Estados Unidos y Arabia Saudita firmaron este miércoles un acuerdo que permitirá al reino árabe desarrollar un programa nuclear civil y que, según algunos medios, le abriría al reino la puerta al enriquecimiento de uranio.

Este plan desató preocupación en Israel, informó la prensa local.

El acuerdo, que debe ser ratificado por el Congreso estadounidense, se produce en un contexto de tensión con Irán, rival de Arabia Saudita en Oriente Medio, y bajo los esfuerzos de Washington por limitar las capacidades nucleares de Teherán, que niega buscar desarrollar armas nucleares.

El documento, conocido como “Acuerdo 123”, fue firmado por el secretario de Energía de Estados Unidos, Chris Wright, y su homólogo saudita, Abdulaziz bin Salman, según informó en un comunicado el Gobierno estadounidense.

Arabia Saudita no mantiene vínculos diplomáticos con Israel.

“Fines pacíficos”

El comunicado no incluyó el texto íntegro del acuerdo, pero asegura que el programa tiene “fines pacíficos” y que está comprometido con la “no proliferación nuclear”.

Asimismo, indicó que el acuerdo dará a las empresas estadounidenses acceso preferente al sector de la energía nuclear producida en Arabia Saudita.

“Pueden tener la certeza de que estos acuerdos cumplen con los más altos estándares de seguridad y no proliferación nuclear, al tiempo que se apoyan en la mejor tecnología nuclear y en los mejores científicos del mundo, desarrollados aquí mismo en Estados Unidos”, afirmó Wright.

Medios como The New York Times adelantaron el acuerdo, que, según esas informaciones, permitiría a Riad el enriquecimiento de uranio, yendo más allá de los pactos nucleares convencionales que Washington ha suscrito con otros aliados, como Emiratos Árabes Unidos.

Desde que se filtraron los detalles el martes por la noche, algunos legisladores demócratas criticaron el acuerdo y pidieron que el Congreso lo rechace, aunque los republicanos tienen mayoría en ambas cámaras.

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Desde que regresó al poder en 2025, el presidente de Estados Unidos, Donald Trump, impulsó un acercamiento a Arabia Saudita y al príncipe heredero, Mohamed bin Salman, pese a que este fue acusado por la inteligencia estadounidense de estar detrás del asesinato en 2018 del periodista Jamal Khashoggi de The Washington Post.

Enriquecimiento de uranio

Una cláusula del pacto, que tendría una duración de 30 años, prevé que empresas estadounidenses construyan una instalación de enriquecimiento de uranio en Arabia Saudita si un estudio conjunto determina que está justificado, informó The Wall Street Journal.

Pero algunos legisladores estadounidenses de ambos partidos y funcionarios israelíes expresaron su oposición a un proyecto atómico civil para Arabia Saudita, por temor a que pueda convertirse eventualmente en un programa para desarrollar armas nucleares.

El reino sunnita es uno de los principales aliados de Washington en Oriente Medio y ha sido afectado por ataques iraníes en respuesta a la ofensiva estadounidense contra Irán. Además, los rebeldes hutíes de Yemen han anunciado un bloqueo marítimo en el mar Rojo contra buques saudíes.

Arabia Saudita y los hutíes intercambiaron ataques la semana pasada por primera vez en años, lo que puso en peligro una tregua de 2022. Los rebeldes, en gran medida, se mantuvieron al margen desde que Israel y Estados Unidos atacaron a Irán a finales de febrero.

El asunto es de larga data. Arabia Saudita ha defendido durante mucho tiempo su derecho a desarrollar un programa nuclear civil.

En los últimos años, Washington ha tratado de integrar cualquier acuerdo relativo a la cuestión nuclear en una estrategia más amplia que incluiría la normalización de las relaciones de Arabia Saudita con Israel, junto con la firma de un pacto de defensa con Estados Unidos.

Washington firmó un acuerdo nuclear en 2009 con el vecino Emiratos Árabes Unidos, aunque este país no enriquece su propio uranio.

(Con información de EFE y AFP)

France has recorded more than 5,700 excess deaths during its historic summer heat wave, marking the country’s deadliest heat-related toll in more than two decades, Public Health France announced Wednesday.

Between June 17 and July 2, the agency expected 15,910 deaths but instead recorded 21,674. The difference — 5,764 excess deaths — was 36% higher than what would have been expected.

During the heat wave, temperatures climbed well above 104 degrees Fahrenheit in many parts of the country, Public Health France said.

«This unprecedented event, characterized by its early onset, intensity, and duration, exposed almost the entire population to extreme heat during a period that was still largely dedicated to school and work activities,» the agency said.

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Deaths from all causes increased across hospitals, private homes and nursing homes during the heat wave.

