Rome Tens of millions of people were battling dangerously high temperatures around the world on Sunday as record heat forecasts hung over parts of the United States, Europe and Asia, in the latest example of the threat from global warming.

A powerful heatwave stretching from California to Texas was expected to peak, according to the US National Weather Service, which warned of an extremely hot and dangerous weekend.

Daytime highs were forecast to range between 10 and 20 degrees Fahrenheit above normal in the west.

Arizonas state capital Phoenix recorded 16 straight days above 109F (43 degrees Celsius), with residents facing temperatures of 111F on Saturday, en route to an expected 115F.

Californias Death Valley, one of the hottest places on Earth, is also likely to register new peaks on Sunday, with the mercury possibly rising to 130F (54C).

Authorities have been sounding the alarm, advising people to avoid outdoor activities in the daytime and to be wary of dehydration.

At a construction site outside Houston, Texas, a 28-year-old worker who gave his name only as Juan helped complete a wall in the blazing heat.

Just when I take a drink of water, I get dizzy, I want to vomit because of the heat, he told AFP.

The Las Vegas weather service warned that assuming high temperatures naturally come with the areas desert climate was a DANGEROUS mindset! This heatwave is NOT typical desert heat.

Southern California is fighting numerous wildfires, including one in Riverside County that has burned more than 7,500 acres (3,000 hectares) and prompted evacuation orders.

Further north, the Canadian government reported that wildfires had burned a record-breaking 10 million hectares this year, with more damage expected as the summer drags on.

Historic highs forecast

In Europe, Italy faces weekend predictions of historic highs with the health ministry issuing a red alert for 16 cities including Rome, Bologna and Florence.

The weather centre warned Italians to prepare for the most intense heatwave of the summer and also one of the most intense of all time.

The thermometer is likely to hit 40C in Rome by Monday and 43C on Tuesday, smashing the record of 40.5C set in August 2007.

The islands of Sicily and Sardinia could wilt under temperatures as high as 48C, the European Space Agency warned potentially the hottest temperatures ever recorded in Europe.

The Acropolis in Athens, one of Greeces top tourist attractions, will close during the hottest hours on Sunday, for the third day running.

In France, high temperatures and resulting drought are posing a threat to the farming industry, earning Agriculture Minister Marc Fesneau criticism from climatologists for having brushed aside conditions as normal enough for...

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) The Iraqi Prime Minister, Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani, started on Sunday an official visit to Syria to discuss bilateral ties and issues of common interest, according to a statement issued by the Prime Minister Office (PMO).

An official reception ceremony was held in the presidential palace in the Syrian capital, Damascus, where Al-Sudani was received by the Syrian President, Bashar Al-Assad, according to the statement.

The statement illustrated that the Iraqi Prime Minister headed the Iraqi delegation during the talks held with the Syrian side, headed by Al-Assad.

The discussions between both sides addressed ways to promote cooperation and partnership between Iraq and Syria in the fields of economy, transport, trade, tourism, water and ways to tackle the effects of climate change.

The discussions also included joint security coordination to combat terrorism and improve the security and stability of the two countries.

Iraqi-Syrian relations are witnessing positive developments and joint economic projects.

The Iraqi Foreign Minister, Fuad Hussein, mentioned last May that Iraq had actively contributed to Syrias return to its seat in the Arab League.

Hussein considered that Syrias return to its seat in the Arab League helps achieve security and stability in Syria and its neighboring countries.

The Iraqi Foreign Minister added that meetings with Syrian officials will continue until the reconstruction process is complete.

The post Iraqi PM pays official visit to Syria appeared first on Iraqi News.

Hodeida A rusting tanker containing more than a million barrels of oil has lain abandoned off the coast of war-torn Yemen since 2015, threatening a major environmental disaster if it breaks up or explodes.

On Sunday, a United Nations-owned super-tanker arrived for a delicate operation to pump the oil from the abandoned ship, the FSO Safer.

Here are some key facts:  

Blast risk

The 47-year-old Safer, long used as a floating oil storage platform, is moored off Yemens western port of Hodeida in the Red Sea, a key shipping route. It has not been serviced during Yemens eight-year civil war.

Lying about eight kilometres (five miles) from the coast, the Safer is carrying four times as much oil as was spilled in the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster off Alaska. 

The systems needed to pump inert gas into its tanks stopped working in 2017, raising the risk of an explosion. The UN and Greenpeace have described the vessel as a ticking time bomb.

The UN operation to transfer oil from the Safer and tow the ship to a scrap yard is budgeted at some $143 million.

The UN says it still needs an additional $22 million to tow the Safer to a recycling yard and safely tether the replacement vessel to ensure safe storage of the oil, until its eventual destination is decided.

$20bn spill?

In the event of a spill, the UN estimates clean-up costs could top $20 billion, with potentially catastrophic environmental, humanitarian and economic consequences.

A major spill would devastate fishing communities on Yemens Red Sea coast, instantly wiping out livelihoods for 200,000 people, according to the UN.

