- White Sox heading for worst season in MLB history
- China the top challenge in US history: senior diplomat
- Hong Kong democracy tycoon's son warns time running out
- New migraine drugs no better than cheap painkillers: big study
- Sean 'Diddy' Combs again denied bail in sex trafficking case
- Brewers clinch division title as MLB playoff race heats up
- Man City blunted by 'giant' Inter in Champions League stalemate
- US stocks dip despite larger Fed interest rate cut
- Man City held by Inter as PSG pinch win in Champions League
- All Blacks recall Beauden Barrett for Australia Test
- Fears of all-out war as new Lebanon device blasts kill 20, wound 450
- Spurs late show saves Postecoglou blushes at Coventry
- PSG snatch late goal to beat Champions League debutants Girona
- Gittens' late double gives Dortmund Champions League win at Brugge
- Man City blunted by Inter in Champions League stalemate
- Hidden talent: French Olympic star Marchand opts for disguise
- MrBeast named in California lawsuit over 'Beast Games' show
- Gauff splits with Gilbert as coach after 14-month run
- Hundreds of thousands at risk in Sudan's El-Fasher: UN
- Harvey Weinstein pleads not guilty to new sex crime charge
- Venezuelan opposition candidate says letter conceding election was coerced
- Ukraine official claims Russian advance in Kursk has been 'stopped'
- X update allows app to bypass Brazil ban: internet providers
- Fears of all-out war as new Lebanon device blasts kill 14, wound 450
- US Fed makes aggressive rate cut, weeks before election
- Arsenal's Odegaard faces lengthy injury absence
- India coal expansion risks massive methane growth: report
- China the top challenge in US history, top diplomat says
- US Fed makes larger half-point cut in first reduction since 2020
- Ronaldo's Al Nassr appoint former AC Milan boss Pioli
- Ainslie 'relieved' as British book place in Louis Vuitton Cup final
- Struggling Roma replace sacked icon De Rossi with Ivan Juric
- Women's NBA will add 15th team in Portland in 2026
- Brazil fires need harsher punishment: environmental police boss
- Boeing to start large temporary furloughs amid Seattle strike
- Fears of all-out war as new Lebanon device blasts kill nine, wound 300
- 'Emergency' declared over falling UK butterfly numbers
- McIlroy outlines threats to golf peace deal
- Stock markets, dollar slip before US rate decision
- Russian advance in Kursk 'stopped': Ukraine official to AFP
- UN members demand end to 'unlawful' Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories
- Snapchat pushes 'safer' platform image, but not everyone agrees
- Three dead, 100 wounded in new wave of Lebanon device explosions
- So where does the oceans' plastic waste come from?
- Allied war heroes buried in Netherlands... 80 years on
- Marsh coy over Australia's choice to open alongside Head
- New London sculpture pays tribute to trans community
- Lebanon doctors tell of horror after pager blasts
- McIlroy eyes Wentworth glory after Irish Open collapse
- Italy seen overtaking France as world's largest wine producer
RBGPF | 5.79% | 60.5 | $ | |
BCC | 1.33% | 137.06 | $ | |
JRI | 0.45% | 13.44 | $ | |
BCE | 3.09% | 35.61 | $ | |
CMSC | 0.02% | 25.055 | $ | |
NGG | -0.46% | 70.05 | $ | |
SCS | 0.71% | 14.11 | $ | |
CMSD | -0.12% | 24.98 | $ | |
RIO | -0.02% | 62.91 | $ | |
RELX | -0.82% | 47.37 | $ | |
RYCEF | 1.37% | 6.55 | $ | |
GSK | -0.31% | 42.43 | $ | |
VOD | 0.49% | 10.23 | $ | |
BTI | -0.34% | 37.88 | $ | |
AZN | 0.06% | 78.58 | $ | |
BP | -0.37% | 32.43 | $ |
Record temperatures in Shanghai as heatwave bakes China
Shanghai roasted under some of its hottest temperatures ever recorded on Wednesday as a searing heatwave in China triggered a flurry of weather alerts and strained the farming and energy sectors.
Swathes of the northern hemisphere have sweltered under extreme heat this week, with France and Britain set to endure soaring temperatures on Wednesday as firefighters in western Europe battle forest blazes.
China has also suffered extreme weather this summer, with record floods last month forcing hundreds of thousands of people out of their homes while other regions have simmered in road-buckling heat.
Scientists say that heatwaves have become more frequent due to climate change, and will likely become longer and more intense as global temperatures continue to rise.
At a central Shanghai weather station on Wednesday, the mercury climbed to 40.9 degrees Celsius (105.6 Fahrenheit) by 2:30 pm, the official news site of the national meteorological service reported.
The figure "matched the record highest air temperature in the local area since records began in 1873," the article said.
Social media users bemoaned the stifling weather, with one user on the popular Weibo platform saying they "felt like meat on a barbecue when I went for my Covid test just now."
"Maybe it'll burn off all the virus," another commented.
Photos on social media showed health workers in Shanghai sitting or lying on blocks of ice to cool down as they carried out a mass testing drive aimed at stemming a rise in Covid-19 cases.
The economic hub experienced a gruelling virus lockdown earlier this year that confined most of its 25 million residents to their homes for around two months.
A spate of heat warnings were in place across eastern and southern China on Wednesday as authorities warned that temperatures could hit 42C in certain areas.
Some media outlets reported heat-related deaths.
Authorities have also warned of potential damage to agriculture, saying Monday that the heat was "not conducive" for the growth or harvest of rice, corn, cotton and other crops.
Electricity consumption has hit records in several parts of the country as people and businesses have cranked up air conditioners to stay cool, Bloomberg News reported.
China is no stranger to hot summers, but this year is shaping up to be a scorcher even by the country's standards.
Authorities in seven provinces last month warned millions of residents not to go outdoors as temperatures edged towards 40C, as state media showed footage of roads that had cracked under extreme heat.
At the same time, multiple places across the south chalked up record rainfall and flood levels after the National Climate Centre forecast "relatively worse" and "more extreme" deluges than previous years.
C.Meier--BTB