Europe’s unprecedented early summer heatwave may be responsible for hundreds of excess deaths, according to the head of the World Health Organization (WHO).

Temperature records were broken across the continent again on Sunday – including in Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic – as the extreme heat continued to move east.

In a post on X, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said more than 1,300  deaths had been recorded since 21 June “linked to high temperatures in Europe”. “Heat stress is often called the ‘silent killer’ – and European homes, workplaces and schools were not built for these temperatures,” he said.

On Sunday morning, France’s national health ministry said there had been around 1,000 more deaths than expected in the country since Wednesday.

Many of the extra fatalities are among those aged 65 over, the agency said, after logging a 40% rise in the number of people dying at home.

“Europe is the fastest-warming continent on Earth, heating at twice the global average,” Tedros warned.

Millions of people across the continent are currently “living under extreme heat, hundreds have died, schools are shut, grids are buckling”, he added.

On Sunday, Germany experienced its hottest-ever day for the third consecutive day after 41.7C was recorded in the east of the country, preliminary data showed.

A station in Coschen, near the Polish border in eastern Brandenburg, recorded 41.7C at around 16:00 local time.

The Czech Republic set its second temperature record in two days, recording 41.1C at Doksany, north of Prague, the meteorological institute CHMI said.

CHMI said it expected the heat to peak on Sunday, with storms forecast for western areas later.

Poland also broke its all-time temperature record with 40.5C in the town of Slubice, a spokeswoman for the Institute of Meteorology and Water Management (IMGW) told the AFP news agency on Sunday.

“Driven by climate change and global warming, the phenomenon of the ‘once-in-a-generation’ heatwave is now occurring nearly annual,” he said.

He called on European countries to “implement heat health action plans”, as part of a push to safeguard health in the face of climate change.

The extreme weather has led European authorities to take drastic measures to prevent heat-related illnesses.

On Thursday, the Dutch music festival Defqon.1 was cancelled following an unprecedented code red warning for extreme heat.

In Paris, officials banned drinking takeaway alcohol in public and cancelled the city’s pride march to help stretched emergency services.

The ban began at noon on Friday local time ahead of France’s World Cup match with Norway and lasted until Sunday morning.

At least 74 people have drowned in France since the beginning of the heatwave, according to Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez.  Most of the deaths occurred in “unsupervised bodies of water such as rivers, lakes and ponds”, he told Le Parisien newspaper on Saturday.

[BBC]

Two-and-a-half years after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated a grand temple to Hindu god Ram, the shrine is embroiled in an unsavoury row over allegations that donations from devotees worth tens of millions of rupees have been embezzled.

The temple in the once-flashpoint city of Ayodhya in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh replaced a 16th-Century mosque torn down by Hindu mobs in 1992, sparking riots in which nearly 2,000 people died.

Since its inauguration in January 2024, the three-storey temple spread over 2.7 acres has become one of India’s most important pilgrimage centres, attracting an estimated 50 million visitors annually.

But in recent weeks, questions over the handling of cash, valuable jewellery, gold and silver offered by devotees have triggered a political controversy and petitions have been filed in the Supreme Court seeking a court-monitored investigation by the federal police.

The Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust – an independent trust which manages the shrine – has denied any wrongdoing. The state government has set up a three-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) to inquire into the allegations.

Following an interim report from SIT, Ayodhya police registered a case of alleged embezzlement on Thursday, naming eight people.

All eight are in custody and being questioned, senior police officer Gaurav Grover told BBC Hindi. They are expected to be produced before a magistrate within a day or two, he added.

The temple complex, which also includes six smaller shrines, draws 70,000 to 80,000 devotees daily, with crowds tripling on weekends and festivals. Most leave offerings in about 35 donation boxes around the site.

The trust – which collects, sorts and counts the offerings – recorded an annual income of 3.27bn rupees ($35m; £26m) in the financial year 2024-25, making it one of India’s largest temples in terms of earnings, the Hindustan Times reported.

A former city legislator has alleged more than 70m rupees ($739,550; £560,420) have gone missing.

The temple trust rejected claims that donations or offerings were improperly handled.

In a video statement on Facebook, its general secretary Champat Rai said the trust’s activities, including the process used to count donations and even the counting room, were routinely audited by their trustees and workers along with some State Bank of India employees.

“This work continues for several days. This is what is happening nowadays. No-one has noticed any discrepancy yet,” he added.

The allegations of embezzlement at what is considered one of India’s most consequential religious sites has made headlines in India. The temple stands on a site that has been at the centre of one of India’s most consequential religious, political and legal disputes for decades.

Many Hindus believe Ayodhya to be the birthplace of deity Ram. A vigorous nation-wide campaign spearheaded by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to reclaim the land led to the demolition of the Babri mosque by Hindu activists in 1992.

Talking about the claims, Ajay Kumar Varma described Ayodhya as “god’s abode” and said such things should not happen here. “The people being blamed have been involved with the temple for a long time, so it’s hard to believe that they could do this,” he said.

BP Pandey called the allegations “a stain” on the government and the trust. “The government must ensure that there is no repeat of this sort of thing.”

Meanwhile, the SIT has sought more time to complete the inquiry. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has urged anyone with evidence to submit it to investigators. He said the inquiry would establish the facts and appealed to devotees not to prejudge the outcome.

Adityanath added that people who had waited centuries for the construction of the Ram temple could wait a few more days for the SIT to complete its work.

But there’s a growing clamour to hand over the investigation to the federal police as it’s a matter involving one of India’s most prominent religious institutions.

A number of petitions have been filed in the state high court and the Supreme Court asking for a police complaint to be registered and judges to supervise the investigation.

A top court lawyer has also written a letter to the prime minister, the state chief minister and chief justice, seeking an investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation “to restore the faith of the devotees”.