It could close desalination plants on the Red Sea, and shut the Hodeidah and Saleef ports - lifelines for bringing food, fuel and other vital supplies into Yemen, where most of the population depends on aid to survive.

The spill could reach Saudi Arabia, Eritrea, Djibouti and Somalia, and would produce highly polluted air over a large area, exposing whole communities to life-threatening toxins.

Maritime traffic through the Bab al-Mandab Strait to the Suez Canal, the route to the Mediterranean, could be disrupted, costing billions per day, the UN says. 

Disruptions and delays

Attempts to inspect the deteriorating ship have dragged on for years, with UN requests for access repeatedly declined by the Iran-backed Huthi rebels who control much of Yemens north including Hodeida port.

The Huthis, who have been fighting a Saudi-led coalition since 2015, have demanded guarantees that the value of the Safers oil would be handed over to pay the salaries of their employees.

In March last year, the Huthis signed a memorandum of understanding with the UN, establishing a framework for cooperation to facilitate the project.

Inspections finally kicked off on May 30...

Beirut The Syrian government recently announced it would allow aid to cross into rebel-held areas after a United Nations mechanism expired, sparking concerns from humanitarian groups.

They worry over the fate of residents in Syrias last remaining rebel strongholds, in the north and northwest, after the Security Council failed on Wednesday to extend the mechanism.

Under a 2014 deal, aid had largely passed through the Bab al-Hawa crossing with Turkey without the authorisation of Damascus.

But expiry of the UN mechanism, as well as Syrias decision to change course on the delivery of aid to those areas, has sparked fears and questions among the humanitarian community.

What did Damascus propose?

Syria said it made a sovereign decision to allow aid to flow through the Bab al-Hawa crossing for six months starting last Thursday.

The crossing is the main entry point for aid to rebel-held areas, though it also occasionally trickles in from areas under the control of Damascus.

Following a February 6 earthquake that struck both northwest Syria and southern Turkey, Syrian authorities agreed to temporarily open two other border crossings with Turkey until August.

Russia on Tuesday vetoed a proposal to extend the UN mechanism at Bab al-Hawa for nine months, then failed to muster enough votes for an alternate proposal to extend it for six months.

The UN expressed concerns over two unacceptable conditions set by Damascus for allowing aid to flow through the crossing, according to a document reviewed Friday by AFP.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said it was concerned that Damascus had stressed that the United Nations should not communicate with entities designated as terrorist'.

The second condition it bridled at was that the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) should supervise and facilitate the distribution of humanitarian aid in northwest Syria.

Roughly half of Idlib province and parts of neighbouring provinces are controlled by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), considered a terrorist group by Damascus, as well as by the US and UN.

About three million people, the majority of them displaced, live in areas controlled by HTS, while another 1.1 million are in zones under the control of Turkey-backed groups.

Years of conflict have left much of the rebel-held areas which host overcrowded camps for the displaced in desperate need of aid as poverty and disease run rife.

What are the concerns?

The UN has described Damascuss conditions for reopening the Bab al-Hawa crossing as unacceptable.

The OCHA document seen by AFP called for the need to review and clarify parts of Damascuss letter...

Cheongju Rescuers battled on Sunday to reach people trapped in a flooded tunnel in South Korea, where at least 37 people have died and nine are missing after heavy rains caused flooding and landslides.

South Korea is at the peak of its summer monsoon season, and there has been heavy rainfall for the last four days, causing a major dam to overflow.

The interior ministry reported that 37 people were killed and another nine were missing nationwide in the heavy downpours, mostly buried by landslides or after falling into a flooded reservoir.

Hundreds of rescue workers were still struggling to reach more than 10 cars and an unknown number of people trapped in a 430-metre (1,410-foot) underground tunnel in Cheongju, North Chungcheong province, the ministry said.

When AFP arrived at the site Sunday, rescue workers were trying to drain the tunnel to reach victims, but the water still appeared to be too deep, hampering search efforts.

The tunnel was inundated on Saturday morning after floodwaters swept in too quickly for the vehicles inside to escape, according to the Yonhap news agency.

Five people were rescued from a bus in the tunnel Saturday, and nine bodies have so far been pulled from the site, with divers working around the clock searching for more victims, the interior ministry said.

The police have received missing person reports for 11 people believed to be in the tunnel, but a final official toll has not yet been provided, as it is unclear how many people were in each car, Yonhap reported.

I have no hope but I cant leave, a parent of one of those missing in the tunnel told Yonhap.

My heart wrenches thinking how painful it must have been for my son in the cold water.

Images broadcast on local television showed a torrential stream of water from a nearby river that had burst its banks flooding into the tunnel, as rescue workers struggled to use boats to get to people inside.

More rain

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, who is currently on an overseas trip, held an emergency meeting with his aides on the governments response, his office said.

Earlier, he ordered Prime Minister Han Duck-soo to mobilise all available resources to minimise casualties.

The majority of the casualties including 19 of the dead and eight of the missing were from North Gyeongsang province, and were largely due to massive landslides in the mountainous area that engulfed houses with people inside.

