World Breaks Hottest-Day Record for Third Time This Week, Says US Agency

Members of the public relax on the beach in hot weather in Cleethorpes, north east England on July 7, 2023 (AFP)
Members of the public relax on the beach in hot weather in Cleethorpes, north east England on July 7, 2023 (AFP)
TT
20

World Breaks Hottest-Day Record for Third Time This Week, Says US Agency

Members of the public relax on the beach in hot weather in Cleethorpes, north east England on July 7, 2023 (AFP)
Members of the public relax on the beach in hot weather in Cleethorpes, north east England on July 7, 2023 (AFP)

The world recorded its hottest day ever on Thursday, breaking previous highs set on Monday and Tuesday as global average temperatures continue to climb, according to data from the US National Centers on Environmental Prediction.

The global average temperature hit 17.23 degrees Celsius (63.01 Fahrenheit) on Thursday, according to the government agency.

The record comes days after intense heatwaves in the United States and China, while another killed more than 100 people in Mexico, as temperatures soar globally.

On Thursday, the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service said June was the hottest month ever, smashing the previous June record in 2019 by a substantial margin.

"Such records are the predictable consequence of a short-term El Nino temperature boost coming on top of the long-term global warming trend due to mankind's greenhouse gas emissions," said Robert Rohde, lead scientist for climate science nonprofit Berkeley Earth, on Twitter.

The El Nino weather pattern emerged this year, bringing warm sea surface temperatures in the eastern and central Pacific Ocean.

After the previous daily high from August 2016 was first broken on Monday, several scientists predicted more record-setting days this year.

"Expect many more hottest days in the future," said Saleemul Huq, director of Bangladesh's International Centre for Climate Change and Development, in a statement.



Eel-eating Japan Opposes EU Call for More Protection

People on bicycles cross a street under the hot sun in Tokyo on June 20, 2025. (Photo by Kazuhiro NOGI / AFP)
People on bicycles cross a street under the hot sun in Tokyo on June 20, 2025. (Photo by Kazuhiro NOGI / AFP)
TT
20

Eel-eating Japan Opposes EU Call for More Protection

People on bicycles cross a street under the hot sun in Tokyo on June 20, 2025. (Photo by Kazuhiro NOGI / AFP)
People on bicycles cross a street under the hot sun in Tokyo on June 20, 2025. (Photo by Kazuhiro NOGI / AFP)

Japan's agriculture minister said Friday the country would oppose any call by the European Union to add eels to an endangered species list that would limit trade in them.

Eel is eaten worldwide but is particularly popular in Japan, where it is called "unagi" and traditionally served grilled after being covered in a sticky-sweet sauce.

Minister Shinjiro Koizumi told reporters that the country carefully manages stock levels of the Japanese eel in cooperation with neighboring China, Taiwan and South Korea.

"There is a sufficient population, and it faces no extinction risk due to international trade," AFP quoted him as saying.

Japanese media have reported that the EU could soon propose that all eel species be added to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) which limits trade of protected animals.

There are 19 species and subspecies of eel, many of them now threatened due to a range of factors including pollution and overfishing.

In 2014, the Japanese eel was listed as endangered, but not critically endangered, by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which cited factors including habitat loss, overfishing, pollution and migration barriers.

Protecting the animal is complicated by their complex life cycle, which unfolds over a vast area, and the many unknowns about how they reproduce.