PARIS: This year’s punishing back-to-back heatwaves and ferocious wildfires in France were a “taste of what’s to come,” as climate change pushed summer temperatures to near record highs, the country’s environment minister warned Tuesday.
Swathes of Europe have suffered deadly heatwaves, withering drought and vast forest fires in recent months, while countries across the world have recorded historic temperature spikes.
“We all know that the summer we are experiencing is in many ways a turning point,” said France’s Minister for Ecological Transition Agnes Pannier-Runacher.
“It’s a taste of what’s to come, unfortunately, because heatwaves will be more frequent and more intense in the coming years,” she said at a press conference.
The summer of 2025 was France’s third hottest since the country’s weather agency Meteo France began measuring temperatures in 1900. It ranked second in terms of the number of heatwave days.
The country has also suffered devastating fires, with one that raged in the Mediterranean region seen as the worst blaze in at least half a century, according to government data on area burned.
Extreme summer heat a ‘turning point’: French minister
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Extreme summer heat a ‘turning point’: French minister
- The summer of 2025 was France’s third hottest since the country’s weather agency Meteo France began measuring temperatures in 1900
Norway launches probe of Middle East diplomat and husband over Epstein links
- Mona Juul resigned from her position as ambassador to Jordan and Iraq
- Juul and her husband Terje Rod-Larsen played key roles in the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations which led to the Oslo Accords
OSLO: Norwegian police said Monday they have launched an “aggravated corruption” investigation against a high-profile diplomat, Mona Juul, and her husband Terje Rod-Larsen, over the couple’s links to late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The police economic crime unit Okokrim said in statement that the probe began last week and that an Oslo residence was searched on Monday, as well as a residence belonging to a witness.
“We have launched an investigation to determine whether any criminal offenses have been committed. We are facing a comprehensive and, by all accounts lengthy investigation,” Okokrim chief Pal Lonseth, said.
Juul, 66, and Rod-Larsen, 78, played key roles in the secret Israeli-Palestinian negotiations which led to the Oslo Accords of the early 1990s.
Epstein left $10 million in his will to the couple’s two children, according to Norwegian media.
“Among other things, Okokrim will investigate whether she received benefits in connection to her position,” the statement said.
On Sunday, the foreign ministry announced that Juul had resigned from her position as ambassador to Jordan and Iraq.
“Juul’s contact with the convicted abuser Epstein has shown a serious lapse in judgment,” Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said in connection to the announcement.
She had already been temporarily suspended last week pending an internal investigation by the ministry into her alleged links to Epstein, who died in 2019 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking.
Norway’s political and royal circles have been thrust into the eye of the Epstein storm, including the CEO of the World Economic Forum Borge Brende.
Former prime minister Thorbjorn Jagland, is also being investigated for “aggravated corruption” over links to Epstein while he was chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee — which awards the Nobel Peace Prize — and as secretary general of the Council of Europe.
Norway’s Crown Princess Mette-Marit has also come under scrutiny for her relationship with Epstein, which on Friday she said she “deeply regretted.”
On Monday, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store voiced support for the establishing of an independent commission set up by Parliament, to fully examine the nature of the ties between these figures and Epstein.
