Italy may have registered Europe's hottest temperature on record - BBC News

Reuters

The Italian island of Sicily may have registered the hottest temperature ever recorded in Europe - 48.8C (119.8F).

Regional authorities reported the reading, which needs to be verified by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), near Syracuse on Wednesday.

According to the WMO, the current official record in Europe is 48C, registered in Athens, Greece, in 1977.

The latest heatwave in Italy is being caused by an anticyclone - nicknamed Lucifer - moving up from Africa.

Anticyclones are areas of high atmospheric pressure where the air is sinking.

Lucifer is forecast to head north across mainland Italy, further raising temperatures in cities including the capital, Rome.

Italy's health ministry has issued "red" alerts for extreme heat in several regions and the number of cities that face the highest health risk is expected to rise from eight to 15 by Friday.

The Mediterranean heatwave, which has seen some countries record their highest temperatures in decades, has led to the spread of wildfires across southern Italy, with Sicily, Calabria and Puglia the worst-hit regions.

Italian firefighters on Wednesday said they had been involved in more than 300 operations in Sicily and Calabria over a 12-hour period, battling through the night to control blazes burning thousands of acres of land.

Three fire-related deaths - two in Calabria and one in Sicily - have been reported by Italian media.

• Wildfires: How are they linked to climate change?

Separately, wildfires are continuing across Greece, fuelled by strong winds and parched vegetation. Foreign teams are helping to tackle blazes in what Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has described as a "nightmarish summer".

Climate change increases the risk of the hot, dry weather that is likely to fuel wildfires.

The world has already warmed by about 1.2C since the industrial era began and temperatures will keep rising unless governments around the world make steep cuts to emissions.

• A really simple guide to climate change

On Monday the UN released a major report saying human activity was making extreme weather events more common.

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2021-08-12 06:42:45Z
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Italy may have registered Europe's hottest temperature on record - BBC News

Reuters

The Italian island of Sicily may have registered the hottest temperature ever recorded in Europe - 48.8C (119.8F).

Regional authorities reported the reading, which needs to be verified by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), near Syracuse on Wednesday.

According to the WMO, the current official record in Europe is 48C, registered in Athens, Greece, in 1977.

The latest heatwave in Italy is being caused by an anticyclone - nicknamed Lucifer - moving up from Africa.

Anticyclones are areas of high atmospheric pressure where the air is sinking.

Lucifer is forecast to head north across mainland Italy, further raising temperatures in cities including the capital, Rome.

Italy's health ministry has issued "red" alerts for extreme heat in several regions and the number of cities that face the highest health risk is expected to rise from eight to 15 by Friday.

The Mediterranean heatwave, which has seen some countries record their highest temperatures in decades, has led to the spread of wildfires across southern Italy, with Sicily, Calabria and Puglia the worst-hit regions.

Italian firefighters on Wednesday said they had been involved in more than 300 operations in Sicily and Calabria over a 12-hour period, battling through the night to control blazes burning thousands of acres of land.

• Wildfires: How are they linked to climate change?

Separately, wildfires are continuing across Greece, fuelled by strong winds and parched vegetation. Foreign teams are helping to tackle blazes in what Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has described as a "nightmarish summer".

Climate change increases the risk of the hot, dry weather that is likely to fuel wildfires.

The world has already warmed by about 1.2C since the industrial era began and temperatures will keep rising unless governments around the world make steep cuts to emissions.

• A really simple guide to climate change

On Monday the UN released a major report saying human activity was making extreme weather events more common.

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2021-08-11 19:43:33Z
52781793724113

Poland’s divisive media law passed by parliament - Financial Times

Poland’s lower house of parliament has passed a controversial bill that could force a US media group to sell its controlling stake in Poland’s main independent broadcaster.

The bill, put forward by MPs from the conservative nationalist Law and Justice party (PiS), would prevent companies from outside the European Economic Area from owning a majority in Polish media companies.

