climate

Japan sets new record high temperature of 41.8C

BY TOMOHIRO OSAKI

  • Last week in tourist hotspot Kyoto the mercury hit 40C, the first time any of its observation points -- the oldest opened in 1880, the newest in 2002 -- had seen such a high, authorities said.
  • Japan logged two new heat records in a day on Tuesday, with the mercury hitting 41.6C and then 41.8C, the weather office said, warning temperatures may rise further still.
  • Last week in tourist hotspot Kyoto the mercury hit 40C, the first time any of its observation points -- the oldest opened in 1880, the newest in 2002 -- had seen such a high, authorities said.
Japan logged two new heat records in a day on Tuesday, with the mercury hitting 41.6C and then 41.8C, the weather office said, warning temperatures may rise further still.
Temperatures the world over have soared in recent years as climate change creates ever more erratic weather patterns, and Japan is no exception.
The scorching temperatures in the city of Isesaki on Tuesday surpassed the previous record seen in the western Hyogo region of 41.2C only last week.
Japan's summer last year was the joint hottest on record, equalling the level seen in 2023, followed by the warmest autumn since records began 126 years ago.
Last week in tourist hotspot Kyoto the mercury hit 40C, the first time any of its observation points -- the oldest opened in 1880, the newest in 2002 -- had seen such a high, authorities said.
Experts warn Japan's beloved cherry trees are blooming earlier due to the warmer climate -- or sometimes not fully blossoming -- because autumns and winters are not cold enough to trigger flowering.
The famous snowcap of Mount Fuji was absent for the longest recorded period last year, not appearing until early November, compared with the average of early October.
July was also the hottest since records began in 1898, the weather agency said Friday, with the average monthly temperature 2.89C above the 1991-2020 average.

South Korea sizzles

South Korea also saw its second-hottest July, with an average temperature of 27.1C, according the meteorological office, which has been collecting such data since 1973. 
The hottest July on record in South Korea was in 1994, when the average temperature reached 27.7 degrees Celsius.
In Japan some dams and paddies nationwide are experiencing a water shortage, with farmers complaining that the sizzling heat combined with the lack of rain is slowing rice cultivation. 
Precipitation in July was low over wide areas of Japan, with northern regions facing the Sea of Japan experiencing record low rainfall, it added.
The rainy season ended about three weeks earlier than usual in western regions of Japan, another record.
Every summer, Japanese officials urge the public to seek shelter in air-conditioned rooms to avoid heatstroke.
The elderly in Japan -- which has the world's second-oldest population after Monaco -- are particularly at risk.
This year western Europe saw its hottest June on record, as extreme temperatures blasted the region in punishing back-to-back heatwaves, according to the EU climate monitor Copernicus.
Dangerous weather stretched into July, with separate research estimating that climate change made the temperature up to 4C hotter, pushing the thermometer into deadly territory for thousands of vulnerable people and greatly worsening the projected death toll.
Millions were exposed to high heat stress as daily average temperatures in western Europe climbed to levels rarely seen before -- and never so early in the summer.  
tmo-stu/fox

health

Doctors fight vaccine mistrust as Romania hit by measles outbreak

BY ANI SANDU

  • Far-right leader George Simion, who topped the first round of the presidential election in May before losing in the second round, has said that parents should have the freedom to decide whether to have their children vaccinated or not.
  • When epidemiologist Daniela Gafita makes her rounds in the remote villages of northeastern Romania to educate communities about the risks of measles, she frequently encounters parents who hesitate to have their children vaccinated.
  • Far-right leader George Simion, who topped the first round of the presidential election in May before losing in the second round, has said that parents should have the freedom to decide whether to have their children vaccinated or not.
When epidemiologist Daniela Gafita makes her rounds in the remote villages of northeastern Romania to educate communities about the risks of measles, she frequently encounters parents who hesitate to have their children vaccinated.
With measles cases in Europe hitting a 25-year high last year, Romania was the country most affected: it recorded 13,000 of the approximately 18,000 cases registered between June 2024 and May 2025 in the European Economic Area, which includes EU members as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.
But the disease has also re-emerged globally, with the United States confronting its worst epidemic in 30 years, in part fuelled by anti-vaccine misinformation that has been circulating on social media since the Covid-19 pandemic.
Despite widespread vaccine scepticism in Romania, Gafita and her colleagues from the local health department are undeterred in their mission to spread the immunisation message.
"We are trying to recover little by little what we lost" in the past decades when the situation was still at bay, said the 52-year-old. 
Romania has the EU's lowest vaccination rate at 62 percent, a far cry from the 95 percent the World Health Organization (WHO) says is needed for effective control.

