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Home prices hit a new all-time high in June, even as sales continue to slow

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Home prices hit a new all-time high in June, even as sales continue to slow

Home prices hit a new all-time high in June, even as home sales declined for the fifth straight month as a lack of affordability continues to push buyers out of the market, reported by CNN.

The median home price was $416,000 last month, up 13.4% from one year ago, according to a report from the National Association of Realtors. It marks more than a decade of year-over-year monthly price gains.

Sales of existing homes — which include single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops — were down 5.4% in June from May and 14.2% from a year ago. June saw the weakest sales figure since June 2020, which was artificially low due to the pandemic.

Miami had the largest median price growth, up 40.1% from a year ago. It was followed by Orlando, up 30.6%, and Nashville, up 30.6%, according to the NAR report.

“Falling housing affordability continues to take a toll on potential homebuyers,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist. “Both mortgage rates and home prices have risen too sharply in a short span of time.”

Inventory, which had been tight, saw its first year-over-year turnaround in three years. The number of homes available for sale at the end of June was up 9.6% from May and 2.4% from a year ago.

“Finally, there are more homes on the market,” said Yun. “Homes priced right are selling very quickly, but homes priced too high are deterring prospective buyers.”

Even as sales declined, home prices continued to climb, especially in some popular Sun Belt cities.

But some of the same cities that saw massive price growth during the pandemic were also the places that saw the largest increase in the number of homes with price reductions in June. Austin led the way, followed by Phoenix and Las Vegas.

While the increase in inventory should reduce pressure on prices, mortgage rates are climbing, reducing buyers’ purchasing power. It remains to be seen which factor will have a bigger impact on home sales, said Danielle Hale, chief economist for Realtor.com.

“I expect affordability to be the bigger driver than availability moving forward,” said Hale. Already, she said, more affordable areas in the Northeast and Midwest are some of the hottest housing markets, according to Realtor.com.

“Home shoppers continue to leverage workplace flexibility in looking for ways to reduce their housing costs — enacting their own, personal inflation-fighting plans.”

NAR’s data supports this trend, with home sales holding steady from May to June in the Northeast and slipping only 1.6% in the Midwest compared to drops of 6.2% in the South and 11.1% in the West.

“As mortgage rates and prices of other goods and services continue to climb, home shoppers are likely to become even more budget conscious,” Hale said. “This is especially true if concerns about the strength of the job market — which has so far remained resilient — grow.”

Even though home sales have slowed back to a 2019 pace, the number of days a property is on the market before going into contract is the swiftest ever, at 14 days. A year ago it was 17 days and a more typical market would see properties on the market for close to 30 days.

“Whenever homes are listed, they are attracting buyers,” said Yun, who added that the quick market is head scratching.

One possible driver of the record-low number of days on the market is that buyers are trying to take advantage of their locked-in interest rate.

“Mortgage rates have been trending higher,” he said. “Maybe buyers are trying to take advantage of a lower locked-in rate. That period is coming to an end quickly. They want to sign the contract and close the deal quickly.”

But sellers should take note this brisk time on the market is not likely to last, said Yun. “This could be the last time we see such a swiftness in the market.”

While inventory is ticking up, there are still longstanding shortages of housing, said Yun. With builders cutting back on single-family construction and boosting construction of multifamily buildings, they may be betting on more people getting priced out of buying and renting instead.

“I don’t foresee any oversupply coming, even as sales retreat,” Yun said.

Ukraine’s first lady urges Congress to send more weapons

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Ukraine’s first lady urges Congress to send more weapons

According to CNBC, Ukraine’s first lady, Olena Zelenska, on Wednesday urged bipartisan lawmakers to send more weapons to her homeland as it repels Russia’s full-scale invasion.

Zelenska addressed members of Congress from the same room that her husband, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, did in March. He appeared virtually, as Russia’s war had just begun.

“I’m asking for something now I would never want to ask,” Zelenska said at the U.S. Capitol. “I’m asking for weapons, weapons that would not be used to wage a war on somebody else’s land, but to protect one’s home and the right to wake up alive in that home.”

The U.S. has provided about $8 billion in military aid since the war began in late February, including about $2.2 billion in the past month.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said earlier on Wednesday that the next tranche of weapons will include more High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS. With the four additional heavy rocket systems, the U.S. will have given 16 HIMARS to Ukraine.

