EUROPE: Northern Europeans breathed more easily yesterday as forecasters predicted an end to a heatwave that broke temperature records in many spots, though fires still raged in the south where prayers were said for rain.
As the mercury eased from levels of 40 degrees and more in Germany and Paris, firefighters fought devastating blazes in forests and scrublands in Italy, Portugal, Spain and southern France, with little sign of respite.
"We're certainly looking at a break in the heatwave for the next week, although we cannot say it is definitely over," German weather institute meteorologist Ms Marielott Grosch said.
"What we've had is the worst we've ever seen, as bad as or worse than 1947," a spokesman at Meteo France said.
That year saw the most intense heatwave previously on record in France.
Southern Europe saw little sign of a break from the heat.
Seven fires raged in northern Italy as Catholic faithful dedicated an annual pilgrimage in honour of a miraculous image of the Virgin Mary, scheduled for Thursday, to prayers for rain.
Doctors there have said 60 people have died indirectly from the heat, but no direct fire deaths have so far been registered.
Firefighters battled for a fifth day to tame a blaze in the Algarve region of Portugal, where fires have already killed 15.
A Spanish fireman died in an overnight road accident as he rushed to a fire in Catalonia, where five people from the same family burned to death as they fled their home on Monday. Another fireman died of a heart attack on duty.
In France, the head of the Paris public hospital service said yesterday more than 100 people had died in recent days, due largely to hyperthermia and heat-related problems.
In London, forecasters predicted a return to normal weather and showers, after a recent record 38.1 degrees that cleaned shops out of ventilation fans.
The slight temperature drop in places such as Paris brought relief for thousands of old and sick people and promised respite for swamped hospitals, overheating power plants and animals.
Around 30,000 eels died from a bacteria plague last week as water temperatures topped 26 degrees along the Dutch and German stretches of the Rhine, according to German officials, and tens of thousands of chickens have died in France.- (Reuters)