West

109 million people face another day of poor air quality as smoke from blazes in Ontario drifts over the USSign up for the Breaking News US newsletter email Tens of millions of Americans face another day of smoky skies, irritated eyes and bad air quality, as Canadian wildfire smoke spread again over huge swathes of the US, affecting around 109 million people across the midwest, mid-Atlantic and north-east.The pungent wildfire blanketed cities such as Chicago and Detroit, where residents on Friday were warned to stay indoors and reduce activity levels after the air quality index reached a “hazardous” 361, according to the government website AirNow. Continue reading...

Few know who will get top jobs when new PM enters No 10 and the vacuum of information has its downsidesAs Labour MPs filed out of Portcullis House on the last day before parliament rose – and Andy Burnham ascends – one said they were struggling with a metaphor for how concentrated Burnham’s power had become. Flailing for something that did not sound insulting, he gave up and likened Burnham’s absolute control to North Korea’s Kim dynasty.It is a very congenial and receptive kind of dictatorship. But never in British politics has such power been concentrated in the hands of such a tiny number of individuals. Never in British politics have so many of Labour’s biggest beasts had so little influence or leverage. Continue reading...

Adaptation to frightening new normal and reducing emissions further and faster is critical, scientists warnDozens of people drowned, hundreds had to be rescued and thousands were displaced when floods struck the coasts of west Africa last month.Now scientists have concluded that the rains that caused the floods were supercharged by climate breakdown. Global heating, they say, turned what should have been a routine weather event into a climate catastrophe. Continue reading...

Worse-than-expected expansion of 4.3% in three months to June comes amid concerns over lopsided economyBusiness live – latest updatesChina has posted worse-than-expected growth figures for the three months to June, with the economy expanding just 4.3% – one of its lowest quarterly readings on record.The rate, which came in under the government’s target of 4.5-5%, was one of the weakest since reporting on official quarterly GDP figures began in the early 1990s. Continue reading...

• External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar met with UN Secretary-General António Guterres to discuss critical global developments, specifically focusing on the conflicts in West Asia and Ukraine. • The discussions emphasized India's commitment to "Shanti" (peace) and humanitarian relief efforts in response to global instability and natural disasters. • The meeting reinforced Prime Minister Narendra Modi's June 2023 stance to the US Congress that the current era should be defined by dialogue and diplomacy rather than war.

• External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar met with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in New York on July 14 to discuss critical global instabilities. • The high-level talks focused on ongoing conflicts in West Asia, Ukraine, and Sudan, highlighting the need for international stability. • During the meeting, India formally launched its strategic campaign to secure a non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) for the 2028–2029 term.

The pilot, who had taken up the Piper Tomahawk to test a replacement part, wrote the message at around 1,100 feetA mischievous airline pilot spelled out his tedium by skywriting “I’m bored” over an estuary in north-west England.The message was captured on the airline tracking website Flight Radar 24. Continue reading...

• Anthropic has named UST as its second Global Premier Partner, aiming to help enterprises transition AI projects from proof-of-concept to full production scale. • Databricks shared insights from its 5th Genie hackathon, detailing how its AI agents manage natural language queries and multi-step workflows for data analytics. • Meta released Muse Spark 1.1, a new model optimized for coding and agentic tasks, which includes a paid API tier for developers.

Higher temperatures can cause radio, TV and microwave signals to travel hundreds of miles farther, upsetting communicationsIt was 3am in north-east Indiana’s Huntington county when the outdoor emergency alarm went off on 1 July.The only issue? There wasn’t a storm, tornado or any other emergency weather event forecast or present anywhere for hundreds of miles. Continue reading...

Man in 20s also found with stab injuries after incident over which 44-year-old is being held on suspicion of murderA man has been arrested after a 24-year-old woman was killed and a man in his 20s was injured in a stabbing in west London, police have said.Officers found the woman with stab injuries after being called to a property on Uxbridge Road in Hayes on Sunday morning. The man in his 20s was found outside the property with stab injuries, with police awaiting an update on his condition. Continue reading...

