- Alcaraz breezes into third round of Shanghai Masters
- Gaza cultural heritage brought to light in Geneva
- 'Bullet for democracy': Trump returns to site of rally shooting
- Italy targets climate activists in 'anti-Gandhi' demo clampdown
- South Korean cult-horror series 'Hellbound' returns at BIFF
- Nepalis fear more floods as climate change melts glaciers
- Honduras arrests environmentalist's alleged murderer
- Padres pitcher Musgrove needs elbow surgery
- Supreme Court lets stand rules to curb mercury, methane emissions
- Boston beat Denver in NBA exhibition season opener, but Jokic says omens are good
- Chagos diaspora angry at lack of input on islands' fate
- Biden says 'not confident' of peaceful US election
- US trade chief defends tariff hikes when paired with investment
- Lukaku stars as Napoli beat Como to hold Serie A top spot
- Ohtani set for MLB playoff debut as Dodgers face Padres
- Pogba's drug ban cut to 18 months from four years
- Devine leads New Zealand to big win over India in Women's T20 World Cup
- Bosnia floods kill 16 people
- EU court blocks French ban on vegetable 'steak' labelling
- Prosecutors seek dismissal of rape charges against French rugby players
- Meta AI turns pictures into videos with sound
- Bolivia's Morales says claims he raped a minor are a 'lie'
- MLB Reds hire two-time champion Francona as manager
- Daniel Maldini receives first Italy call-up for Nations League
- US dockworkers return to ports after three-day strike
- Ancelotti points finger at Madrid's 'lack of intensity'
- Haiti reeling after 70 killed in gang attack
- Five Czech kids in hospital over TikTok 'piercing challenge'
- What happens next in Iran-Israel conflict?
- Country star Garth Brooks denies rape accusations
- Stubbs hits maiden century as South Africa make 343-4 against Ireland
- DR Congo to begin mpox vaccination campaign Saturday in east
- Odegaard injury has forced Arsenal to be 'different', says Arteta
- Ratcliffe refuses to guarantee Ten Hag's Man Utd future
- Meta must limit data use for targeted ads: EU court
- Mauritius to hold legislative election on November 10
- Britain qualify for America's Cup final after 60-year wait
- IMF asks Sri Lanka to protect hard-won gains
- Morata returns to Spain Nations League squad after injury
- Irish regulator to probe Ryanair use of facial recognition
- Public allowed to see video evidence in France mass rape trial
- US hiring soars past expectations in sign of resilient market
- Under-fire Ten Hag 'together' with Man Utd hierarchy
- Guardiola talks of Man City love affair as financial hearing rumbles on
- De Bruyne out of Belgium Nations League squad
- Japanese trainer Yahagi hopes Shin Emperor achieves 50-year-old Arc dream
- UK's Starmer hails 'landmark' carbon capture funding
- As EU targets Chinese cars, European rivals sputter
- Bosnia floods kill 14 people
- Tennis world number one Swiatek splits with coach Wiktorowski
Swaths of China, Japan log record summer temperatures
Swaths of China logged the hottest August on record last month, the weather service said, as Japanese authorities announced that this summer had been the joint warmest since records began.
China is the leading emitter of the greenhouse gas emissions scientists say are driving global climate change.
Beijing has pledged to bring planet-warming carbon dioxide emissions to a peak by 2030 and to net zero by 2060.
Its weather service said in an article published Sunday that average air temperatures last month in eight provinces, regions and cities "ranked the hottest for the same period" since records began.
They included the megacity of Shanghai, the provinces of Jiangsu, Hebei, Hainan, Jilin, Liaoning and Shandong as well as the northwest region of Xinjiang, the weather service said.
A further five provinces chalked up their second-hottest August, while seven more endured their third-hottest.
"Looking back at the past month, most parts of China have experienced a hotter summer than in previous years," the weather service said.
The major population centres of Shanghai, Hangzhou and Chongqing also saw more "high temperature days" -- typically declared when the mercury breaches 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) -- than in any August since records began.
Although the heat is expected to recede across much of the north as autumn begins, "it is still too early to end completely", the weather service said.
Climate scientists have already predicted that 2024 will be the hottest year on record for the Earth because of a warming planet.
The Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said July was the second warmest on record books going back to 1940, only slightly cooler than July 2023.
Extreme heat has seared much of East Asia this summer, with Japan saying on Monday that its long-term average temperature between June and August was 1.76C above the standard value -- equalling the level seen in summer 2023 -- the highest since statistics started being kept in 1898.
Rising global temperatures also make extreme weather more frequent and intense, and China has seen a summer of extreme weather, from heatwaves across much of the north and west to devastating floods in central and southern regions.
Chinese weather authorities said July was the country's hottest month since records began, state media reported, as extreme temperatures persist across large parts of the globe.
July 2024 was "the hottest July since complete observations began in 1961, and the hottest single month in the history of observation", state broadcaster CCTV said, citing weather authorities.
The average air temperature in China that month was 23.21C (73.78F), exceeding the previous record of 23.17C in 2017, CCTV reported the weather authorities as saying.
X.Brito--PC