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The United States is experiencing its first significant heat wave of the year, beginning Friday across the Great Plains and expanding into parts of the Midwest and Great Lakes over the weekend, according to the National Weather Service (NWS).The extreme heat is expected to intensify as it shifts to the East Coast early next week, with temperatures reaching the highest level on the NWS’s HeatRisk tool: Level 4, or “Extreme.””Numerous daily record highs and warm lows are likely,” the NWS said. “Light winds, sunny days, and a lack of overnight cooling will significantly increase the danger.”The capital city Washington could see highs of 99 degrees Fahrenheit (37 degrees Celsius) on Monday and 101F on Tuesday.This level of heat can be dangerous for anyone without access to effective cooling and hydration, especially those engaged in prolonged outdoor activity, the NWS warns.Designated cooling centers — including recreation centers and libraries — will be open during business hours, the mayor’s office announced. Homeless residents will have access to shelters.Overnight lows may remain around 80F in urban areas such as Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York City.Fueled by human-caused climate change, 2024 was the warmest year on record globally — and 2025 is projected to rank among the top three.

Former Ajax and Dutch international footballer Quincy Promes has been extradited from Dubai to the Netherlands, prosecutors said Friday, after a conviction for smuggling more than a tonne of cocaine.A Dutch court sentenced the former winger in February 2024 to six years behind bars, finding him guilty of helping to smuggle 1,363 kilogrammes (3,000 pounds) of cocaine from Brazil in 2020.In a separate case, the 33-year-old had already been sentenced to 18 months in prison and ordered to pay compensation for stabbing his cousin over a stolen necklace.An appeal is ongoing in both cases.A spokeswoman for prosecutors confirmed to AFP local media reports that Promes was on his way to the Netherlands after the extradition.Promes was arrested in Dubai in March 2024 but Dutch prosecutors said that was for a local offence unrelated to the cases in the Netherlands.He won 50 caps for the Netherlands, scoring seven goals, and was part of the side that lost to the Czech Republic in the last 16 of the Euro 2020 championships, which was played in 2021 due to Covid.He has not worn the orange jersey since.In 2019, Promes joined Dutch giants Ajax in Amsterdam, after a 15-million-euro ($17.2 million) transfer from Spanish La Liga outfit Sevilla. In 2021, he left the Dutch capital for Moscow and has played for Spartak ever since, following a previous stint from 2014-2018, during which he was named Russia’s footballer of the year.

Since launching air strikes on Iran last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been working to pull President Donald Trump into the war, and sway a sceptical American public.In his daily calls and public statements, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister has mixed praise and deference for the US leader, while also arguing that the strikes on Iran benefit Americans. “Do you want these people to have nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them to you?” he asked during an interview on Fox News last Sunday. “Today, it’s Tel Aviv. Tomorrow, it’s New York,” he told ABC News a day later, arguing that Iran was working on longer-range missiles that would be able to reach US shores in the future.His media blitz came after intensive and not always harmonious exchanges between Netanyahu and Trump this year, with the Israeli leader welcomed twice to the White House since the Republican’s return to power in January.The New York Times, citing unnamed US administration sources, reported Tuesday that Netanyahu had asked Trump for US-made bunker-busting bombs capable of reaching Iran’s underground Iranian nuclear facilities in an April meeting — but had been refused.Having been elected in opposition to US entanglements overseas and supposed “war-mongers” in the Democratic party, Trump was seen as reluctant to commit Washington to another unpopular war in the Middle East.Much of his right-wing Make America Great Again (MAGA) coalition is staunchly anti-interventionist, including Vice President JD Vance, his head of national intelligence director Tulsi Gabbard, and influential media figures such as Steve Bannon and Tucker Carlson.But speaking Wednesday, the former tycoon stated clearly that he was considering joining the Israeli campaign directly, raising the possibility of the bunker-busting GBU-57 bombs being deployed against Iran’s main underground uranium stockpile facility in Fordo.”I may do it, I may not do it,” Trump told reporters at the White House when asked if he had decided on US air strikes.His final decision will come “within the next two weeks”, he said Thursday.