Prof Channa Jayasena says growing online sales of unregulated drugs risk fatalities as responsibility falls between regulatorsFitness influencers linked to wellness brand helping run illegal steroid market on TelegramThe UK has become a “wild west” for people peddling experimental peptides, steroids and other substances, a leading expert has said, warning action must be taken to avoid fatalities.Prof Channa Jayasena of Imperial College London, a consultant in reproductive endocrinology and andrology at Hammersmith and St Mary’s hospitals, said he is now encountering patients “day in, day out” who are taking experimental peptides. Continue reading...

Ro Khanna said settlers were armed with US-made weapons and Israel Defense Forces refused to interveneThe US congressman Ro Khanna says armed Israeli settlers detained him during a visit to the Israel-occupied West Bank recently, describing the experience as a first-hand view of the realities faced by Palestinians living under occupation.In an interview with Reuters on Thursday from a Palestinian village, the progressive US House Democrat from California said his detention happened the previous day while his delegation visited an area of the southern West Bank that has experienced repeated attacks by Israeli settlers. Continue reading...

Vigilantes also took part in the fight that raged all night and the following morning, residents sayNigerian soldiers killed more than 300 members of kidnapping and cattle bandit gangs in the north-western state of Zamfara this week, according to a government official.Government troops targeted the gangs in Gummi district in a two-day operation that “led to the elimination of more than 300 terrorists”, Zamfara’s information commissioner, Mahmud Muhammad Dantawasa, said in a statement. Continue reading...

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi emphasized that global conflicts, specifically the current military escalation in West Asia, can only be resolved through diplomacy and dialogue. • During discussions with Australian leadership, both nations called for restraint, the adherence to international law, and the maintenance of uninterrupted energy supplies. • The meeting highlighted the India-Australia partnership as a critical stabilizing force in an increasingly uncertain and volatile global geopolitical landscape.

Britain expands heat alerts while estimates suggest June’s death toll could surpass 20,000 across continentThe UK is sweltering through the peak of its third heatwave of the year as countries around Europe struggle to recover from an early onslaught of baking summer heat.Punishing temperatures pushed higher by fossil fuel pollution have broken records across the continent in recent weeks. Western Europe experienced its hottest June on record, scientists confirmed on Thursday, accompanied by high global ocean temperatures that could cause “mass-mortality events” for some species. Continue reading...

• India has expressed deep concern regarding escalating tensions in West Asia, specifically citing recent attacks on commercial shipping as a threat to regional peace. • The Indian government is urging all involved parties to exercise restraint and return to diplomatic dialogue to resolve ongoing conflicts. • This stance emphasizes the critical need to safeguard civilian lives, maintain maritime security, and ensure the uninterrupted flow of global energy supply chains.

• India's Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has urged all parties in West Asia to exercise restraint and de-escalate tensions following a surge in regional conflict. • The statement follows warnings from US President Donald Trump regarding potential strikes on Iran after he declared a ceasefire over due to Iranian attacks. • India emphasized the need to protect civilians and ensure the uninterrupted flow of global commerce and energy supplies, which are critical to regional stability.

Temperatures across ravaged region 3C above average as scientists warn of risks for people, ecosystems and infrastructureRecord wildfires in Europe show failure to adapt carries a mounting costWestern Europe has been scorched by its hottest June on record, scientists have said, as the UK enters its third heatwave of the year and wildfires ravage France and Spain.Inflamed by carbon pollution, the deadly June heatwave helped push surface air temperatures for the region 3.06C above their average from recent decades, according to the EU’s Copernicus climate monitoring service. Continue reading...

• The United States has launched military strikes against Iran following attacks on commercial shipping vessels in the Strait of Hormuz. • The escalation has led to missile strikes targeting Bahrain and Kuwait, significantly increasing tensions across West Asia. • This surge in hostilities raises immediate fears of a wider regional conflict involving multiple nations and global superpowers.

