England braces for flooding as thunderstorms forecast in parts of UK

• El Niño-driven drought conditions in Djibouti have left 256,000 people—approximately 25% of the population—acutely food insecure through December. • Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher has allocated $2 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund to address the crisis.

Moscow recruits an estimated 1,000 people a day, but officials say it cannot keep up with its level of casualtiesRussia is losing about 6,000 more troops in Ukraine each month than it can recruit, western officials have said.While Russia is still acquiring new battlefield recruits at speed, with an estimated rate of 1,000 a day, in the last two months even this has not been sufficient to replace those killed or injured. Continue reading...

Campaigners say ‘seismic shift’ follows years of pressure to sever ties with oil and gas firmThe London Science Museum has ended its decades-long partnership with the oil and gas company BP in what has been described as a “seismic shift” for the museum.The Science Museum Group academy, which was established in 2018 to provide training and resources, announced on Friday that it would be ending its partnership with BP. In a statement, the director and chief executive of the Science Museum Group, Sir Ian Blatchford, said the partnership had “drawn to a close at the end of the current contract term”. Continue reading...

New guidance by world’s top cardiovascular health groups upgrades types of attacks that primarily affect womenDoctors have agreed the world’s first universal definition of a heart attack, paving the way for millions of women to finally receive better treatment after decades of being “deprioritised”.In one of the biggest procedural shakeups in a generation, the world’s four leading cardiovascular health groups have signed off on new guidance for healthcare professionals when seeing suspected heart attack patients. Continue reading...

Experts say imported eggs served in cafes and restaurants may be behind hundreds of infections and one deathSalmonella cases in the UK are expected to rise until the common source is identified, something that is notoriously difficult to establish, experts have warned.There have been 474 confirmed cases and one death linked to the current outbreak, according to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), with the latest investigations suggesting it is associated with eating imported eggs in cafes and restaurants. Continue reading...

Critics call move to gain long-term access to country’s massive energy reserves ‘predatory’ and ‘unconstitutional’Reports that the US is preparing to claim a big stake in Venezuela’s massive energy reserves have sparked an outcry, with critics describing the move as “predatory” and “unconstitutional”.Several media outlets this week reported that the Trump administration – which abducted Venezuela’s authoritarian president, Nicolás Maduro, in January and has steered the South American country ever since – hopes to secure long-term access to its oil and gasfields. Continue reading...

However, Kevin Warsh didn’t say if interest rates would change in coming months, as inflation remains stubbornThe US Federal Reserve is not done fighting high inflation, its chair, Kevin Warsh, said in his first major speech in the role on Friday, emphasizing that it is “the Fed’s job to deliver stable prices”.Warsh did not indicate where the Fed will take interest rates in the coming months, despite US inflation remaining stubbornly above the central bank’s 2% target amid the war in Iran. But his speech was taken by markets as a signal that rates may rise in the coming months, a move that may put him at odds with Donald Trump, who has aggressively called for rates to be cut. Continue reading...

Officials said Tyrin Johnson turned toward guard members with gun while running as report shows he was shot in backTennessee national guard members assigned to a federal anti-crime taskforce in Memphis fatally shot an armed 20-year-old man in the back, according to an autopsy report obtained by the Associated Press, contradicting police accounts that said the man was facing the troops when they fired.Authorities have said that Tyrin Johnson turned toward guard members with a gun while running from them in the early morning hours after the Fourth of July holiday in Memphis when he was fatally shot in the chest. Continue reading...

President faces criticism over plan to import up to 300,000 metric tons of foreign beef without charging higher tariffsDonald Trump has pledged to allow cattle ranchers and farmers to process their own food amid a backlash from the US agricultural sector over his decision to pause US tariffs on foreign beef.The US president has been sharply criticized, including from members of his own party, since announcing the US will temporarily import up to 300,000 metric tons of foreign beef without charging higher tariffs in a bid to bring down prices. Continue reading...

State to offer up to 5,000 trappers chance to snare reptiles whose numbers have risen to 3m from fewer than 100,000The first recreational alligator hunt in Louisiana in more than half a century is about to commence in the swamps of that state, with up to 5,000 hopeful trappers facing strict rules in order to snare a reptile.The state’s fish and wildlife commission banned alligator hunting in 1962 to allow the species to recover after decades of unregulated killings for meat and hides dropped numbers there to below 100,000. Continue reading...

Weather system is forecast to approach the Leeward Islands this weekend and may produce flash floodingTropical Storm Dolly is moving quickly across the Atlantic Ocean toward the Leeward Islands and is expected to bring significant rainfall to parts of the Caribbean this weekend, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said on Friday morning.Dolly, which formed on Thursday, had maximum sustained winds of near 40mph (65km/h) with higher gusts as of Friday. Continue reading...