Unbiased AI-powered news
Temperatures reached record June highs across Western Europe on Wednesday. Multiple deaths occurred amid power outages and school closures. Red alerts remained active in six countries.
Al JazeeraEurope recorded its hottest June day on record Wednesday as a heat dome remained parked over Western Europe. Temperatures climbed again across the continent, with one town exceeding 44 °C and Spain reporting readings above 45 °C in the south. The highest-level red heat alerts remained in place in the UK, Germany, France, Spain, Switzerland, and Luxembourg.
French authorities said 40 people have drowned since Thursday in connection with the heatwave. Three elderly people died from heat-related causes near Bordeaux, and two children aged two and four were found dead in a hot car in southern France. A 90-year-old woman died near Bilbao after suffering heatstroke in a nursing home, and a 68-year-old man in Almeria died from heatstroke, Spanish officials reported.
Tens of thousands of residents remained without power. Hundreds of schools closed or moved to shortened schedules, and rail operators advised passengers to avoid unnecessary travel. Only about 20 percent of European homes have air conditioning, leaving the continent ill-equipped for sustained extreme heat.
Europe is the world’s fastest-warming continent, with temperatures rising at about twice the global average rate. Heatwaves like the current one are about 30 times more likely than in the pre-climate change era, according to one academic analysis. This marks the second major episode of extreme heat to hit Europe in the past two months.
"Temperatures across Europe are rising at roughly twice the global average rate," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
theiranproject.comThe head of the U.N. nuclear agency said inspectors will visit Iranian enrichment sites as required by last week's interim U.S.-Iran agreement. Iran stated inspections must wait until sanctions end and a final deal is reached.
Candidates aligned with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani defeated two sitting members of Congress and the handpicked successor to a retiring lawmaker in Tuesday’s Democratic primaries. The results mark a clear victory for the mayor’s progressive wing inside the state party.
Al JazeeraAn Israeli drone attack in al-Mawasi killed a child and injured seven others on June 23. A separate shooting in the West Bank killed a 29-year-old man the next day.