Italian authorities have issued an “extreme” health risk for 16 cities including Rome and Florence this weekend as a heat wave that is baking Europe threatens to bring record temperatures.

Climate scientists at the European Space Agency (ESA) say temperatures could reach 48 degrees Celsius (118.4 degrees Fahrenheit) on the islands of Sicily and Sardinia, “potentially the hottest temperatures ever recorded in Europe.”

Rome could get as hot as 44 degrees Celsius (111 degrees Fahrenheit).

Italian authorities have issued the second-highest heat warning to nine other cities. The country’s health ministry is advising the public to stay hydrated, eat lighter meals and avoid direct sunlight between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m.

The ESA warned that Europe’s heat wave has only just begun with Spain, France, Germany and Poland expected to see extreme weather, just as the continent welcomes what is expected to be a record-breaking number of tourists coming for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic.

Greece shut the Acropolis of Athens for a second straight day Saturday amid fierce temperatures. Local police helped a tourist who got into difficulty on Friday.

There is particular concern over those working outdoors after a 44-year-old construction worker in Italy died after collapsing on a roadside earlier in the week.

Authorities in Spain warned the heat wave is not just hitting the usual frying pan areas in the south, but also affecting the country’s typically cooler north.

In the south, temperatures in the cities of Seville, Cordoba and Granada have reached 40 degrees Celsius, or 104 degrees Fahrenheit.

Spain’s national weather service says it’s also sizzling on Spain’s resort island of Mallorca in the Mediterranean Sea with highs of 36 degrees Celsius, or 97 degrees Fahrenheit.

Meanwhile, even the normally mild region of Navarra in the north is seeing up to 40 degrees Celsius.

A wildfire that broke out on La Palma Island in Spain’s Canary Islands burned several homes and forced the evacuation of 500 people, the Canary Islands regional government tweeted Saturday morning.

Heat is one of the deadliest natural hazards – more than 61,000 people died in Europe’s searing summer heat wave last year.

The current heat wave – named “Cerberus” by the Italian Meteorological Society after the three-headed monster that features in Dante’s “Inferno” – has prompted further fears for people’s health, especially as it coincides with one of the busiest periods of Europe’s summer tourist season.

Europe is not the only place facing extreme temperatures. A dangerous weekslong heat wave in parts of the western United States is set to worsen this weekend, with more than 90 million people under heat alerts.

The extreme weather is even taking affect as far afield as Australia, with Sydney experiencing unseasonably warm weather for its winter months, according to the country’s Bureau of Meteorology.

North Korea said that the intercontinental ballistic missile it launched on Wednesday, which flew for more than 70 minutes, was a Hwasong-18, marking a potential new round of confrontation with Washington and its allies.

The 74-minute flight time represents a marginal advancement on the missiles tested by North Korea in March and April of this year, both of which were also ICBMs – weapons with the required range to potentially hit the continental United States.

Wednesday’s launch, which landed in waters near to Japan, comes after Pyongyang earlier this week threatened to shoot down US military reconnaissance aircraft engaging in what it called “hostile espionage” activities near its territory.

The Hwasong-18, a type of solid-fuel weapon that is harder to detect and intercept than the North’s other liquid-fuel ICBMs, was first test launched in April. Analysts say the Hwasong-18 could allow North Korea to launch long-range nuclear strikes more quickly and easily as it ramps up its missile program.

State-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported that Wednesday’s missile launch was conducted “at a grave period when the military security situation on the Korean Peninsula and in the region has reached the phase of nuclear crisis beyond the Cold War era as the US and its vassal forces’ unprecedented military provocations against the DPRK have been intensified.”

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un personally guided the test-fire of the Hwasong-18, KCNA said Thursday, local time.

The missile launch and fiery rhetoric, while not unusual for Pyongyang, arrives during a period of heightened tensions on the peninsula, as Washington and Seoul ramp up their defense cooperation. It also appears timed to coincide with the NATO summit in Lithuania, where leaders from South Korea, Japan and the US are meeting to discuss security issues – including the threat posed by North Korea.

The latest ICBM launch, the country’s first in three months, flew a distance of about 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) and at an altitude of over 6,000 kilometers (3,700 miles) for over 74 minutes, according to KCNA.

Flight times give an indication of a missile’s range. North Korea tests most of its missiles on a highly lofted trajectory so they splash down in nearby waters, rather than a flatter trajectory as would be used in an actual attack.

Japan’s Coast Guard said earlier the missile was launched at 9:59 a.m. local time and fell into the Sea of Japan, also known as the East Sea, at 11:15 a.m., citing the Ministry of Defense.

Kim Jong Un previously called the Hwasong-18 his most powerful nuclear weapon – though there is no indication the missile can successfully deliver a nuclear payload.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol held an emergency National Security Council meeting in Lithuania on Wednesday morning in response to the missile launch, Yoon’s press office said in a statement. Yoon is in Vilnius to attend the NATO summit.

The South Korean leader said that he would call for “strong international solidarity” at the NATO summit in response to North Korea’s launch, according to his office.