- Influence -Yossi Mekelberg, a Middle East expert at the London-based Chatham House think-tank, said Netanyahu had been clever in his dealings with Trump, appealing to his “vanity” with charm as well “using his weaknesses”.Once he had received an “amber light” in private from the US leader to launch the attacks last Friday, “he knew Trump’s personality and knew that Trump might come on board if there was a chance of claiming glory in some way or claiming some sort of credit,” he told AFP.Trump has openly praised the success of the Israeli military campaign which has combined targeted assassinations of key military personnel, destruction of Iran’s air defences and repeated strikes on nuclear sites. Eliot A. Cohen, a veteran former US State Department advisor and international relations expert at Johns Hopkins University in Washington, cautioned against overstating Netanyahu’s personal influence, however.”I suspect this is much less about Netanyahu’s influence than Trump’s own view of the Iranian nuclear programme, his memory of the assassination plot against him in 2024 by Iranian agents and the success of the initial Israeli operations,” he told AFP.An Iranian man has been charged in connection with an alleged plot to kill Trump before his election last November.Cohen said Netanyahu’s lobbying could succeed for several reasons.”They are not asking for anything other than the bombing of Fordo,” he said, referring to the deeply buried underground uranium enrichment facility. “Nobody is talking about an invasion or anything like that.””Many if not most Americans understand that a nuclear Iran is particularly dangerous, and that the regime is deeply hostile to the US,” he added.  – Public opinion -A poll by the survey group YouGov for The Economist magazine conducted last weekend found half of Americans viewed Iran as an “enemy” and another quarter said it was “unfriendly.” But it found that only 16 percent of Americans “think the US military should get involved in the conflict between Israel and Iran”.It found that majorities of Democrats (65 percent), independents (61 percent) and Republicans (53 percent) opposed military intervention.Speaking on his War Room podcast Wednesday, former Trump strategist Bannon seethed that Netanyahu had “lectured” America and started a war he couldn’t end on his own.”Quit coming to us to finish it,” he said.

A US appeals court on Thursday ruled that President Donald Trump could continue control of National Guard troops in Los Angeles, over the objections of California Governor Gavin Newsom.Trump ordered the deployment of thousands of National Guard troops and hundreds of Marines into Los Angeles this month in response to protests over federal immigration sweeps — a move opposed by city leaders and Newsom.A lower court judge had last week ordered Trump to return control of the California National Guard to Newsom, saying the president’s decision to deploy them to protest-hit Los Angeles was “illegal.”But a three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals unanimously ruled that Trump was within his rights when he ordered 4,000 members of the National Guard into service for 60 days to “protect federal personnel performing federal functions and to protect federal property.””Affording appropriate deference to the President’s determination, we conclude that he likely acted within his authority in federalizing the National Guard,” they said in their 38-page ruling.Trump celebrated the decision in a post on Truth Social Thursday night, calling it a “BIG WIN.””All over the United States, if our Cities, and our people, need protection, we are the ones to give it to them should State and Local Police be unable, for whatever reason, to get the job done,” Trump wrote.- ‘Not a king’ -The state of California had argued that Trump’s order was illegal because it did not follow the procedure of being issued through the governor. The judges said Trump’s “failure to issue the federalization order directly ‘through’ the Governor of California does not limit his otherwise lawful authority to call up the National Guard.”But the panel said it disagreed with the defendants’ primary argument that the president’s decision to federalize members of the California National Guard “is completely insulated from judicial review.”Governor Newsom responded to the decision saying Trump “is not a king and not above the law.” “Tonight, the court rightly rejected Trump’s claim that he can do whatever he wants with the National Guard and not have to explain himself to a court,” he posted on X.”We will not let this authoritarian use of military soldiers against citizens go unchecked.”Newsom added in a separate post on his personal X account “the fight doesn’t end here”, adding “we will press forward with our challenge to President Trump’s authoritarian use of US military soldiers against citizens.”The state could request the case to be reheard, or it could petition the Supreme Court for intervention.- Immigration tensions -The ruling comes against a backdrop of heightened tensions in Los Angeles, which has become ground zero of Trump’s immigration crackdown across the United States.The city has seen scattered violence but mostly peaceful protests in recent weeks, ignited by an escalation in federal immigration sweeps that have targeted migrant workers in garment factories, car washes and other workplaces.Local media reported further raids across the city on Thursday targeting Home Depot stores, a home improvement retailer where day laborers often gather in parking lots seeking work.The protests, though largely peaceful, saw sporadic and spectacular violence. Damage included vandalism, looting, clashes with law enforcement and several torched driverless taxis.Trump, who has repeatedly exaggerated the scale of the unrest, also sent 700 US Marines to Los Angeles despite the objections of local officials, claiming that they had lost control of the “burning” city.It was the first time since 1965 that a US president deployed the National Guard over the wishes of a state governor. Trump appointed two of the judges on the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit panel, and former president Joe Biden appointed the third, the New York Times reported Thursday.

