A Bermudian company is continuing to expand its presence with a new range of feminine-care products now available at CVS.
While Best, Periodt has previously been featured for its menstrual-care products, this latest launch highlights a new chapter for the company as it introduces additional products to a wider retail audience.
For the vast majority who won’t be named before then, staff have taken fingerprints and DNA samples and will keep working to connect the bodies with names, and then with relatives
International News via Reuters:
Police and forensic scientists have drafted in extra staff to try to identify the bodies of 80 migrants found after last week’s mass rush into Spain’s Ceuta enclave, as desperate families wait for news of missing loved ones.
Most will be buried in Ceuta in the coming days, officials said.
For the vast majority who won’t be named before then, staff have taken fingerprints and DNA samples and will keep working to connect the bodies with names, and then with relatives.
‘WE HAVE HEARD NOTHING MORE’
The influx and associated fatalities overwhelmed Ceuta’s five-man forensic team, which dealt with just 76 deaths in the whole of last year. Eight extra staff have been drafted in from the mainland and a bigger morgue has been set up at a former military hospital.
“We have faced such a number of victims that it has overwhelmed our operational capacities,” said team director Manuel Aparcero, who was called to certify the deaths of migrants as they were brought onto the beach on July 30.
As his team kept working a week on, families posted messages on social media, watched news reports and kept close to phones, hoping their relatives would finally get in touch.
Jamal Bahloul, 26, said his 22-year-old brother Mohamed, a construction worker, left his home in Tangier and was last in contact on July 30.
“We have heard nothing more,” said Bahloul. “We don’t know whether he is in Ceuta or he died.”
Other relatives are gathering at the Moroccan side of the border to press officials for answers and visit local morgues.
Around 72,000 people illegally entered Ceuta from Morocco in a 24-hour period, according to Spanish estimates.
Autopsies revealed many of the 80 people whose bodies were brought ashore in Spain died from cardiopulmonary arrests — a common feature of drownings, pathologists said.
Just four have been identified through fingerprints already in Spanish databases or through DNA samples, and tests are being run to confirm the identities of another four, according to a statement from a local court issued late on Thursday.
Spanish police have shared the fingerprints of all those who died with the Moroccan authorities, and have opened an office by the border where relatives can file a missing persons report and supply DNA samples.
A total of 19 reports had been filed by Thursday, according to the court statement.
Efforts to identify the migrants are being conducted under a mass accidents protocol that is usually applied to traffic accidents or natural disasters primarily affecting Spaniards, such as the Adamuz rail disaster in January.
Charities have in the past criticised the government’s failure to apply the same measures to incidents involving migrants, such as the 2024 sinking of a migrant boat near the Canary Islands in which 57 people were believed to have died.
All the migrant bodies will be buried in Ceuta in the coming days unless a relative asks for a body already identified to be repatriated, Aparcero said. Bodies can also be later exhumed to be transferred abroad if authorized by a judge.
After the autopsies, forensics teams have been cleaning the bodies in accordance with the Muslim rites, Aparcero added. “We respect their ideology and religion.”
Reporting by Joan Faus in Barcelona, Zakia Abdennebi in Rabat and Jaime Lopez in Ceuta; Additional reporting by Rachael Kennedy, Nahla Ibrahim, Edward James Carron, Ahmed El Jechtimi, Maria Laguna and Magdalini Gkogkou Writing by Joan Faus; Editing by Aislinn Laing and Andrew Heavens
The White House needs critical minerals to replenish weapons stockpiles depleted during the Iran conflict and reduce U.S. dependence on Chinese supply chains
International News via Reuters:
U.S. President Donald Trump will convene executives from some of the world’s largest mining companies at the State Department on Friday as his administration intensifies efforts to secure domestic and allied supplies of critical minerals, a cornerstone of its national security and industrial policy.
The White House needs critical minerals to replenish weapons stockpiles depleted during the Iran conflict and reduce U.S. dependence on Chinese supply chains.
U.S. forces have burned through large numbers of precision-guided missiles and air-defense interceptors during the five-month-long Iran war. Defense officials and lawmakers have warned that replenishing some inventories could take years given existing production constraints, even as the Trump administration has disputed reports of significant shortages.
Supplies of minerals including rare earths, tungsten, germanium and scandium are essential for manufacturing precision-guided missiles, fighter aircraft, armored vehicles, infrared sensors and other advanced weapons systems, according to Pentagon officials and defense companies.
