DUBAI(AFP) - Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed has hit back at U.S. President Donald Trump after Trump posted a social media attack targeting him and his wife, Sarah Jukaku. Trump shared side-by-side photos of himself with first lady Melania Trump and El-Sayed with his hijab-wearing wife, captioned: “Two VERY DIFFERENT America’s.”  Critics accused Trump of using the post to highlight El-Sayed’s Muslim and Arab background. Speaking on CNN’s State of the Union, El-Sayed responded: “Sarah and I actually like each other. I don’t know about the first lady and the president, but from what I’ve heard, it’s a bit of a rocky road.”

 

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SEOUL(AP) - South Korean and U.S. troops will begin their annual exercises next week, the allies announced Monday, days after North Korea resumed ballistic missile testing activities. The Ulchi Freedom Shield is to begin next Monday for an 11-day run and its scale will be similar to previous years with about 18,000 South Korean soldiers participating in it, South Korean military spokesperson Jang Do-young told reporters. 

 

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GUWAHATI, India (AP) - The flood crisis in India’s northeastern Assam state remained critical on Monday, with the death toll reaching 100 after two more people died overnight, officials said. Several rivers remain above danger levels, raising the risk of fresh flooding in vulnerable areas, the Assam State Disaster Management Authority said. Days of heavy monsoon rain has caused rivers, including the Brahmaputra, to overflow that inundated communities while disrupting livelihoods and damaging infrastructure.

 

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ATHENS(AFP) - A new wildfire broke out in Greece Monday morning southeast of the capital Athens, fanned by strong winds of more than 70 kilometers per hour, firefighters said. At least 172 firefighters and around 40 vehicles have been deployed to fight the blaze in Kouvaras, 60 km (37 miles) southeast of Athens, in the Attica region, the fire service announced on X. “Two water-bombing aircraft and four helicopters” are also taking part, the service added.

 

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BRUSSELS (AP)– Global ocean surface temperatures reached a record high for July as developing El Nino conditions helped drive exceptionally warm waters across the tropical Pacific, the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said on Monday. The average sea surface temperature across the extra-polar oceans, between 60 degrees south and 60 degrees north latitude, reached 20.96 degrees Celsius last month, beating the previous July record of 20.89 C set in 2023, the C3S said. Sea temperatures were exceptionally high across a large part of the tropical Pacific, where El Nino conditions are present and forecast to strengthen in the coming months.