Europe is set to reach even higher temperatures over the weekend, as the Cerberus heatwave continues to grip the south of the continent.
Temperatures are expected to continue to swelter in Italy, with a second heatwave expected to rocket 12C (53.6F) above average in some areas on Sunday.
Five cities in Sicily, Sardinia and Puglia have issued fresh warnings for individuals to avoid being out in the midday heat after the Italian health ministry issued the same warning in another 10 cities from Bologna to Rome on Friday.
Image: The Acropolis was temporarily closed for a few hours on Friday. Pic: AP
Image: But it later reopened to visitors
A similar “red alert” was issued in Cyprus, appealing for the public to take extra care and avoid using any machinery that could spark fires.
In the capital Nicosia, more than two dozen elderly people sought refuge at a dedicated heat shelter the municipality reserves for summer heatwaves.
Temperatures are expected to hit a midday high of 43C (110F) on Saturday, and are not expected to go below 27C (77F) even through the night, while humidity will hit 65% along the coast.
It follows temperatures of above 40C (104F) in Greece, which left tourists disgruntled after the temporary closure of the Acropolis in Athens.
Image: A boy cools himself in a fountain in Greece. Pic: AP
Staff from charity the Red Cross handed out bottled water to dehydrated tourists waiting in long lines hoping to beat the Acropolis’ 12-5pm local time closure, but some were left disappointed at the last-minute announcement by authorities.
“I even bought a €50 ticket to skip the line to enter and I couldn’t enter the place,” Hector from Mexico said on Friday.
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Will Europe heatwave get worse?
In Spain, people packed the beaches on Friday as the country enjoyed a short-lived respite from its second heatwave of the summer.
Temperatures were still expected to reach 40C in at least 12 of Spain’s 17 regions, after a high of 45C scorched the southeastern town of Albox on Wednesday.
Spain’s Aemet state weather agency said another heatwave is expected to start on Sunday with highest temperatures yet to come.
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How is Greece tackling Cerberus?
Spanish coastal areas like Las Palmas, Tenerife and Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands were at high risk of forest fires on Friday.
A map created by Sky News, adapted from Copernicus Emergency Management Service data, showed most coastal regions at “moderate” or “high” risk of forest fires.
Image: A volunteer gives water to a visitor near the Acropolis hill. Pic: AP
Meanwhile, inland areas painted a different picture – with much of the centre of the map under “very high”, “extreme” or “highly extreme” risk of blazes.
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How the heatwave is impacting Greece
People in Croatia found creative ways of staying cool, using mud to protect themselves from the glaring heat as the country reached 30-37C (86F).
“It [mud] is definitely better than sun screen, I think protection factor is much better,” said Josef, a Slovakian tourist visiting the coastal town of Nin.
Image: Beachgoers covered with mud in Nin
People in Rome and Greece looking for ways to cool down used numerous fountains.
Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg weighed in on the high temperatures in a post on Twitter, saying global heat records should serve as an urgent wake-up call.
“Last week we experienced the hottest days ever recorded, many days in a row. We are also experiencing record high sea level temperatures and record low ice levels. This is an emergency,” she said.
Image: Salvation Army volunteer in Phoenix, US
Away from Europe, dangerous heatwaves are also being seen in the US, with more than a third of Americans put under extreme heat advisories, watches and warnings on Thursday.
Phoenix hit 43C (109F) for the 14th consecutive day, putting it on track for a possible new record next week.
At least three people have been killed after a “horrific incident” at a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department training facility, officials have said.
A spokesperson for the department said there was an explosion at the Biscailuz Center Academy Training in east LA.
The incident was reported at around 7.30am local time (3.30pm UK time).
Aerial footage from local channel KABC-TV suggests the blast happened in a parking lot filled with sheriff patrol cars and box trucks.
Image: The training centre in east LA. Pic: NBC Los Angeles
Attorney general Pam Bondi wrote on X: “I just spoke to @USAttyEssayli about what appears to be a horrific incident that killed at least three at a law enforcement training facility in Los Angeles.
“Our federal agents are at the scene and we are working to learn more.”
Californiacongressman Jimmy Sanchez said the explosion had “claimed the lives of at least three deputies”.
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“My condolences to the families and everyone impacted by this loss,” he said.
