The UK recording its hottest temperature yet may not be commonplace, but it is likely to become frequent in years to come and that is a problem — because the country is ill-equipped to deal with potentially deadly heat.
Admittedly the 42.2°C registered on Tuesday at London Heathrow is hot but it is also fairly run of the mill when it comes to soaring temperatures across Europe. Scientists operate a second gauge of temperatures, the minimum mortality temperature or the trigger temperature at which the fewest people die, calculated from an average of 10 different regions. On this the UK ranks low at 17°C, while it rises to almost 22°C in Italy and 31°C in Kuwait.
Changing temperatures are a big challenge for Europeans, even though severe temperatures have long been predicted, a leading climate scientist told The National.
In recent days, the region has been grappling with a fearsome heatwave, which has precipitated a premature wildfire season. Tens of thousands of western Europeans have been forced to leave their homes and flee from the conflagrations, while more than 1,100 people in Portugal and Spain have died from heat-related causes.
Much of Europe simply isn't heat-proofed, with both old and new buildings designed with more moderate temperatures in mind and infrastructure is inadequately equipped to cope with the heat.
"[They] are consistent with projections that have been made for decades by climate models," said Manoj Joshi, Professor of Climate Dynamics at the University of East Anglia.
"As the world warms, we'll get heatwaves that will be hotter and more intense compared to what happened before."
The latest Copernicus fire forecast showed the risk of blazes this week, and unsurprisingly the UK and France are currently in greatest jeopardy.
What has caused Europe's current heatwave
While the ferocity of Europe's current heatwave marks a climatic step change, its cause is no different to past heatwaves.
"It's a plume of warm air from Europe, which is both very warm and very dry," said Prof Joshi.
"In a warmer world, these plumes of air will simply be warmer: the sea surface temperature is warmer, the land is warmer — and so the anomalies you get become proportionately warmer."
Like humans, no heatwave is absolutely identical. The current incarnation has been triggered by a region of upper level low-pressure air that has effectively split from the mid-latitude jet stream and moved in a northwards direction up through France and into the UK, taking the Mediterranean's warm air with it.
It's not just at ground level where the searing temperatures are being felt; temperatures at mid-levels (one to two kilometres in altitude) in Europe are also at record highs.
This doesn't surprise Prof Joshi given it represents a straightforward meteorological correspondence.
"When air mass moves, it moves across to the whole depth or what we call the troposphere, the bit of the atmosphere where the weather happens which is about 10 kilometres deep," he said.
"If you have very warm temperatures on the ground, you are going to get very warm temperatures above too."
Locations in Europe approaching or surpassing unofficial daily temperature records
Temperatures on the ground were certainly intense across Europe as of 3pm UK time on Tuesday.
The red circles denote a city marking a daily record, the magenta a station tying or exceeding a monthly record, while the black circles with an "x" inside show places where an all-time record has been set. From the heavy concentration of these latter symbols in England, it is clear than almost all of the country had temperatures at previously unseen levels.
The fact England was so disproportionately affected by Europe's heatwave on Tuesday was ascribed to the quirks of the weather.
"[The UK] just happens to be where this particular heat dome is," said Prof Joshi.
"Its random chance essentially determines where these different high pressure systems may sit at any given point in time.
"This one I believe, has sat over the UK and is moving east. So different places are going to get these heatwaves [at different] times."
A fiery future awaits
The Portuguese can attest to the heatwave's fluidity. Last week, the epicentre of the heatwave fell four-square over Portugal where temperatures reached a national high of 47°C.
With such highs come the attendant natural disasters. The EU earlier this month said Europe would have to become used to both droughts and large fires. Meanwhile, the UN has warned the trend of hotter heatwaves is likely to continue until the 2060s at the earliest, regardless of climate mitigation efforts.
"They are becoming more frequent and this negative trend will continue... at least until the 2060s, independent of our success in climate mitigation efforts," World Meteorological Organisation chief Petteri Taalas told a press conference in Geneva on Tuesday.
"Thanks to climate change we have started breaking records... In the future these kinds of heatwaves are going to be normal, and we will see even stronger extremes."
Wildfires have certainly proliferated across the region since this heatwave struck.