Some of the people who have been reported missing were swept away when a river overflowed in the province, the interior ministry said, and more than 1,500 people have been unable to return after evacuating from their homes.

The Korea Meteorological Administration forecast more heavy rain through Wednesday, and urged the public to refrain from going outside.

South Ko...

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) The Iraqi Ministry of Electricity announced recently that electric power generation in Iraq reached more than 24,000 megawatts, the Iraqi News Agency (INA) reported.

The spokesperson of the Ministry of Electricity, Ahmed Musa, mentioned that the increasing gas supplies delivered to southern Iraq, which were agreed upon within the Iraqi-Iranian deal to barter oil for gas, helped stabilize electricity production.

Musa explained that other power plants available in Iraq will start operating once gas supplies become sufficient.

The Iraqi Prime Minister, Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani, announced last week that Iraq reached an agreement with Iran regarding gas imports, which Iraq needs to operate power plants.

During a meeting with Iraqi officials in the energy sector earlier on Tuesday, the Iraqi Prime Minister noted that the US sanctions and non-compliance with the gas dues payment mechanism agreed upon in 2018 caused a 50 percent reduction in gas supplies from Iran, which negatively affected electricity production in Iraq.

Since June, Iraq has started benefiting from the electrical interconnection project with the Gulf countries to cover its domestic needs, especially with the increase in energy demand during the summer months, in an attempt to tackle the shortage caused by the recent decline in Iranian gas supplies to Iraq.

Iraq produces about 23,000 megawatts of electricity, while the country needs about 35,000 megawatts to secure electric power around the clock.

The post Iraq starts producing 24,000 megawatts of electric power once again appeared first on Iraqi News.

Gandhinagar Redoubling support for war-stricken Ukraine is the single best way to aid the global economy, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Sunday, along with boosting emerging economies and tackling debt distress.

Yellen also said on the sidelines of a G20 finance ministers summit in India she would push back on criticism there was a tradeoff between aid to Ukraine and developing nations.

Ending this war is first and foremost a moral imperative, she told reporters in Gandhinagar, which is hosting a wider G20 summit. But its also the single best thing we can do for the global economy.

Yellen also pointed to efforts to tackle debt distress faced by struggling economies, bank reform and a global tax deal, and warned it was premature to talk of lifting tariffs on China.

Russias invasion of Ukraine, both global breadbaskets that together exported almost a quarter of the worlds wheat supply, triggered shockwaves in economies worldwide by sending prices for food and fuel shooting up.

G7 leaders promised at a summit in Lithuania on Wednesday to support Ukraine for as long as it takes to defeat Russias invasion.

Any discussion on Ukraine is awkward for G20 host India, which has not condemned Russias invasion but is also part of the Quad grouping alongside Australia, the United States and Japan.

Deep mistrust  

Yellen also cited debt restructuring progress in Zambia, which she discussed with Chinese officials last week on a visit to Beijing, and said she expected Ghana and Sri Lanka debt treatments would be finalised soon.

She said it was still too soon to lift restrictions placed on China during a trade war launched by former US president Donald Trump.

Tariffs were put in place because we had concerns with unfair trade practices on Chinas side, and our concerns with those practices remain, they really havent been addressed, Yellen said. 

Perhaps over time this is an area where we could make progress but Id say it is premature to use this as an area for de-escalation.

Yellen pointed to other work tackling debt distress and the reform of multilateral development banks, including the World Bank and other regional lenders, in efforts she said could unlock $200 billion over the next decade.

More than half of all low-income countries are near or in debt distress, double the case in 2015, she said.

G20 finance chiefs and central bank heads are due to meet on Monday and Tuesday and World Bank chief Ajay Banga warned of a deep mistrust quietly pulling the Global North and South apart at a time when we need to be uniting.

The climate change crisis, post-pandemic recovery efforts, the war in Ukraine and a lack of progress in the fight against poverty...

Al-Reghila An oppressive heat beats down on the central Iraqi province of Babylon, where drought and rising temperatures are hitting bees and honey production hard.

Beekeeper Mohamed Aliawi knows it all too well as he checks on dozens of hive boxes placed at the feet of tall palm trees in the fields of Al-Reghila village.

There is no water and therefore no (flowering) plants to keep the bees satisfied, Aliawi, the deputy director of a local apiarist association, told AFP.

The earth is cracked, and growing melons and watermelons proves difficult due to a lingering drought and intense July temperatures often reaching around 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit) which take their toll on bees too.

A bee needs to constantly forage for the pollen and nectar necessary for honey production. It is in constant movement, usually travelling hundreds of metres (yards) to find its bounty, said Aliawi.

But the drought is forcing bees to travel longer up to five kilometres (three miles) to pollinate.

This impacts the lifespan of the worker bee, the female bee that gathers pollen and nectar, Aliawi explained.

Under optimal circumstances, the worker bee can live up to 60 days, but in this current situation it only lives 20 days.

In addition, bees thrive in temperatures of around 30-35 degrees Celsius, not in searing heat, when the thermometer climbs to 50, said Aliawi, the manager of a private honey producer.

