AFP - Squid Business

Moscou dit avoir repris l’une des dernières localités occupées par l’Ukraine dans la région de Koursk

World’s ‘exceptional’ heat streak lengthens into March

Global temperatures hovered at historic highs in March, Europe’s climate monitor said on Tuesday, prolonging an unprecedented heat streak that has pushed the bounds of scientific explanation. In Europe, it was the hottest March ever recorded by a significant margin, said the Copernicus Climate Change Service, driving rainfall extremes across a continent warming faster than any other.The world meanwhile saw the second-hottest March in the Copernicus dataset, sustaining a near-unbroken spell of record or near-record-breaking temperatures that has persisted since July 2023.Since then, virtually every month has been at least 1.5 degrees Celsius hotter than it was before the industrial revolution, when humans began burning massive amounts of coal, oil and gas. March was 1.6C above pre-industrial times, extending an anomaly so unusual that scientists are still trying to fully explain it.”That we’re still at 1.6C above preindustrial is indeed remarkable,” said Friederike Otto of the Grantham Institute for Climate Change and the Environment at Imperial College London. “We’re very firmly in the grip of human-caused climate change,” she told AFP.Scientists had predicted the extreme run of global temperatures would subside after a warming El Nino event peaked in early 2024, but they have stubbornly lingered well into 2025. “We are still experiencing extremely high temperatures worldwide. This is an exceptional situation,” Robert Vautard, a leading scientist with the United Nations’ climate expert panel IPCC, told AFP. – ‘Climate breakdown’ – Scientists warn that every fraction of a degree of global warming increases the intensity and frequency of extreme weather events such as heatwaves, heavy rainfall and droughts.Climate change is not just about rising temperatures but the knock-on effect of all that extra heat being trapped in the atmosphere and seas by greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane.Warmer seas mean higher evaporation and greater moisture in the atmosphere, causing heavier deluges and feeding energy into storms.This also affects global rainfall patterns.March in Europe was 0.26C above the previous hottest record for the month set in 2014, Copernicus said.Some parts of the continent experienced the “driest March on record and others their wettest” for about half a century, said Samantha Burgess of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, which runs the Copernicus climate monitor. Bill McGuire, a climate scientist from University College London, said the contrasting extremes “shows clearly how a destabilised climate means more and bigger weather extremes”.”As climate breakdown progresses, more broken records are only to be expected,” he told AFP.Elsewhere in March, scientists said that climate change intensified a blistering heatwave across Central Asia and fuelled conditions for extreme rainfall which killed 16 people in Argentina.- Puzzling heat -The spectacular surge in global heat pushed 2023 and then 2024 to become the hottest years on record.Last year was also the first full calendar year to exceed 1.5C — the safer warming limit agreed by most nations under the Paris climate accord.This single year breach does not represent a permanent crossing of the 1.5C threshold, which is measured over decades, but scientists have warned the goal is slipping out of reach.According to Copernicus, global warming reached an estimated 1.36C above pre-industrial levels in October last year. If the 30-year trend leading up to then continued, the world would hit 1.5C by June 2030.Scientists are unanimous that burning fossil fuels has largely driven long-term global warming, and that natural climate variability can also influence temperatures from one year to the next.But they are less certain about what else might have contributed to this record heat spike, or how this impacts our understanding about how climate might behave in future.Vautard said there were “phenomena that remain to be explained” but the exceptional temperatures still fell within the upper range of scientific projections of climate change.Experts think changes in global cloud patterns, airborne pollution and Earth’s ability to store carbon in natural sinks like forests and oceans could be among factors contributing to the planet overheating.Copernicus uses billions of measurements from satellites, ships, aircraft and weather stations to aid its climate calculations.Its records go back to 1940 but other sources of climate data — such as ice cores, tree rings and coral skeletons — allow scientists to expand their conclusions using evidence from much further in the past.Scientists say the current period is likely to be the warmest the Earth has been for the last 125,000 years.

