Europe, Asia and the US continues to face dangerous heatwaves | First Thing

Red alerts expected for more cities in Italy as Greece wildfires spread and brutal conditions continue in the US. Plus, grief in the age of AI

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Good morning.

The World Meteorological Organization says the heatwave in the northern hemisphere is likely to intensify. An estimated 61,000 people may have died in heatwaves last year in Europe alone.

The EU's emergency response coordination centre issued red alerts for high temperatures for most of Italy, north-eastern Spain, Croatia, Serbia, southern Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro.

What else is happening? The EU has weighed in with help to combat wildfires in Greece, dispatching four Canadair water bombers as the battle to douse blazes that have raged around Athens intensified. Conflagrations whipped by gale-force winds left a trail of devastation, decimating pine forests, destroying homes and forcing thousands to flee as flames tore through terrain turned tinder dry by extreme heat.

What has John Kerry said about the climate crisis? Kerry, the US climate envoy and former secretary of state, is in Beijing for talks with senior Chinese officials. He said climate change is a universal threat" and has to be separated from politics during talks between the US and China. Acknowledging the diplomatic difficulties between the two sides in recent years, Kerry said climate should be treated as a free-standing" challenge that requires the collective efforts of the world's largest economies to resolve.

What else is happening? Ukraine's air force said on Wednesday it downed 37 out of 63 targets in a Russian overnight missile and drone attack, including 23 suicide drones and 14 cruise missiles. The air force said critical infrastructure and military facilities had been attacked in the night-time strikes, and that the main target was Ukraine's southern Odesa region.