Irrational fear

But it's a fight on many fronts, due not only to poverty but also poor access to health care and persistent rumours that vaccination causes autism.
"I heard the vaccine is dangerous," said a woman, who declined to give her name, in the village of Raucesti. 
Elena Armenia, who also lives in the village of 7,500 people, told AFP that she did not want her youngest child to be vaccinated after reading "about a link to autism" online, a misconception that has been refuted by the scientific community.
"Fear crept into my mind and I can't shake it off," said the 34-year-old. 
Her neighbours' children recently ended up in hospital after contracting measles, a contagious disease that causes fever, respiratory symptoms and a rash -- but can also lead to pneumonia, brain inflammation and even death.
Romania reported eight fatalities from measles between June 2024 to May 2025. In July, a child died in Britain, with three deaths being recorded in the United States this year.  
Family doctor Monica Apostol told AFP that she was less optimistic than some of her colleagues about Romania's vaccination rate being boosted soon.  
"I'm hitting a brick wall," she said about her many conversations with parents. 

Far-right anti-vaxers

Several factors have contributed to lower vaccination rates and subsequently to the resurgence of measles in Romania, where jabs are offered for free but are not mandatory.
Millions of Romanians, including many health professionals, left the country after the end of communism in 1989. Moreover, the country has seen periods of vaccine shortages, but also an underfunded healthcare system and an increasing lack of trust in authorities.
During the Covid pandemic, public figures in Romania but also worldwide began launching or endorsing anti-vaccination campaigns, with US President Donald Trump appointing Robert F. Kennedy Jr as health secretary despite his support of anti-vaccine conspiracy theories.  
Romania's far right also seized on anger over strict pandemic measures and started promoting anti-vaccine beliefs.
Far-right leader George Simion, who topped the first round of the presidential election in May before losing in the second round, has said that parents should have the freedom to decide whether to have their children vaccinated or not.
Pro-European President Nicusor Dan recently called on authorities to redouble their efforts to "regain people's trust", and combat a deluge of conspiracy theories and fake news that has eroded confidence.
"The recent elections have shown that misinformation campaigns are conducted in a highly professional manner," said Gindrovel Dumitra, coordinator for vaccinations at one of Romania's main doctors' associations.
Faced with a situation that is "out of control", his colleague Gafita advocates for tougher nationwide rules, including the need for children to be vaccinated to be able to attend school.
"Even if such measures are unpopular and contrary to what many people want," she said.
ani/anb-kym/gv

history

Mighty Atom: how the A-bombs shaped Japanese arts

BY KATIE FORSTER AND KYOKO HASEGAWA

  • - 'Black Rain' - "Black Rain", a 1965 novel by Masuji Ibuse about radiation sickness and discrimination, is one of Japan's best-known novels about the Hiroshima bombing.
  • From Godzilla's fiery atomic breath to post-apocalyptic anime and harrowing depictions of radiation sickness, the influence of the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki runs deep in Japanese popular culture.
  • - 'Black Rain' - "Black Rain", a 1965 novel by Masuji Ibuse about radiation sickness and discrimination, is one of Japan's best-known novels about the Hiroshima bombing.
From Godzilla's fiery atomic breath to post-apocalyptic anime and harrowing depictions of radiation sickness, the influence of the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki runs deep in Japanese popular culture.
In the 80 years since the World War II attacks, stories of destruction and mutation have been fused with fears around natural disasters and, more recently, the Fukushima crisis.
Classic manga and anime series "Astro Boy" is called "Mighty Atom" in Japanese, while city-levelling explosions loom large in other titles such as "Akira", "Neon Genesis Evangelion" and "Attack on Titan".
"Living through tremendous pain" and overcoming trauma is a recurrent theme in Japan's cultural output "that global audiences have found fascinating", said William Tsutsui, a history professor at Ottawa University.
The US nuclear bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 left around 140,000 people dead. It was followed days later by the bombing of Nagasaki that killed around 74,000 people.
Some poetry "portrays the sheer terror of the atomic bomb at the moment it was dropped", but many novels and artworks address the topic indirectly, said author Yoko Tawada.
"It's very difficult for the experience of the atomic bomb, which had never existed in history before, to find a place in the human heart as a memory," she told AFP.
Tawada's 2014 book "The Emissary" focuses on the aftermath of an unspecified terrible event.
She was inspired by connections between the atomic bombs, the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster and "Minamata disease" -- mass mercury poisoning caused by industrial pollution in southwest Japan from the 1950s.
The story "is less of a warning, and more a message to say: things may get bad, but we'll find a way to survive", Tawada said.

Godzilla's skin

Narratives reflecting Japan's complex relationship with nuclear technologies abound, but the most famous example is Godzilla, a prehistoric creature awakened by US hydrogen bomb testing in the Pacific.
"We need monsters to give a face and form to abstract fears," said professor Tsutsui, author of the book "Godzilla on My Mind".
"In the 1950s, Godzilla fulfilled that role for the Japanese -- with atomic energy, with radiation, with memories of the A-bombs."
Many people who watched Godzilla rampage through Tokyo in the original 1954 film left theatres in tears, he said.
And "it's said that the special effects people working on Godzilla modelled the monster's heavily furrowed skin after the keloid scars on the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki."
In the nearly 40 Godzilla movies released since, nuclear themes are present but often given less prominence, partly to appease American audiences, Tsutsui said.
Even so, the series remains hugely popular, with 2016 megahit "Shin Godzilla" seen as a critique of Japan's response to the tsunami-triggered Fukushima disaster.

