The world’s oceans just experienced their hottest June on record and could set fresh highs in the months ahead as El Nino and climate change drive temperatures even higher, scientists said yesterday.

Tens of thousands of people desperately sought food and shelter in Venezuela on Tuesday after the two earthquakes killed nearly 2,000, but rescue teams managed to pull a 3-year-old boy alive from the rubble six days after the shocks.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe on Tuesday compared the capabilities of the most advanced artificial intelligence models to nuclear weapons in a tacit defense of the Trump administration’s recent hard line on controlling the release of the most powerful AI technology.

More than 1,000 deaths in Spain were attributed to the recent heatwave that roasted Europe, as the country posted the hottest first six months ever recorded, officials said yesterday.

A new ethnic unity law came into effect in China yesterday, despite warnings from Taiwan, the United Nations and rights groups that it could threaten freedoms, especially for minorities.

UN chief Antonio Guterres warned Tuesday of the “increasingly precarious” situation of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees known as UNRWA, saying that millions of people’s livelihoods were at risk.

Cuba’s government said Tuesday that months of negotiations with the United States, which is applying maximum pressure to the island to try to bring about a change in governance, had shown “no progress.”

More than 100,000 people have been killed across all sides in Myanmar since a military coup five years ago triggered civil war, a conflict monitor said yesterday.

Pakistan’s military said yesterday it had intercepted four drones sent from Afghanistan the previous day, the latest incident in months of conflict between the two neighbours.

The United States has started sending unwanted migrants to a sparsely populated archipelago in the tropical Pacific, the island nation of Palau said yesterday.

China’s ruling Communist Party must keep pace with changing circumstances while safeguarding the advances it has made, President Xi Jinping said yesterday during celebrations for its 105th founding anniversary.

The US and Iran held technical talks in Doha yesterday as they seek to agree on the flow of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and secure a lasting ceasefire, a source with direct knowledge of the talks and an Iranian official said.

One year after lifting its long-standing two-child limit, Vietnam is offering incentives for people to have more babies as the communist country risks getting old before it gets rich.

Dam completion targeted within about 8 years, sources say

France last year recorded fewer babies born than people dying in the country

Shipping costs stay elevated amid security concerns

Toll rises to nearly 2,000

Training was linked to war in Ukraine, Reuters reporting showed

At least 1,028 people died of heat-related issues during the heatwave, the public Carlos III Health Institute said

More than a million people gathered in the streets of Mexico City, mainly around the Angel of Independence monument, according to estimates by the city government