England's historic gardens lose trees in record heat
England's historic gardens are losing mature trees and changing what they plant as record heat and drought put centuries-old landscapes under strain, gardeners…
Climate & Environment — August 2026
Namibia clears path for world-first seabed phosphate mine
Namibia has granted environmental clearance for an offshore phosphate mining project that could become the world's first commercial seabed-dredging operation f…
Japan heat drives demand for human fridge
A phone-booth-sized cooling machine for workers is drawing buyers in Japan as employers look for ways to protect staff from extreme summer heat. Tokyo-based i…
Nevada sues Trump administration over Colorado River cuts
Nevada launched legal action Monday against the administration of US President Donald Trump over a federal plan to cut the state's access to Colorado River wat…
Europe heatwave saw 18m in new 40C areas, AFP finds
Europe's 2026 heatwave summer brought 40C temperatures to regions where that threshold had not been reached for at least 25 years, an AFP analysis found. The…
Kenyan farmers turn to bugs as fertiliser costs rise
Kenyan farmers are using redworms and black soldier fly larvae to turn waste into organic fertiliser as soil degradation, higher fertiliser costs and demand fo…
Sweden climate march draws 10,000 before election
Around 10,000 people marched in Stockholm on Sunday against human-made climate change, weeks before Sweden’s September 13 general election. The rally in the Swedish capital was organised by youth and sporting groups, unions, rural associations and rights grou…
Biodegradable balloon breaks down in 9 months, UK team says
Researchers at Imperial College London say they have developed a biodegradable balloon that breaks down completely within about nine months, offering a possible alternative to conventional party balloons. The product, called Bioloon, is made with natural late…
Sudan farms dry as El Nino delays Nile rains
Sudanese farmers are struggling to keep crops alive as delayed rains and unusually low Nile levels hit farmland along the river during a season scientists and UN officials link to El Nino conditions. Farmers from areas near Khartoum to Gedaref state on the Et…
Austria to enshrine 2040 climate neutrality in law
Austria's government said Friday it would enshrine a target to reach climate neutrality by 2040 in law, as the country faces record drought and heat. Finance…
China weighs bid to host COP33 climate talks
China is considering a bid to host the 2028 UN climate talks, known as COP33, two sources familiar with the matter said on August 21. The sources said Beijing…
Fontainebleau forest to reopen after wildfire
Fontainebleau forest southeast of Paris is set to reopen most of its area to the public this weekend after a July wildfire scorched about 2,000 hectares, a loc…
Ducks control vineyard pests at South Africa wine farm
A South African wine farm near Stellenbosch is using Indian Runner ducks to control vineyard pests, a method its managers say is becoming more popular among ne…
Morocco fertiliser exports cut cadmium, OCP says
Morocco's state-owned phosphate group OCP says all its fertilisers exported to Europe since early last year have contained less than 20 milligrammes of cadmium…
Vantara zoo resets animal import policy
Vantara, the vast Indian zoo founded by Anant Ambani, has announced a governance reset and a shift away from importing animals after criticism of its rapid glo…
India elephants get new Supreme Court protections
India's Supreme Court has ordered new protections for wild and captive elephants, directing states to keep elephant corridors open and requiring tighter welfar…
El Nino could make 2027 hottest year, Met Office says
This year's El Nino weather pattern is expected to be the biggest in more than a century and could make 2027 the hottest year globally, Britain's Met Office pr…
Chinese vessel caught with shark fins in Kiribati crackdown
Kiribati maritime police detained a Chinese vessel after inspectors found banned shark fins on board during a Pacific illegal-fishing crackdown, a police comma…
AFP selects five sub-Saharan Africa features
AFP said it had selected five reports from sub-Saharan Africa for republication, covering coastal erosion in Nigeria, a mysterious illness affecting elephants…
Nigeria coastal erosion threatens Ayetoro fishing town
Coastal erosion is threatening Ayetoro, a fishing community in southern Nigeria, where residents say homes, schools and health services are being pushed back a…
Kenya's rising lakes push crocodiles toward homes
Rising waters in Kenya's Rift Valley lakes are pushing crocodiles and hippos closer to homes, schools and businesses, increasing risks for communities already…
El Nino could make 2027 hottest year, scientists say
El Nino could help make 2027 the hottest year recorded, climate scientists said, as the natural Pacific warming cycle adds a temporary heat boost to long-term…
China solar boom linked to bird diversity loss
China's rapid solar energy expansion has been linked to a decline in bird diversity, according to a study across more than 2,300 counties published in Science…