The White House frequently uses roundtable events to showcase support from corporate executives, surrounding Trump with industry leaders who praise his policies and highlight the administration’s economic priorities. The format allows companies to publicly endorse White House initiatives while giving Trump a platform to emphasize his efforts to boost investment, manufacturing and U.S. competitiveness.
EXECUTIVES AND TOP ADMINISTRATION OFFICIALS
The gathering will include some 200 people, a White House official said. The executives at the round table include Vickey Peacey, president of Resolution Copper, which is controlled by Rio Tinto and BHP; Jim Litinsky, CEO of rare earths producer MP Materials; Tom Albanese, chairman of deep-sea mining firm American Ocean Minerals; Robert Friedland, chairman of copper miner Ivanhoe Mines; and Jesse Gary, CEO of Century Aluminum, which is developing an Oklahoma smelter, a White House official told Reuters.
The gathering will also include top administration officials Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and National Security official David Copley, the official said.
The administration is also seeking to address a shortage of engineers, geologists, miners and technicians needed to expand the domestic mining industry.
The Department of Energy is expected to host representatives from all 14 accredited U.S. mining schools to promote mining careers and encourage more students to enter the field. The agency will announce $180 million in grants to help boost educational programs, the official said.
Officials have pointed to China’s extensive network of mining universities as a key advantage in its dominance of global mineral production.
Since returning to office, Trump has launched a $12 billion strategic minerals stockpile, backed equity investments in companies developing U.S. mines and processing facilities, and sought to limit defense contractors from relying on supplies from China.
The administration says government support is needed to counter decades of Chinese investment that left Beijing dominant in the mining and processing of many strategic minerals.
Reporting By Jarrett Renshaw; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Nia Williams, Kirsten Donovan
Shares in Harworth were up 1.1% at 180p by 14:14 GMT, taking gains to 25% since the bid was disclosed on Thursday
International News via Reuters:
Harworth Group on Friday rejected a takeover proposal from its largest shareholder, Peel Holdings, saying the bid fundamentally undervalued the British land and property regeneration company.
Here are some more details:
• The board said the bid, which values the London-listed developer at about £582.9 million ($787.15 million), opportunistically targets the gap between its share price and asset value.
• Shares in Harworth were up 1.1% at 180p by 14:14 GMT, taking gains to 25% since the bid was disclosed on Thursday.
• Peel Holdings — part of British businessman John Whittaker’s Peel Group, which holds a nearly 30% stake in Harworth — offered 172.5 pence in cash per share for the portion it does not already own.
• South Yorkshire-based Harworth said it remains confident in its ability to deliver “attractive” long-term returns for shareholders.
• The company also said it is focusing its investments on higher-return land and industrial projects, and has already approved in principle plans to cut costs over the medium term.
($1 = 0.7405 pounds)
Reporting by Tuhina in Bengaluru; Editing by Vijay Kishore
The extreme rains come as China readies for Typhoon Dolphin, which is expected to make landfall along the country’s eastern coast from Sunday to Monday
International News via Reuters:
Multiple districts in Beijing issued heavy rainfall warnings on Friday evening with authorities warning residents of disasters including floods in the city centre and also mudslides and landslides in agricultural and mountainous areas.
• The extreme rains come as China readies for Typhoon Dolphin, which is expected to make landfall along the country’s eastern coast from Sunday to Monday.
• Beijing’s Dongcheng, Xicheng, Haidian, Chaoyang, Tongzhou and Pinggu districts all issued heavy rain warnings expecting hourly rainfall to exceed 50 millimeters.
• The highest rainfall occurred in Miyun district in northeast Beijing on Friday afternoon where precipitation reached 99.5 millimeters.
• Authorities said they have deployed more than 2,000 staff to help with the flooding around Beijing.
• Typhoon Dolphin is expected to bring heavy to torrential rains to multiple regions, authorities said.
• Heavy rains and floods in China’s northwestern province of Shaanxi collapsed roads, damaged bridges, and power and communications infrastructure on Thursday, prompting the evacuation of thousands of people.
• China’s eastern and southern provinces have been preparing for Dolphin, suspending ferry routes, halting construction and evacuating fishing boats.
• Meanwhile high temperatures are widespread with central and eastern regions posting temperatures exceeding 38 degrees Celsius. The latest heat-wave has also swept through northeastern China and broken records on the nearby Korean Peninsula.
