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Countries around the world are experiencing extreme weather from landslides and flash flooding to scorching temperatures.

In some areas, its caused casualties, triggered evacuations and further weather warnings. Here, we take a look at some of the most recent events and why they may be happening.

In Japan, the highest-level heavy rain warning was issued in parts of the Fukuoka and Oita prefectures in Kyushu – the country’s third-largest island.

Two people have died and six others were missing according to officials, as authorities urged tens of thousands of residents to move out of areas in danger of more landslides and flooding.

Some parts of Fukuoka have been hit with more than 600mm of rain since Friday, more than usually falls in the whole of July, media reported.

Director of forecast division at Japan’s Meteorological Agency, Satoshi Sugimoto, said another 100mm of rain is expected up to early on Tuesday.

“The land ministry said eight rivers had burst their banks from continuous rain since late last month turned into mudslides.

Mr Sugimoto said: “The rain is becoming so heavy unlike anything seen before.”

Pic: The Yomiuri Shimbun/AP
Image:
Pic: The Yomiuri Shimbun/AP

Houses and rice field flooded in Kurume, Fukuoka prefecture. Pic: The Yomiuri Shimbun/AP
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Houses and rice field flooded in Kurume, Fukuoka prefecture. Pic: The Yomiuri Shimbun/AP

As of Monday 1,820 households were without power while 60 homes had no water, a government spokesperson said.

The weather bureau said there was a 90% chance that the El Nino phenomenon, a warming of ocean surface temperatures in the eastern and central Pacific, would continue into the autumn.

India

Meanwhile in northern India, torrential rain has caused landslides and flash flooding as schools in New Delhi were closed after heavy rains lashed the national capital over the weekend.

Authorities and local media said on Monday that at least 22 people have died.

Many districts in the northern state of Himachal Pradesh received a month’s rainfall in a day at the weekend, a senior weather department official said.

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Dramatic rescue over India flood waters

Delhi, Punjab, and Himachal Pradesh have received 112%, 100% and 70% more rainfall than average so far in the current monsoon season that started on 1 June, the department added. Authorities used helicopters to rescue people stranded on roads and bridges because of the rain.

Himachal Pradesh’s Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu urged people to “stay inside” their homes as more heavy rain was expected.

Record set for world’s hottest day

The extreme weather comes as the world recorded its hottest day on record last Thursday, breaking previous highs set on Monday and Tuesday as global average temperatures continue to climb.

Experts have blamed a combination of climate change and an emerging El Nino weather pattern.

The global average temperature hit 17.23C on Thursday, according to data from the US National Centers on Environmental Prediction.

China

In China, torrid heat has gripped the country for several weeks, pushing local governments to ask residents and businesses to curb the usage of electricity.

Weather forecasters issued a string of heat advisories across northern parts of the country last Thursday, as temperatures were expected to breach 40C in some areas, stressing taxed power grids.

Beijing issued a red warning, the highest in a three-tier alert system, as other alerts were also issued in the northern Hebei province, Shaanxi, Henan and Shandong provinces.

A person wearing a towel on her head holds an umbrella, as she walks on a street, amid a red alert for heatwave in Beijing, China

Weather experts have predicted the extreme temperatures could eclipse last year’s scorching spell, which lasted for more than two months.

United States

Heavy rainstorms also poured over parts of New York and Pennsylvania on Sunday, as emergency services rescued people stuck in vehicles along flooded roadways.

Rescue teams in Hudson Valley found the body of a woman in her 30s. She is reported to have drowned after being swept away while trying to evacuate her home, Orange County Executive Steven Neuhaus told WABC-TV

Online footage showed rushing flood waters in Stony Point, a small town on the Hudson River about 40 miles north of Manhattan.

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Bryan Jackson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Centre, said a weather pattern more typical of cooler months had built over the Canadian province of Ontario and was interacting with the regular summer moisture.

The centre issued its first-ever high-risk warning, the highest level on a four-step scale, for the area surrounding Burlington, Vermont, on Monday.

“We expect considerable to locally catastrophic impacts,” Mr Jackson said.

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Donald Trump says second UK state visit could happen in September

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Donald Trump says second UK state visit could happen in September

Donald Trump has said his second state visit to the UK could take place in September.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer handed over an invitation from the King when he visited Washington in February.

Trump teases return to UK – latest updates

Buckingham Palace previously only said the visit would happen “when diaries allow”, but Mr Trump told reporters on Thursday: “I think they are setting a date for September.”

“I don’t know how it can be bigger than the last one,” he said.

“The last one was incredible, but they say the next one will be even more important.”

Sir Keir Starmer the Trump charmer.
Pic: PA
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Sir Keir Starmer handed Trump the invite earlier this year. Pic: PA

Mr Trump will become the only elected political leader in modern times to be invited to two state visits by a British monarch.

The president called the UK a “great country” in his comments at the White House on Thursday and said it was “an honour to be a friend of King Charles and the family, William”.

His first state visit was in 2019, when he was hosted by the late Queen.

Second-term US presidents who have already made a state visit usually get tea or lunch with the monarch at Windsor Castle, as was the case for George W Bush and Barack Obama.

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The president was hosted by the Queen in June 2019. Pic: Reuters
Image:
The president was hosted by the Queen in June 2019. Pic: Reuters

But Mr Trump is set to get all the pomp and ceremony laid on again in his honour – with another state banquet likely at Buckingham Palace.

