LUCKNOW, India (Reuters) -- At least 54 people died in a district in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh over the last few days, the Times of India newspaper reported on Monday, as authorities probed if the loss of lives was due to the heat wave in the region. Another 45 people died in neighboring Bihar state, local newspapers reported. The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) issued a red alert warning last week for extreme heat in some regions of the country, including Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. The government said it was investigating the cause of the deaths that occurred over three days last week in Uttar Pradesh’s Ballia district, about 970 km (600 miles) southeast of New Delhi. Temperatures have soared close to 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit) in recent days in Ballia with a severe power crisis compounding the situation. In Bihar, 45 people lost their lives due to heat-related illnesses, the Hindustan Times newspaper reported. Officials in Patna, the capital of Bihar, did not answer phone calls.

***
SEOUL (AFP) -- North Korea’s ruling party slammed a recent failed satellite launch in a high-level meeting, state media reported on Monday, “bitterly” criticizing the officials responsible. North Korea attempted to put its first military spy satellite into orbit on May 31, but the projectile and its payload crashed into the sea shortly after launch due to what Pyongyang said was a rocket failure. In the report from the meeting of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, the ruling party “bitterly criticized the officials who irresponsibly conducted the preparations for satellite launch” and demanded a probe into the “serious” failure, state-run KCNA said. The committee reiterated a pledge to soon successfully launch its spy satellite, which Pyongyang has previously said it needs in order to counterbalance the growing U.S. military presence in the region. The May 31 launch was denounced by the United States, South Korea and Japan, which said it violated United Nations resolutions barring the nuclear-armed country from any tests using ballistic missile technology. Analysts have said there is significant technological overlap between the development of intercontinental ballistic missiles and space launch capabilities.

***
JAKARTA (Reuters) -- Indonesia and Elon Musk’s rocket company SpaceX on Monday launched the country’s largest telecommunication satellite from the United States, in a $540 million project intended to link up remote corners of the archipelago to the internet. Roughly two-thirds of Indonesia’s 280 million population already use the internet, but connectivity is limited in far-flung, underdeveloped eastern islands of the Southeast Asian country. “Satellite technology will accelerate internet access to villages in areas that cannot be reached by fiber optics in the next 10 years,” Mahfud MD, senior Indonesian minister, said in a statement ahead of the launch. The 4.5-tonne Satellite of the Republic of Indonesia (SATRIA-1) was built by Thales Alenia Space and deployed into orbit from Florida by SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, which then returned to an offshore site in a precision landing.

***
MADRID (Reuters) -- Spain’s conservative People’s Party is set to win the most seats in the lower house of parliament in next month’s national election, far ahead of the ruling Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE), a poll released by El Pais newspaper showed on Monday. The survey, carried out between June 12 and 14, showed the PP widening its lead over Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’ PSOE, pollster 40DB said. The poll, commissioned by El Pais newspaper, estimated that the PP would get between 128 and 142 seats in the 350-member lower house, up from 131 in the previous poll held between May 31 and June 1. The PSOE would get between 99 and 109 seats, it showed, compared with 107 in the previous such survey. An alliance between the PP and the far-right Vox party, seen garnering between 37 and 41 seats, would exceed the 176 seat absolute majority in the lower house needed to rule. Sanchez on May 29 called a surprise snap election after his party and its junior coalition partner Podemos were routed in regional and municipal ballots. Sanchez said he would lead his party and seek to remain prime minister.

***
JOS, Nigeria (AFP) -- Clashes between farmers and herders killed at least 13 people in central Nigeria over the weekend, community leaders and local authorities told AFP. In recent weeks, the central state of Plateau has seen a resurgence of violence between herding and farming communities fighting over access to land and resources. On Friday, five herders taking cattle to market “were stopped and killed” in the Rawuru community by suspected “Berom youths”, a farming community, a local Fulani herdsmen’s representative Nuru Abdullahi, told AFP. In what appeared to be a revenge attack, eight Berom farmers were killed in the same area by suspected Fulani herders, Berom youth representative Pius Dalyop Pam told AFP. Nigeria’s northwestern and central regions regularly see deadly violence over land and water exploitation between farming and herding communities. They have worsened in recent years because of population pressure and climate change.