The HIMARS, manufactured by defense giant Lockheed Martin, are designed to shoot a variety of missiles from a mobile 5-ton truck.

Zelenska began her 15-minute address with a photo presentation of Ukrainian children killed by Russian missile strikes and shelling across the country.

“I’m asking for air defense systems in order for rockets not to kill,” Zelenska said before a backdrop of graphic and disturbing images from devastated Ukrainian streets.

“While Russia kills, America saves, and you should know about it. We thank you for that,” Zelenska added, pointing to the 15 military aid packages committed thus far.

Ahead of her address to Congress, Zelenska met with first lady Jill Biden at the White House and Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the State Department.

Biden last met with Zelenska during a surprise trip to Ukraine on Mother’s Day.

Zelenska discussed additional weapons packages while at the White House and, while at the State Department, talked about the mounting war crimes committed by Russian forces in Ukraine.

National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said Tuesday that the U.S. is assembling its 16th security assistance kit, which is tailored for the fighting in eastern Ukraine.

Atlanta homeowners are dealing with their trash that hasn’t been picked up in weeks

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Atlanta homeowners are dealing with their trash that hasn’t been picked up in weeks

Hundreds of homeowners in South Fulton are dealing with a smelly problem, reported by WSB-TV

They say their trash service provider hasn’t picked up their garbage in weeks. Many of them say they’re having to take the trash to the landfills themselves.

Channel 2′s Ashli Lincoln found at least four metro Atlanta neighborhoods off of Old National Highway dealing with similar issues.

“We haven’t had a trash pickup since the Friday after the Fourth of July,” neighbor Tammi Smith said.

The City of South Fulton told Lincoln they had to take action after being slammed with phone calls from upset residents.

“When you get to three or four weeks of your garbage hasn’t been picked up, and it’s overflowing,” neighbor Otis Strong said.

Lincoln found that this issue isn’t isolated to South Fulton residents. Neighbors in Douglasville, Fairburn, Newnan and Coweta County have all expressed similar frustrations.

GFL Environmental is currently working to catch up on getting the trash picked up for the 22,000 residents they serve.

Residents hope the city stepping in will be a permanent fix and they won’t be back in the same situation three weeks from now.

Residents tell Channel 2 that they have been dealing with inconsistent trash pickups from their trash company, GFL Environmental, since June.

“The bottom line is, we do need to get the trash picked up,” neighbor Gloria White-Strong said.

White-Strong says what used to be a weekly pickup turned into bi-monthly to none for several weeks.

“We’re at the mercy of these people. We either pay additional money, or go to a landfill or leave it out there and make the community look bad,” Strong explained.

The City of South Fulton says they contacted GFL Environmental on behalf of the residents. They say the company blamed the delays on equipment issues related to hydraulic systems malfunctioning because of the heat compounded with staffing shortages and logistic delays related to the pandemic.

House passes same-sex marriage bill, with 47 Republicans

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House passes same-sex marriage bill, with 47 Republicans

The House on Tuesday passed the Respect for Marriage Act, which would protect marriage equality by repealing the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and providing federal protections for same-sex and interracial couples, according to CBS News.

The bill passed 267-157, with 47 Republicans joining every Democrat voting in favor of the bill. 

Congressional Democrats mounted the legislative response this week to a concurring opinion by Justice Clarence Thomas suggesting that Supreme Court decisions involving access to contraception and same-sex marriage should be reconsidered, with lawmakers holding votes on a pair of bills that aim to address concerns that more rights could be rolled back.

Still, Democratic Reps. Kathy Manning of North Carolina and David Cicilline of Rhode Island, who are behind the birth control access and marriage equality bills respectively, warned that the rights are coming under attack in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision striking down Roe.

“Let me be clear: We are working to protect women’s right to control their lives. Our opponents are working to take women’s rights away,” Manning told reporters Tuesday. “I look forward to passing this bill to protect women’s rights across this country.”

While the Supreme Court struck down sections of DOMA in U.S. v. Windsor and Obergefell v. Hodges, the law still remains on the books.

The lower chamber will also take up later this week the Right to Contraception Act, which if passed would create a statutory right for people to access birth control and protect a range of contraceptive methods, as well as ensure health care providers have a right to provide contraception services to patients.

