News in Brief -2024-09-03

FE Team | Published: September 03, 2024 00:42:42

Swathes of China, Japan log record
summer temperatures
BEIJING, Sept 02: Swathes of China logged the hottest August on record last month, the weather service said, as Japanese authorities announced that 2024 had been its warmest summer since records began. China is the leading emitter of the greenhouse gas emissions scientists say are driving global climate change. Beijing has pledged to bring planet-warming carbon dioxide emissions to a peak by 2030 and to net zero by 2060. Its weather service said in an article published Sunday that average air temperatures last month in eight provinces, regions and cities "ranked the hottest for the same period" since records began. — AFP
Macron accelerates efforts to find new PM
PARIS, Sept 02: French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday intensified efforts to find a new prime minister after almost two months of deadlock following inconclusive legislative elections, hosting two former presidents and two potential candidates. France has been without a permanent government since the July 7 polls where the left formed the largest faction in a hung parliament with Macron's centrists and the far-right comprising the other major groups. Two possible candidates for prime minister-former premier Bernard Cazeneuve from the centre-left and right-wing ex-minister Xavier Bertrand-were holding separate meetings with Macron. — AFP
Election in Oct: One challenger to
Tunisian president arrested
TUNIS, Sept 02: President Kais Saied, in power since 2019, has been accused of concentrating power into his hands. Police in Tunisia have arrested one of the two approved challengers to incumbent President Kais Saied in next month's election, the opposition candidate's staff have said. Ayachi Zammel was detained in the early hours of Monday for allegedly falsifying details of those who backed him, Mahdi Abdel Jawad told the Reuters news agency. His arrest comes as President Saied faces accusations of trying to restrict the number of those allowed to run against him. — Reuters
Starmer cancels planned vacation
LONDON, Sept 02: There was no summer honeymoon for Keir Starmer. Britain's new prime minister, elected in a landslide less than two months ago, had to cancel a planned vacation after anti-immigrant unrest erupted across the country. He has spent his first weeks in office dealing with the aftermath, and issuing stark warnings about the state of the nation and the economy. As lawmakers returned to Parliament on Monday after a shortened summer break, Starmer's left-of-center Labour Party government was preparing for a budget statement next month that's likely to include tax rises or public spending cuts - or both. — AP
Kyrgyzstan road crash claims seven lives
BISHKEK, Sept 02:- Seven people were killed and six others injured in a massive road accident in Kyrgyzstan on Sunday, the press service of the country's Main Directorate for Road Safety of Ministry of Internal Affairs said in a press release. A total of five cars were involved in the accident. — Xinhua