Russian-occupied Ukraine and southern Russia.
"A decision has been made... to sign decrees declaring a regional-level emergency situation in the Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol," the Moscow-installed governor Sergey Aksyonov said in a post on Telegram.
The emergency situation would allow for a "rapid resolution of tasks related to ensuring the stable operation of all sectors", Aksyonov said in the post. 
Kyiv has stepped up its air attacks that it calls fair retribution for Russia's near-daily barrages on Ukrainian civilians and energy infrastructure since Moscow launched its offensive in February 2022.
"We are doing everything to force Russia to end the war and restore justice. And it is Crimea that is at the center of this policy of ensuring justice," said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a social media post. 
Crimea hosts numerous Russian military bases and has been used as a key launchpad in the war. 
"Today, Ukraine is depriving Russia of this launchpad and drawing a line under its attempts to normalize war," said Zelensky.  
Russian air defences shot down 660 Ukrainian drones overnight, including over the capital Moscow and the annexed Crimea, its defence ministry said Friday, one of the highest figures since the start of the conflict.
Ukraine mostly targets Russian oil processing and export facilities in a bid to deprive the Kremlin of a source of revenue crucial for financing Moscow's war effort.
Last week, Kyiv's attack caused a major fire at a refinery in the southeast of Moscow, shrouding the suburbs in plumes of thick black smoke.

'Closing the beach season'

Aksyonov had a day earlier acknowledged that Crimea "is going through a challenging time" and that "the fuel situation is the most difficult".
"I cannot say exactly how long it will take, nor can I publicly disclose the specific action plan. However, we are taking action," he said in the statement.
He also conceded that the Russian army was unable to fully protect the peninsula.
"Unfortunately ... there are no air defense systems in the world that are absolutely perfect in terms of security and effectiveness."
Speaking to AFP by phone, a Moscow resident holidaying in Feodosia on Crimea's southeastern coast said earlier this week that "everyone is afraid: locals and visitors alike."
"We were afraid we'd never wake up again, we prayed all night," she recounted following a recent overnight attack.
"The sky was like Star Wars," she said.
Despite the ongoing war that has killed tens of thousands and ravaged swaths of Ukraine, Crimea has been a popular holiday destination for Russians.
On Monday, Ukraine's defence ministry said the strikes by its forces were "closing the beach season in Crimea."
Listing successful strikes, including on oil depots, gas compressor stations and air defence systems, it said on social media that "the forecast for tourists is unfavorable".
Russia seized and annexed Crimea in 2014, though the vast majority of countries -- including many of Moscow's allies -- do not recognise the move.
The Black Sea territory holds special importance to President Vladimir Putin, who hailed the annexation as a historic victory and has poured resources into the peninsula since 2014.
Ukraine says Crimea is an inalienable part of its territory and will never formally cede it.
bur/rh

heatwave

Europe heatwave swamps hospitals, halts parties

BY AFP BUREAUS IN EUROPE

  • - 'Saturation point' - At least 150 million people in Europe were expected to experience temperatures above 35C on Friday, according to AFP calculations based on forecasts.
  • Street parties and music festivals were cancelled and alcohol sales limited in parts of western Europe on Friday, as a deadly heatwave choking 150 million people with temperatures above 35C was forecast to shift eastwards.
  • - 'Saturation point' - At least 150 million people in Europe were expected to experience temperatures above 35C on Friday, according to AFP calculations based on forecasts.
Street parties and music festivals were cancelled and alcohol sales limited in parts of western Europe on Friday, as a deadly heatwave choking 150 million people with temperatures above 35C was forecast to shift eastwards.
Health authorities in Britain and France warned hospitals were struggling with the heat and a surge in emergency calls.
Germany saw its highest temperature ever recorded on Friday at 41.3C, according to preliminary weather service data, as the country braces for the possibility of an even hotter weekend.
Spain has reported scores of heat-related deaths and France has said dozens have drowned, along with several infants who have died in hot cars. 
The UK and Switzerland both set new June highs, reaching 37.3C in eastern England and 38.8C in Basel, according to their weather agencies.
The reactors at Europe's oldest nuclear plant were also shut down, its Swiss operator said, after the heatwave sent temperatures soaring in the river used for cooling.
While the heat eased slightly on Friday in some parts of western Europe, countries further east are warning the worst is yet to come.
The Czech Republic and Hungary were on red alert for the weekend, with temperatures of up to 40C forecast.
Balkan countries were also bracing for a tough few days.
Scientists have shown that recurring heatwaves are a clear marker of global warming driven by humans burning fossil fuels -- and are set to become more frequent, longer and more intense.

