Millions of people in Britain stayed home or sought shade Monday during the country’s first-ever extreme heat warning, as hot, dry weather that has scorched mainland Europe for the past week moved north, disrupting travel, health care and schools.

The red heat alert covers a big chunk of England and is due to last through Tuesday, when temperatures may reach 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) for the first time, posing a risk of serious illness and even death among healthy people, according to the Met Office, Britain’s weather service.

The highest temperature ever recorded in Britain is 38.7 C (101.7 F), a record set in 2019. The country is not at all prepared to handle such heat — most homes, schools and small businesses in Britain do not have air-conditioning.

London’s Kew Gardens hit 37.5 C (99.5 F) by 3 p.m. and Wales provisionally recorded its highest-ever temperature, the Met Office said, a recording of 35.3 C (95.5 F) at Gogerddan on the west coast.

At least four people were reported to have drowned across the U.K. in rivers, lakes and reservoirs while trying to cool off.

While Monday may bring record highs to southeastern England, temperatures are expected to rise further as the warm air moves north on Tuesday, Met Office CEO Penelope Endersby said. The extreme heat warning stretches from London in the south to Manchester and Leeds in the north.

“So it’s tomorrow that we’re really seeing the higher chance of 40 degrees and temperatures above that,” Endersby told the BBC. “Forty-one isn’t off the cards. We’ve even got some 43s in the model, but we’re hoping it won’t be as high as that.”

Hot weather has gripped southern Europe since last week, triggering wildfires in Spain, Portugal and France. Almost 600 heat-related deaths have been reported in Spain and Portugal, where temperatures reached 47 C (117 F) last week.

Climate experts warn that global warming has increased the frequency of extreme weather events, with studies showing that the likelihood of temperatures in the U.K. reaching 40C is now 10 times higher than in the pre-industrial era. Drought and heat waves tied to climate change have also made wildfires harder to fight.

Officials in southern France’s Gironde region announced plans to evacuate an additional 3,500 people from towns threatened by the raging flames. More than 1,500 firefighters and water-bombing planes are trying to douse the flames in the region’s tinder-dry pine forests.

In Britain, train operators asked customers not to travel unless absolutely necessary, saying the heat was likely to warp rails and disrupt power supplies, leading to severe delays. Some routes were running at reduced speed or shutting down entirely from mid-afternoon, when temperatures were expected to peak.

Some medical appointments were canceled to relieve strains on the health service. Some schools closed, and others set up wading pools and water sprays to help children cool off. Most British schools have not yet closed for the summer.

The extreme heat even led Parliament to loosen its strict dress code. The Speaker of the House of Commons said male lawmakers could dispense with jackets and ties for the week.

The high temperatures are even more of a shock since Britain usually has very moderate summer temperatures. Across the U.K., average July temperatures range from a daily high of 21 C (70 F) to a low of 12 C (53 F).

But nightfall on Monday will bring little relief from the heat, with the Met Office forecasting temperatures of 29 C (84 F) at midnight in London. Monday night will be “very oppressive” and it will be difficult to sleep, Chief Meteorologist Paul Davies said.

“Tomorrow is the day where we are really concerned about a good chance now of hitting 40 or 41C, and with that all the health conditions that come with those higher temperatures,” he said.
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When Russia invaded Ukraine in late February, many ordinary Ukrainians started helping their military, even if they did not join the fight. Kateryna Markova has the story. Camera – Viktor Petrovych.
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A Ukrainian cargo plane carrying 11 tons of munitions from Serbia to Bangladesh crashed in northern Greece late Saturday. The munitions had been bought by the Bangladeshi defense ministry. 

Explosives disposal experts have been called to the scene. Authorities will not be able to retrieve the Meridian airline plane’s black boxes until the disposal experts finish their work. 

Ukrainian officials have confirmed all eight Ukrainian crew members died in the crash near the city of Kavala. 