He has moved dozens of bee hive boxes from central Iraq to seven sites scattered across the mountains of the northern autonomous Kurdistan region, where the air is cooler and the land greener.

If we dont move the bees they suffer, he said.

Relocating hives

On a hot July day, Aliawi and his team wore protective headgear before inspecting the bee hive boxes and the honeycombs inside.

They wafted smoke over the hives with a bee smoker, a procedure known to calm the insects.

In the early 2000s, each bee hive yielded about 20 to 25 kilograms (44-55 pounds) of honey per year, whereas now the quantity has plunged to merely five kilograms, Aliawi said.

According to the United Nations, Iraq is one of the five countries in the world most impacted by some effects of climate change.

Authorities say Iraq is going through its fourth-straight year of drought.

The country has been plagued by scorching summers, declining rainfall and frequent sand storms, while upstream dams have reduced the flow of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers that run across Iraq.

Despite these woes, the head of the apiarist department at the agriculture ministry, Hashem al-Zeheiri, remains optimistic.

Honey production is increasing year on year, he said.

In 2022, honey produced in parts of Iraq controlled by the Baghdad federal authorities re...

San Francisco A driverless taxi slows down on a dark San Francisco street and is quickly surrounded by a group of masked figures.

One of them places a traffic cone on the hood of the car. Its hazard lights flick on, and the car stops in the middle of the road, disabled.

This bizarre scene has been repeated dozens of times across the US tech capital this past week the work of activists protesting against the proliferation of robot cars, which they consider unsafe.

We believe that all cars are bad, no matter who or what is driving, said the activist, who asked to be referred to by the pseudonym Alex to protect his identity.

His anti-car activist group, Safe Street Rebel, is radically pro-pedestrian and pro-bike, and not impressed by widespread claims that driverless cars are a new revolutionary mode of transportation.

Alex sees their arrival just as another way to entrench car dominance.

Using traffic cones stolen from the streets, the activists have been disabling driverless taxis operated by Waymo and Cruise the only two companies currently authorized in San Francisco.

Their resistance has gone viral online, racking up millions of views on social networks at a time when state authorities are mulling the expansion of driverless taxi operations in the city to a full 24-hour paid service.

The proposal by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), which oversees autonomous taxis in the state, would allow Waymo and Cruise to directly compete with ride-sharing apps such as Uber or Lyft but without drivers.

Hasty decision

But the issue has caused friction between state and city officials.

Driverless cars were first introduced in San Francisco in 2014 with a mandatory human safety driver on board.

Four years later, California scrapped its requirement for a human driver to be in the car, meaning it is no longer the stuff of sci-fi to cruise past a Jaguar without a driver on the streets.

But lately, San Francisco officials are worried by an increasing number of incidents involving autonomous cars.

Allowing robots to take the wheel has led to cars getting stuck in the middle of roads, blocking bus lanes or even interfering in a police crime scene.

No fatal accidents involving humans and Cruise or Waymo vehicles have been recorded, though a Waymo taxi was reported in June to have killed a dog that ran into the street.

City supervisor Aaron Peskin condemned the CPUCs hasty decision to allow a massive ramp-up of driverless taxis on San Franciscos streets.

The San Francisco County Transportation Authority sent a letter to the CPUC, detailing 92 incidents involving autonomous taxis last year.

And the mounting controversy seems to be having some effect.

Sidon Among meandering alleyways in the historic market of Lebanons southern city of Sidon, cobblers and menders are doing brisk business, as an economic crisis revives demand for once-fading trades.

At Ahmed al-Bizris shoe repair store, nestled among old stone arches and a crowded warren of shops and stalls, workers are busy adjusting a womans sandals and replacing the worn-out sole of a mans shoe.

Repairs are in high demand, said Bizri, 48, who learned the trade from his father.

People from all walks of life come to us to repair their shoes: rich, poor, average workers, public servants, soldiers, he added.

Since late 2019, Lebanon has been in a state of economic collapse that the World Bank says is one of the worst in modern times.

The Lebanese pound has lost around 98 percent of its value against the US dollar, and most of the population has been plunged into poverty.

Bizri said his work has increased 60 percent since the crisis began, adding that people now prefer to spend up to one million Lebanese pounds (around $11 on parallel markets) to fix old shoes rather than buy new ones.

Even people who had shoes hidden away for 20 years are bringing them out for repair, he said with a smile, boots hanging from rusty hooks and coloured laces on the walls around him.

In a shop nearby in central Sidon, fellow cobbler Walid al-Suri, 58, works with an old manual sewing machine that clicks and clacks as he pumps the pedal with his foot.

He stitches up a hole in the side of a shoe and trims the thread, covering it with black polish to camouflage the repair.

Its true that our work has increased, he said from his workshop, a tiny space with faded green walls filled with shoes of all kinds.

But there are no profits because the price of all the materials has gone up, from glue to needles, thread and nails, he said.

Suffocating

In Lebanon, a country dependent on imports, inflation has soared. 

In 2022, inflation averaged 171 percent, according to the World Bank one of the highest rates worldwide.

