Category: 2. World

PARIS — France and the rest of Europe were still in the grips of the first major heat wave this summer with health warnings in effect Tuesday, even as conditions began to improve in some parts of the region.

Punishing temperatures were forecast to reach 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in Paris and to stay unusually high in Belgium and the Netherlands. In contrast, temperatures were falling in Portugal, where no red heat warnings were issued.

In France, the national weather agency Météo-France placed several departments under the highest red alert, with the Paris region particularly hard hit. The heat wave — defined as consecutive days of very high temperature — is expected to intensify Tuesday and more than 1,300 schools were expected to be partially or fully closed, the Education Ministry said.

Visitors to the Eiffel Tower without tickets were told to postpone their visits, and the summit of the city’s landmark was closed until Thursday.

Farther south, 17 of Italy’s 27 major cities were experiencing a heat wave, according to the Health Ministry.

Météo-France also warned of the heightened risk of wildfires due to the drought-stricken soil, compounded by a lack of rain in June and the recent surge in temperature.

Climate experts warn that future summers are likely to be hotter than any recorded to date. By 2100, France could be up to 4 C (39 F) warmer, with temperatures exceeding 40 C expected every year and extreme heat spikes potentially reaching 50 C (122 F). According to Météo-France, the country may face a tenfold increase in the number of heat wave days by 2100.

In Portugal, Lisbon was forecast to reach 33 C (91 F), typical for this time of the year, though some inland areas could still see peaks of 43 C (109 F), according to the national weather agency. June temperature records were broken in two locations in Portugal on June 29.

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Associated Press writers Barry Hatton in Lisbon, Portugal, and David Billier contributed to this report.

CNN
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Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani could clinch victory Tuesday when the New York City Board of Elections releases the first look at the ranked-choice voting results from the June 24 primary.

The board’s report will also provide more data on how primary voters viewed Mamdani’s candidacy after a week of conversations about what his performance means for the party and the city.

Under the city’s ranked-choice voting rules, if no candidate wins a majority of the first-choice votes, the race is decided by how voters ranked other candidates on their ballots.

Mamdani, a 33-year-old state assemblyman and democratic socialist, emerged on Election Night with 43.5% of the first-choice votes and a significant lead over former Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

The results Tuesday made clear that Mamdani would be heavily favored to cross 50% once ranked-choice tabulation was complete. Mamdani had a cross-endorsement with the only other candidate who won more than 10% of the vote, city Comptroller Brad Lander. And much of the rest of the field had encouraged voters to leave Cuomo off their ballots entirely. Cuomo saw that writing on the wall and conceded the race on Election Night (although he will still be included in today’s results).

The New York City Board of Elections will release a full, but unofficial, look at the ranked-choice tabulation based on all the ballots processed so far.

In the ranked-choice voting process the city is using, the results are tabulated in rounds with the candidate with the fewest votes being eliminated and people who ranked that candidate first having votes reallocated to their next-highest choice still in the running.

That process continues until only two candidates are left and there’s a winner.

Election officials will run that tabulation on the more than 990,000 ballots the city released last Tuesday, plus any additional ballots processed since then (mail ballots that arrived after Friday weren’t included in the Election Night report).

However, these results won’t be final. There will still be a small number of ballots added to the count between now and when the board certifies the election on July 15. While these ballots could shift the order in which lower-rated candidates are eliminated, it’s highly unlikely they’ll have any impact on the final results.

There’s very little reason to think the results won’t show Mamdani beating Cuomo in the final round.

About 20% of voters ranked someone other than Mamdani or Cuomo first. Without accounting for the additional ballots that will be added to the count, that means that for Mamdani to win, he needs to be ranked ahead of Cuomo on only about one-third of ballots for that went for other candidates in the first round.

Realistically, an even smaller number would secure his victory since a sizable number of votes will drop out of the calculation as voters’ top choices are eliminated, reducing the number of votes required to win a majority.

Because of these “exhausted” ballots, Mamdani’s percentage of the vote in the final round will be higher than it is now, even before accounting for other voters who had ranked him lower on their ballots.

All that being said, it’s theoretically possible Cuomo wins. Until the board releases the results, there’s no way to know for certain how that 20% of the vote breaks down.