The legislation is widely seen as an attack on TVN, a broadcaster owned by the US media conglomerate Discovery, which provides often critical coverage of the government

It comes amid a broader dismantling of checks and balances under PiS, during which the government has neutered the Constitutional Tribunal, tried to purge the Supreme Court and introduced a disciplinary regime for judges that allows them to be punished for the content of their rulings.

Discovery condemned the move as “an attack on core democratic principles of freedom of speech, the independence of the media” that was “directly discriminatory against TVN and Discovery”.

It also appealed to Poland’s Senate and president, who must now also deal with the bill, to prevent it from becoming law. “Poland’s future as a democratic country in the international arena and its credibility in the eyes of investors depend on this,” Discovery said.

The pressure on TVN, which is one of the biggest American investments in Poland, threatens to strain ties with the US, which Poland’s government regards as a key ally. Last week, a bipartisan group of US senators issued a statement expressing deep concern at “the Polish government’s continued democratic backsliding”.

“Any decision to implement these laws could have negative implications for defence, business and trade relations,” they warned.

MPs from PiS claim that the changes to Poland’s media law are necessary to prevent companies from undemocratic states from taking control of Polish media groups.

Jaroslaw Kaczynski, PiS leader, claimed on Saturday that Poland had to protect itself from the entry of money launderers and “narco-businesses” into the media sector.

However, the bill is opposed by most opposition groups, and also by the Agreement party, which for the past six years was one of PiS’s two junior coalition partners.

On Wednesday morning, however, the party pulled out of the coalition after Mateusz Morawiecki, prime minister, sacked its leader, Jaroslaw Gowin.

Gowin had clashed with Morawiecki over various issues, including the media bill, which he has warned would hurt Poland’s image, damage its investment climate, and “above all expose us to a completely irrational fight with our main security guarantor, the US”.

Agreement’s departure deprived PiS of its formal parliamentary majority, raising questions over the reduced coalition’s ability to pass legislation. These were quickly underscored during a turbulent parliamentary sitting on Wednesday, where the opposition initially succeeded in passing a motion to postpone the vote on the media bill until September.

However, the Speaker of parliament, Elzbieta Witek, who is a PiS MP, subsequently said the vote on the postponement would be rerun. PiS won the vote at the second attempt, and then won the vote on the media bill itself.

The change to Poland’s media law is the latest in a series of moves by PiS that have undermined media freedoms and helped push the country from 18th to 64th place in the World Press Freedom index, below Malawi and Armenia, over the past half-decade.

Since coming to power in 2015, PiS has reduced the public broadcaster to a claque, used a state-owned oil group to buy up a swath of local media outlets, and funnelled advertising from state-owned companies to supportive media groups.

Poland’s media watchdog has also failed to issue a decision on the renewal of the broadcasting licence for TVN’s main news channel, TVN24, even though the application was submitted 18 months ago.

During the same sitting on Wednesday night, Poland’s parliament also passed a bill that will reduce the scope for property restitution claims, which has also drawn criticism from the US and Israel.

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2021-08-11 20:51:34Z
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“Afghan capital may fall within weeks" as Taliban" fighters advance across country - BBC News - BBC News

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2021-08-11 21:46:48Z
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Afghanistan’s interior minister reveals plan to push back Taliban - Al Jazeera English

Afghanistan’s government is arming local groups as part of a three-phase plan to push back the Taliban offensive, the Afghan interior minister tells Al Jazeera in an exclusive interview.

Afghanistan Interior Minister General Abdul Sattar Mirzakwal said on Wednesday that Afghan forces are also focusing on trying to secure main highways, large cities and border crossings, after the Taliban seized nine provincial capitals in under a week.

Mirzakwal, who took charge of the country’s 130,000-strong police force five weeks ago, said the government was throwing support behind local volunteer militias known as “uprising movements”.

“We are working in three phases. The first is to stop the defeats [of the government forces], the second is to re-gather our forces to create security rings around the cities,” Mirzakwal told Al Jazeera’s Charlotte Bellis, who travelled with the minister to the Wardak province in central Afghanistan.