The agency’s analysis included people ages 15 and older, with mortality increasing beginning at age 45. Adults 75 and older accounted for roughly two-thirds of the provisional death toll, representing at least 3,719 excess deaths.

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The Paris region was hit hardest, recording 1,999 excess deaths — more than 80% above what would have been expected without the heat wave, according to the agency.

Public Health France said 2026 recorded the country’s highest excess mortality linked to a heat wave since 2003. The National Institute of Health and Medical Research estimated that roughly 15,000 more people died compared to the usual mortality for that time of year.  

Tourists cool off at a public water fountain in Paris, Friday, June 26, 2026. (Christophe Ena)

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This year, the hottest days occurred on June 24 and June 25, when the national average temperature reached 86 degrees Fahrenheit. Peak temperatures also climbed above 104 degrees in many areas.

More than half of the excess deaths — about 56% — occurred during or immediately after the most intense stretch of the heat wave between June 25 and June 27.

Officials also said more than 10,000 excess deaths were reported across Europe during the peak of the heat wave, though the preliminary figures are expected to be updated in the coming weeks.

People cool off in a fountain in Paris during a major heat wave. (Abdul Saboor/Reuters)

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According to The Associated Press, funeral directors in Paris said they were inundated by the surge in bodies awaiting burial or cremation, with some mortuaries reaching capacity and turning down new arrivals.

Health officials noted that the excess mortality estimate includes deaths from all causes that occurred during the heat wave. The figures remain provisional and will continue to be refined in the coming weeks.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Several vulnerable House Democrats are breaking with their party on men competing in women’s sports as Republicans continue to hammer the issue ahead of November’s midterm elections.

Reps. Shomari Figures and Terri Sewell, D-Ala., joined Republicans in voting for an amendment to the annual defense policy bill Tuesday that would bar biological males from participating in women’s sports in Department of War-run schools.

The vote marked a notable shift for both Alabama Democrats, who opposed similar legislation as recently as last year, and comes as Republicans’ redistricting efforts have scrambled their re-election prospects.

Figures now represents one of the GOP’s top pickup opportunities after Alabama’s newly drawn congressional map added more GOP voters to his district, dramatically increasing the difficulty of his re-election bid. The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), House Republicans’ campaign arm, added the freshman lawmaker to its target list last week.

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Sewell’s Black-majority seat anchored around Birmingham remained largely unchanged, though she also bucked Democratic leadership on the amendment.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and 202 other Democrats voted against the measure. All Republicans present voted in support.

Both lawmakers voted against the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act in 2025, which barred federally funded schools from allowing biological males to participate in girls’ and women’s sports.

The reversal comes as transgender issues continue to divide Democrats, with public polling showing broad opposition to transgender athletes competing in women’s sports.

A New York Times/Ipsos poll conducted in 2025 found that nearly 80% of Americans opposed biological males competing in women’s sports. Roughly seven in ten Democrats or Democrat-leaning respondents agreed, according to the survey.

Protesters against transgender athletes competing in women’s sports gathered outside the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 13, 2026. (Heather Diehl/Getty Images)

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Republicans sharply criticized the Alabama Democrats’ votes, arguing the move reflected political necessity rather than a genuine change in position.

«Out of touch Democrats Shomari Figures and Terri Sewell are desperately trying to hide their far-left views now that it’s politically expedient, but it’s too little too late,» NRCC spokesman Reilly Richardson told Fox News Digital.

«Alabamians know Figures and Sewell support Democrats’ radical agenda of allowing men to compete in women’s sports and will hold them accountable at the ballot box in November,» he continued.

Figures, however, argued his views on transgender participation in women’s sports have been consistent and pointed to a 2025 amendment vote restricting transgender athletes that he supported in a statement to Fox News Digital.

«As I have said before, I do not believe that men should be allowed to participate in women’s sports,» Figures said. «I voted against the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act because that bill would have created an open season for pedophiles to conduct sex checks of young girls, with no safeguards.»

Proponents of the measure disputed during floor debate that the legislation would put girls at risk.

Fox News Digital reached out to Sewell for comment.

Reps. Don Davis, D-N.C., and Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez, D-Texas, also voted with Republicans in favor of the Mace amendment.

The three Democrats, who are all vulnerable to GOP challengers, frequently cross party lines to support Republican-authored bills, though Davis voted «present» on the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act.

Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., who sponsored the amendment, argued the measure was intended to protect women’s sports.

Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Ala., speaks during a Congressional Black Caucus news conference in the U.S. Capitol on the Supreme Court’s ruling in Louisiana v. Callais on Wednesday, April 29, 2026. (CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

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«Men are not women. Men will never become women. Yet male athletes are stealing medals, invading locker rooms, and putting girls in the hospital, all in the name of gender ideology,» Mace said Tuesday. «Our NDAA amendment would end this nonsense.»