Life and death in the heat. What it feels like when Earth’s temperatures soar to record highs

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A picture shows a view of the old town during a heatwave in the city of Fez on July 26, 2024. A heatwave in Morocco has killed at least 21 people in a 24-hour period in the central city of Beni Mellal, the health ministry announced on July 25. (AFP)
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Updated 28 July 2024
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Life and death in the heat. What it feels like when Earth’s temperatures soar to record highs

  • As the warming Earth sizzled through a week with four of the hottest days ever measured, the world focused on cold, hard numbers that showed the average daily temperature for the entire planet

BENI MELLAL, Morocco: In the unrelenting heat of Morocco’s Middle Atlas, people were sleeping on rooftops. Hanna Ouhbour needed refuge too, but she was outside a hospital waiting for her diabetic cousin who was in a room without air conditioning.
On Wednesday, there were 21 heat-related deaths at Beni Mellal’s main hospital as temperatures spiked to 48.3 degrees (118.9 degrees Fahrenheit) in the region of 575,000 people, most lacking air conditioning.
“We don’t have money and we don’t have a choice,” said Ouhbour, a 31-year-old unemployed woman from Kasba Tadla, an even warmer city that some experts say is among the hottest on Earth.
“The majority of the deaths were among people suffering from chronic diseases and the elderly, as the high temperatures contributed to the deterioration of their health condition and led to their death,” Kamal Elyansli, the regional director of health, said in a statement.
This is life and death in the heat.
As the warming Earth sizzled through a week with four of the hottest days ever measured, the world focused on cold, hard numbers that showed the average daily temperature for the entire planet.
But the 17.16 degrees Celsius (62.8 degrees Fahrenheit) reading recorded on Monday doesn’t convey how oppressively sticky any one particular place became at the peak of sunshine and humidity. The thermometer doesn’t tell the story of warmth that just wouldn’t go away at night so people could sleep.
The records are about statistics, keeping score. But people don’t feel data. They feel the heat.
“We do not need any scientists to tell us what the temperature is outside as this is what our body tells us instantly,” said Humayun Saeed, a 35-year-old roadside fruit seller in Pakistan’s cultural capital of Lahore.




Heatstroke patients receive treatment at a hospital in Karachi, Pakistan, on July 25, 2024. (AP)

Saeed had to go to the hospital twice in June because of heat stroke.
“The situation is much better now, as it was not easy to work in May and June because of the heat wave, but I have been avoiding the morning walk,” Saeed said. “I may resume it in August when the temperature will go further down.”
The heat was making Delia, a 38-year-old pregnant woman standing outside a Bucharest, Romania, train station, feel even more uncomfortable. Daytime was so hot she was drowsy. With no air conditioning at night, she considered sleeping in her car like a friend had.
“I’ve really noticed a very big increase in temperatures. I think it was the same for everyone. I felt it even more because I am pregnant,” said Delia, who only provided her first name. “But I guess it wasn’t just me. Really everyone felt this.”
Self-described weather nerd Karin Bumbaco was in her element, but then it became just a little too much when Seattle had day after day of much warmer than normal heat.
“I love science. I love the weather. I have since I was a little kid,” said Bumbaco, the deputy state climatologist for Washington. “It’s sort of fun to see daily records get broken. ... But in recent years just living through it and actually feeling the heat has become just more miserable on a day-to-day basis.”
“Like this recent stretch we’ve had. I wasn’t sleeping very well. I don’t have AC at my home,” Bumbaco said. “I was watching the thermostat every morning be a little warmer than the previous warm morning. It was just building up the heat in the house and I just couldn’t wait for it to be over.”
For climate scientists around the world, what had been an academic exercise about climate change literally hit home.
“I’ve been analyzing these numbers from the cool of my office, but the heat has started to affect me as well, causing sleepless nights due to warmer urban temperatures,” said Roxy Mathew Koll, a climate scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology in Pune, Maharashtra, which normally has a relatively mild climate.
“My children return home from school during the peak hours exhausted,” Koll said. “Last month one of my colleagues’ mother died from heat stroke in north India.”