Europe heatwaves linked to 33,000 deaths, AFP count finds
Europe’s summer heatwaves were linked to at least 30,000 excess deaths, with an AFP count of national provisional figures finding 33,000 excess deaths or heat-…
Greece adds fire detection at Acropolis and sites
Greece will install modern fire-detection technology at major archaeological sites and monuments, including the Acropolis in Athens, to help protect them from…
Alps rockfalls set for record after hot summer, scientist says
Rockfalls in the Alps are on course for a record year after the hot summer of 2026, with the Mont Blanc massif alone expected to record 450 by the end of the s…
France heat: record 573 weather stations top 40C
A record 573 weather stations in mainland France reached or exceeded 40C this summer, according to an AFP analysis of Meteo-France data. The analysis covered 1,300 stations that have been operating since before 2000. The number passing 40C was above the 292 s…
Climate change could triple Europe wildfire area
Climate change could nearly triple the area of land burned by wildfires each year in Europe by the end of the century under a high-emissions scenario, a study said Thursday. The study warned that fires may become more unpredictable and could affect regions wi…
Sri Lanka faces 'worst' El Nino, minister says
Sri Lanka is likely to face heavy rains and severe drought in the coming months during what Environment Minister Dhammika Patabendi called the island's "worst"…
Little penguins in Australia are given H5N1 vaccines
Australian wildlife workers have started vaccinating wild little penguins against H5N1 avian influenza after the virus was detected in a dead bird from the Phi…
Honduras drought alert covers 80% of country
Honduras placed 80 percent of the country on drought alert on Wednesday, including the capital Tegucigalpa, as low reservoir levels, crop losses and livestock…
PSG Ligue 1 opener moved over unsafe pitch
Paris Saint-Germain's opening match of their Ligue 1 title defence against Rennes has been moved from Parc des Princes to Rennes' Roazhon Park because of the c…
Lake Zurich hits 75-year low amid Swiss drought
Lake Zurich's water level fell to its lowest level in 75 years on Wednesday as drought affected several major Swiss lakes, official measurements showed. Switz…
Rome tourists raft on Tiber to escape the heat
Tourists in Rome are taking inflatable raft tours on the Tiber River as a cooler alternative to walking around the Italian capital in the heat. The tours begi…
Mystery illness kills elephants in southern Kenya
A mysterious ailment is killing elephants in southern Kenya, including an animal seen lying on the ground in Kimana and unable to stand. The condition was described as affecting elephants in southern Kenya. The supplied details did not identify the cause of t…
Blue crab: Italy releases 80,000 octopus hatchlings
Italian researchers have released about 80,000 common octopus hatchlings into the Adriatic Sea since June in a pilot project aimed at limiting invasive blue cr…
New Zealand blocks climate lawsuits against firms
New Zealand's parliament has passed legislation blocking civil lawsuits that seek to hold companies liable for climate change harm. The coalition government's…
Climate change adds 2C to Mediterranean warming, study says
Climate change added about 2C of warming to the Mediterranean this summer and was the main driver of rising sea temperatures around Europe, according to a stud…
US forests: Trump proposes opening 44m acres to logging
President Donald Trump's administration proposed on August 18 to rescind a rule that protects 44 million acres of wild, undisturbed forest from road constructi…
Amazon forest recovery driven by few tree species
A small group of tree species drives much of the Amazon rainforest's recovery after land is cleared and then abandoned, according to a Brazilian study. Fernan…
New York whales rebound as boat traffic raises risks
Humpback whales are being seen more often off New York, thrilling whale watchers while raising concerns about collisions in one of the busiest port regions in the United States. Marine scientists and naturalists say the increase reflects several factors, incl…
Lake Mead and Lake Powell hit record lows in US drought
Lake Mead and Lake Powell, the two largest reservoirs in the United States, have fallen to record lows as severe drought strains the Colorado River system in the US West. Bureau of Reclamation data showed Lake Powell, which lies mostly in Utah, fell on Sunday…
Germany climate amendment plan splits coalition
A proposal by German Social Democratic ministers to put climate adaptation and nature conservation into Germany's constitution has exposed divisions inside Chancellor Friedrich Merz's coalition. The SPD, the junior coalition partner to Merz's conservative CDU…
Indian marble waste dump draws tourists despite risks
A marble waste dump in Kishangarh in India's Rajasthan state is drawing tourists, filmmakers and social media users to a white landscape that resembles a snow-covered valley. The 82-acre site is covered with white slurry and discarded stone from marble and gr…
Nigeria coastal erosion swallows Ayetoro fishing community