We pay for everything in dollars, not in Lebanese pounds, said Suri, who repairs around 20 shoes a day.

For that, he said he earns about $11, hardly enough to cover the basic needs of his family of three.

Some people have asked him to repair shoes that were verging on unfixable because they had no money for new ones, he said.

Elsewhere in the coastal city, Mustafa al-Qadi, 67, is mending duvets under the soft light of a window during one of Lebanons long power cuts.

The bankrupt state provides just a handful of hours of electricity a day.

Qadi uses thick thread and deftly sews stitches into a duvet spread out on the floor, other quilts folded an...

Wad Madani Sudanese army representatives have returned to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia for talks with their paramilitary foes, a government source said Saturday as the war between rival generals entered its fourth month.

A delegation of the armed forces has returned to Jeddah to resume negotiations with Rapid Support Forces (RSF) rebels, the source told AFP on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to media.

The RSF has made no comment on returning to the talks in Jeddah, which Saudi and US mediators adjourned last month after a series of repeatedly violated ceasefires.

On April 15, a power struggle between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy, RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, burst into all-out war, claiming at least 3,000 lives and displacing more than three million people.

The delegation in Saudi Arabia signals a return to diplomatic efforts by the army, after it boycotted talks last week in Ethiopia hosted by east African regional bloc IGAD.

Khartoums foreign ministry had objected to Kenyan President William Rutos leadership of the IGAD quartet, accusing Nairobi of siding with the RSF.

Before the Jeddah talks were suspended, US mediators had grown increasingly frustrated with both sides reluctance to work towards a sustained truce.

Experts believe that both Burhan and Daglo have opted for a war of attrition instead, hoping to extract more concessions at the negotiating table later.

No respite

For three months, barely a day has passed for residents of the capital Khartoum without their homes shaking from constant air strikes, artillery blasts and gun battles.

To escape the brutal urban warfare and rampant looting, 1.7 million people have fled the capital, according to the United Nations. Millions remain in the city, however, sheltering at home as the violence shows no signs of abating.

Witnesses in the citys northwest reported clashes using various types of weapons on Saturday, after a day of heavy fighting Friday left plumes of black smoke over several parts of the capital.

Others said RSF drones had targeted Khartoums largest military hospital.

The UN has said that most hospitals in combat zones are out of service.

The worst fighting has taken place in Khartoum and in the western region of Darfur, where a quarter of Sudans 48 million people live.

Entire villages and neighbourhoods there have been destroyed, civilians buried in mass graves and officials assassinated for their ethnic background by the RSF and allied Arab militias.

Reports of atrocities including sexual violence and civilians being targeted for their ethnicity have prompted the International Criminal Court to launch a war crimes investigation.

Though most of the fighting has been concentrated in Khartoum and...

New Delhi Top Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi appealed to the countrys highest court on Saturday over his conviction for defamation, days after a lower court refused to intervene, media reports said.

Gandhi was sentenced to two years jail for comments he made in 2019 which a court ruled were insulting to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and those sharing his last name. 

That made him ineligible to remain a member of parliament, or to stand in next years election.

Modis government has been widely accused of using the defamation law to silence critics. 

Gandhi filed an appeal asking the Supreme Court to stay his conviction, multiple Indian media reports said, a week after the Gujarat High Court refused to do so.

Officials of Gandhis Congress party did not immediately respond to requests by AFP for comment.

But earlier this month, party spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi told reporters: We have no doubt that this intersection of arrogance and infallibility shown by this government of the day and ruling party of the day will be dealt with properly in the Supreme Court.

The case one of several lodged against Gandhi in recent years has so far only been heard by courts in Gujarat, Modis home state.

Gandhi is the scion of Indias premier political dynasty and the son, grandson and great-grandson of former prime ministers, beginning with independence leader Jawaharlal Nehru. 

He is the leading face of the Congress party, once the dominant force in Indian politics but now a shadow of its former self.

His conviction stemmed from a remark made during the 2019 election campaign when he asked why all thieves have Modi as (their) common surname.

Members of Modis government said the remark was a slur against all Indians with the surname Modi, which is associated with the lower rungs of Indias traditional caste hierarchy.

The post Rahul Gandhi appeals to Indias top court over conviction appeared first on Iraqi News.

Tunis At a sporting club in Tunis, young girls enthusiastically hit yellow tennis balls across the court in the hope of one day making it to Wimbledon, like their idol Ons Jabeur. 

As the tennis star bids to become the first African or Arab woman to win a Grand Slam singles title on Saturday, a tournament was underway earlier in the day on at the Tennis Club of Tunis in the Alain Savary neighbourhood, near the Tunisian capitals downtown. 

On the dozen sunny courts, surrounded by large trees, Tunisian boys and girls vigorously compete in several matches surrounded by their families. 

Ibtissem Treimech, the mother of one player says, when they see Ons Jabeur succeeding as a finalist, the children and parents are inspired, and the parents encourage their children to play tennis. 

In a country where football reigns supreme, Jabeur has become a national icon and sparked a new found enthusiasm for tennis over the past three years, especially among young girls. Like Jabeur, many of them come from working-class backgrounds. 

