Eastern France is suffocating under the third summer heat wave

For the third time this summer, a heatwave, coupled with extensive “drought” vigilance, has hit eastern France, where Meteo-France reported spikes of 37degC in Strasbourg and 38degC in Lyon or Saint-Etienne on Thursday, before a weekend that promises to be cooler. The meteorological agency maintained orange vigilance in 26 departments, mainly in the east, for Friday and placed 64 others in yellow. Only the four Breton departments as well as Manche and Calvados are not subject to any vigilance.

The heatwave, which was less intense than in July, remains “sustainable in the Rhone Valley and the Mediterranean region,” warns Méréo-France, which states that “the hottest axis was located Thursday afternoon from the South-West, the Rhone Valley, Burgundy and the North-East.”

The French Parliament definitively adopts the second part of the purchasing power package

Parliament has definitively adopted, by a final vote of the Senate after that of the National Assembly, the second part of the purchasing power package. Senators approved the corrected budget for 2022 by 233 votes to 97, with the support of the LR, centrist, RDPI groups with an En Marche majority, Independents and RDSE with a radical majority. The left voted against it. Five centrist senators also voted against, 3 abstained, as did 11 LR.

After a first part approved on Wednesday including 20 billion euros in spending, the corrected budget for 2022 (PLFR) opens up 44 billion euros in credits, including 9.7 to finance the 100% renationalization of EDF. In particular, it provides for the continuation of the energy tariff shield and fuel rebate, and the revaluation of the index point for civil servants.

Ukraine: Kiev, accused of endangering civilians, denounces Amnesty report

President Volodymyr Zelensky denounced Thursday evening the report by the NGO Amnesty International, which accuses Kiev of endangering the lives of civilians in the war with Russia. In a report released on Thursday after a four-month investigation, Amnesty International accused the Ukrainian military of establishing military bases in schools and hospitals and launching attacks from populated areas, a tactic it says violates international humanitarian law.

"The fact of being in a defensive position does not exempt the Ukrainian army from respecting international humanitarian law,” said Agnès Callamard, the NGO's secretary-general. Amnesty International “transfers responsibility from the aggressor to the victim”, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reacted in his daily video statement, accusing the NGO of “trying to give amnesty to the terrorist state” in Russia.

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