Another tough U.S. House fight is shaping up in California’s Central Valley farm belt

Actor David McCallum, who became a teen heartthrob in the hit series “The Man From U.N.C

Conditions in Greece have been compared to those in Africa as southern Europeans suffer through a heatwave forecast to only worsen in the coming days. Europe’s highest ever recorded temperature – 48.8C (119.8F) – could be breached in Sicily and Sardinia next week and Spain is expected to reach 45C, experts say. Italy, Spain, France, Germany, Poland and Croatia have all been hit, and officials in several countries have been preparing emergency measures, including mobile phone heat alerts. “It’s like being in Africa,” said 24-year-old tourist Balint Jolan, from Hungary. “It’s not that much hotter than it is currently at home, but yes, it is difficult.” Officials in Athens shut the ancient Acropolis for several hours on Friday to protect visitors as the Greek meteorological service forecast temperatures peaking at 41C in the city. Read live updates on Europe’s heatwave here Hellenic Red Cross workers handed out bottled water to tourists in long queues fanning themselves, and paramedics gave first aid to tourists fainting and suffering dehydration. The mercury on Acropolis Hill is usually even higher due to its altitude and lack of shade, but the last-minute decision left some people frustrated. “I even bought a €50 ticket to skip the line to enter and I couldn’t enter the place,” one said. Elsewhere in Athens, tourists huddled under mist machines. There and in other Greek cities, working hours were changed for the public sector and many businesses to avoid the midday heat, while air-conditioned areas were opened to the public. In the Spanish capital, Madrid, zoo animals were fed fruit ice pops, while authorities in Cyprus urged residents to avoid forest areas where wildfires could be sparked accidentally. Swathes of the Balkans also sweltered. In Croatia, the village of Grebastica near the Adriatic coast was devastated by a wildfire that destroyed cars and homes. Dozens of firefighters and three aircraft struggled to contain the blaze that spread rapidly due to strong southerly winds. The Earth steamed to its hottest June on record, smashing the previous global mark by nearly a quarter of a degree, with global oceans setting temperature records for the third month running, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration – considered the gold standard for record-keeping. Europe’s monster heatwave, called Cerberus, has already claimed at least one life as it brought temperatures surpassing 104F (40C) across the continent this week. On Tuesday, the land surface temperature in parts of Spanish region Extremadura exceeded 140F (60C). A 44-year-old man painting road markings in northern Italy collapsed and died. Many people are worried about next week, when the heat in the country is expected to intensify, and temperatures are forecast to climb to above 45C (113F) in the centre and south, under a new heatwave named Cheron. According to La Repubblica, the heat this weekend could be trumped by 12C in the following days, particularly in Tuscany and Lazio. If so, it would break Europe’s current record of 48.8 Celsius recorded in Sicily in August 2021. The impact of such extremities has been brought into focus by a new study that found up to 61,000 people died in Europe’s sweltering heat last summer. The forecast has also raised fears about the impact on crops and animals. The European Space Agency said: “Italy, Spain, France, Germany and Poland are all facing a major heatwave, with temperatures expected to climb to 48 degrees Celsius on the islands of Sicily and Sardinia – potentially the hottest temperatures ever recorded in Europe.” Emergency services in Turkey have been grappling with both fires and floods, in which three people have died. “While there are heat and fires on one side of the country, there are floods and deluges on the other,” said deputy agriculture minister Veysel Tiryaki. Cornell University climate scientist Natalie Mahowald said: “We are just getting a small taste for the types of impacts that we expect to worsen under climate change.” Climate scientist Friederike Otto of the Imperial College of London said: “Until we stop burning fossil fuels, this will only get worse. Heat records will keep getting broken, people and ecosystems are already in many cases beyond what they are able to deal with.” Additional reporting by agencies Read More Why is there no UK heatwave as Europe swelters during Cerberus? Earth sets its hottest day record for third time in a week Cities in the US are sinking due to the climate crisis

Till Lindemann, the lead singer of German industrial metal band Rammstein is under investigation on allegations relating to sexual offenses and the distribution of narcotics on the basis of "several criminal complaints," according to a spokeswoman for the Berlin's Public Prosecutor's office.

Consumer confidence fell in May as Americans, particularly older ones, became more pessimistic about the labor market, on top of elevated anxiety over inflation

Warner Bros Discovery chief executive David Zaslav was booed by students after taking the stage at Boston University

Donald Trump returned to prime-time mainstream television on Wednesday evening when he took part in a CNN town hall event in New Hampshire in which he used the platform to repeat debunked lies about the 2020 presidential election, praise Vladimir Putin and rehash other familiar falsehoods, prompting the network to attract criticism for hosting him. The network’s own anchors were among those questioning the broadcast, with Jake Tapper lashing out at the ex-president for calling a Black law enforcement officer “a thug” and making fun of E Jean Carroll’s sexual assault. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and DC police officer Michael Fanone likewise criticised the programme, with the New York representative saying CNN should be “ashamed”. The town hall came just one day after Mr Trump was found liable for sexually abusing and defaming the ex-Elle magazine columnist by a Manhattan jury, who ruled he must pay Ms Carroll $5m in damages. Mr Trump referred to the victim as a “whack job” and again insisted he had never met her. Mr Trump barrelled through the hour-long broadcast in a blizzard of dishonest statements, at times talking over moderator Kaitlan Collins’s fact-checking and requests that he answer the questions asked. Read More ‘Putin’s puppet’ Trump refuses to say if Ukraine should win the war against Russia Trump refuses to acknowledge he lost ‘rigged’ 2020 election at CNN town hall Trump calls Kaitlan Collins ‘nasty’ in tense exchange over classified documents at CNN town hall Disastrous Trump town hall begs the question: What was CNN thinking?

Helicopters and lifeboats have been deployed to reach hundreds of stranded villagers in central Greece, as the death toll from deadly flooding rose...

A Mississippi judge has declared a mistrial in the trial of two white men charged in the attack on a Black FedEx employee who was making a delivery

Mary Costantino was out walking with a friend on July 28 when the assailant threw a large silver bottle directly at her head

A group tracking antisemitism in Germany says that it has documented a drastic increase of antisemitic incidents in the country in the month after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7

Leonardo DiCaprio was seen enjoying a night out with a group of friends including Neelam Gill and his mother, Irmelin Indenbirken