The moment she was finally reunited with her family after years of slavery under Islamic State should have been filled with joy, but instead it was one of the worst days of Soham’s life.

The 23-year-old Yazidi woman spent the five-hour ride from Mosul to Dohuk in Iraqi Kurdistan in anguish, crying for the daughter she had been forced to leave behind.

It wasn’t her choice to give her one-year-old daughter up, she says. But her uncle made it clear that the child, born as a result of rape by an Isil fighter, would never be accepted in the closed Yazidi community.

“I cried and screamed, told my uncle she was my flesh and blood, but he still made me sign the paper and hand her over to the Iraqi officials….

An "unprecedented" heatwave in Japan has killed at least 65 people in one week, government officials said Tuesday, with the weather agency now classifying the record-breaking weather as a "natural disaster."

In the week to Sunday at least 65 people died of heat stroke while 22,647 people were hospitalised, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency said in a statement.

Both figures are "the worst-ever for any week during summer" since the agency began recording fatalities resulting from heat stroke in July 2008, an agency spokesman told AFP.

The Fire and Disaster Management Agency said Tuesday that a total of 80 people have died from the heat since the beginning of July, and over 35,000 have been hospitalised.

Among those killed was a six-year-old school boy who lost consciousness on his way back from a field trip.

"As a record heatwave continues to blanket the country, urgent measures are required to protect the lives of schoolchildren," top government spokesman Yoshihide Suga told reporters Tuesday.

The government said it would supply funds to ensure all schools are equipped with air conditioners by next summer.

Less than half of Japan’s public schools have air conditioning, and the figure is only slightly higher at public kindergartens.

Suga said the government would also consider extending this year’s summer school holidays as the heatwave drags on.

On Monday, the city of Kumagaya in Saitama outside Tokyo set a new national heat record, with temperatures hitting 41.1 Celsius (106 degrees Fahrenheit).

And temperatures over 40 degrees were registered for the first time in Tokyo’s metro area, where the government is promoting Uchimizu, a tradition where water is sprinkled onto the ground, as part of a summer heat awareness campaign.

It was marginally cooler on Tuesday – 36 degrees in Tokyo according to the national weather agency – but temperatures remained well above normal in most of the country, and little relief is forecast.

"We are observing unprecedented levels of heat in some areas," weather agency official Motoaki Takekawa said late Monday.

The heatwave "is fatal, and we recognise it as a natural disaster," he told reporters.

The agency warned that much of the country will continue baking in temperatures of 35 degrees or higher until early August.

Officials have urged people to use air conditioning, drink sufficient water and rest often.

Japan’s summers are notoriously hot and humid, and hundreds of people die each year from heatstroke, particularly the elderly in the country’s ageing society.

The heatwave follows record rainfall that devastated parts of western and central Japan with floods and landslides that killed over 220 people.

And many people in the affected areas are still living in damaged homes or shelters and working outdoors on repairs, putting them at great risk.

The record-breaking weather has revived concerns about the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, which will be held in two years time in July and August.

Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike this week promised that the heat would be given the same priority as measures to counter terrorism.

"It’s just as important because the purpose is also to protect people’s lives," she told reporters, comparing Japan’s summer to "living in a sauna".

Cincinnati schoolteacher Bryce Carlson set a record for the fastest solo unsupported west-east row across the North Atlantic ocean on Saturday and also became the first US citizen to complete the feat.

The 37-year-old landed at the port of St Mary’s in the Scilly Isles, off the coast of south-west England, some 38 days six hours and 49 minutes after he set off from St John’s in Newfoundland.

The previous record for the solo west-east crossing was 53 days eight hours and 26 minutes set by Canadian Laval St. Germain in 2016, according to the Ocean Rowing Society.

St Germain rowed a slightly longer route from Halifax, Nova Scotia, to Brest in France.

Asked how he was feeling as he came ashore in front of a crowd of onlookers after rowing some 2,300 nautical miles through major storms and several capsizes, Carlson replied: "A little wobbly".

Speaking to Reuters later by telephone from a nearby restaurant, where he ordered cod wrapped in prosciutto as his first proper meal after endless dehydrated rations, Carlson spoke of his achievement.

"I think the effort of the last month and a half has to some extent numbed me a little bit. So I think it’s going to sink in in waves," he said.

Carlson’s 20-foot boat ‘Lucille’ was equipped with plenty of technology and electronic equipment to help keep him on a relatively straight course and fully informed about weather conditions.

But there were still plenty of hair-raising moments out on the vast ocean.

"The boat capsized over a dozen times," he said. "The first one was the most terrifying. I had inadvertently left an air vent in the boat open and so as the boat went upside down water started pouring in.

"So you’re in this really stormy environment, boat goes upside down, I wake up on the ceiling," added the American.