I am capable of becoming like Ons Jabeur and participating in Grand Slam tournaments like Wimbledon and Roland Garros, Lina Chedli, a nine-year-old tennis player and Ibtissems daughter, told AFP. 

Yasmine Ben Mabrouk, also nine, has no doubts over her own talent. 

I think I will become a great tennis player like Ons Jabeur, and I will participate in very big matches, she said. 

Not far away, 10-year-old Emna Bartagisse says she will become better than Ons Jabeur. 

Jabeur defines herself as a 100 percent product of Tunisia, and her fans praise her for her dynamic game, which includes drop shots and approaches to the net, and her sense of camaraderie. 

The star continues to push the limits, despite a sometimes difficult period following a series of recent injuries to her wrist and calf. 

Before Saturdays final at the All England Club, in plush south-west London, Jabeur said she had learned to be very patient and to accept everything that has happened to her regarding injuries. 

From the suburbs of Sousse, a seaside resort town in Tunisia, Jabeur is adored by fans and spends time after each match signing autographs and taking selfies. 

Since she came into the spotlight in January 2020 at the Australian Open, becoming the first Arab woman to reach a Grand Slam quarter-final, the soon-to-be 29-year-old has become a source of national pride for Tunisia. 

More recently, she was nicknamed the Minister of Happiness for her ability to uplift the country grappling with serious economic and political crises since the power grab by President Kais Saied in the summer of 2021. 

The post Young Tunisian girls dr...

London Declan Rice capped a remarkable rise from the crushing disappointment of being released by boyhood heroes Chelsea as a teenager as he joined Arsenal from West Ham on Saturday for a fee that could rise to 105 million (.

Rice admits to being reduced to tears when the Blues let him go as a promising 14-year-old.

But a decade on, the brave decision to up sticks and move across London to join West Ham has been the making of the England international.

Fresh from leading the Hammers to their first trophy in 43 years by lifting the Europa Conference League in his final game for the club, the 100 million initial fee for Rice matches international colleague Jack Grealishs move from Aston Villa to Manchester City two years ago as the most ever for an English player and the highest between two British clubs.

But it could be surpassed by Jude Bellinghams 88 million move from Borussia Dortmund to Real Madrid should an extra 25 million worth of add-ons be activated.

Rice has been targeted by the Gunners as the final piece to turn Mikel Artetas men into Premier League champions again.

Arsenal launched an unexpected challenge for the title last season before falling away in the final months of the campaign.

Instead Manchester City stormed towards the finish line to retain their title and secure a treble.

But Arsenal have won the first battle of the new season by winning the race for Rice as City refused to match West Hams 100 million asking price, even if former manager David Moyes wanted more.

He is arguably the best holding midfield player in the country and the best thing about Declan is he will get better, said Moyes previously. I dont agree with the owners that he is a 100m footballer. Far, far more than 100m. Far, far more.

The 24-year-olds statistics for winning back possession and making interceptions were the highest of any midfielder in the Premier League last season.

But Rice is far more than a destroyer. His dynamic surges from the middle of the park and intelligent use of the ball have also made him a vital player for England manager Gareth Southgate.

England turnaround

Rices international career also illustrates his somewhat unexpected rise to stardom.

He made three appearances for the Republic of Ireland in 2018, qualifying due to his grandparents.

However, as he began to catch the eye at West Ham, Southgate convinced Rice to switch his allegiance back to the land of his birth.

Rice was an ever-present as England reached their first major tournament final for 55 years at Euro 2020 and in a quarter-final run at last years World Cup.

By 20 he was already regularly named West Ham captain and took the armband on a permanent basis once Mark Noble retired last year.

Rices impact helped the Hammers enj...

Rome Strikes by airport and airline staff grounded hundreds of flights and left thousands of travellers stranded in Europe on Saturday at the height of the busy summer tourism season. 

In Italy, some 1,000 flights, both domestic and international, were cancelled as a result of the strike by ground crew, according to airport and airline authorities.

Another 120 flights due to depart and arrive from Belgiums Charleroi airport were cancelled Saturday and Sunday, triggered by a walkout of budget carrier Ryanair pilots over working conditions. 

Italys strike alone left some 250,000 travellers stranded in one of the worlds top tourist spots.

It comes amid a record heatwave, billed by the national weather service as one of the most intense of all time, that would bring temperatures of at least 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) to Rome and 48C to the islands of Sicily and Sardinia.

The strike by ground crew, who are demanding a new collective contract six years after the previous one expired, was due to last from 10:00 am (0800 GMT) to 6:00 pm (1600 GMT).

The airport in Rome saw some 200 flights cancelled, authorities said.

Flights by Malta Air, which handles transfers for popular budget carriers Ryanair, Vueling and Ita Airways, were also affected after pilots joined the walkout. 

Milans airports saw some 150 flight cancellations, while dozens of others were grounded in Turin and Palermo.

Transport Minister Matteo Salvini called the strikers to exercise common sense so as not to harm millions of other workers and tourists.

