Europe sizzles in new wave of summer heat

PARIS (AFP) - Europe has sizzled amid a fresh onslaught of oven-hot temperatures as governments and charity groups mobilised to prevent further deaths from a heatwave that has already killed about 40 people across the continent.

In France, the health ministry appealed for help from medical students and retired doctors to cope with a possible surge in casualties, and there were warnings that the unseasonably high temperatures could damage crop harvests in some countries.

Temperatures rose back above 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) on Monday from southern Spain to Poland after weekend storms and lower temperatures had brought a brief respite.

On Monday, the French state-run weather centre Meteo-France maintained its orange heatwave alert, the second-highest warning level, for about half of the country.

It forecast that temperatures could reach as high as 38 degrees Celsius this week before falling from Thursday onwards.