The ranked-choice system will give a rare peek at how voters who supported lower-ranking candidates feel about their likely nominee.

If a large share of those 20% ranked Mamdani ahead of Cuomo, it could demonstrate Mamdani’s ability to expand his coalition beyond his core supporters. On the other hand, if many voters are more supportive of Cuomo or left both men of their ballots, it could indicate wider uncertainty about the progressive candidate.

Another 36 workers remain in hospital with burns and other injuries after the blast and fire at the Sigachi factory.

At least 36 people have been confirmed dead after a powerful explosion triggered a fire at a pharmaceutical factory in the southern Indian state of Telangana.

“The condition of the bodies is such that we’ve had to deploy a specialised medical team to carry out DNA tests,” said Health and Medical Cabinet Minister of Telangana Damodar Raja Narasimha on Tuesday.

A government panel has been formed to investigate the cause of the disaster.

The blast, which erupted on Monday afternoon at a facility run by Sigachi Industries, took place in the plant’s spray dryer unit – a section used to convert raw materials into powder for drug manufacturing. The factory is located roughly 50km (31 miles) from Hyderabad, the state capital.

Authorities recovered 34 bodies from the debris, while two more workers succumbed to injuries in hospital, according to Telangana’s fire services director, GV Narayana Rao.

“The entire structure has collapsed. The fire is under control and we’re continuing to clear the rubble in case more people are trapped,” he told the Associated Press news agency.

Twenty-five of the deceased are yet to be identified, a district administrative official, P Pravinya, said.

About 36 workers remain in hospital with burns and other injuries. Police officials said that more than 140 people were working in the plant when the incident occurred.

Local residents reported hearing the blast from several kilometres away.

The incident has raised new concerns about industrial safety in India’s booming pharmaceutical sector. Despite the country’s reputation as a global supplier of low-cost medicines and vaccines, fatal accidents at drug manufacturing units are not rare, particularly in facilities handling chemicals or solvents.

Sigachi Industries, which has its headquarters in India, produces active pharmaceutical ingredients and nutrient blends, and operates manufacturing plants across the country. It also runs subsidiaries in the United Arab Emirates and the United States, according to its website.

Officials say rescue and recovery efforts will continue until the entire site has been cleared. The factory’s operations have been suspended pending the outcome of the investigation.

In the weeks leading up to Israel’s war with Iran, which it launched on 13 June, there had been little let-up in its offensive in Gaza. A tenuous ceasefire had broken down in March, and a wave of airstrikes followed, as well as an 11-week blockade on all aid. Though some humanitarian assistance was allowed in from late May, military action intensified at the same time.

Growing numbers of desperate Palestinians were being killed as they sought scarce food either from looted aid convoys or from distribution hubs set up by the new, secretive Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a group backed by Israel and the US as an alternative to the existing, much more comprehensive UN-led system. Rolling IDF “evacuation orders” covered much of the territory.

map 1

14 June

On the second day of the Israel-Iran conflict, at least 20 Palestinians were killed by Israeli strikes in Gaza, according to local health officials, and another 11 near food distribution points run by the GHF. Palestinian witnesses said Israeli forces fired on the crowds, while the Israeli military said it fired warning shots near people it described as suspects who approached its forces.

Footage filmed in Gaza City showed people pleading for food at a soup kitchen distribution point.

Gaza City soup kitchen 14 June.

A day later, eight more Palestinians were killed as they sought aid.

16 June

Before dawn, Israeli troops opened fire on crowds of hungry Palestinians heading for two hubs managed by the GHF. At least 37 people died, mainly while trying to reach the GHF centre near the southern city of Rafah, which has largely been razed by the Israeli military, and close to a second GHF site in central Gaza.

Most of the casualties were taken to the Nasser hospital, which received more than 300 injured people. More than 200 patients were take to a Red Cross field hospital – the highest number received by the facility in one single mass casualty incident to date.

17 June

On the bloodiest day for weeks in Gaza, witnesses described scenes like “a horror movie” after Israeli forces fired towards a crowd waiting for UN trucks loaded with flour near Khan Younis in the south, killing at least 59 Palestinians and injuring hundreds more.