Ayetoro, a fishing community in southern Nigeria, is losing homes, services and shoreline as the Atlantic Ocean advances into the town. The community, home to around 10,000 people, was founded in 1947 and is known locally as “The Happy Place.” Residents now r…
German winegrowers struggle to protect vines in heatwave
German winegrowers are trying to protect vines with straw, drip irrigation and soil management as prolonged hot, dry weather puts pressure on harvests and water supplies. At a six-hectare vineyard in Spay above the Rhine, Florian Weingart has covered about a…
India monkey whisperers guard badminton worlds
Organisers of badminton's world championships in New Delhi have hired a four-person team of animal callers to keep rhesus macaques away from the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium before the tournament begins on August 17. The men, locally known as monkey wallahs,…
Netherlands drought strains water management
The Netherlands is facing a historic summer drought that has lowered river levels, restricted water use and forced new questions about how a country built to fight floods can also retain enough fresh water. The drought follows a prolonged dry spell, exception…
Brussels records 2026 high of 35.9C in heatwave
Brussels recorded its hottest day of 2026 so far on Friday, reaching 35.9C, Belgium's IRM weather agency said. Belgium is among several European countries experiencing heatwaves. AFP calculated that parts of Europe home to at least 150 million people had temp…
Germany grain harvest seen down 7%, farmers say
Germany's grain harvest is expected to fall 7% this year to 41.9 million tonnes after months of severe drought and heatwaves, the German Farmers' Association s…
US heat wave warnings cover 44 million people
About 44 million Americans were under heat wave warnings on Saturday as temperatures in the Rocky Mountains and northern plains were expected to reach 110F ove…
Endangered Species Act habitat protections narrowed
President Donald Trump's administration finalized a rule Friday narrowing how the federal government defines “harm” under the Endangered Species Act, changing…
Italy drought threatens Po River irrigation in 10 days
Water reserves in northern Italy's Po River basin could be exhausted within 10 days if irrigation continues at the current rate and no rain falls, the Po River…
Amazon deforestation in Brazil hits decade low
Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon fell to its lowest level in a decade in the first half of the year, according to official figures released Friday. From January to June, trees were cleared across 1,295 square kilometres in the Brazilian part of the rainf…
US truck pollution rules face Trump EPA rollback
The Trump administration proposed loosening US truck pollution regulations on Thursday, targeting a 2023 rule meant to cut NOx emissions from truck tailpipes beginning with model year 2027. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin said the cha…
North Korea prepares for heavy rain, state media says
North Korea has stepped up flood-prevention work ahead of heavy rain forecast for Thursday night and Friday morning, state media said, as monsoon weather affected both sides of the Korean Peninsula. South Korea's Yonhap News Agency, citing state television, s…
Greece brown bear encounters fuel village backlash
Rising brown bear encounters in northern Greece have fuelled fear among residents and farmers and a dispute with conservationists over how to manage a recovering protected species. Greek authorities counted 900 brown bears in the mountainous Western Macedonia…
Philippine mangrove loss tops 60% since 1918
The Philippines has lost more than 60 percent of its mangrove cover since 1918, government data show, as stronger storms and coastal development put remaining forests under pressure. In Batuan town in Masbate province, WWF-Philippines project manager Andrea P…
Biodiversity goals off track before UN COP17 talks
The world is not on track to meet global biodiversity goals, UN biodiversity chief Astrid Schomaker warned on Aug. 13, weeks before countries meet for COP17 talks in Yerevan, Armenia. Schomaker, executive secretary of the United Nations' Convention on Biologi…
At least 20 Kenya elephants die from mystery ailment
At least 20 elephants have died since June in southern Kenya after showing similar symptoms, including partial paralysis, while the cause remains unresolved an…
Svalbard polar bear woken by foghorn brings $5,255 fine
A person in Norway's Svalbard archipelago has been fined 50,000 kroner, or $5,255, for using a ship's foghorn to wake a sleeping polar bear, local officials said Thursday. The incident happened earlier this month while a vessel was sailing in a fjord in north…
German rivers dry up as ministers split on response
Low water levels on Germany's rivers have opened a dispute inside the government over whether to engineer waterways for shipping or restore them to hold more water in the landscape. A heat wave has exposed sandbanks on the Rhine, Danube, Elbe and other rivers…
US Arctic climate report canceled under Trump