The water also got behind the electrical panel, which meant connections eventually became corroded and the equipment less reliable.

On the plus side were all those moments where Carlson faced immense challenges and came out on top.

"Hurricane Chris came barrelling down on me. I’m looking at the wave height, and the wind strength at its worst, and I have no idea whether the boat and I are going to be able to withstand that," he said.

"Getting through, just the relief of finding enough whatever or getting lucky enough. That’s an elating moment. Facing down some massive uncertainty, with a pretty high fear factor, and coming out the other side. That’s pretty fabulous."

Carlson, who has a PhD in biological anthropology and a history of endurance feats including ultramarathons, rowed for about 12 hours a day, generally from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m, with rests and meal breaks.

He also had some suitably-themed books for those moments when he was confined to the cabin by bad weather.

Ernest Hemingway’s ‘The Old Man and the Sea’ was an easy read but Herman Melville’s ‘Moby Dick’ remained a work in progress.

"I wanted to take some literature that would help me think about the environment I was in," he explained. "Boy, Melville is long in the mouth…I just didn’t have the energy to try and make sense of what he was saying."

Asked what was his next project, Carlson did not hesitate.

"I think from here I go to being a regular guy, for a while," he said.

"This project has consumed me for the last two to three years and I know that has knock-on effects to all those around me.

"I’m looking forward to resting, to being a better partner, to being a better friend, being a more mentally and emotionally attentive teacher and coach. That’s my focus right now." 

A 10-foot shark which caused panicked tourists to flee the water a packed beach in Majorca was swimming in the shallows because it had been stung by a ray, an autopsy revealed on Friday.

Police closed the beach early on Thursday afternoon as the fish swam around just a few feet from the shoreline, watched by bathers who had retreated from the sea in fear. 

The shark, confirmed to be a tintorera, made its unexpected appearance at Cala Domingos, a sandy beach that gets very crowded in August in Calas de Majorca on the island’s east coast. 

Footage showed the animal moving through the clear blue water off the beach before coming in closer and forcing tourists out of the water. English and French speakers could be heard shouting out from rocks overlooking the sea where holidaymakers took refuge – and children screaming as the fish came in closer to where they were standing. 

A veterinary nurse confirmed on Friday that the shark had been pulled out of the water and euthanised with a tranquiliser after it was discovered to be in distress. 

“We got the first call around 3.30pm to say a shark was swimming off the beach and appeared to be swimming okay and as part of normal protocol waited for an hour because such behaviour can be normal and doesn’t necessarily mean it is ill or distressed," Guillem Felix, a veterinary nurse for Palma Aquarium’s Recovery Centre said. 

“We got a second call an hour later to say it had ended up writhing on the sand and the lifeguards had put it back in the water but had subsequently returned to the shoreline."

The shark was then seen lying about 15 metres off the coast in about 1.5m of water, not moving and "hardly breathing". The decision was made to put the fish out of its misery. 

An autopsy revealed it had been stung on the mouth by a ray, which had led it to stop eating and becoming disoriented. 

“It had a barb rays use to sting their victims stuck in its mouth where all the important nerve endings are," Mr Felix said.

Jean-Claude Juncker returned from meeting Donald Trump waving a joint US-EU agreement and declaring “peace in our time” having averted, for now, a global trade war.

Donald Trump is known as a dealmaker but Mr Juncker is also a grizzled veteran of decades of Brussels backroom deals and politicking so who came out on top in the talks?

The president of the European Commission succeeded in his mission to protect the EU car industry from fresh US tariffs and prevent the trade dispute from escalating further.  

The US tariffs on EU steel and aluminium imports remain  in place and so do the EU’s retaliatory tariffs on US products such as Kentucky Bourbon and Harley Davidson motorcycles. That will irk…

Activists hurled rocks and bottles during a rally in the American city of Portland, Oregon organised by two far-Right groups that drew counter protests, said police, who ordered demonstrators to leave not long after the marches got under way.

Officers in the western state of Oregon’s largest city maintained a heavy presence during the duelling demonstrations, which raised fears of a replay of last year’s "Unite the Right" protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, that ended in bloodshed.

The projectiles were thrown at officers, said police, who ordered those in the area to "immediately disperse" – warning "failure to comply with this order may subject you to arrest or citation, and may subject you to the use of riot control agents or impact weapons."

Footage of the rallies that drew hundreds showed plumes of smoke rising in the city of about 640,000 people. Portland police later said "protest officers seized firework mortars," while some activists on the left accused police of shooting "stun grenades."

Patriot Prayer and the Proud Boys, Right-wing groups linked to violence at a previous Portland rally, were marching in the city’s Tom McCall Waterfront Park in support of Patriot Prayer founder Joey Gibson, who is running as a Republican for the US Senate.