Experts say the critical reservoir system is careening toward a breaking point as the US west’s climate warms and driesLake Powell, US’s second-largest reservoir, threatens to plunge to unprecedentedly low levels this year after a historically bleak snowpack failed to raise its water level, scientists and water experts have said, adding renewed urgency to stalled talks over how to conserve a water source depended on by tens of millions of people in the US south-west.The 185-mile Colorado River reservoir currently stands at about 23% of its capacity, or roughly 5.6m acre-feet. Lake Powell fell below that level for a few months three years ago. But those 2023 levels were recorded in the winter, when the reservoir straddling the Utah-Arizona border hits its lowest ebb. Spring runoff carried the level back up to 9.6m acre-feet by June, according to data from the US Bureau of Reclamation. Continue reading...

Border police officer under investigation after CCTV footage shows him shouting at car’s occupants and throwing deviceIsraeli police have opened an investigation after CCTV footage showed a border police officer throwing a stun grenade into a car carrying young Palestinians during a raid on the Qalandiya refugee camp in the occupied West Bank.The footage from Sunday, released by the Israeli rights group B’Tselem, shows an officer approaching a car and shouting at its occupants. Continue reading...

• Nearly 100 Trinamool Congress (TMC) councillors resigned from municipal bodies across West Bengal within weeks of the state assembly election results. • This mass exodus is described as a distinct and unprecedented decline for the ruling party, differing from the historical patterns of previous political shifts in the state. • The trend signals a potential crisis in leadership and stability for the TMC as it faces internal fragmentation and loss of local governance control.

With voters embracing leaders who brazenly monetise public office, experts say an ethical code is breaking downDonald Trump came to office in 2017 after decades of bankruptcies and business failures. Yes, he was rich, but his latest financial disclosure, published this week, suggests he will depart billions richer.In the first year of his second term, he made more than $2bn from Trump hotels, Trump golf courses, Trump cryptocurrency, Trump watches, Trump cologne, Trump Bibles and more. Continue reading...

State Labor conference expected to pass a motion which would commit to 50% of machines being removed from operation in next 10 yearsGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastNew South Wales premier Chris Minns will take a tougher stance on poker machines to the next election after being pushed to adopt the approach by the party’s left.A motion expected to pass the NSW Labor conference with unanimous support on Sunday afternoon will add a plan to to take “decisive action” on problem gambling and the growing use of poker machines to its policy platform, amid surging profits for operators and accusations of inaction on reform. Continue reading...

• Indian travelers are increasingly choosing Asian destinations such as Thailand, Vietnam, and Japan for their summer holidays instead of traveling to Europe. • This shift is primarily driven by rising airfares to European cities and geopolitical instability in West Asia, which has complicated traditional travel routes. • The trend highlights a growing preference for shorter, more affordable trips and the convenience of visa-friendly policies offered by Asian nations.

Well-preserved fourth-century quarters reveal details of daily life, urban development and economic activitiesArchaeologists in Egypt have uncovered a well-preserved Byzantine-era city in the western desert.The fourth-century quarters had residential and religious structures, including a basilica-style church in the Dakhla oasis. Archaeologists also found coins, pottery fragments and tools. Continue reading...

• The 7th Western Digital Economy Expo (WDEE Expo) concluded on June 28 in Xi'an, China, focusing on the theme of digital convergence and smart innovation. • The event featured representatives from over 30 Chinese cities, 119 leading digital economy companies, and international delegations from Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, and Cambodia. • The expo highlights Xi'an's strategic transition from an ancient capital to a modern "Digital Silk Road" hub, emphasizing the integration of industrial and digital sectors.

• The European Union is set to reallocate reform funding within the Western Balkans to prioritize "frontrunner" nations. • Financial support will be redirected toward Montenegro, Albania, and North Macedonia, as these countries are meeting reform deadlines more effectively than their neighbors. • This shift highlights a growing disparity in the pace of accession progress, rewarding states that demonstrate commitment to EU standards.