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Record-breaking heat wave grips western United States

A record early heat wave striking the western United States on Friday is a one-in-500-year event and almost certainly the result of human-caused climate change, experts say. The heat has been toppling records this week and is set to continue into the weekend across western cities while expanding eastward. Four locations in the desert area near the California-Arizona border registered 44.4 degrees Celsius on Friday, a US national record for March. The readings were recorded near Yuma and Martinez Lake in Arizona, and around Winterhaven and Ogilby in California. Read: Intense heatwave grips US, triggering record-breaking temperatures Already, 65 cities have recorded new March highs, ranging from Arizona and California to Idaho, Weather.com reported. Death Valley reached 40°C on Thursday, while typically cool and foggy San Francisco tied its historic March record at 29°C. In Colorado, skiers were seen hitting the slopes shirtless. The National Weather Service issued extreme heat warni...

Israeli president says Saudi normalisation could be ‘historic game-changer’

Israeli President Isaac Herzog has said that a normalisation of relations with Saudi Arabia could be a historic "game-changer" in the Middle East, CNN reported. Speaking at the Israel Democracy Institute, Herzog said that he had discussed the possibility with US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on Sunday. “There is an option for normalisation with Saudi Arabia. This is a move that could bring about tremendous change, a historic 'game-changer' that constitutes a victory over the empire of evil," Herzog said. Herzog said that “empire” was more than Hamas, and that Israel’s enemies were trying to destroy its international connections. “Iran and its proxies, along with various promoters of boycotts, are attempting in every way to damage these connections through an aggressive, cynical international campaign against us. This was evident yesterday in the outrageous statement by the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, who equated the government of Israel — a democratic state — with the leaders of a murderous terrorist organisation.” Read more: Israel due to get billions of dollars more in US weapons despite Biden pause "There's going to have to be some period of quiet, I think, in Gaza, and there's going to have to be a conversation about how do you deal with the question of the future of Palestinian governance," Ambassador Jack Lew said while speaking on the occasion. "My view is, that strategic benefit is worth taking the risk of getting into that conversation about. But that's a decision that the government of Israel will have to make and the people of Israel will have to make." The United States on Monday described as "near final" a bilateral defence pact with Saudi Arabia. Once completed, it would be part of a broad deal presented to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to decide whether to make concessions to secure a normalisation of ties with Riyadh. Netanyahu has long promoted such a diplomatic prize. But, seven months into a war with Hamas fighters in the Gaza Strip whom Israel has sworn to eradicate, a ceasefire is elusive and he says it is premature to discuss day-after Palestinian rule. (With additional input from Reuters)

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