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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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Turkey shuts ports and airspace to Israeli vessels and flights

Turkey's top diplomat said Friday that Ankara had closed its ports and airspace to Israeli ships and planes, with a diplomatic source telling AFP the ban applied to "official" flights. Ties between Turkey and Israel have been shattered by Israel's war in Gaza, with Ankara accusing Israel of committing "genocide" in the tiny Palestinian territory -- a term roundly rejected by Israel -- and suspending all trade ties in May last year. "We have closed our ports to Israeli ships. We do not allow Turkish ships to go to Israeli ports.... We do not allow container ships carrying weapons and ammunition to Israel to enter our ports, nor do we allow their aircraft to enter our airspace," Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told lawmakers in a televised address. Read More: Israel pressures Gaza as Trump eyes post-war plan Asked for clarification about the minister's remarks, a Turkish diplomatic source said its airspace was "closed to all aircraft carrying weapons (to Israel) and to Israel's official flights". It was not immediately clear when the airspace restrictions were put in place. In November, Turkey refused to let the Israeli president's plane cross its airspace, forcing him to cancel a planned visit to the COP29 climate conference in Azerbaijan. And in May, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cancelled a visit to Baku after Ankara reportedly refused overflight rights. On Monday ZIM, Israel's biggest shipping firm, said it had been informed that under new regulations passed by Ankara on August 22, "vessels that are either owned, managed or operated by an entity related to Israel will not be permitted to berth in Turkish ports". The information was made public in a filing to the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in which ZIM warned the new regulation was expected to "negatively impact on the company's financial and operational results". The ban also extended to other ships carrying military cargo destined for Israel, it said. "Separately.. vessels that are carrying military cargo destined to Israel will not be permitted to berth in Turkish ports; in addition, Turkish-flagged vessels will be prohibited from berthing in Israeli ports." Fidan's remarks were the first public acknowledgement of the ban. Also Read: UN staff urge rights chief to label Gaza war as genocide "No other country has cut off trade with Israel," he told Turkish lawmakers at an emergency session on the Gaza crisis. Turkish officials have repeatedly insisted that all trade ties with Israel have been cut, vowing there would be no normalisation as long as the Gaza war continues. But some Turkish opposition figures have accused Ankara of allowing trade to continue, notably by allowing oil shipments from Azerbaijan to pass through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline running through Turkey -- claims dismissed by Turkey's energy ministry as "completely unfounded". Although Azerbaijan has long been one of Israel's main oil suppliers, data published on its state customs website this year no longer showed Israel as one of the countries that purchase oil from Baku, Israel's Haaretz newspaper reported earlier this year.

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