PARIS, France, June 23, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - Here are the latest developments in Europe's heatwave.

Scientists have shown that recurring heatwaves are a clear marker of global warming, and warn they are set to become more frequent, longer and more intense.

- 40 drowned in France -

Forty people -- many of them youths -- have drowned since June 18 as a severe heatwave grips France, Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said.

"There is a tragic scourge of drownings. The latest figure reported to us is 40 deaths since June 18, mainly among young people," Lecornu said at a crisis meeting on the heatwave.

He also told ministers to any cancel trips this week.

- Almost all Spain on warning -

Nearly all of Spain was under a heat alert, with parts of the south and north of the country placed on the highest warning level as a heatwave grips most of western Europe.

National weather agency AEMET issued red alerts -- a warning for "extraordinary danger" -- for areas around the southern city of Cordoba, the northern city of Bilbao and parts of the northern region of Cantabria.

- France's hottest night -

France experienced its hottest night from Monday to Tuesday since measurements began in 1947, the national weather agency said.

The national temperature indicator -- an average of readings from 30 stations across France -- reached 21.6C, according to preliminary figures taken Tuesday morning. The previous record was 21.4C, set on July 25, 2019.

- Italy on red alert -

Italy's health ministry declared a red heatwave alert in 15 cities including Milan and Rome on Tuesday and said the number would go up to 16 on Wednesday.

During a red alert -- the highest level -- the ministry advises people to eat light, stay indoors in the hottest parts of the day and sprinkle themselves with cool water.

- Nuclear reactor turned off -

A nuclear plant in southwestern France switched off a reactor because cooling water drawn from a nearby river had become too warm, a spokeswoman said.

The Golfech plant near Toulouse is cooled by the Garonne river but the water had warmed beyond the safe level of 28C, she told AFP.

- France heat record -

France's average temperature broke a record for the month of June on Monday, as the country closed around 1,350 schools due to the extreme heat.

Average daytime and nighttime temperatures reached 29.2C, beating the previous high reached on June 30, 2025, according to provisional data released by the Meteo France weather agency.

It expanded its heatwave red alert to 54 of the country's 96 mainland departments for Tuesday, affecting around 39 million people, according to an AFP estimate.

- Record Belgian heatwave forecast -

Belgium's heatwave is forecast to last a week with temperatures "the hottest ever recorded", warned David Dehenauw, head of forecasting at the IRM meteorological institute. Some schools reduced classes to half a day.

- Five die in Germany -

Germany saw a spike in fatal swimming accidents, with authorities reporting five deaths over the weekend.

Two men aged 20 and 22 drowned in lakes in Bavaria, and a 79-year-old woman died in the Baltic Sea. Other fatal swimming accidents occurred in lakes in Brandenburg and North Rhine-Westphalia.

Police said Monday that several heat-stricken passengers were treated by emergency services at Frankfurt airport the previous day after their plane was held for more than an hour on the apron before take-off.

- Two French children die -

Two children, aged two and four, were found dead in their family's car in southeastern France on Monday as temperatures soared, local prosecutor Helene Mourges said.

- Postpone travel: Paris official -

"The transport network comes under severe strain in periods of extreme heat... railways cannot withstand temperatures above 50 degrees," the head of the Ile-de-France greater Paris region, Valerie Pecresse, told journalists.

"That is why we have advised all passengers who can to postpone their journeys, particularly vulnerable people, and for everyone who is able to work from home to do so."