“House Democrats are not waiting for elections to protect our rights and freedom. We’re fighting NOW to keep abortion and birth control legal and stop corporate price gouging,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tweeted Monday. “We won’t let Republicans crush our rights and pad corporate pockets on our watch.”

House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, a Republican from Louisiana, said most Republicans will likely oppose the bill involving contraception, but he predicted ahead of the vote that GOP lawmakers will be split on the same-sex marriage proposal. Both measures are still expected to clear the Democratic-led House and join a pair of bills designed to protect abortion access that passed the House last week and are awaiting action in the Senate. But with Republicans and Democrats each controlling 50 seats in the upper chamber, the path to winning approval in the Senate is a difficult one.

Support from at least 10 Senate Republicans is needed for any bill to advance. While the two measures involving abortion — one would enshrine the right to an abortion into federal law, and the other would ban states from interfering with a woman’s right to travel for the procedure — have little chance of becoming law, it’s unclear whether the bills protecting same-sex marriage and access to contraception will meet the same fate.

One Republican, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, is a backer of the marriage equality measure, and GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska said she would like to see contraception and same-sex marriage rights protected under federal law. Other Republicans, too, have indicated they’ll support the measure since its passage by the House: Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio is co-sponsoring the Senate’s version of the measure, his office said, and Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina said he “probably will” vote to enshrine the right to same-sex marriage into federal law. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell declined to state his position on the bill.

“When you look at the House vote and you look at just the shifting sentiment about this issue across the country, I think this is an issue that many Americans regardless of your political affiliation feel has been resolved,” Portman told reporters, adding the bill is an “important message.”

Sen. Dick Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois, told reporters Monday he believed the two bills poised for House action this week would garner the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster.

“Notice how quiet the Republicans were when the same-sex marriage issue finally emerged during the Obama administration,” he said Monday. “They get it. They’re on the wrong side of history.”

In remarks on the Senate floor Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he wants to bring the marriage equality bill to the floor and has spoken with Sen. Tammy Baldwin, a Democrat from Wisconsin, about talking with Republicans about their support.

Both bills, meanwhile, are supported by the White House, which urged passage by the House.

“The right to marriage confers vital legal protections, dignity, and full participation in our society,” the Office of Management and Budget said in a statement of the marriage equality bill. “No person should face discrimination because of who they are or whom they love, and every married couple in the United States deserves the security of knowing that their marriage will be defended and respected.”

On the Right to Contraception Act, the budget office said, “Access to contraception is essential to ensuring all people have control over personal decisions about their own health, lives, and families.  After the overruling of Roe, which rested on the fundamental right to privacy in matters of health, bodily autonomy, and family, it has never been more important to protect and expand access to family planning services.”

The action from the House is Democrats’ answer to the concurring opinion written by Thomas in the Supreme Court’s ruling overturning the constitutional right to an abortion established under Roe v. Wade.

In his opinion, which no other justice joined, Thomas said the Supreme Court should reconsider landmark decisions that recognized rights regarding contraception and same-sex relationships: The 1965 ruling in Griswold v. Connecticut, which said married couples have the right to use contraception without government interference; the 2003 decision in Lawrence v. Texas, which established the right to same-sex intimacy; and Obergefell, the 2015 ruling recognizing the right to same-sex marriage.

“In the future, we should reconsider all of this court’s substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence and Obergefell,” Thomas wrote.

But the court’s majority opinion in the abortion dispute, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, made clear that rights regarding contraception and same-sex relationships were not under threat from the Supreme Court.

“The court emphasizes that this decision concerns the constitutional right to abortion and no other right,” Justice Samuel Alito wrote. “Nothing in this opinion should be understood to cast doubt on precedents that do not concern abortion.”

Yellen says to discuss with Seoul price cap on Russia oil, limits on North Korea

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Yellen says to discuss with Seoul price cap on Russia oil, limits on North Korea

Washington will discuss with South Korea measures to limit revenues flowing to Russia, such as a price cap on its oil, while the allies work to curb North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Tuesday, reported by Reuters.

In a speech prepared for a meeting with South Korean counterpart Choo Kyung-ho, Yellen said the two would explore a price cap to reduce oil earnings and other ways of holding Russia accountable for its war against Ukraine.

