DAILY MAIL🧵: 'Apocalyptic' wildfire closes in on Marseille, tornadoes form in the Med and Greece shuts Acropolis amid 42C heatwave while SNOW falls in Switzerland as Europe's extreme weather continues
Europe is once again being battered by extreme weather with 'apocalyptic' wildfires raging towards Marseille, tornadoes forming in the Med and even snow falling in Switzerland.
Out-of-control fires fuelled by strong winds are closing in on the southern French city with scores of firefighters deployed in a race against time to dampen flames before they reach homes on the outskirts.
Dramatic pictures show smoke blanketed over the city of 873,000 while officials have already closed the area's main airport.
Meanwhile, other freak weather events were seen across the continent, including in Croatia, Greece, Spain Switzerland, and Turkey.
Croatia saw towering waterspouts form across its coast, while tens of thousands in Spain's Tarragona were instructed to remain protected indoors as raging fires burned 3,000 hectares (7,413 acres) of vegetation to a crisp.
The Marseille wildfire, currently on the outskirts of the coastal city, has so far burned 700 hectares and damaged more than 10 buildings, a local official told reporters on Tuesday.
Georges-Francois Leclerc, the prefect for the area, added that there have been no reported fatalities in the fire.
Earlier, the city's airport was forced to closed at around midday local time, and no aircraft have been allowed to land or take off from the regional travel hub.
A combination of high temperatures and winds has started a series of wildfires across the country, including on the island of Cyprus.
Dozens of fire engines and firefighting planes and helicopters were sent to battle ever-growing flames that are lashing across the Paphos region of the island.
Terrifying footage showed plumes of grey smoke billowing into the sky as firefighting planes and helicopters dropped water on flames.
Blazes also cropped up in Turkey, with its interior minister Ali Yerlikaya revealing on Friday that Turkish authorities arrested 10 suspects in relation to wildfires that broke out across the country.
But over in Switzerland, an unusually wintry scene was spotted in the mountains where snow fell on the Stevio Pass.
Temperatures on the Alps dropped unusually low following a heatwave in the country.
Spanish authorities ordered more than 18,000 residents of the northeastern Tarragona province to remain indoors on Tuesday and several dozen were evacuated as a wildfire raged out of control, consuming almost 3,000 hectares (7,413 acres) of vegetation.
Large parts of Spain are on high alert for wildfires after the country experienced its hottest June on record. Two people died in a wildfire on July 1 in the region of Catalonia where Tarragona is located.
The Marseille wildfire, currently on the outskirts of the coastal city, has so far burned 700 hectares and damaged more than 10 buildings, a local official told reporters on Tuesday.
Georges-Francois Leclerc, the prefect for the area, added that there have been no reported fatalities in the fire.
🧵President Donald Trump on Saturday said there would be “serious consequences” if tech mogul Elon Musk funds Democratic candidates to run against Republicans who vote in favor of the GOP’s sweeping budget bill.
“If he does, he’ll have to pay the consequences for that,” Trump told NBC News in a phone interview, but declined to share what those consequences would be.
“He’ll have to pay very serious consequences if he does that,” he added.
2. The president also said he has no desire to repair his relationship with Musk after a feud between the two men erupted into public view earlier this week.
“No,” Trump said when asked if he had any wish to do so.
3. Asked if he thought his relationship with the Tesla and SpaceX CEO was over, Trump said, “I would assume so, yeah.”
Trump said he has no plans to speak with Musk anytime soon. “I’m too busy doing other things,” he said, adding, “I have no intention of speaking to him.”
Amid long, uncomfortable pauses, Joe Biden struggled to recall when his son died, when he left office as vice president, what year Donald Trump was elected or why he had classified documents he shouldn't have had, according to audio Axios obtained of his October 2023 interviews with special counsel Robert Hur.
The newly released recordings of Biden having trouble recalling such details — while occasionally slurring words and muttering — shed light on why his White House refused to release the recordings last year, as questions mounted about his mental acuity.
The audio shows what the transcript lacks — the president's dry-whisper voice and the long silences as he struggles to find the right words or dates. Those often were supplied by his attorneys, who acted as caretakers of his memory.
The attorneys had to remind Biden the year his son Beau died (2015) and when Trump was first elected (2016).
Also captured on the audio: the tick-tock of a grandfather clock in the White House's Map Room, where the interviews took place. It adds a metronomic measurement of Biden's halting speech — especially as he describes his book, Promise Me, Dad, about Beau's death from brain cancer at 46.