ASIA
India– India may go through another potentially deadly summer as the temperature is predicted to go as high as 51 degrees Celsius (124 degrees Fahrenheit). Due to the extreme heat in recent years, many parts of the country were struck by drought, leading to many deaths. This was after the heat wave that killed more than 2300 people in 2015.
The Indian Meteorological Department predicts that there will be an average increase of 1 degree Celsius in the hottest parts of the country, such as Rajasthan and Maharashtra. The temperature there has already reached 45 degrees Celsius in April and April has not even been declared as the hottest month of the summer in the country. New Delhi, the capital city, hit 43.7 degrees Celsius in April 18, 2017 which has been the city’s hottest day since 2010.
North Korea– North Korea carried out its largest live fire drill. In response, the US has its warships and submarines getting in position to attack or defend a potential attack. As Washington and Pyongyang trade inflammatory rhetoric every week, it is hard to tell that if a war is actually going to happen or if it is just the President’s new administration’s attempts of figuring out how to deal with North Korean leader, Kim Un Jong.
It is an extremely fragile situation, especially after North Korea released photographs of its “self-claimed” artillery drills. Analysts say that it has a reached a point where a small action can lead to all the dominos falling. “The real question now is somebody going to make a stupid mistake, because some kind of minor escalation could get out of hand,” said Bruce Bennett, a senior defense analyst at the RAND Corporation.
EUROPE
United Kingdom– UK Prime Minister, Theresa May, said that the opposition, the Labour Party, would crash the economy and would damage Britain’s ability to ensure the best terms for its exit from the European Union over the next two years’ time.
In a war of words known as the Prime Minister’s Questions, May said that every vote for her opponent Jeremy Corbyn is a vote for a chaotic Brexit and every vote for her will strengthen their hand in negotiating the best deal for Britain. To this, Corbyn said that May did not listen to the people, that she had a handpicked audience who wouldn’t question her and that her government only served the rich.
The elections are scheduled to take place on June 8, 2017.
Vatican City– Pope Francis is paying a year’s rent for a private beach called Little Madonna for people with disabilities. A charity group received an undisclosed amount to “support the project that helps disabled youth and [,] in particular [,] to cover the cost of annual rent for the beach known as the Little Madonna.”
The charity group, Work of Love, has rented a portion of Little Madonna since 2012 and has revamped it with boardwalks, ramps and water vehicles to provide much needed access and transportation to people in wheelchairs and those with other disabilities.