Extreme heat welcomes summer solstice

SINGAPORE - Extreme heat across large tracts of the Northern Hemisphere raised fears for crops in China, fueled forest fires in Portugal and Russia's Far East, forced flight cancellations in the Southwest US and melted pavement on roads in Britain.

Wednesday marked the summer solstice-the longest day of the year-and forecasters said temperatures in Paris were expected to hit 37 C, Madrid could see 38 C and London was set for 34 C with warnings of thunderstorms.

Rounding up the record temperatures set in the past two months, the World Meteorological Organization said Earth was experiencing "another exceptionally warm year" and the heat waves were unusually early.