'Black Rain'

"Black Rain", a 1965 novel by Masuji Ibuse about radiation sickness and discrimination, is one of Japan's best-known novels about the Hiroshima bombing.
But the fact Ibuse was not an A-bomb survivor is part of a "big debate about who is permitted to write these stories", said Victoria Young of the University of Cambridge.
"How we talk about or create literature out of real life is always going to be difficult," she said.
"Are you allowed to write about it if you didn't directly experience it?"
Nobel-winning author Kenzaburo Oe collected survivor accounts in "Hiroshima Notes", essays written on visits to the city in the 1960s.
"He's confronting reality, but tries to approach it from a personal angle" including his relationship with his disabled son, said Tawada, who has lived in Germany for four decades after growing up in Japan.
"The anti-war education I received sometimes gave the impression that Japan was solely a victim" in World War II, she said.
"When it comes to the bombings, Japan was a victim -- no doubt" but "it's important to look at the bigger picture" including Japan's wartime atrocities, she said.
As a child, illustrations of the nuclear bombings in contemporary picture books reminded her of depictions of hell in historical Japanese art.
This "made me consider whether human civilisation itself harboured inherent dangers", making atomic weapons feel less like "developments in technology, and more like something latent within humanity".
kaf-kh/stu/djw/jfx

Belgium

France says it cannot save contraceptives US plans to destroy

BY MARINE PENNETIER AND DANIEL LAWLER

  • According to several media reports, the unexpired products were to be incinerated in France at the end of July by a company that specialises in destroying medical waste.
  • France said Friday it could not seize $9.7 million worth of women's contraception products that the United States plans to destroy, after media reports suggested the stockpile would be incinerated in the country.
  • According to several media reports, the unexpired products were to be incinerated in France at the end of July by a company that specialises in destroying medical waste.
France said Friday it could not seize $9.7 million worth of women's contraception products that the United States plans to destroy, after media reports suggested the stockpile would be incinerated in the country.
The contraceptives were purchased by the US foreign aid agency USAID under former president Joe Biden to be provided to women in some of the world's poorest countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.
But Donald Trump's administration, which has dismantled USAID since Trump succeeded Biden in January, confirmed last month it intends to destroy the contraceptives being stored in a warehouse in the Belgian city of Geel.
According to several media reports, the unexpired products were to be incinerated in France at the end of July by a company that specialises in destroying medical waste.
France's government has come under pressure to save the contraceptives, with women's rights groups calling the US decision "insane".
But the health ministry told AFP that "unfortunately there is no legal basis" for French or even European health authorities to intervene to recover the stockpile.
"Since contraceptives are not drugs of major therapeutic interest, and in this case we are not facing a supply shortage, we have no means to requisition the stocks," it added.
The ministry also said it had no information on where the contraceptives would be destroyed.

Where are they?  

It remains unclear where the contraceptives currently are -- or even if they have already been destroyed.
French women's rights group Family Planning told AFP on Thursday they had been informed that the boxes had started being moved out of the Belgian warehouse 36 hours earlier.
"We do not know where these trucks are now -- or whether they have arrived in France," the group's head Sarah Durocher said, calling on incineration companies to "oppose this insane decision".
Exactly which company could be responsible for incinerating the products has also not been revealed.
French company Veolia, which had been rumoured as a contender, confirmed to AFP that it has a contract with the US firm Chemonics, USAID's logistics provider. 
However the company emphasised that the contract only covers "expired products, which is not the case for the stockpile" in Belgium.
The products, which include IUDs, implants and birth control pills, are reportedly up to five years away from expiring.
Belgium's foreign ministry told AFP earlier this week that it "is exploring all possible avenues to prevent the destruction of these products, including temporary relocation solutions".