Gaza death graphic

Footage showed people carrying flour bags away from the scene before the IDF began shooting.

People carrying flour at food distribution site.

A short time later injured Palestinians were seen arriving at a hospital in Khan Younis.

The incident led to a temporary suspension of such convoys, exacerbating an acute lack of food in the devastated territory. Fuel, clean water, medical supplies and much else is also in short supply, with dire humanitarian consequences. An Israeli military spokesperson said troops followed international law and took feasible precautions to mitigate civilian harm.

18 June

Once again, vast crowds gathered to “self-distribute” flour loaded on to aid convoys in central Gaza, and once again they were fired on by Israeli troops. Reports put the death toll at 11. A series of airstrikes killed at least 24 Palestinians, including a nine-year-old boy, who died in the Bureij refugee camp.

19 June

Aid officials said an average of 23 UN trucks a day were entering Gaza through the main checkpoint of Kerem Shalom, but admitted most aid had been “self-distributed” by hungry Palestinians who stopped them, or was looted by organised gangs. Fifteen Palestinians waiting for aid were killed in central Gaza. Elsewhere, about 60 people were reported killed in a wave of airstrikes.

20 June

New displacement orders issued by the Israeli military sent thousands fleeing eastern parts of Gaza City. Elsewhere, at least 24 people waiting for aid were killed by Israeli fire, according to local health authorities, in addition to other deaths by airstrikes.

Marwan Abu Nasser, the director of al-Awda hospital in the town of Nuseirat, said his staff had dealt with 21 injured and 24 dead people. “The injuries were extremely severe, most of them in the chest and head. There were women, children and young people among the injured,” Abu Nasser said.

This footage shows scenes from a funeral in held in Gaza on 20 June.

This footage shows scenes from a funeral held on 20 June for Palestinians killed by the IDF.

21 June

The Israeli military retrieved the bodies of three Israeli hostages from the Gaza Strip. All had been killed on 7 October 2023 during the Hamas raid into Israel that triggered the war. Fifty Israeli and foreign nationals remain captive in Gaza, more than half of whom are thought to be dead.

23 June

Further displacement orders were issued by the Israeli military for parts of Khan Younis in advance of new operations. More than 80% of the territory in Gaza is now covered by such orders or held by Israeli troops. Israeli authorities said they had facilitated the entry of 430 trucks of humanitarian aid into Gaza over the previous seven days, a fraction of the 500 a day the UN estimates is needed.

Footage from Beit Lahiya in the far north of the territory showed people attempting to clamber on to aid trucks.

Crowds of people gather on and beside aid trucks in Gaza’s Beit Lahiya on 23 June

24 June

Another 25 Palestinians seeking aid were killed and dozens wounded when Israeli forces opened fire with bullets and tanks in Rafah, about 1.5 miles (2km) from a US-backed aid distribution point.

Medics in Gaza said they also received casualties from a second incident near the Netzarim corridor, a strategic road that separates the northern third of the territory and is partially held by Israeli troops.

Seven Israeli soldiers were killed in a Hamas attack in southern Gaza, in one of the most lethal such incidents for many months. The soldiers died when militants planted a bomb on their armoured vehicle in Khan Younis.

CNN
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Thailand’s embattled prime minister was suspended from duty Tuesday and could face dismissal pending an ethics probe over a leaked phone call she had with Cambodia’s powerful former leader.

Paetongtarn Shinawatra, 38, has only held the premiership for 10 months after replacing her predecessor, who was removed from office. Her suspension brings fresh uncertainty to the Southeast Asian kingdom, which has been roiled by years of political turbulence and leadership shake-ups.

Thailand’s Constitutional Court accepted a petition brought by a group of 36 senators who accused Paetongtarn of violating the constitution for breaching ethical standards in the leaked call, which was confirmed as authentic by both sides.

The court voted to suspend Paetongtarn from her prime ministerial duties until it reaches a verdict in the ethics case. Paetongtarn will remain in the Cabinet as culture minister following a reshuffle.