“All those soldiers that abandoned their posts, we’re bringing them back to their posts. The third is to begin offensive operations. At the moment, we’re moving into the second phase,” he added.

In the last three months, the Taliban have more than doubled their territory and in the last week, started to take provincial capitals, seizing nine by Wednesday.

Courtesy: Afghanistan Analysts Network

Mirzakwal said a lot of the governments’ defeats were a result of them losing control of roads and highways.

Many areas must be resupplied by air and, after the United States began withdrawing its forces, the Afghan government lost a lot of that capability.

“Unfortunately, with their withdrawal, the fighting started in 400 areas of the country,” he said. “We have very limited air support, the helicopters have been busy with moving supplies and evacuating our dead and injured forces.”

Mirzakwal said the central government is delegating the power to local leaders to recruit and arm within their community to fight against the Taliban.

“These people have announced their full support to the president and government. They will fight the Taliban along with the government forces,” Mirzakwal said.

“There are concerns from the international community about these uprising forces at the moment but all their members will eventually merge into the Afghan national security forces.”

In Wardak, community leaders from across Afghanistan queued up to pledge their support or look for help.

Wardak’s governor Lawang Faizan said he already has 300 men fighting in one local uprising force, but he complained he could only provide weapons for two-thirds. He cannot provide the rest with with water, let alone money or arms, he said.

“For the last few months people are waiting for their weapons but unfortunately the promises I made to these people were not fulfilled, but there is no doubt in their loyalty and desire to help,” he said.

The government had reportedly launched an initiative in June that it called “National Mobilisation”, arming local volunteer groups.

Afghan security personnel stand guard along the road amid the continuing fight between Afghan security forces and Taliban fighters in Kandahar [Javed Tanveer/AFP]

‘Leave killing’

Thousands of police officers have also abandoned their posts in recent months, but the government said they are returning and will be retrained, then re-deployed to the field.

They also say 5,000 people have signed up for the police force in the last three weeks with another 2,000 graduating this weekend.

Fighting between Afghan forces and the Taliban has escalated dramatically since May, when the US-led military coalition began the final withdrawal of its forces – set to be completed by the end of August.

While the Taliban pledged not to attack foreign forces as they withdraw, it did not agree to a ceasefire with the Afghan government. Peace talks between the government and the Taliban in Doha have produced little results as the armed groups made rapid gains on the ground.

The government’s strategy to fight back is slowly becoming clearer, but its implementation is still fraught and the stakes have never been higher.

“I am asking the Taliban to stop their brutality. Leave killing. Sit down with love and we should find solutions,” Mirzakwal said.

“Let’s come and sit together and make a coalition government, one that would be acceptable to all sides. The sooner we do that, the better,” Mirzakwal said.

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2021-08-11 17:20:09Z
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Sicily reports 48.8C in what could be Europe's highest ever temperature - Sky News

Sicily has reported what could be the highest temperature ever recorded in Europe - with meteorologists urging caution about the figure.

Syracuse, a city on the southeast coast of the Italian island, saw temperatures of 48.8C (119.8F) on Wednesday, according to the Sicily region's agriculture-meteorological information service (SIAS).

The highest temperature ever recorded on the European continent is 48C (118.4F), recorded in Athens in 1977.

The temperature in Sicily is yet to be independently confirmed by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), which will need to verify the recording for it to become a new European temperature record.

Randy Cerveny, the agency's representative for weather records, said it was "suspicious, so we're not going to make any immediate determination".

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"It doesn't sound terribly plausible," Mr Cerveny added. "But we're not going to dismiss it."

WMO spokesperson Sylvie Castonguay also urged caution: "Extreme weather and climate events are often sensationalised and mischaracterised as 'records' before they have been thoroughly investigated and properly validated."

More on Italy

But the high-pressure system of near-record strength currently over the Mediterranean could produce unprecedented heat somewhere, according to meteorologist Jeff Masters of Yale Climate Connections.

He said North Africa was flirting with all-time high temperatures.

On its Facebook page, the SIAS said it was the highest temperature registered in the entire network since it was installed in 2002.