Reporting by the Beijing newsroom and Maxim Shemetov; Writing by Farah Master; Editing by Kirsten Donovan
Authorities stopped the vessel in Maluku, about 65 km (40 miles) upstream from Kinshasa, on Wednesday after a 32-year-old man who had travelled on board late last month died in northwestern Mongala province
International News via Reuters:
Congolese health authorities said on Friday that seven passengers travelling on a river boat intercepted near Kinshasa had tested negative for Ebola, easing concerns the virus may have spread on board after the death of a passenger suspected of having the disease.
Authorities stopped the vessel in Maluku, about 65 km (40 miles) upstream from Kinshasa, on Wednesday after a 32-year-old man who had travelled on board late last month died in northwestern Mongala province.
All 300 passengers underwent temperature checks and clinical screening on Thursday and authorities deployed a mobile laboratory to the site, Reuters reported.
Only seven were tested for Ebola because people infected with the disease are not considered contagious before they develop symptoms, Jean-Jacques Muyembe, head of Congo’s National Institute for Biomedical Research, told Reuters.
“All the tests we carried out on the seven passengers from the boat who presented symptoms resembling malaria, such as fever and headaches, were negative for Ebola,” Muyembe said.
The boat was decontaminated and passengers were provided with food and medical assistance, provincial health official Isabelle Lumbwe told Reuters.
Videos posted on social media showed passengers protesting after the vessel was intercepted and prevented from continuing its journey.
SCREENING EXPANDED AFTER ALERT
Lumbwe said health services have been instructed to screen all boats arriving in Kinshasa following the alert, as part of efforts to prevent the spread of the virus to the capital of more than 17 million.
An Ebola outbreak was declared on May 15 and has now surpassed 4,000 cases, including 1,850 deaths, across five provinces in eastern Congo, according to the latest government data.
Reporting by Fiston Mahamba in Goma and Clement Bonnerot in Dakar; Editing by Jessica Donati and Susan Fenton
U.S. stocks rose on Friday, led by technology and consumer discretionary shares, and Treasury yields fell, reflecting ebbing expectations that the Fed will raise rates at next month’s meeting
International News via Reuters:
Global stocks headed for their strongest weekly gain since May after a weaker-than-expected U.S. jobs report eased fears of an imminent Federal Reserve rate hike, while strong earnings and AI enthusiasm outweighed concerns about the Iran war.
U.S. stocks rose on Friday, led by technology and consumer discretionary shares, and Treasury yields fell, reflecting ebbing expectations that the Fed will raise rates at next month’s meeting. Among major gainers around midday were SpaceX, up 12% on Friday and 19% for the week despite a large share lockup having been lifted on Thursday, and Tesla, up 3.8% for the day and 6.4% for the week.
The Nasdaq rose 1.3% near midday and the dollar fell, giving the Japanese yen a reprieve. The yen strengthened to 157.70 per dollar after earlier nearing 159, a level widely seen as a potential trigger for policy intervention.
MSCI’s All-World index has risen 2.4% this week, the most in three months, and was steady on Friday. Europe’s STOXX 600 was up 0.6% on the day and 2% for the week, led by gains in healthcare and technology shares.
The U.S. payroll report showed employment fell by 23,000 jobs, confounding expectations in a Reuters poll for an increase of 80,000. Analysts said the data gave the Fed more room to keep rates unchanged next month while assessing upcoming economic indicators, including next week’s U.S. inflation report.
“History doesn’t repeat, but sometimes it rhymes,” said Lindsay Rosner, head of multi-sector fixed-income investing at Goldman Sachs Asset Management in New York. “For the third time in as many years, July jobs data saw a mid-summer loss of momentum. While incoming inflation data will be the ultimate arbiter, slowing jobs growth helps support a September hold.”
TRADERS DOUBT FED RATE RISE
Money markets had been evenly divided on the prospects of a Fed rate increase next month before the payrolls report. After the data, the implied probability of a hike fell to about 40% from roughly 55% earlier.
“This morning’s report cast some cold water on the idea that the jobs market is as rock solid as people have been talking about,” said Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer at Northlight Asset Management, in Charlotte, North Carolina. “The weak jobs report means the Fed can no longer focus exclusively on inflation. It has to balance price stability against full employment, making it much more likely to stay on hold at its next meeting.”
