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Siemens Turns its Back on Iran, Tehran’s Challenge Goes to The Hague

Siemens Turns its Back on Iran, Tehran’s Challenge Goes to The Hague
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Siemens Turns its Back on Iran, Tehran’s Challenge Goes to The Hague

Siemens Turns its Back on Iran, Tehran’s Challenge Goes to The Hague

Iran’s legal challenge against renewed sanctions by the United States goes before the UN’s top court Monday, as Tehran seeks to avert painful punitive measures that could hurt its still fragile economy, AFP reported on Friday.

Tehran filed a suit against US President Donald Trump’s decision to reimpose economic sanctions at the Hague-based International Court of Justice last month.

The ICJ is expected to take a couple of months to decide whether to grant Tehran’s request for a provisional ruling, while a final decision in the case could actually take years, the news agency said.

Meanwhile, German industrial manufacturing giant Siemens said it was scaling back its Iran business after the reimposition of economic sanctions by the US, the German news agency dpa reported Friday.

The Munich-based company explained it would take appropriate steps "to bring business activities in Iran in line with the changing multilateral situation."

Siemens said it would continue to ensure compliance with all export restrictions and regulations "including US secondary sanctions.”

The US Embassy in Germany welcomed the news in a post on Twitter, pointing out that Siemens was not the only German company to leave Iran.

“We are pleased to see Siemens joining other German companies like deutschetelekom, Deutsche Bahn, and Daimler in leaving Iran,” the tweet said.

Last May, Siemens Chief Financial Officer Ralf Thomas told reporters the company would closely monitor the situation in Iran after Trump pulled the US out of a nuclear deal.

“We are assessing the implications of the Iran decision,” Thomas had said.

Trump slapped fresh punitive measures on Iran in early August after pulling out of the nuclear deal negotiated under his predecessor, Barack Obama. Trump accuses Tehran of financing terrorism.

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World

Infernos Devastate Forests as Europe's Temperatures Rise Again

TOPSHOT - The sun rises by the Eiffel Tower and the Sacre Coeur Basilica ontop of the Montmartre hill in Paris on July 1, 2025, as the city is on red alert for high temperatures, with the top of the Eiffel Tower shut, polluting traffic banned and speed restrictions in place as a searing heatwave gripped Europe. (Photo by Thibaud MORITZ / AFP)
TOPSHOT - The sun rises by the Eiffel Tower and the Sacre Coeur Basilica ontop of the Montmartre hill in Paris on July 1, 2025, as the city is on red alert for high temperatures, with the top of the Eiffel Tower shut, polluting traffic banned and speed restrictions in place as a searing heatwave gripped Europe. (Photo by Thibaud MORITZ / AFP)
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Infernos Devastate Forests as Europe's Temperatures Rise Again

TOPSHOT - The sun rises by the Eiffel Tower and the Sacre Coeur Basilica ontop of the Montmartre hill in Paris on July 1, 2025, as the city is on red alert for high temperatures, with the top of the Eiffel Tower shut, polluting traffic banned and speed restrictions in place as a searing heatwave gripped Europe. (Photo by Thibaud MORITZ / AFP)
TOPSHOT - The sun rises by the Eiffel Tower and the Sacre Coeur Basilica ontop of the Montmartre hill in Paris on July 1, 2025, as the city is on red alert for high temperatures, with the top of the Eiffel Tower shut, polluting traffic banned and speed restrictions in place as a searing heatwave gripped Europe. (Photo by Thibaud MORITZ / AFP)

Hundreds of firefighters battled forest infernos in France, Spain and Portugal on Sunday as temperatures rose again in heatwave-scarred Europe.

The latest wildfires have already devastated more than 17,000 hectares (42,000 acres) of land -- twice the size of Manhattan -- across the three countries where temperatures in some places were predicted to touch 40C on Sunday, said AFP.

Authorities registered thousands of excess deaths during one of Europe's worst heatwaves in June, and with more extreme weather on the way, France's Interior Minister Laurent Nunez has already expressed concern that the annual summer wildfire season had started a month early.

A fire near Spain's northeastern Costa Brava coast burned more than 2,200 hectares in two days and firefighters said their operation on Sunday would be "complicated" by rising temperatures and the many "smoking hotspots" within the fire's perimeter.

Firefighters "worked tirelessly throughout the night to consolidate the perimeter of the La Bisbal d'Empordà forest fire, which is now stabilized," said a Catalunya fire service statement.

Catalunya regional government president Salvador Illa said that a man had been detained in connection with the fire which has badly hit the Gavarres protected natural area between Barcelona and the French border.

Nearly 600 French firefighters have been mobilized to contain a wildfire that has burned more than 1,000 hectares on a mountainside at Trevillach, about 36 kilometers (20 miles) east of Perpignan.

- More trouble ahead -

Roads in the region have been closed and the authorities have ordered mayors to open emergency shelters for people who could be forced to flee their homes.

Another 300 French firefighters battled another forest fire in a mountainous district of the southeastern Drome department.

In Portugal, emergency services said they had controlled "80 percent" of a wildfire that has devastated some 13,000 hectares of forest and scrub land in the north of the country.

A senior civil protection officer Jose Costa told AFP that the fire had spread 35km since it started on Thursday and that 1,200 firefighters had been involved in the battle.