Heat dome

"I do just want to stick my face in the ice bucket," said Will Evans, 37, who runs a street-food outlet in London.
"It's been slow, slow all week. We rely a lot on office worker lunches, so with them staying home, it's quieter for us."
The authorities across Europe have been recommending people work from home when they can.
The hot weather was down to a "heat dome" of trapped air from north Africa, said Samantha Burgess, deputy director of the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service.
Climate scientist Friederike Otto, co-founder of World Weather Attribution (WWA), told reporters the weather pattern itself was "not particularly unusual". 
"But the temperatures are -- or at least they used to be, without human-induced climate change," he said.

'Saturation point'

At least 150 million people in Europe were expected to experience temperatures above 35C on Friday, according to AFP calculations based on forecasts.
Maximum temperatures were forecast to exceed 30C for more than 420 million people across Europe, excluding Turkey -- around 70 percent of the population.
London Ambulance Service said Wednesday's extreme heat had led to the highest number of life-threatening emergency calls in a day.
France saw a fourfold increase in heat-related hospital visits and a surge of cardiac arrests, the health ministry said.
"We are reaching a saturation point in hospital facilities," Paris police chief Patrice Faure said, announcing a rare ban on evening alcohol sales in Paris over the weekend.
Organisers of the Pride March in Paris said they had postponed the event, scheduled for Saturday afternoon, one of many events called off in Europe.

Heatwave heads east

A storm broke the heat overnight in France's western region of Brittany, bringing some respite on Friday. 
"I've come back to life. We can breathe at last," said local woman Aurelie Sauvager, 47.
But much of the Netherlands remained under red alert, with authorities advising people to travel only if necessary and most schools closed.
Organisers cancelled the four-day techno music festival Defqon.1 in the central Netherlands.
Slovakia forecast temperatures up to 36C. Swimming pools in Bratislava announced extended opening hours and authorities deployed tanker trucks of drinking water.
Hungary's Prime Minister Peter Magyar said authorities were preparing millions of bags of drinking water for possible public distribution and urging residents to conserve water.
While eastern Europeans were not planning to cancel events -- Budapest's Pride March will be going ahead, along with a massive political rally in Serbia -- locals were not so keen on the idea of leaving their homes.
Majlinda, 41, rushed was rushing through Kosovo's capital Pristina stocking up on medicine before the weekend, shielding herself from the sun with an umbrella.
"I want to stock up on everything I need so I don't have to go out tomorrow or the day after," she told AFP.
burs/rh/ach 