'Senseless'

The US decision has provoked an outcry in France.
"Can France accept to become the executor of a senseless policy imposed by the US?" said an opinion piece by five NGOs in the French newspaper Le Monde on Friday.
Among the signatories was MSI Reproductive Choices, one of several organisations that have offered to purchase and repackage the contraceptives at no cost to the US government. All offers have been rejected.
Last week, Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen pointed to the Trump administration's stated goal of reducing government waste, saying the contraceptives plan "is the epitome of waste, fraud and abuse".
Shaheen and Democratic Senator Brian Schatz have introduced a bill aiming to prevent further US aid being wasted.
A US State Department spokesperson told AFP earlier this week that the destruction of the products would cost $167,000 and "no HIV medications or condoms are being destroyed".
The spokesperson also pointed to a policy, reinstated by Trump earlier this year, which prohibits providing aid to non-governmental organisations that promote or perform abortions.
The NGO Doctors Without Borders, which has slammed the US plan as "unconscionable", has pointed to reports that there is another warehouse with USAID-purchased contraceptives in the United Arab Emirates.
A study published in The Lancet medical journal in June estimated that more than 14 million of the world's most vulnerable people could die as a result of the USAID cuts.
Last month, the US also incinerated nearly 500 metric tons of high-nutrition biscuits that had been meant to keep malnourished children in Afghanistan and Pakistan alive.
pan-mep-dl/rmb

Belgium

Outrage grows in France over US plan to destroy contraceptives

  • According to several media reports, the unexpired products were planned to be incinerated in France by the end of July by a company that specialises in destroying medical waste.
  • A US plan to destroy women's contraception products reportedly worth $9.7 million spurred growing outcry on Friday in France, where the products could be incinerated.
  • According to several media reports, the unexpired products were planned to be incinerated in France by the end of July by a company that specialises in destroying medical waste.
A US plan to destroy women's contraception products reportedly worth $9.7 million spurred growing outcry on Friday in France, where the products could be incinerated.
The contraceptives -- which were intended for some of the world's poorest countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa -- were purchased by the US foreign aid agency USAID under former president Joe Biden.
His successor Donald Trump's administration, which has slashed foreign aid and pursued anti-abortion policies, confirmed earlier this month that it plans to destroy the contraceptives, which have been stored in a warehouse in the Belgian city of Geel.
According to several media reports, the unexpired products were planned to be incinerated in France by the end of July by a company that specialises in destroying medical waste.
AFP has not been able to confirm this from an official source.
Sarah Durocher, the head of the French women's rights group Family Planning, told AFP that some contraceptives have already left the Belgian warehouse.
"We were informed 36 hours ago that the removal of these boxes of contraceptives had begun," Durocher said on Thursday.
"We do not know where these trucks are now -- or whether they have arrived in France," she added. 
"We call on all incineration companies not to destroy the contraceptives and to oppose this insane decision."

'Absurdity'

Since Trump replaced Biden in the White House in January, his administration has dismantled USAID, with help from his former adviser, the world's richest person Elon Musk.
French company Veolia confirmed to AFP that it has a contract with the US firm Chemonics, USAID's logistics provider. 
But Veolia emphasised that the contract concerns "only the management of expired products, which is not the case for the stockpile" in Belgium.
The products, which are mostly long-acting contraceptives such as IUDs and birth control implants, are reportedly up to five years away from expiring.
French disposal company Suez meanwhile told AFP that it "does not provide waste management services for all contraceptive products purchased by USAID". 
The US plan has provoked outcry in France, where rights groups and left-wing politicians have called on their governments to prevent the contraceptives from being destroyed. 
"France cannot become the scene of such operations -- a moratorium is essential," said an opinion article in the newspaper Le Monde on Friday signed by five NGOs including MSI Reproductive Choices, condemning the "absurdity" of the US decision.
Charles Dallara, the grandson of the politician who legislated in favour of the contraceptive pill in France in 1967, went on French television on Friday to urge President Emmanuel Macron to act.
Macron has yet to make an official statement on the contraceptives, but the country's health ministry has said it is "closely monitoring the situation".
A petition launched by French feminist groups and unions on Wednesday calling for the contraceptives to be saved has been signed by more than 10,000 people.
lmd-mad-mep-dl/rlp

brains

What are all these microplastics doing to our brains?

BY JULIEN DURY AND DANIEL LAWLER

  • "If (and it is a big if in my view) there are microplastics in our brains, there is as yet no evidence of harm," Jones added.
  • Tiny shards of plastic called microplastics have been detected accumulating in human brains, but there is not yet enough evidence to say whether this is doing us harm, experts have said.
  • "If (and it is a big if in my view) there are microplastics in our brains, there is as yet no evidence of harm," Jones added.
Tiny shards of plastic called microplastics have been detected accumulating in human brains, but there is not yet enough evidence to say whether this is doing us harm, experts have said.
These mostly invisible pieces of plastic have been found everywhere from the top of mountains to the bottom of oceans, in the air we breathe and the food we eat. They have also been discovered riddled throughout human bodies, inside lungs, hearts, placentas and even crossing the blood-brain barrier.
The increasing ubiquity of microplastics has become a key issue in efforts to hammer out the world's first plastic pollution treaty, with the latest round of UN talks being held in Geneva next week.
The effects that microplastics and even smaller nanoplastics have on human health is not yet fully understood, but researchers have been working to find out more in this relatively new field.
The most prominent study looking at microplastics in brains was published in the journal Nature Medicine in February.
The scientists tested brain tissue from 28 people who died in 2016 and 24 who died last year in the US state of New Mexico, finding that the amount of microplastics in the samples increased over time.
The study made headlines around the world when the lead researcher, US toxicologist Matthew Campen, told the media that they detected the equivalent of a plastic spoon's worth of microplastics in the brains. 
Campen also told Nature that he estimated the researchers could isolate around 10 grammes of plastic from a donated human brain -- comparing that amount to an unused crayon.

