AP
Paris
The UK and France are bracing for the fifth heat wave of the season, adding to an intense stretch of hot weather that has repeatedly sent temperatures soaring across Europe since May.
National weather agency Meteo-France is warning about temperatures approaching 40 degrees Celsius from Tuesday onward in southeastern France.
And in the UK, an amber heat health alert for most of England will be in place beginning Tuesday as temperatures are forecast to climb to 36 degrees Celsius later this week.
Indonesia intensified efforts Monday to combat a growing number of wildfires across the archipelago.
, deploying helicopters, thousands of firefighters and disaster personnel as blazes spread through a popular national park in East Java and peatlands on Sumatra and Borneo islands during an unusually dry season, officials said.
Scores of firefighters, backed by 43 helicopters, have been deployed to battle wildfires that have burned more than 107,000 hectares (264,000 acres) of forests and other land across the Southeast Asian nation as of Monday, said Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Djamari Chaniago.
Across Europe, the extreme heat began in May and has contributed to major wildfires, prolonged drought and new national temperature records, as well as thousands of projected heat-related deaths.
In Western Europe, meanwhile, the average temperature record for the June-July period hit 21.62 degrees Celsius, Copernicus said, toppling the 2022 record.
In France alone, heat wave alerts were issued for the first time on record in May, when more than half the country recorded new monthly temperature highs. The heat intensified in June, a period during which at least 5,700 more deaths than usual were recorded, according to France’s public health agency.