London fires — in pictures
Prof Joshi believes the blazes portend the UK's fiery future.
"We don't really think of forest fires here in the UK as being a thing, but they might soon be," he said.
He feels one of the reasons the UK heatwave hadn't been deemed as severe as that in France, is that it hasn't been accompanied by the sort of raging infernos seen by the French and in other parts of Europe — but once that happens and people's lives are alloyed by the heat, this will change.
"Global warming is as much about temperature as it is about water," he said.
Prof Joshi also stressed that global temperature shouldn't be treated as a uniform concept.
"The global temperature is something like one 1.2°C above pre-industrial levels but the world doesn't warm uniformly.
"The Arctic warms more than the equator, the land warms more than the ocean so you can get changes in weather, changes in circulation.
"And that's important to note thinking about how heatwaves may change in future. So it's not just 'think of the weather a few decades back and add a degree to it'. It's far more complex than that."
Keeping net zero pledges is key
What the weather will look like in a few decades time significantly depends on how diligent countries are in sticking to their net-zero targets.
"I don't agree with some of the apocalyptic forecasts that we have, but I personally think we'll get to something like 2°C-2.5°C above pre-industrial levels," said Prof Joshi.
He cited China which, has a net-zero target and where emissions are starting to slow, and said that "even India's talking about a net-zero target".
However, he doesn't think progress is quick enough to prevent the world from going over 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. Yet he remain sanguine, and thinks much of Europe will just have to evolve and adapt.
"I wouldn't say the future is hopeless but I do think we're going to have to adapt to these high temperatures in [the UK].
"That's something that will both cost money and require much political will."
UK's hottest ever day — in pictures
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AI traffic lights to ease congestion at seven points to Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Street
The seven points are:
Shakhbout bin Sultan Street
Dhafeer Street
Hadbat Al Ghubainah Street (outbound)
Salama bint Butti Street
Al Dhafra Street
Rabdan Street
Umm Yifina Street exit (inbound)
Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.
Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
Getting there
Flydubai flies direct from Dubai to Tbilisi from Dh1,025 return including taxes
RECORD%20BREAKER
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Indoor cricket World Cup:
Insportz, Dubai, September 16-23
UAE fixtures:
Men
Saturday, September 16 – 1.45pm, v New Zealand
Sunday, September 17 – 10.30am, v Australia; 3.45pm, v South Africa
Monday, September 18 – 2pm, v England; 7.15pm, v India
Tuesday, September 19 – 12.15pm, v Singapore; 5.30pm, v Sri Lanka
Thursday, September 21 – 2pm v Malaysia
Friday, September 22 – 3.30pm, semi-final
Saturday, September 23 – 3pm, grand final
Women
Saturday, September 16 – 5.15pm, v Australia
Sunday, September 17 – 2pm, v South Africa; 7.15pm, v New Zealand
Monday, September 18 – 5.30pm, v England
Tuesday, September 19 – 10.30am, v New Zealand; 3.45pm, v South Africa
Thursday, September 21 – 12.15pm, v Australia
Friday, September 22 – 1.30pm, semi-final
Saturday, September 23 – 1pm, grand final
Why are asylum seekers being housed in hotels?
The number of asylum applications in the UK has reached a new record high, driven by those illegally entering the country in small boats crossing the English Channel.
A total of 111,084 people applied for asylum in the UK in the year to June 2025, the highest number for any 12-month period since current records began in 2001.
Asylum seekers and their families can be housed in temporary accommodation while their claim is assessed.
The Home Office provides the accommodation, meaning asylum seekers cannot choose where they live.
When there is not enough housing, the Home Office can move people to hotels or large sites like former military bases.
What sanctions would be reimposed?