“All things being equal, that’s good for the stock market. This is one of those ‘bad news is good news’ situations: bad news in the labor market could be good news for the stock market because the Fed is going to be on hold.”
Conflict in the Middle East flared up again after Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis attacked Saudi Arabia, a major oil exporter. Riyadh warned that coordinated attacks by the Houthis and Iran-backed Iraqi militias were imminent.
Brent crude futures reversed course on Friday to fall 0.7% to around $82 a barrel, as investors largely shrugged off Saudi Arabia’s warnings.
Iran, meanwhile, is reviewing a preliminary bill that would bar U.S., Israeli and other “hostile” vessels from transiting the Strait of Hormuz, Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency reported on Thursday, citing a lawmaker. The draft bill would impose fines of up to 20% of a ship’s cargo value for violations.
Treasury yields fell after the soft jobs report, though they bounced off their early morning lows at midday Eastern time. The 2-year note yield fell 5 basis points to 4.20%, while the 10-year yield dropped 2 basis points to 4.64%.
Likewise, the U.S. currency slipped alongside rate expectations, pushing the dollar index down 0.3% to 99.61 and lifting the yen.
Gold moved inversely to the dollar, rising to its highest in around six weeks this week while the U.S. currency hovered near six-week lows. Bullion has gained nearly 7% this week, its strongest weekly performance since mid-January, when it hit a record $5,594. It was last up 2.6% at $4,414 an ounce.
Additional reporting by Stella Qiu in Sydney. Editing by Alex Richardson, Colin Barr, Mark Potter and Sanjeev Miglani
Italy swiftly responded, saying it would not accept “ultimatums or impositions” from Madrid, adding that it would keep in place its suspension of Schengen rules for non-EU nationals arriving from Spain until at least August 15
International News via Reuters:
Spain threatened on Friday to impose restrictions on travellers from Italy unless Rome lifts by Sunday the border controls it introduced last week following a mass influx of migrants into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta.
Italy swiftly responded, saying it would not accept “ultimatums or impositions” from Madrid, adding that it would keep in place its suspension of Schengen rules for non-EU nationals arriving from Spain until at least August 15.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s conservative government had previously said the more robust travel checks would remain in force until the end of the month.
The Spanish government said Italy’s decision to reintroduce controls on arrivals from Spain was “unjustified, contrary to the interests of the European Union and discriminatory against the Spanish population”.
It promised to adopt “proportionate measures” against Italy unless Meloni rolled back the new constraints by Sunday.
However, in a toughly worded statement, Meloni’s office said Spanish authorities had themselves warned of a new migrant influx into Ceuta on August 15. It said it would only reconsider its decision once it was certain there was no new migration wave, no security or terrorism risk to Italy and no irregular migrants heading towards European territory.
Spain’s Civil Guard has said it is aware of calls online for a fresh border crossing attempt at Ceuta on August 15, however it is not clear how many people might take part.
SPAIN ACCUSES ITALY OF IGNORING FACTS
As many as 72,000 people rushed to cross the border last week and dozens died in the attempt. Most have since returned to neighbouring Morocco but hundreds of unaccompanied minors remain in Ceuta.
Italy, which does not share a land border with Spain, justified its decision to partially suspend the EU’s border-free Schengen arrangements to prevent any of the migrants who entered Ceuta from travelling to Italy.
There has been no indication that any of them want to travel to Italy, or have the money to pay for an airline ticket.
Madrid said the Italian move was based on “spurious arguments” that lacked any factual basis because the migrants who entered Ceuta irregularly could not gain access to the Schengen area.
ITALY AND SPAIN SPLIT ON MIGRATION POLICY
The dispute between the two EU allies marks a new low in relations between the right-winger Meloni, and Spain’s Socialist prime minister, Pedro Sanchez.
Meloni has positioned herself as one of Europe’s leading advocates of tighter immigration controls, while Sanchez has generally defended a more liberal approach and recently backed a large-scale regularisation programme for undocumented migrants.
“I think what we’re saying is reasonable. What doesn’t hold water at all is Italy’s stance towards Spain. The impression is that Ms Meloni is on a crusade,” Spain’s Youth Minister Sira Rego told Spanish public broadcaster TVE1.
In Friday’s statement, the Spanish government said Italy had registered the highest number of “irregular crossings in recent years”, with figures that have been double those of Spain.