“Russia’s illegal war and the global energy shock that has followed have underscored the need to protect ourselves from dependence on foreign oil that makes us vulnerable to the whims of authoritarians like Vladimir Putin,” Yellen said.

She is to meet Choo in the South Korean capital, during a three-stop tour of East Asia.

In an interview on her way to Seoul, Yellen said the United States had further sanctions it could adopt against North Korea, adding that any nuclear test by Pyongyang would be seen as very provocative.

Concern is growing that North Korea could be preparing to test a nuclear weapon for the first time since 2017, following a record number of missile tests this year, including that of its largest intercontinental ballistic missile.

The two leaders have said they will also discuss economic security and supply chain issues, as the Ukraine conflict, which Moscow calls a “special military operation”, and disruptions in global supplies have driven up inflation worldwide.

On Saturday, Yellen told reporters she had held productive two-way meetings on the proposed price cap with more than six counterparts gathered for a meeting of Group of 20 finance officials on the Indonesian resort island of Bali.

The Uvalde cop who was caught on video nonchalantly using hand sanitizer inside

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The Uvalde cop who was caught on video nonchalantly using hand sanitizer inside

The Uvalde cop who was caught on video nonchalantly using hand sanitizer inside the Robb Elementary School as children were dying in a nearby classroom has been identified.

A special Texas House panel investigating the May 24 mass shooting and police response concluded that the nearly 400 cops who showed up to the deadly scene “failed to prioritize saving innocent lives over their own safety” in a scathing new report.

“No amount of hand sanitizer is going to wash off those hands in Uvalde. None,” tweeted Jack Posobic, senior editor of the conservative news site Human Events.

Sheriff’s Deputy Eric Gonzales — who faced intense backlash for the bizarrely timed act — was IDed by the Daily Mail as a one-time recipient of a medal of valor for “bravery in the line of duty.”

The 30-year-old cop, who was wearing a helmet and bulletproof vest, casually pumped the hand sanitizer wall unit to clean his hands as officers milled around the hallway for more than an hour before taking out the shooter, the footage first obtained by the Austin-American Statesman showed.

Viewers of the 77-minute clip were outraged by the officers’ retreat and hour of inaction as 18-year-old gunman Salvador Ramos slaughtered 19 children and two teachers.

Social media users found Gonzales’ act particularly off-putting.

“[S]o let me get this straight. Uvalde officers were inside within five minutes, stood around for over an hour, made sure to get HAND SANITIZER … while still hearing rounds being fired and the kids screaming,” Kayce Smith, a Barstool Sports media personality, tweeted. “What the F— are we doing here?? This is revolting.”

“Would love to hear from this Uvalde cop why he was worried about putting on hand sanitizer while a shooter was massacring kids twenty feet down the hall,” tweeted Cabot Phillips, a senior editor at the Daily Wire, a conservative outlet.

Ironically, Gonzales was awarded a bronze star for valor and bravery in the line of duty in December 2020 after he exchanged gunfire with a man during a traffic stop, according to the Uvalde Leader News.

The Uvalde County Sheriff’s Office didn’t immediately respond to a Post inquiry. However, Sheriff Ruben Nolasco told the Daily Mail that Gonzales was sanitizing his hands in preparation to assist medics in tending to injured victims.

However, no medical team can be seen near the deputy in the video.

US authorities name Indiana mall shooter as Jonathan Sapirman, a 20-year-old

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US authorities name Indiana mall shooter as Jonathan Sapirman, a 20-year-old

A 20-year-old man likely assembled a rifle in the bathroom of a suburban Indianapolis shopping mall before shooting five people in the food court, killing three of them before an armed shopper fatally shot him, US authorities said Monday.

Jonathan Sapirman of Greenwood apparently was facing eviction before he opened fire at the Greenwood Park Mall shortly before it closed Sunday evening, the city’s police chief, James Ison, said at a news conference.

Sapirman continued shooting people until he was shot and killed by 22-year-old Elisjsha Dicken, of Seymour, a city about 45 miles (72 kilometers) south of Greenwood, who was shopping with his girlfriend, Ison said, calling Dicken’s quick action “nothing short of heroic.”

“Many more people would have died last night if not for a responsible armed citizen,” said the chief, noting that authorities were still trying to determine a motive for the attack.