Hurricane Erick killed at least two people as it swept through southern Mexico causing significant damage to coastal communities before weakening to a low-pressure system Thursday night, authorities said.A man was electrocuted while helping with debris removal in the southern Oaxaca state, where Erick made landfall, after handling high-voltage cables near a stream, the state government said. A child died in neighboring Guerrero state after being swept away by a swollen stream as his mother tried to carry him across in the town of San Marcos, civil protection authorities reported.The US National Hurricane Center’s latest advisory at 0300 GMT said Erick had weakened overnight to a tropical storm located 95 miles (155 kilometers) from Acapulco port, with sustained winds of 30 mph (50 kmh) as it moved across southern Mexico on Thursday.Coastal communities in Oaxaca including Lagunas de Chacahua, home to around 2,800 people, were directly hit by the storm, which destroyed thatched roofs and flooded streets.”It was very strong, very ugly… the entire town is homeless, without clothes, we have no help,” Francisca Avila, a 45-year-old housewife, told AFP, as she surveyed the loss of most of her belongings.In the tourist town of Puerto Escondido, residents and emergency personnel worked to drain flooded streets and clear debris left behind as the storm knocked over trees and street signs and buried boats under sand on the beach.Much of the town of about 30,000 people was left without electricity or cellphone coverage.The water “had never hit with this magnitude” in Puerto Escondido, 44-year-old merchant Luis Alberto Gil, whose shop was among those flooded, told AFP.President Claudia Sheinbaum announced during her morning briefing that heavy rains are still expected in the southern states of Guerrero, Oaxaca, and Chiapas, as well as Veracruz and Puebla. She thanked the population for following the authorities’ recommendations “very responsibly,” in a message shared on her social media. The president reported 15 road sections closed in the state of Oaxaca, as well as more than 123,000 users affected by power outages.- Memories of Otis – Mexico sees major storms every year, usually between May and November, on both its Pacific and Caribbean coasts.In October 2023, Acapulco, a major port and beach resort in Guerrero, was pummeled by Hurricane Otis, a powerful Category 5 storm that killed dozens of people.Hurricane John, another Category 3 storm that hit in September last year, caused about 15 deaths.Sheinbaum had urged people to avoid going out and advised those living in low-lying areas or near rivers to move to shelters — some 2,000 of which had been set up in Chiapas, Guerrero and Oaxaca in anticipation.”Since (Erick) just made landfall, we are in contact with the Defense (department) and the Navy, who are in the area, and we will be able to inform in a few hours what the effects are on these populations,” she said at her daily press conference Thursday morning.Restaurants remained shuttered in Puerto Escondido even though some tourists insisted on staying and riding out the storm.Around 250 miles (400 kilometers) north along the Pacific coast, Acapulco — a major port and resort city famous for its nightlife — was largely deserted Thursday as residents heeded calls to hunker down, with shops boarded up and tourist boats grounded.Many had stocked up the day before on food, water and gasoline.

