Three lionesses die in Tokyo zoo as heatwave scorches East Asia

Farah Larrieux stands in her backyard in South Florida on July 27. Reshma Kirpalani for NPR/‎ hide caption toggle caption Reshma Kirpalani for NPR/‎ The sun had yet to touch the horizon when Farah Larrieux returned to her South Florida home at 6 a.m. Dark circles smudged the thin skin under her eyes as she pulled large trash and recycling bins to the curb. A headache banged on the left side of her skull. The Haitian immigrant had just finished her last overnight shift at a hotel on that Monday morning. She is among the 300,000 Haitians in the U.S. losing the legal status that has allowed them to live and work in the United States. Temporary protected status (TPS) was first granted to Haitians after Haiti's devastating 2010 earthquake, because conditions in that country were considered too dangerous for them to return. But last month, the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to end those protections. The ruling has left TPS holders bracing for an uncertain future. It has also rattled South Florida's Haitian community, where Larrieux lives and where Haitian immigrants work across the region's health care, hospitality, construction and service industries. In a statement to NPR, the Department of Homeland Security defended its decision to terminate TPS for Haitians, saying, "conditions in Haiti have improved sufficiently to support the return of Haitian nationals." The agency also said that TPS "was never intended to be a de facto asylum program" and that "temporary protections cannot become permanent by default." Larrieux has lived in the U.S. for roughly two decades. She said she hasn't been able to sleep. Sitting at a table in her small living room, she glanced at the plaques and awards recognizing her years of service in the community. She had run out of wall space to hang them, so they spilled across the table. "I can tell you that I feel empty," she said. "Like I'm living a nightmare." Her refrigerator and cupboards are stocked with food because she fears leaving home and being arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. A sheet of white paper covers the small glass panel in her front door because she's afraid ICE could show up at her home. She has memorized her attorney's phone number in case she's detained. A sheet of paper covers a window in the front door of Larrieux's home because she's afraid Immigration and Customs Enforcement could show up at her home. Reshma Kirpalani for NPR/‎ hide caption toggle caption Reshma Kirpalani for NPR/‎ Larrieux works two jobs, including running her own communications business. She has paused both and plans to live off her savings while applying for asylum. She fears that returning to Haiti would amount to a death sentence because she has publicly criticized the country's government. Larrieux sits at her computer in her South Florida home. Reshma Kirpalani for NPR/‎ hide caption toggle caption Reshma Kirpalani for NPR/‎ "If I don't get mistreated by ICE at the detention center, I may be killed in Haiti," said Larrieux. "My blood will be on Trump's hands." Anguish replaced anger as she considered this possibility. Tears traced the terrain of her face, curving around the high mountains of her cheekbones, pooling at her chin. "They always treat us like we're nothing," said Larrieux, her voice shaking. "Our life has no value." Her fears echo those of many across Florida, home to roughly 500,000 people of Haitian descent. There are 158,000 Haitian TPS holders in South Florida, according to a recent fact sheet from FWD.us, UndocuBlack Network and the Haitian Bridge Alliance. Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava warned that ending TPS would ripple far beyond the regional Haitian community. At a news conference last week, she said Haitian TPS holders have become an integral part of South Florida's businesses and communities. "The termination of temporary protected status for Haitians is a heartbreaking and unnecessary decision," Levine Cava told

The battle by firefighters in France to bring under control a large wildfire raging in forests south of the country's capital is entering its second day. The Fontainebleau forest blaze, described by officials as "virulent" and of "exceptional scale", partially closed the country's main north-south highway. Interior minister Laurent Nunez has indicated the blaze may have been deliberately set, after officials said the fire had raced across 800 hectares in the forest about 40 miles (60km) south-east of Paris.The Paris region is suffering through its third heatwave this year during a summer in which temperature records have been broken in several countries across Europe. It is the first time firefighting planes had been sent up from the normally drier and hotter south of the country to tackle fires in the Paris region, Eric Brocardi, of France's national federation of firefighters, said.Two firefighting helicopters and an observation aircraft had also been deployed, he added, according to French news agency Agence France-Presse."The aim is to save lives and property," he was quoted as saying. Nunez suggested on Monday that authorities are exploring the possibility that the fire was started intentionally. "There were about 10 fire ignition points within a perimeter of 1,000 meters, which suggests that it could have been deliberately set," he said in a statement reported by the AFP news agency.