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Heatwave causes excess deaths in Portugal as fires rage across Europe
Heatwave causes excess deaths in Portugal as fires rage across Europe

Euronews

time08-07-2025

  • Climate
  • Euronews

Heatwave causes excess deaths in Portugal as fires rage across Europe

Portugal has recorded 284 deaths during the ongoing heatwave, the country's Directorate-General for Health (DGS) has said. According to preliminary data from the DGS, more than 70% of the deaths, which occurred between 28 June and early July, were among people aged over 85. There is a potential risk that this number could climb further, with high-temperature risks predicted in the Alentejo region. The Portuguese Institute for Sea and Atmosphere has indicated that the current heatwave is expected to last until at least mid-week. Maximum temperatures could reach 40 degrees Celsius in the Douro and Tagus valleys, it warned. This comes after mainland Portugal recorded its hottest ever temperature in late June, when 46.6 degrees Celsius was logged in Mora, which lies around 100 kilometres east of the capital Lisbon. Meanwhile, authorities in neighbouring Spain have placed more than 18,000 residents in the north-eastern Tarragona province in lockdown as a wildfire continues to burn. Large parts of Spain are on high alert for wildfires after the country experienced its hottest June on record. Two people died in a fire on 1 July in the region of Catalonia, where Tarragona is located. This latest blaze started in the early hours of Monday in a remote area near the village of Pauls, where strong winds and rugged terrain have hampered firefighting efforts, authorities said. An emergency military unit was deployed early on Tuesday to help the more than 300 firefighters working in the area. "Since midnight, firefighters have been battling the blaze with gusts of wind reaching up to 90 kilometres per hour," Catalonia's regional firefighting service said, adding that strong winds were expected to ease by Tuesday afternoon. Red alerts in France France is also attempting to put out wildfires. At least 10 people — five civilians and five firefighters — have been injured in a blaze in the southern prefecture of Aude, which led to the partial closure of the A9 motorway. The road reopened on Tuesday morning but the fire "continues to spread," warned Colonel Christophe Magny, the director of the Aude fire service. The fire, which broke out on Monday at around 3 pm, is thought to have been started by "a cigarette butt thrown from a vehicle", according to Magny. Elsewhere, flights have been suspended at Marseille Airport because of a wildfire that is raging close to the southern French port city, local authorities said Tuesday. The prefecture told residents in the affected areas to stay indoors and off the roads. The French weather service Météo France said a further two departments — Var and Vaucluse — are also on red alert for possible forest fires. Hungary suffers from sudden shift in weather In Hungary, Monday's storm caused massive damage: the wind uprooted trees, downed power lines, paralysed rail traffic, and left 150,000 households without electricity. The wind blew off the roof of a building at the University of Szeged, and the tower of the church in Sápi collapsed. The storm caused further damage to the railway infrastructure on Tuesday. Hungarian Minister of Construction and Transport János Lázár stated in a video that his ministry cannot guarantee the resumption of traffic on all lines today, as the repair work from yesterday's storm damage continued throughout the night. "Primarily, colleagues worked on freeing the main lines," said Lázár, who noted that it may take days if not weeks to restore traffic on electrified tracks. "We are struggling with huge problems and challenges on the Balatonfüred line and direction. But fortunately, Volán has so much bus capacity that several hundred buses complement the incomplete and difficult-to-use line network," he added. Following strong winds and heavy rainfall on Tuesday, the mercury is expected to drop even further on Wednesday, with an average daily temperature of 15 degrees in the capital. "On Wednesday morning, we may feel like we're in late autumn, with winds of 60–70 km/h or more heavy rain, while the temperature will feel close to 10 degrees," meteorologist László Molnár told domestic outlets. HungaroMet highlights that "on Tuesday afternoon, due to the storm system in the eastern border region, there is a renewed chance of damaging wind gusts above 90–110 km/h developing in a larger area." From fires to storms Meanwhile, a severe hailstorm ripped up trees and tore off roofs when it hit the Croatian port of Split on Tuesday morning. High winds and hail damaged the roof of the city's football stadium and caused a ferry to slip its moorings at the port. The boat then hit two other vessels, one of which sank. At least three people were injured in the storm, and material damage across the city was significant. Photos carried by Croatian media showed downed trees and flooded streets. This happened as hundreds of fires raged in neighbouring Serbia following a period of extremely hot weather across parts of the Balkan region. So far they have injured six people. Serbian firefighters battled more than 600 wildfires on Monday. At least three municipalities in southern parts of the country have declared emergency measures due to the fires. "Many villages were jeopardised. We have a number of burnt and damaged properties but we have managed to save many too," senior emergency official Nedeljko Gagić told public broadcaster RTS. The country has been hit by a severe drought this summer, which has endangered crops and led to restrictions in supplies of drinking water. Experts say that the extreme weather conditions currently gripping Europe can be linked to climate change.