Meanwhile, a group called Popular Mobilisation had organised a counter-demonstration at the park, accompanied by a marching band and protesters in clown costumes.

On the event’s Facebook page, organisers said they "make no apologies for the use of force in keeping our communities safe from the scourge of right-wing violence."

Following the police order on Saturday to disperse, Portland’s branch of the Democratic Socialists of America pinned blame on officers, saying on Twitter that "a little bit before 2 PM all seemed normal in the crowd."

"Then without warning, the cops shot stun grenades into the anti-fascist crowd and started forcing people to disperse," the organization said, pointing to Portland’s police as "the ones who escalated and created a dangerous situation."

On Friday, the city’s mayor Ted Wheeler had voiced concern "that individuals are posting publicly their intent to act out violently," saying "we don’t want this here."

Police had warned protesters to leave their guns at home even though holders of valid Oregon concealed-handgun licences are permitted to carry their weapons at the park.

They had said officers would screen people for weapons at entrances to the park, and explosive-sniffing dogs were also to be brought in.

"The potent combination of bigotry and violence on the streets of Portland poses a serious threat to community safety, and particularly to residents who are people of color, women and LGBTQ," said a statement from the Western States Centre, signed by around 40 activist groups.

According to the Southern Poverty Law Centre, a non-profit group that monitors extremism, Patriot Prayer and the Proud Boys have appeared together at several rallies in the Pacific Northwest since 2017.

A rally on June 30 was declared a riot and shut down by police after marchers and counter-protesters clashed, leaving several people injured.

Matteo Salvini, Italy’s hard-line interior minister, has come under fire for using a phrase that was made popular by Benito Mussolini during the Fascist era.

Responding to criticism that he was fomenting xenophobia and racism with his anti-immigrant rhetoric, Mr Salvini wrote on Twitter: “Many enemies, much honour”.

The words he used in Italian – “Tanti nemici, tanto onore” – were almost identical to one of Mussolini’s well-known sayings – “Molti nemici, molto onore”.

Mussolini’s motto can still be seen in a Fascist-era sports complex in Rome, the Foro Italico, where they appear in a marble mosaic.

The fact that the minister cited the phrase on Sunday, the anniversary of Mussolini’s birth, only made it more inflammatory.

Critics accused Mr Salvini, who is the leader of the hard-Right League party and has emerged as the most prominent member of Italy’s populist party, of flirting with the ghosts of Fascism.

“Mussolini destroyed and humiliated Italy, with a dramatic price paid in blood. If this is his aim, then the real enemies of Salvini are the Italians,” said Nicola Zingaretti, a prominent member of the centre-Left Democratic Party.

Matteo Orfini, another opposition MP, said: “A person who has sworn on the constitution, which was born from the struggle against Fascism, should not allow themselves to pay homage to Mussolini. Salvini should apologise or resign and play the little fascist far from government.”

Mr Salvini made the remark during a visit to the beach in the northern region of Emilia-Romagna, where he mingled with sunbathers and posed on a blue and white jet ski used by the police.

His penchant for appearing bare-chested – earlier this month he plunged into a swimming pool that had been confiscated by a mafia boss, in a stunt to highlight a drive against organised crime – has also been likened to Mussolini.

“Il Duce” liked to have himself filmed and photographed while swimming in the sea, in efforts to promote his strong-man image.

Mr Salvini’s campaign against the NGO vessels which rescue migrants in the Mediterranean has proved popular with many Italians, almost doubling The League’s support from the 17% of votes it won in the March general election to more than 30 per cent, according to polls.

But it has attracted hostility from opposition parties, civil rights groups and the Catholic Church.

Last week a leading Catholic magazine, Famiglia Cristiana, featured the interior minister on its front cover with the headline “Get thee behind me, Salvini”, evoking the words of an exorcism rite normally reserved for the Devil.

Critics say his hostile stance towards Roma gypsies and migrants is fostering a climate of intolerance in Italy, pointing to a number of case in which foreigners have been attacked for no reason.

The latest episode happened to an Italian athlete of Nigerian descent, who was hit in the face by an egg thrown from a passing car while walking in the town of Moncalieri near Turin in the early hours of Monday.

Daisy Osakue, 22, a record-holding discus thrower, said she was sure the incident was race-related.

She suffered an injury to her cornea and was taken to an eye hospital.

"They didn’t want to hit me, as Daisy, they wanted to hit me as a young coloured woman. I’ve been the victim of episodes of racism before, but only verbal ones. When you go from words to action it means another wall has been breached".

Maurizio Martina, the leader of the centre-Left Democratic Party, said Italy was undergoing “a worrying spiral of racism”.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders had a heated exchange with a CNN reporter on Thursday as she revealed the heavy toll media scrutiny has on her private life.

