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Rome (AFP) – In Rome, the thermometer could rise to 42°C, beating the previous record of 40.5°C set in August 2007, as a series of heatwaves cover vast swathes of the planet.

Dhaka (AFP) – Clashes broke out in Dhaka as activists from the main opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, marched to demand Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s ouster from power ahead of next year’s elections.

United Nations (United States) (AFP) – The United Nations secretary-general, Antonio Guterres, warns of the risks of Artificial Intelligence and urges the Security Council to approach the technology with a sense of “urgency.”

Geneva (AFP) – The world should get ready to face increasingly intense heatwaves, the United Nations warns, as countries across the Northern Hemisphere reel from soaring temperatures.

Pournari (Greece) (AFP) – Greece is battling wildires in multiple area near the capital Athens, with emergency services evacuating towns and villages. Europe braces for record-smashing heat as withering heatwaves across the globe showed no signs of easing.

Madrid (AFP) – On July 23, Spain will head to the polls in the country’s snap election called by Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez after the left was routed in May 28 local elections. Although Spain’s economy is growing steadily and inflation has been tamed, the public still perceives the economy very negatively. The polls suggest Spain’s next government will be a coalition of the right-wing Popular Party (PP) and the far-right Vox.

Eberswalde (Germany) (AFP) – Sensors that can sniff out a wildfire minutes after it starts are being trialled in Brandenburg, the German region most hit by forest fires. A start-up installed hundreds of sensors in the woods around the town of Eberswalde to test its “electronic nose”.

Kerch Strait (AFP) – Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin, charged with overseeing repairs to the Crimea bridge both times it has been struck, inspects the damage after a Ukrainian naval drone attack. The Crimea bridge is the only bridge connecting Russia’s mainland to the annexed Crimea peninsula and a key supply line for Russian forces in the south of Ukraine.

Unknown (AFP) – Images posted on the Sudanese Armed Forces twitter page on July 17, 2023 show Sudanese army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan attending a military meeting. Fighting continues to rage in Sudan as the three-month war between Burhan and his and former deputy, RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo shows no signs of abating.

Kolkata (AFP) – Wetlands just outside India’s Kolkata have for generations provided tonnes of food daily and thousands of jobs as they filter sewage through fish ponds — but rapid urbanisation is threatening the ecosystem.