US condemns ‘brazen’ test

Washington condemned North Korea’s missile test, with US National Security Council spokesperson Adam Hodge calling it “a brazen violation of multiple UN Security Council resolutions and needlessly raises tensions and risks destabilizing the security situation in the region.”

Hodge called on all countries to condemn the violation and call on North Korea to “come to the table for serious negotiations.”

“The door has not closed on diplomacy, but Pyongyang must immediately cease its destabilizing actions and instead choose diplomatic engagement. The United States will take all necessary measures to ensure the security of the American homeland and Republic of Korea and Japanese allies.”

A communique from the NATO meeting on Tuesday urged North Korea to abandoned its ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programs.

“We call on (North Korea) to accept the repeated offers of dialogue put forward by all parties concerned, including Japan, the United States, and the Republic of Korea,” the communique said.

But North Korea has shown no signs that it is willing to engage in negotiations with Washington or Seoul.

Wednesday’s ICBM test follows threats from Kim Yo Jong, a senior North Korean official and sister of Kim Jong Un, who accused a US spy plane of entering the North’s exclusive economic zone at least eight times on Monday.

“In case of repeated illegal intrusion, the US forces will experience a very critical flight,” Kim Yo Jong warned in a statement Tuesday from North Korea’s state news agency.

The US and South Korea dismissed the accusations and urged North Korea to stop creating tension with false claims.

Leif-Eric Easley, associate professor of international studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul, said that Kim’s accusations are part of a North Korean pattern of inflating external threats to rally domestic support and justify weapons tests.

“Pyongyang also times its shows of force to disrupt what it perceives as diplomatic coordination against it, in this case, South Korea and Japan’s leaders meeting during the NATO summit,” said Easley.

Last month, tens of thousands of North Koreans marched in anti-US rallies in Pyongyang, marking the 73rd anniversary of the start of the Korean War. The participants denounced the US as “Destroyer of peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula” and warned of nuclear war, according to state nedia.

Meanwhile, South Korea, the US and Japan have been holding joint and trilateral military exercises aimed at deterring any North Korean military threat.

Wednesday’s launch comes two weeks before North Korea is due to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Korean Armistice Agreement, that brought about a cessation of hostilities of the Korean War, and weeks after its failed launch of the first spy satellite in May.

More than 3.1 million people have been forced to flee their homes amid an increasingly desperate humanitarian situation in war torn Sudan.

Human rights groups are warning of widespread ethnic violence, attacks on civilians and rampant sexual violence against women and girls as the warring factions – the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) – continue to battle for control of the northeastern African country.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported Wednesday that more than 2.4 million have been internally displaced in Sudan while 737,801 people have crossed the border into neighboring countries.

The toll on civilians continues to grow, according to the latest report from the UN’s Office for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) which states that 414,625 individuals comprising 483,672 households, have been displaced, an increase of 183,102 individuals compared to last week.

The number of refugees fleeing to neighboring countries, mainly Egypt, Chad and South Sudan, is also increasing with an estimated 750,000 civilians leaving Sudan entirely.

The World Food Programme (WFP) has said that 20,000 refugees crossed into Chad just last week, adding that many of them are “seriously wounded” and report being “deliberately” targeted in an “increasing ethnic dimension to the violence.”

“We can see that they have suffered, many lost family members, and we don’t even dare ask them, ‘Where are the men?’ The answer from the mothers is often that they were killed. So, you just see many women, many children,” WFP Chad Country Director Pierre Honnorat said, describing desperate scenes from the Zabout refugee camp in Goz Beida in a call with journalists.

“Many are seriously wounded and have harrowing stories of the violence they have experienced” Honorat said, appealing for funding, adding that the “situation is really critical.”

In a statement, WFP said its “urgent priorities include treating the wounded and helping dangerously malnourished children crossing from Darfur into Chad.”

According to WFP, one in 10 displaced children from Sudan is malnourished.

UN officials condemned increasing reports of gender-based violence in Sudan earlier this month, with Save the Children warning of “alarming numbers of children and teenage girls being sexually assaulted and raped by armed combatants.”

Martin Griffiths, UN’s relief operations chief said it’s “unconscionable” that Sudan’s women and children “are being further traumatized this way.” He labeled Sudan “a crisis of humanity.”

The situation in Darfur, western Sudan, is also said to be “critical” with the UN receiving “continued reports of heavy fighting and attacks on civilians”.

In addition to clashes between RSF and SAF, OCHA’s report also notes increased RSF and militia presence reports emerging from other Darfur states, as well as fighting in North and South Kordofan, in an increasingly complex fighting landscape across Sudan.

For a basketball sharpshooter, there’s no higher praise than being complemented by Steph Curry.

The NBA’s all-time leader in three-pointers made has had a transformative effect on the way the sport is played, such is his accurateness from beyond the three-point arc.

So when Curry calls something in the realm of basketball shooting “RIDICULOUS,” the achievement must be noteworthy. And indeed, what Sabrina Ionescu did on Friday evening was, in fact, ridiculous.