Nucléaire: le Kremlin se dit favorable à des négociations directes entre Washington et Téhéran

Macron à al-Arich, “avant-poste” égyptien pour l’aide à Gaza bloquée par Israël

Emmanuel Macron est arrivé mardi à al-Arich, “avant-poste” égyptien du soutien humanitaire à Gaza, pour appeler à une reprise de l’aide à l’enclave palestinienne bloquée par Israël.Le président français a été accueilli par son homologue égyptien Abdel Fattah al-Sissi, a constaté un journaliste de l’AFP.Cette rare visite d’un dirigeant européen aux confins de la bande de Gaza intervient dans un contexte tendu, alors qu’Israël a repris ses opérations militaires le 18 mars après deux mois de trève.Le 23 mars, 15 personnes ont été tuées par des tirs israéliens sur des ambulances à Rafah, point de passage entre l’Egypte et Gaza à 50 km d’al-Arich, selon l’ONU et le Croissant-rouge palestinien. Le drame suscite un tollé international et le chef de l’armée israélienne a ordonné lundi une “enquête plus approfondie”.”La protection des civils et du personnel humanitaire ainsi qu’un plein accès de l’aide humanitaire constituent des obligations en vertu du droit international et du droit international humanitaire et doivent être respectées”, ont plaidé lundi au Caire les présidents Macron et al-Sissi ainsi que le roi Abdallah II de Jordanie, dans une déclaration conjointe.Ils ont aussi “appelé à un retour immédiat au cessez-le-feu pour que les Palestiniens soient protégés et reçoivent de l’aide humanitaire en quantité et dans les plus brefs délais”. Un message réitéré de vive voix à Donald Trump dans un appel téléphonique à quatre, juste avant que le président américain ne reçoive le Premier ministre israélien Benjamin Netanyahu à la Maison Blanche.- “Engagement de la France” -Plus de 330 travailleurs humanitaires, la plupart d’entre eux appartenant à l’Unrwa, l’agence des Nations unies d’aide aux réfugiés palestiniens, ont été tués dans la bande de Gaza depuis octobre 2023, selon les chiffres de l’ONU datant de novembre.”Dans cet avant-poste du soutien humanitaire aux populations civiles gazaouies”, selon l’expression d’Emmanuel Macron, ce dernier va rencontrer à l’hôpital des blessés palestiniens et le personnel médical.Aux entrepôts du Croissant-Rouge, il pourra échanger avec des ONG et des agences des Nations unies.Lors de cette étape hautement symbolique, il appellera à “la réouverture des points de passage pour l’acheminement de fret humanitaire à Gaza” et “redira l’engagement de la France à poursuivre son soutien humanitaire vers les populations gazaouies”, a fait savoir la présidence française.La quasi-totalité des 2,4 millions de Gazaouis ont été déplacés au moins une fois par les combats et vivent dans un territoire dévasté et assiégé depuis la guerre déclenchée le 7 octobre 2023 par les attaques sans précédent du mouvement islamiste palestinien Hamas en Israël.L’armée israélienne a mené sans relâche des opérations aériennes et terrestres contre Gaza, hormis une trêve entamée le 19 janvier et rompue le 18 mars.Depuis le 2 mars, Israël interdit l’entrée à Gaza de l’aide internationale qui avait recommencé à affluer avec le cessez-le-feu.

Macron à al-Arich, “avant-poste” égyptien pour l’aide à Gaza bloquée par Israël

S Korea opposition leader frontrunner in snap presidential election

L’armée sud-coréenne dit avoir tiré des coups de semonce après une courte incursion de soldats nord-coréens

