Before and after: Entire Swiss village wiped out by glacier
The collapse of a Swiss glacier last week destroyed most of Blatten, a tiny village in Switzerland's southern Valais region that was home to about 300 people. Footage of the May 28 collapse showed ice and rubble hurtling down the mountainside into Blatten. Residents evacuated the village in the days before the glacier came down. Celeste Saulo, Secretary General of the World Meteorological Organisation, said at a conference in Geneva that the disaster was "a potent warning about our warming world". "Early action avoided human losses," she added. "From understanding risk to effective forecasts, communication and evacuation, early warnings and early action work. They save lives." The disaster is likely to cost hundreds of millions of dollars, the Swiss Insurance Association said on Monday. The collapse was a "major disaster that is virtually unprecedented in its scale and impact on the affected population", it said in a statement.
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Khaleej Times
13 hours ago
- Khaleej Times
Boisson lights up French Open, Sinner advances to semis
Wildcard Lois Boisson lit up the French Open on Wednesday when the home hope toppled sixth-seeded Russian Mirra Andreeva in straight sets to reach the last four, overshadowing men's world number one Jannik Sinner who cruised past Alexander Bublik. While Sinner stretched his Grand Slam winning streak to 19 matches after earning back-to-back titles at the US Open last year and the Australian Open in January, Boisson, ranked 361st at the start of the tournament, thrilled the home crowd with a dazzling performance. Sinner will face the winner between three-time French Open champion Novak Djokovic, hunting a record-breaking 25th singles Grand Slam, and Germany's third seed Alexander Zverev in the last four. Sinner, who beat Bublik in straight sets, is the first Italian man to reach six Grand Slam semi-finals. The 23-year-old, who served a three-month doping ban before returning to action in Rome last month, raced through the first set after twice breaking the Kazakh, who had stunned fifth seed Jack Draper in the previous round. Looking to become the first man representing Kazakhstan to defeat a world number one, Bublik, who hit 37 drop shots against Draper, pulled out this weapon again in the second set. But Sinner broke and held to take it. Ever the entertainer, the 27-year-old Bublik delighted the crowd with an underarm serve but ultimately could do nothing to stop the Italian's march into the last four. Earlier Boisson became the toast of France after staging the tournament's biggest upset with a 7-6(6) 6-3 win over Andreeva, who had been tipped as a title contender, in an electrifying match that had the home crowd on the edge of their seats. The 22-year-old had stunned third seed Jessica Pegula in round four, but on Wednesday pulled off another major shock, beating Andreeva, who had not lost a set in the tournament. "Every tennis player dreams of winning a Slam - and for a French player, Roland Garros even more so. I'll go for it because my dream is to win the final, not the semi-final,' Boisson said. Andreeva, the 18-year-old sixth seed who was bidding to become the youngest female player to reach back-to-back French Open semifinals in nearly three decades, quickly found herself chasing Boisson's fierce forehand. The underdog, who has been a breath of fresh air in the tournament with her no-nonsense power game and down-to-earth approach, looked to have run out of steam as Andreeva went 3-0 up but she proceeded to win the next six consecutive games. Andreeva repeatedly lost her temper and was handed a warning when she fired a ball into the stands in frustration. With the home crowd the loudest it had been since the start, chants of 'Lois, Lois' echoed across the Philippe Chatrier court, with the decibel level lifted even further because the roof was closed due to rain. Boisson, who will jump almost 300 places in the rankings next week, will face 2023 U.S. Open champion Coco Gauff, who came out on top in an error-ridden quarter-final against Australian Open champion Madison Keys with the pair littering the court with 101 unforced errors. With a total of 49 unforced errors in the first set alone they both struggled to hold serve and Gauff, a semifinalist in Paris last year, wasted a set point before Keys, who reached the French Open last four in 2018, edged ahead with a tiebreak win. Gauff, who reached the final here in 2022 and is the youngest woman to claim 25 main-draw wins at Roland Garros since Martina Hingis (1995-2000), bounced back to win the next two sets. "So many unforced errors," Gauff, who also had 10 double faults, said to herself after sinking another easy baseline shot into the net. "I was just trying to be aggressive," the 21-year-old Gauff said. "Usually if you're playing too passive, in the end the more aggressive player is going to win. I knew in the second and the third that I had to try my best."