Ionescu set a WNBA and NBA all-time record for a single round score in the three-point contest during All-Star weekend.

The New York Liberty’s point guard scored 37 out of 40 possible points – hitting 25 out of 27 possible shots – as she claimed the three-point contest crown.

The 25-year-old’s extraordinary round surpassed the previous NBA record of 31 by Curry in 2021 and Tyrese Haliburton in 2023 and 30 in the WNBA by Allie Quigley last year.

Quigley herself took to Twitter to praise Ionescu, saying: “UNBELIEVABLE!!! This record won’t ever be broken.”

Ionescu comfortably defeated Seattle Storm’s Sami Whitcomb who came second with 22 points and Dallas Wings’ Arike Ogunbowale in third with 11.

“I was just focused on making one at a time,” Ionescu told the ESPN broadcast. “I wasn’t sure how many I’d miss but I knew it wasn’t a lot. I’m happy to have won this and thankful for the crowd, they were cheering me on the entire time.”

In the three-point contest, players take five shots from five different locations around the three-point line, as well as two attempts from a deeper range. Each rack contains four regular orange balls worth one point apiece, and one multi-colored money ball, which is worth two points. The deeper shots are worth three points.

Each player chooses one of their five racks as their specialized rack and those five balls are all worth two points. On Friday, Ionescu hit every one of her selected specialized shots, earning herself 10 points.

Ionescu will make her second career WNBA All-Star game appearance on Saturday.

The 2023 WNBA All-Star game will be played at the Michelob ULTRA Arena in Las Vegas. Along with Ionescu, Phoenix Mercury’s Brittney Griner, Las Vegas Aces’ A’ja Wilson and Indiana Fever’s Aliyah Boston are some of the big names expected to play.

A pre-Women’s World Cup friendly between the Republic of Ireland and Colombia was abandoned after it was deemed “overly physical,” the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) said in a statement.

The behind-closed-doors match in Brisbane, Australia ended after 20 minutes, the FAI said on Friday, with the team proceeding to take part in a full training session instead.

One of Ireland’s key players, midfielder Denise O’Sullivan, had an x-ray and scans on an injury sustained during the friendly. On Saturday, the FAI said the player had avoided a fracture.

Ireland head coach Vera Pauw told Sky Sports on Saturday that her players “feared for themselves.”

“It was something I had never experienced before in my 47 years being involved in football, not as a player, not as a coach,” Pauw said.

“It started lively, a good game, normal, and then it built an atmosphere up in which it became over physical … Then there came a huge challenge on Denise. It was a typical challenge that is not within the rules of the game, and she was in awful pain … The players were extremely upset and had fear for themselves. We are not a team that has fear of tackles or fear of challenges or fear of anything.”

In a statement, the Colombian Football Federation (FCF) said the game was suspended “due to Ireland’s National Team, rival of the practice this Friday, preferring not to continue playing when 23 minutes of the first half had already taken place.

“If all of the processes and trainings of our national teams are based on the rules of the game, healthy competition and Fair Play, among other things, we respect the decision of our rival national team.”

The Women’s World Cup, hosted by Australia and New Zealand, starts on July 20. Ireland begins its campaign against Australia on the opening day, while Colombia’s first match is against South Korea on July 25.

In travel news this week: gastronomic delights at vineyards and top hotels, spectacular engineering projects around the world, plus an expert explains must-know nude beach etiquette.

Wine, dine and sleep

This year’s most glorious vineyard experience has just been announced, according to the World’s Best Vineyards awards, and the 2023 winner is Catena Zapata in Mendoza, Argentina. If you like Malbec wine, Mayan-inspired architecture and multisensory masterclasses, then this could be the vacation for you. Plus, it’s cool in the Southern Hemisphere right now – a welcome relief from the blistering heat gripping much of the United States and Europe.

Other fabulous foodie adventures can be enjoyed at any of the establishments featured in our roundup of the world’s tastiest hotels. Each has a Michelin-starred restaurant on-site, so you can eat and make merry then roll directly to your freshly made bed and cool, cotton pillows.

Bridge and tunnel crowd

Work is underway on a $5.5 billion canal that will connect Paris to European waterways and break up one of the continent’s major transport bottlenecks. Scores of bridges and towering locks are set to be built before the project is completed in 2030.

When it comes to mass industry, moles know what’s up. Those many-thumbed mammals can dig out what would be the human equivalent of a half-mile burrow in one night. But when it comes to impressive tunnels, our species has created some spectacular efforts as well, underneath oceans, submerged inside glaciers and buried deep in the Earth.

How to coast through life

If you’re looking for a vacation at a geographical sweet spot where land meets ocean, then we have a fresh set of suggestions to pep up your July.

An awe-inspiring new tourist route has opened up along the majestic, and terrifying, Hornelan mountain sea cliff in Norway. The via ferrata climbing route along the sheer rockface ascends right to the top of the 2,820-foot (860-meter) mountain, with incredible views rewarding the adrenaline-seekers who make it up.