Vietnam says to buy more US goods as it seeks tariff delay

Vietnam will buy more US goods including security and defence products, the government said, as it seeks a last-minute delay to enormous tariffs imposed by Washington.The Southeast Asian manufacturing powerhouse counted the United States as its biggest export market in the first three months of the year, but its key customer has now hit it with colossal 46 percent duties.Hanoi has asked US President Donald Trump to delay their implementation by at least 45 days to give time for talks.Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said Vietnam would “approach and negotiate with the US side to reach a bilateral agreement, moving towards a sustainable trade balance”, according to a statement published on the government’s news portal late Monday.It would also “continue to buy more US products that are strong and Vietnam has demand for, including products related to security and defence; promote early delivery of aircraft trade contracts”, the statement added.The tariffs are part of a global trade blitz announced last week by Trump that has sent markets around the world into a tailspin.Regarding Vietnam, it appears that his administration was particularly angered by what it sees as the country’s role in attempts to get around tariffs imposed on China.According to a separate statement on the news portal Tuesday, Deputy Prime Minister Bui Thanh Son has requested the ministry of industry and trade “to review and strictly control the origin of goods, to prevent unfortunate incidents from happening”.- ‘Significantly damage’ growth -Top leader To Lam has sent a letter to Trump asking for a delay to the tariff.According to a copy seen by AFP, Lam said he had appointed Ho Duc Phoc, another deputy prime minister, to serve as the primary contact with the US side on the issue, “with the aim of reaching an agreement as soon as possible”.He also said he hoped to meet Trump in Washington at the end of May to finalise the matter.Trump said on Friday he had had “a very productive” call with Lam, who he said wanted to make a deal on tariffs.The measures threaten to “significantly damage” Vietnam’s current growth model, which relies heavily on exports to the United States, according to Sayaka Shiba, senior country risk analyst at research firm BMI.She said in the worst-case scenario Vietnam could suffer a three percent hit to gross domestic product this year.Vietnam’s main stock exchange, which avoided the freefall that hit global markets on Monday because of a holiday, fell nearly six percent on Tuesday.

Vietnam says to buy more US goods as it seeks tariff delay

Prince Harry in court to challenge UK security downgrade

Prince Harry was in a UK court on Tuesday for the latest stage of his legal challenge against a government decision to downgrade his personal security when he visits Britain.The self-exiled royal entered the Royal Courts of Justice in central London around 9:30 am (0830 GMT), AFP reporters saw, where judges at the complex’s Court of Appeal were to begin considering his case.Following Harry’s dramatic split with the royal family in 2020 and subsequent move to North America, the British government said he would no longer be given the “same degree” of publicly funded protection when in the UK.But the 40-year-old prince took legal action against the interior ministry and, after his initial case was rejected last year, he has now brought the challenge before London’s Court of Appeal.Harry and his American wife Meghan are no longer classified as working royals following their acrimonious departure from the UK in 2020, which has left them largely estranged from the family. They have started a new life in California but King Charles III’s younger son has said security concerns have hampered his ability to visit home and he has only rarely returned to the UK for short visits.- ‘The UK is my home’ -“The UK is my home. The UK is central to the heritage of my children,” he said in a written statement read out by his lawyers at a hearing in 2023.”That cannot happen if it’s not possible to keep them safe. I cannot put my wife in danger like that and, given my experiences in life, I am reluctant to unnecessarily put myself in harm’s way too.”Harry’s mother, Princess Diana, was killed in a high-speed car crash in Paris in 1997 as she tried to escape paparazzi photographers.Last week, the Court of Appeal said sections of the hearing, which is set to take place on Tuesday and Wednesday, would be held in private due to security concerns. Tuesday’s hearing comes on the same day as “Confessions of a Female Founder”, a new podcast by Harry’s wife, was due to be launched.- ‘Singled out’ -The prince’s legal battle centres on a February 2020 decision to downgrade his security, made by the UK’s interior ministry and a committee that deals with the protection of royals and public figures.Britain’s High Court was previously told the decision followed a change in Harry’s status after he stopped being a working member of the royal family.The High Court ruled in February 2024 against Harry’s case, saying the government had acted lawfully. The prince’s initial bid to appeal was refused in April 2024 and he was ordered to pay about £1,000,000 ($1.27 million) in legal costs, according to The Times newspaper. However, the following month, a judge said Harry could in fact challenge the decision at the Court of Appeal.Harry’s lawyers told the High Court he was “singled out” and treated “less favourably” in the committee’s decision, claiming that alleged flaws made the downgrade “unlawful and unfair”.The government argued the committee was entitled to conclude Harry’s protection should be “bespoke” and considered on a “case-by-case” basis.Harry, who has taken several legal suits against British UK tabloid dailies, is also embroiled in a separate row over a charity he co-founded in southern Africa. A bitter boardroom battle has seen the prince resign as patron of the Sentebale charity.Its chair, Sophie Chandauka, has accused him of “bullying” and being involved in a “cover up”.Harry has in turn hit out at what he called “blatant lies” and the UK-based charity watchdog has launched an investigation.