YREKA, United States (AFP) -- Firefighters faced “extremely dangerous” conditions as they battled to save a community of 8,000 residents, with lightning strikes threatening to worsen a blaze that has already killed at least two people and become California’s biggest fire of the year. Hundreds of personnel were involved in the fight against the fast-moving McKinney Fire, which has torn through more than 55,000 acres (22,000 hectares) near the border with Oregon, forcing thousands from their homes. The National Weather Service meanwhile issued a warning because of the threat of dry lightning -- powerful electrical strikes that come without any of the desperately needed rain. California, along with much of the western United States, is in the grip of its worst drought in more than 1,000 years. The drought, exacerbated by man-made climate change, has left the countryside parched and exceedingly vulnerable to the wildfires that naturally break out, making the blazes hotter, faster and more destructive. 

 

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COLOMBO (AFP) -- Sri Lanka on Tuesday brushed aside Indian concerns over a scheduled visit by a Chinese ship, saying it was coming only to refuel and replenish supplies. The research and survey ship Yuan Wang 5 is due to dock in the Chinese-run Hambantota Port in southern Sri Lanka on August 11, according to analytics website MarineTraffic. Indian media reports said that New Delhi was worried the vessel would be used to spy on its activities and that it had lodged a complaint with Colombo. It is a dual-use spy vessel, employed for space and satellite tracking and with specific usage in intercontinental ballistic missile launches, according to Indian broadcaster CNN-News18. Sri Lankan government spokesman Bandula Gunawardena said that the cabinet discussed the ship’s visit on Monday and that it would still be allowed to dock. “Both India and China are helping us at this very crucial time when we are facing an unprecedented economic crisis,” Gunawardena said.

 

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ISLAMABAD (AFP) -- Pakistan’s ex-premier Imran Khan’s party accepted millions of dollars in illegal funds from foreign individuals and groups, the election commission ruled Tuesday.  The case dates back to 2014 when a disgruntled founding member of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) filed a case against his party leadership accusing it of financial irregularities. The Election Commission Pakistan found that Khan’s party concealed 16 bank accounts and accepted donations from foreigners or foreign groups based in Australia, Canada, the UAE and the Cayman Islands. Pakistani law bars political parties from receiving funds and donations from foreign individuals and companies. The commission also said that financial details submitted by Khan were “found to be grossly inaccurate”. Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif -- who came into power in April after Khan’s ouster -- said the commission’s verdict showed “yet again that he (Khan) is a certified liar”.

 

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BEIJING (AFP) -- China’s population will begin to shrink by 2025, officials have said, as family sizes grow smaller and citizens age. The world’s most-populous country has been grappling with a looming demographic crisis as it faces a rapidly ageing workforce, slowing economy and its weakest population growth in decades. And although officials relaxed the nation’s strict “one-child policy” in 2016 and last year allowed couples to have three children, the birth rate has plunged to a record low. “The growth rate of the total population has slowed down significantly, and it will enter a stage of negative growth in the ‘14th Five-Year Plan’ period,” the National Health Commission said Monday, referring to the period between 2021 and 2025. In January, authorities said that forecasts expected the population to enter zero growth “or even negative growth” in that five-year span. “Presently, our country’s policy system for childbirth support is not perfect, and there is a big gap with population development and the people’s expectations,” the NHC said in its latest report. 

 

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JACKSON, United States (AFP) -- The death toll from flooding in eastern Kentucky rose to 35 on Monday as more rain hampered clean-up and search and rescue operations. “More tough news,” tweeted Andy Beshear, governor of the south-central US state. “We have confirmed more fatalities from the Eastern Kentucky floods,” Beshear said. “Our loss now stands at 35. Beshear has said he expects the death toll to continue to rise as search and rescue teams fan out across flood-hit areas and recover more bodies. Their efforts were hampered by more rain on Monday. “If things weren’t hard enough on the people of this region, they’re getting rain right now,” Beshear said. “There is severe storm potential today in all of the impacted areas. Some areas in eastern Kentucky received more than eight inches (20 centimeters) of rain in a 24-hour period last week, causing flash floods. 

 

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BRASILIA (AFP) -- The number of forest fires in the Brazilian Amazon increased by eight percent last month compared with July 2021, according to official figures, the latest alarm bell for the world’s biggest rainforest. Satellite monitoring detected 5,373 fires last month, up from 4,977 in July last year, according to the Brazilian space agency, INPE. However, the number was well short of the worst July on record: 19,364 fires in 2005. July is typically the start of the Amazon “fire season,” when drier weather fuels more fires -- mostly set by farmers and speculators clearing land for agriculture, according to experts. The increase in the Amazon came as major fires raged in California, France and Portugal amid rising temperatures.