Europe
Study in Denmark: Costs, opportunities for international students
Ranging from its luscious mountains, picturesque cities, standard education system, to welfare economic status, Denmark is a dream country for many. The country has consistently featured on the top list for higher studies ranking and placed fifth in the recent rankings of 2019.
Naturally, a lot of international students aspire to go to Denmark for higher studies and potentially make a career there. As a Schengen country, the facilities for foreigners in education and work are immense. In this article, we explore how Bangladeshi students can pursue higher studies in Denmark.
Why Study in Denmark?
In addition to consistently featuring in the overall top position globally, the universities of Denmark are also some of the bests in the world for different streams. Most of the universities consistently rank on top of the QS world university ranking.
Read Free Education Scopes in Norway for International Students at Masters, PhD Programs
Danish universities also offer some of the best research facilities at all higher study levels. The classwork and lectures are all interactive where participation is of paramount importance.
And the best thing? Students are not required to show bank solvency documents to get accepted and move to Denmark to pursue their education. For many Bangladeshis, this is a golden opportunity to study abroad without an initial cost burden.
Moving on, the country has a high employment rate at over 65% with graduates having an even higher placement rate than the national median. With excellent economic performance, robust culture, and cosmopolitan cities, Denmark can be an easy choice for higher studies and potential settlement.
Read Free Education in Germany for International Students in Bachelor, Masters, PhD
Scopes of Higher Studies in Denmark
For anyone wishing to pursue their higher studies in Denmark, there are three options – bachelors, masters, and Ph.D. However, there are a few caveats. Let’s look at each of the opportunities individually. We’ll also explore the cost breakdowns for each level so that you can get a clear idea of the overall expense.
How to get admission in Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is the first level of getting into Denmark through higher studies. Most bachelors require the prospective student to complete at least 12 years of education in their home country to be eligible for bachelors.
But in Denmark, a prospective student needs 13 years of education - which means to study for one additional year in a local university of the student’s home country after completion of Higher Secondary Degree- to be eligible for pursuing bachelors. This might often deter a student from pursuing bachelor’s in Denmark in addition to others that we will discuss later.
Read Top European Countries Offering Free Education for International Students
As for the application process, it starts around February and runs through March for the fall intake. Some universities might start the application as early as October of the previous year. So make sure you’re prepared accordingly.
For application, the document requirements are fairly standard. Students will need –
1. Educational Transcripts
2. IELTS/ TOEFL scores
3. Statement of Purpose
4. 2 Letter of Recommendation
Read How to Pick a College or University Abroad for Higher Education
That’s about it for the application. Many people wonder whether it’s possible to study in Denmark for free. Unfortunately, it’s not possible.
Denmark only offers free higher education to the natives and citizens of the EU and Switzerland. If you don’t qualify for any of the two, you will need to pay a tuition fee. The general tuition fee for each year runs between 6000 to 12,000 euros based on courses. That roughly amounts to 6,18,750 BDT to 12,37,501 BDT respectively (1 EUR = 103.13 BDT).
Masters degree admission process in Denmark
The process of getting into masters is also similar to the bachelors. Students will have to complete 16 years of formal education to be eligible for a master’s course in Denmark.
Masters in Denmark are of two types – 1-year masters and 2-year masters. Depending on the stream and major, the course duration will be determined.
Read Studying Abroad: Major Pros and Cons You Need to Consider
The application process is similar to the bachelors. The application windows are also the same. In addition to the standard requirements, most masters will require a research plan to be submitted along with the application.
In case the applicant wants to change streams, for example, if they come from a science background wishing to do an MBA, Denmark requires a mandatory pre-masters course for such students. This is done to acclimatize the students to the new curriculum and stream.
The tuition fee for masters per year is the same as bachelors. However, specialized streams might run as high as 35,000 Euros or 36,09,380 BDT per year.
Read Studying Abroad in Canada: Prospects and Challenges
How to find a Phd opportunity in Denmark
The process of a Ph.D. is also similar to the masters. To be eligible for Ph.D. candidacy, students will have to complete 17 or 18 years of formal education based on the duration of their masters. However, there’s a second option. Instead of a 3-year Ph.D., potential graduates can combine an integrated masters and Ph.D. program together for a total duration of 5 years.