Southern Mexico started the cleanup process Thursday in the aftermath of Hurricane Erick, which slammed into its Pacific coast as a powerful Category 3 storm but weakened as it moved inland.In the tourist town of Puerto Escondido in Oaxaca state, residents and emergency personnel worked to drain flooded streets and clear debris left behind as the storm knocked over trees and street signs and buried boats under sand on the beach.Much of the town of about 30,000 people was left without electricity or cellphone coverage.The water “had never hit with this magnitude” in Puerto Escondido, 44-year-old merchant Luis Alberto Gil, whose shop was among those flooded, told AFP.No deaths or injuries were reported from Puerto Escondido or elsewhere in the storm zone.Erick weakened to a tropical storm as it moved across southern Mexico on Thursday.”Continued rapid weakening is forecast, and Erick will likely dissipate tonight,” the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said in its latest advisory, issued at 2230 GMT.The center warned of heavy rainfall in the state of Guerrero, with the risk of life-threatening flooding and mudslides.Mexico sees major storms every year, usually between May and November, on both its Pacific and Caribbean coasts.In October 2023, Acapulco, a major port and beach resort in Guerrero, was pummeled by Hurricane Otis, a powerful Category 5 storm that killed dozens of people.Hurricane John, another Category 3 storm that hit in September last year, caused about 15 deaths.Acapulco was largely deserted Thursday, with shops boarded up and tourist boats grounded.

The Los Angeles Dodgers said Thursday the club barred federal immigration agents from the team’s stadium parking lot as a fresh wave of raids continued across America’s second-biggest city.The Dodgers, who have been criticized for their failure to comment publicly on the US government’s immigration crackdown in Los Angeles, said in a statement the team denied access to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents who “requested permission to access the parking lots.” “They were denied entry to the grounds by the organization,” the statement said, adding that the team’s game later Thursday would go ahead as scheduled.Images and video shared on social media showed a line of unmarked trucks and masked agents at one Dodger Stadium entrance while protesters nearby chanted “ICE out of LA.”The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) later clarified that the agents at the venue were from US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), not ICE. “This had nothing to do with the Dodgers. CBP vehicles were in the stadium parking lot very briefly, unrelated to any operation or enforcement,” a DHS statement said.The incident comes against a backdrop of heightened tensions in Los Angeles, which has become ground zero of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown across the United States.The city has seen scattered violence but mostly peaceful protests in recent weeks, ignited by an escalation in federal immigration sweeps that have targeted migrant workers in garment factories, car washes and other workplaces.Local media reported further raids across the city on Thursday targeting Home Depot stores, a home improvement retailer where day laborers often gather in parking lots seeking work.In addition to the mobilization of ICE agents, Trump has ordered the deployment of thousands of National Guard troops and hundreds of Marines into the city in response to the protests — a move opposed by city leaders and California Governor Gavin Newsom, who is a Democrat.The incident at Dodger Stadium on Thursday comes as the reigning World Series champions have faced criticism for their response to the immigration crackdown.The team has a heavily Latino fan base, with some claiming a sense of betrayal over the franchise’s failure to speak out against the ongoing raids.As of early Thursday, the Dodgers have made no formal statement in regard to the immigration raids across the city.- ‘100 percent betrayal’ -The team’s failure to condemn the immigration offensive came under scrutiny last weekend, when Latin American pop singer Nezza defied Dodgers officials and sang the US national anthem in Spanish before the team’s home game.Speaking outside Dodger Stadium on Thursday after federal agents had left the venue, one 27-year-old fan among a small group of protesters told AFP she felt let down by the team.”They’ve been very quiet since these ICE raids started, and I think it’s very hypocritical of them not to say anything when the majority of their fan base is the Latino population here in Los Angeles,” Paola, who asked only to be identified by her first name, told AFP.”It 100 percent feels like betrayal. I was born and raised here, I’ve supported them my whole life — for them not to come out and support us during these times is messed up.”Los Angeles Times sports columnist Dylan Hernandez has slammed the team’s response to the immigration crackdown.”The Dodgers boast that more than 40 percent of their fan base is Latino, but they can’t even be bothered to offer the shaken community any words of comfort,” Hernandez wrote. “How ungrateful. How disrespectful. How cowardly.”While the Dodgers have remained silent, the team’s popular outfielder Enrique Hernandez lashed out against the raids in a statement on Instagram.”I am saddened and infuriated by what’s happening in our country and our city,” wrote Hernandez, who is from Puerto Rico.”This is my second home. And I cannot stand to see our community being violated, profiled, abused and ripped apart. ALL people deserve to be treated with respect, dignity and human rights.” 

