Heating up - Soaring temperatures spark global concern

52.2 - The temperature in degrees celsius that was recorded in a remote township in China’s Xinjiang region – a new nationwide record

- Lisa O'Carroll, Angela Giuffrida and Helena Smith

• 10 The number of hectares in millions that have been burned by wildfires in Canada this year, according to its government

Europe was this week bracing for a second heat storm in a week, with Italy, Greece and Spain, along with Morocco and other Mediterranean countries, being told temperature records could be broken.

A new anticyclone pushing into the region from North Africa had the potential to lift temperatures above the record 48.8C seen in Sicily in August 2021, after the recent Cerberus heatwave.

The European Space Agency (Esa) said the week could bring the hottest temperatures ever recorded in Europe in a heatwave named Charon, after the Greek mythological boatman who ferries souls to the underworld.

Meanwhile, in a remote township in China's western Xinjiang region a nationwide temperature record of 52.2C was set as the US climate envoy, John Kerry, held meetings with his Chinese counterpart, Xie Zhenhua, in Beijing. The temperature was reached on Sunday at Sanbao township in the Turpan Depression, the China Meteorological Administration said in a statement. It broke a previous record of 50.6C, set in July 2017.

The human-caused climate crisis is supercharging extreme weather around the world, driving more frequent and more deadly disasters, from heatwaves to floods to wildfires.

The World Meteorological Organization said the planet experienced the hottest few days on record in the first few days of July, after a June that was the hottest on record according to the Esa.

A study published in Nature Medicine said more than 60,000 people died because of last year's summer heatwaves across Europe, with the highest mortality rates seen in Italy, Greece, Spain and Portugal.