LONDON Reuters) - Britain’s outgoing prime minister Keir Starmer warned his probable successor Andy Burnham in an interview released Saturday that he cannot ignore international turmoil and just concentrate on the country’s domestic problems. In his first interview since announcing his resignation on June 22, Starmer said his successor as leader of the ruling Labour party could not spend less time on turbulent international affairs.  So far, former Manchester mayor Burnham is the only candidate to take over the center-left party. He could be in office by mid-July. 

 

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BAMAKO (Reuters) - Insurgents in Mali staged attacks in five locations early on Saturday, including a northern town where government and Russian fighters are ‌based and a town south of the capital Bamako, the latest threat to the landlocked Sahel nation’s embattled leaders. The assault targeted army positions in cities and towns including Anefis, Aguelhoc and Gao in northern Mali, Sevare in central Mali and Kenioroba in the south, the Malian armed forces said in a statement. Soldiers repelled the attacks and the situation was “totally under control”, the statement said, adding that 20 “terrorists” had been killed in Sevare and six in Gao. One pro-government fighter was killed in Gao and four others were injured, it said. A spokesperson for a Tuareg-led rebel group, the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA), said it was involved in Saturday’s attacks. 

 

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BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany plans to lift 2027 borrowing ‌to more than €203 billion ($232 billion), according to the budget draft seen by Reuters, a sharper rise than previously signaled, as Berlin ramps up investment and defense to shield its sluggish economy from war-related energy shocks and years of underinvestment. Borrowing is up from the €196.5 billion signaled in April and far above the €50.5 billion in 2024 under the previous government, before Germany threw off decades of fiscal conservatism last year to revive its moribund economy. The budget draft assumes the Middle East conflict will ease during the summer but warns if the Strait of Hormuz or oil production capacities remain disrupted longer, there would be “far-reaching consequences” for the German economy.

 

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BRUSSELS (POLITICO) - reported Belgium’s federal government is facing mounting criticism after health authorities linked last week’s record-breaking heat wave to over 1,200 excess deaths, prompting opposition parties to accuse ministers of failing to protect the country’s most vulnerable citizens. Socialist Party leader Paul Magnette led the criticism Thursday evening after the health ministry confirmed 1,222 excess deaths between June 18 and June 29.

 

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LISBON (Reuters) - Portugal ‌has asked the EU, Spain and Morocco to have extra firefighting aircraft ready in case wildfires worsen during the current heatwave, Prime Minister Luis Montenegro said. He said the unusual move was prompted not by a shortage of national resources, but by what he described as an “exceptional situation” ‌in the ‌coming days, with the “entire ‌country facing a very high risk of wildfires.” “We believe it is better to receive support from our EU allies and closest neighbors than to divert resources from other parts of the country where they are currently deployed,” he told a ‌news conference, ‌explaining why Lisbon had activated EU Civil Protection ‌Mechanism and bilateral agreements with Spain ‌and Morocco.