The application process varies depending on the university and integrated courses aren’t also commonly available. The tuition fees are the same as bachelors and masters.
Scholarship Opportunities for Internatial Students in Denmark
Scholarship opportunities in Denmark are rare. There aren’t as many scholarship opportunities as the likes of the USA or Canada or even Germany have. It's also especially low for the bachelor's program with the existing opportunities geared towards masters and Ph.D. students.
Read SoP for Higher Studies: How to write an unfailing Statement of Purpose?
The existing scholarship opportunities include –
1. Nordplus
2. Erasmus
3. Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters
4. Fullbright
5. Denmark Government Scholarship for Non-EU students
6. The State Education Support.
Cost of Living in Denmark
The cost of living in Denmark is quite high. Being a Schengen country the cost of rent, living, and food are somewhat higher compared to its other European counterparts.
A student living in Denmark can expect to spend around 600 to 800 Euro per month on living costs which roughly translates to about 61,875 BDT to 82,500 BDT. Even if you are living in a metropolis like Copenhagen, this much will cover your basic livelihood. But of course, it might be higher depending on personal expenses and habits.
Job Scopes in Denmark
Denmark offers part-time job opportunities to incoming foreign students. A foreign student can work 20 hours a week as a part-time job both on and off campus. During the summer break, they are allowed to work full time without any time cap.
Read Study in Australia: Scholarship Opportunities for Bangladeshi Students
Denmark has a high minimum wage ratio so students can easily cover either their tuition or living expenses with part-time jobs.
After graduation, students are required to get an Establishment Card which allows them up to 2 years to get a job in Denmark after graduation.
Permanent Residency in Denmark
Schengen countries are notorious for difficult and long PR processes. Realistically, a student who graduated from a Danish institution with a minimum bachelor’s degree can expect to get a PR in about 8 years.
Read What should Bangladeshi students pack and bring with them to Western Countries?
Of the 8 years, they need to be employed permanently for at least 3.5 years leading up to the PR application.
Final Words
So far, we have discussed how students from Bangladesh can study bachelor, masters or PhD in Denmark at low cost or with scholarship. Denmark can be a perfect destination if you’re looking for world-class education and a secured career path. The country has a near-zero crime rate, an excellent work environment, amazing research facilities, and many more to excite prospective students.
However, the cost might play a role for non-EU students wishing to study in Denmark. But if you can manage one of the many available scholarships, it will certainly become easy to pursue higher education here.
Read Cheapest countries for Bangladeshi students for higher studies
Walton expands TV business in Georgia
Bangladesh's Walton has expanded its business in the eastern European country Georgia by exporting smart TVs.
The company hopes that the export will pave the way for expanding its TV business in other eastern European countries like Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Also read: Walton TV gets good response in Romania
Samin Yasar, the market in-charge of Walton Global Business Division in Georgia, said: "This year, a famous Georgian electronics marketing company has partnered with us to distribute Walton TVs to its market. In June this year, the Georgian company received the first shipment of Walton TVs. The second shipment of Walton TVs will be sent to Georgia very soon."
"Also, Walton TVs are now available on Georgia's e-commerce platforms."
Read Walton TV gets good response in Romania
Syed Al Imran, vice-president of Walton Global Business Division for Europe, said: "Walton started exporting TVs to the European market in 2019. Since then, it has successfully expanded its TV export to around 16 countries in western and central Europe, including Germany, Denmark, Ireland, Poland, Greece, Spain, Croatia, Italy, and Romania."
Wildfires spread, fish die off amid severe drought in Europe
Firefighters from across Europe struggled Thursday to contain a huge wildfire in France that has swept through a large swath of pine forest, while Germans and Poles faced a mass fish die-off in a river flowing between their countries.
Europe is suffering under a severe heat wave and drought that has produced tragic consequences for farmers and ecosystems already under threat from climate change and pollution.
The drought is causing a loss of agricultural products and other food at a time when supply shortages and Russia’s war against Ukraine have caused inflation to spike.