Jim Acosta, CNN’s White House correspondent, challenged Ms Sanders to publicly state the media was not the "enemy of the people", a refrain frequently used by President Donald Trump. 

Ms Sanders refused to do so, instead listing a litany of complaints against the press and blaming negative media coverage for inflaming tensions in the country.

The president’s spokeswoman said she was probably the first press secretary in history to require secret service protection, linking the measure to negative media coverage.

The exchange came hours after Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter, said in an interview she did not agree with her father’s view of the press.

Ms Sanders has refused to break with the president’s position and was repeatedly pressed on the question by Mr Acosta during a press briefing on Thursday.

In an emotional response, Ms Sanders said she had experienced attacks on her personal appearance – referencing the remarks made by comedian Michelle Wolf at the White House Correspondents Association dinner.

Ms Sanders’ treatment at the event was widely condemned and Margaret Talev, head of the association, issued a statement distancing the dinner’s organisers from the comedian.

The night was "meant to offer a unifying message about our common commitment to a vigorous and free press while honouring the civility, great reporting and scholarship winners, not to divide people," she said.

"Unfortunately, the entertainer’s monologue was not in the spirit of that mission".

Just last month, Ms Sanders was asked to leave the Red Hen restaurant in Virginia, by the owner who said she felt she had to take a stand for "honesty" and "compassion".

Mr Acosta said he did not approve of the press secretary’s treatment at the dinner, saying: “I’m sorry that happened to you. We all get put through the meat grinder in this town.”

He went on: “The president of the United States should not refer to us as the enemy of the people – his own daughter acknowledged that.”

“It would be a good thing if you would say right here the press … are not the enemy of the people. I think we deserve that.”

Mr Acosta later walked out of the briefing in protest.

The leader of Iran’s elite Quds Force stepped out of the shadows on Thursday to deliver a fiery speech against Donald Trump, warning the US president that if a war broke out Iran would “destroy all that you possess”.

General Qassem Soleimani, who heads the Revolutionary Guard’s expeditionary special forces, is considered of the most powerful figures in the Middle East and commands Iran’s operations in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and Yemen. 

The general has been photographed on battlefields from Mosul to Aleppo and his image is plastered on billboards across Iran but he speaks only rarely in public. 

On Thursday he delivered a blistering response to Mr Trump’s tweet on Monday, when the US president warned Iran that if it threatened America it would face “consequences the likes of which few throughout history have ever suffered”. 

“You know that this war will destroy all that you possess,” Gen Soleimani responded in a speech in the central city of Hamedan. 

“You will start this war but we will be the ones to impose its end. Therefore you have to be careful about insulting the Iranian people and the president of our Republic.”

He told Mr Trump: “You know our power in the region and our capabilities in asymmetric war. We will act and we will work…We are near you, where you can’t even imagine."

Gen Soleimani also taunted America over its military failures in Iraq and Afghanistan and said US troops had to be supplied with "adult diapers".  

Mr Trump’s tweet had been aimed at Hassan Rouhani, the Iranian president, but Gen Soleimani told the US president to address him and not Mr Rouhani.  

"As a soldier, it is my duty to respond to Trump’s threats. If he wants to use the language of threat, he should talk to me, not to the president,” he said. 

Gen Soleimani also denounced Mr Trump for using the language of “nightclubs and gambling halls”. 

US and Iranian leaders have been trading insults and threats intensively over the last week. 

Mr Rouhani said Monday that the US should understand “that peace with Iran is the mother of all peace, and war with Iran is the mother of all wars”.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia suspended oil shipping through a strategic waterway near Yemen after two of its oil tankers were attacked by Houthi rebel forces, the Saudi government said. 

Khalid al-Falih, the Saudi energy minister, said the Houthis had attacked the two tankers as they made their way through the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a narrow 12-mile passage between Yemen and Djibouti. 

The strait is a key transit route for oil and other shipping line which leads up the Red Sea to the Suez Canal. Saudi Arabia said one ship was slightly damaged in the attack but there was no oil spillage. 

The Bab al-Mandab is less important the Straits of Hormuz, another narrow passage in the Persian Gulf through which handles around 20 per cent of the world’s oil exports.

Oil markets did not react strongly to the Saudi decision. Nonetheless, a prolonged halt to Saudi oil shipments through Bab al-Mandab would mean tankers going around Africa instead of using the Suez Canal, which could lead to rising oil prices. 

Kuwait said it was also considering suspending oil shipments through the straits. 

The Houthis, who are aligned with Iran, have attacked several international ships in the Red Sea. 

The US and UK have supported Saudi Arabia’s bombing campaign in Yemen partly out of fear that Iran could use the Houthis as proxies for disrupting international shipping in the event of a war.