Speculation 'far beyond the evidence'

But other researchers have since urged caution about the small study.
"While this is an interesting finding, it should be interpreted cautiously pending independent verification," toxicologist Theodore Henry of Scotland's Heriot-Watt University told AFP.
"Currently, the speculation about the potential effects of plastic particles on health go far beyond the evidence," he added.
Oliver Jones, a chemistry professor at Australia's RMIT University, told AFP there was "not enough data to make firm conclusions on the occurrence of microplastics in New Mexico, let alone globally".
He also found it "rather unlikely" that brains could contain more microplastics than has been found in raw sewage -- as the researchers had estimated.
Jones pointed out the people in the study were perfectly healthy before they died, and that the researchers acknowledged there was not enough data to show that the microplastics caused harm.
"If (and it is a big if in my view) there are microplastics in our brains, there is as yet no evidence of harm," Jones added.
The study also contained duplicated images, the neuroscience news website The Transmitter has reported, though experts said this did not affect its main findings. 
- 'Cannot wait for complete data' - 
Most of the research into the effects microplastics have on health has been observational, which means it cannot establish cause and effect. 
One such study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine last year, found that microplastics building up in blood vessels was linked to an increased risk of heart attack, stroke and death in patients with a disease that clogs arteries.
There have also been experiments carried out on mice, including a study in Science Advances in January which detected microplastics in their brains. 
The Chinese researchers said that microplastics can cause rare blood clots in the brains of mice by obstructing cells -- while emphasising that the small mammals are very different to humans.
A review by the World Health Organization in 2022 found that the "evidence is insufficient to determine risks to human health" from microplastics.
However many health experts have cited the precautionary principle, saying the potential threat microplastics could pose requires action. 
A report on the health risks of microplastics by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health published this week ahead of the treaty talks said that "policy decisions cannot wait for complete data".
"By acting now to limit exposure, improve risk assessment methodologies, and prioritise vulnerable populations, we can address this pressing issue before it escalates into a broader public health crisis," it added.
The amount of plastic the world produces has doubled since 2000 -- and is expected to triple from current rates by 2060.
dl-jdy/ach/tc 

music

Justin Timberlake says he has Lyme disease

  • "Living with this can be relentlessly debilitating, both mentally and physically.
  • Pop star Justin Timberlake told fans Thursday he has Lyme disease, a condition he described as "relentlessly debilitating."
  • "Living with this can be relentlessly debilitating, both mentally and physically.
Pop star Justin Timberlake told fans Thursday he has Lyme disease, a condition he described as "relentlessly debilitating."
The 44-year-old former NSYNC frontman, whose world tour has just wrapped up, took to Instagram in reflective mood.
"This has been the most fun, emotional, gratifying, physically demanding, and, at times, grueling experience," he said of a tour that was criticized by some fans as lackluster.
"Among other things, I've been battling some health issues, and was diagnosed with Lyme disease -— which I don't say so you feel bad for me –– but to shed some light on what I've been up against behind the scenes.
"Living with this can be relentlessly debilitating, both mentally and physically. When I first got the diagnosis I was shocked for sure. But, at least I could understand why I would be onstage and in a massive amount of nerve pain or just feeling crazy fatigue or sickness."
Lyme disease is caused by a bacteria often carried by ticks that live in woodlands throughout North America and Europe.
Symptoms can include widespread pain, fatigue, and muscle weakness. In serious cases, patients could experience damage to the tissues, joints and immune system.
The "Can't Stop The Feeling" singer was in legal hot water last year after being arrested for drunk driving in a small town near New York.
Timberlake, whose tumultuous relationship with Britney Spears was the inspiration for his 2002 smash "Cry Me A River" later pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and was ordered to do community service.
hg/acb