heatwave

Latest developments in Europe's heatwave

  • Toddler dies in France A toddler died in hospital after being found in a hot car during a severe heatwave in the French city of Marseille, health services said, in the latest such death nationwide this week.
  • Here are the latest developments in Europe's heatwave.
  • Toddler dies in France A toddler died in hospital after being found in a hot car during a severe heatwave in the French city of Marseille, health services said, in the latest such death nationwide this week.
Here are the latest developments in Europe's heatwave.
Scientists have shown that recurring heatwaves are a clear marker of global warming driven by humans burning fossil fuels, and warn they are set to become more frequent, longer and more intense.
Swiss nuclear plant stops operations
The nuclear reactors at Europe's oldest nuclear plant Beznau were shut down Friday, its Swiss operator Axpo said.
"The temperature of the Aare River reached 25C again yesterday and today. Sufficient cooling is not in sight," Axpo said on its website, adding that as a consequence, the plant "has temporarily shut down both reactors".
Toddler dies in France
A toddler died in hospital after being found in a hot car during a severe heatwave in the French city of Marseille, health services said, in the latest such death nationwide this week.
German heat record
Germany saw its highest temperature ever recorded at 41.3C in the western city of Saarbruecken,according to preliminary weather service data, breaking the previous recorded high of 39.6C for the month of June.
37.3C in UK
The UK broke the record for its highest ever June temperature for the third day in a row, the Met Office weather agency said, recording 37.3 in a Suffolk village called Santon Downham.
Records 'shattered'
The heatwave has "shattered numerous temperature records" and is having "major impacts on human health, on ecosystems, on agriculture, on labour productivity," the spokeswoman for the UN's World Meteorological Organization, Clare Nullis, told a news conference.
Eurostar evacuations
Hundreds of passengers were evacuated from two Eurostar trains in Belgium after breakdowns left them without air conditioning in the midst of a sweltering heatwave, the country's rail agency said.
Front heads for Balkans
The heatwave moving from Western Europe was set to bring very high temperatures to the Balkans. forecasters said.
Temperatures of up to 39 degrees were forecast in parts of Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Montenegro.
Dutch festival cancelled
Organisers have cancelled the four-day techno music festival  Defqon.1 in Biddinghuizen in the central Netherlands, scheduled to start on Thursday, its director Sander Bijlstra told the ANP news agency.
The Lago Lago electronic music festival in Stroombroek meanwhile said it would restrict alcohol sales.
Poland fire warning
Heat combined with record-low May rainfall have significantly increased the risk of fires in forests and national parks in Poland, officials warned.
A spokesman for Poland's long-distance rail operator, PKP Intercity, told AFP the heatwave was expected to affect traffic, with overhead power lines sagging and rails deforming. 
Battle re-enactment scrapped
Organisers in Belgium said they had cancelled this weekend's reenactment of Napoleon's defeat at the Battle of Waterloo because of the heatwave.
Cash for schools
More than 130 million euros have been allocated to fund cooling systems and renovation works in French schools and nurseries, state-owned utility EDF and several lenders said.
Germany faces extreme heat
Germany's weather service warned that the intense heat would spread over the weekend across the whole of the country.
"In many places—from the southwest and west through the centre to the east—extreme heat is also expected," said the service.
The service's map of Germany was almost completely dark purple, signifying extreme heat warnings.
Paris pride parade cancelled
Organisers of Paris pride cancelled festivities in the sweltering French capital this weekend after Paris police said they would otherwise ban the parties.
Hospitals in the greater Paris region have been overwhelmed trying to keep up with soaring heat-related emergencies and issues.
150 mn to face 35C+ Friday
At least 150 million people in Europe will roast in temperatures of 35C and above on Friday, according to an AFP analysis.
French drowning toll rises
At least 55 people have drowned in France since the heatwave began, the sports minister said Friday, warning the death toll could rise further.
Many of the deaths were young people swimming in unauthorised areas to escape the searing heat.
Climate change blamed
Human-caused climate change is "unequivocally" responsible for the intensity of a record-breaking heatwave scorching Europe, scientists said Friday. 
It would have been "virtually impossible" for such exceptional temperatures to occur in June 50 years ago, the World Weather Attribution group of scientists said.
burs-ach/rh

UN

Dozens of international teams rushing to Venezuela: UN

BY ROBIN MILLARD

  • So far, a total of 25 teams -- 17 national urban search and rescue teams, with the rest emergency medical response teams -- were being deployed, with a total of 1,000 rescue personnel, said Laerke.
  • International search and rescue teams from at least 17 countries are being scrambled to Venezuela to help look for survivors of  devastating twin earthquakes, the United Nations said Friday.
  • So far, a total of 25 teams -- 17 national urban search and rescue teams, with the rest emergency medical response teams -- were being deployed, with a total of 1,000 rescue personnel, said Laerke.
International search and rescue teams from at least 17 countries are being scrambled to Venezuela to help look for survivors of  devastating twin earthquakes, the United Nations said Friday.
Getting those teams to the scene is the "top priority", the UN humanitarian agency OCHA said.
"Earthquakes are one of the most devastating things that can happen to any country," spokesman Jens Laerke told reporters in Geneva.
"But what we are seeing right now is also an international mobilisation at its very best. The entire humanitarian system is moving very fast, and at scale."
The 7.5- and 7.2-magnitude earthquakes on Wednesday are known to have killed at least 589 people.
So far, a total of 25 teams -- 17 national urban search and rescue teams, with the rest emergency medical response teams -- were being deployed, with a total of 1,000 rescue personnel, said Laerke.
Teams from Chile, Colombia, El Salvador, Italy, Mexico, Switzerland and the United States were already in Venezuela, he said.
Teams from Britain, the Czech Republic, Ecuador, France, Germany, Jordan, the Netherlands, Qatar and Spain among others are also being mobilised.

