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Western US heat wave stunts firefighting efforts Conditions perfect to evacuate AFP | Los Angeles 100 holes have been bored into the mountainside in Tham Luang cave where 12 boys are trapped he western US was in Tthe midst of a record heat wave Friday, with one AFP | Mae Sai Osottanakorn the chief of the dead in California as mas- rescue operation told reporters. sive fires forced hundreds onditions are “perfect” to “We have to make a clear deci- to evacuate. evacuate a young football sion on what we can do.” “Large fire activity is Cteam from a flooded Thai Later yesterday evening tor- spread across the country cave in the coming days, the res- rential rain pounded the area for from Florida to Alaska,” cue mission chief said yesterday, around half an hour, highlight- the National Interagency although a brief downpour late ing the urgency of the rescue. It Fire Centre announced, as in the evening underscored the was not immediately clear what temperatures spiked above huge threat posed by further effect, if any, the storm would 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40 monsoon rains. have on the operation. degrees Celsius) in some The plight of 12 Thai boys Rescuers have fed a kilo - places. “Currently 60 large and their coach from the “Wild metres-long air pipe into the fires have burned more than Boar” football team has trans- cave to restore oxygen levels in 823,000 acres in 13 states,” fixed Thailand since they be- the chamber where the team the centre added. came trapped in a cramped are sheltering, accompanied by chamber several kilometres in- medics and expert divers. side the Tham Luang cave com- “When we’re in a confined plex on June 23. space if the oxygen drops to 12 11 killed, 7 missing Rescuers have conceded that percent the human body starts evacuating the boys is a race to slow down and people can fall This undated handout photo taken recently and released by the Royal Thai Navy yesterday shows Thai Navy soldiers in the as tensions rise in against time with monsoon rains unconscious,” Narongsak said. flooded Tham Luang cave -AFP DR Congo’s east expected to undo days of round- “There’s also carbon dioxide. the-clock drainage of the del- shallow, but the longest 400 avoid forcing the boys into a or four days, the conditions are If the oxygen levels are down AFP | Goma uged cave. metres deep -- into the moun- dangerous dive through sub- perfect (for evacuation) in terms and the carbon dioxide levels are More than 100 exploratory tainside in an attempt to open merged tunnels. of the water, the weather and up, then you can get too much en people were burnt to holes have been bored -- some a second evacuation route and “Now and in the next three the boys’ health,” Narongsak carbon dioxide in your blood.” Tdeath in ethnic attacks in DR Congo’s volatile east and seven fishermen were missing yesterday in Lake Edward, where tensions Pope fears for Christian have spiked with the Ugan- Pamplona bull running injures five dan navy. presence in Mideast A Congolese soldier was also killed and a civilian The week-long event injured in separate clashes • with Uganda’s Allied Dem- kicked off on Friday ocratic Forces (ADF) rebel with the midday firing group in the eastern region of Beni, army spokesman AFP | Pamplona Captain Mak Hazukay said.

ne person was gored and Ofour others injured yester- Cambodia kicks day at the first running of the bulls in this year’s San Fermin off campaign for festival at Pamplona, one of controversial Spain’s best-loved traditions. The week-long event kicked election off on Friday with the mid- Pope Francis releases a dove after a meeting with other religious leaders at day firing of the traditional AFP | Phnom Penh the Pontifical Basilica of St Nicholas in Bari, in the Apulia region in southern chupinazo firework rocket on Italy yesterday -AFP the city hall balcony as revellers Participants run next to San Lorenzo ‘s fighting bulls on the first day of the San Fermin bull run festival in Pamplona, northern Spain, yesterday -AFP ambodian political par- descended on Pamplona in the Cties yesterday kicked that the presence of our broth- northern Navarra region for an off a three-week-long cam- AFP | Bari ers and sisters in the faith will event dating back more than The festival claims scores of paign for a controversial disappear, disfiguring the very 700 years. casualties every year in Pam- general election later this ope Francis yesterday face of the region. But the first run -- where plona. month, which strongman Pvoiced concern that Chris- “Indifference kills, and we bulls charge runners through In 2017, there were more than Hun Sen is poised to sweep tians will disappear from the desire to lift up our voices in narrow cobbled streets -- only 17,000 participants and 64 were after the main opposition Middle East amid “murder- opposition to this murderous began yesterday morning and KNOW WHAT wounded. were disbanded and their ous indifference,” as church indifference.” already five were wounded, Red Seven of the injured had been senior members driven into leaders from Syria and Leba- Lebanese cardinal Bechara Cross officials said, adding that gored. self-exile. non called on Western states Rai, the patriarch of the Ma- one of them was gored. Ernest Hemingway Since 1910, 16 runners have Hun Sen -- who has to help return Syrian refugees. ronite Church, said govern- The streets were slippery due popularized Pamplo- died -- the last one in 2009. ruled Cambodia for 33 The Argentine Pope was ad- ments should from now on to overnight showers and some “It’s taking a lot of risks for years -- told a sea of sup - dressing the leaders of almost encourage Syrian refugees to bulls became separated from ma’s Running of the nothing,” said Raul Plaza, 37, porters dressed in matching all the Middle Eastern church- return to their country, be - the herd and took other paths. Bulls festival when he who has run more than 130 T-shirts adorned with the es gathered in the port city of cause “bombings are extreme- The bulls completed the published his famous times at San Fermin. logo of his ruling party. Bari to pray for peace in the ly localised”. 848-metre run from the corral novel ‘The Sun Also The run-up to this year’s region. “The Middle East has States must “financially help to the bull-ring in just under Rises’ in 1926 event has been overshadowed become a land of people who people driven from their lands three minutes. by reminders of the gang rape leave their own lands behind,” to repair their homes,” he said, Inigo Plaza, a tall 29-year- important thing is to finish in of a woman during the 2016 Mexican drug baron Francis said. instead of “repeatedly saying old automobile worker who one piece and to be here again edition. Sexual assaults also lawyer asks to push “There is also the danger that there is no peace.” took part in the run, said: “The tomorrow.” marred previous contests. back trial AFP | New York he lawyer for impris- First puts on alert Toned drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guz- AFP | Miami moved west, said the United Maria struck last year. man on Friday asked for States National Hurricane Cen- At 0000 GMT yesterday, Ber- his client’s trial to be post- he Caribbean island of Dom- tre in Miami. yl, a Category One hurricane, poned, arguing that thou- Tinica, ravaged by the deadly The centre added that the packed winds of 80 miles per sands of new documents passage of last French tourist islands of Mar- hour (130 kilometres per hour) produced by the prosecu- year, was again under a hurri- tinique, and St and was pushing westward at 15 tion would make it impos- cane watch Friday as the first Barthelemy, as well as French- miles per hour, about 925 miles sible to prepare the defence such storm of the 2018 Atlantic Dutch St Martin, were under east-southeast of the Car