Tokyo is hot in the summer. That’s why back in the 1964 Olympics they shifted events into October and the athletes enjoyed pretty much perfect temperatures.
The average was about 20C (68F). The warmest day was 23.3C (73.9F). Ideal for almost everyone.
These Games have been different in so many ways and are on track to be one of the hottest ever.
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Daily Climate Show: Hidden dangers of heatwaves
Just going for a short morning run in Tokyo, in a facemask (as most other runners do), it is energy sapping – for the athletes pushing their bodies to the absolute limits then it’s a dangerous game.
Every outdoor sport has had to adapt – the coaches and athletes have had to find the right balance between exertion and conserving energy.
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The tennis players have been particularly angry that they’ve been out in such conditions. World number one Novak Djokovic said it was “brutal”.
Organisers did move events from the most intense heat at lunchtime but it hasn’t placated the complaints.
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Djokovic said: “I’ve played tennis professionally now 20 years, and I’ve never faced these kind of conditions in my entire life on a consecutive daily basis.”
Next year’s World Cup in Qatar has already been shifted to November and December – even with air conditioned stadiums it’s still not safe to play in the searing heat of their summer.
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Daily Climate Show: Hottest Olympics yet?
These Olympic Games though will be remembered for all kinds of reasons – the heat will be just one of them.
The International Olympic Committee was desperate just to make these Games happen after all the upheaval of the pandemic, but picking a month that suits the weather makes so much sense.
They got it right in 1964 – and should think hard about it for Paris in 2024 and Los Angeles in 2028.
Sky News has launched the first daily prime time news show dedicated to climate change.
The Daily Climate Show is broadcast at 6.30pm and 9.30pm Monday to Friday on Sky News, the Sky News website and app, on YouTube and Twitter.
Hosted by Anna Jones, it follows Sky News correspondents as they investigate how global warming is changing our landscape and how we all live our lives.
The show also highlights solutions to the crisis and how small changes can make a big difference.
Almost 200 people have died and more than 125 are missing in Vietnam in the aftermath of Typhoon Yagi, according to local media.
Yagi was the strongest typhoon to hit the Southeast Asian country in decades, making landfall on Saturday with winds of up to 92mph (149kph) and causing flash floods and landslides.
Some 197 people have died and 128 are still missing, while more than 800 have been injured, according to Vietnam’s VNExpress newspaper.
Fatalities peaked earlier this week as a flash flood swept away the entire hamlet of Lang Nu in northern Vietnam’s Lao Cai province on Tuesday.
Hundreds of rescue workers mounted a search for survivors but 53 villagers remained missing on Thursday morning, VNExpress reported.
Seven more bodies were found, bringing the total number of deaths there to 42.
The flooding in the capital, Hanoi, has been reportedly the worst in two decades, and has led to widespread evacuations.
Flood waters from the Red River have receded slightly but many areas are still inundated.
People waded through muddy brown water above their knees to make their way along one street, with some still wearing their bicycle and motorcycle helmets after abandoning their vehicles along the way.
Others paddled along the road in small boats as rubbish drifted by, while one man pushed his motorbike toward drier ground in an aluminium craft.
Yagi weakened on Sunday but downpours continued and rivers remain dangerously high.
Floods and landslides have caused most of the deaths, many of which have come in the northwestern Lao Cai province, bordering China, home to the popular trekking destination of Sapa, where Lang Nu is located.
On Monday, a steel bridge collapsed in Phu Tho province over the engorged Red River, sending 10 cars and trucks along with two motorbikes into the water.
A bus carrying 20 people was swept into a flooded stream by a landslide in mountainous Cao Bang province.
Meanwhile in Thailand, at least two people were killed and hundreds stranded after heavy rains swept through two northern provinces, swelling rivers, inundating settlements and triggering mudslides, authorities said on Wednesday.
Experts say storms like Typhoon Yagi are getting stronger due to climate change, as warmer ocean waters provide more energy to fuel them, leading to higher winds and heavier rainfall.
A former model who was a finalist in the Miss Switzerland contest was allegedly murdered and “pureed” in a blender by her husband, officials in Switzerland are reported to have said.
Kristina Joksimovic, 38, was found dead in her home in Binningen, near Basel, Switzerland, in February this year.
According to local news outlet BZ Basel, a man named Thomas, 41, had an appeal for release from custody denied by the Federal Court in Lausanne on Wednesday after he reportedly confessed to killing his wife, with whom he had two children.
The outlet said he had admitted to the killing during a crime reconstruction in March, and claimed it was in self-defence after she attacked him with a knife.
BZ Basel said the ruling from the court held Ms Joksimovic was strangled to death. An autopsy report included in the ruling said Ms Joksimovic’s body was then dismembered in a laundry room with a jigsaw, knife and garden shears.
It added body parts were then chopped up with a hand blender, “pureed” and dissolved in a chemical solution.
BZ Basel also said Thomas was arrested the day after Ms Joksimovic’s body was found, and initially told investigators he had found her dead and dismembered her body in their laundry room in panic.
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Thomas, who is a Swiss national, was reportedly arrested a day after her remains were found by a “third party”, according to German language outlet Blick.
Six aid workers have been killed in Gaza after two airstrikes in Nuseirat, according to reports.
In a post on X, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine in the Near East (UNRWA) said: “Six colleagues killed today when two airstrikes hit a school and its surroundings in the middle areas.
“This is the highest death toll among our staff in a single incident.
“Among those killed was the manager of the UNRWA shelter and other team members providing assistance to displaced people.
“Sincere condolences to their families and loved ones. This school has been hit five times since the war began.
“It is home to around 12,000 displaced people, mainly women and children. No one is safe in Gaza No one is spared.
“Schools and other civilian infrastructure must be protected at all times, they are not a target.
Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in their October 7 attack on Israel that sparked the war.
They abducted another 250 and are still holding about 100, with a third believed to be dead.
There have been 340 Israeli soldiers killed since the ground operation began in Gaza in late October, at least 50 of whom have been killed in accidents within Gaza – not as a result of combat with Palestinian militants, according to the military.