Rescue still the priority

UN and other humanitarian agencies insisted Friday that the international community "must not allow this emergency to deepen into a larger human tragedy" in fragile Venezuela.
The Inter-Agency Standing Committee -- a forum of United Nations and non-UN humanitarian organisation chiefs -- called for "rapid and unimpeded humanitarian access" to those affected.
The World Health Organization said the immediate needs included mass casualty management and trauma care, particularly in areas with collapsed buildings.
"The overriding priority is to rescue as many people as possible while urgently providing life-saving health care to the injured," said Ciro Ugarte, emergencies director for PAHO, the UN health agency's Americas regional branch.
"The first 72 hours are critical to saving lives," he said, speaking from Washington.
"Hospitals are managing injuries such as broken bones and head injuries, but also we are seeing burns and other injuries that result from building collapse," he said.
The number of deaths and injuries would "significantly increase" in the coming hours and days, he warned.
Ugarte said the earthquakes had hit a fragile health system, but more than 15 health ministries in the region had pledged support and were ready to deploy teams.
He said PAHO experts were mapping the affected health facilities. They had identified more than 90 hospitals exposed to shaking intensities beyond six and seven on the Modified Mercalli intensity scale.
"We are prioritising those facilities, including the assessment of the structural safety, emergency department capacities, operating theatres, inpatient beds, blood supply, and oxygen," he said.

People 'terrified': Red Cross

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the world's largest humanitarian network, said the first 17 tonnes of humanitarian aid was leaving from the IFRC's logistics hub in Panama.
It includes kitchen sets, hygiene kits, mosquito nets, tents and blankets.
The IFRC has released two million Swiss francs ($2.5 million) from its Disaster Response Emergency Fund, and launched an appeal for 50 million Swiss francs to help the Venezuelan Red Cross assist 300,000 people.
"After two nights, people are still terrified to re-enter what were their homes," said Loyce Pace, the IFRC's Americas regional director, speaking from Panama.
She said Red Cross societies had programmes for restoring family links with the diaspora, and would be working to help people trace loved ones.
The UN refugee agency meanwhile voiced concerns about the impact on returnees to Venezuela, who it said were already facing many challenges to reintegrate.
UNHCR spokesman Matthew Saltmarsh said a temporary accomodation centre, hosting around 140 recent returnees from the United States, had collapsed.
rjm/ag/ach 

heatwave

Europe heatwave shattering temperature records: UN

  • Nullis added: "It's possible that at the end of summer, we can look back and say, yes, it was a record-breaking heatwave; but it's still very much in progress."
  • Europe's heatwave has smashed several temperature records, the UN's weather and climate agency said Friday, adding that it would determine the full impact once the phenomenon has ended.
  • Nullis added: "It's possible that at the end of summer, we can look back and say, yes, it was a record-breaking heatwave; but it's still very much in progress."
Europe's heatwave has smashed several temperature records, the UN's weather and climate agency said Friday, adding that it would determine the full impact once the phenomenon has ended.
The World Meteorological Organization said the heat levels currently being experienced across the continent would be more typical of late July and August.
"A widespread intense late June heatwave in Europe... has shattered numerous temperature records," WMO spokeswoman Clare Nullis told a press conference in Geneva.
"It's having major impacts on human health, on ecosystems, on agriculture, on labour productivity, and it's accompanied in some areas, in particular France, by worsening drought and the risk of wildfires, as well as localised storms.
"We're supporting coordinated heat health action plans to try to save lives -- as always, that's the top priority -- and to inform decisions to minimise economic damage and the very real disruption that we're seeing."
The deadly European heatwave was forecast to shift east on Friday, choking 150 million people with temperatures of 35C.
Nullis said the heat was expected to increasingly shift from western Europe towards central Europe and the Balkans by the end of the month.
"We need to get used to it, unfortunately," she said.

Hot air funnel

John Kennedy, the WMO's climate information chief, said that as there was no specific definition of a heatwave, it was therefore hard to describe one as record-breaking across the board.
"We can say locally that records have been broken," he said.
"This is a record-breaking heatwave in many ways -- but not in every single way."
Nullis added: "It's possible that at the end of summer, we can look back and say, yes, it was a record-breaking heatwave; but it's still very much in progress."
Kennedy said several factors have to come together for temperatures to reach record extremes.
He said high pressure over Europe was funnelling hot air north from northern Africa, with the weather system hindering cloud formation.
"These kinds of blocks can stay in place for days or even weeks, and the persistence of the block means that the heat can build, day upon day -- and, crucially, the impact night upon night," he said, when the body should be cooling down.
Kennedy added that Europe had warmed by around 2C in the 50 years since the 1976 major heatwave, with "high confidence there is a human contribution to that observed warming".
"Heat waves like this are what we expect to see in a changing climate," he said.
"Extreme heat will occur more frequently, for longer duration and with greater intensity as global warming continues."
rjm/nl/cw