A stop sign warns tourists of extreme heat at Badwater Basin on July 8, 2024, in Death Valley National Park, California. (Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP)

Philip Mote, a climate scientist and dean of the graduate school at Oregon State University, had moved in junior high to California’s Central Valley and its triple digit summer heat.
“I pretty quickly figured I didn’t like a hot dry climate,” Mote said. “And that’s why I moved to the Northwest.”
For decades, Mote worked on climate issues from the comfort of Oregon, where people feared that with global warming the Northwest “would be the last nice place to live in the US and everybody would move here and we’d have overpopulation.”
But the region was hit by nasty fires in 2020 and a deadly heat wave in 2021, causing some people to flee what was supposed to be a climate haven.
In the second week of July, the temperature hit 104 degrees (40 Celsius). As a member of a masters’ rowing club, Mote practices on the water Tuesdays and Thursday evenings, but this week they decided to just float down the river in tubes.
In Boise, Idaho, tubing in the heat that has hovered between 99 and 108 degrees Fahrenheit (37 to 42 degrees Celsius) for 17 days has become so popular there’s a 30-minute to an hour wait to get into the water, said John Tullius, general manager for Boise River Raft & Tube.
“I think it’s been record numbers these last 10 days in a row,” Tullius said, adding that he worries about his outdoor workers, especially the physical toll on those who pick up rafts at the end of the trek.
He erected special shade structure for them, added more workers to ease the load and urges them to hydrate.
In Denver’s City Park, the swan-shaped pedal boat rental shop isn’t that busy because it’s beastly hot outside and those brave souls who do go out have to sit on hot fiberglass seats.
There’s not much shade for the workers, “but we do hide in our little shack,” said employee Dominic Prado, 23. “We also have a very strong fan in there that I like to raise my shirt over it just to cool down.”
 


Ex-servicemen to be re-deployed as security guards in Kashmir, says Indian govt

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Ex-servicemen to be re-deployed as security guards in Kashmir, says Indian govt

  • Around 4,000 veterans have been "identified" as non-combatant volunteers

SRINAGAR, India: Military veterans will be redeployed as security guards in Indian Kashmir, New Delhi said on Saturday.

The government of Jammu and Kashmir approved a "proposal for mobilising ex-servicemen to safeguard vital infrastructure across the union territory," according to a government press release.

Around 4,000 veterans have been "identified" as non-combatant volunteers, out of which 435 have licensed personal weapons, it said.

This will help by "significantly enhancing the capacity to respond effectively to localised security situations," the government added.

Veterans will work in "static guard" roles, focusing on "presence-based deterrence and local coordination."

India already has an estimated half a million soldiers permanently deployed in its part of Kashmir.

A similar veteran volunteer program took place with 2,500 veterans during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the government.


Philippines records surge in tourists from Middle East 

Philippine Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco speaks at the SKIFT Asia Forum 2025 held in Bangkok on May 15, 2025.
Updated 18 May 2025
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Philippines records surge in tourists from Middle East 

  • Philippines has been recognized as an emerging Muslim-friendly destination in recent years
  • Last year, it launched a beach for Muslim women travelers in top resort island Boracay

MANILA: The Philippines has recorded significant growth in tourists from the Middle East, the Department of Tourism said on Sunday, following various campaigns to attract more travelers from the region.

Tourism is a key sector for the Philippines, and its government has lately been trying to attract more visitors from the Middle East by creating Muslim-friendly destinations and ensuring that they have access to halal products and services. 

Those efforts, part of the Philippines’ move to diversify its economy away from dependency in the declining Chinese market, have led to a surge in international tourism arrivals from countries in the Middle East and the Gulf Cooperation Council, Philippine Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco said. 

“We are targeting markets such as the Middle East and the GCC, as well as India,” she said in a statement. 

“Because of our efforts to diversify, we are seeing, for example, from the Middle East and the GCC, an average of no less than 500 to 800 percent growth rate in terms of international tourism arrivals.”

The Philippines’ tourism sector has been recovering since the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced most tourism destinations in the country to shut down and resulted in a decline of foreign arrivals by more than 80 percent compared to 2019 numbers.

As tourism started to rebound, the Middle Eastern market was among the ones showing “promising signs of recovery” last year, a Department of Tourism report said. 

The UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Bahrain are among the countries showing a positive recovery rate, “signifying a steady return of visitors from the Gulf region,” according to the report. 

In 2024, the Philippines was recognized as an Emerging Muslim-friendly non-Organization of Islamic Cooperation Destination by the Mastercard-CrescentRating Global Muslim Travel Index.

The index is an annual report benchmarking destinations in the Muslim travel market. 

The archipelagic country known for its white-sand beaches, diving spots and rich culture, also won the award in 2023 and has since boosted efforts to attract visitors from the Middle East.

Last year, it launched a beach for Muslim women travelers in Boracay, the country’s top resort island and one of the world’s most popular. 

The Department of Tourism also partnered with Emirates Airlines in April to jointly promote the Philippines, targeting the Middle Eastern, Mediterranean and European markets. 

“The beauty of coming to the Philippines is that it is a very diversified destination. We are able to cater to any type of traveler, whether you are a solo traveler, a couple, (or) a family,” Frasco said. 