Local residents said they heard explosions for nearly two hours after the crash. They also said they saw the plane engulfed in a ball of fire before it crashed. 

“I wonder how it didn’t fall on our houses,” Aimilia Tsaptanova, told journalists. “It was full of smoke, it had a noise I can’t describe and went over the mountain. It passed the mountain and turned and crashed into the fields.” 

The pilot had asked Greek aviation authorities for permission for an emergency landing, but Greece lost contact with the plane soon after the request. 

Initial reports of the crash said the plane’s destination was Jordan, but officials say that the plane was headed to Jordan’s Queen Alia international airport only to refuel
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Cameron Smith charged his way into history on the Old Course, a Sunday stunner at St. Andrews that sent the Australian to his first major by overcoming Rory McIlroy to win the British Open.

The stage was set for McIlroy to end his eight-year drought in the majors and cap off a week of celebration at the home of golf in the 150th Open.

Smith stole the show by running off five straight birdies to start the back nine and delivering more clutch moments at the end. His 8-under 64 was the lowest final round by a champion in the 30 times golf’s oldest champion has been played at St. Andrews.

Smith won by one shot over Cameron Young, who holed a 15-foot eagle putt on the final hole. It wasn’t enough, and neither was anything McIlroy could muster.

He couldn’t make a putt early. He couldn’t hit it close enough late. His last good chance was a 15-foot birdie attempt on the scary Road Hole at No. 17, and it narrowly missed to the left.

Smith, who saved par on the 17th with a 10-foot putt, was at the front of the 18th green with his tee shot. From 80 feet away, his pace up the slope and toward the cup was close to perfect, leaving him a tap-in birdie to finish at 20-under 268.

Smith matched the major championship record to par, last reached by Dustin Johnson in the 2020 Masters held in November.

McIlroy needed eagle to tie him, and his putt through the Valley of Sin had no chance. He missed the birdie and wound up with a 70 to finish third.

Smith is the first Australian to win at St. Andrews since Kel Nagle in 1960, when he topped a rising American star named Arnold Palmer, the people’s choice.

That’s what McIlroy is now, and all day there was an energy along the humps and hollows of the Old Course, all of them waiting to celebrate McIlroy as an Open champion at St. Andrews.

He gave them little to cheer — two birdies, 16 pars, more disappointment.
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Diplomatic tensions soared Sunday between Balkan rivals Serbia and Croatia after Croatia refused to allow a private visit by Serbia’s populist president to the site of a World War II concentration camp where tens of thousands of Serbs were killed by pro-Nazi authorities in Croatia.

Croatia’s authorities said they learned about the planned visit to the Jasenovac camp by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic through “unofficial channels.” Foreign Minister Gordan Grlic Radman told reporters that the fact that the Croatian government had not been formally notified of the visit was “unacceptable.”

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs would like to stress that in the planning of any visit by foreign officials the time, nature and program of the visit should be subject of official communication and agreement by both sides,” said Grlic Radman. “This was not a trip to the seaside. The president of a country is a protected individual.”

Croatia’s decision sparked outrage in neighboring Serbia, where officials described it as “scandalous.” Serbia’s hardline Interior Minister Aleksandar Vulin said all Croatian officials from now on would have to announce any transit or visit to Serbia and would be placed under “special regime of control.” He did not elaborate.

“This was an anti-European and anti-civilization decision and brutal violation of the freedom of movement,” Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic told the pro-government Pink television. “I don’t know what our relations will look like in the future … This is sending a frightening message.”

Relations between Serbia and Croatia have remained tense since the breakup of the former Yugoslavia and the 1991-95 war in Croatia that erupted when its Serb minority, backed by Serbia, rebelled against Croatia’s independence. More than 10,000 people were killed in the war.