heat

'Silent killer': the science of tracing climate deaths in heatwaves

BY NICK PERRY

  • Combining historic weather and published mortality data, they assessed that climate change made the heatwave between 1C and 4C hotter across 12 cities, depending on location, and that 2,300 people had likely perished.
  • A heatwave scorching Europe had barely subsided in early July when scientists published estimates that 2,300 people may have died across a dozen major cities during the extreme, climate-fuelled episode.
  • Combining historic weather and published mortality data, they assessed that climate change made the heatwave between 1C and 4C hotter across 12 cities, depending on location, and that 2,300 people had likely perished.
A heatwave scorching Europe had barely subsided in early July when scientists published estimates that 2,300 people may have died across a dozen major cities during the extreme, climate-fuelled episode.
The figure was supposed to "grab some attention" and sound a timely warning in the hope of avoiding more needless deaths, said Friederike Otto, one of the scientists involved in the research.
"We are still relatively early in the summer, so this will not have been the last heatwave. There is a lot that people and communities can do to save lives," Otto, a climate scientist at Imperial College London, told AFP.
Heat can claim tens of thousands of lives during European summers but it usually takes months, even years, to count the cost of this "silent killer".
Otto and colleagues published their partial estimate just a week after temperatures peaked in western Europe. 
While the underlying methods were not new, the scientists said it was the first study to link heatwave deaths to climate change so soon after the event in question.
Early mortality estimates could be misunderstood as official statistics but "from a public health perspective the benefits of providing timely evidence outweigh these risks," Raquel Nunes from the University of Warwick told AFP.
"This approach could have transformative potential for both public understanding and policy prioritisation" of heatwaves, said Nunes, an expert on global warming and health who was not involved in the study.
- Big deal - 
Science can show, with increasing speed and confidence, that human-caused climate change is making heatwaves hotter and more frequent.
Unlike floods and fires, heat kills quietly, with prolonged exposure causing heat stroke, organ failure, and death.
The sick and elderly are particularly vulnerable, but so are younger people exercising or toiling outdoors. 
But every summer, heat kills and Otto -- a pioneer in the field of attribution science -- started wondering if the message was getting through. 
"We have done attribution studies of extreme weather events and attribution studies of heatwaves for a decade... but as a society we are not prepared for these heatwaves," she said. 
"People think it's 30 (degrees Celsius) instead of 27, what's the big deal? And we know it's a big deal."
When the mercury started climbing in Europe earlier this summer, scientists tweaked their approach.
Joining forces, Imperial College London and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine chose to spotlight the lethality -- not just the intensity -- of the heat between June 23 and July 2.
Combining historic weather and published mortality data, they assessed that climate change made the heatwave between 1C and 4C hotter across 12 cities, depending on location, and that 2,300 people had likely perished.
But in a notable first, they estimated that 65 percent of these deaths -- around 1,500 people across cities including London, Paris, and Athens -- would not have occurred in a world without global warming. 
"That's a much stronger message," said Otto.
"It brings it much closer to home what climate change actually means and makes it much more real and human than when you say this heatwave would have been two degrees colder."

 Underestimated threat

The study was just a snapshot of the wider heatwave that hit during western Europe's hottest June on record and sent temperatures soaring to 46C in Spain and Portugal.
The true toll was likely much higher, the authors said, noting that heat deaths are widely undercounted.
Since then Turkey, Greece and Bulgaria have suffered fresh heatwaves and deadly wildfires.
Though breaking new ground, the study has not been subject to peer review, a rigorous assessment process that can take more than a year.
Otto said waiting until after summer to publish -- when "no one's talking about heatwaves, no one is thinking about keeping people safe" -- would defeat the purpose.
"I think it's especially important, in this context, to get the message out there very quickly."
The study had limitations but relied on robust and well-established scientific methodology, several independent experts told AFP.
Tailoring this approach to local conditions could help cities better prepare when heatwaves loom, Abhiyant Tiwari, a health and climate expert who worked on India's first-ever heat action plan, told AFP.
"I definitely see more such studies coming out in the future," said Tiwari from NRDC India.
Otto said India, which experiences tremendously hot summers, was a "prime candidate" and with a template in place it was likely more studies would soon follow.
np/klm/cw/tc

social

Kyrgyzstan struggles with deadly shortages of medicine

BY ADINA ZHOROBEKOVA

  • The Kyrgyz Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that "around 6,000 medicines could disappear from the market by 2026" because of the need to "re-register under the norms of the Eurasian Economic Union" -- a gathering of former Soviet republics including Kyrgyzstan.
  • Like many people affected by serious illness in ex-Soviet Central Asia, Almagul Ibrayeva is having trouble finding medicine in her native Kyrgyzstan.
  • The Kyrgyz Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that "around 6,000 medicines could disappear from the market by 2026" because of the need to "re-register under the norms of the Eurasian Economic Union" -- a gathering of former Soviet republics including Kyrgyzstan.
Like many people affected by serious illness in ex-Soviet Central Asia, Almagul Ibrayeva is having trouble finding medicine in her native Kyrgyzstan.
"Women are dying because of a lack of medicine," Ibrayeva, who is in her 50s, told AFP.
In remission from breast cancer, Ibrayeva needs a hormone treatment called exemestane after having a mastectomy and her reproductive organs were removed.
She said she "often" faces difficulties.
"I order it from Turkey or Moscow, where my daughter lives," she said.
"There are many medicines that are simply unavailable here. The patient has to look themselves and buy them."