In France, which is enduring its worst drought on record, flames raged through pine forests overnight, illuminating the sky with an intense orange light in the Gironde region, which was already ravaged by flames last month, and in neighboring Landes. More than 68 square kilometers (26 square miles) have burned since Tuesday.
The French wildfires have already forced the evacuation of about 10,000 people and destroyed at least 16 houses.
Read: Wildfires in Germany, Czechia threatening tourist region
Along the Oder River, which flows from Czechia north into the Baltic Sea, volunteers have been collecting dead fish that have washed ashore in Poland and Germany.
Piotr Nieznanski, the conservation policy director at WWF Poland, said it appears that a toxic chemical was released into the water by an industry and the low water levels caused by the drought has made conditions far more dangerous for the fish.
“A tragic event is happening along the Oder River, an international river, and there is no transparent information about what is going on,” he said, calling on government authorities to investigate.
People living along the river have been warned not to swim in the water or even touch it.
Poland’s state water management body said the drought and high temperatures can cause even small amounts of pollution to lead to an ecological disaster but it has not identified the source of the pollution.
In northern Serbia, the dry bed of the Conopljankso reservoir is now littered with dead fish that were unable to survive the drought.
The water level along Germany’s Rhine River was at risk of falling so low that it could become difficult to transport goods — including critical energy items like coal and gasoline.
Russian oil shipments to central Europe expected to resume
Oil shipments from Russia through a critical pipeline to several European countries should resume soon after a problem over payments for transit was resolved, Slovakia’s Economy Minister Richard Sulik said on Wednesday.
“I expect the oil shipments to resume in hours,” Sulik said.
Russian state pipeline operator Transneft said Tuesday it halted shipments through the southern branch of the Druzhba, or Friendship, pipeline, which runs through Ukraine to the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. The northern leg of the Druzhba pipeline, which runs through Belarus to Poland and Germany, was unaffected, Transneft said.
Transneft cited complications due to European Union sanctions for its action on Aug. 4, saying its payment to the company’s Ukrainian counterpart was refused.
Read: India, China growing markets for shunned Russian oil
Sulik said the payments would be made Wednesday by Slovak refiner Slovnaft after both the Russian and Ukrainian sides agreed to the solution. Slovnaft is owned by Hungary’s MOL energy group.
MOL confirmed the money has been transferred.
Slovakia receives practically all its oil through the Druzhba pipeline. Sulik said the payment is worth some 9–10 million euros (up to $10.2 million).
He said his country would work on a long-term solution to the problem which he said was caused by the refusal of an unnamed bank in Western Europe to transfer the money due to the sanctions imposed by the EU on Russia for its war against Ukraine.
“I wouldn’t look for a political context behind it, there’s none,” Sulik said.
However, Simone Tagliapietra, an energy expert at the Bruegel think tank in Brussels, said Russia has weaponized natural gas heading to Europe by claiming technical issues, and “this opens questions on whether it might now do the same with oil.”
Russia has blamed equipment repairs for its decision to slash flows through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to Germany, whose government has called it a political move to sow uncertainty and push up prices amid the war in Ukraine.
EU leaders agreed in May to embargo most Russian oil imports by the end of the year as part of the bloc’s sanctions over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
The embargo covers Russian oil brought in by sea, but allowed temporary Druzhba pipeline shipments to Hungary and certain other landlocked countries in central Europe, such as Slovakia and the Czech Republic.
“These countries are very dependent on Russian oil and as such they might face shortages in the short term should the interruption be lasting,” Tagliapietra said.
Some drivers in Hungary were anticipating that on Wednesday, prompting MOL to appeal to the public asking customers to reduce their petrol purchases.
“For now, I keep trying to keep my car’s tank topped up, so I don’t run out of fuel. And then we’ll see,” said Erzsebet Kovacs, a motorist.
Cold showers, no lights: Europe saves as Russian gas wanes
Fanning out like urban guerrillas through Paris’ darkened streets well after midnight, the anti-waste activists shinny up walls and drain pipes, reaching for switches to turn off the lights.
