Summer heat scorches the northern hemisphere

Weekend Briefing

From Reuters Daily Briefing

By Robert MacMillan, Reuters.com Weekend Editor

Welcome to the Weekend Briefing. In addition to our coverage of heat and Donald Trump, we have a variety of interesting items from a Slovakian fracas over fighter jets to the dilemma facing Nvidia's investors over what to do with their holdings.

Summer heat scorches the northern hemisphere

Washington, D.C., June 19, 2024. REUTERS/Craig Hudson

Killer temperatures: Ferocious heat over four continents likely contributed to hundreds if not thousands of deaths, while climate change could push this summer to the top of the record books as the hottest in 2,000 years. Learn about the risks, some of them not immediately obvious, of excessive heat. And if you thought the scaling up of renewable energy was diminishing fossil-fuel use, a new report suggests that you are wrong.
Little relief: The heat felled hundreds of Haj pilgrims and led to wildfires across Europe and North America. Almost 100 million Americans were under various heat alerts and Europe is contending with a spate of dead and missing tourists as well as power outages. In India, where 40,000 heatstroke cases have been reported, the Safdarjung Observatory in New Delhi recorded a minimum overnight temperature reading of 35.2 Celsius, 95.4 Fahrenheit.

Israel-Hezbollah faceoff raises risk of wider conflict

Mediterranean threats: Hezbollah's chief said nowhere in Israel would be safe in the event of war. He also said Cyprus and other parts of the Mediterranean would be in danger, which drew a perplexed reaction from Nicosia and meetings with abashed Lebanese leaders. It's all tough talk for now, but nobody is sure it will stay that way.
Gaza: Residents of Rafah say the Israeli military appears to be trying to complete the capture of Rafah, where at least 45 Palestinians died on Friday as troops engaged in close-quarter combat with Hamas. Benjamin Netanyahu, who disbanded his war cabinet at the beginning of the week, tussled with the U.S. over restrictions on arms deliveries to Israel.

Donald Trump dangles green cards for foreign graduates of U.S. colleges

Status symbol: The former president said on a Silicon Valley tech podcast that all foreign college graduates should automatically get permanent residency in the U.S. As even the most casual reader would know, this is not consistent with his hardline immigration stance. Joe Biden offered a path to citizenship for immigrants who are in the United States illegally and married to citizens. The two meet on CNN for a debate on Thursday.
Perturbed minister: Rishi Sunak said he was incredibly angry to hear that three of his Conservative Party colleagues were being investigated over allegations that they placed bets on an early announcement of the UK general election. The party's campaign chief, whose candidate wife is also under investigation, stepped aside two weeks before the July 4 election over the reports. Polls indicate that the Conservatives are in for a shellacking.

The anxiety lurking in the hearts of Nvidia investors

Nice problem to have: The premier provider of chips to support AI applications briefly became the largest U.S. company by market value this week and is poised to double revenues this fiscal year. Its stock has risen 1,000% since October 2022, and the valuation of its shares is growing ever more expensive. So: do investors hold or cash in? As ever, experts disagree. And multiple AI companies are acquiring content from online publishers in dodgy ways, a content-licensing startup says.
Not good enough: U.S. senators attacked the CEO of Boeing over its safety record, overshadowing his apology to families who lost loved ones in two 737 MAX crashes and acceptance of responsibility after a January mid-air emergency.

Before I forget…

- Vladimir Putin signed a mutual-defense agreement with North Korea and made a state visit to Vietnam. The trip irked the United States, which said it would try to deepen ties with Hanoi.
- Ukraine's top anti-corruption investigator is under pressure to find the source of a suspected leak from his staff that compromised an investigation into a government road-building project.
- Slovakia's new government asked police to investigate a former minister for supplying jets and air-defense systems to Ukraine, using some spicy language, including "sabotage" and "treason."
- Emmanuel Macron asked schools to discuss racism and antisemitism after the rape of a Jewish girl in a Paris suburb added to France's charged social climate ahead of elections.
- Indian authorities discovered children working in a liquor distillery. They were supposed to be in school, and some even were delivered to the site in school buses.

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