Although the two nations have pledged to work to resolve remaining problems from the conflict — such as finding those still missing — occasional diplomatic spats have marred the postwar efforts. Serbia’s populist authorities have insisted that Croatia’s government has not done enough to acknowledge its World War II past, while Zagreb accuses Serbia of using the issue for internal politics and refusing to deal with own role in the 1990s’ war.

“We see this as a provocation,” Grlic Radman said. He added “such a visit is not sincere, it is not about honoring the victims” of the Jasenovac camp, where tens of thousands of Croatia’s Serbs, Jews and Roma perished in brutal executions during the WWII rule of the pro-Nazi authorities.

Vucic, a former ultranationalist who supported the Serb rebellion in Croatia in the 1990s, has scheduled a news conference for Monday. He responded Sunday in an Instagram post featuring a photo of the Jasenovac monument.

“You (Croatia) just do your job! The Serbian people will live and never forget!” said Vucic.
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Beautiful and serene in a crown of white flowers, 4-year-old Liza Dmytrieva, who was killed by a Russian missile strike, was buried Sunday in central Ukraine as an Orthodox priest burst into tears and told weeping relatives that “evil cannot win.”

Liza, who had Down syndrome, was en route to see a speech therapist with her mother when Russian missiles struck the city of Vinnytsia on Thursday, far from the front lines. At least 24 people were killed, including Liza and two boys ages 7 and 8, and more than 200 were wounded, including Liza’s mother.

“Look, my flower! Look how many people came to you,” Liza’s grandmother, Larysa Dmytryshyna, said, caressing Liza as she lay in an open coffin with flowers and teddy bears in Vinnytsia’s 18th-century Transfiguration Cathedral.

Liza’s father, Artem Dmytriev, stood silent, tears flowing down his face.

Liza’s mother, 33-year-old Iryna Dmytrieva, remained in an intensive care unit in grave condition. The family didn’t tell her that Liza was being buried Sunday, fearing it could affect her condition.

“Your mommy didn’t even see how beautiful you are today,” Dmytryshyna said, weeping.

Helena Sydorenko, a longtime family friend, said Liza’s mother “invested a lot of effort in socializing Liza.”

“She wanted her kid to have a full life,” Sydorenko added.

When the war started, Dmytrieva and her family fled Kyiv, the capital, for Vinnytsia, a city 270 kilometers (167 miles) to the southwest, which until Thursday was considered relatively safe.

Shortly before the explosion, Dmytrieva had posted a video on social media showing her daughter straining to reach the handlebars to push her own stroller, happily walking through Vinnytsia, wearing a denim jacket and white pants, her hair decorated with a barrette.

After the Russian missile strike, Ukraine’s emergency services shared photos showing her lifeless body on the ground next to her blood-stained stroller. Ukraine’s first lady remembered how cheerful and happy the little girl was when she met her. The videos and photos have gone viral, the latest images from the brutal war in Ukraine to horrify the world.

Liza’s closest relatives sat on both sides of the coffin, and many more crowded Vinnytsia’s Orthodox cathedral to pay their last tributes to the girl.

“I didn’t know Liza, but no person can go through this with calm,” Orthodox priest Vitalii Holoskevych said, bursting into tears. ”Because every burial is grief for each of us. We are losing our brothers and sisters.”

He paused and continued in a trembling voice: ”We know that evil cannot win.”

Later, at a windswept cemetery, relatives and friends bid farewell to Liza under gray skies.

“You loved this song very much, you danced every day. This song sounds for you now,” Dmytrushyna, Liza’s grandmother, said. The song was, “Oh, the Red Viburnum in the Meadow,” which has become a symbol of resistance in Ukraine after Russia’s invasion.

“It’s suffering and despair. There is no forgiveness for them,” said Ilona, another family friend.

A 7-year-old boy killed in the same Russian airstrike was also buried Sunday along with his mother in a village near Vinnytsia. They were at a medical center when the missiles hit the building. Another young boy slain in the same airstrike is to be buried in Vinnytsia on Monday.
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