One by one, the outdoor lights that stores had left on are extinguished. It’s one small but symbolic step in a giant leap of energy saving that Europe is trying to make as it rushes to wean itself off natural gas and oil from Russia so factories aren’t forced to close and homes stay heated and powered.
Engineer Kevin Ha and his equally nimble friends had been acting against wasteful businesses in Paris long before Russia started cutting energy supplies to Europe in a battle of wills over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. As such, the campaigners were precursors of the energy economy drive becoming all the rage in France, Germany and elsewhere. Their message — that everyone can contribute — is almost word-for-word what public officials from cabinet ministers to mayors are saying now, too.
“Everyone can have a positive impact at their own level, by adopting good practices, by doing the right things to reduce their overall energy footprint,” the 30-year-old Ha said on a recent night of light-extinguishing on the Champs-Élysées boulevard.
The stakes are high. If Russia severs the supplies of gas it has already drastically reduced, authorities fear Europe risks becoming a colder, darker and less-productive place this winter. It’s imperative to economize gas now so it can be squirreled away for burning later in homes, factories and power plants, officials say.
“Europe needs to be ready,” said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. “To make it through the winter, assuming that there is a full disruption of Russian gas, we need to save gas to fill our gas storages faster. And to do so, we have to reduce our gas consumption. I know that this is a big ask for the whole of the European Union, but it is necessary to protect us.”
And although Europe is scrambling to get energy from elsewhere, any difficulties this winter could be a harbinger of worse to come if Russian gas supplies are completely severed and stay off through 2023, said France’s minister overseeing energy, Agnès Pannier-Runacher.
“If gas deliveries are cut by the end of the year, that will mean we’ll have a full year without Russian gas, so the following winter could be even harder,” Pannier-Runacher told French senators.
Hence the mounting appeals — already familiar to exasperated parents of wasteful teenagers everywhere — for Europeans to take shorter showers, switch off power sockets and otherwise do what they can.
Read:Drone explosion hits Russia's Black Sea Fleet headquarters
Germany had been getting about a third of its gas from Russia, making the EU’s biggest economy and most populous nation conspicuously vulnerable. Energy saving is in full swing, with lights going off, public pools becoming chillier and thermostats being adjusted.
The glass dome of the Reichstag, the parliament building in Berlin, is going dark after it closes to visitors at midnight, and two facades will no longer be lit. Legislators’ office temperatures will drop by 2 degrees to 20 Celsius (68 Fahrenheit) this winter. Berlin City Hall, the Jewish Museum, two opera houses and the landmark Victory Column with panoramic views are among about 200 sites in the German capital that will no longer be lit at night.
Saunas are closing in Munich’s municipal swimming pools, which have chillier water now, too. There’ll only be cold showers at public pools in Hannover, part of a plan by the northern city to cut its energy use by 15%.
“The sum of all the contributions will help us get through this winter and be prepared for the next one,” said Robert Habeck, Germany’s vice chancellor and economy minister. He also told news weekly Der Spiegel he has slashed the time he spends showering.
“It will be a demanding, stony road, but we can manage it,” he said.
With a campaign dubbed “Flip the Switch,” the Netherlands’ government is urging showers of no more than five minutes, using sun shades and fans instead of air conditioning, and air-drying laundry.
Under a law passed Monday in often-sweltering Spain, offices, stores and hospitality venues will no longer be allowed to set their thermostats below 27 degrees Celsius (81 degrees Fahrenheit) in summer, nor raise them above 19 degrees Celsius in winter.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez asked office workers to ditch neckties, presumably to lessen the temptation to use air conditioning. He led by example, appearing at a news conference in an open-necked shirt.
The Italian government also is recommending limits on heating and cooling in public buildings.
In France, the government is targeting a 10% reduction in energy use by 2024, with an “energy sobriety” drive. Mayors are also waging their own war on waste, with fines introduced for air-conditioned or heated stores that leave front doors open; others are working to limit the pain of soaring energy prices.
The 8,000 residents of Aureilhan, in the foothills of the Pyrenees in southwestern France, have been adjusting to nights without street lights since July 11. Extinguishing all 1,770 of them from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. will save money that Mayor Yannick Boubée would rather spend on roads and other maintenance. Otherwise, he said, the town’s 84,000-euro ($86,000) lighting bill in 2021 was on course to nearly triple next year.