Paetongtarn has faced increasing calls to resign, with anti-government protesters taking to the streets of the capital Bangkok on Saturday, after the leaked call with Cambodia’s Hun Sen over an escalating border dispute sparked widespread anger in the country.

The scandal prompted the Bhumjaithai party, a major partner of the prime minister’s government, to withdraw from the coalition last week, dealing a major blow to her Pheu Thai party’s ability to hold power. Paetongtarn is also contending with plummeting approvals ratings and faces a no-confidence vote in parliament.

In the leaked call, which took place on June 15, Paetongtarn could be heard calling former Cambodian strongman Hun Sen “uncle” and appeared to criticize her own army’s actions after border clashes led to the death of a Cambodian soldier last month.

The Thai prime minister could be heard telling Hun Sen that she was under domestic pressure and urged him not to listen to the “opposite side,” in which she referred to an outspoken Thai army commander in Thailand’s northeast.

She also added that if Hun Sen “wants anything, he can just tell me, and I will take care of it.”

Her comments in the leaked audio struck a nerve in Thailand, and opponents accused her of compromising the country’s national interests.

Following the ruling, Paetongtarn said she accepts the court’s decision and that her intention “was truly to act for the good of the country.”

“I want to make it clear that my intentions were more than 100% sincere — I acted for the country, to protect our sovereignty, to safeguard the lives of our soldiers, and to preserve peace in our nation,” she said in a press conference Tuesday.

“I also want to apologize to all my fellow Thais who may feel uneasy or upset about this matter,” she added.

Thailand and Cambodia have had a complicated relationship of both cooperation and rivalry in recent decades. The two countries share a 508-mile (817-kilometer) land border – largely mapped by the French while they occupied Cambodia – that has periodically seen military clashes and been the source of political tensions.

In the wake of the scandal, Paetongtarn tried to downplay her remarks to Hun Sen, saying at a press conference she was trying to diffuse tensions between the two neighbors and the “private” call “shouldn’t have been made public.”

The prime minister said she was using a “negotiation tactic” and her comments were “not a statement of allegiance.”

Paetongtarn became prime minister last year after the Constitutional Court ruled that her predecessor Srettha Thavisin had breached ethics rules and voted to dismiss him as prime minister.

The same court also dissolved the country’s popular progressive Move Forward Party, which won the most seats in the 2023 election, and banned its leaders from politics for 10 years.

The United States on Monday announced the approval of a $510 million sale to Israel of bomb guidance kits and related support, after Israel expended significant munitions in its recent conflict with Iran.

“The proposed sale will enhance Israel’s capability to meet current and future threats by improving its ability to defend Israel’s borders, vital infrastructure, and population centers,” the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) said in a statement.

“The United States is committed to the security of Israel, and it is vital to US national interests to assist Israel to develop and maintain a strong and ready self-defense capability,” it added.

The State Department approved the possible sale and the DSCA has provided the required notification to the US Congress, which still needs to sign off on the transaction.

Israel launched an unprecedented air campaign on June 13 targeting Iranian nuclear sites, scientists and top military brass in a bid to end the country’s nuclear program, which Tehran says is for civilian purposes but Washington and other powers insist is aimed at acquiring atomic weapons.

Trump had spent weeks pursuing a diplomatic path to replace the nuclear deal with Tehran that he tore up in 2018 during his first term, but he ultimately decided to take military action, ordering US strikes on Iranian nuclear sites.

A ceasefire brought the war to a halt last week, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to prevent Tehran from ever rebuilding its nuclear facilities, raising the prospect of a future conflict.

Is the “big, beautiful” India-US trade deal slipping out of reach?

With just days to go before a 9 July deadline set by US President Donald Trump’s administration, hopes of clinching an interim trade pact between Delhi and Washington remain alive but increasingly entangled in hard bargaining.

Despite White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt hinting that the deal was imminent, and Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s upbeat assertion that Delhi would welcome “a big, good, beautiful” agreement – in response to Trump’s claim that a trade deal with Delhi is coming and would “open up” the Indian market – negotiators remain locked in tough discussions.

Key sticking points persist, particularly over agricultural access, auto components and tariffs on Indian steel.