'Meagre' supply of medicine

Shortages, high prices and the poor quality of medicine affect many of the region's 80 million inhabitants.
The five Central Asian countries are highly dependent on pharmaceutical imports and patients are often left to fend for themselves.
There are often cases of expired or adulterated medicine such as the cough syrup imported from India which killed 69 children in Uzbekistan in 2023.
The costs of high-quality medicine are often prohibitive.
"Some people sell their homes, their livestock, get into debt just to survive," said Shairbu Saguynbayeva, a uterine cancer survivor.
She created a centre called "Together to Live" in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek which hosts women who have cancer, offering accommodation and help for treatment.
"Here they can get organised. When someone is receiving chemotherapy, they fall ill, not every loved one can handle it," Saguynbayeva said.
Women at the centre sew and sell traditional Kyrgyz ornaments -- funding the treatment of 37 patients since 2019.
Saguynbayeva says she is grateful to the Kyrgyz state for "finally" starting to supply more medicine but says the quantity is still "meagre".
One patient, Barakhat Saguyndykova, told AFP that she received "free anti-cancer medicine only three times between 2018 and 2025".
At the National Oncology and Haematology Centre, doctor Ulanbek Turgunbaev said that sourcing medicine was "a very serious problem for patients" even though medicine supply has increased.
He said the best way of reducing therapy costs was "early detection" of serious illnesses.

'Better to save a mother'

Material deficits and a shortage of 5,000 health professionals in Kyrgyzstan mean that the most urgent needs have to be addressed first.
President Sadyr Japarov has promised to eliminate corruption in the medical sector, which cost the health minister his job last winter.
While medicine factories have finally been opened, the situation in the short term remains complicated.
The Kyrgyz Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that "around 6,000 medicines could disappear from the market by 2026" because of the need to "re-register under the norms of the Eurasian Economic Union" -- a gathering of former Soviet republics including Kyrgyzstan.
The government in 2023 created a state company called Kyrgyz Pharmacy which is supposed to centralise medicine requests and bring down prices, according to its head, Talant Sultanov.
But the organisation has been under pressure because of a lack of results.
Sultanov said he hoped medicine prices could be lowered "by signing more long-term agreements with suppliers through purchases grouped on a regional basis" with other Central Asian countries.
Kyrgyz Pharmacy has promised steady supplies soon but many women in Bishkek are still waiting for medicine ordered through the company months ago.
Recently a mother of three "died simply because she did not receive her medicine in time," Saguynbayeva said.
"It is better to save a mother than to build orphanages," she said.
aj-bk/dt/giv

environment

French health experts speak out against bee-killing pesticide

  • The health experts and patient associations urged the Constitutional Council to reject the legislation, calling on its members to "respond to the democratic demand strongly expressed by French citizens".
  • French health experts and patient associations on Tuesday urged authorities to protect the public from a bee-killing pesticide, saying the chemical could also harm children and adults.
  • The health experts and patient associations urged the Constitutional Council to reject the legislation, calling on its members to "respond to the democratic demand strongly expressed by French citizens".
French health experts and patient associations on Tuesday urged authorities to protect the public from a bee-killing pesticide, saying the chemical could also harm children and adults.
The legislation to reintroduce in France acetamiprid, a pesticide that is harmful to ecosystems but popular with many farmers in Europe, was adopted on July 8, but without a proper debate to bypass gridlock in a divided parliament. 
The move sparked anger in France, and support for a student-initiated petition against the legislation has snowballed, with university lecturers, left-wing lawmakers and star chefs backing it.
The petition had garnered more than 2 million signatures by Tuesday.
Health experts and patient associations have now weighed in, saying in an open letter in French daily Le Monde that they cannot back "a law that is dangerous to the health of our fellow citizens".
President Emmanuel Macron, who has been under increasing pressure to act, said he is waiting to hear the verdict of the Constitutional Council, which is expected to rule on the constitutionality of the law on August 7.
The health experts and patient associations urged the Constitutional Council to reject the legislation, calling on its members to "respond to the democratic demand strongly expressed by French citizens".
The signatories included Agnes Linglart, president of the French Paediatric Society, Olivier Coutard, president of the scientific council of France's flagship scientific research centre CNRS and Gerard Socie, president of the scientific council of the National Cancer Institute.
The Constitutional Council, the letter said, must protect future generations from the legislation that "without a shadow of reasonable doubt compromises the health of young people, children and the unborn".
The letter said the Senate committee preparing the bill heard from agricultural unions and government agencies but not "doctors, toxicologists or epidemiologists".
The senators did not consult representatives of the CNRS, health and labour ministries, even though occupational exposure to pesticides is a risk factor for humans, the letter said.
Citing the INSERM health and medical research organisation, the letter pointed to evidence of a link between exposure to pesticides and the occurrence of cancers, neurodegenerative, pulmonary and hormone-related disorders.
Banned in France since 2018, the chemical remains legal in the European Union.
ref-as/ekf/giv