“When it comes down to it, there’s no reason to keep the lights on at night,” he said by phone. “It is shaking up our way of thinking.”
Next will be convincing townspeople to agree to less-heated classrooms when schools reopen.
“We’re going to ask parents to put a pullover on their children, all measures that don’t cost anything,” he said. “We have no choice, unfortunately.”
UK breaks record for highest temperature as Europe sizzles
Britain shattered its record for highest temperature ever registered Tuesday amid a heat wave that has seared swaths of Europe, as the U.K.’s national weather forecaster said such highs are now a fact of life 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 weather agency registered a provisional reading of 40.3 degrees Celsius (104.5 degrees Fahrenheit) at Coningsby in eastern England — breaking the record set just hours earlier. Before Tuesday, the highest temperature recorded in Britain was 38.7 C (101.7 F), set in 2019. By later afternoon, 29 places in the UK had broken the record.
As the nation watched with a combination of horror and fascination, Met Office chief scientist Stephen Belcher said such temperatures in Britain were “virtually impossible” without human-driven climate change.
He warned that “we could see temperatures like this every three years” without serious action on carbon emissions.
Read: Most major nations lag in acting on climate-fighting goals
The sweltering weather has disrupted travel, health care and schools. Many homes, small businesses and even public buildings, including hospitals, in Britain don’t 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 Tuesday, as trains were canceled or ran at low speeds out of concern rails could buckle.
London faced what Mayor Sadiq Khan called a “huge surge” in fires because of the heat. The London Fire Brigade listed 10 major blazes it was fighting across the city Tuesday, half of them grass fires. Images showed several houses engulfed in flames as smoke billowed from burning fields in Wennington, a village on the eastern outskirts of London.
Sales of fans at one retailer, Asda, increased by 1,300%. Electric fans cooled the traditional mounted troops of the Household Cavalry as they stood guard in central London in heavy ceremonial uniforms. The length of the changing of the guard ceremony at Buckingham Palace was shortened. 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.’’
Ever the stalwart, 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 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 across Europe. At least six people were reported to have drowned while trying to cool off in rivers, lakes and reservoirs across the U.K. In Spain and neighboring Portugal, hundreds of heat-related deaths have been reported in the heat wave.
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.
Read: Amid Russia shelling, Ukraine aims to strengthen government
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. Other scientists used the milestone moment to underscore that it was time to act.
“While still rare, 40C is now a reality of British summers,” said Friederike Otto, Senior Lecturer in Climate Science at Imperial College London’s Grantham Institute for Climate Change. “Whether it will become a very common occurrence or remains relatively infrequent is in our hands and is determined by when and at what global mean temperature we reach net zero.”
Extreme heat broiled other parts of Europe, too. In Paris, the thermometer in the French capital’s oldest weather station – opened in 1873 – topped 40 C (104 F) for just the third time. The 40.5 C (104.9 F) measured there by weather service Meteo-France on Tuesday was the station’s second-highest reading ever, topped only by a blistering 42.6 C (108.7 F) in July 2019.
Drought and heat waves tied to climate change have also made wildfires more common and 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.
A smaller third fire broke out late Monday in the Medoc wine region north of Bordeaux, further taxing 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.
In Greece, a large forest fire broke out northeast of Athens, fanned by high winds. Fire Service officials said nine firefighting aircraft and four helicopters were deployed to try to stop the flames from reaching inhabited areas on the slopes of Mount Penteli, some 25 kilometers (16 miles) northeast of the capital. Smoke from the fire blanketed part of the city’s skyline.
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.
Europe broils in heat wave that fuels fires in France, Spain
A heat wave broiling Europe spilled northward Monday to Britain and fueled ferocious wildfires in Spain and France, which evacuated thousands of people and scrambled water-bombing planes and firefighters to battle flames in tinder-dry forests.
Two people were killed in the blazes in Spain that its prime minister linked to global warming, saying, “Climate change kills.”