For a less vertiginous experience, there’s Croatia’s northern coastline between Zadar and Trogir, where you’ll find fewer tourists than the likes of Split or Dubrovnik, but equally gorgeous beaches, villages and local culture.

Trips around the world

In 2021, two Minnesota teenagers set off on what was to be a two-year bike trip around the world. But just a few months into the trip, things weren’t going according to plan. Keen cyclist ​​Adam Swanson had a big decision to make.

Meanwhile, Canadian firefighter Markus Pukonen was on his own epic voyage, continuing his seven-year quest to circumnavigate the world using no motorized transport, powered only by his “muscles and some wind.” Here’s how he got on, walking, canoeing, kayaking, cycling, tricycling, skiing, rowing, trimaraning, rafting, sailing and stand-up paddleboarding around the globe.

Noteworthy

Hot on the heels of that tourist who reportedly carved names into Rome’s Colosseum, a Canadian teen was this month questioned over allegedly defacing a UNESCO-listed temple in Japan.

Forget your trunks, but never your manners

Eighty-one-year-old Ronna has been a nudist for more than 30 years, and she’s seen it all and then some. Watch her etiquette guide above to learn what you should never do on a nude beach.

In case you missed it

This chef visited 48 African countries to create a new “Afro-fusion” cuisine.

Dinner at this Kigali restaurant isn’t just a meal, it’s a continent-wide tour.

When a tourist in Bali gets arrested, this is the woman they call. 

She’s the “go-to person” when there’s trouble in paradise.

A whirlwind romance began in a Brussels chocolate shop.

It turned into a love story spanning nearly 40 years.

Wanna see some tiny pink panda cub twins? 

Course you do. Don’t be shy.

It’s been several days since US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen left Beijing, and much has been said about her efforts to repair the US-China relationship.

But politics aside, her Beijing visit resulted in one unexpected success – she managed to dramatically boost business for a Yunnan restaurant chain while bringing jian shou qing, an unusual yet highly sought-after mushroom prized for its unique properties, into the national limelight.

Shortly after the treasury secretary landed in Beijing last week, her delegation was spotted dining at Yi Zuo Yi Wang (In and Out). Contrary to the eatery’s English name, there are no burgers here. This restaurant chain specializes in Yunnan food, a popular regional cuisine from part of southwestern China that borders Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar.

It all started when a food blogger posted about Yellen’s party’s meal on Weibo, a popular Chinese micro-blogging site.

“When I walked by their table on my way to the washroom, I slowed down to take a glance at the dishes they ordered,” said Weibo user Pan Pan Mao in the post.

Among the dishes the food blogger claimed to have spotted were grilled fish with herbs, stir-fried pickled Yunnan wild greens with potato slices and cold rice noodles.

“Very Yunnan, very homey,” Pan Pan Mao commented.

The restaurant soon confirmed the visit on its Weibo account.

“US Treasury Secretary Yellen was here,” said the post, in Chinese.

“Speculating from the timestamp on the news, it was true that she came (to the restaurant) right after landing in China. Our staff said she loved mushrooms very much. She ordered four portions of jian shou qing (a Yunnan wild mushroom species). It was an extremely magical day.”

The hashtag “US Treasury Secretary Yellen’s first meal in Beijing is Yunannese” became a trending topic on social media, with related posts racking up 6 million views.

Many netizens expressed curiosity, wondering who picked the restaurant. Others noted they were impressed by Yellen’s chopsticks skills and her delegation’s down-to-earth choice for her first post-flight meal.

But the most heated discussions were focused on the multiple orders of the mushroom dish – jian shou qing.

This person added that Yellen enjoys going out to different restaurants, including popular local ones like Yi Zuo Yi Wang, whenever she travels with her team.

She also enjoys meeting different people in the countries she visits over a meal, this person continued, pointing to her upcoming lunch with Vietnamese women economists during her current trip to Vietnam and India.

Jian shou qing, Yunnan’s mysterious mushrooms

Jian shou qing, which translates literally as “see hand blue,” gets its Chinese name from one of its defining characteristics – the inner surfaces of the mushrooms bruise and turn blue when you apply pressure on them, including during the slicing process.

It’s an umbrella term for a family of mushrooms, but in Yunnan, jian shou qing mostly refers to what scientists call “Lanmaoa asiatica.”

“It’s a medium- to large-sized mushroom, reddish color on the outside and yellow underneath and looks very similar to some of the porcini mushrooms,” says Dr. Peter Mortimer, a professor at Kunming Institute of Botany.

“So similar in fact that it is easily confused with local porcini species, often with interesting, or scary, consequences.”

The South African national first arrived in Yunnan in 2010 on a climbing holiday and was offered a position at the institute. He has lived in Yunnan and been researching the region’s mushrooms ever since.

“Lanmaoa mushrooms are considered poisonous as they can be hallucinogenic,” says Mortimer, who spends many of his days in the Yunnan forest foraging for fungi.

“However, scientists have not, as of yet, identified the compounds responsible for causing the hallucinations. It remains a bit of a mystery, and most evidence is anecdotal. I have a friend who mistakenly ate them and hallucinated for three days.”