A benchmark US report on the state of the Arctic has been canceled, while the National Academy of Sciences has removed a climate science chapter from a judges' manual during President Donald Trump's second term. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administra…
Champagne harvest starts earliest after heatwaves
France's Champagne region has begun its earliest recorded grape harvest after successive heatwaves accelerated grape ripening, industry officials said Wednesday. The official harvest opening dates range from August 8 to August 22, depending on location and gr…
Europe heatwave to put 150 million over 35C, AFP says
More than 150 million people in Europe are in areas forecast to exceed 35C on Friday as the continent's latest heatwave spreads, according to AFP calculations. The areas most affected are in France, Germany, Spain and Italy. AFP also calculated that around 35…
Britain maps flood risk to roads and rail
Britain's Ordnance Survey is using detailed mapping data to help authorities track and respond to climate risks, including flooding, wildfire, subsidence and coastal erosion. Tom Gray, a utilities and transport expert at the national mapping agency, said floo…
Brazil vegetation loss tops twice France's size, study says
Brazil has lost native vegetation covering more than twice the area of France over the past four decades, increasing its vulnerability to extreme weather from El Niño, environmental monitoring network MapBiomas said in an annual land-use study. MapBiomas said…
Kazakhstan tests cloud seeding against drought
Kazakhstan is testing cloud seeding in its southern Turkestan region as it tries to reduce the impact of severe drought and water shortages in the country’s main cotton-growing area. The project uses aircraft fitted with cloud-seeding flare systems. Cartridge…
Lake Baringo grows 70%, pushing crocodiles near homes
Lake Baringo in central Kenya has expanded by 70 percent since 2010, bringing crocodiles and hippos closer to homes and adding to risks for families, schools and tourism businesses around the lake. AFP said its analysis of Copernicus Sentinel and NASA Landsat…
British Columbia drought raises wildfire risk, officials say
British Columbia faces a higher risk of fast-growing wildfires because of widespread drought, provincial officials said on August 11, as the western Canadian province battled 102 active blazes and warned that Okanagan Lake had fallen to its lowest recorded le…
UK summer on course to be warmest on record, Met Office says
The UK is on course to record its warmest summer for mean temperature for the second year in a row, the Met Office said, as the country prepared for its fifth heatwave of the season. The weather agency said the average UK temperature from June 1 to August 10…
Croatia hazardous waste scandal prompts no-confidence call
Opposition parties in Croatia demanded a no-confidence vote against the government on Tuesday over thousands of tonnes of hazardous waste that remain unrecovered after years of illegal dumping. Croatia's anti-corruption and organised crime office, USKOK, has…
Plastic treaty document weaker, scientist says
A new informal document for global plastics treaty talks suggests negotiations are moving toward a less ambitious deal, British marine biologist Richard Thompson told AFP on Tuesday. The document was released at the weekend after treaty talks collapsed in Aug…
France heatwaves reshape home searches, realtors say
French home buyers and renters are paying more attention to heat risk after repeated severe heatwaves, with estate agents saying shutters, air conditioning, shade, through-draughts and indirect sunlight are moving up priority lists. In Paris, agents said top-…
Natural disaster losses fell to $100bn, Swiss Re says
Swiss Re said Tuesday that economic losses from natural catastrophes worldwide were estimated at $100 billion in the first half of 2026, down from $152 billion in the same period last year. The Zurich-based reinsurance group said the total was also 10 percent…
Rothbury Estate appeal seeks almost £10m by September
The Wildlife Trusts is trying to raise almost £10 million by the end of September to complete its planned purchase of the Rothbury Estate in northern Northumberland. The UK conservation charity needs £30 million to acquire the whole 3,800-hectare estate, whic…
Memphis AI data center draws Boxtown pollution fight
Residents and advocacy groups in South Memphis are fighting gas turbines that power SpaceXAI's Colossus I data center near Boxtown, a predominantly Black neighborhood with a long history of industrial pollution. Local campaigners say the turbines add air and…
Contiguous US had hottest month on record, NOAA says
July 2026 was the hottest month on record for the contiguous United States, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Monday. NOAA said the average temperature across the 48 states, excluding Alaska, Hawaii and overseas territories, was 76.9F,…
France, Switzerland set July drought records, AFP says
France and Switzerland had record drought conditions in July, with 95 percent of mainland France and 99 percent of Switzerland affected, according to an AFP analysis published Monday. AFP said the figures were records for both countries since the European Dro…
France drought puts nearly 70% under water curbs