immigration

UN demands probes into US ICE custody deaths

  • "I call for prompt, independent, impartial and effective investigations into all deaths in ICE custody," UN rights chief Volker Turk said in a statement, which also called for "prompt action to prevent further loss of life".
  • The United Nations on Friday demanded independent investigations into dozens of deaths in US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody since last year -- and swift action to prevent more people from dying.
  • "I call for prompt, independent, impartial and effective investigations into all deaths in ICE custody," UN rights chief Volker Turk said in a statement, which also called for "prompt action to prevent further loss of life".
The United Nations on Friday demanded independent investigations into dozens of deaths in US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody since last year -- and swift action to prevent more people from dying.
At least 52 deaths have been reported in ICE holding facilities since the start of 2025, when US President Donald Trump returned to office and launched a crackdown on immigrants, the UN human rights office said.
During the first five months of the year, 18 people died in ICE detention, with another death reported in June, the office said, while 33 deaths were registered in 2025.
That compares to 11 in 2024, the UN rights office said.
"I call for prompt, independent, impartial and effective investigations into all deaths in ICE custody," UN rights chief Volker Turk said in a statement, which also called for "prompt action to prevent further loss of life".
Turk said the lack of transparency and clarity surrounding the circumstances of the deaths undermines accountability.
"Those responsible for violations of the law must be held to account, and the rights of the victims' families to truth, justice and reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence must be upheld," he said.
Trump has made combating illegal immigration a top priority of his second term, with authorities rounding up thousands of people and expanding detention centres.
A joint report by Human Rights Watch and Physicians for Human Rights said Thursday that the rate of people dying in ICE custody has reached its highest level in over a decade amid Trump's crackdown.

'Dehumanisation and criminalisation'

Turk said the deaths occurred in the context of a broad expansion of the US immigration detention system.
ICE currently holds more than 60,000 individuals compared to approximately 40,000 in early 2025, Turk's office said, citing official data, adding that there were plans to increase the capacity up to 90,000 people by the end of 2026.
Turk's office said detainees included entire families with children, while there are frequent reports of inhumane conditions of detention and treatment, and concerning allegations on the use of force.
Five of the officially reported deaths this year were classified as suicides.
"All these factors exacerbate vulnerability and raise serious concerns as to whether some of these deaths in ICE custody could have been prevented," said Turk, the UN high commissioner for human rights.
He said immigration detention should be a measure of last resort, and alternatives should be prioritised.
Regardless of their immigration status or that of their parents, children should not be subjected to immigration detention, he insisted.
Turk also strongly denounced the "continued dehumanisation and criminalisation" of migrants and refugees.
Nobody should be sent back to a place where they could face serious human rights violations or other irreversible harm, he added.
rjm/nl/cw

conflict

Lukashenko will always be threat to Ukraine: Belarus opposition leader

BY OLA CICHOWLAS

  • Lukashenko -- in power since 1994 -- allowed Moscow to launch its 2022 Ukraine invasion through Belarus but has denied plans for direct involvement in the war.  
  • Belarus will be a threat to Ukraine for as long as President Alexander Lukashenko is in power and relies on the Kremlin, the country's exiled opposition leader told AFP.  Ukraine has for months warned Belarus against being dragged further into the war, highlighting increased attacks by Russia on northern Ukraine and alleging military preparations had been detected on the Belarusian side of the border.
  • Lukashenko -- in power since 1994 -- allowed Moscow to launch its 2022 Ukraine invasion through Belarus but has denied plans for direct involvement in the war.  
Belarus will be a threat to Ukraine for as long as President Alexander Lukashenko is in power and relies on the Kremlin, the country's exiled opposition leader told AFP. 
Ukraine has for months warned Belarus against being dragged further into the war, highlighting increased attacks by Russia on northern Ukraine and alleging military preparations had been detected on the Belarusian side of the border.
Lukashenko -- in power since 1994 -- allowed Moscow to launch its 2022 Ukraine invasion through Belarus but has denied plans for direct involvement in the war.  
"As long as Lukashenko earns on the blood of Ukrainians by helping the Russian war machine, he will always be a danger for Ukraine," Belarus opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya told AFP.
In an interview on the sidelines of a conference on Ukrainian reconstruction in the Polish city of Gdansk, she said Lukashenko was "just as guilty" as President Vladimir Putin for Europe's worst conflict since WWII.
Lukashenko's Belarus is economically and politically reliant on the Kremlin and hosts some of Moscow's nuclear weapons on its territory.
Tikhanovskaya challenged Lukashenko in the 2020 election, with her defeat triggering mass protests and a brutal crackdown by the security services on her supporters.