Indian trade officials have extended their stay in Washington for another round of talks, even as Delhi signals “very big red lines” on farm and dairy protections, and the US presses for wider market openings. The tone remains optimistic – but the window to strike a deal appears to be narrowing.

“The next seven days could determine whether India and the US settle for a limited ‘mini-deal’ or walk away from the negotiating table – at least for now,” says Ajay Srivastava, a former Indian trade official who runs Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI), a Delhi-based think tank.

That uncertainty hinges on a few key flashpoints – none more contentious than agriculture.

“There are two real challenges to concluding an initial agreement. First on the list is US access to the Indian market for basic agriculture products. India will need to protect its basic agriculture sector for economic and political reasons,” Richard Rossow, who tracks India’s economy at Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies, told the BBC.

For years, Washington has pushed for greater access to India’s farm sector, seeing it as a major untapped market. But India has fiercely protected it, citing food security, livelihoods and interests of millions of small farmers.

Mr Rossow says the “second issue is India’s non-tariff barriers. Issues like India’s growing set of ‘Quality Control Orders’ (QCO) are significant obstacles to US market access and may prove tricky to meaningfully handle in a trade deal”.

The US has raised concerns over what it calls India’s growing and burdensome import-quality rules. Over 700 QCOs – part of the “self-reliant India” push – aim to curb low-quality imports and promote domestic manufacturing. Suman Berry, a senior member of a government think tank Niti Aayog, has also called these rules a “malign intervention” that restrict imports and raise costs for domestic medium and small scale industries.

The elephant in the room is farm exports. India-US farm trade remains modest at $8bn, with India exporting rice, shrimp and spices, and the US sending nuts, apples and lentils. But as trade talks progress, Washington is eyeing bigger farm exports – maize, soya bean, cotton and corn – to help narrow its $45bn trade deficit with India.

Experts fear tariff concessions could pressure India to weaken its minimum support prices (MSP) and public procurement – key protections that shield farmers from price crashes by guaranteeing fair prices and stable crop purchases.

“No tariff cuts are expected for dairy products or key food grains like rice and wheat, where farm livelihoods are at stake. These categories are politically and economically sensitive, affecting over 700 million people in India’s rural economy,” says Mr Srivastava.

Curiously, a recent Niti Aayog paper recommends tariff cuts on US farm imports – including rice, dairy, poultry, corn, apples, almonds and GM soya – under a proposed India-US trade pact. It’s unclear, however, whether the proposal reflects official government thinking or remains a policy suggestion on paper.

“If the US were to say ‘no deal’ if India does not include access on basic agriculture, then clearly American expectations were not set correctly. Any democratically-elected government will have political limits to commercial policy choices,” says Mr Rossow.

So what could happen with the deal now?

Experts like Mr Srivastava believe that the “more likely outcome is a limited trade pact” – styled after the US-UK mini trade deal announced on 8 May.

Under the proposed deal, India may cut tariffs on a range of industrial goods – including automobiles, a long-standing US demand – and offer limited agricultural access via tariff cuts and quotas on select products like ethanol, almonds, walnuts, apples, raisins, avocados, olive oil, spirits and wine.

Beyond tariff cuts, the US is likely to push India for large-scale commercial buys – from oil and LNG to Boeing aircraft, helicopters and nuclear reactors. Washington may also seek FDI easing in multi-brand retail, benefiting firms like Amazon and Walmart, and relaxed rules on re-manufactured goods.

“This ‘mini-deal’, if concluded, would therefore focus on tariff reductions and strategic commitments, leaving broader FTA issues – including services trade, intellectual property (IP) rights and digital regulations – for a future negotiation,” says Mr Srivastava.

At the start, the India-US trade talks appeared to be grounded in a clear and fair vision.

“The two leaders [Trump and Modi] laid out a simple concept in their first summit this year. The US would focus on manufactured goods that are capital-intensive, while India would focus on items that are labour-intensive,” says Mr Rossow. But things appear to have changed since.

If talks fail, Trump is unlikely to reinstate the 26% tariffs on India, experts believe.

While 57 countries faced these levies in April, only the UK has secured a deal so far. Targeting India specifically could seem unfair. “Still, with Trump, surprises can’t be ruled out,” says Mr Srivastava.