Last year, the Botanical Society of Yunnan published an updated index of Yunnan’s poisonous mushrooms, with photos identifying the species, to warn the public. Among the fungi included was jian shou qing, leading to discussions about whether the beloved mushrooms should still be allowed to be sold online and served in restaurants. In the end, popularity trumped such concerns and they’re still widely available.

Despite its reputation, jian shou qing is considered a common delicacy among Yunnan locals and is a popular dish at Yunnan restaurants throughout China, where the mushrooms are properly prepared to avoid any negative effects.

Xinhua, China’s state news agency, even produced a news segment on how to eat jian shou qing safely on July 10 following Yellen’s visit, interviewing Chinese shoppers at a Yunnan wild mushroom market.

One interviewee claimed that she had been negatively affected once: “You thought you were walking straight but you just fell sideways.”

“I still eat it. I can’t stop myself,” another mushroom fan told Xinhua. “We often ask one person at the table to try one first, and if he is OK, we will follow and start eating.”

The general belief is that you have to fully cook the fungi to rid them of hallucinogenic properties.

The aftereffect for the Yunnan restaurant chain has been prominent. Following Yellen’s visit, wild mushroom dishes have been selling out in the restaurant’s many branches in China’s major cities, the chain said in a later Weibo post.

Growing appetite for Yunnan cuisine

The fact that Yellen and her team visited a Yunnan restaurant shouldn’t come as a surprise.

While it may not be as popular as Cantonese or Sichuanese food internationally, Yunnan cuisine – also referred to as Dian Cai – has long been a beloved dining option all over China and has soared in popularity among hip young urban Chinese in recent years.

“However, with the rise of fine-dining restaurants in China, more chefs are discovering the value of these exceptional ingredients, leading to increased attention and appreciation [to Yunnan food],” says Ng.

Ranked no.31 on the latest Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants list, the restaurant strives to combine Chinese ingredients with international cooking techniques. Ng says it has incorporated many Yunnan ingredients in its current seasonal menu.

“In fact, for our summer menu, we use Yunnan ingredients in 60% of our dishes. Some of the highlights include our scampi appetizer with peanut shoots, uni custard with fresh wild chanterelle and dry mushrooms, beef tartare with sunchoke, scallop dumpling with summer truffle, and our duck dish with a jus infused with fresh peppercorns.

“We also use fresh wild milk cap mushrooms to complement our wagyu beef, and fresh jasmine flowers to add a seasonal touch to our melon dessert.”

Amidst the plethora of fresh produce on offer in the region, mushrooms are undeniably one of Yunnan’s most loved ingredients, especially in summer.

“Yunnan is absolutely mushroom mad,” says scientist Mortimer. “There are towns where all the streets are named after mushrooms, buildings designed to look like mushrooms, and all the restaurants are serving mushroom dishes. The Yunnan people are extremely knowledgeable regarding mushrooms, from the kids through to the old folks.”

Mushroom festivals and sumptuous mushroom feasts are often held around Yunnan from June to October. In Chuxiong prefecture in central Yunnan province, for instance, foragers bring their most prized fungi collections and compete for the “King of Mushroom” title.

Restaurants and local homes serve wild mushroom hotpots during the season, too.

“Yunnan is home to about 800 species of mushrooms that people eat,” adds Mortimer.

“That is a crazy number of edible species for one place. Consider the fact that there are only about 2,200 species of mushrooms considered edible globally.”

But there’s so much more to Yunnan food than fungi.

Yunnan Province is home to many ethnic minority groups, resulting in a colorful array of spices and fresh flavors from different regions.

Perhaps the most popular dish to come out of the province is Yunnan Guoqiaomixian (translated as “crossing-the-bridge rice noodles”). Why the name? Legend has it that cross-the-bridge rice noodles were invented many years ago by a loving wife. Her husband studied on an island, so the wife would travel across a bridge to deliver him his daily lunches.

As the food would be cold after the journey, the disheartened wife decided to bring a pot of scalding hot chicken broth, along with the rice noodles and raw ingredients.

The chicken oil on the surface of the soup kept the liquid warm. When the husband was ready to eat, she’d cook all the ingredients by pouring them into the hot soup.

Today, many noodle shops sell their own style of cross-the-bridge rice noodles, offering a choice of different ingredients and soup bases.

Other popular Yunnan foods include Xuanwei dry-cured ham, comforting rice pancakes and rubing – goat cheese. The province also has an enviable selection of wild edible flowers, especially in spring, and is also the home of pu’er, a popular variety of fermented tea known for its complex and earthy flavor.

“Yunnan has a huge variety of interesting dishes stemming from the cultural diversity in the province,” says Mortimer.

“Mushroom hotpots are always a great option when you have a big group of people, and I really enjoy the selection of unusual vegetables, such as fern fronds.”

So say what you like about whether Yellen’s Beijing visit had any impact on relations between the world’s two biggest economies. When it comes to Chinese cuisine, it’s clear the treasury secretary’s team made all the right moves.

