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Paris, Aug 31 (IANS) France witnessed the second hottest summer since 1900, according to the country's meteorological service.

Meteorologists from Meteo-France said on Thursday that the months of June, July and August of this year, the national average temperature will probably be 2.3 degrees Celsius above the reference value, dpa news agency reported.

This was the second hottest summer in the country since 1900, after an even hotter summer in 2003.

According to Meteo-France, the country had suffered from three heatwaves in the past three months which it described as particularly intense and long.

Overall, these heatwaves would have lasted 33 days, a record.

Temperature records were also broken in various places in the country.

According to the data, there was significantly less rain in France this summer.

The national average was around 20 per cent below the average for the years 1991 to 2020.

Due to climate change, there are more hot days.

According to the weather service, France has been struggling with more and stronger heatwaves for the last few decades.

Drought will also be exacerbated by climate change as hot temperatures lead to evaporation.

The weather experts warned in their statement that a summer like this one could become normal in France after 2050 if high emissions continue.

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Paris, Aug 31 (IANS) France is looking into building a pipeline from the Iberian peninsula to the south of the country in a bid to open up new energy sources in the absence of natural gas from Russia.

"Spain and Germany are two close partners of France; if they make a proposal, we will examine it," dpa news agency quoted Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire as saying here on Tuesday.

So far, France, which relies heavily on nuclear power, has been cautious about reviving the Midcat natural gas pipeline, which was shut down in 2017 as it was unprofitable.

The Midcat pipeline is to run from Barcelona across the Pyrenees to a connecting point with the French grid in Barbairan in southern France.

In Spain, the pipeline is complete as far as Hostalric, 106 km south of the border; in France, around 120 km are missing.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, like the Spanish government, had already campaigned for the construction of the pipeline to open up new energy sources in view of the war in Ukraine and a possible end to Russian gas supplies.

Spain sees this as a project of European importance, which it says must also be financed by the EU.

The natural gas that is to flow north through the pipe could be obtained from different sources in Spain and Portugal, since both countries together have a total of seven LNG terminals.

There are also two pipelines to the gas supplier Algeria in North Africa.

Later, as part of the energy transition, so-called green hydrogen, which is generated with the help of wind or sun, could also be passed through.

So far there are only two smaller gas pipelines from Spain across the Pyrenees to the north with limited capacity.

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Berlin, Aug 31 (IANS) An administrative court in the German capital Berlin has declared the expulsion of a convicted Islamic State (IS) extremist to be legal.

The judges confirmed a decision by the immigration authorities, a court spokesman said on Tuesday.

An Iraqi national who had been sentenced by the Berlin Court of Appeal in June 2021 to a youth sentence of several years for a war crime, aiding and abetting murder and membership of a terrorist organization had filed a complaint, reports dpa news agency.

He is due to be released from prison next year.

The judges have now decided that the man continues to pose a threat to Germany.

The judgement is not yet final.

From the point of view of the administrative court, the fact that the plaintiff has not recently shown any radical Islamist tendencies does not change the assessment of his remaining dangerousness.

In June, the Court of Appeal found that the plaintiff continued to commit serious violent crimes after entering Germany, intimidated witnesses and distributed video images of an execution.

The man had been on trial with his father for war crimes in their homeland for around two and a half years.

In the summer of 2021, the two were sentenced. A life sentence was imposed on the then 45-year-old. The then 22-year-old son received a youth sentence of five years and 10 months.

Although the verdict is not yet final, the man is still in custody.

According to court findings, the men joined the IS in their home town of Mosul in 2014 and took part in the public execution of a prisoner in October 2014.

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Washington, Aug 31 (IANS) The number of people infected with monkeypox in the US has crossed 18,000, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

A total of 18,101 positive cases have been confirmed so far, dpa news agency quoted the CDC as saying in its latest update on Tuesday.

A total of 2,916 new confirmed cases were reported in the country in the last seven days.

Although the numbers are still on the rise nationally, the speed of the outbreak is apparently slowing down, the CDC says.

With 3,291 cases, California is the worst-affected state, followed by New York (3,197) and Florida (1,870).

Since the first case of the infectious viral disease was confirmed in the US on May 18, cases spread across more than 60 jurisdictions in the country.

The US has the world's highest number of monkeypox cases.

On August 4, the CDC declared monkeypox a public health emergency.

Later, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had announced the Emergency Use Authorization of the JYNNEOS vaccine to be administered intradermally in individuals 18 years of age and older.

The White House National Monkeypox Response team announced a series of actions to further accelerate the administration's response to the outbreak and mitigate the spread of the virus.

