- Philippines says disputed reef 'not lost' to China despite pullout
- England's Curry 'curled up and cried' after serious injury
- TikTok battles US ban threat in court
- Glamorgan approach Hollywood's Reynolds and McElhenney over Hundred investment
- League Cup still 'significant' for Man Utd boss Ten Hag
- Brazil's farmers fret over fires and drought
- Top Biden aide says US economy at 'turning point'
- US military says withdrawal from Niger is complete
- Iran president vows to ensure morality police don't 'bother' women
- Bayern set sights on dream home Champions League final
- Toll hits 17 as Storm Boris lashes central Europe
- Hamas chief says ready for 'long war' in Gaza
- Suspect in Trump assassination attempt charged with gun crimes
- Iran's new president vows to ensure morality police don't 'bother' women
- Australia put teenage quick Beardman on standby for England ODIs
- Americans, Swiss snatch lifeline in Louis Vuitton Cup
- Stock markets mixed before Fed decision
- Trump blames Biden and Harris 'rhetoric' for assassination bids
- Ex-BBC anchor avoids jail over 'repugnant' images of children
- Brentford forward Wissa out for 'a couple of months'
- Titanic shipbuilder sinks back into trouble
- Where in the world is closest to becoming a '15-minute city'?
- Russia evacuates border villages in Kursk region
- US election in newly volatile territory after Trump alleged assassination bid
- UK PM Starmer praises Italy's Meloni for reducing illegal migration
- France probes online threats against Afghan taekwondo fighter
- Sinner hires Djokovic's ex-fitness coach after dope test row
- Swifties raise $40k in wake of Trump post hating on star
- Fear and tears as Storm Boris wrecks Czech town
- Stock markets waver before Fed decision
- Storm Boris unleashes central Europe flooding, toll hits 15
- Penpix of candidates to succeed Bach as IOC President
- Azerbaijan Grand Prix - three things we learned
- AC Milan midfielder Bennacer out for four months
- British politics and fashion collide at London Fashion Week
- French YouTuber hits peak with Everest documentary
- Athletics legend Coe vies with six rivals for IOC presidency
- Ex-BBC anchor Huw Edwards avoids jail over 'repugnant' child images
- Bellingham, Tchouameni back for Madrid's Champions League opener
- Thierry Breton: France's bulldozer at the EU crashes out
- Stock markets diverge before Fed as China woes weigh
- Shanghai cleans up after strongest storm in decades hits Chinese megacity
- French jihadist linked to Charlie Hebdo attackers goes on trial
- Bombshell as France's Breton slams door on EU commission
- African players in Europe: Wissa 22-second goal in vain
- Storm Boris unleashes central Europe flooding, toll hits 11
- Man City fight to avoid severe sanctions as 'trial of the century' begins
- UK PM Starmer meets Italy's Meloni for illegal immigration talks
- Japan celebrates historic Emmys triumph for 'Shogun'
- Van Dijk urges Liverpool to hit back after 'unacceptable' Forest loss
'Five years of fire': Romanian farms wilt in drought
Desiccated leaves crackled underfoot as Romanian farmer Iulia Blagu walked through her scorched cornfield, devastated by one of the country's worst droughts in recent years.
She took over 300 hectares (750 acres) near Urziceni in southeastern Romania from her father half a decade ago -- a baptism she describes as "five years of fire".
"For Romanian agriculture, it's not a question of if but when we will die," the 39-year-old told AFP late last month.
Holding up an ear of corn no bigger than her hand, Blagu said the drought was eating away at her harvest "like an unstoppable steamroller," forcing her for the first time to borrow money to pay her workers.
Romania is far from the only country hit by the blazing heat.
In neighbouring Hungary, almost the entire country is on alert because of the high temperatures.
At the beginning of August, dozens of Hungarian farmers led two camels through downtown Budapest to draw attention to the impact of climate change on agriculture.
Both southern and eastern Europe are faced with "persistent and recurrent drought conditions," according to the latest situation report by the European Union.
The EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service has warned that it is "increasingly likely" 2024 will be the Earth's hottest year on record.
- 'At God's mercy' -
In Romania, farmers have been promised compensation for the two million hectares of farmland which the government estimates have been damaged.
But one farmer told AFP that agriculture has become "a lottery," and he feels "at God's mercy".
In hundreds of villages, wells have run dry and water restrictions imposed, while lakes are disappearing.
Orthodox priests have even gone into fields of cracked soil to pray for rain, while in another community, work has begun to dig the ground to try to revive springs.
But with a nearby lake at risk of drying out, villager Marian Florea felt glum about the future.
"The climate has changed. And nothing good is coming," the construction worker, 53, told AFP.
"By the autumn, if this drought continues, there'll be nothing left here."
Meanwhile, farmers like Blagu are trying to adjust to the conditions.
She won't sow corn -- once the most profitable crop in the region -- any more next year.
Instead, she has begun testing sorghum, a more heat-resistant grain native to Africa, and is also looking into planting coriander and chickpeas besides her wheat, sunflowers and other crops.
- 'Romanian Sahara' -
Further south, close to the Danube, a 100,000-hectare area of sandy soil nicknamed the "Romanian Sahara" has become a testing ground for alternative crops.
The country is losing 1,000 hectares of arable land every year to climate change, according to Romania's environment minister Mircea Fechet, who fears that in 50 years the south could end up "completely desertified".
Since 1959, a research station set up to try to "make the sands bear fruit" has been providing expertise and seeds to farmers.
With scientists warning that climate change caused by human greenhouse gas emissions is driving an increase in extreme weather, its mission has become more crucial than ever.
"Climate change is forcing us to come up with new things, to try other species," the station's head, Aurelia Diaconu, told AFP.
Among those grown at the station are persimmons, dates, kiwi and pistachios, species that "some time ago we did not even think that we would taste from our fields," she said.
But all of the crops tested there are irrigated -- something few Romanian farmers currently have access to.
Of the country's nine million hectares of arable land, less than two million hectares have irrigation -- Blagu's parched cornfields among them.
"Without water we can't do anything," she sighed.
Y.Bouchard--BTB