Under ‘snapback’, measures imposed on Iran by the UN Security Council in six resolutions would be restored, including:
- An arms embargo
- A ban on uranium enrichment and reprocessing
- A ban on launches and other activities with ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons, as well as ballistic missile technology transfer and technical assistance
- A targeted global asset freeze and travel ban on Iranian individuals and entities
- Authorisation for countries to inspect Iran Air Cargo and Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines cargoes for banned goods
Brief scoreline:
Wolves 3
Neves 28', Doherty 37', Jota 45' 2
Arsenal 1
Papastathopoulos 80'
UAE SQUAD
Mohammed Naveed (captain), Mohamed Usman (vice captain), Ashfaq Ahmed, Chirag Suri, Shaiman Anwar, Mohammed Boota, Ghulam Shabber, Imran Haider, Tahir Mughal, Amir Hayat, Zahoor Khan, Qadeer Ahmed, Fahad Nawaz, Abdul Shakoor, Sultan Ahmed, CP Rizwan
The years Ramadan fell in May
Gothia Cup 2025
4,872 matches
1,942 teams
116 pitches
76 nations
26 UAE teams
15 Lebanese teams
2 Kuwaiti teams
Who are the Sacklers?
The Sackler family is a transatlantic dynasty that owns Purdue Pharma, which manufactures and markets OxyContin, one of the drugs at the centre of America's opioids crisis. The family is well known for their generous philanthropy towards the world's top cultural institutions, including Guggenheim Museum, the National Portrait Gallery, Tate in Britain, Yale University and the Serpentine Gallery, to name a few. Two branches of the family control Purdue Pharma.
Isaac Sackler and Sophie Greenberg were Jewish immigrants who arrived in New York before the First World War. They had three sons. The first, Arthur, died before OxyContin was invented. The second, Mortimer, who died aged 93 in 2010, was a former chief executive of Purdue Pharma. The third, Raymond, died aged 97 in 2017 and was also a former chief executive of Purdue Pharma.
It was Arthur, a psychiatrist and pharmaceutical marketeer, who started the family business dynasty. He and his brothers bought a small company called Purdue Frederick; among their first products were laxatives and prescription earwax remover.
Arthur's branch of the family has not been involved in Purdue for many years and his daughter, Elizabeth, has spoken out against it, saying the company's role in America's drugs crisis is "morally abhorrent".
The lawsuits that were brought by the attorneys general of New York and Massachussetts named eight Sacklers. This includes Kathe, Mortimer, Richard, Jonathan and Ilene Sackler Lefcourt, who are all the children of either Mortimer or Raymond. Then there's Theresa Sackler, who is Mortimer senior's widow; Beverly, Raymond's widow; and David Sackler, Raymond's grandson.
Members of the Sackler family are rarely seen in public.
If you go
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Seattle from Dh5,555 return, including taxes. Portland is a 260 km drive from Seattle and Emirates offers codeshare flights to Portland with its partner Alaska Airlines.
The car
Hertz (www.hertz.ae) offers compact car rental from about $300 per week, including taxes. Emirates Skywards members can earn points on their car hire through Hertz.
Parks and accommodation
For information on Crater Lake National Park, visit www.nps.gov/crla/index.htm . Because of the altitude, large parts of the park are closed in winter due to snow. While the park’s summer season is May 22-October 31, typically, the full loop of the Rim Drive is only possible from late July until the end of October. Entry costs $25 per car for a day. For accommodation, see www.travelcraterlake.com. For information on Umpqua Hot Springs, see www.fs.usda.gov and https://soakoregon.com/umpqua-hot-springs/. For Bend, see https://www.visitbend.com/.
Top tips to avoid cyber fraud
Microsoft’s ‘hacker-in-chief’ David Weston, creator of the tech company’s Windows Red Team, advises simple steps to help people avoid falling victim to cyber fraud:
1. Always get the latest operating system on your smartphone or desktop, as it will have the latest innovations. An outdated OS can erode away all investments made in securing your device or system.
2. After installing the latest OS version, keep it patched; this means repairing system vulnerabilities which are discovered after the infrastructure components are released in the market. The vast majority of attacks are based on out of date components – there are missing patches.
3. Multi-factor authentication is required. Move away from passwords as fast as possible, particularly for anything financial. Cybercriminals are targeting money through compromising the users’ identity – his username and password. So, get on the next level of security using fingertips or facial recognition.
4. Move your personal as well as professional data to the cloud, which has advanced threat detection mechanisms and analytics to spot any attempt. Even if you are hit by some ransomware, the chances of restoring the stolen data are higher because everything is backed up.