No 'illusions'

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said earlier this week Belarus had switched off signal repeaters that help guide Russian attack drones following a threat from Kyiv.
And Lukashenko appeared to try to reduce the tensions, saying in a televised meeting with officials that he had met a Ukrainian representative in Minsk and that Belarus would not be dragged into the war.
Tikhanovskaya said that while Lukashenko "took a step back", he would not have been able to without a green light from the Kremlin.
"If they were switched off it means that Russia agreed," she said, saying he could not have acted against Moscow. 
"He would never do that, let's not have any illusions," said Tikhanovskaya, who recently returned from a trip to Kyiv.
The opposition leader also said she hoped US-led negotiations to free more political prisoners from Belarus will continue. 
Hundreds have been released under negotiations urged by US President Donald Trump and in exchange for sanctions relief.
But the Viasna rights group counts 852 political prisoners still behind bars Belarus.  
Tikhanovskaya said the true number is likely higher since "some people are afraid and do not give the information that their relatives are in prison for political cases".
She was especially worried about mothers in prison, as well as older and sick political prisoners. 
In Gdansk, she also met Poland's ex-president Lech Walesa, who led the 1980s Solidarity movement that provoked the downfall of the Communist regime in Warsaw. 
Tikhanovskaya said the pair discussed how to be "prepared" for a change in Belarus as the "moment could be unexpected". 
Tikhanovskaya has spent years fostering Western support for a democratic Belarus. 
"No war and no revolution can be won if you don't have allies," she said.
oc/jc/jxb

Europe

European heatwave's unlikely accomplice: an ocean 'cold blob'

BY LAURENT THOMET

  • Another paper published in 2023 ran computer simulations -- with and without the cold blob -- to see if the anomaly had an influence on European heatwaves.
  • The heatwave battering Europe may have an unlikely partner-in-crime: a patch of cold ocean water south of Iceland and Greenland that can influence weather patterns over the continent.
  • Another paper published in 2023 ran computer simulations -- with and without the cold blob -- to see if the anomaly had an influence on European heatwaves.
The heatwave battering Europe may have an unlikely partner-in-crime: a patch of cold ocean water south of Iceland and Greenland that can influence weather patterns over the continent.
Often called the "cold blob", this swath of water in the North Atlantic has bucked the global warming trend, cooling even as the planet's temperatures rise due to human-induced climate change.
A recent study reinforced concerns that it could signal a weakening of a key Atlantic Ocean current system that helps regulate the planet's climate.
A shutdown of this conveyor belt of ocean currents, known as Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), could potentially lead to harsher winters in northern Europe in the future, scientists say.
But researchers have also explored the cold blob's connection to heatwaves in Europe, finding that extreme hot spells have coincided with periods when these waters west of Britain were unusually cold.
"A cold Atlantic doesn't necessarily mean a colder Europe," Gerard McCarthy, oceanographer at Ireland's Maynooth University, told AFP.
"That cold isn't a kind of a get-out-of-jail-free card in terms of global warming. Some of the hot extremes can actually be exacerbated by this cold blob in the Atlantic," McCarthy said.

Heat dome

Greenhouse gas emissions are the main driver of climate change, which has made heatwaves more frequent and intense.
But several factors have made Europe the planet's fastest-warming continent, including changes in atmospheric circulation and melting ice.
Studies suggest the cold blob influences atmospheric circulation by altering the path and speed of the jet stream that flows west to east across the continent.
When cooler and warmer waters meet, the sharp contrast changes the air above, making the jet stream wavier and slower, according to researchers.
These changes can create conditions for high-pressure systems that park over Europe, such as the "heat dome" searing the continent this week.
Marilena Oltmanns, an ocean and climate physicist, pointed to recent data showing a strong cold anomaly currently present in the subpolar North Atlantic, creating a front that "acts like a guide" for the winds and the jet stream.
"The jet stream ... bends northward and flows northward around Europe instead of crossing it. As a result, a heat dome emerges over Europe," Oltmanns told AFP.
Oltmanns, a professor at the University of Bremen in Germany, led a 2024 study showing that the melting of Greenland ice pours freshwater into the ocean, creating colder surface waters in the North Atlantic.
"The chain of events, starting from the meltwater and the North Atlantic cold blob, then leading to changes in the ocean and atmospheric circulations, makes Europe heat up more quickly than other parts of the world in summer," she told AFP.
A 2016 study suggested that cold Atlantic anomalies were a "common precursor" to major heatwaves that had hit Europe since the 1980s.
Another paper published in 2023 ran computer simulations -- with and without the cold blob -- to see if the anomaly had an influence on European heatwaves.
"With this cold anomaly, we have longer and more intense heatwaves in Europe," that study's lead author Sabine Bischof, researcher at Germany's GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, told AFP.