Dozens of US military aircraft are no longer on the tarmac at a major US base in Qatar, satellite images show — a possible move to shield them from eventual Iranian air strikes, as Washington weighs whether to intervene in Tehran’s conflict with Israel.Nearly 40 military aircraft — including transport planes like the Hercules C-130 and reconnaissance aircraft — were parked on the tarmac at the Al Udeid base on June 5, according to images published by Planet Labs PBC and analyzed by AFP.In an image taken on June 19, only three aircraft are visible.The US embassy in Qatar announced Thursday that access to the base would be limited “out of an abundance of caution and in light of ongoing regional hostilities,” and urged personnel to “exercise increased vigilance.”The White House says US President Donald Trump will decide sometime in the next two weeks whether to join ally Israel’s strikes on Iran. The Islamic republic could then respond by striking US bases in the region.Mark Schwartz, a former lieutenant general in the US Army and a defense researcher at the Rand Corporation, said the personnel, aircraft and installations at Al Udeid would be “extremely vulnerable” given its “close proximity” to Iran.Schwartz, who served in the Middle East, told AFP that even shrapnel could render the aircraft “non-mission capable.””You want to reduce risk to US forces, both personnel and equipment,” he said.The planes that have left the tarmac since early June could have been moved to hangars or to other bases in the region. A US defense official would not discuss the specific positioning of assets but told AFP: “We remain committed to maintaining operational security while executing our mission with the highest level of readiness, lethality and professionalism.”US forces in the Middle East have been mobilized since Israel’s first strikes on Iran nearly a week ago, with an additional aircraft carrier en route and significant aircraft movement.An AFP analysis of open source data tracking aircraft positioning showed that at least 27 military refueling planes — KC-46A Pegasus and KC-135 Stratotanker planes — traveled from the United States to Europe from June 15-18.Twenty-five of them were still in Europe as of late Wednesday, with only two returning to American soil, the data showed.

President Donald Trump announced Thursday he had given social media platform TikTok another 90 days to find a non-Chinese buyer or be banned in the United States.”I’ve just signed the Executive Order extending the Deadline for the TikTok closing for 90 days (September 17, 2025),” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform, putting off the ban for the third time. A federal law requiring TikTok’s sale or ban on national security grounds was due to take effect the day before Trump’s January inauguration.The Republican, whose 2024 election campaign relied heavily on social media, has previously said he is fond of the video-sharing app.”I have a little warm spot in my heart for TikTok,” Trump said in an NBC News interview in early May. “If it needs an extension, I would be willing to give it an extension.”TikTok on Thursday welcomed Trump’s decision.”We are grateful for President Trump’s leadership and support in ensuring that TikTok continues to be available for more than 170 million American users,” the platform said in a statement.- Digital Cold War? -Motivated by a belief in Washington that TikTok is controlled by the Chinese government, the ban took effect on January 19, one day before Trump’s inauguration, with ByteDance having made no attempt to find a suitor.TikTok “has become a symbol of the US-China tech rivalry; a flashpoint in the new Cold War for digital control,” said Shweta Singh, an assistant professor of information systems at Warwick Business School in Britain.Trump had long supported a ban or divestment, but reversed his position and vowed to defend the platform — which boasts almost two billion global users — after coming to believe it helped him win young voters’ support in the November election.The president announced an initial 75-day delay of the ban upon taking office. A second extension pushed the deadline to June 19. He said in May that a group of purchasers was ready to pay TikTok owner ByteDance “a lot of money” for the video-clip-sharing sensation’s US operations.Trump knows that TikTok is “wildly popular” in the United States, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters Thursday, when asked about the latest extension. “He also wants to protect Americans’ data and privacy concerns on this app, and he believes we can do both things at the same time.” The president is “just not motivated to do anything about TikTok,” said independent analyst Rob Enderle. “Unless they get on his bad side, TikTok is probably going to be in pretty good shape.”