5. Make the right hardware selection and always refresh it. We are in a time where a number of security improvement processes are reliant on new processors and chip sets that come with embedded security features. Buy a new personal computer with a trusted computing module that has fingerprint or biometric cameras as additional measures of protection.
Email sent to Uber team from chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi
From: Dara
To: Team@
Date: March 25, 2019 at 11:45pm PT
Subj: Accelerating in the Middle East
Five years ago, Uber launched in the Middle East. It was the start of an incredible journey, with millions of riders and drivers finding new ways to move and work in a dynamic region that’s become so important to Uber. Now Pakistan is one of our fastest-growing markets in the world, women are driving with Uber across Saudi Arabia, and we chose Cairo to launch our first Uber Bus product late last year.
Today we are taking the next step in this journey—well, it’s more like a leap, and a big one: in a few minutes, we’ll announce that we’ve agreed to acquire Careem. Importantly, we intend to operate Careem independently, under the leadership of co-founder and current CEO Mudassir Sheikha. I’ve gotten to know both co-founders, Mudassir and Magnus Olsson, and what they have built is truly extraordinary. They are first-class entrepreneurs who share our platform vision and, like us, have launched a wide range of products—from digital payments to food delivery—to serve consumers.
I expect many of you will ask how we arrived at this structure, meaning allowing Careem to maintain an independent brand and operate separately. After careful consideration, we decided that this framework has the advantage of letting us build new products and try new ideas across not one, but two, strong brands, with strong operators within each. Over time, by integrating parts of our networks, we can operate more efficiently, achieve even lower wait times, expand new products like high-capacity vehicles and payments, and quicken the already remarkable pace of innovation in the region.
This acquisition is subject to regulatory approval in various countries, which we don’t expect before Q1 2020. Until then, nothing changes. And since both companies will continue to largely operate separately after the acquisition, very little will change in either teams’ day-to-day operations post-close. Today’s news is a testament to the incredible business our team has worked so hard to build.
It’s a great day for the Middle East, for the region’s thriving tech sector, for Careem, and for Uber.
Uber on,
Dara
Day 2, Abu Dhabi Test: At a glance
Moment of the day Dinesh Chandimal has inherited a challenging job, after being made Sri Lanka’s Test captain. He responded in perfect fashion, with an easy-natured century against Pakistan. He brought up three figures with a majestic cover drive, which he just stood and admired.
Stat of the day – 33 It took 33 balls for Dilruwan Perera to get off the mark. His time on zero was eventful enough. The Sri Lankan No 7 was given out LBW twice, but managed to have both decisions overturned on review. The TV replays showed both times that he had inside edged the ball onto his pad.
The verdict In the two previous times these two sides have met in Abu Dhabi, the Tests have been drawn. The docile nature of proceedings so far makes that the likely outcome again this time, but both sides will be harbouring thoughts that they can force their way into a winning position.
Jetour T1 specs
Engine: 2-litre turbocharged
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Price: From Dh126,000
Available: Now
Day 5, Dubai Test: At a glance
Moment of the day Given the problems Sri Lanka have had in recent times, it was apt the winning catch was taken by Dinesh Chandimal. He is one of seven different captains Sri Lanka have had in just the past two years. He leads in understated fashion, but by example. His century in the first innings of this series set the shock win in motion.
Stat of the day This was the ninth Test Pakistan have lost in their past 11 matches, a run that started when they lost the final match of their three-Test series against West Indies in Sharjah last year. They have not drawn a match in almost two years and 19 matches, since they were held by England at the Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi in 2015.
The verdict Mickey Arthur basically acknowledged he had erred by basing Pakistan’s gameplan around three seam bowlers and asking for pitches with plenty of grass in Abu Dhabi and Sharjah. Why would Pakistan want to change the method that has treated them so well on these grounds in the past 10 years? It is unlikely Misbah-ul-Haq would have made the same mistake.
Key findings of Jenkins report
- Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
- Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
- Muslim Brotherhood at all levels has repeatedly defended Hamas attacks against Israel, including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians.
- Laying out the report in the House of Commons, David Cameron told MPs: "The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