Portugal records 284 excess deaths during heatwave
Portugal records 284 excess deaths during heatwave

Euronews

time08-07-2025

  • Climate
  • Euronews

Portugal records 284 excess deaths during heatwave

Portugal has recorded 284 deaths during the ongoing heatwave, the country's Directorate-General for Health (DGS) has said. According to preliminary data from the DGS, more than 70% of the deaths, which occurred between 28 June and early July, were among people aged over 85. There is a potential risk that this number could climb further, with high-temperature risks predicted in the Alentejo region. The Portuguese Institute for Sea and Atmosphere has indicated that the current heatwave is expected to last until at least mid-week. Maximum temperatures could reach 40 degrees Celsius in the Douro and Tagus valleys, it warned. This comes after mainland Portugal recorded its hottest ever temperature in late June, when 46.6 degrees Celsius was logged in Mora, which lies around 100 kilometres east of the capital Lisbon. Meanwhile, authorities in neighbouring Spain have placed more than 18,000 residents in the north-eastern Tarragona province in lockdown as a wildfire continues to burn. Large parts of Spain are on high alert for wildfires after the country experienced its hottest June on record. Two people died in a fire on 1 July in the region of Catalonia, where Tarragona is located. This latest blaze started in the early hours of Monday in a remote area near the village of Pauls, where strong winds and rugged terrain have hampered firefighting efforts, authorities said. An emergency military unit was deployed early on Tuesday to help the more than 300 firefighters working in the area. "Since midnight, firefighters have been battling the blaze with gusts of wind reaching up to 90 kilometres per hour," Catalonia's regional firefighting service said, adding that strong winds were expected to ease by Tuesday afternoon. Red alerts in France France is also attempting to put out wildfires. At least 10 people — five civilians and five firefighters — have been injured in a blaze in the southern prefecture of Aude, which led to the partial closure of the A9 motorway. The road reopened on Tuesday morning but the fire "continues to spread," warned Colonel Christophe Magny, the director of the Aude fire service. The fire, which broke out on Monday at around 3 pm, is thought to have been started by "a cigarette butt thrown from a vehicle", according to Magny. Elsewhere, flights have been suspended at Marseille Airport because of a wildfire that is raging close to the southern French port city, local authorities said Tuesday. The prefecture told residents in the affected areas to stay indoors and off the roads. The French weather service Météo France said a further two departments — Var and Vaucluse — are also on red alert for possible forest fires. From fires to storms Meanwhile, a severe hailstorm ripped up trees and tore off roofs when it hit the Croatian port of Split on Tuesday morning. High winds and hail damaged the roof of the city's football stadium and caused a ferry to slip its moorings at the port. The boat then hit two other vessels, one of which sank. At least three people were injured in the storm, and material damage across the city was significant. Photos carried by Croatian media showed downed trees and flooded streets. This happened as hundreds of fires raged in neighbouring Serbia following a period of extremely hot weather across parts of the Balkan region. So far they have injured six people. Serbian firefighters battled more than 600 wildfires on Monday. At least three municipalities in southern parts of the country have declared emergency measures due to the fires. "Many villages were jeopardised. We have a number of burnt and damaged properties but we have managed to save many too," senior emergency official Nedeljko Gagić told public broadcaster RTS. The country has been hit by a severe drought this summer, which has endangered crops and led to restrictions in supplies of drinking water. Experts say that the extreme weather conditions currently gripping Europe can be linked to climate change.

