India, June 29 -- Europe is sweltering. France recorded its hottest day since record-keeping began in 1947 and temperatures crossed 40degC in large parts of Spain, Italy and Germany. Schools across France, Belgium and the UK have shut. Rail operators cancelled services because overhead power lines sag and tracks can buckle in extreme heat, and hospitals such as the Frederic-Henri Manhes facility near Paris have turned their air-conditioned waiting rooms into informal wards for patients who could not cope with the heat in their own houses.

The heat wave, caused by a 'heat dome' effect that has trapped warm air over the continent, has been linked to hundreds of deaths even as authorities say the full scale of the toll is still to be known....