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VERIFIED European Temperature Record 48.8C "WMO has accepted a new temperature record for continental Europe of 48.8°C (119.8 °F) measured in Sicily on 11 August 2021. A committee of experts has verified the accuracy of the temperature reading, but has not yet published the full report. The previous verified record of highest maximum temperature for continental Europe is 48.0°C (118.4°F) and was set in Athens on 10 July 1977" 17th July 2023 https://public.wmo.int/en/media/news/wmo-monitoring-potential-new-temperature-records#:~:text=European Temperature Record&text=The previous verified record of,Athens on 10 July 1977. 13th Aug 2021 "The observation was made by a weather station (Syracuse) administered by a regional agro-meteorological network rather than Italy’s national meteorological service. It occurred during an intense heatwave in Italy, Spain and parts of North Africa in 2021 which followed an extreme heatwave – accompanied by devastating wildfires in Greece and Turkey – earlier in the month. “Climate change and temperature increase has spurred a surge in reports of record weather and climate extremes, especially for heat. We have to make sure that these records are verified for the sake of scientific understanding and accuracy,” said Prof. Cerveny, who oversees WMO’s Weather and Climate Extremes Archive of official records. WMO has established a “rapid response” team of climate experts who analyze these purported new records. This will provide initial guidance to global media and the general public prior to a formal in-depth investigation, which often takes many months. Verification of maximum temperature records is important because it helps us to build up a picture of the weather and climate. “Currently, there is a large area of high pressure in the upper atmosphere affecting much of the Mediterranean, as well as northern Africa. This high-pressure system leads to a sinking motion in the atmosphere which compresses the air and then heats it up – in what is sometimes referred to as a heat dome. Additionally, under a high-pressure system, winds tend to be light, so the heat does not dissipate, and this further contributes to conditions getting warmer and warmer, and combining with the summer heat from the sun, " said Bob Stefanski, head of Applied Climate Services at WMO.

The introduction of laws banning smoking in public places and workplaces in North America and Europe has been quickly followed by large drops in rates of preterm births and children attending hospital for asthma, according to the first systematic review and meta-analysis examining the effect of smoke-free legislation on child health, published in The Lancet. The analysis of 11 studies done in North America and Europe, involving more than 2.5 million births, and nearly 250 000 asthma exacerbations, showed that rates of both preterm births and hospital attendance for asthma were reduced by 10% within a year of smoke-free laws coming into effect... ...Writing in a linked Comment, Sara Kalkhoran and Stanton Glantz from the University of California San Francisco in the USA point out that, “Medical expenses for asthma exceeded US$50 billion in the USA in 2007, and US$20 billion in Europe in 2006. If asthma emergency department visits and admissions to hospital decreased by even 10%, the savings in the USA and Europe together would be US$7 billion annually.†They conclude, “The cigarette companies, their allies, and the groups they sponsor have long used claims of economic harm, particularly to restaurants, bars, and casinos, to oppose smoke-free laws despite consistent evidence to the contrary. By contrast, the rapid economic benefits that smoke-free laws and other tobacco control policies bring in terms of reduced medical costs are real. Rarely can such a simple intervention improve health and reduce medical costs so swiftly and substantially.†More here http://www.alphagalileo.org/ViewItem.aspx?ItemId=140382&CultureCode=en