More than 430 dead in India heatwave | ||
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Hyderabad (India) (AFP) - More than 430 people have died in two Indian states from a days-long heatwave that has seen temperatures nudging 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit), officials said Monday. Officials warned the toll was almost certain to rise, with figures still being collected in some parts of the hard-hit Telangana state in the south of the country, and with no end in sight to the searing conditions. Large parts of India, including national capital New Delhi, have endured days of sweltering heat, prompting fears of power cuts. But the highest temperatures have been recorded in Telangana and neighbouring Andhra Pradesh state. Andhra Pradesh authorities are urging labourers and others not to work long hours in the heat of the day after 246 people died from the high temperatures there in the last week. "The majority of the victims are people who have been exposed to the sun directly, usually aged 50 and above and from the working classes," P. Tulsi Rani, special commissioner of Andhra Pradesh's disaster management department, told AFP. Rani said although the deaths started occurring on Monday last week, the number of cases snowballed towards the end of the week after days of scorching heat. "We are asking them to take precautions like using an umbrella, using a cap, taking a huge quantity of liquids like water and buttermilk, and wearing cotton clothing," he said. Another 188 people have died in Telangana, mostly since the middle of last week, although numbers were still being confirmed and were highly likely to rise, D. Vani, an official with the state's disaster management department, told AFP. Hundreds of people, mostly from poorer sections of society, die at the height of summer every year across the country, while tens of thousands suffer power cuts from an overburdened electricity grid. "The kind of heatwave we are seeing now is slightly higher than normal. The temperatures here have almost touched 48-49 degrees Celsius (118-120 degrees Fahrenheit)," said B. R. Meena, principal secretary of revenue for Telangana. Several deaths have also been reported in the northwestern desert state of Rajasthan in recent days including a woman who collapsed and died on the roadside in Bundi city, the Press Trust of India said. In the eastern city of Kolkata, taxi unions have urged drivers to stay off the roads between 11am and 4pm because of the heat. India's weather bureau warned that "heatwave to severe heatwave conditions would prevail" in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana in coming days as well as in the northern states and New Delhi.
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The new Greek government's honeymoon is over — and default is just round the corner | ||
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It looks like the honeymoon is definitely over for Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. The government is losing political support both internally and externally, its ministers are admitting that it won't be able to make its upcoming International Monetary Fund (IMF) payments, and opposition politicians fear capital controls will be brought in the upcoming bank holiday weekend. The country is still locked in talks with its international lenders for the release of a €7.2 billion (£5.10 billion, $7.90 billion) bailout instalment, but despite positive signals from Athens, there seem to still be major areas of policy on which the teams can't agree. Tsipras managed to halt an internal political challenge from his own Syriza party over the weekend — but only just. Here's everything you need to know as a new week of negotiations gets underway. Public and political support is dwindlingTwo particularly grim political developments for Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras have unfolded in the last week. Firstly, there's been a tremendous decline in public support for his negotiating position. According to a University of Macedonia poll conducted through the middle of May, barely a third of people now think Athens' negotiating strategy is the right one. That's a pretty astonishing fall from the 72% that supported it in February, just after the new government was elected.
That reinforces Bank of America Merill Lynch's FX strategist Athanasios Vamvakidis, who argues that "internal opposition to a compromise is the key reason for the inability to have a deal on the review so far." The Left Platform grouping particularly are willing to leave the euro to see an end to austerity. Though Tsipras' political position is getting weaker, he's still got one thing going for him: A lack of credible external opposition. Polls continue to suggest that Syriza would win a very solid majority if another election were held, and little appetite for the centre-right New Democracy party that previously held office has re-emerged. How close is a deal?Speaking on the UK's Andrew Marr show on Sunday, Finance minister Yanis Varoufakis said that Greece had compromised three quarters of the way towards a deal already, and that the creditors must must make the final quarter of effort to reach an agreement. That's certainly not everyone's opinion. A recent note from Barclays' European analysts lays out what's still causing disagreements (emphasis ours): While progress has been acknowledged by both parties over the last two weeks, there are still several key issues pending agreement. Labour market (eg, collective agreements, strike rules, minimum wage, etc) and social security (eg, 13-month pension, zero deficit clause, etc) reforms have been declared red lines in the past by government officials, including PM Tsipras. Greece and its creditors will also have to agree on a revised 2015 fiscal target and fiscal policies, given the deteriorating economic environment and sudden reversal in tax revenues since end-2014 Pension and labour market disagreements have proved to be more contentious and less flexible than issues like privatisation. But there's really very little time left to make agreements on these issues. The finance ministers that make up the Eurogroup will have to get approval from their own national parliaments for any deal, and politicians in the rest of Europe seem less inclined than ever to be lenient. A default could be less than two weeks away now
Veteran IMF reporter Michael Ignatiou reported over the weekend that Tsipras has pleaded with US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew to help negotiate a brief pause in the payments while a deal is reach. But the IMF isn't so easily shaken off. According to Greek newspaper Kathimerini, Dora Bakoyannis, a New Democracy MP and former foreign minister made an ominous suggestion that the long weekend coming in Greece could be used to implement capital controls. It's a three day weekend, and would be the last opportunity to do so before June 5. At the moment, the only important things to look out for are major concessions on pensions and labour market issues — those are currently what's standing in the way of a deal, and any sign that either side is backing down will be the first step in an agreement. If that doesn't come, Greece's default scenario could be less than two weeks away. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Greece's interior minister also said on Sunday what has been repeatedly suggested in the last week or two — that Syria regime 'launches 15 air raids around Palmyra' | ||
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Beirut (AFP) - Syrian government aircraft launched at least 15 strikes in and around the ancient city of Palymra on Monday, following its fall to the Islamic State group, a monitoring group said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the raids on the city were the most intense since the jihadists overran it on Thursday.
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