That toll comes on top of the hundreds of heat-related deaths reported in the Iberian peninsula, as high temperatures have gripped the continent in recent days and triggered wildfires from Portugal to the Balkans. Some areas, including northern Italy, are also experiencing extended droughts. Climate change makes such life-threatening extremes less of a rarity — and heat waves have come even to places like Britain, which braced for possible record-breaking temperatures.
The hot weather in the U.K. was expected to be so severe this week that train operators warned it could warp the rails and some schools set up wading pools to help children cool off.
Also read: 84 die in first 3 days of Spain's heat wave
In France, heat records were broken and swirling hot winds complicated firefighting in the country's southwest.
“The fire is literally exploding,” said Marc Vermeulen, the regional fire service chief who described tree trunks shattering as flames consumed them, sending burning embers into the air and further spreading the blazes.
“We’re facing extreme and exceptional circumstances,” he said.
Authorities evacuated more towns, moving another 14,900 people from areas that could find themselves in the path of the fires and choking smoke. In all, more than 31,000 people have been forced from their homes and summer vacation spots in the Gironde region since the wildfires began July 12.
Three additional planes were sent to join six others fighting the fires, scooping up seawater and making repeated runs through dense clouds of smoke, the Interior Ministry said Sunday night.
More than 200 reinforcements headed to join the 1,500 firefighters trying to contain the blazes in the Gironde, where flames neared prized vineyards and billowed smoke across the Arcachon maritime basin famed for its oysters and beaches.
Also read: Heat wave, flooding leave multiple people dead in China
Spain, meanwhile, reported a second fatality in two days in its own blazes. The body of a 69-year-old sheep farmer was found Monday in the same hilly area where a 62-year-old firefighter died a day earlier when he was trapped by flames in the northwestern Zamora province. More than 30 forest fires around Spain have forced the evacuation of thousands of people and blackened 220 square kilometers (85 square miles) of forest and scrub.
Passengers on a train through Zamora got a frightening, close look at a blaze, when their train halted in the countryside. Video of the unscheduled — and unnerving — stop showed about a dozen passengers in a railcar becoming alarmed as they looked out of the windows at the flames encroaching on both sides of the track.
Climate scientists say heat waves are more intense, more frequent and longer because of climate change — and coupled with droughts have made wildfires harder to fight. They say climate change will continue to make weather more extreme and wildfires more frequent and destructive.
“Climate change kills,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said Monday during a visit to the Extremadura region, the site of three major blazes. “It kills people, it kills our ecosystems and biodiversity."
Teresa Ribera, Spain’s minister for ecological transition, described her country as “literally under fire” as she attended talks on climate change in Berlin.
She warned of “terrifying prospects still for the days to come" — after more than 10 days of temperatures over 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), cooling only moderately at night.
At least 748 heat-related deaths have been reported in the heat wave in Spain and neighboring Portugal, where temperatures reached 47 C (117 F) earlier this month.
The heat wave in Spain was forecast to ease on Tuesday, but the respite will be brief as temperatures rise again on Wednesday, especially in the dry western Extremadura region.
In Britain, officials have issued the first-ever extreme heat warning, and the weather service forecast that the record high of 38.7 C (101.7 F), set in 2019, could be shattered.
“Forty-one isn’t off the cards,” said Met Office CEO Penelope Endersby. “We’ve even got some 43s in the model, but we’re hoping it won’t be as high as that.”
France’s often-temperate Brittany region sweltered with a record 39.3 C (102.7 F) degrees in the port of Brest, surpassing a high of 35.1 C that had stood since September 2003, French weather service Meteo-France said.
Regional records in France were broken in over a dozen towns, as the weather service said Monday was “the hottest day of this heat wave.”
The Balkans region expected the worst of the heat later this week, but has already seen sporadic wildfires.
Early Monday, authorities in Slovenia said firefighters brought one fire under control. Croatia sent a water-dropping plane there to help after struggling last week with its own wildfires along the Adriatic Sea. A fire in Sibenik forced some people to evacuate their homes but was later extinguished.
In Portugal, much cooler weather Monday helped fire crews make progress. More than 600 firefighters attended four major fires in northern Portugal.
