- Flash flooding kills three in northern Thailand
- Kaur leads India to victory over Pakistan in Women's T20 World Cup
- Juventus held by Cagliari after late penalty drama
- In France's Marseille, teen 'stabbed 50 times' then burned alive
- Ruthless Gauff beats Muchova in straight sets to win China Open
- India restrict Pakistan to 105-8 in Women's T20 World Cup
- England target repeat of Pakistan Test whitewash
- Penrith Panthers win fourth straight NRL title after downing Storm
- Weary Sinner happy for day off after battling into Shanghai last 16
- Pakistan's Masood warns England still a force without Stokes
- Madrid's Carvajal to miss several months after serious knee injury
- Israel pounds Lebanon ahead of Hamas attack anniversary
- Two elephants die in flash flooding in northern Thailand
- Sabalenka targets world number one and Wuhan hat-trick
- Toddler among 4 dead in migrant Channel crossings
- Tunisia votes with Saied set for re-election
- Bagnaia sets 'example' with Japan MotoGP win to cut gap on Martin
- Intense Israeli bombing rocks Beirut ahead of war anniversary
- Mozambique vote: no suspense but some disillusion
- Austrian rapper channels anti-racist rage in Romani hip-hop songs
- Ohtani magic powers Dodgers over Padres in MLB playoff thriller
- Five of the best: Pakistan-England Test thrillers
- Man sets arm on fire as marches across US mark Gaza war anniversary
- Vietnam's young coffee entrepreneurs brew up a revolution
- Trump rallies at site of failed assassination: 'Never quit'
- Too hot by day, Dubai's floodlit beaches are packed at night
- Is music finally reckoning with #MeToo?
- Fans hail Trump's 'guts' as he returns to site of rally shooting
- Lebanon state media says 'very violent' Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Guardians maul Tigers, miracle Mets rally in MLB series openers
- Lebanon state media says Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Miami on track for MLS record points after win in Toronto
- Madrid beat Villarreal but Carvajal suffers knee injury
- Madrid beat Villarreal to move level with Liga leaders Barcelona
- Monaco take top spot in Ligue 1 with win at Rennes
- French rugby player on rape charge whistled but 'serene' on return
- Madrid beat Villarreal to level Liga leaders Barca
- Thuram treble fires Inter past Torino and up to second
- 'Fight': defiant Trump jets in to site of rally shooting
- Toddler among 3 dead in migrant Channel crossings
- Mexico City's new mayor sworn in with pledges on water, housing
- Israel on alert ahead of Hamas attack anniversary
- Guardians maul Tigers in MLB playoff series opener
- Macron criticises Israel on Gaza, Lebanon operations
- French rugby player whistled but 'serene' on return amid ongoing rape case
- Kovacic stars as Man City sink Fulham to get title bid back on track
- Retegui hat-trick fires five-star Atalanta to hammering of Genoa
- Heavyweights Australia, England off to World Cup winning starts
- Visiting UN refugee agency chief decries 'terrible crisis' in Lebanon
- Spinners come to party as England defeat Bangladesh at T20 World Cup
Heatwave risk hovers over Paris Olympics
Scorching summer heat is hard to imagine now in mid-winter Paris, but in six months' time when the world's athletes arrive for the Olympics, another pounding heatwave would spell trouble for organisers.
A new study presenting "climate simulations to anticipate worst-case heatwaves during the Paris 2024 Olympics" has focused minds after it warned that the French capital faced a not insignificant risk of record-breaking high temperatures.
The research, published in December in the Npj Climate and Atmospheric Science journal, looked at the risk of a two-week heatwave that would surpass the all-time record hot spell seen in Paris in 2003.
"In 20 years, the climate has changed and the idea was to warn policymakers that something even worse than 2003 could happen, that it's possible," lead author Pascal Yiou told AFP.
"In the 20th century, it wasn't possible to go beyond this record, but now we cannot only equal it but surpass it with a probability that is ultimately quite high, in the region of 1/100," he added.
A separate study in the Lancet Planet Health journal last May found that Paris had the highest heat-related death rates of 854 European towns and cities, partly due to its lack of green space and dense population.
The statistics were also heavily skewed by the events of 2003 when 15,000 people died, most of them vulnerable elderly people living on their own, sparking a bout of national soul-searching.
- Stress testing -
In the last five years, Paris has witnessed a series of blistering summers that have seen heat records crumble.
A new all-time temperature peak was set in July 2019 when the Meteo-France weather service clocked 42.6 degrees Celsius (108.7 degrees Fahrenheit) in the capital.
Organisers of the 2024 Paris Olympics, which will run from July 26 to August 11 and the Paralympics which start in late August, say they are "fully aware" of the climate-related risks to the Games.
"Heatwaves and extreme weather events are factors that we take into account and that we are preparing for as much as possible, in order to take necessary action," a spokesperson told AFP.
Operational teams have run simulations looking at the consequences of shifting some outdoor events to earlier or later start times to avoid the midday heat.
The athletics events, particularly the marathon, as well as tennis or beach volleyball are all seen as being vulnerable to the effects of punishing sunshine and high temperatures.
Young and fit athletes might also prove more resistant than spectators who will likely face queues to enter venues and potentially hours without shade in open-air stadia.
The head of the French agency responsible for building the Olympics venues, Nicolas Ferrand, reassured a Senate hearing that all indoor facilities had been built with global heating in mind.
"We checked that all of our buildings would be comfortable in the summer of 2050," he said last month, adding that the national weather office and IT consultancy firm Dassault Systemes had helped with the modelling.
- A/C issue -
Another area of ongoing concern is the athletes' village in northern Paris which has been built without air conditioning as part of efforts to set new environmental standards for the Paris Games.
Instead, the river-side tower blocks have a natural geo-thermal cooling systems, as well as sunshades, planted areas, and wind ventilation.
They guarantee an indoor temperature at least 6.0 degrees Celsius lower than outside -- something viewed as insufficient by some attending nations.
"Air-conditioning at the village has been an issue," a European diplomat involved in Olympics coordination told AFP on condition of anonymity.
As a compromise, French organisers are now offering to provide portable air conditioners to visiting delegations at their expense.
- Torrid Tokyo -
The last Summer Olympics in Tokyo is widely thought to have been the hottest on record, with temperatures regularly above 30 Celsius coupled with 80 percent humidity.
Tokyo organisers moved the race walk events and two marathons 800 kilometres (500 miles) north of Tokyo in the hope of cooler weather that did not really materialise.
Despite a range of anti-heat measures including misting stations, many athletes struggled in the heat, including Russian tennis player Daniil Medvedev who wondered aloud on court if he might die.
Many athletes are adapting to climate change by doing more hot-weather training, either in overseas camps or in specially designed bubbles that can artificially increase heat and humidity.
Speaking after Tokyo, World Athletics president Sebastian Coe warned that the "new norm" was competing in "really harsh climatic conditions".
O.M.Souza--AMWN