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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...
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Modi's post-election budget includes $24 Bn jobs drive

India's government will spend $24 billion on employment and training, it said Tuesday, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi looks to address uneven economic growth and mollify disgruntled voters after a surprising election setback last month. The funding will be used over five years for a package of five schemes and initiatives to "facilitate employment, skilling and other opportunities" for more than 40 million young people, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in her annual budget speech. Some will go on "employment-linked incentives" for companies, which the government hopes will create jobs. "The global economy, while performing better than expected, is still in the grip of policy uncertainties," Sitharman said. "In this context, India's economic growth continues to be the shining exception and will remain so in the years ahead," she added. Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) fell short of an outright majority in the recent national elections, forcing it into a coalition with regional partners, after its strident Hindu nationalist campaign stumbled over multiple local issues including a jobs crisis and high food inflation. Modi has overseen India's ascent to become the world's fastest-growing major economy. But his administration has struggled to create enough well-paying jobs for the world's most populous country, with the International Labour Organization estimating 29 percent of India's young university graduates were unemployed in 2022. Sitharaman's speech also had specific concessions to the BJP's regional allies, including highways in the eastern state of Bihar and facilitating "special financial support" for a new state capital in Andhra Pradesh, in the south. Robust economic growth in India has driven a tax windfall, allowing the government to increase spending while still reducing debt. Despite new spending plans, Sitharaman said India will lower its fiscal deficit to 4.9 percent of gross domestic product this financial year, lower than the 5.1 percent projected during an interim budget in February. India's benchmark Nifty index fell as much as 1.8 percent during the budget speech, but it pared back some of the losses in afternoon trading.

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At least 32 miners dead after bridge fails at cobalt site in southeast DR Congo

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