An explosion at an industrial park for chemical companies shook the German city of Leverkusen on Tuesday, sending a large black cloud rising into the air. At least 16 people were injured and five remain missing.

Firefighting aircraft from France and Greece arrived in Italy on Sunday following an appeal for help in taming fires raging across parts of Sardinia that have forced hundreds of people from their homes.

Britain and France yesterday signed a new security deal aimed at protecting the public in the event of a terror attack in the Channel against a large vessel such as a passenger ferry, the British government said.

Russia’s media regulator has blocked 49 websites linked to jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, his ally said yesterday, as pressure mounts on the movement of the opposition leader ahead of parliamentary elections in the autumn.

Nearly 200 nations started online negotiations yesterday to validate a UN science report that will anchor autumn summits charged with preventing climate catastrophe on a planetary scale.

TUNISIAN DEMOCRACY IN CRISIS

Wildfires burned in regions across southern Europe on Monday, fuelled by hot weather and strong winds, as some northern countries cleaned up after a weekend of torrential rain and flooding.

French President Emmanuel Macron faced pressure to apologise for the devastating impact of decades of nuclear testing as he kicked off his first official trip to French Polynesia. 

Ahead of a key climate meet in London, scientists have warned that only four leading G20 nations’ climate targets would lead to disastrous global warming. 

Allegations that governments used phone malware supplied by an Israeli firm to spy on journalists, activists and heads of state have “exposed a global human rights crisis,” Amnesty International said, asking for a moratorium on the sale and use of surveillance technology. 

Energy and environment ministers from the Group of 20 rich nations have failed to agree on the wording of key climate change commitments in their final communique, Italy’s Ecological Transition Minister Roberto Cingolani said on Friday. 

More than half of all European adults are now fully vaccinated, the EU said, as countries across Europe and Asia battled fresh outbreaks blamed on the fast-spreading Delta variant.

Russia managed to disconnect itself from the global internet during tests in June and July, the RBC daily reported on Thursday, citing documents from the working group tasked with improving Russia’s internet security.

We will probably have another variant arrive during the winter. … The big challenge for the next couple of years will be how are we going to co-exist, with two worlds: countries that are vaccinated and those that are not.

French President Emmanuel Macron has changed his phone and phone number in light of the Pegasus spyware case, a presidency official said on Thursday, in one of the first concrete actions announced in relation to the scandal.

Russia said yesterday it had carried out another successful test of its Zircon hypersonic cruise missile, a new addition to an arsenal of weapons called “invincible” by President Vladimir Putin.

The death toll from Germany’s worst floods in living memory rose to 165 yesterday as emergency services continued to comb through decimated towns in search of dozens of people still missing.

“This has to be verified, but if it is the case, it is completely unacceptable.... Free press is one of the core values of the European Union.”

German Chancellor Angela Merkel described the flooding that has devastated parts of Europe as “terrifying” on Sunday after the death toll across the region rose to 188 and a district of Bavaria was battered by the extreme weather.

The death toll in devastating flooding in western Germany and Belgium rose to at least 170 on Saturday after burst rivers and flash floods this week collapsed houses and ripped up roads and power lines.