World News Roundup: Surging Fires, Kremlin Warnings, and South Africa's Political Shift

This summary provides current global news highlights, including a surge in fires in Brazil's Pantanal, Kremlin's warning about Western weapons to Ukraine, South Africa's ANC forming a unity government, Hunter Biden's gun incident, EU elections, France sending warplanes to Ukraine, Iran's nuclear violations, an Israeli strike in Gaza, Biden's D-Day speech, and SpaceX's Starship landing.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Fires in Brazilian wetlands surge 980%, extreme drought expected

Fires in Brazil's Pantanal wetlands have surged nearly tenfold so far this year to the highest levels since 2020, when the biome suffered its worst blazes on record. Satellite data from Brazil's National Institute for Space Research (INPE) showed a 980% increase in the number of fires in the Pantanal through June 5, compared with the same period of last year. The figures have raised alarms as the region heads into the riskiest season for wildfires, which usually starts in July and peaks in August and September.

Kremlin warns West over providing long-range weapons to Ukraine

The Kremlin said on Thursday that Western nations supplying Ukraine with weapons to strike Russian territory will have to reckon with Russia, after President Vladimir Putin said he was considering arming the West's enemies in retaliation. Speaking with senior editors of international news agencies in St Petersburg on Wednesday, the Russian leader said Moscow was thinking about providing advanced long-range weapons - of a similar nature to those the West is giving Ukraine - to the West's adversaries around the world.

South Africa's ANC will seek to form government of national unity

South Africa's African National Congress will invite other political parties to form a national unity government, its leader President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Thursday, after it lost its majority for the first time in the democratic era. The former liberation movement once led by Nelson Mandela has run South Africa since it swept to power in a 1994 election that marked the end of white minority rule. But it was punished for its chequered record in last week's vote.

Hunter Biden's sister-in-law says she found, threw away, his gun

Hunter Biden's sister-in-law testified on Thursday that she found his gun and threw it away out of fear of his spiraling addiction, potentially bolstering prosecutors' case that President Joe Biden's son broke a law barring illegal drug users from owning firearms. Jurors in the first criminal trial of a U.S. president's child saw surveillance camera footage of Hallie Biden tossing Hunter Biden's gun in a supermarket trash can, as well as texts where she said she feared for his life.

Dutch voters kick off EU election, nationalist parties seen gaining

Dutch voters cast their ballots on Thursday at the start of a four-day election for the European Parliament that is likely to see a rightward shift in the continent's balance of power. The election will shape how the European Union, a bloc of 450 million citizens, confronts external challenges, including a more aggressive Russia, increased industrial competition from China and the United States, climate change and immigration.

France to provide Mirage 2000 warplanes to Ukraine, Macron says

France plans to provide Mirage 2000 warplanes to Ukraine, President Emmanuel Macron told French TV stations on Thursday. Macron said that on Friday, on the occasion of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's visit to France as part of D-Day anniversary celebrations, his government would announce it will provide the warplanes to Ukraine.

Europeans detail Iran's nuclear violations in diplomatic gambit

Three European powers have written to the U.N. Security Council detailing Iran's violations of its 2015 nuclear deal, a step diplomats said on Thursday aimed to pressure Tehran to resolve the issue diplomatically and to avoid reimposing U.N. sanctions. The British, French and German letter did not explicitly threaten to "snap back" United Nations sanctions but it noted that U.N. Security Council Resolution 2231, which enshrined the nuclear deal and provided that power, expires on Oct. 18, 2025.

Israeli strike on UN school kills dozens in Gaza

Israel hit a Gaza school on Thursday with what it described as a targeted airstrike on up to 30 Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters inside, and a Hamas official said 40 people were killed including women and children sheltering at the U.N. site.

Video footage showed Palestinians hauling away bodies and scores of injured in a hospital after the attack, which took place at a sensitive moment in mediated talks on a ceasefire that would involve releasing hostages held by Hamas and some of the Palestinians held in Israeli jails.

At D-Day commemoration, Biden pledges continued Ukraine support

U.S. President Joe Biden made an impassioned call for the defence of freedom and democracy at the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy on Thursday, urging Western powers to stay the course with Ukraine and not surrender to Russian tyranny. At a joint ceremony with French President Emmanuel Macron and U.S. veterans at the Normandy American Cemetery, Biden said it was "simply unthinkable" to surrender to Russian aggression and he promised no let-up in support for Ukraine.

SpaceX's Starship survives return to Earth, aces landing test on fourth try

SpaceX's Starship rocket survived a fiery, hypersonic return from space and achieved a breakthrough landing demonstration in the Indian Ocean on Thursday, completing a full test mission around the globe on the rocket's fourth try. Starship's controlled fall into the Indian Ocean just 65 minutes after launching from Texas capped the latest advance in the company's test-to-failure rocket development campaign, a multibillion-dollar effort by Elon Musk's space company to build a reusable satellite launcher and moon lander.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)