The LGBTQI+ community, especially men who have sex with men, is said to be most at risk of contracting the virus.

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Tel Aviv, Aug 31 (IANS) An Israeli court has sentenced a Palestinian employee of the World Vision aid organization to 12 years in prison.

Time already served should be deducted, the district court in Beersheva ruled on Tuesday.

Mohammed el-Halabi has been in prison for six years and was also sentenced to an additional 18 months of probation, reports dpa news agency.

The court found el-Halabi guilty in June because he had sent aid money to Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip.

He was also found guilty of other charges, including membership in a terrorist organization and illegal possession of weapons.

Israel arrested el-Halabi in June 2016. He was accused of diverting millions in aid to the Hamas organization.

In court, however, he pleaded not guilty to all counts.

According to media reports, his lawyer wants to appeal the verdict.

After the arrest, World Vision stopped working in the Gaza Strip and 120 employees were laid off.

In the previous 10 years, the Christian organisation said it had invested around 20 million euros in more than 50 projects along the coast.

Among other things, it provided food parcels, psychological assistance and support for pregnant women.

Germany and Australia stopped their payments to World Vision in Gaza in the face of the allegations. However, an external investigation commissioned by the aid organization did not reveal any irregularities.

The Islamist Hamas seized power in the Gaza Strip by force in 2007.

It is classified as a terrorist organization by the US, the EU and Israel.

Some 2 million people live in precarious conditions in the blocked coastal area.

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Moscow, Aug 31 (IANS) The prosecution in the espionage trial of former Russian journalist Ivan Safronov has demanded a 24-year prison sentence, a court in Moscow said.

According to investigators, the 32-year-old shared confidential information about arms deals and operations of the Russian armed forces in Africa and the Middle East to foreign intelligence services, reports dpa news agency.

Safronov's lawyer rejected the accusations at the start of the trial and explained that the journalist had only used publicly accessible sources.

Safronov was arrested more than two years ago and has been in prison ever since.

He used to write about military and security issues for the newspapers Kommersant and Vedomosti.

Before his arrest, he also worked for the Russian space agency Roscosmos.

According to a lawyers' association, a representative of the prosecution offered Safronov the prospect of 12 years in prison if the former journalist admitted his guilt.

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Moscow, Aug 31 (IANS) Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed his deepest sympathy upon hearing of the death of former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.

Putin would be sending a telegram of condolence to the Gorbachev family on Wednesday morning, Peskov added on late Tuesday evening as quoted by dpa news agency report.

The former Soviet leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate died in Moscow on Tuesday at the age of 91 from complications arising from illness and old age, according to the Interfax news agency.

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Moscow, Aug 31 (IANS) Mikhail Gorbachev, Russian Nobel Peace laureate and the final leader of the Soviet Union, has died in Moscow at the age of 91.

"This evening, after a serious and long illness, Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev died," the Central Clinical Hospital (CCH) in the Russian capital announced late on Tuesday.

The statesman is to be buried next to his wife in Moscow's Novodevichy Cemetery, the burial place of many of Russia's most famous politicians, writers and composers.

The internationally respected statesman was often credited for bringing the Cold War to a peaceful end and for his instrumental role in German reunification. East Germans in particular still revere "Gorbi," as the man who brought them freedom over three decades ago.

In the 1980s, under Gorbachev's leadership, the Soviet Union concluded groundbreaking treaties with the United States on nuclear disarmament and arms control, while at home, Gorbachev initiated an unprecedented reform process with his policies of "glasnost" (openness) and "perestroika" (restructuring), which brought unprecedented freedom to millions of people.

In 1990, Gorbachev received the Nobel Peace Prize for his courageous reforms. However, the massive economic upheavals that ensued across the Soviet Union ultimately led to the collapse of the 15-nation communist empire and to Gorbachev's own political downfall, when the country he led ceased to exist in 1991.

A large part of the Russian population always saw the former party and state leader as the gravedigger of the Soviet Union -- and as a politician without an instinct for power, and Gorbachev was never to enjoy the massive popularity he had in the West in his homeland.

Gorbachev resigned as President of the Soviet Union in 1991 as the vast state voted to dissolve itself, creating 15 independent new countries. Staunch Gorbachev critic Boris Yeltsin became an independent Russia's first president in the same year, and Gorbachev was largely written off as yesterday's man.

In the three decades between his fall from power and his death, however, Gorbachev made significant contributions to Russian civil society with his eponymous foundation advocating democratic values and a Russian rapprochement with the West.