Victorian government to change state's Working with Children Check system
Victorian government to change state's Working with Children Check system

ABC News

time01-07-2025

  • ABC News

Victorian government to change state's Working with Children Check system

The Victorian government will strengthen its Working with Children Check laws, but the first change will not come into effect until August, the ABC can reveal. Warning: This story contains details of alleged child sex abuse that may distress some audience members. On Tuesday, Victoria Police announced a childcare worker in Melbourne's south-west had been charged with more than 70 offences, including sexual assault and producing child abuse material, related to eight alleged victims at the Creative Garden childcare centre in Point Cook. Police said the accused, who had worked for about 20 childcare centres over about eight years, held a valid Working with Children Check (WWCC). The ABC understands the Department of Government Services (DGS) recently completed an "initial review" of Victoria's Working with Children scheme. The review was ordered after the ABC revealed people under investigation for serious offences could still hold one of the permits. A WWCC is a background check conducted by the government that screens people for criminal history and professional conduct findings. Currently in Victoria only criminal charges or a regulatory finding can trigger a check being revoked. For example, someone banned by the education department from working at a preschool for posing a risk of harm to children could still hold a valid WWCC. The government said that from August, screening regulations would change so DGS could "take into account prohibition notices issued from the Department of Education when determining or revoking a person's clearance to work with children". "It's clear to us that this system needs to be strengthened," Government Services Minister Natalie Hutchins told the ABC last month, after the ABC's extensive coverage of the issue. "This is just the first step to strengthen the Working With Children Check system to ensure that awful incidents that have occurred never happen again. "I will have more to say on outcomes of the review soon." It has been four years since ABC reporting sparked investigations that would lead to flaws in the WWCC being exposed. In 2022, the Victorian Ombudsman recommended the state urgently change its laws after a youth worker was cleared to work with children despite facing sexual offence allegations, including rape, in New South Wales. The state-based changes flagged for August will still not allow the Victorian system to consider a broad range of information such as child protection reports or police intelligence. Other states and territories can. Do you know more about this story? Contact Josie Taylor at josiegtaylor@ If you're sharing sensitive information, read our tips on how to contact us confidentially. It has been 10 years since the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse recommended Australia's eight separate state and territory working-with-children systems be both standardised and nationalised. In a rare case of a former royal commissioner speaking publicly, Robert Fitzgerald told the ABC it was "shameful" this work had still not been done. "There doesn't need to be any more reviews or any more inquiries, or any more royal commissions," he said. "The evidence was overwhelming 10 years ago and it's even more so today," he said. "Working with children checks are in fact the very first thing you need to do to create child-safe institutions. "The longer we delay in fixing the system … we continue to leave children at risk." Mr Fitzgerald, who is now the age discrimination commissioner, called for the federal, state and territory governments to urgently establish a national WWCC system and a real-time national police database. The Australian Childhood Foundation (ACF) said the alleged abuse case announced by Victoria Police on Tuesday was "one of the most significant and far-reaching cases of [alleged] child sexual abuse ever seen in a childcare setting in Australia". The Victorian government has established a webpage with information for affected families. Information, including details of the government's dedicated hotline, can be found here. It called on governments across Australia to swiftly embed mandatory child abuse prevention education into the scheme, an issue it has lobbied on for years. "We can't always stop people who want to harm children from slipping through the cracks, but governments must act to ensure that the adults around children are trained to recognise risk, respond appropriately and act to protect them," chief executive Janise Mitchell said. Emma Hakansson, a lead advocate with the ACF, said WWCC holders continued to abuse children. "At the moment [the scheme] is essentially a screening tool to make sure people convicted of harming children and other dangerous crimes can't work with children," she said. "But we know that most perpetrators of child sexual abuse don't have any past convictions and they go under the radar. "Until the WWCC has mandatory child abuse prevention training as part of it, which we are calling for, it will not work." Ms Hakansson said embedding training into the scheme would make the community safer. "At the moment, to receive a Working with Children Check you have to do zero training," she said. "You just need to go through a police screening." She said people were often trained about how to respond to a direct disclosure of child abuse, but at that point, it was already too late. "A child has already been abused," she said. Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan was asked on Tuesday if she supported the proposal to make child abuse prevention education training mandatory as part of the WWCC scheme. She said the recommendation would be considered. "This is one of a number of pieces of advice that is already being provided to federal and state ministers as they work through the national framework that sits across the early childhood sector," she said. "Recommendations around additional training is one of those recommendation that we will examine. "We understand that there is a need here, to look at what happened, to understand what happened, and to strengthen the regulations."