The post Strikes strand thousands of tourists in Italy, Belgium appeared first on Iraqi News.

Bangkok The liberal frontrunner to become Thailands next prime minister said Saturday he would withdraw his candidacy if parliament did not endorse him next week, after military-appointed lawmakers foiled his first attempt.

Pita Limjaroenrats Move Forward Party (MFP) won the most seats in May elections, buoyed by young Thais eager for progressive reforms after nine years of army-backed rule in the kingdom.

But the Harvard-educated millionaires campaign to lead the next government was knocked back Thursday by senators in parliament who consider his pledge to reform strict royal defamation laws a red line.

The legislature holds its second ballot for a new prime minister on Wednesday, and Pita said he would support a candidate from coalition partner Pheu Thai if he again failed to win the needed votes.

Id like to apologise that we havent succeeded, he said in a video address posted to social media. 

Im ready to give a chance to Thailand by letting the party that has the second most votes be the one to form the coalition.

Pita was 51 votes short of the 375 lawmakers he needed to support his candidacy during the first ballot.

Just 13 senators voted for him, with many voicing their opposition to MFPs pledge to soften the kingdoms royal defamation laws.

After the first ballot, the party ruled out compromising on its proposed revisions to the laws, which currently allow convicted critics of the monarchy to be jailed for up to 15 years.  

Help with this mission

All 250 senators were appointed under the junta-drafted constitution, which political analyst Thitinan Pongsudhirak said was a reliable impediment to MFPs reformist platform.

It is a way for the authority and the regime to stay in power in the long term and to prevent a pro-democracy government that can stand against them, he told AFP on Friday.

Pita urged his supporters on Saturday to get creative in urging senators to throw their support behind him in the next round.

I alone cant change the senators mind. Therefore, I ask everybody to help with this mission, he said. 

Send a message to the senators in every way possible, every way you can think of.

The MFPs largest coalition partner Pheu Thai is seen as a vehicle for the Shinawatra political family, whose members include two former prime ministers displaced by military coups in 2006 and 2014.

Property tycoon Srettha Thavisin, 60, is widely tipped to be Pheu Thais candidate for prime minister if Pitas bid fails again.

Liked by business leaders among Thailands influential elite, he has been touted as a potential compromise candidate.

Wave of support

Pita rode a wave of...

Seoul At least 22 people have died and 14 more are missing after heavy rain caused flooding and landslides in South Korea, officials said Saturday, with thousands more ordered to evacuate their homes.

South Korea is at the peak of its summer monsoon season and there has been heavy rainfall for the last three days, triggering widespread flooding and landslides, and causing a major dam to overflow.

The interior ministry reported that 22 people had been killed and another 14 were missing in the heavy downpours, mostly buried by landslides or after falling into a flooded reservoir.

The majority of the casualties including 16 dead and nine missing come from North Gyeongsang province, largely due to massive landslides in the mountainous area that engulfed houses with people inside.

South Koreas Yonhap News Agency had earlier reported 24 deaths, citing local disaster relief officials.

In the most severely affected areas, entire houses were swept away whole, one emergency responder told Yonhap.

More than 6,400 residents in the central county of Goesan were ordered to evacuate early Saturday as the Goesan Dam began overflowing and submerging low-lying villages nearby, the interior ministry said.

Some of the people who have been reported missing were swept away when a river overflowed in North Gyeongsang province, the ministry said.

Rescue workers were battling to reach some 19 cars which were trapped in an underground tunnel in Cheongju, North Chungcheong province, where one person was found dead, according to Yonhap.

Flash flooding swept through the area too quickly for people to escape, but water levels remain high and it is unclear how many people were trapped inside their vehicles, Yonhap reported.

The number of deaths is expected to rise as local government agencies assess the damage nationwide, the news agency said.

All regular train services nationwide were suspended as of 2 pm (0500 GMT), although KTX high-speed trains remained operational with potential schedule adjustments, according to the Korea Railroad Corporation.

Roads were closed and trails in national parks shut due to the rain and flooding.

The Korea Meteorological Administration issued heavy rain warnings, saying more rain was forecast through to Wednesday next week, saying the weather conditions pose a grave danger.

South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo urged officials to preempt river overflows and landslides, and requested support for rescue operations from the defence ministry.

The post Heavy rains, flooding leave 22 dead in South Korea appeared first on Iraqi News.

Basra (IraqiNews.com) The Iraqi governorate of Basra has began dismantling and removing the nearly 300-year-old Al-Siraji Mosque in order to extend the Abi Al-Khasib road in the governorates south. Many Iraqis have used to social media to express their displeasure and criticism.

According to the governor of Basra, Asaad Al-Eidani: The goal of demolishing the Al-Saraji Mosque is to complete the expansion of the street, in response to the demands of citizens and vehicle owners, due to the severe crowds being in the middle of the street.

Al-Eidani stated that the local government will renovate the mosque and extend the mosque in a way befitting its heritage and compatible with the governorates urbanization, implying that the land will be leveled and the mosque reconstructed.

