![\"As](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/5716.jpg\")
As Paris remains under a red heatwave alert, tourists and residents are gathering at the Trocad\u00e9ro fountains to seek relief from the extreme temperatures. Photograph: Jeanne Accorsini\/SIPA\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n
She worried that the situation could get worse as the heatwave continues.<\/p>\n
In comments reported by Le Figaro,<\/a> she said that two-thirds of the drownings took place at unsupervised or unauthorised swimming areas.<\/p>\n 61 French departments remain under the highest red extreme heat alert today.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Key events<\/p>\n Extreme heat emerging as ‘structural economic risk’ for Europe, experts say Business reporter<\/p>\n The latest heatwave to grip the UK and much of western Europe has presented significant challenges to employers and their employees<\/a>, from sweltering offices, disrupted commutes and school closures to dangerous construction sites where workers are at risk of dehydration, heatstroke and other injury.<\/p>\n A construction worker feels the heat in Turin, Italy. Photograph: Tino Romano\/EPA<\/p>\n There is now a growing acceptance that increasing spells of extreme heat have a significant impact on productivity and threaten Europe\u2019s already sluggish economies. Economists warn that the climate crisis will dent economic growth unless European countries adapt their ageing buildings and infrastructure.<\/p>\n Robert Marks, the lead climate economist at Oxford Economics<\/a>, said temperatures in the high 30s and low 40s would \u201clikely lead to substantial productivity losses and directly disrupt labour across construction, agriculture, manufacturing, retail and hospitality and other sectors which are unable to provide a protected work environment\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThese sectors represent 27% of economic activity in the UK and an average of 35% in western Europe,\u201d he said. As a result, a four-day heatwave \u201ccould reduce quarterly labour productivity growth by 1.5 percentage points in the UK and up to two percentage points in the rest of western Europe\u201d.<\/p>\n The largest loss of working hours in western, northern and southern Europe by 2030 is expected to be felt by the agriculture and construction sectors, according to research by the International Labour Office.<\/p>\n Researchers at the insurance group Allianz<\/a> found extreme heat was emerging as a \u201cstructural economic risk\u201d for Europe. They found France, Spain and Italy were among the European economies most exposed to the growing economic cost of heat stress (the UK was not included in the study). This was because productivity losses intensify sharply above a 30C threshold, while at the same time the cost of energy required to cool machinery and buildings rises.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Electronic music festival Defqon.1 in the Netherlands has been cancelled for the rest of the weekend due to the red extreme heat alert issued in the country.<\/p>\n Festival Defqon. 1 has ended prematurely due tp extreme heat warning in Biddinghuizen, the Netherlands. Photograph: Michel van Bergen\/EPA<\/p>\n The organisers said in a statement<\/a>:<\/p>\n \u201cThis is the first time the Netherlands has ever issued a code red warning because of high temperatures. Together with the authorities, we are therefore forced to cancel the remaining days of Defqon.1.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a>55 people drowned in France since the start of the heatwave, minister says<\/p>\n Over in France<\/a>, the number of people who drowned during this heatwave has gone up to 55, sports minister Marina Ferrari told Franceinfo.<\/p>\n As Paris remains under a red heatwave alert, tourists and residents are gathering at the Trocad\u00e9ro fountains to seek relief from the extreme temperatures. Photograph: Jeanne Accorsini\/SIPA\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n She worried that the situation could get worse as the heatwave continues.<\/p>\n In comments reported by Le Figaro,<\/a> she said that two-thirds of the drownings took place at unsupervised or unauthorised swimming areas.<\/p>\n 61 French departments remain under the highest red extreme heat alert today.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n As the heatwave begins its march eastwards, we are expecting to see more extreme temperatures in Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and parts of central Europe<\/a> today.<\/p>\n Frankfurt is expected to see 39C today, Amsterdam and Bologna 37C, Brussels and Geneva 36C, Prague and Zurich 35C, and London and Zagreb 34C.<\/p>\n A person seeks relief from high temperatures during a heatwave in Bologna. Photograph: Silvia Casadei\/Jna Press\/Nexpher\/ZUMA Press Wire\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n In central Europe, the temperatures will peak over the weekend, with authorities expecting temperatures near 40C in Berlin on Saturday, and in Prague and Warsaw on Sunday.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a003.21 EDT<\/p>\n Human-made climate change ‘unequivocally’ responsible for heatwave, scientists say<\/p>\n Scientists said in a study released Friday that human-made climate change was \u201cunequivocally\u201d responsible for the heat that broke records in Britain, France<\/a>, Spain and Switzerland, while the Netherlands issued its first-ever red alert over heat, AFP reported.<\/p>\n Pedestrians use umbrellas for shade while walking through Orvieto, Umbria, Italy. Photograph: Michael Nguyen\/NurPhoto\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n It would have been \u201cvirtually impossible\u201d for such exceptional temperatures to occur in June fifty years ago, the World Weather Attribution group of scientists said.<\/p>\n A similar heatwave would have been 3.5C cooler during the day in June 1976, concluded the study by scientists from Europe<\/a>, the United States and the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n But the world is hotter today and \u201cthe chance of a heatwave like this has changed immensely\u201d, said the study\u2019s lead author Theodore Keeping from Imperial College London.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a004.06 EDT<\/p>\n Welcome<\/p>\n The UK Met Office has extended a red heat alert into Friday for a large area of south-east England, the first time such warnings have been issued for three days in a row.<\/p>\n The red warning is in place until 9pm for London, Oxfordshire, Bedfordshire, Hampshire and Kent. Amber heat warnings are in place for a wider area on Friday, and are running into Saturday for parts of east and south-east England.<\/p>\n On Friday, swathes of Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland face yellow warnings for thunderstorms.<\/p>\n A weather warning for thunderstorms and heavy rain is in place across Scotland for the entirety of Friday, following days of baking temperatures. Temperatures reached 31.2C at Threave in Dumfries and Galloway on Thursday, according to Met Office data.<\/p>\n However, the weather is set to change dramatically as rainier conditions sweep in from the north-west. The Scottish Environment Protection Agency has issued flood alerts for every area of Scotland other than Shetland.<\/p>\n In Europe, France is braced for more stifling heat. From noon, Paris will begin a ban on drinking alcohol in public for certain times of the day. You can read more about that here<\/a>. The ban also covers takeaway alcohol sales in Paris. Police said the ban was necessary as hospitals were overwhelmed and had reached \u2018\u201csaturation point\u201d. At least 48 people have died in France from drowning since the start of the heatwave.<\/p>\n Germany, Austria, Italy and Czechia face a torrid few days as temperatures are forecast to soar further east and south.<\/p>\n A woman in Berlin soaks a piece of clothing in a water sprinkler. Photograph: Ralf Hirschberger\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n The London ambulance service (LAS) said it had responded to its highest number of life-threatening emergencies ever on Wednesday. Chief operating officer Craig Harman said they expect \u201cdemand to grow day on day over the next couple of days\u201d.<\/p>\n Harman urged people to drink responsibly, as football fans prepare to cheer for England during Saturday\u2019s World Cup game against Panama. He advised people to drink \u201cplenty of water\u201d in between alcoholic beverages.<\/p>\n LAS saw a 50% increase in life-threatening emergency calls compared with a typical Wednesday in June, with the number of cardiac arrests up 30%.<\/p>\n In Paris, cardiac arrest callouts in were up fourfold, officials said on Thursday.<\/p>\n Italian news reports said five people died on Wednesday from heat-related incidents.<\/p>\n![\"Joanna](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Joanna_Partridge,_L.png\")
Joanna Partridge<\/p>\n