Still hoping to get to Europe this summer but wondering if there’s a way to finagle a vacation there during what remains of this record-breaking season without completely busting your budget?

With full airplanes crisscrossing the Atlantic Ocean and hotels having no trouble filling rooms across tourist hot spots, you’re going to need to play it smart.

If you have yet to book your airfare across the pond, get ready for sticker shock from the start.

“Last-minute flight prices, especially international ones, are expensive,” says Katy Nastro of Going.com (formerly Scott’s Cheap Flights) about airfares from North American to Europe. “Yet, if you target the last two weeks in August, you’ll find them to be substantially cheaper than in July.”

As summer winds down and schools go back into session, Nastro says reduced demand for travel can bring with it some price relief.

If you’ve been sitting on a pile of frequent flyer miles, now’s a great time to stop hoarding them.

“Their best value comes when cash prices are high, and there’s no time more expensive than last-minute summer travel,” Nastro says. “Even as cash fares exceed $1,500, tickets are often available on the same flights for as low as 30,000 points round trip.”

Even if you can’t save much on the getting-there part of a European summer vacation, there are some other ways to consider cutting costs once you’re on the ground.

Consider a cruise

Been on the fence about cruising in Europe? The moment to consider it might be right now.

“As hotel rates and airfares rise even more this summer, cruising continues to be a really high-value vacation option – and a fantastic way to explore Europe in a more cost-effective way than if you were to travel by land,” said Colleen McDaniel, editor-in-chief of Cruise Critic.

Particularly if you’re looking to make the most of the airfare you paid to get to Europe and visit more than one destination without hopping on another plane, she says, cruising can reap serious savings over what you’d pay for a similar vacation connecting countries by land.

Architect Hevelyn Villar Silva of Tampa, Florida, agrees.

Her family’s seven-night cruise on 3,223-passenger MSC Magnifica in late May from Valencia, Spain, likely saved them thousands of dollars on what they would have spent traveling during a similar vacation on land exploring several European countries.

For the family of four (including her two young sons who sailed for free thanks to MSC Cruises’ regularly offered Kids Sail Free promotion), she says the Silvas spent around $310 per day total over the course of the week (not including their airfare).

That daily figure includes what they paid for the cruise fare ($1,469.80 for a cabin with a window but no balcony, although the family was later upgraded for free) and the extra money they spent in port on things such as gelato and train or bus fares to do their own excursions in places such as Pisa and Portofino in Italy.

“There is no way that you can travel that much, see all of those places, eat all your meals and sleep well at that cost per day for a family of four people,” she said about their seven-night cruise – which started and finished in Valencia and had five ports of call (and one at-sea day) in Italy, France and Spain over the course of the week.

MSC Cruises’ current fares include seven-night cruises around the Mediterranean in July and August starting from $799 per person aboard MSC Magnifica and $968 aboard the line’s largest ship, MSC World Europa (with a passenger capacity of 6,762), both of which include kids and teens clubs, entertainment and all meals in the rate.

Royal Caribbean’s Symphony of the Seas has seven-night Western Mediterranean sailings in August from $1,799 per person on itineraries that call into port in Palma de Mallorca as well as Italy and France.

Other ships to scour in Europe for summer deals:

• Norwegian Cruise Line’s Norwegian Jade has fares starting from $599 per person for seven-night cruises around the Greek Isles from Athens.
• For cooler climes, check out Hurtigruten Norway’s 40%-off fares offered in July and August aboard the newly launched Svalbard Express.
• Eight-day southbound voyages from the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard to Bergen in mainland Norway start from $2,812 per person (down from $5,509) and include all meals (plus wine and beer during meals).

Train passes can help cut costs

Prefer to travel overland? For people looking to cover a lot of ground and families with young children who can benefit from free rail passes, train travel can be more cost effective than flying between European countries or relying on one-way car rentals (plus gas and tolls) to get around.

“Most travelers going to Europe have a few destinations in mind, “ says Henley Vazquez, co-founder of luxury travel advisor group Fora. “This summer, choose cities and towns that are connected by train, so you can avoid multiple flights and high rental car costs.”

Eurail offers youth discounts of up to 25% off train travel in Europe for travelers who are 27 or younger as well as 10% off for seniors (60 and older) and free passes for kids from 4 to 11 when traveling together with someone on a Eurail Adult Pass. Children younger than 4 ride free and do not require a Eurail Pass. Eurail also offers pass holders discounts on things such as ferry fares and city cards that can help cut costs.

To make the most of your Eurail Pass, search for routes that don’t require reservations (and therefore an additional fee).

“It’s essential, however, to consider the cost-effectiveness based on your specific itinerary, as point-to-point tickets might be cheaper for shorter or less frequent journeys,” advises Ethan Williams of the blog Traveling Gossip.

Limiting your European train travels to a single country?

Individual countries often offer their own deals on rail travel, including Germany with its German Rail Pass (available only to people residing outside of Germany); Italy’s Trentalia pass for foreign citizens living outside of Italy; Austria’s Einfach-Raus-Ticket for groups of two to five people traveling on local and regional trains within the country and Czech Railways’ Summer Ticket, with seven- and 14-day passes good for unlimited rail trips in the Czech Republic.

