Skip to main content

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...
Post a Comment

Three Turkish police, six Islamic State militants killed in northwest Turkey clash

Three Turkish police officers and six Islamic State militants were killed in a gunfight in northwest Turkey on Monday, the interior minister said, a week after authorities detained more than 100 suspected Islamic State members accused of planning attacks over Christmas and New Year. Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said eight police officers and another security force member were wounded during a raid on a property in the town of Yalova, on the Sea of Marmara coast south of Istanbul. More than 100 addresses were raided nationwide early on Monday as part of the operation. Turkey has stepped up operations against suspected Islamic State militants this year as the group has returned to prominence globally. The United States carried out a strike against Islamic State militants in northwest Nigeria last week, while Australian police said two gunmen who attacked a Hanukkah event at Sydney’s Bondi Beach earlier this month appeared to have been inspired by the group. On Dec. 19, the US military launched large-scale strikes against dozens of Islamic State targets in Syria in retaliation for an attack on American personnel. Raid lasted hours Police raided the house in Yalova on suspicion militants were hiding there overnight. Sporadic gunfire was heard during the operation, which lasted nearly eight hours, according to a Reuters photographer at the scene. Last week, Turkish police detained 115 suspected Islamic State members whom authorities said were planning attacks on Christmas and New Year celebrations in the country. Yerlikaya said the militants killed in Monday’s clash were all Turkish citizens, adding that five women and six children were brought out of the property alive. In the past month, police have arrested a total of 138 Islamic State suspects and carried out simultaneous operations on Monday morning at 108 different addresses in 15 provinces, he said. In a post on X, President Tayyip Erdogan offered condolences to the families of the police officers killed and said Turkey’s fight against “the bloody-handed villains who threaten the peace of our people and the security of our state” would continue “both within our borders and beyond them.” Wave of IS attacks in 2015-2017 Police sealed off roads leading to the house in the early hours of Monday. Smoke was visible rising from a nearby fire, while a police helicopter flew overhead. The Istanbul chief prosecutor’s office said last week that Islamic State militants were planning attacks targeting non-Muslims in particular. Nearly a decade ago, the jihadist group was blamed for a series of attacks on civilian targets in Turkey, including gun attacks on an Istanbul nightclub and the city’s main airport, killing dozens of people. Turkey was a key transit point for foreign fighters, including Islamic State members, entering and leaving Syria during the civil war there. Police have continued regular operations against the group in subsequent years, and there have been relatively few attacks since the wave of violence between 2015 and 2017.

from Latest World News, International News | Breaking World News https://ift.tt/GE7QIcs
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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

A bridge collapsed at a cobalt mine in southeast Democratic Republic of Congo killing at least 32 wildcat miners, a regional government official said Sunday. The bridge came down Saturday onto a flooded zone at the mine in Lualaba province, Roy Kaumba Mayonde, the provincial interior minister, told reporters. He said 32 bodies had been recovered and more were being searched for. The DRC produces more than 70 percent of the world supply of cobalt, which is essential for batteries used in electric cars, many laptop computers and mobile phones. More than 200,000 people are estimated to be working in giant illegal cobalt mines in the giant central African country. Local authorities said the bridge collapsed at the Kalando mine, about 42 kilometres (26 miles) southeast of the Lualaba provincial capital, Kolwezi. "Despite a formal ban on access to the site because of the heavy rain and the risk of a landslide, wildcat miners forced their way into the quarry," said Mayonde. He said ...
Post a Comment
Read more

US, Philippines kick off joint military drills in South China Sea with 16,000 troops

Some 16,000 US and Philippine troops kicked off the annual joint military drills on Monday in the West Philippine Sea (WPS), local media reported. WPS is the official designation by Philippines to the parts of the South China Sea that are included in the country's exclusive economic zone. The 19-day exercises, dubbed "Balikatan 2024," will involve around 5,000 Philippine and 11,000 US troops, making it the largest joint military drills between the two allies conducted in decades, local English daily Manila Times reported citing the military. A total of 14 nations, including Japan and India, will take part in the drills as observers amid mounting maritime tensions in the South China Sea. Contingents from the Australian Defence Force and the French Navy will also join the exercise as participants. Read also: China urges US to stop using Philippines as a pawn to destabilise South China Sea France will join the group sail but will only navigate on the edge of the Philippine E...
Post a Comment
Read more

Indian devotees splurge on jets, gold idols as Hindu temple opens

The private jet parking lots at airports near the Indian city of Ayodhya are full and the shops have run out of gold-plated idols, as wealthy devotees prepare for the invite-only opening ceremony of one of Hinduism's holiest temples. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Asia's richest man Mukesh Ambani are among the 8,000 or so attendees at Monday's inauguration event for the Ram Temple, which devotees believe is built on the birthplace of Lord Ram, a sacred Hindu deity. The construction of the temple, which began after the Supreme Court awarded the site to Hindus in 2019 more than two decades after a Hindu mob razed a mosque there, triggering deadly riots, fulfils a key campaign promise of Modi and his Hindu nationalist party. Read BJP-promised temple transforms Ayodhya: Muslims, locals feel neglected The opening ceremony, organised by the trust that built the temple, comes months before a national election which the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party is widely expected to w...
Post a Comment
Read more