France Braces for Record Temperatures

Philippe Huguen, AFP | France braces for another heatwave weeks after the mercury touched record levels in southern France.
Philippe Huguen, AFP | France braces for another heatwave weeks after the mercury touched record levels in southern France.
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France Braces for Record Temperatures

Philippe Huguen, AFP | France braces for another heatwave weeks after the mercury touched record levels in southern France.
Philippe Huguen, AFP | France braces for another heatwave weeks after the mercury touched record levels in southern France.

France was bracing Monday for the peak of the heatwave gripping the country, with crushing temperatures expected from the Mediterranean as far up as Brittany in the northwest.

Forecasters have put 15 departments across the country on the highest state of alert for extreme temperatures, including Gironde in the southwest where forest fires have already wrought havoc, AFP said.

In the Landes forest, in the southwest Aquitaine region, temperatures "will be above 42 degrees Celsius" (107 Fahrenheit) said forecaster Olivier Proust.

And Brittany, which until recently has escaped the worst of the heat, could register temperatures as high as 40 degrees Celsius, (104 Fahrenheit), say experts, which would be a record for the region.

The increasing number of extreme weather events is the direct consequence of global warming, as greenhouse gases increase their intensity, length and frequency, say scientists.

The intense heatwave has already caused multiple forest fires in France and elsewhere, and some farmers have taken to working at night to minimize the risk of a spark from their harvesting equipment starting a fire that destroys their crops.

By late Sunday, the fires in Gironde, which have been raging since Tuesday, had already destroyed 13,000 hectares (32,000 acres), driven by high winds and forcing the evacuation of 16,200 holidaymakers, fire service officials said.

- 'Red alert' heat warnings -
The blaze at the Teste-de-Buch forest in southwestern France has arrived at the beach and was moving south, said the local prefecture. Video shot by people at the scene showed the massive fire consuming the beach at La Lagune, near the famous the Dune of Pilat -- Europe's tallest sand dune.

France's interior ministry announced it was sending three more firefighting aircraft to reinforce the six already operating in the region as well as 200 more firefighters and more equipment.

But the crews fighting the blaze will have to contend with soaring temperatures Monday. It is one of the regions on a "red alert" heatwave warning.

"In certain zones in the southwest, it will be an apocalypse of heat," forecaster Francois Gourand of Meteo-France told AFP.

Temperatures across France are expected to be over 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit) but between 38 and 40 degrees in the western half of the country.

Officials in several regions meanwhile, have also issued pollution alerts because of the high concentrations of ozone.

The heatwave is gripping much of western Europe, with high temperatures and forest fires in Spain and Portugal.

Britain's Met Office has issued a first-ever "red" warning for extreme heat, cautioning there is a "risk to life" and attributing the heatwave to man-made climate change.



Pope Had a Peaceful Night After Pneumonia Diagnosis, Vatican Says

People walk outside the Gemelli Hospital, where Pope Francis is admitted to continue treatment for a respiratory tract infection, in Rome, Italy, February 18, 2025. (Reuters)
People walk outside the Gemelli Hospital, where Pope Francis is admitted to continue treatment for a respiratory tract infection, in Rome, Italy, February 18, 2025. (Reuters)
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Pope Had a Peaceful Night After Pneumonia Diagnosis, Vatican Says

People walk outside the Gemelli Hospital, where Pope Francis is admitted to continue treatment for a respiratory tract infection, in Rome, Italy, February 18, 2025. (Reuters)
People walk outside the Gemelli Hospital, where Pope Francis is admitted to continue treatment for a respiratory tract infection, in Rome, Italy, February 18, 2025. (Reuters)

Pope Francis spent a peaceful fifth night in hospital and ate breakfast on Wednesday, the Vatican said in its latest update on the pontiff's fragile health.

Francis has the onset of double pneumonia, the Vatican said on Tuesday, complicating treatment for the 88-year-old pope who was admitted to Rome's Gemelli hospital on February 14.

Double pneumonia is a serious infection that can inflame and scar both lungs and makes breathing more difficult.

The Vatican had said previously that the pope had a polymicrobial infection, which occurs when two or more micro-organisms are involved, adding that he would stay in hospital as long as necessary to tackle a "complex clinical situation".

The pope has been plagued by ill health in recent years, including regular bouts of flu, sciatica nerve pain and an abdominal hernia that required surgery in 2023. As a young adult he developed pleurisy and had part of one lung removed.

All the pope's public engagements have been cancelled through Sunday and he has no further official events on the Vatican's published calendar.