The Royal Family‘s soft power diplomacy is viewed as a way of currying favour with the president, who’s known for his love of the monarchy and links to the UK through his mother, who was born on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland.

It comes as the government seeks an economic deal with the US, in the hope of potentially lessening the impact of the president’s tariffs.

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Four in hospital as police deal with active shooter at Florida university

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Four in hospital as police deal with active shooter at Florida university

Four people are in hospital as police deal with an active shooter on a university campus in Florida.

Videos showed people running through traffic, fleeing the scene, around the time of the shooting at the student union at Florida State University’s campus in Tallahassee.

Local police were “on the scene or on the way”, according to an alert sent out by the school and students have been told to “shelter in place”.

The FBI is also said to be responding to the incident.

Florida State University students wait for news amid an active shooter incident at the school.
Pic: AP/Kate Payne
Image:
Florida State University students wait for news amid an active shooter incident at the school.
Pic: AP/Kate Payne

In a statement, Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare said it was “actively receiving and caring for patients” from the incident.

“At this time, details are still unfolding, and we do not yet have specific information to share. However, we want to assure the community that our teams are fully mobilised and prepared to provide the highest level of care and support to all those affected,” it added.

President Donald Trump said he was fully briefed on the incident and described it as “a shame”.

More on Florida

He added: “It’s a horrible thing. Horrible that things like this take place.”

Florida governor Ron DeSantis, in a statement posted on X, said: “Our prayers are with our FSU family and state law enforcement is actively responding.”

Ambulances, fire trucks and police vehicles raced to the campus around midday local time (5pm UK time) on Thursday.

As students streamed away from the area of the student union in their hundreds, some were visibly emotional and others were glued to their phones.

Dozens later gathered near the university’s music school, waiting for news.

Florida State University student Daniella Streety told NBC News of the chaos that unfolded at the scene.

She remained on lockdown in a campus building and said: “I did see them carry out one student in what looked like on a stretcher and kept them in the road until an ambulance was able to pick them up.”

Joshua Sirmans, 20, was in the university’s main library when he said alarms began going off warning of an active shooter.

Police escorted him and other students out of the library with their hands over their heads, he said.

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US judge warns Trump administration could be in criminal contempt over El Salvador deportations

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White House rages at 'appalling' attempt to return wrongly deported man from El Salvador

A US federal judge has warned that he could hold the Trump administration in contempt for violating his orders to turn around planes carrying deportees to El Salvador.

US District Judge James E. Boasberg said he had found “probable cause” to hold the administration in criminal contempt and warned he could refer the matter for prosecution if it does not “purge” its contempt.

If the government doesn’t purge the contempt, charges could be brought forward by the Justice Department, NBC News reported.

And if the executive-led Justice Department refused to prosecute the matter, Judge Boasberg said he would appoint another attorney to prosecute the contempt.

Mr Boasberg said the administration could “purge contempt by returning those who were sent to El Salvador prison, in violation of his order, to the US.

This, he said, “might avail themselves of their right to challenge their removability”.

“The Constitution does not tolerate wilful disobedience of judicial orders – especially by officials of a coordinate branch who have sworn an oath to uphold it,” the judge wrote.

Executive vs judicial

This marks a notable escalation in the ongoing tensions between the judicial and executive branches of the US government during Donald Trump’s second term.

Parts of the US president’s legislative programme have been halted by judges, as the administration strains against the restraints of the separation of powers.

Mr Trump previously called for Judge Boasberg to be impeached while the Justice Department claimed he overstepped his authority – both reflecting the administration’s attempts to overcome perceived obstacles to the implementation of its agenda.

Mr Trump’s administration has also argued it did not violate any orders.

It claimed the judge didn’t include a turnaround directive in his written order and said the planes had already left the US by the time the order came down.

‘Administrative error’

At the heart of the legal wrangling is Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a man who was sent to El Salvador by the Trump administration in March despite an immigration court order preventing his deportation.

Washington acknowledged that Mr Garcia was deported due to an “administrative error”.

The US Supreme Court has called on the administration to facilitate his return, upholding a court order by Judge Paula Xinis, but Trump officials have claimed that Mr Garcia has ties to the MS-13 gang.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Pic: CASA / AP
Image:
Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Pic: CASA/AP

Mr Garcia’s lawyers have argued there is no evidence of this.

This all comes after El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele visited the White House earlier this week.

During his time with Mr Trump, Mr Bukele said that he would not return Mr Garcia, likening it to smuggling “a terrorist into the United States.”

The US and El Salvador presidents in the Oval Office.
Pic: Reuters/Kevin Lamarque
Image:
The US and El Salvador presidents in the Oval Office.
Pic: Reuters/Kevin Lamarque

Along with Mr Garcia, the Trump administration has deported hundreds of people, mostly Venezuelans, whom it claims are gang members without presenting evidence and without a trial.

Democrat senator travels to El Salvador

Meanwhile, Democratic senator Chris Van Hollen arrived in El Salvador on Wednesday, saying he would seek a meeting with the country’s officials to secure Mr Garcia’s release.

“I just arrived in San Salvador a little while ago and look forward to meeting with the US embassy team to discuss Mr. Abrego Garcia’s release,” Mr Van Hollen said on social media.

Deportations have been an important part of Mr Trump’s second term, with him being vocal on the issue throughout the campaign trail and into office.

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