Nearly 70 percent of France is under water-use restrictions as drought worsens during successive heatwaves, the government said on Monday. As of August 9, most of mainland France, including Paris, was under at least the first water warning level. Sixty-seven…
Europe heatwave brings alerts, fires and drought
Europe is facing another summer heatwave, with parts of Britain and France under extreme heat warnings on Monday, drought restrictions widening and new fires burning in Greece and Spain. Forecasters expected temperatures around the mid-30s Celsius in parts of…
Vistula river matches record low in Warsaw, IMGW says
Poland's Vistula river matched its record low in Warsaw on Monday, the national meteorological institute IMGW reported. IMGW hydrologist Dariusz Witkowski told AFP the river was at 102 centimetres, or 40 inches. He said that matched a record set on Friday. Th…
Record July heat hit 900 million people, AFP says
Regions home to around 900 million people had their hottest July on record in 2026, including parts of the Sahel, Central America, France and Spain, according to an AFP analysis of Copernicus data. AFP said its analysis of Copernicus's ERA5 climate model foun…
Hong Kong hits record 36.9C, observatory says
Hong Kong's weather observatory recorded 36.9C on Sunday, the highest temperature at its headquarters since records began in 1884, the Hong Kong Observatory said. The meteorological service said Typhoon Dolphin swept warm air over the city as the storm approa…
Afghanistan gold rush damages Badakhshan land and water
Thousands of miners and dozens of excavators are working in Afghanistan's northeastern Badakhshan province, where a gold rush has brought jobs and state revenue but also complaints of damaged farmland, dirty water and lost grazing land. In the Shiwa area, abo…
Mexico sargassum cleanup tops 100,000 tons
Mexico's sargassum cleanup in the Caribbean has collected more than 100,000 tons of the seaweed in the first half of the year, already more than the 92,782 tons gathered in all of last year. A round-the-clock operation is using boats, barriers, amphibious veh…
Brazilian Amazon deforestation hits decade low
Brazilian Amazon deforestation fell to its lowest level in a decade, with 2,874 square kilometers cleared from August 2025 to July 2026, official data showed Friday. The National Institute for Space Research said the figure, equal to 1,110 square miles, was n…
Gaza beekeeper rebuilds hives on rooftop after war losses
Gaza beekeeper Ibrahim al-Dabba has moved his remaining hives to a rooftop in Gaza City after he said the Israel-Hamas war destroyed most of the territory’s beekeeping sector. Al-Dabba, who heads the Beekeepers Cooperative in the Gaza Strip, said Gaza had mor…
Serbian eagle Feliks released after smuggling rescue
Feliks, a rare eastern imperial eagle, was released back into the wild in Serbia this week after being recovered from bird smugglers and returned from Lebanon, Serbia's Bird Protection and Study Society said Friday. The young raptor left the nest in July 2025…
England drought covers 71.3%, UK government says
England drought now covers 71.3 percent of the country, the UK government said Monday, after the nation experienced its driest July on record and with another heatwave and little rain forecast. The environment department said almost three-quarters of England…
Australia camels fuel milk, beer and outback races
Hundreds of thousands of camels roam outback Australia, where they are used for milk, racing, export and even beer. The animals were imported by British colonists in the 19th century for transport and later set free after cars made them less useful. Estimates…
13 Svalbard reindeer deaths called highly unusual
Norwegian authorities said Thursday that 13 recently dead reindeer had been found in Svalbard in what they described as a highly unusual pattern for summer. The local governor's office said the animals were found during an annual count in two valleys in the A…
Switzerland's 2030 climate target at risk, minister says
Switzerland may struggle to meet its 2030 climate target because of budget limits, Environment Minister Albert Rosti told Le Temps on Thursday. The country has pledged to cut greenhouse gas emissions to half of 1990 levels by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050.…
French winemakers fear wildfire smoke will taint rosé
French winemakers in the Var region are waiting to learn whether smoke from recent wildfires has tainted grapes in the country's main rosé-producing area. Wildfires in the southeastern French region have sent thousands of people fleeing and destroyed more tha…
Climate change doubled Canada fire weather odds, study says
Human-caused climate change made the extreme fire conditions behind this year's Canadian wildfires about twice as likely, according to a World Weather Attribution study released Thursday. The researchers focused on the most extreme seven-day and 30-day period…
Rhine may be partly unnavigable in Germany, group warns
The Rhine may soon become partly unnavigable in Germany as low rainfall and high summer temperatures push water levels lower, Germany's BDB inland shipping association warned on Monday. The group said the level at Kaub, a key reference point for vessels on th…