Gorbachev also wrote numerous books, including, most recently, one about his disappointment with Germany and the West. Specifically, he lamented what he saw as Russia constantly being cast as the enemy.

Unable to attend the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall in autumn 2019 for health reasons, Gorbachev received regular hospital treatment in recent years.

Gorbachev was co-founder of the newspaper Novaya Gazeta, which is critical of the Kremlin and repeatedly exposes abuses in Russia. In recent years, Gorbachev had repeatedly called on Russian President Vladimir Putin not to further restrict the freedom of the media and elections.

Putin expressed his sympathies upon hearing of Gorbachev's death and would be sending a telegram of condolence to the Gorbachev family on Wednesday morning, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said late on Tuesday evening.

UN Secretary General António Guterres called Gorbachev a "one-of-a kind statesman who changed the course of history," in a statement expressing his condolences.

"He did more than any other individual to bring about the peaceful end of the Cold War," Guterres said.

Guterres noted that when Gorbachev received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990, he observed that "peace is not unity in similarity but unity in diversity". This was an insight he put into practice by pursuing negotiation, reform, transparency and disarmament, the UN chief said.

"The world has lost a towering global leader, committed multilateralist, and tireless advocate for peace," he added.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called Gorbachev a "trusted and respected leader".

"He played a crucial role to end the Cold War and bring down the Iron Curtain. It opened the way for a free Europe. This legacy is one we will not forget," she said.

Britain's outgoing Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was saddened to hear of Gorbachev's death. "In a time of Putin's aggression in Ukraine, his tireless commitment to opening up Soviet society remains an example to us all," he added.

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United Nations, Aug 31 (IANS) The UN Security Council has renewed the travel ban and asset freeze imposed on individuals and entities obstructing implementation of the Agreement on Peace and Reconciliation in Mali, until August 31, 2023.

Unanimously adopting resolution 2649, the 15-member Council also extended until September 30, 2023, the mandate of the Panel of Experts monitoring implementation of the sanctions, as well as the request encouraging the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in Mali to assist the panel, Xinhua news agency report.

"The situation in Mali continues to constitute a threat to international peace and security in the region," the Council said on Tuesday in the resolution.

The Council requested the Panel of Experts to provide a midterm report no later than February 28, 2023, a final report no later than August 15, 2023, and periodic updates in between.

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Islamabad, Aug 30 (IANS) UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has warned that Pakistan is facing a "monsoon on steroids" as the government issued more flood warnings for the next 24 hours, media reports said.

Heavy rains over two months have caused the worst flooding in more than a decade and damaged more than one million homes in Pakistan, The Guardian reported.

Guterres said on Tuesday that south Asia was a hotspot for the climate crisis and that the catastrophic flooding in Pakistan that has left tens of millions needing help was a warning to every nation of the destruction wreaked by human-caused global heating, The Guardian reported.

"The Pakistani people are facing a monsoon on steroids – the relentless impact of epochal levels of rain and flooding. It breaks my heart to see these generous people suffering so much," he said.

The UN has issued an urgent appeal for $160 million to provide help.

"People living in these [climate crisis] hotspots are 15 times more likely to die from climate impacts," Guterres said, adding, "As we continue to see more and more extreme weather events around the world, it is outrageous that climate action is being put on the back burner, putting all of us, everywhere, in growing danger."

In Pakistan, Balochistan and Sindh provinces have had more than four times the average rainfall of the last three decades.

Flash floods fuelled by the climate crisis have affected more than 33 million people, officials have said. The National Disaster Management Authority (NDA) said on Monday the death toll from the monsoon rains and floods in Pakistan had reached 1,136 – with 75 killed in the last 24 hours, The Guardian reported.

The NDMA said that more than 1m houses had been damaged. In an immediate warning issued on Tuesday, Pakistan's Flood Forecasting Division (FFD) said that over the next 24 hours a very high level of flooding was likely to continue in the Kabul River, which flows into Pakistan's Indus River.

The Indus highway, in Sindh, was submerged under two feet of water. The highway connects Sindh with Punjab and Balochistan provinces.

A video shared by residents showed a coach that had slipped on the highway while water was flowing and authorities were involved in the rescue of passengers. Local people say there were no casualties, The Guardian reported.

The local media reported that there was a rise in waterborne diseases in Sindh and other parts of Pakistan. In some parts of Sindh, there has been a 100 per cent increase in diseases.

The flash flood triggered by an abnormal monsoon has washed away bridges, roads, houses, livestock and people across the country.

--IANS
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