Image: Media and law enforcement officials near the explosion site. Pic: AP
The attorney general said in a follow-up post that agents from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are “on the ground to support”.
The mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass, said the LAPD bomb squad has also responded to the scene.
“The thoughts of all Angelenos are with all of those impacted by this blast,” she said.
California Governor Gavin Newsom has been briefed on the incident, his press office said in a post on X.
“The Governor’s Office of Emergency Services is in contact with the Sheriff’s Department and closely monitoring the situation, and has offered full state assistance,” it added.
The cause of the explosion is being investigated.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.
Dozens of Russian spies have been sanctioned by the government – including those responsible for targeting Yulia Skripal five years before her attempted murder in Salisbury.
The Foreign Office has announced that three units of the Russian military intelligence agency (GRU) have been hit with sanctions, alongside 18 military intelligence officers.
GRU officers attempted to murder Yulia Skipal and her father Sergei using the deadly Novichok nerve agent in Salisbury.
The 18 military intelligence officers have been targeted because of a sustained campaign of malicious cyber activity over many years, including in the UK, the Foreign Office said.
The government also accused the GRU of using cyber and information operations to “sow chaos, division and disorder in Ukraine and across the world”.
One of the groups sanctioned, Unit 26165, conducted online reconnaissance to help target missile strikes against Mariupol, including the bombing of Mariupol Theatre where hundreds of civilians, including children, were murdered.
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Image: ALEKSEY VIKTOROVICH LUKASHEV
Pic – FBI
Other military officers who have been sanctioned previously targeted Yulia Skripal’s mobile phone with malicious malware known as X-Agent.
The Skripals had moved to the UK after Sergei Skripal became a double agent, secretly working for the UK. He was tried for high treason and imprisoned in Russia – and later exchanged in a spy swap.
But five years after Yulia’s phone was targeted, the pair were poisoned with the nerve agent, Novichok, in Salisbury. Russia has always denied being involved in the chemical attack.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy said: “GRU spies are running a campaign to destabilise Europe, undermine Ukraine’s sovereignty and threaten the safety of British citizens,” Foreign Secretary David Lammy said.
“The Kremlin should be in no doubt: we see what they are trying to do in the shadows and we won’t tolerate it.”
He said the UK was taking “decisive action” with the sanctions against Russian spies.
“Putin’s hybrid threats and aggression will never break our resolve. The UK and our allies’ support for Ukraine and Europe’s security is ironclad.”
Antarctica’s oldest ice has arrived in the UK for analysis which scientists hope will reveal more about Earth’s climate shifts.
The ice was retrieved from depths of up to 2,800 metres at Little Dome C in East Antarctica as part of an international effort to “unlock the deepest secrets of Antarctica’s ice”.
The ice cores – cylindrical tubes of ancient ice – will be analysed at the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) in Cambridge, with the ultimate goal of reconstructing up to 1.5 million years of Earth’s climatehistory, significantly extending the current ice core record of 800,000 years.
The research is also expected to offer valuable context for predicting future climate change, Dr Liz Thomas, head of the ice cores team at the British Antarctic Survey, said.
Over the next few years, the samples will be analysed by different labs across Europe to gain understanding of Earth’s climate evolution and greenhouse gas concentrations.
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Dr Thomas said: “It’s incredibly exciting to be part of this international effort to unlock the deepest secrets of Antarctica’s ice.
“The project is driven by a central scientific question: why did the planet’s climate cycle shift roughly one million years ago from a 41,000-year to a 100,000-year phasing of glacial-interglacial cycles?
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“By extending the ice core record beyond this turning point, researchers hope to improve predictions of how Earth’s climate may respond to future greenhouse gas increases.”
The ice was extracted as part of the Beyond EPICA – Oldest Ice project, which is funded by the European Commission and brings together researchers from 10 European countries and 12 institutions.
“Our data will yield the first continuous reconstructions of key environmental indicators-including atmospheric temperatures, wind patterns, sea ice extent, and marine productivity-spanning the past 1.5 million years,” Dr Thomas said.
“This unprecedented ice core dataset will provide vital insights into the link between atmospheric CO₂ levels and climate during a previously uncharted period in Earth’s history, offering valuable context for predicting future climate change.”