Khaleej Times
17 hours ago
- Khaleej Times
Global markets on tenterhooks as 'new cold war' turns hot
As military spending ramps up around the world and countries rush to ringfence critical industries, political rhetoric appears to have darkened from one sketching geopolitical risks to outright preparation for war. Whether global markets should take more note is a moot point. Investors are already preoccupied with a full-blown trade war, which has aggravated international tensions and is much like the latest ratchet in U.S. steel and aluminium tariffs. But it is not hard to find the 'safety' trades thriving. Gold is less than 2% from a record close set a month ago, having climbed almost 30% so far this year. The Swiss franc , also up almost 10% this year, is pushing higher too. Most obvious of all is the nearly 50% rise in European defence stocks since January. Safety trades that have not barked are just as interesting. The dollar's haven status has been undermined by U.S. trade and tax worries and President Donald Trump's domestic institutional upheavals. And government bonds are pressured precisely because the additional defence spending associated with another generational arms race is exaggerating outsized post-pandemic debt loads even more. Global government debt indexes remain in the red for 2025. "Elevated geopolitical risk affects issuers through multiple transmission mechanisms," credit rating firm Fitch said on Friday, adding it "put upward pressure on defence spending, making fiscal consolidation more challenging for certain sovereigns." War drumbeat But at whatever part of the market risk dial you put world war worries, there is no doubt the temperature has risen. Even in the last few days, the language surrounding future major power conflicts has been alarming. Goading Asian allies to match European moves to boost military spending, U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth warned on Saturday that Chinese military moves to take Taiwan were "imminent". "There's no reason to sugar coat it. The threat China poses is real, and it could be imminent," Hegseth said, adding that any attempt by China to secure Taiwan militarily "would result in devastating consequences for the Indo-Pacific and the world". Beijing reacted angrily and said Hegseth "vilified China with defamatory allegations". But senior U.S. officials have repeatedly briefed that they believe Chinese President Xi Jinping has ordered his military to be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027, even if they say no direct decision appears to have been made. Back in Europe, the drum beat about the need to lift military spending is even louder, more fearful of a threat from Russia. Nearly a trillion euros ($1.14 trillion) of extra German and European-wide defence spending have been earmarked this year. Only last week, Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Germany and its NATO partners were prepared to defend every inch of the alliance's territory. "Anyone who threatens an ally must know that the entire alliance will jointly defend every inch of NATO territory," Merz said on Thursday at a military ceremony in Vilnius to mark the establishment of a German brigade in Lithuania. Britain's strategic defence review on Monday also addressed threats from Russia, nuclear risks and cyberattacks by outlining investment in drones and digital warfare. But the plan also expands the UK's fleet of attack submarines, which are nuclear-powered but carry conventional weapons, and will spend 15 billion pounds ($20.3 billion) by 2029 on replacement of nuclear warheads for its main nuclear fleet. And again, the rhetoric was alarming. "We are being directly threatened by states with advanced military forces, so we must be ready to fight and win," Prime Minister Keir Starmer. 'NEW COLD WAR' TURNS HOT If securing the funding needs political alarm, then maybe that explains some of the high-octane public relations. But there is no shortage of deeply entrenched conflicts raging across the globe and threatening to spill over to varying degrees. Multilateral solutions seem distant as the globe breaks in the blocs. Even with negotiators exploring a ceasefire in Istanbul, Ukraine's forces made an extraordinary move this weekend to attack strategic bomber aircraft at bases deep inside Russia. Israel's devastation of Gaza in reprisal for the 2023 massacres by Hamas shows no sign of ending. More than 30 more Palestinians were killed and nearly 170 injured on Sunday near a food distribution site. Reports continued to circulate last week that Israel is threatening to disrupt nuclear talks between Washington and Tehran by striking Iran's nuclear facilities. And nuclear-armed India and Pakistan have just stepped back from another tense border conflict that marked the fiercest fighting in decades. The expansion of 'hot' conflicts is a mounting concern in political circles, with extraordinary territorial claims thrown into the mix. Trump's public ambition to take over Panama and Greenland have jarred allies, with the latter being part of rivalry over access to rare minerals and also amid strategic plays for the Arctic. Even J.P. Morgan boss Jamie Dimon gets the drift, reportedly telling Barron's last week the United States should not be stockpiling Bitcoin, but instead be stockpiling "guns, bullets, tanks, planes, drones, you know, rare earths." That the world is a dangerous place is not in doubt. A world at war is a different proposition. A worse case scenario is that tariff wars are just the opening act.