Wildfires scorch parts of Europe amid extreme heat wave
A spate of wildfires is scorching parts of Europe, with firefighters battling blazes in Portugal, Spain and southern France on Wednesday amid an unusual heat wave that authorities are linking to climate change.
In Portugal, Civil Protection commander André Fernandes said that multiple fires have caused the evacuation of more than 600 people. About 120 people needed medical treatment, with two people — one civilian and one firefighter — suffering serious injuries, Fernandes said.
Water-dumping planes helped 1,300 firefighters combat the worst of the blazes in the nation’s central area, while another 1,000 worked to bring other fires under control.
The European heat wave is also sparking flames in Spain and France — and in Turkey at the other end of the Mediterranean.
More than 800 firefighters battled two wildfires in the region outside Bordeaux in southwest France, according to the regional emergency service. The fires began Tuesday near the towns of Landiras and La Teste-de-Buch, and firefighters hadn't been able to contain them by Wednesday morning.
Read: Massive mangrove forestry planned to protect wildlife and expand forest coverage
About 6,500 people have been evacuated from campgrounds and villages in the forested area. The number of injuries is unclear. The two fires have destroyed more than 1,800 hectares (4,400 acres) of terrain, the emergency service said.
Images from firefighters showed flames racing through thickets of trees and grassland, fanned by strong winds, and smoke blackening the horizon.
The regional administration banned activity in forested areas at risk. Several regions in southern France are on fire alert because of hot, dry weather and high winds. Wildfires swept through the Gard region in southeast France last week.
Portugal has long experienced fatal forest fires. In 2017, wildfires killed more than 100 people. No one has died from a wildfire since then as Portugal improved its forest management and firefighting strategies.
Last year, Portugal recorded its lowest number of wildfires since 2011. But a mass of hot and dry air blown in by African winds are driving temperatures in the Iberian Peninsula beyond their usual highs.
Also read: B’desh explores transboundary wildlife corridor with India and Myanmar: Minister
The Atlantic country, which has been on alert of wildfires since last week, is sweltering under a spike in temperatures that is forecast to send thermometers in the central Alentejo region to 46 C (115 F) on Wednesday and Thursday. Authorities said that 96% of the country was classified at the end of June as being in either “extreme” or “severe” drought.
More than 3,000 hectares (7,400 acres) had been consumed alone in the district of Leiria, just north of Lisbon, Mayor Goncalo Lopes told Portuguese state broadcaster RTP.
Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa, who canceled a trip abroad to deal with the emergency, said that better care of woodlands and abandoned farmland was key to protecting them.
“In 2017 the country realized that having enough firefighters is essential, but it is not enough,” Costa said. “We have to get to the root of the problem … The abandonment of property and its non-management is one of the biggest risk factors for forest fires.”
Neighboring Spain hit highs of 43 C (109.4 F) in several southern cities on Tuesday.
Over 400 people were evacuated on Tuesday because of a wildfire that has consumed 3,500 hectares (8,600 acres) in western Spain.
European Union officials issued a warning last week that climate change is behind the extremely dry and hot summer so far on the continent, urging local authorities to brace for wildfires.
Cayetano Torres, spokesman for Spain’s national weather forecaster, said that the “unusual” heat wave and lack of rainfall in recent months has created ideal circumstances for fires.
“These are perfect conditions for the propagation of fires, which when you add to that some wind, you have have guaranteed propagation,” he said.
In southwestern Turkey, a blaze erupted in an area close to the village of Mesudiye, near the Aegean Sea resort of Datca, and was moving in the direction of some homes in the area, according to the provincial governor’s office. It said at least nine water-dropping helicopters and five planes were deployed to battle the fire.
Last summer, blazes that were fed by strong winds and scorching temperatures tore through forests in Turkey’s Mediterranean and Aegean regions. The wildfires, which killed at least eight people and countless animals, were described as the worst in Turkey’s history.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government came under criticism for its inadequate response and preparedness to fight large-scale wildfires, including a lack of modern firefighting planes.
Monkeypox cases triple in Europe, WHO says, Africa concerned
The World Health Organization’s Europe chief warned Friday that monkeypox cases in the region have tripled in the last two weeks and urged countries to do more to ensure the previously rare disease does not become entrenched on the continent.