Italy's air force meteorological service said it had not recorded temperatures approaching that high on Wednesday. But it said its stations are in other locations, so variations are expected.

Commenting on the reported figure, Syracuse's mayor, Francesco Italia, told Italian newspaper La Repubblica the record "worries us".

"We are devastated by the fires and our ecosystem - one of the richest and most precious in Europe - is at risk.

"We are in full emergency."

A heatwave driven by hot air from North Africa has spread across large parts of the Mediterranean in the last few days.

It has contributed to massive wildfires that have left dozens dead in Italy, Turkey and Algeria.

Huge wildfires have also torn through parts of Greece for a week, destroying homes and forcing many to evacuate.

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2021-08-11 19:01:38Z
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Afghanistan war: Taliban back brutal rule as they strike for power - BBC News

The Taliban fighters we meet are stationed just 30 minutes from one of Afghanistan's largest cities, Mazar-i-Sharif.

The "ghanimat" or spoils of war they're showing off include a Humvee, two pick-up vans and a host of powerful machine guns. Ainuddin, a stony-faced former madrassa (religious school) student who's now a local military commander, stands at the centre of a heavily-armed crowd.

The insurgents have been capturing new territory on what seems like a daily basis as international troops have all but withdrawn. Caught in the middle is a terrified population.

Tens of thousands of ordinary Afghans have had to flee their homes - hundreds have been killed or injured in recent weeks.

• The displaced people hoping for safety in Kabul

I ask Ainuddin how he can justify the violence, given the pain it's inflicting on the people he claims to be fighting on behalf of?

"It's fighting, so people are dying," he replies coolly, adding that the group is trying its best "not to harm civilians".

I point out that the Taliban are the ones who have started the fighting.

"No," he retorts. "We had a government and it was overthrown. They [the Americans] started the fighting."

Ainuddin and the rest of the Taliban feel momentum is with them, and that they are on the cusp of returning to dominance after being toppled by the US-led invasion in 2001.

"They are not giving up Western culture… so we have to kill them," he says of the "puppet government" in Kabul.

Shortly after we finish speaking we hear the sound of helicopters above us. The Humvee and the Taliban fighters quickly disperse. It's a reminder of the continuing threat the Afghan air force poses to the insurgents, and that the battle is still far from over.

We're in Balkh, a town with ancient roots, thought to be the birthplace of one of Islam's most famous mystic poets, Jalaluddin Rumi.

We passed through here earlier this year, when it was still controlled by the government, but the outlying villages were held by the Taliban. Now it's one of around 200 district centres to have been captured by the militants in this latest, unprecedented offensive.

One senior Taliban official said the focus in the north had been deliberate - not only because the region has traditionally seen strong anti-Taliban resistance, but also because it is more diverse.

Despite its core leadership being heavily dominated by members of the Pashtun majority, the official said the Taliban wanted to emphasise they incorporated other ethnicities too.

Haji Hekmat, a local Taliban leader and our host in Balkh, is keen to show us how daily life is still continuing.

The bazaar remains crowded, with both male and female shoppers.

We had been told by local sources that women were allowed to attend only with a male companion, but when we visit that does not seem to be the case. Elsewhere Taliban commanders have reportedly been far stricter.

All the women we see, however, are wearing the all-encompassing burqa, covering both their hair and face.

Haji Hekmat insists no-one is being "forced" and that the Taliban are simply "preaching" that this is how women should dress.

But I've been told taxi drivers have been given instructions not to drive any woman into the town unless she's fully veiled.

The day after we leave, reports emerge of a young woman being murdered because of her clothing. Haji Hekmat, though, rejects allegations Taliban members were responsible.

Many in the bazaar express their support for the group and their gratitude towards them for improving security. But with Taliban fighters accompanying us at all times, it's difficult to know what residents really think.

The group's hardline views are at times in tune with more conservative Afghans, but the Taliban are now pushing for control of a number of larger cities.