Khaleej Times
17 hours ago
- Khaleej Times
EU gives Bulgaria green light to adopt euro in 2026
The EU gave the green light on Wednesday for Bulgaria to adopt the euro on January 1, 2026, putting the Balkan country on course to become the 21st member of the single currency area. The European Commission said Bulgaria had fulfilled the strict criteria "intended to ensure that a country is ready to adopt the euro and that its economy is sufficiently prepared to do so". The European Central Bank also gave a positive opinion, hailing Bulgaria's "tremendous dedication to making the adjustments needed". Bulgarian Prime Minister Rossen Jeliazkov hailed "a remarkable day" that confirmed the country's progress. "Another step forward on Bulgaria's path to the euro... This follows years of reforms, commitment and alignment with our European partners," he said in a post on X. The push has, however, sparked a backlash from many Bulgarians, with protests and recent surveys showing nearly half of those questioned opposed adopting the euro -- fearing painful economic consequences. - 'No to the euro' - About 1,000 people demonstrated on Wednesday in front of the National Assembly building in the centre of Sofia, holding signs that read "Preserve the Bulgarian lev," "No to the euro," and "The future belongs to sovereign states." The gathering was organised by the opposition pro-Russian Vazrajdane party. "If Bulgaria joins the eurozone, it will be like boarding the Titanic," Nikolai Ivanov, a retired senior official, told AFP at another recent protest calling for the country's currency -- the lev -- to be maintained. Bulgaria has had a rocky road to joining the eurozone: the nation has been plagued by political turmoil with seven elections in three years -- the last in October 2024. The approval by the EU's executive body comes 18 years after Bulgaria joined the bloc. "Congratulations, Bulgaria!" commission president Ursula von der Leyen said. "Thanks to the euro, Bulgaria's economy will become stronger, with more trade with euro area partners, foreign direct investment, access to finance, quality jobs and real incomes," she said in a statement. With a population of 6.4 million, Bulgaria is the poorest nation in the bloc but has spent several years preparing its economy to join the eurozone. Bulgaria still needs the approval of the EU's finance ministers, who are expected to give their full backing in July, before it formally adopts the euro. "Today's report is a historic moment for Bulgaria, the euro area and the European Union," said EU economy chief Valdis Dombrovskis. "Of course, the euro is more than a currency. Following on from Bulgaria becoming a full member of the Schengen area earlier this year, it brings Bulgaria ever closer to the heart of Europe," he added. Unsuccessful past attempts When the first euro bank notes and coins were rolled out on January 1, 2002, only 12 countries were part of the single-currency area including France, Germany, Ireland, Italy and Spain. It gradually grew to 20 with Slovenia joining in 2007, Cyprus and Malta in 2008, Slovakia in 2009, Estonia in 2011, Latvia in 2014 then Lithuania in 2015. Croatia was the most recent country to join in 2023. Bulgaria wanted to adopt the currency sooner but in the past few years Brussels has concluded its inflation was too high to meet the necessary requirements. To join the single currency area, member states must show that their economy has converged with other eurozone countries and that they have a handle on their finances. For example, they must demonstrate inflation is not out of control and is no more than 1.5 percentage points above the rate of the three best-performing EU countries. Last year, Bulgaria fulfilled all the criteria to join except on inflation. The average inflation rate in Bulgaria during the 12 months to April 2025 was 2.7 percent, just below the reference value.