If you’re set on traveling around Europe by air, look at routes in and out of alternate airports instead of the main hubs, said Georgia Bird of the travel planning blog, First Step: Europe.

“For example, flying into Rome Ciampino, then flying out of Rome Fiumicino,” she said. “This can take hundreds off the price of tickets.”

Book last-minute stays

If you haven’t already booked your accommodations, snagging last-minute offers on discounted accommodation can be an option for saving money on hotel stays and apartment and vacation rentals, says Ignacio Eguren of Checkin Cantabria, a vacation rental website with accommodations across Cantabria province in northern Spain.

“If you’re looking for better prices, you should be open to last-minute offers and be flexible with the location and dates, too,” Eguren says. “The demand can be high, so it’s recommended to explore different options and be prepared to adjust your plans based on the available offers.”

The flexibility of traveling by car can come in handy for accommodating impromptu destination changes if you’re open to booking stays at the last minute.

Some revenue managers for vacation rentals use dynamic pricing, Eguren says, which means nightly pricing can fluctuate with supply and demand.

“At the last minute, you can get better prices because establishments that are still unreserved or have had last-minute cancellations offer deals to fill up their accommodations,” he says.

Booking.com lets hosts use dynamic pricing through Genius, its loyalty program, to boost occupancy, which can translate to last-minute discounts on stays for potential guests at times when occupancy goals aren’t being met.

And while sites such as Airbnb don’t use dynamic pricing, they do offer their hosts, who set their own prices, tools such as Smart Pricing that automatically adjust nightly pricing based on demand. So the price you see one day for a stay could potentially vary the next.

That means last-minute deals can open for travelers who can deal with the uncertainty of waiting until the night before (or even the day of) to book where they’ll be sleeping next.

For example, a recent search on Booking.com’s Getaway Deals page (offering 15% off stays worldwide through September 28) showed a same-night stay in early July at the centrally located Hotel Library Amsterdam (a 10-minute walk from the Rembrandt House Museum) for $150 per night for two people and $108 per night at the Best Western Premier Faubourg 88 in Paris’ 10th arrondissement.

“Remember to stay alert for last-minute offers on not only accommodation booking platforms, but on the websites of the establishments themselves, too,” Eguren said. “You can also consider contacting the accommodations directly to inquire about availability or special promotions.”

Think beyond the typical destinations

Veteran European traveler, travel TV host and guidebook author Rick Steves advises American travelers to think more like Europeans when traveling the continent – both to save money and for a rewarding overall experience.

“The last time I was in a restaurant in Oslo, 16 of 20 diners were drinking only tap water,” Steves said. “And you’ll see crowds of young people who can’t afford Copenhagen’s bars enjoying beer from the grocery store along the city’s canals. Why not do the same?”

After all, little savings here and there add up.

Steves also suggests setting your sights on Europe’s less glamorous “second” cities for savings as well as a unique experience. These places he calls “the Chicagos of Europe” include Marseille in France, Hamburg in Germany and Liverpool in England.

“A lot of money and effort is being put into revitalizing these once-depressed, former Industrial Age powers, giving them a certain energy you don’t find in their more well-known siblings,” Steves said.

Wherever you go, be open to those impromptu experiences that rarely ever break the bank.

“In Rome, climb up the Scala Santa Holy Stairs on your knees to learn what it feels like to be a pilgrim,” Steves said. “At a French produce market, gather a gourmet picnic to enjoy in the garden of a Loire château … join the Scotsman who runs your B&B in a game of lawn bowling.”

“I find that the less I spend, the richer the experience I have.”

Italian authorities have issued an “extreme” health risk for 15 cities including Rome and Florence this weekend as a heatwave that is baking Europe threatens to bring record temperatures.

Climate scientists at the European Space Agency (ESA) say temperatures could reach 48°C [118.4°F] on the islands of Sicily and Sardinia, “potentially the hottest temperatures ever recorded in Europe.”

The Italian health ministry is advising the public to stay hydrated, eat lighter meals and avoid direct sunlight between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m..

The ESA warned that Europe’s heatwave has only just begun with Spain, France, Germany and Poland also expected to see extreme weather, just as the continent welcomes an influx of tourists.

Greece shut the Acropolis of Athens for a second straight day Saturday amid fierce temperatures. Local police helped a tourist who got into difficulty on Friday.

There is particular concern over those working outdoors after a 44-year-old construction worker in Italy died after collapsing on a roadside earlier in the week,

Authorities in Spain warned the heatwave is not just hitting the usual frying pan areas in the south, but also affecting the country’s typically cooler north.

In the south, temperatures in the cities of Seville, Cordoba and Granada have reached 40 degrees Celsius, or 104 degrees Fahrenheit.

Spain’s national weather service says it’s also sizzling on Spain’s resort island of Mallorca in the Mediterranean Sea with highs of 36 degrees Celsius, or 97 degrees Fahrenheit.