Reporting by Victoria Waldersee and Crispian Balmer; Editing by Sharon Singleton, Kirsten Donovan
MOMs Bermuda founder, Nicole Fox is inviting the community to the event this Saturday starting at the Cedarbridge Academy to usher support for those lost to violence
MOMs Bermuda is hosting its 7th annual Motorcade in memory of their loved ones lost to violence.
Founder and lead organiser Nicole Fox is seeking the wider community’s support on Saturday to offer hope that families can overcome trauma, grief and shame.
Jasmine Patterson has the details.
The Butterfield Bermuda Championship today announced details for its highly anticipated Local Qualifier presented by Brit Re, where Bermuda’s best golfers will have the chance to compete for three spots in Bermuda’s PGA TOUR event at Port Royal Golf Course.
The Local Qualifier will be held on September 8 & 9 at Port Royal Golf Course, challenging participants to bring their best game on one of the island’s most picturesque and demanding layouts. This two-day, 36-hole, competition is open exclusively to Bermudian professional golfers, amateur golfers, and other local players who meet eligibility requirements:
1. Players must possess Bermudian status or equivalent
2. Players must be in good standing with the BGA and BPGA and not subject to any disciplinary process or sanction of either association
3. Amateurs must have an up-to-date Handicap Index, or equivalent handicap issued by an international body of golf, not exceeding 1.4 under the USGA Handicap System
The top 2 finishers of the Local Qualifier will earn a coveted exemption into the 2026 Butterfield Bermuda Championship field, joining an elite lineup of PGA TOUR professionals from around the world. The third-place finisher will earn an exemption into the 2027 Butterfield Bermuda Championship field.
“The Local Qualifier is a special part of our tournament’s identity,” said Tournament Director, Danielle Carrera. “We are thrilled to welcome back our sponsor Brit Re and thank their team for the support of this event. This year you will note we are providing two exemptions into the 2026 tournament and one into the 2027 tournament. This means that in 2027 we will see four Bermudian golfers compete on the world’s grandest golf stage. We wish the competitors the best of luck!”
The Butterfield Bermuda Championship has quickly become a highlight of the island’s sporting calendar, attracting world-class players, passionate fans, and international media coverage. For local competitors, the qualifier is more than just a tournament—it’s an opportunity to represent Bermuda on the PGA TOUR and inspire the next generation of golfers.
Entry forms and eligibility guidelines are available at https://www.golfgenius.com/pages/6144269 Spectators are welcome to attend and cheer on Bermuda’s finest as they compete for the chance of a lifetime.
The Butterfield Bermuda Championship will take place October 22-25 at Port Royal Golf Course. For more information about the tournament or to volunteer and purchase tickets, please visit www.butterfieldbdachampionship.com
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About Butterfield Bermuda Championship
The Butterfield Bermuda Championship, Bermuda’s first-ever PGA TOUR event, is an annual stop on the PGA TOUR calendar each fall. The 2026 tournament will take place October 22-25 at Port Royal Golf Course in Southampton, Bermuda, and the field will feature three local Bermudians. This official FedEx Cup event will showcase Bermuda to its worldwide spectators with live broadcasting brought to you by Golf Channel. For more information on the Butterfield Bermuda Championship, please visit butterfieldbdachampionship.com. Follow and subscribe to our social media channels for live news, updates, and event information.
About Bermuda Tourism Authority
About Bermuda Tourism Authority (BTA) The Bermuda Tourism Authority (BTA) is an award-winning, accredited destination marketing organization that promotes Bermuda internationally and works to empower our tourism industry stakeholders. Explore Bermuda’s National Tourism Plan at BermudaNTP.com.
About Butterfield
Butterfield is a full-service bank and wealth manager headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda, providing services to clients from Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, Guernsey, and Jersey, where our principal banking operations are located, and The Bahamas, Switzerland, Singapore, and the United Kingdom, where we offer specialized financial services. Banking services comprise deposit, cash management, and lending solutions for individual, business, and institutional clients. Wealth management services are composed of trust, private banking, asset management, and custody. In Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, and Guernsey, we offer both banking and wealth management. In The Bahamas, Singapore, and Switzerland, we offer select wealth management services. In the UK, we offer residential property lending. In Jersey, we offer select banking and wealth management services. Butterfield is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange (symbol: NTB) and the Bermuda Stock Exchange (symbol: NTB.BH). Further details can be obtained from our website at: www.butterfieldgroup.com.