'Very worried'

While worldwide sea surface temperatures have increased by 1C on average since 1900, the cold blob region has cooled by up to 0.9C, according to a 2019 study.
Research published last month sought to settle a scientific debate over whether the loss of heat from the sea surface or a weakening AMOC were behind the cold blob.
"We find that this famous 'cold blob' in the northern Atlantic is caused by ocean currents bringing less heat into this region, and not by more heat lost through the sea surface there," the study's lead author, Stefan Rahmstorf, told AFP.
The AMOC carries warm tropical waters to the Northern Hemisphere, where they cool, become denser and sink before returning southward at depth.
Scientists broadly agree the AMOC is weakening with warming, but debate persists over how fast it could slow and whether a collapse is possible this century.
Rahmstorf, head of Earth system analysis at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, used to be sceptical about the risk of an AMOC shutdown.
But he now gives it an over 50 percent chance of happening.
A shutdown would have dire consequences: tougher European winters, droughts in South Asia and parts of Africa, and higher sea levels around the North Atlantic.
"I am very worried," Rahmstorf said. "The consequences of an AMOC shutdown would be massive in many parts of the world."
lt/np/giv

finances

How the British royal family is funded, and where the money goes

BY MARTIN POLLARD

  • In 2025-2026 the Sovereign Grant rose to £132.1 million, up from £86.3 million in the four previous tax years.
  • King Charles III became the first UK monarch in history to reveal how much he has paid in taxes since acceding to the throne in 2022 - some £30 million ($39.6 million).
  • In 2025-2026 the Sovereign Grant rose to £132.1 million, up from £86.3 million in the four previous tax years.
King Charles III became the first UK monarch in history to reveal how much he has paid in taxes since acceding to the throne in 2022 - some £30 million ($39.6 million).
Buckingham Palace, which released the king's documents on Thursday, said the move was part of its "commitment to transparency" as royal finances come under increasing public scrutiny.
Here AFP looks at where the British royal family gets its money, from the Sovereign Grant to private income worth tens of millions more.

What is the Sovereign Grant?

The Sovereign Grant is the annual payment allocated by the UK Treasury to cover the monarch's official duties. 
It is also for the running and upkeep of official royal residences, staff support, official travel and hosting official events such as annual garden parties and investitures.
In 2025-2026 the Sovereign Grant rose to £132.1 million, up from £86.3 million in the four previous tax years.
Half of the 2025-2026 funds, some £67.5 million, were "allocated to the preservation and protection of the occupied royal palaces, some of the nation's most iconic heritage buildings," Buckingham Palace said.
The costs for the king's staff came to $33.7 million, and a flight he took with Queen Camilla to Rome in 2025 cost a hefty £126,946.
The grant does not cover all royal expenses. Security costs, for example, are funded separately.

How is it calculated?

Introduced in 2012, the Sovereign Grant replaced the centuries-old Civil List system, which was seen as overly complex.
It is a single payment tied to profits from the property management company known as the Crown Estate, which are sent directly to the public purse.
It was set at 12 percent of the Crown Estate profits from two years earlier which have surged mainly due to a windfall from leasing seabed rights to offshore wind developers.
The Sovereign Grant for 2026-2027 will increase to £137.9 million to include the last large tranche of £40.3 million for a 10-year restoration project of Buckingham Palace.
Buckingham Palace confirmed, however, Thursday that for the five years between 2027-2032 the grant will be reset to £99.9 million each year.
The Sovereign Grant is not taxed because it is public money used for official duties.

What is the Crown Estate?

The Crown Estate manages a vast property portfolio, now worth £16.7 billion, that includes prime London real estate, rural land, coastal holdings, the Windsor Estate and seabed rights around England, Wales and Northern Ireland. 
It is an independent, commercial business that operates separately to the government and the royal household.
The estate is not the monarch's private property and cannot be sold. 
In the year ending March 2025, it made £1.1 billion in net profits. But that fell to £487 million in the tax year to this March, due mainly to slumping fees from offshore wind projects.

What about private income?