environment

'Food on table' outweighs health risks for Philippine e-waste dismantlers

BY PAM CASTRO

  • But since his hands began aching and his vision started to blur three years ago, there have been days he can only watch his wife and nephew do the job for him.
  • Dexter Barsigan has spent the past 13 years making a living with his bare hands and a pair of pliers, stripping scrapped laptops and air conditioners for metal he can sell to junk shops in the Philippines.
  • But since his hands began aching and his vision started to blur three years ago, there have been days he can only watch his wife and nephew do the job for him.
Dexter Barsigan has spent the past 13 years making a living with his bare hands and a pair of pliers, stripping scrapped laptops and air conditioners for metal he can sell to junk shops in the Philippines.
But since his hands began aching and his vision started to blur three years ago, there have been days he can only watch his wife and nephew do the job for him.
The 47-year-old father of three is a "mambabaklas", the Filipino word for informal dismantlers who scavenge electronic waste for the nickel, aluminum and copper inside.
"Dismantling helps us put food on the table. It provides the money to send my kids to school," Barsigan told AFP while sitting along a kilometre-long stretch of Onyx Street, home to hundreds of fellow "e-waste" dismantlers.
Their work frequently involves burning away rubber wire casings, releasing a toxic brew of chemicals including lead, mercury and cadmium into the air.
Both the Philippine government and the Basel Convention, a global waste management treaty signed by 191 countries, consider e-waste hazardous.
"It poses serious threats to human health and the environment," said Irvin Cadavona, a hazardous waste management officer with the environment department, citing health risks ranging from cancer and neurological diseases to respiratory illnesses and birth defects.
The World Health Organization said last year exposure to e-waste chemicals can lead to incidents of asthma and reduced lung function in children, while pregnant women are at higher risk for stillbirths and premature delivery. 
"It's very hard to recycle these (chemicals). When you dismantle (e-waste), you must intricately break it down. It can be very hazardous," Gelo Apostol, an environmental health specialist from Ateneo de Manila University, told AFP.
Exposure to the substances can lead to anemia, kidney and thyroid diseases, and nerve damage, he said.
The Philippines is among the top e-waste generators in Southeast Asia, according to the United Nations' Global E-waste Monitor, accounting for 540 million kilograms (about 600,000 tons) in 2022. 
Dismantlers who work at the country's accredited facilities are required to follow stringent guidelines.
But their informal counterparts lack the training, regulations and protective equipment needed to properly protect themselves.
"I strongly believe that some Filipinos are getting sick because of the exposure to e-waste," Cadavona said. 

Burning rubber

Barsigan, who doesn't wear a mask while working, prefers dismantling computer circuit boards with aluminum and copper because they fetch as much as P470 ($8) per kilogram.
But circuit boards have especially high concentrations of toxic metals that can cause nerve damage when breathed in, Apostol said.
While illegal, Onyx Street's e-waste dismantlers also routinely burn wires to extract copper, which is faster than peeling them by hand.
Rosana Milan, physician-in-charge at Manila's Pedro Gil Health Center, said her clinic has diagnosed half of the 12,000 people living along the street with respiratory issues, most of them children.
"It's very risky for the babies, the toddlers and even the school children… they're sitting beside their father while the father is... burning the rubber," Milan told AFP. 
"Mostly they have pneumonia, upper and lower respiratory illness, even if they have vaccines."
Dismantler Sammy Oligar said his one-year-old grandchild had been diagnosed with pneumonia that a doctor attributed to pollution caused by the burning. 
"The smoke would enter from our window and the child would inhale it," Oligar told AFP, adding that many of his neighbors were dealing with lung illnesses.

'What are we waiting for?'

Medecins du Monde (MdM), a French humanitarian organisation providing gloves, masks and safety orientations for the dismantlers of Onyx Street, is calling for the recognition of informal e-waste workers.
"Health is clearly not their first priority. Their priority is to have food on the table," Eva Lecat, general coordinator of MdM, told AFP.
"If (their work) was legal and recognised and regulated, there would be ways to protect people and communities."
Cadavona, the waste management officer, said the informal nature of the picker-junkshop relationship made it "very hard" to establish formal recognition for the community.
Apostol, the faculty researcher, said an "evidence gap" created by the lack of studies specific to dismantlers might be contributing to a lack of urgency.
"But remember, many of the chemicals found in e-waste already have extensive studies on their health effects," Apostol said. 
"What are we waiting for? To have nationwide data of people who died from e-waste before we take action?"
Worried he will be unable to afford treatment, Barsigan told AFP he has avoided doctors, instead putting ointment on his hands and taking a cheap, over-the-counter pain reliever.
Once his hands feel a little better, he said, he will put them back to work. 
"If I stop dismantling, it's as if I have also given up the hope of a better life for my children." 
pam/cwl/dhw/fox