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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Maya Alleruzzo / AP  

Political situation in Israel  

Decreased support for Netanyahu after criticized law 

Support for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has fallen after the introduction of a package of laws that increases politicians' power over the judiciary.  

This is shown by polls published by two Israeli television channels. If there were elections today, Netanyahu and his coalition government would get 52-53 seats compared to the 64 they have now.   

The introduction of the legal reform has been met with huge protests. Thousands of Israeli elite soldiers refuse to serve as reservists and the country's medical union has gone on strike.  

 

Pictures from the forest fires in Greece. AP  

Several dead in the fires raging around the Mediterranean 

Greece, Italy, Spain, Algeria, Portugal and Croatia have all been affected by forest fires as a result of the heat wave and drought around the Mediterranean.  

Near Dubrovnik in southern Croatia, around a hundred firefighters are struggling to stop the forest fire that has spread as a result of strong winds. 

In Portugal, there is currently a fire in a national park near the tourist town of Cascais outside Lisbon. Over 600 firefighters together with local residents are working to extinguish the fire.  

- We try to help as much as we can with water buckets but it goes like this, the Portuguese Ines Figueiredo told Reuters.  

In Algeria, a total of 34 people have died due to the fires. Greece is fighting forest fires on three fronts and a total of three people have died. At least five people have been found dead in Italy after a storm in the north and forest fires in Sicily, reports AFP.  

Low water levels threaten the Rhine. Martin Meissner / AP  

The global challenges  

German transport is threatened by low water levels in the Rhine  

Germany's Rhine River – where 80 percent of maritime transport is carried out – is experiencing ever-lower water levels and industry must now seek new routes. That is written by Reuters. 

Last year's shipments of 182 million tons across the river were down 6.4 percent from 2021. This year, water levels are again too low for ships to travel fully loaded.  

Uwe Arndt, manager of the Rhine transport at the chemical company Covestro, says that the company was allowed to take in two low-water barges. 

"Climate change and the increasing occurrence of low water levels pose significant challenges for Covestro as well as other companies," he told Reuters.  

The German Water and Maritime Administration expects the trend to continue, given the increasing heat waves in southern Europe.

A policeman checks a car caught in a landslide caused by the typhoon in Baguio, northern Philippines. AP 

 

Super typhoon Doksuri One person dead after typhoon Doksuri in the Philippines  

 

One person has died and several people have been injured after Typhoon Doksuri has moved in over the Philippines, writes CNN.  

Close to 16,000 people evacuated from their homes in risk areas. In the countryside, metal roofs have blown off houses and low-lying villages have been flooded.  

 

Although Typhoon Doksuri weakened and was no longer a super typhoon when it made landfall in the Philippines, the typhoon still caused extensive damage, with flooding and landslides in parts of the country. 

The typhoon's winds were measured at around 220 kilometers per hour, according to the measuring institute Join Typhoon Warning Center.