Find out more on the Afghan conflict 2001-2021

• EXPLAINER: Why is there a war in Afghanistan?
• IN MAPS: How the Taliban retook half of Afghanistan
• PROFILE: Who are the Taliban?
• ANALYSIS: An al-Qaeda resurgence?

In the shadow of Mazar-e-Sharif's intricately tiled Blue Mosque, men and women strolled around last week in a visibly more relaxed social atmosphere.

The government are still in control in the city and almost everyone I spoke to expressed concern about what the Taliban's resurgence will mean, particularly for the "freedoms" younger generations have grown up with.

But back in Balkh district the Taliban are formalising their own rival government. They've taken over all the official buildings in the town, bar one large, now abandoned police compound.

It used to be the headquarters of a bitter rival, the local police chief, and was partly destroyed in a suicide bombing by the militants as they fought for control of the area.

The face of the Taliban's district governor, Abdullah Manzoor, lights up with a broad grin when he talks about the operation, whilst his men chuckle. The fight here, as in so many places in Afghanistan, is deeply personal as well as ideological.

Some things haven't changed since the Taliban takeover; orange-clad street cleaners are still reporting for work, as are some bureaucrats. They're overseen by a newly appointed Taliban mayor, seated at a broad wooden desk, with a small white flag of the "Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan" positioned in one corner.

He used to be in charge of ammunition supplies, now it's taxes - and he tells me proudly the group charges business owners less than the government used to.

The transition from military to civilian life is a work in progress, though. A Taliban fighter still grasping his gun, who moves to pose behind the mayor during our interview, is ushered away by more senior figures.

In other places, however, the insurgents' hardline interpretation of Islamic scripture is more visible. At the local radio station, they used to play a mixture of Islamic music and general popular hits.

Now it's only religious chants. Haji Hekmat says they banned music promoting "vulgarity" from being played in public, but insists individuals can still listen to what they want.

I've been told, however, of a local man being caught listening to music in the bazaar. To punish him, Taliban fighters are said to have made him walk barefoot in the baking sun, until he lost consciousness.

Twenty years of conflict in Afghanistan – what happened when?

From 9/11, to intense fighting on the ground, and now full withdrawal of US-led forces, here’s what happened.

9/11

11 September 2001

Al-Qaeda, led by Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan, carries out the largest terror attack ever conducted on US soil.

Four commercial airliners are hijacked. Two are flown into the World Trade Centre in New York, which collapses. One hits the Pentagon building in Washington, and one crashes into a field in Pennsylvania. Nearly 3,000 people are killed.

First air strikes

7 October 2001

A US-led coalition bombs Taliban and al-Qaeda facilities in Afghanistan. Targets include Kabul, Kandahar and Jalalabad.

The Taliban, who took power after a decade-long Soviet occupation was followed by civil war, refuse to hand over Bin Laden. Their air defences and small fleet of fighter aircraft are destroyed.

Fall of Kabul

13 November 2001

The Northern Alliance, a group of anti-Taliban rebels backed by coalition forces, enters Kabul as the Taliban flee the city.

By the 13 November 2001, all Taliban have either fled or been neutralised. Other cities quickly fall.

New constitution

26 January 2004

After protracted negotiations at a “loya jirga” or grand assembly, the new Afghan constitution is signed into law. The constitution paves the way for presidential elections in October 2004.

Hamid Karzai becomes president

7 December 2004

Hamid Karzai, the leader of the Popalzai Durrani tribe, becomes the first president under the new constitution. He serves two five-year terms as president.

UK troops deployed to Helmand

May 2006

British troops arrive in Helmand province, a Taliban stronghold in the south of the country.

Their initial mission is to support reconstruction projects, but they are quickly drawn into combat operations. More than 450 British troops lose their lives in Afghanistan over the course of the conflict.

Obama’s surge

17 February 2009

US President Barack Obama approves a major increase in the number of troops sent to Afghanistan. At their peak, they number about 140,000.

The so-called “surge” is modelled on US strategy in Iraq where US forces focussed on protecting the civilian population as well as killing insurgent fighters.

