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AFP

Europe

AS MUCH of Europe bakes in a third heatwave since last month, fears are growing that extreme drought driven by climate change in the continent’s breadbasket nations will dent stable crop yields and deepen the cost-of-living crisis.

The European Commission has urged EU member states to re-use treated urban wastewater as irrigation on the continent’s parched farms after France and parts of England and The Netherlands saw their driest July on record.

Wildfires have also burned the second-largest area on record, even though the region is only halfway through its typical fire season, according to data from the EU’s Joint Research Centre.

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AFP and Reuters

Finland

FINLAND’S customs service said it had caught several travellers carrying drones and other sanctioned goods across the border with Russia that could boost Moscow’s “industrial and military capabilities”.

Finland is debating restrictions on Russian visas following Moscow’s February 24 invasion of Ukraine that led to Western sanctions.

More than 2 500 checks were carried out between July 22 and 27 and around 100 such cases emerged, the Finnish customs service said this week. |

CHINA fired ballistic missiles and deployed fighter jets and warships on Thursday as it held its largest military exercises around Taiwan, a show of force sparked by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to the island.

Pelosi was the highest-profile US official to visit Taiwan in years, defying a series of stark threats from Beijing, which views the self-ruled island as its territory.

In retaliation, China launched a series of exercises in multiple zones around Taiwan, straddling some of the busiest shipping lanes in the world and at some points just 20km from the island’s shore.

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Hong Kong

HONG Kong’s new leader John Lee received a salary bump that would make him among the world’s highest-paid politicians, according to figures provided by his office this week, even as the financial hub’s economy experiences a downturn.

The former security chief, who assumed office last month, is paid HK$452 200 (about R970 000) a month, and will receive an allowance of over HK$78 500 as well, his office said. |

AFP