Meanwhile, even the normally mild region of Navarra in the north is seeing up to 40 degrees Celsius.

Heat is one of the deadliest natural hazards – more than 61,000 people died in Europe’s searing summer heat wave last year.

The current heat wave – named “Cerberus” by the Italian Meteorological Society after the three-headed monster that features in Dante’s “Inferno” – has prompted further fears for people’s health, especially as it coincides with one of the busiest periods of Europe’s summer tourist season.

Age is clearly just a number to Novak Djokovic, who is now just one match away from securing a record-equaling eighth Wimbledon title after the Serb beat Italy’s Jannik Sinner in straight sets, winning 6-3 6-4 7-6 in Friday’s first men’s semifinal.

Victory ensured the 36-year-old reached a record-breaking 35th grand slam final – in doing so surpassing Chris Evert’s landmark – and will now face Carlos Alcaraz in Sunday’s final.

Djokovic will be the overwhelming favorite to win a record-extending 24th grand slam title against Alcaraz, not least because he’s already won the Australian Open and the French Open in 2023.

The Serb has lost one just one Wimbledon final he’s reached – that was 10 years ago when he was beaten by Andy Murray.

‘I love it’

Ever the showman, Djokovic got into a back-and-forth with a fan, who had celebrated after he missed a first serve at break point down toward the end of a tense third set. After eventually holding serve, Djokovic turned to the fan and mimicked wiping away tears from his eyes.

Sinner, who was appearing in the last four of a grand slam for the first time in his career, left everything out of the court but was no match for Djokovic’s relentless brilliance.

The 21-year-old, widely regarded as one of tennis’ brightest young talents, will no doubt once again grace this stage of a grand slam in the not so distant future, but for now it’s the sport’s elder statesman that continues to reign supreme in SW19.

“Semifinals, it was always going to be a very close and tense match, as was the case,” said Djokovic said magnanimously in his on-court interview. “Three very close sets, I think the score line maybe doesn’t give the reality of what was happening on the court, it was super close.

“That third set could have gone his way, he had 15-40 on 5-4 … he missed a couple of shots to let me get into the tie-break. There was a lot of pressure in the third, I had my chances early on but he has proven why he is one of the leaders of the next generation and one of the best players we have in the world.

“It’s great to be part of this new generation, I love it,” Djokovic joked.

Rare hindrance call

The early signs were promising for Sinner, who earned a break point in Djokovic’s opening service game, though he was unable to convert. However, things quickly began to unravel as Sinner’s serve was broken in his opening service game as Djokovic took control of the first set.

In total, Sinner had three break points to Djokovic’s one in the first set but was unable to capitalize on any of them, while is opponent ruthlessly converted the one chance that presented itself to him.

The second set followed much the same pattern, as Sinner was again broken early on and a dejected look crept across his face after a game of quite careless tennis.

There was a bizarre moment in the second set when umpire Richard Haigh called Djokovic for a hindrance, awarding the point to Sinner, after the Serb let out a belated grunt when hitting a backhand.

“The hindrance [call] earlier on today in the match could have changed the course of the match,” Djokovic said.

“I felt really nervous after that call from the chair umpire, but managed to regroup and it was probably the first time in my career that something like this has happened.

“Normally I don’t have extended grunts, maybe it was an echo from the roof or something. “I didn’t feel I was causing any hindrance, but it was the call and I had to respect it.”

Subsequently, Haigh called Djokovic for a time violation on his serve. Though unquestionably a correct decision this time, it only served to add to the frustration of both Djokovic and the crowd.

Unperturbed by the umpire’s decisions, Djokovic held serve before eventually taking a commanding two-set lead.

‘Eternally grateful’

Sinner deserves plenty of credit for continuing to battle deep into the third set, pumping his fist toward his box with every booming winner, including one that registered 100 miles per hour on the speed gun.

In fact, the youngster was now playing his best tennis of the encounter and his reward was the chance to take the third set in a tie-break.

There was to be no denying Djokovic, however, who turned up the heat once again to clinch the tie-break and the match.

Even at the ripe, old age of 36 – in tennis terms, at least – Djokovic says he might just be playing some of the best tennis of his career.

“I’d like to believe that’s the case,” he said. “I mean, we are part of an individual sport so you have to rely on yourself and put yourself in the best possible, physical, mental and emotional state before going out on the court.

“So I tried not to look at the age as a hindrance that might change the outcome on the court. I feel 36 is the new 26, it feels good.

“I feel a lot of motivation and I’m inspired to play the tennis that I truly love, this sport has given me so much and I’m eternally grateful so I’ll try to … I guess return the favor to this sport and play as much as I possibly can.”

In the other semifinal, Alcaraz reached his first Wimbledon final with a dominant victory over Daniil Medvedev, winning in straight sets 6-3 6-3 6-3.

Alcaraz raced into a two-set lead behind some big hitting and deft drop shots and although Medvedev showed grit and determination in the final set to show his class, the world No. 1 reached his final at the famous tournament with a now-familiar pinpoint forehand.