Lake Baringo rise pushes crocodiles toward Kenyan homes
Rising waters in Kenya's Rift Valley have pushed Lake Baringo closer to homes, schools and tourist sites, increasing encounters with crocodiles and hippos and displacing tens of thousands of people, according to officials and residents. Lake Baringo and nearb…
Oman oil spill reaches mainland beaches
Oil from a tanker stranded off Oman's coast has reached mainland beaches, Omani authorities said, as the International Maritime Organization reported that monsoon conditions were delaying salvage work. Oman News Agency quoted the country's environment authori…
Brazil Michelin restaurant lets rain decide its menu
Tuju, a three-Michelin-star restaurant in Sao Paulo, changes the timing of its menus according to rainfall rather than fixed calendar dates. Chef Ivan Ralston and gastronomic researcher Katherina Cordas spent two years studying ingredients, mainly from Sao Pa…
Slovakia sets 42.2C heat record, agency says
Slovakia recorded 42.2C in the southern village of Dolne Plachtince on Thursday, setting an all-time national temperature high for the second day in a row, the Slovak Hydrometeorological Institute said. The reading broke the 41.4C record set on Wednesday in K…
Mountain lions tied to 76% fewer deer crashes, study says
Mountain lions are linked to far fewer deer-vehicle crashes in parts of Washington state's Olympic Peninsula, with collisions falling by as much as 76 percent in areas the predators frequent, according to a study published Wednesday in Current Biology. Lead a…
Butterflies shift habitats as climate changes, study says
Butterfly species are moving into new areas and retreating from some traditional habitats as climate change alters conditions around the world, according to a study published Wednesday in Nature Ecology & Evolution. The study assessed more than 1,700 species…
Austria and Slovakia set all-time heat records
Austria and Slovakia set national temperature records on Wednesday as a heatwave affected central Europe, weather agencies in both countries said. GeoSphere Austria said 41.2C was recorded at Bad Deutsch-Altenburg in eastern Austria, breaking the 41C record s…
France had hottest month on record, Meteo-France says
July was France's hottest month since measurements began in 1900 and its third driest July on record, Meteo-France said Tuesday. The weather service said July surpassed earlier French heat records set during the heatwaves of August 2003 and July 2006. It said…
Royal Mint turns e-waste gold into jewellery
The Royal Mint is recovering gold from electronic waste at a plant near Cardiff in Wales and using the metal to make jewellery. Sean Millard, the Royal Mint's development director, said the plant, opened two years ago, can process around 4,000 tonnes of elect…
Guga Hunt banned this year over gannet concerns
Scotland's natural heritage agency has banned this year's Guga Hunt, a centuries-old annual hunt for gannet chicks on the remote island of Sula Sgeir, citing conservation concerns. NatureScot said the hunting group known as the Men of Ness had requested a lic…
Italy red heat alert covers most of country
Most of Italy was under a red heat alert on Monday, August 3, as another heatwave hit parts of Europe.
England and Wales record driest July, Met Office says
England and Wales had their driest July on record, the UK Met Office said, citing provisional figures after a month of extreme dryness, warmth and sunshine. The weather agency said England recorded 6.5 millimetres of rain in July, 10 percent of its usual aver…
Seoul gets first severe heatwave warning
South Korea's weather agency issued a severe heatwave warning for Seoul on Monday, the first such alert for the capital since the designation was introduced this year. The Korea Meteorological Administration said some districts in the city could face more ext…
Danube record lows strand boats across Europe
Record-low water levels on the Danube are disrupting shipping, fishing, power generation and tourism across parts of central and eastern Europe after successive heatwaves dried out the region. The river is at a 30-year low in Romania and Slovakia and at its l…
North Korea promotes dog soup as South heat deaths reach 23
North Korean state media has promoted dog meat soup and ginseng chicken broth as ways to cope with a heatwave that has pushed temperatures to 40C in the North and left 23 deaths attributed to heat in South Korea. The Korean peninsula is experiencing a record-…
World Cosplay Summit moves to November over Japan heat
The World Cosplay Summit in Nagoya will move its three-day event to November from next year because of summer heat, after participants at this year's parade faced conditions ahead of a 40C forecast for Sunday's final day. The annual Japan event draws upwards…
Italy puts 25 major cities on top heat alert
Italy will place 25 of its 27 major cities under the highest heat alert from Monday as a fresh heatwave grips the country, the health ministry said. Temperatures were forecast to reach into the high 30s Celsius on Monday. Only Reggio Calabria, at the southern…