Sapirman had a juvenile record, including for a fight at school and an incident where he ran away from home, but he had no criminal record as an adult, the chief said.

He said relatives told investigators that Sapirman has been practicing shooting at a gun range, and that records obtained by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives confirmed he had frequented the range and bought ammunition there over the past two years.

The Johnson County and Marion County coroners’ offices identified the slain victims as a married Indianapolis couple — Pedro Pineda, 56, and Rosa Mirian Rivera de Pineda, 37 — and Victor Gomez, 30, also of Indianapolis. A woman and a 12-year-old girl who was hit by shrapnel were wounded in the attack, police said.

Although authorities said Dicken was legally armed, the mall prohibits people from carrying weapons on its property. The mall issued a statement Monday saying it grieves for the victims and praising Dicken’s “heroic actions.” It didn’t mention its no-weapons policy and its operator, the Simon Property Group, didn’t respond to a request for comment.

As of July 1, Indiana law allows anyone age 18 or older to carry a handgun in public except for those prohibited for reasons such as having a felony conviction, facing a restraining order or having a dangerous mental illness as determined by a court. Indiana’s Republican-dominated Legislature retained provisions in the law that allow private property owners to prohibit firearms.

The attack Sunday was the latest in a string of mass shootings in the US Schools, churches, grocery stores and a July Fourth parade near Chicago have all become killing grounds in recent months, though the country’s staggering murder rate can often be seen more clearly in individual killings that rarely make major headlines.

Authorities said Sunday that four of the victims were female and one was male, but they corrected that Monday to two males and three females.

Ison said Sapirman entered the mall and walked into a bathroom, where he spent about an hour before he emerged and opened fire. He said investigators believe Sapirman spent that time preparing and possibly assembling a disassembled rifle that he had brought in his backpack. He ended up firing 24 rounds within two minutes.

Ison said Sapirman used an AR-15-style rifle during the shooting and that investigators found another one in the bathroom. They also found a handgun on Sapirman, who was wearing a waistband holster and had several magazines that contained more than 100 rounds of ammunition.

Although police don’t know a motive for the attack, Sapirman’s relatives told investigators that he recently received notice that he was being evicted from his apartment, though Ison said authorities were still trying to confirm that. Relatives also said Sapirman resigned from a warehouse job in May, he said.

“Right now we have no motive. His family members that we spoke to, they were just as surprised as everyone else was. They said there were no indicators that he was violent or unstable,” Ison said.

The chief said Dicken fired 10 rounds from his handgun, and that as he fired, Sapirman “attempted to retreat back into the restroom and failed, and fell to the ground after being shot.”

“He engaged the gunman from quite a distance with a handgun and was very proficient in that, very tactically sound. And as he moved to close in on the suspect, he was also motioning for people to exit behind him,” Ison said of Dicken.

Ison said officers recovered a cellphone from a toilet in the mall bathroom that they believe Sapirman placed there. At Sapirman’s apartment, they found a laptop and can of butane inside the oven, which was on and set to a high temperature, the chief said without elaborating.

The cellphone and the laptop, which was damaged by the oven’s heat, will be analyzed by the FBI, and that “we are very curious to have those analyzed,” he said.

Mark Myers, the mayor of Greenwood, a city of roughly 60,000 people just south of Indianapolis, said the grieving community is shocked to be the scene of a mass shooting.

“I don’t want to be among the mayors that has to share these statements. But sadly, I am,” he said. “I grieve for these senseless killings, and I ache for the scars that are left behind on the victims and on our community.”

Students in a Dallas school district must wear clear or mesh backpacks after Uvalde shooting

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Students in a Dallas school district must wear clear or mesh backpacks after Uvalde shooting

The Dallas Independent School District, the second largest in Texas, will be requiring students to wear clear or mesh backpacks to school in the aftermath of the Uvalde school shooting, according to NPR.

Students from grades 6 to 12 will have to wear see-through backpacks beginning in the 2022-2023 school year to “ensure that prohibited items are not included among the students’ belongings,” the district said Monday.

Nearly two months ago, an 18-year-old gunman walked into Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, and opened fire, killing 19 students and two teachers.

A recently published report by the Texas House of Representatives found that ” “systemic failures and egregiously poor decision making” on behalf of law enforcement and school officials failed to stop the shooter.