About PGA TOUR
By showcasing golf’s greatest players, the PGA TOUR engages, inspires, and positively impacts our fans, partners, and communities worldwide. The PGA TOUR, headquartered in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, co-sanctions tournaments on the PGA TOUR, PGA TOUR Champions, Korn Ferry Tour, PGA TOUR Latinoamérica, Oct 27-30, 2022 Port Royal Golf Course Southampton, Bermuda Mackenzie Tour-PGA TOUR Canada and PGA TOUR Series-China. Members on the PGA TOUR represent the world’s best players, hailing from 29 countries and territories (94 members are from outside the United States). Worldwide, PGA TOUR tournaments are broadcast to 216 countries and territories in 28 languages. Virtually all tournaments are organized as non-profit organizations to maximize charitable giving, and to date, tournaments across all Tours have generated more than $3.2 billion. Fans can follow the PGA TOUR on PGATOUR.COM, the No. 1 site in golf, on the PGA TOUR app, and social media channels, including Facebook, Instagram (in English, Spanish, and Korean), LinkedIn, Twitter, WeChat, Weibo, Toutiao, and Douyin.
“The new law will only allow government officials on duty to carry guns,” he told reporters on Friday, but did not provide any specifics for the envisaged legislation, including whether it will tighten gun ownership requirements
International News via Reuters:
Within hours of a shooting rampage on the outskirts of Bangkok that left at least eight dead, Thailand’s Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul on Friday vowed to introduce a new firearms control law in Southeast Asia’s largest gun-owning nation.
Anutin, who previously tightened gun laws when he was interior minister, will now propose a law to restrict the carrying of firearms by the public.
“The new law will only allow government officials on duty to carry guns,” he told reporters on Friday, but did not provide any specifics for the envisaged legislation, including whether it will tighten gun ownership requirements.
HIGH GUN OWNERSHIP
Under Thai rules, there are separate licenses issued for owning and carrying firearms.
In Friday’s incident, a Thai teenager fatally shot his grandparents before killing at least five people and himself at a school outside Bangkok.
Thailand had an estimated 10.3 million firearms in civilian possession, equating to around 15 guns per 100 residents — the highest rate in the region by a wide margin, according to a 2017 estimate by the Small Arms Survey.
Of these, a little more than 6 million were registered firearms, with another 4 million comprising unregistered weapons, the Geneva-based group estimated.
Mass-shootings have also regularly occurred in Thailand, including incidents at schools, a major Bangkok mall and a 2022 killing spree in the country’s northeast that killed 36 people including 22 children.
LACK OF STRICT REGULATIONS, EXPERT SAYS
In the wake of an October 2023 shooting at a Bangkok mall, Anutin — then serving as interior minister — ordered a raft of gun control measures, including a short-term ban on new licenses, import restrictions, and the banning of people under 20 years old from shooting ranges.
Longer-term measures proposed included a medical certificate assessing the mental health and psychological condition of gun owners as well as a specified validity period for some gun licenses.
Thailand’s current licensing regime still lacks mental health screening for people applying to possess a gun, allows people as young as 20 to hold weapons and does not require periodic reassessments for licence holders, said Piyaporn Tunneekul, an associate professor at Nakhon Pathom Rajabhat University.
“We only look at things like: Do you have money? Do you have a necessary reason to protect your property? Do you want it for self-defence? But in other countries, authorities say those are not good reasons,” she told Reuters.
“We need intervention, a process like other countries have. There are red-flag laws abroad,” Piyaporn said, referring to legal provisions that allow for the removal of a firearm from the environment of a person deemed at risk of harming themselves or others.
“So these events repeat, but the state does nothing.”
Writing by Devjyot Ghoshal; Editing by Hugh Lawson
France’s chief prison inspector, Dominique Simonnot, said her office was inundated with complaints from detainees when a severe heatwave hit in June, so many that her independent public office had to take on an extra employee
International News via Reuters:
On a day when temperatures were soaring past 37 degrees Celsius outside, the prisoner sat in his cell with wet towels around his window bars, trying to explain to the visiting politician how it felt to be locked up in France during a heatwave.
Most days, 29-year-old Manu stayed on his bed, trying to move as little as possible. “You have to deal with it mentally,” he said in one of France’s newer jails — Orleans-Saran opened in 2014.