“With the number of islands that we have and the readiness of these destinations, then we are excited to welcome people of all nationalities.”


British politician urges UK to act on Israel as Gaza faces ‘cruel destitution’

Updated 18 May 2025
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British politician urges UK to act on Israel as Gaza faces ‘cruel destitution’

  • Liberal Democrat Layla Moran, of Palestinian descent, said a critical tone had yet to translate into meaningful policy change

LONDON: A British politician of Palestinian descent has called on the UK government to back its tougher rhetoric on Israel with tangible action, warning that people in Gaza are facing “unbearably cruel levels of destitution.”

Liberal Democrat Layla Moran said that although ministers had recently adopted a more critical tone, this had yet to translate into meaningful policy change, The Guardian reported on Sunday

“I remain frustrated that while the government’s words and tone have changed, in terms of concrete actions, not much has changed,” she said.

Her comments come amid growing international pressure over Israel’s expanded military campaign in Gaza and its restriction of humanitarian aid.

On Wednesday, Hamish Falconer, minister for the Middle East, described Israel’s aid blockade as “appalling,” “cruel,” and “indefensible.”

Foreign Secretary David Lammy also confirmed that the UK was in discussions with France and Saudi Arabia about recognizing a Palestinian state, ahead of a planned international conference in Paris in June.

Moran urged the UK to move forward with recognition, arguing it would “safeguard Palestinian interests and also send a very clear signal to Israel that there are consequences to their actions.”

She also criticized the government for continuing to allow trade from illegal Israeli settlements and for supplying arms to Israel, adding: “They’re still arming Israel when they shouldn’t be.”


Mogadishu suicide bomber kills at least 10 at army recruitment drive

An ambulance is seen near the scene of a bomb attack in Mogadishu, Somalia Sunday, May 18, 2025. (AP)
Updated 18 May 2025
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Mogadishu suicide bomber kills at least 10 at army recruitment drive

  • Dozens of abandoned shoes and the remains of the suicide bomber were visible at the scene
  • Medical staff at military hospital said they received 30 injured people from the blast and 6 of them died immediately

MOGADISHU: At least 10 people were killed on Sunday after a suicide bomber targeted a queue of young recruits registering at the Damanyo military base in the Somali capital Mogadishu, witnesses told Reuters.
Teenagers were lining up at the base’s gate when the attacker detonated their explosives, they said.
A military captain who gave his name as Suleiman described the attack as he had seen it unfold.
“I was on the other side of the road. A speeding tuk-tuk stopped, a man alighted, ran into the queue, and then blew himself up. I saw 10 people dead, including recruits and passers-by. The death toll may rise,” he said.
Dozens of abandoned shoes and the remains of the suicide bomber were visible at the scene.
Another witness, Abdisalan Mohamed, said he had seen “hundreds of teenagers at the gate as we passed by in a bus.”
“Abruptly, a deafening blast occurred, and the area was covered by dense smoke. We could not see the details of casualties,” he said.
Medical staff at the military hospital told Reuters they had received 30 injured people from the blast and that six of them had died immediately.
Government forces quickly cordoned off the entire area.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack and government officials could not immediately be reached for comment.
The attack echoed a similar incident in 2023 when a suicide bomber killed 25 soldiers at the Jale Siyad base, located opposite the Damanyo facility.
Sunday’s attack followed the assassination on Saturday of Col. Abdirahmaan Hujaale, commander of battalion 26, in the Hiiran region, amid local reports of Al-Shabab militant infiltration into government and security forces. 


Building fire kills 17, injures others in southern India

Updated 18 May 2025
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Building fire kills 17, injures others in southern India

  • Fires are common in India, where building laws and safety norms are often flouted by builders and residents

HYDERABAD, India: At least 17 people were killed and several injured in a fire that broke out at a building near the historic Charminar monument in southern Hyderabad city, officials said Sunday.
Several people were found unconscious and rushed to various hospitals, according to local media. They said the building housed a jewelry store at ground level and residential space above.
“The accident happened due to a short circuit and many people have died,” federal minister and Bharatiya Janata Party leader G Kishan Reddy told reporters at the site of the accident.
Director general of Telangana fire services Y Nagi Reddy told reporters that 21 people were in the three-story building when the fire started on the ground floor early on Sunday.
“17 people, who were shifted to the hospital in an unconscious state, could not survive. The staircase was very narrow, which made escape difficult. There was only one exit, and the fire had blocked it,” he said.
The fire was brought under control.
Prime minister Narendra Modi announced financial compensation for the victims’ families and said in a post on X that he was “deeply anguished by the loss of lives.”
Fires are common in India, where building laws and safety norms are often flouted by builders and residents.