Hundreds of law enforcement officials prioritized their own safety over the lives of students and teachers that day as they waited more than an hour to confront the shooter, the report said.

“Clear or mesh backpacks will also speed up students entering the school at the beginning of the day because opening and inspecting every backpack may not be necessary,” it said.

Though, students’ bags may still be searched at the discretion of staff.

The bags must be completely clear and not have a colored tint to them. Middle schoolers’ bags must not exceed 12 inches wide by 16.5 inches tall and 5 inches deep, while high schoolers’ bags must not exceed 13 inches wide by 17.5 inches tall and 6.5 inches deep.

Students can carry a small non-clear pouch in their backpacks to store personal items, such as money, cellphones and hygiene items, the statement said.

The district will provide a clear backpack to students before the year begins. Those who haven’t picked one up before the first day of school will be given one, and their old backpacks will be stored in the main offices of the district’s schools until a parent or guardian is able to pick it up.

The decision was made using a parent and student survey, as well as by the district’s internal and external safety task forces, which are comprised of “principals, teachers, security professionals, parents and community members,” the district said.

“We recognize that requiring clear or mesh backpacks alone will not eliminate all safety concerns,” it said. “Improving school safety will require multiple measures to make our schools as safe as possible.”

Sesame Place apologizes after video shows Sesame character ignore two small Black girls

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Sesame Place apologizes after video shows Sesame character ignore two small Black girls

Sesame Place Philadelphia has issued an apology and said its employees will undergo more training following backlash from a video showing an employee in a Sesame character costume seemingly ignore two small Black girls during a parade, according to NPR.

A second apology was posted on Monday in which the company apologized more directly and said its employees will receive more training for better guest experiences in the future.

“We sincerely apologize to the family for their experience in our park on Saturday; we know that it’s not ok,” the company said. “We are taking actions to do better. We are committed to making this right. We will conduct training for our employees so they better understand, recognize and deliver an inclusive, equitable and entertaining experience to our guests.”

“For over 40 years Sesame Place has worked to uphold the values of respect, inclusion and belonging. We are committed to doing a better job making children and families feel special, seen and included when they come to our parks.”

The video shows the two girls decked out in Cookie Monster and Abby Cadabby sparkly backpacks waiting along the side of the parade as a person in a costume of another character, Rosita, makes their way down. Before reaching the girls, the character gives out high-fives to another small child and an adult, both who appear white.

When the Sesame employee reaches the two Black girls — who have their hands outstretched — the character waves them off and keeps on walking, leaving the girls with looks of confusion and disappointment.

The adult who was with the children posted the video to Instagram and said they were on their way out of the park when they stopped for the parade because the girls wanted to see the characters.

“THIS DISGUSTING person blatantly told our kids NO then proceeded to hug the little white girl next to us! Then when I went to complain about it, they looking at me like I’m crazy,” Instagram user @__jodii__ said in her post. “I asked the lady who the character was and I wanted to see a supervisor and she told me SHE DIDNT KNOW !!”

Backlash swiftly followed after the video took off on social media, where others shared similar experiences and videos, and prompted Sesame Street Philadelphia to issue a statement on its Instagram account in which it said it was not the character’s intention to ignore the girls.

“The costumes our performers wear sometimes make it difficult to see at lower levels and sometimes our performers miss hug requests from guests,” the statement said.

Sesame Place went on to say that it had invited the family back for a personal meet-and-greet opportunity with the characters. But many, including singer Kelly Rowland, chimed in to say the damage was already done.

“Those gorgeous girls will never forget that feeling! THEY ARE KIDS!!!!! You should be ASHAMED of yourselves for this pathetic statement!” Rowland wrote in a comment on Instagram.

UK breaks record for highest temperature amid a heat wave

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UK breaks record for highest temperature amid a heat wave

According to AP, Britain shattered its record for highest temperature ever registered Tuesday amid a heat wave that has seared swaths of Europe — and the national weather forecaster predicted it would get hotter still in a country ill prepared for such extremes.

The typically temperate nation was just the latest to be walloped by unusually hot, dry weather that has triggered wildfires from Portugal to the Balkans and led to hundreds of heat-related deaths. Images of flames racing toward a French beach and Britons sweltering — even at the seaside — have driven home concerns about climate change.