Europe heatwave: Full list of holiday destinations with ‘red heat' warnings
Europe heatwave: Full list of holiday destinations with ‘red heat' warnings

Time Out

time30-06-2025

  • Climate
  • Time Out

Europe heatwave: Full list of holiday destinations with ‘red heat' warnings

We all know by now that summers are getting hotter every year. And while more and more travellers are choosing to forego classic Mediterranean holiday destinations like Italy, Spain and Portugal, opting instead for a 'coolcation' in northern Europe, plenty of holidaymakers will have trips planned to parts of Europe that are currently baking in 40C temperatures. An extreme heatwave is engulfing much of southern Europe right now, with parts of Spain hitting 46C over the weekend. It's expected to be sweltering this week – so, what should you do if you have a trip booked? Can you get a refund if you choose not to travel? Here's the lowdown on travelling in Europe during this summer heatwave. Where in Europe is experiencing a heatwave? While parts of the UK are experiencing highs of 33C, much of southern Europe is boiling in even more extreme temperatures. Several destinations have issued 'red heat' alerts – these are the hottest places on the continent right now. Full list of destinations with 'red heat' warnings Spain Southern Spain has been the worst-hit region, with Seville and the surrounding area recording highs in the mid-40s. France Almost the entirety of mainland France has been placed under a severe high temperature alert, which is expected to last for the rest of the week. Portugal Portugal's Directorate-General for Health (DGS) has issued a severe weather warning to citizens, advising that they stay indoors between 11am and 5pm. Italy Over 20 cities in Italy were placed under a 'red' warning for extreme weather yesterday, with regions like Tuscany reporting an increase in hospital admissions related to dehydration and heat strokes. Türkiye A wildfire is currently raging in the Izmir region, and hotter, drier summers are to blame. Croatia and the Balkans The Adriatic coast experienced highs of 40C over the weekend, with temperatures expected to remain very hot this week. Why is it so hot? Extreme heat is the 'new normal', according to UN chief António Guterres, per the Guardian. A 'heat dome' – an area of high pressure that traps hot air – is currently engulfing western Europe. This is compounded by hot air from North Africa and made worse by fossil fuel pollution. How long will the heatwave last? The intense heat will continue through the week. Temperatures are expected to drop at the end of the week in Italy, according to returning to seasonal averages of high 20s/early 30s. In Spain, extreme temperatures will persist through at least mid-week, according to AEMET. Is it safe to travel? While travel to the affected regions has not been officially warned against, holidaymakers are advised to follow local measures and precautions. Stay out of the sun during peak hours (between 11am and 6pm), wear plenty of sunscreen and drink plenty of water. Can I get a refund if I choose to cancel my trip? As the FCDO has not issued an official 'do not travel' warning, it's unlikely you'll get a refund if you cancel your trip. Speak to your travel provider directly to see what can be done.

Casa del Fuego Co-Owner Jeremy Hilland Affirms Commitment to DGS Vision Following $5B Acquisition
Casa del Fuego Co-Owner Jeremy Hilland Affirms Commitment to DGS Vision Following $5B Acquisition

Yahoo

time25-06-2025

  • Business
  • Yahoo

Casa del Fuego Co-Owner Jeremy Hilland Affirms Commitment to DGS Vision Following $5B Acquisition

TYSONS, Va., June 25, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Following the announcement that Digital Global Systems Inc. (DGS) has been acquired in a $5 billion stock purchase, Casa del Fuego Family Office and Trust today clarified that the firm was co-founded and is co-owned by investor and entrepreneur Jeremy Hilland. Casa del Fuego acquired 100% of DGS through a strategic stock transaction, making the AI-driven spectrum optimization company a wholly owned subsidiary. The move positions DGS to accelerate the deployment of its patented RF Awareness technologies across defense, commercial, and smart infrastructure sectors. "DGS is exactly the kind of company Casa del Fuego was built to back—visionary, defensible, and transformational," said Jeremy Hilland. "Its unparalleled patent portfolio and leadership in real-time RF analytics give it the potential to redefine how wireless networks function globally. We are proud to support its growth." DGS will continue to operate independently under its current leadership team, advancing its development of chipset-level spectrum analytics, autonomous network optimization, and critical signal anomaly detection technologies. Media Contact:Pat Rudolph, CMOprudolph@ View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE Digital Global Systems Inc. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data

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