Deadly heat waves fueled by climate change hit four continents

Record temperatures already reached in recent days are suspected to have caused hundreds if not thousands of deaths across Asia and Europe.

 

In Saudi Arabia, nearly two million Muslim pilgrims are finishing the haj at the Grand Mosque in Mecca this week. But hundreds have died during the journey amid temperatures above 51 C (124 F), according to reports from foreign authorities. ...

 

Countries around the Mediterranean have also endured another week of blistering high temperatures that have contributed to forest fires from Portugal to Greece and along the northern coast of Africa in Algeria, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Earth Observatory.

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