The occurrence of demolishing the lighthouse was condemned by Iraqs Ministry of Culture, Tourism, and Antiquities in a statement, stating its determination to take legal steps to preserve the significant cultural treasure from any administrative or personal misuse.

We reject any building that bears a heritage or archaeological feature, whether religious or civil, as it is not considered the property of an endowment office, ministry, authority, or governorate, but rather the property of history, said Ahmed Al-Badrani, Minister of Culture, Tourism and Antiquities.

The mosque, which has a footprint of around 1,900 square meters, is situated in the Abu Al-Khasib districts Al-Siraji neighborhood. Over the course of the 1980s, donations assisted in restoring it.

The post Built in 1727, Basras Al-Siraji Mosque gets demolished appeared first on Iraqi News.

Baghdad With scorching temperatures and power cuts, Wissam Abed cools off from Baghdads brutal summer by swimming in the Tigris river, but as Iraqi rivers dry up, so does the age-old pastime.

Near a bridge linking the east of the city to the west, Abed stood in the middle of the river, but the water only came up to his waist.

I live here in Adhamiya, like my grandfather did before me. Year after year, the water situation gets worse, said the 37-year-old, referring to his neighbourhood nestled along the Tigris in northern Baghdad.

Abed waded through the water to the middle of the ancient river, as temperatures reached near 50 degrees celsius (122 Farenheit) and wind whipped through the city like a hair dryer one July afternoon.

He told AFP he comes to the Tigris to have fun and feel refreshed.

Summer in Iraq is a prime example of the convergences of multiple crises weighing down the lives of the 43-strong population: a dilapidated electricity sector, rising temperatures and severe water shortages.

The United Nations says Iraq is one of the five countries in the world most touched by some effects of climate change.

In parts Baghdad, home to around nine million people, the water is still deep enough for youths to enjoy diving into the water from mounds of bricks. But elsewhere, new islets of earth stick out from the middle of the river.

In the evening when we return to our homes, there is no water or electricity, said Abed, a public employee at the ministry of electricity.

Last night, I came to swim in the river at one oclock in the morning before returning home.

Cyclical electricity shortages

In addition to the declining levels of rainfall, Iraqi authorities say upstream dam construction by Turkey and Iran has impacted the volume of the water that runs in rivers through Iraq.

Ravaged by decades of conflict and international sanctions, oil-rich Iraq relies on Iranian gas imports for a third of its energy needs.

It is also beset by rampant corruption, and suffers from dilapidated infrastructure.

Generally power cuts can last up to 10 hours a day. But every summer when the thermometer climbs, the supply of public electricity worsens.

Families who can afford it hook up their house to neighbourhood generators to make up for the poor supply.

But to do away with power cuts, Iraqi power plants would need to produce more than 32,000 megawatts (MW) daily, according to authorities.

This year, for the first time, Iraq produced 26,000 MW per day on average until the onset of July when production fell due to Iran shutting off the gas taps over 11 billion euros of unpaid bills.

An agreement has been reached and electricity production has improved to exceed 24,000 MW, the ministry of electricity said on Friday.

No waterR...

United Nations The United Nations is concerned about unacceptable conditions set by Damascus for allowing aid to flow through its Bab al-Hawa crossing to rebel-held areas in northwest Syria, according to a document reviewed Friday by AFP.

The delivery of humanitarian aid through the crossing has been stalled since Monday, when a 2014 UN deal expired.

A letter this week from Syrian authorities allowing use of the border crossing between Turkey and Syria contains two unacceptable conditions, according to a document sent to the UN Security Council from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

OCHA said it was concerned that the Syrian government had stressed that the United Nations should not communicate with entities designated as terrorist.'

The second condition it bridled at was that the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) should supervise and facilitate the distribution of humanitarian aid in northwest Syria.

The UN says more than four million people in northwest Syria are in need of food, water, medicine and other essentials. 

Through an arrangement that began in 2014, the UN largely delivers relief to northwest Syria via neighboring Turkey through the Bab al-Hawa crossing.

Syria announced on Thursday that it would authorize the UN to use Bab al-Hawa to deliver vital humanitarian aid to millions of people in rebel-held areas for six months.

Syrias ambassador to the UN Bassam Sabbagh told reporters on Thursday that his country had taken a sovereign decision on allowing the aid to continue.

Comprehensive and unrestricted  

That announcement followed the expiration on Monday of a mechanism that has allowed UN convoys to use the crossing to rebel areas without authorization from Damascus. 

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterress spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Friday that theres been no crossings in Bab al-Hawa with United Nations humanitarian aid, adding that authorities were reviewing Syrias authorization. 

Were taking a look at what exactly was expressed in the letter, he said.

These things need to be studied carefully, he added, reiterating the UNs commitment to delivering humanitarian assistance guided by humanitarian principles of non-interference, of impartiality.

The OCHA document seen by AFP also called for the need to review and clarify parts of Damascus letter, saying the deliveries must not infringe on the impartiality neutrality, and independence of the United Nations humanitarian operations.

Damascus regularly denounces the UN aid deliveries as a violation of its sovereignty,...