Spain and Italy sent reinforcements and water carrying planes after Portugal appealed for help to fight the inferno that has left nine people injured by burns.

Several regions across Portugal, Spain and southern France stepped up heat alerts on Sunday as temperatures rose again. On Monday the latest heatwave was expected to move north. Forecasters say it could last until next weekend.

Western Europe has already seen heatwaves this year in May and June that would have been "virtually impossible" without climate change, the World Weather Attribution group of scientists said.

Following a two-week surge in temperatures in June, France said there had been more than 2,000 extra deaths than usual in just one week, while Spain and Belgium each reported more than 1,000.

Authorities in several countries fear more summer trouble ahead.

"Climate change is here, we are living the consequences, and it is only the start of July," said French fire service Colonel Eric Belgioino as he made an appeal for people near the Pyrenees inferno to take precautions to avoid starting fires.

"The season is going to be long for the soldiers fighting fires. You have to help us," he said.

World

Heavy Rains Leave 5 Dead in China’s North While Tropical Storm Maysak Hits the South and Vietnam

People watch waves crashing against the shore as Tropical Storm Maysak approaches in Boao, Qionghai, Hainan province, China, July 3, 2026. (cnsphoto via Reuters)
People watch waves crashing against the shore as Tropical Storm Maysak approaches in Boao, Qionghai, Hainan province, China, July 3, 2026. (cnsphoto via Reuters)
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Heavy Rains Leave 5 Dead in China’s North While Tropical Storm Maysak Hits the South and Vietnam

People watch waves crashing against the shore as Tropical Storm Maysak approaches in Boao, Qionghai, Hainan province, China, July 3, 2026. (cnsphoto via Reuters)
People watch waves crashing against the shore as Tropical Storm Maysak approaches in Boao, Qionghai, Hainan province, China, July 3, 2026. (cnsphoto via Reuters)

Heavy rains have left five people dead in northern China while a tropical storm toppled trees and submerged cars in the nation's south, state media reported Sunday.

Two villagers died in a mountain flash flood Saturday evening in the eastern part of China's Inner Mongolia region, the official Xinhua News Agency said. One drowned while herding cattle and the other fell into water while driving a cattle herd away, the report said.

Three other people died the same day in neighboring Liaoning province's Fushun city, about 390 kilometers (240 miles) to the southeast, Xinhua said. It did not provide details on how they died.

A heavy rainstorm battered Fushun for several hours early Saturday with rainfall of up to 32.9 centimeters (13 inches) in one area, according to state media reports. Video posted online showed streets turned into lakes. About 3,600 residents were relocated to safer areas.

In southern China, Tropical Storm Maysak headed north into the Guangxi region on Sunday after making landfall the previous night with winds of 101 kilometers (63 miles) per hour in neighboring Vietnam's Quang Ninh province. It weakened from severe tropical storm to tropical storm strength as it moved inland.

Rivers overflowed in Guangxi's Fangchenggang city, submerging cars up to their roofs, footage on state broadcaster CCTV showed. Rescuers used inflatable boats to reach trapped people. Residents described it as the most severe flooding in two decades, according to a China News Service report.

In Vietnam, the storm knocked down trees and ripped metal roofs off buildings in the town of Mong Cai on Saturday evening, Vietnamese state media said. Crews used chainsaws and heavy machinery to clear debris and reopen roads after the winds subsided.

Maysak also uprooted trees in Dongxing, a city that borders Vietnam. The tropical storm dumped rain on China's Hainan island last week before crossing water and making landfall again in Vietnam.

World

At Least Eight Shot, Including Four Children, in New York

NEW YORK - JULY 04: Police patrol the boardwalk at Coney Island in Brooklyn on July 04, 2026, in New York City. Spencer Platt/Getty Images/AFP (Photo by SPENCER PLATT / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)
NEW YORK - JULY 04: Police patrol the boardwalk at Coney Island in Brooklyn on July 04, 2026, in New York City. Spencer Platt/Getty Images/AFP (Photo by SPENCER PLATT / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)
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At Least Eight Shot, Including Four Children, in New York

NEW YORK - JULY 04: Police patrol the boardwalk at Coney Island in Brooklyn on July 04, 2026, in New York City. Spencer Platt/Getty Images/AFP (Photo by SPENCER PLATT / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)
NEW YORK - JULY 04: Police patrol the boardwalk at Coney Island in Brooklyn on July 04, 2026, in New York City. Spencer Platt/Getty Images/AFP (Photo by SPENCER PLATT / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)

At least eight people, including four children, were shot and injured late on the US Independence Day holiday in New York City's Coney Island neighborhood, ABC News said on Sunday, citing the New York City ‌Police Department.

Officers from ‌the NYPD responded to ‌reports ⁠of a shooting ⁠at around 10:37 p.m. (0237 GMT on Sunday) on the Brooklyn neighborhood's West 31st Street, the NYPD said in a statement to ABC News.

The injured included ⁠two men, two women, ‌and four ‌children — aged 14, 12, 7 and ‌6 — according to the news ‌outlet.

It quoted the NYPD as saying all the victims had been transported to hospitals. Seven were in ‌stable condition, it said, while a 21-year-old woman was ⁠in ⁠critical condition.

Police said they recovered a firearm at the scene but have not made any arrests, according to ABC.

The NYPD did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Saturday marked the 250th anniversary of the independence of the United States.