Reuters accompanied that July visit and spoke to more than 40 people in France, Italy and Belgium — inmates, activists, prison directors, doctors, union reps — many of whom described a crisis in jails where this summer’s heatwaves have exposed underlying problems with overcrowding and ageing facilities.
FRANCE MUST ‘FIGHT AGAINST PRISON OVERCROWDING’
France’s chief prison inspector, Dominique Simonnot, said her office was inundated with complaints from detainees when a severe heatwave hit in June, so many that her independent public office had to take on an extra employee.
“Imagine — we are suffocating in our flats, and they are three to four people in one nine-metre-square cell, in a building that is not adapted, not air conditioned, old and where the heat is overwhelming.”
South of Orleans, in Limoges, another prisoner told his lawyer and his mother he had passed out from the heat, fallen and gashed his head as he got up to go to the toilet in the early hours of July 8 in the city’s prison.
A representative of the prison officers’ union gave Reuters a different account, also linked to the heat, saying the inmate — who asked not to be named — had slipped while climbing up to get some fresh air at a window. Reuters did not speak to the prisoner and could not independently confirm either account.
His lawyer, Charly Salkazanov, said he had asked the prison to send the man’s medical file to get more details. “This kind of thing will happen repeatedly until the authorities wake up,” he added.
The Bordeaux regional prison service, responsible for Limoges prison, did not comment on the case. It said the institution had put in measures to deal with the heatwave, including increased access to showers and water and letting inmates buy fans and sun cream.
The French justice ministry said it had offered inmates across the country extra showers and sun cream supplies, and increased access to water.
“In the long and medium term we need to simply try and fight against prison overcrowding (which) accentuates the difficulties of the heatwave,” French justice ministry spokesperson Sacha Straub-Kahn said in late June.
ITALIAN ACTIVISTS STAGE MASS PRISON VISIT
Overall, French prisons had an average occupancy rate of 141.3% as of July 1, according to government figures. Italy had a rate of 139.7% in late July, prison rights group Antigone said, and Belgium of 121% in August, according to the country’s Conseil Central de Surveillance Pénitentiaire.
On July 14, an Italian coalition of prison rights activists organised simultaneous visits in 34 prisons across the country to raise awareness about what they described as inhumane conditions.
“It’s absurd that there are no refrigerators in cells, it’s absurd that there aren’t fans everywhere, it’s absurd, for example, that inmates have to spend 20 hours (a day) in their cells,” Antigone head Patrizio Gonnella said outside Rome’s Regina Coeli prison.
Italy’s justice ministry has allocated €800,000 ($923,280) for prisons to buy fans and refrigerators for the summer and pledged to add an extra 10,000 prison spaces by the end of the year — but none have been created so far, ministry data shows.
In another bid to ease overcrowding, the Italian parliament passed a law in July allowing thousands of prisoners with drug or alcohol addictions to serve sentences at home while undergoing rehab programmes.
In the southern city of Cosenza, the government agreed in June to remove perspex screens from prison windows, which had been introduced to stop the delivery of banned items such as mobile phones via drones, but which seriously limited ventilation.
TENSIONS RISE WITH HEAT IN PRISONS
Belgium’s justice minister Annelies Verlinden said in July the government had offered prisoners more water and showers. In an email sent to prison directors on July 8, Belgium’s prison administration said heatwave measures should continue into September.
The directors of two of Belgium’s oldest prisons, in Ghent and Merksplas, said that heatwaves have led to a rise in tensions, with more fights among inmates and confrontations with staff.
In Ghent, director Pieter Van Caeneghem said the facility was housing 447 inmates despite a capacity of just 260.
“All the problems linked to overcrowding are twice or ten times more difficult when there is a heatwave,” he said.
In Merksplas, director Serge Rooman said he had started overriding security protocols three years ago during heatwaves by leaving cell windows open at night and opening the doors of the prison to create airflow. Since then, those changes had been incorporated into official guidance.
“The fundamental problems are the buildings,” he said, pointing to single-glazed windows and a lack of ventilation.
“Nobody wins votes by saying they are going to build or renovate prisons because it’s too hot in the summer,” he added. “But in Belgium, the punishment is the deprivation of liberty — not exposure to inhuman conditions.”
($1 = 0.8665 euros)
Reporting by Layli Foroudi, Alvise Armellini and Amina Ismail; Editing by Andrew Heavens