- Tariff turmoil -Trump said in April that China would have agreed to a deal on the sale of TikTok if it were not for a dispute over his tariffs on Beijing.ByteDance has confirmed talks with the US government, saying key matters needed to be resolved and that any deal would be “subject to approval under Chinese law.”Possible solutions reportedly include seeing existing US investors in ByteDance roll over their stakes into a new independent global TikTok company.Additional US investors, including Oracle and private equity firm Blackstone, would be brought on to reduce ByteDance’s share in the new TikTok.Much of TikTok’s US activity is already housed on Oracle servers, and the company’s chairman, Larry Ellison, is a longtime Trump ally.Uncertainty remains, particularly over what would happen to TikTok’s valuable algorithm.”TikTok without its algorithm is like Harry Potter without his wand — it’s simply not as powerful,” said Kelsey Chickering, principal analyst at Forrester.Despite the turmoil, TikTok has been continuing with business as usual.The platform on Monday introduced a new “Symphony” suite of generative artificial intelligence tools for advertisers to turn words or photos into video snippets for the platform.

A SpaceX Starship rocket exploded during a routine ground test in Texas late Wednesday, the company said, in the latest setback to billionaire Elon Musk’s dream of sending humans to Mars.The explosion — which sent a towering fireball into the air — happened at the Starbase launch facility at about 11:00 pm (0400 GMT Thursday), SpaceX and law enforcement officials said.As the company prepared for a static fire test, “a sudden energetic event resulted in the complete loss of Starship and damage to the immediate area surrounding the stand,” it said Thursday, updating its initial statement.”The explosion ignited several fires at the test site which remains clear of personnel,” it said.”As is the case before any test, a safety zone was established around the test site and was maintained throughout the operation. There are no reported injuries, and all personnel are safe and accounted for.”During a static fire test, part of the procedures preceding a launch, the Starship’s first-stage Super Heavy booster would be anchored to the ground to prevent it from lifting off during the test-firing.Starbase, on the south Texas coast near the border with Mexico, is the headquarters for Musk’s space project. The company was preparing for the 10th test flight of Starship.”Initial analysis indicates the potential failure of a pressurized tank known as a COPV, or composite overwrapped pressure vessel, containing gaseous nitrogen in Starship’s nosecone area, but the full data review is ongoing,” SpaceX said.Musk appeared to downplay the incident on Thursday.”Just a scratch,” he posted on his social media platform X.- Mega-rocket -Standing 403 feet (123 meters) tall, Starship is the world’s largest and most powerful rocket and is central to Musk’s long-term vision of building a long-term colony on Mars.The Starship is billed as a fully reusable rocket with a payload capacity of up to 150 metric tons.The latest setback follows the explosion of a prototype Starship over the Indian Ocean in late May.That day, the biggest and most powerful launch vehicle ever built had lifted off from the Starbase facility, but the Super Heavy booster blew up instead of executing its planned splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico.The previous two outings also ended poorly, with the upper stage disintegrating over the Caribbean.However, the failures will likely do little to dent Musk’s spacefaring ambitions.SpaceX has been betting that its “fail fast, learn fast” ethos, which has helped it dominate commercial spaceflight, will eventually pay off.The company has caught the Super Heavy booster in the launch tower’s giant robotic arms three times — a daring engineering feat it sees as key to rapid reusability and slashing costs.NASA is also increasingly reliant on SpaceX, whose Dragon spacecraft is vital for ferrying astronauts to and from the International Space Station.SpaceX said Thursday that there are “no commonalities” between the COPVs used on Starship — the current focus on the investigation — and those used on Falcon.The Federal Aviation Administration approved an increase in annual Starship rocket launches from five to 25 in early May, stating that the increased frequency would not adversely affect the environment.The decision overruled objections from conservation groups that had warned the expansion could endanger sea turtles and shorebirds.burs-abs/sst/sla