World
UK Braces for Record-Breaking 40°C as Heat Wave Peaks
Temperatures in the UK are set to hit a record Tuesday as a heat wave disrupts travel, business and schools, and poses a risk to lives across the country.
The temperature will most likely exceed 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) across eastern England, breaking the previous record of 38.7°C set at the Cambridge Botanic Garden on July 25, 2019, according to the Met Office. That follows the warmest night on record, when temperatures didn’t fall below 25°C in parts of the country.
Increasingly frequent and intense heat waves are the direct result of climate change, and temperatures this extreme are set to become more common as the world continues to burn fossil fuels. Brutal conditions have already struck India, the U.S. and western Europe this year but represent a particular challenge for regions unaccustomed to scorching temperatures.
The UK Is Set for More 40C Days
Emissions are raising the chances of more extreme heat waves
Daily life has been disrupted across usually temperate Britain. Trains have been delayed or canceled, schools have closed early, and workers have been stranded at home.
The UK’s Met Office issued its first ever red emergency warning for extreme heat for Monday and Tuesday, warning of the potential for power outages, road closures and even loss of life. It has also extended its most severe warning for the risk of fires over most of England Tuesday.
The worst impacts of the intense conditions — which rolled into the UK after causing widespread forest fires in Spain and Portugal — may not be tallied until later. A succession of heat waves in 2020 led to 2,556 excess deaths, according to Public Health England.
The Met Office recommended closing curtains to keep rooms cooler, and to drink plenty of water. The risk of wild fires remains very high for large parts of England, according to the Copernicus Emergency Management Service.
Travel Disruption
Railways can start to buckle at certain heat thresholds, requiring trains to run at slower speeds or not at all. It can also become impossible to do maintenance on equipment when the temperature is too high.
Transport for London told people not to travel and suffered severe delays due to heat-related restrictions on a number of lines of the London Tube, including the Central and District lines. The Hammersmith & City line was suspended entirely because of heat.
Service was suspended on London North Eastern Railway from London King’s Cross station to Leeds and York. Southern Rail also reduced service and warned customers not to travel unless it’s absolutely necessary.
Thameslink and Greater Northern trains out of London, including those serving Luton airport were canceled Tuesday morning. Thameslink and Gatwick Express services are also not running to Gatwick airport.
Temperatures should start to ease later Tuesday as cooler weather moves in from the west. The biggest relief should come Wednesday evening when temperatures drop to the low 20s Celsius — around average for the season.
World
Former US President Bill Clinton hospitalised with fever
Bill Clinton, the former US president who has faced a series of health issues over the years, was admitted to hospital Monday in Washington after developing a fever, his office said.
“President Clinton was admitted to Georgetown University Medical Center this afternoon for testing and observation after developing a fever,” the 78-year-old’s deputy chief of staff Angel Urena said on social media platform X, adding Clinton “remains in good spirits.”
Bill Clinton was previously hospitalized for five nights in October 2021 due to a blood infection.
In 2004, at age 58, he underwent a quadruple bypass operation after doctors found signs of extensive heart disease. He had stents implanted in his coronary artery six years later.
The health scare motivated him to make lifestyle changes, including adopting a vegetarian diet, and he has since spoken publicly about his efforts.
Clinton’s health last made headlines in November 2022 when he tested positive for Covid-19. He said at the time that his symptoms were “mild” and he was “grateful to be vaccinated and boosted.”
Clinton, who led the United States for two presidential terms from 1993-2001, is the second-youngest living US president, after 63-year-old Barack Obama.
He was born mere months after fellow former US president George W. Bush and President-elect Donald Trump.
Though his prosperous time in office was marred by scandals, he has enjoyed a second life in the two decades after his presidency, which has seen him venture into numerous diplomatic and humanitarian causes.
World
Trump dismisses claims of handing presidency to Musk as ‘hoax’
Could Elon Musk, who holds major sway in the incoming Trump administration, one day become president? On Sunday, Donald Trump answered with a resounding no, pointing to US rules about being born in the country.
“He’s not gonna be president, that I can tell you,” Trump told a Republican conference in Phoenix, Arizona.
“You know why he can’t be? He wasn’t born in this country,” Trump said of the Tesla and SpaceX boss, who was born in South Africa.
The US Constitution requires that a president be a natural-born US citizen.
Trump was responding to criticism, particularly from the Democratic camp, portraying the tech billionaire and world’s richest person as “President Musk” for the outsized role he is playing in the incoming administration.
As per ceding the presidency to Musk, Trump also assured the crowd: “No, no that’s not happening.”
The influence of Musk, who will serve as Trump’s “efficiency czar,” has become a focus point for Democratic attacks, with questions raised over how an unelected citizen can wield so much power.
And there is even growing anger among Republicans after Musk trashed a government funding proposal this week in a blizzard of posts — many of them wildly inaccurate — to his more than 200 million followers on his social media platform X.
Alongside Trump, Musk ultimately helped pressure Republicans to renege on a funding bill they had painstakingly agreed upon with Democrats, pushing the United States to the brink of budgetary paralysis that would have resulted in a government shutdown just days before Christmas.
Congress ultimately reached an agreement overnight Friday to Saturday, avoiding massive halts to government services.
World
Seven confirmed dead in Western Mexico plane crash
At least seven people died when a light aircraft crashed Sunday in a heavily forested area of Jalisco in western Mexico, local authorities reported.
The aircraft, a Cessna 207, was flying from La Parota in the neighbouring state of Michoacan.
Jalisco Civil Protection said via its social media that the crash site was in an area that was difficult to access.
Initial authorities on the scene “reported a preliminary count of seven people dead,” who haven’t been identified yet, according to the agency.
“A fire was extinguished and risk mitigation was carried out to prevent possible additional damage,” it added.
Authorities said they were awaiting the arrival of forensic investigators to remove the bodies and rule out the presence of additional victims.
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