- Muslim women break taboos navigating east London's waterways
- Nepal dam-building spree powers electric vehicle boom
- More than 60 dead from storm Helene as rescue, cleanup efforts grow
- Dozens missing, 9 dead in migrant boat wreck off Spanish Canaries
- Death toll from Hurricane John hits eight in Mexico
- Storm Helene's toll rises as rescue and cleanup efforts gain pace
- SpaceX launches mission to return stranded astronauts
- Storm Helene kills 44, threatens more 'catastrophic' flooding as cleanup begins
- SpaceX set to launch mission to return stranded astronauts
- Storm Helene kills 44, threatens more 'catastrophic' flooding
- Boeing strike grinds on as latest talks fail to reach agreement
- Iran 'news' sites, hackers target Trump ahead of US election
- US ports brace for potential dockworkers strike
- Japan's speedy, spotless Shinkansen bullet trains turn 60
- US hurricane deaths rise to 44, fears of more 'catastrophic' flooding
- Global stocks mostly rise, cheering Beijing stimulus
- Europe en route for Moon with new simulator, says astronaut Pesquet
- Fireworks forecast if comet survives risky Sun flypast
- Argentina judge orders dictionary to delete pejorative definition of 'Jewish'
- Global stocks rise on rate hopes, Beijing stimulus
- S.African woman turns 118, among the oldest in the world
- UK clears $4 bn AI partnership between Amazon, Anthropic
- Barca fans barred from Champions League away game over racist banner
- Chinese stocks extend surge, Europe higher on Beijing stimulus
- Pope says Church must 'seek forgiveness' for child sexual abuse
- China caps week of 'bazooka' stimulus for ailing economy with rate cut
- Cuts, cash, credit: China bids to jumpstart flagging economy
- France's debt weighs heavier ahead of budget debate
- Iran treads carefully, backing Hezbollah while avoiding war
- Return to sender: waste stranded at sea stirs toxic dispute
- 'Broken' news industry faces uncertain future
- On remote Greek island, migratory birds offer climate clues
- Taken from mother by nuns, victim seeks answers as pope visits Belgium
- China cuts amount banks hold in reserve to boost lending
- Hong Kong, Shanghai extend surge as China optimism boosts markets
- Vietnam president reiterates support for Cuba during official visit
- Drought reduces Amazon River in Colombia by as much as 90%: report
- Stay or go? Pacific Islanders face climate's grim choice
- Florida bracing for 'unsurvivable' Hurricane Helene
- Poverty rises to over 52 percent in Milei's Argentina
- Chloe's see-through look may not be for Kamala Harris
- Champagne houses abuzz over English sparkling wine
- Macron, Trudeau pledge to work for 'decarbonized' economies
- Hurricanes, storms, typhoons... Is September wetter than usual?
- China stimulus, tech optimism boost stock markets
- 'Unsurvivable' Hurricane Helene races towards Florida
- Macron meets Trudeau in Canada as both face political setbacks
- South Korea surges in UN innovation index
- Chloe's see-through look may not be for Kamala
- Floods threaten Niger's historic 'gateway to the desert'
US West and South bake under extended heat wave
Swaths of the United States home to more than 80 million people were under heat warnings or advisories Sunday, as relentless, record-breaking temperatures continued to bake western and southern states.
The National Weather Service (NWS) warned of "a widespread and oppressive heat wave" in parts of the Southwest, western Gulf Coast and southern Florida, with sizzling temperatures carrying into the coming week raising health risks for millions.
In Arizona, the state capital Phoenix recorded its 17th straight day above 109 degrees Fahrenheit (43 degrees Celsius), as temperatures hit 113F (45C) on Sunday afternoon.
The sprawling city, home to over 1.6 million people, is under an Excessive Heat Warning until Wednesday evening, according to the NWS, which said Sunday morning's low of 94F (34C) equalled its warmest low temperature on record.
"We're used to 110, 112 (degrees Fahrenheit) ... But not the streaks," Nancy Leonard, a 64-year-old retiree from the nearby suburb of Peoria, told AFP.
Leonard said that due to the intense heat she spends only a few minutes outside during the morning, to walk her dog, and then later in the evening once the sun sets.
"You just have to adapt," she said.
Volunteers around Phoenix have been organized to direct residents to cooling centers and distribute bottles of water and hats, but program head David Hondula told the local ABC station that its three-days-per-week schedule is "clearly... not enough."
In Utah's capital Salt Lake City, the temperature soared to 106F (41C) on Sunday, beating the previous record of 103F (39C) for the date.
The stationary high pressure system covering much of the US southwest, known as a heat dome, brought temperatures in some parts of Nevada and southern California to above 115F (46C).
- 'It's hell' -
By Sunday afternoon, California's famous Death Valley, one of the hottest places on Earth, had reached the near-record temperature of 126F (52C).
Tourists visited the national park to get a glimpse of what the NWS warned would be "life-threatening daytime heat" set to last until Tuesday night.
Visitor Eliana Luna told broadcaster MSNBC on Sunday the heat felt like a "burning sensation" on her body.
"The heat, you can feel it dripping through the back, all the way down," she said.
The NWS has said heat is the leading weather-related killer in the United States and urged Americans to take the risk seriously.
"In total, from South Florida and the Gulf Coast to the Southwest, over 80 million people remain under either an Excessive Heat Warning or Heat Advisory as of early this morning," the NWS said in a Sunday morning bulletin.
Authorities have been sounding the alarm for days, advising people to steer clear of outdoor activities in the daytime and to avoid dehydration, which can quickly become fatal in such temperatures.
In Miami, the NWS on Sunday issued its first-ever Excessive Heat Warning for the region, in effect until 7:00 pm, as heat and humidity mixed to create a "feels-like" temperature expected to hit 112F.
"It's hell, it's hot, it's crazy hot," Miami visitor Lola Cee told AFP along the famed Ocean Boulevard.
"I've never experienced this heat before," she added.
Residents of the sprawling Texas city of Houston have been asked to conserve electricity from 2:00 pm (1900 GMT) to 10:00 pm Saturday through Monday, in an attempt to mitigate pressure on the electricity grid.
- 'Not typical' -
Heat waves are occurring more often and more intensely in major US cities, according to the federal Environmental Protection Agency, with a frequency of six per year during the 2010s and 2020s compared to two per year during the 1960s.
"This heat wave is NOT typical desert heat," the NWS Las Vegas office tweeted Thursday, specifying that "its long duration, extreme daytime temperatures, & warm nights" were unusual.
In Canada, which is suffering from warm temperatures combined with months of below-average rainfall, the amount of land burned by devastating wildfires so far in 2023 climbed to an all-time high of 24.7 million acres (10 million hectares) on Saturday.
"We find ourselves this year with figures that are worse than our most pessimistic scenarios," Yan Boulanger, a researcher at Canada's natural resources ministry, told AFP.
On Sunday, a firefighter died while working in Canada's Northwest Territories, authorities announced, only days after a 19-year-old woman lost her life working to extinguish a fire in nearby British Columbia.
While it can be hard to attribute a particular weather event to climate change, scientists insist human-linked global warming is responsible for the multiplication and intensification of heat waves.
Flooding has also ravaged parts of the northeastern US in recent weeks.
D.Avraham--CPN