The king received in 2025-2026 some £25.2  million in private income from the Duchy of Lancaster, while the Prince of Wales received £21.6  million from the Duchy of Cornwall. 
These two historic estates are the main sources of private income for the monarch and the heir.
They are large, diversified portfolios of land, property, and investments managed like modern businesses. 
They earn money by leasing farmland, managing commercial and residential real estate, and holding financial assets.
Both estates are held in trust for future generations and cannot be sold outright. 
Their profits fund personal expenses and some official duties, separate from taxpayer-funded support like the Sovereign Grant.
Both the king and William are under no legal obligation to pay taxes on their private income, but do so voluntarily following the example set by the late queen Elizabeth II.

Personal wealth

Individual members of the royal family also have personal wealth, mostly from personal investment portfolios and legacies.
The king owns both Balmoral and Sandringham Estates, which were inherited from his mother, Elizabeth.
Unlike for most commoners, assets passed directly from one monarch to the next are exempt from inheritance tax under a long-standing government agreement.
mp/jkb/cw

Europe

In the heat, Ivorians don't think twice about using aircon

BY SOULé DIA

  • On the other side of the Mediterranean Sea in Europe, which has endured more than a week of extreme temperatures, air conditioning's reputation is worse, and its usefulness far from accepted everywhere.
  • As Europe seeks ways to cool down in punishing temperatures, there's no way that Alexandre Anoh is going to sleep without air conditioning in Abidjan's stifling heat.
  • On the other side of the Mediterranean Sea in Europe, which has endured more than a week of extreme temperatures, air conditioning's reputation is worse, and its usefulness far from accepted everywhere.
As Europe seeks ways to cool down in punishing temperatures, there's no way that Alexandre Anoh is going to sleep without air conditioning in Abidjan's stifling heat.
Like many Ivorians, he considers air conditioning a must and sees no downside to it, as people across western Europe question its usefulness.
Like many African countries, Ivory Coast, with its tropical climate, generally experiences high temperatures for nearly eight months of the year, forcing many people to resort to air conditioning for comfort.
In rapidly expanding Abidjan, which is home to more than six million people, air conditioning units are everywhere, from offices and hospitals to shops.
Across the economic capital, condensers are hung high on the walls of buildings and hum incessantly.
From the wealthiest households to the more modest, everyone wants their own unit.
Several people told AFP that they did not see any downside to using air conditioning, despite concerns about greenhouse gas emissions.
"We have to have it because it feels good," said Anoh, a 48-year-old banker. "I turn mine on all the time because I can't sleep without it. It's become a habit."
Inside, the temperature is 23C while outside the thermometer read 30C on Wednesday.

'Vital'

Severin Clin, a self-styled entrepreneur, said air conditioning was a "vital" issue because heat can be deadly.
"Why deprive yourself of it when you can afford it?" he asked.
Experts are divided on the environmental impact of air conditioning.
According to Annual Reviews, a science information NGP, in 2021 air conditioning and refrigeration services were responsible for more than 10 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.
But Africa, which experiences long periods of heat, is the least-polluting continent on the plane, with less than four percent of global carbon dioxide emissions.
On the other side of the Mediterranean Sea in Europe, which has endured more than a week of extreme temperatures, air conditioning's reputation is worse, and its usefulness far from accepted everywhere.
The unprecedented heatwave, where temperatures have topped 40C in some areas, has revived debate on the subject, as the extreme heat is expected to become more frequent, last longer and intensify with climate change.
In France, where dozens of people have drowned while trying to cool off, far-right leader Marine Le Pen has promised "a massive air conditioning plan" if she becomes president next year.
Appi N'Goran, 30, doesn't understand the debate going on in Europe.
"They should use air conditioning like they use heating when it's winter because it's indispensable and can save lives in a heatwave," she said.

Success

According to a report from the International Energy Agency, access to effective air conditioning saved at least 190,000 lives across the world between 2019 and 2023.
Heat-related deaths among people aged 65 and over increased by 61 percent, reaching about 300,000.
Environmentalist Souleymane Cisse said having air conditioning "is no longer a matter of living standards".
The average price of air conditioning ranges between 100,000 and 150,000 CFA francs ($174-260) in Ivory Coast -- up to twice the minimum wage.
But in a number of African countries, access to it is still reserved for a certain social class, said Ablaye Seck, an energy efficiency expert in Senegal.
But many don't know about its impact on the environment.
"Very few people have any idea about the consequences of air conditioning," he said.
Seck also advocates for more airy buildings using local materials so air conditioning is used less in the future, to protect the planet and ease the strain on electricity grids, which are often severely tested during periods of intense heat.
In April, Ivory Coast had to endure several weeks of disruption in electricity distribution because of strong demand linked to high temperatures.
sjd/bam/cpy/phz/cw