Osama Bin Laden killed

2 May 2011

The leader of al-Qaeda is killed in an assault by US Navy Seals on a compound in Abbottabad in Pakistan. Bin Laden’s body is removed and buried at sea. The operation ends a 10-year hunt led by the CIA.  The confirmation that Bin Laden had been living on Pakistani soil fuels accusations in the US that Pakistan is an unreliable ally in the war on terror.

Death of Mullah Omar

23 April 2013

The founder of the Taliban, Mullah Mohammed Omar, dies. His death is kept secret for more than two years.

According to Afghan intelligence, Mullah Omar dies of health problems at a hospital in the Pakistani city of Karachi. Pakistan denies that he was in the country.

Nato ends combat operations

28 December 2014

At a ceremony in Kabul, Nato ends its combat operations in Afghanistan. With the surge now over, the US withdraws thousands of troops.  Most of those who remain focus on training and supporting the Afghan security forces.

Taliban resurgence

2015

The Taliban launch a series of suicide attacks, car bombings and other assaults. The parliament building in Kabul, and the city of Kunduz are attacked. Islamic State militants begin operations in Afghanistan.

Death toll announcement

25 January 2019

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani says more than 45,000 members of his country’s security forces have been killed since he became leader in 2014. The figure is far higher than previously thought.

US signs deal with Taliban

29 February 2020

The US and the Taliban sign an “agreement for bringing peace” to Afghanistan, in Doha, Qatar. The US and Nato allies agree to withdraw all troops within 14 months if the militants uphold the deal.

Date for final withdrawal

11 September 2021

US forces are scheduled to withdraw from Afghanistan by 11 September 2021, exactly 20 years since 9/11. There are strong indications that the withdrawal may be complete before the official deadline.

Haji Hekmat insists no such thing happened. As we leave the station, he gestures to some of the young men working there, pointing out they don't have beards.

"See! We're not forcing anyone," he says, grinning.

It's clear the group do want to portray a softer image to the world. But in other parts of the country the Taliban are reported to be behaving much more strictly. The differences may depend on the attitudes of local commanders.

With reports of extra-judicial revenge killings and other human rights abuses in some of the areas they've captured, the Taliban have been warned by Western officials they risk turning the country into a pariah state if they try to seize it by force.

What many associate most closely with the Taliban's previous stint in power, is the brutal punishments meted out under their interpretation of Sharia law.

Last month in the southern province of Helmand, the group hanged two men accused of child kidnapping from a bridge, justifying it by saying the men had been convicted.

In Balkh, on the day we visit a Taliban court session, all the cases are related to land disputes. Whilst many fear their form of justice, for others it at least offers the possibility of a quicker resolution than the notoriously corrupt government system.

"I've had to pay so many bribes," complains one of the litigants as he discusses his previous attempts to resolve the case.

The Taliban judge, Haji Badruddin, says he's not yet ordered any corporal punishment in the four months he's been in office, and emphasises the group has a system of appeal courts to review serious verdicts.

But he defends even the harshest penalties. "In our Sharia it's clear, for those who have sex and are unmarried, whether it's a girl or a boy, the punishment is 100 lashes in public.

"But for anyone who's married, they have to be stoned to death… For those who steal: if it's proved, then his hand should be cut off."

He pushes back against criticism of the punishments as incompatible with the modern world.

"People's children are being kidnapped. Is that better? Or is it better that one person's hand is chopped off and stability is brought in the community?"

 For now, despite the Taliban's rapid advance, the government remains in control of Afghanistan's biggest cities. The coming months are likely to see protracted and increasingly deadly violence as the two sides wrestle for control.

I ask Haji Hekmat if he's sure the Taliban can win militarily? "Yes," he replies. "If peace talks are not successful, we will win, God willing."

Those talks however, have stalled, and the Taliban's repeated demand for the creation of an "Islamic government" appears tantamount to a call for their opponents to surrender.

"We have defeated both the foreigners," says Haji Hekmat, "and now our internal enemies."

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2021-08-11 15:16:55Z
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