Heatwaves

• The United States and Iran have reached an agreement to halt hostilities and cease strikes against one another. • In a contrasting development, Pakistan launched new military strikes against the Afghan border on Sunday. • These events highlight a volatile global security landscape where diplomatic breakthroughs in one region are met with renewed conflict in another.

As hot weather becomes more common, companies and homeowners are coming up with innovative ways to keep properties coolWhen graphic designer Marc Alabaster had a new set of glass doors installed at his West Sussex home eight years ago, he soon realised how they magnified the heat of the afternoon sun.“The kitchen was 40-plus degrees,” he said. Then he went on holiday to Spain and saw an apartment building wrapped in louvre-like rows of angled fins or blades that shaded the external walls against the sun. Continue reading...

Scientists warn of ‘new reality’ of heat extremes that claim three times more lives than car crashes and 16 times as many as murderersMalcolm Mistry knew it was going to get “very warm, very quickly” on Monday morning but a slow start out of bed delayed his plans for an early game of cricket with his son. It was already 10am by the time the pair arrived at the sun-soaked nets of their local club in south-west London, and to the embarrassment of the 48-year-old scientist, who played cricket in his youth, his body was struggling after just half an hour of bowling.Had he continued for another hour, Mistry reckons he would have probably suffered from heatstroke. Had he and his son stayed until noon, they would have found themselves straining their bodies in direct sunlight while a nearby weather station logged the UK’s hottest May temperature since records began. Continue reading...