World news in brief
European heatwave sparks forest fires warning
France and Spain will face “extreme danger” from fires due to another scorching heatwave across western Europe this week, according to EU experts monitoring the situation. The Copernicus Emergency Management Service (EMS) has forecasted the highest threat level for forest fires for almost all of France and Spain on Thursday, with “high” or “very high” threat levels for much of Portugal, Italy, Belgium and Germany. Meanwhile, Belgium, Luxembourg and The Netherlands could see record temperatures this week with highs of 39C predicted across the three countries. The extreme weather comes less than a month after a record-breaking heatwave in June, which saw France record its hottest temperature ever (46C), followed by major wildfires in Portugal over the weekend. This year has already seen the hottest June on record, according to data by the Copernicus Climate Change Service.
A Copernicus EMS spokesperson said: “Over France, at least, we don’t recall seeing this proportion of the
country with extreme danger. Moreover, many of the areas north of the Loire river [around central France] are usually not prone to forest fires.” In response to an increased risk of forest fires in recent years, the EU launched the “rescEU” fleet of seven fire-fighting planes and six helicopters to tackle natural disasters. The rise in extreme weather, which has been linked to climate change, has made the wildfire season in Europe longer and more dangerous.
Zelensky set to form majority government in Ukraine
Volodymyr Zelensky’s habit of defying the odds has continued, with Ukrainian election authorities projecting an outright majority for the president’s Servant of the People party after Sunday’s parliamentary election. With 79.15 per cent of votes counted, Mr Zelensky’s party was on course for a total of 253 seats in parliament, comfortably beyond the 226 needed to form a government. The projected result, which concentrates executive and legislative powers in the hands of the former comedian, is a first for modern Ukraine. It means Mr Zelensky now has full control of his coalition and cabinet of ministers, and will be able to pick a prime minister of his own choosing. “Welcome to the new reality,” said Tatyana Slipachuk, Ukraine’s top election official.
Exit polls had indicated the former showman had performed well, and would at least be able to form a coalition with like-minded partners. But once counting began, it became clear Mr Zelensky’s party had disproportionally benefited from Ukraine’s mixed voting system, outperforming all other parties in firstpast-the-post constituencies. Balazs Jarabik, a nonresident scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said: “We know the road to EU integration is closed, and it’s also clear there can be no geopolitical return to Russia. Zelensky is going to have to come up with his own script.”
Flooding kills over 300 in South Asia as millions flee
More than 300 people have died and millions more have been displaced after severe flooding hit parts of India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan. The death toll in the region more than doubled in the past five days, despite heavy rains beginning to wane and water levels receding in some of the worst-affected areas. Downpours and overflowing rivers over the past fortnight have swamped vast swathes of eastern India, where officials yesterday said 102 people had died in Bihar state. At least 120 are missing and feared dead following severe floods and landslides in mostly mountainous Nepal, authorities said, while flash foods killed 23 people Pakistan last week. Torrential rains in Bangladesh have killed more than 47 people in the past two weeks, with at least 700,000 others forced to flee their homes. In India’s tea-growing state of Assam, close to the border of Bangladesh, severe flooding has displaced millions of people and killed more than 60. India’s weather office yesterday forecast “extremely heavy” rain in four of the 14 districts of the southern state of Kerala.
Police officer sacked for saying AOC should be shot
A Louisiana police officer has been sacked for suggesting Democrat congresswoman Alexandria OcasioCortez should be shot. Charlie Rispoli, a 14-year veteran of the police department in the city of Gretna, described Ms Ocasio-Cortez as a “vile idiot” in a Facebook post on Friday. Referring to her past work as a bartender, he added that the high-profile New York congresswoman “needs a round – and I don’t mean the kind she used to serve”. Fellow officer Angelo Varisco was also fired for “liking” the post, which included a fake story making it appear Ms Ocasio-Cortez said “we pay soldiers too much”. The terminations were announced by Gretna police chief Arthur Lawson at a press conference yesterday. “This incident, we feel, has been an embarrassment to our department,” he said. “These officers have certainly acted in a manner
which was unprofessional, alluding to a violent act be conducted against a sitting US [congresswoman], a member of our government. We are not going to tolerate that.” The police chief said the department had contacted Facebook to see whether any other officers were involved.
Ms Ocasio-Cortez suggested Donald Trump was to blame for the officer’s post. “This is Trump’s goal when he uses targeted language and threatens elected officials who don’t agree with his political agenda,” she tweeted yesterday “It’s authoritarian behavior. The President is sowing violence. He’s creating an environment where people can get hurt and he claims plausible deniability.”
Ronaldo will not face charges after being accused of rape
Prosecutors say they will not file criminal charges against footballer Cristiano Ronaldo, after he was accused of raping a woman after inviting her to his penthouse suite in Las Vegas in 2009. The Clark County District Attorney’s Office announced the decision yesterday, saying “the allegations of sexual assault against Cristiano Ronaldo cannot be proven beyond a reasonable doubt”. Kathryn Mayorga, a schoolteacher who was working as a model when she met the football player, accused Ronaldo of raping her in his room at the Palms Casino Resort in June of that year, shortly after they met in a nightclub. In a lawsuit filed in February, attorneys for Ms Mayorga said she was manipulated and put under pressure by Ronaldo’s “fixers” to agree to a $375,000 settlement in 2010. That deal came with a non-disclosure agreement, which her lawyers have attempted to void. Ronaldo’s lawyer acknowledged the existence of this settlement but said it was “by no means a confession of guilt”.
Ronaldo has adamantly denied the charge. A description of the Clark County DA’s office decision not to prosecute, obtained by TMZ, says Ms Mayorga “refused to identify him or disclose where the crime occurred” when she filed her initial report. “As a result, the police were unable to follow investigative protocols for sexual assault cases or to conduct any meaningful investigation,” the description continues. The criminal investigation is now closed.
Barcelona considers outdoors smoking ban
People will no longer be able to smoke in designated outdoor areas of bars and restaurants in Catalonia, under new proposals. Smoking in public places was banned in Spain in January 2011, although smokers were permitted to use the outside terraces of establishments. At the time, some business owners feared they would lose custom because of the rules, the Catalan News reported. However, health authorities in Catalonia, whose capital is Barcelona, now want to go one step further and eradicate smoking from all outdoor terraces of bars and restaurants in the region. Officials claim the law is often ignored by people using enclosed outdoor areas, and they plan to carry out inspections, The Guardian reports. It is understood the proposed changes could come into effect within the next year. Smoking could also be prohibited inside vehicles, open-air sports centres, bus shelters and train stations, under the new rules. The Spanish government is also planning to raise the cost of tobacco. According to Eurostat, the number of smokers in Spain has fallen to about 22 per cent. This is above the EU average of 18 per cent and the UK average of 13 per cent.