The U.K. Met Office registered a provisional reading of 40.2 degrees Celsius (104.4 degrees Fahrenheit) at Heathrow Airport in early afternoon — breaking the record set just an hour earlier and with hours of intense sunshine still to go. Before Tuesday, the highest temperature recorded in Britain was 38.7 C (101.7 F), set in 2019.

A smaller third fire broke out late Monday in the Medoc wine region north of Bordeaux, further taxing firefighting resources. Five camping sites went up in flames in the Atlantic coast beach zone where blazes raged around the Arcachon maritime basin famous for its oysters and resorts.

But weather forecasts offered some consolation, with temperatures expected to ease along the Atlantic seaboard Tuesday and the possibility of rains rolling in late in the day.

Britain was not the only northern European country experiencing unusual heat. As Amsterdam baked Tuesday, municipal workers sprayed water on some mechanical bridges over the Dutch city’s canals to prevent metal in them from expanding, which can jam them shut blocking boat traffic. Temperatures in the city are expected to approach 39 C (102 F) on Tuesday.

As the nation watched the mercury rise with a combination of horror and fascination, the forecaster warned temperatures could go higher still.

The sweltering weather has disrupted travel, health care and schools in a country not prepared for such extremes. Many homes, small businesses and even public buildings, including hospitals, don’t even have air conditioning, a reflection of how unusual such heat is in the country better known for rain and mild temperatures.

The intense heat since Monday has damaged the runway at London’s Luton Airport, forcing it to shut for several hours, and warped a main road in eastern England, leaving it looking like a “skatepark,” police said. Major train stations were shut or near-empty on Tuesday, as trains were canceled or ran at low speeds out of concern rails could buckle.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan said Tuesday that the heat wave has caused a “huge surge” in the number of fires in the city, putting the fire service under “immense pressure.” The blazes include a grass fire in Wennington on the eastern edge of the city that is being tackled by 100 firefighters.

Electric fans cooled the traditional mounted troops of the Household Cavalry as they stood guard in central London in heavy ceremonial uniforms. Other guards reduced their duties. The capital’s Hyde Park, normally busy with walkers, was eerily quiet — except for the long lines to take a dip in the Serpentine lake.

“I’m going to my office because it is nice and cool,” said geologist Tom Elliott, 31, after taking a swim. “I’m cycling around instead of taking the Tube.’’

Queen Elizabeth II carried on working. The 96-year-old monarch held a virtual audience with new U.S. ambassador Jane Hartley from the safety of inside Windsor Castle.

A huge chunk of England, from London in the south to Manchester and Leeds in the north, remained under the country’s first “red” warning for extreme heat Tuesday, meaning there is danger of death even for healthy people.

Such dangers could be seen in Britain and around Europe. At least six people were reported to have drowned across the U.K. in rivers, lakes and reservoirs while trying to cool off. Meanwhile, nearly 750 heat-related deaths have been reported in Spain and neighboring Portugal in the heat wave there.

The highest temperature previously recorded in Britain was 38.7 C (101.7 F), a record set in 2019. Tuesday’s reading was provisional, which means they are produced as near to real time as possible with final readings issued after data quality-control, the Met Office said.

Climate experts warn that global warming has increased the frequency of extreme weather events, with studies showing that the likelihood of temperatures in the U.K. reaching 40 C (104 F) is now 10 times higher than in the pre-industrial era.

The head of the U.N. weather agency expressed hope that the heat gripping Europe would serve as a “wake-up call” for governments to do more on climate change.

“I hope that also in democratic countries, these kind of events will have an impact on voting behavior,” World Meteorological Organization Secretary-General Petteri Taalas told reporters Tuesday in Geneva.

Combatting climate change head on is the only solution for Britain, said Professor Myles Allen, a climate scientist at the University of Oxford, because continually refurbishing the country’s infrastructure to cope will be “extremely expensive.”

“We cannot afford to live in an ever-changing climate,” he told the BBC. “We have to stop this, turn this around.”

Drought and heat waves tied to climate change have also made wildfires harder to fight.

In the Gironde region of southwestern France, ferocious wildfires continued to spread through tinder-dry pines forests, frustrating firefighting efforts by more than 2,000 firefighters and water-bombing planes.

Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated from homes and summer vacation spots since the fires broke out July 12, Gironde authorities said.

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