And African health authorities said they are treating the expanding monkeypox outbreak as an emergency, calling on rich countries to share limited supplies of vaccines to avoid equity problems seen during the COVID-19 pandemic.
WHO Europe chief Dr. Hans Kluge said in a statement that increased efforts were needed despite the U.N. health agency’s decision last week that the escalating outbreak did not yet warrant being declared a global health emergency.
“Urgent and coordinated action is imperative if we are to turn a corner in the race to reverse the ongoing spread of this disease,” Kluge said.
To date, more than 5,000 monkeypox cases have been reported from 51 countries worldwide that don’t normally report the disease, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Kluge said the number of infections in Europe represents about 90% of the global total, with 31 countries in the WHO’s European region having identified cases.
Kluge said data reported to the WHO show that 99% of cases have been in men — the majority in men that have sex with men. But he said there were now “small numbers” of cases among household contacts, including children. Most people reported symptoms including a rash, fever, fatigue, muscle pain, vomiting and chills.
Scientists warn anyone who is in close physical contact with someone who has monkeypox or their clothing or bedsheets is at risk of infection. Vulnerable populations like children and pregnant women are thought more likely to suffer severe disease.
About 10% of patients were hospitalized for treatment or to be isolated, and one person was admitted to an intensive care unit. No deaths have been reported.
Kluge said the problem of stigmatization in some countries might make some people wary of seeking health care and said the WHO was working with partners including organizers of gay pride events.
In the U.K., which has the biggest monkeypox outbreak beyond Africa, officials have noted the disease is spreading in “defined sexual networks of gay, bisexual, or men who have sex with men.” British health authorities said there were no signs suggesting sustained transmission beyond those populations.
A leading WHO adviser said in May that the spike in cases in Europe was likely tied to sexual activity by men at two rave parties in Spain and Belgium.
Ahead of gay pride events in the U.K. this weekend, London’s top public health doctor asked people with symptoms of monkeypox, like swollen glands or blisters, to stay home.
Nevertheless in Africa the WHO says that according to detailed data from Ghana monkeypox cases were almost evenly split between men and women, and no spread has been detected among men who have sex with men.
WHO Europe director Kluge also said the procurement of vaccines “must apply the principles of equity.”
The main vaccine being used against monkeypox was originally developed for smallpox and the European Medicines Agency said this week it was beginning to evaluate whether it should be authorized for monkeypox. The WHO has said supplies of the vaccine, made by Bavarian Nordic, are extremely limited.
Countries including the U.K. and Germany have already begun vaccinating people at high risk of monkeypox; the U.K. recently widened its immunization program to mostly gay and bisexual men who have multiple sexual partners and are thought to be most vulnerable.
Read: No monkeypox case detected yet in Bangladesh: Health Ministry
Until May, monkeypox had never been known to cause large outbreaks beyond parts of central and west Africa, where it’s been sickening people for decades, is endemic in several countries and mostly causes limited outbreaks when it jumps to people from infected wild animals.
To date, there have been about 1,800 suspected monkeypox cases in Africa, including more than 70 deaths, but only 109 have been lab-confirmed. The lack of laboratory diagnosis and weak surveillance means many cases are going undetected.
“This particular outbreak for us means an emergency,” said Ahmed Ogwell, the acting director of the Africa Centers for Disease Control.
The WHO says monkeypox has spread to African countries where it hasn’t previously been seen, including South Africa, Ghana and Morocco. But more than 90% of the continent’s infections are in Congo and Nigeria, according to WHO Africa director, Dr. Moeti Matshidiso.
Vaccines have never been used to stop monkeypox outbreaks in Africa; officials have relied mostly on contact tracing and isolation.
The WHO noted that similar to the scramble last year for COVID-19 vaccines, countries with supplies of vaccines for monkeypox are not yet sharing them with Africa.
“We do not have any donations that have been offered to (poorer) countries,” said Fiona Braka, who heads the WHO emergency response team in Africa. “We know that those countries that have some stocks, they are mainly reserving them for their own populations.”
Matshidiso said the WHO was in talks with manufacturers and countries with stockpiles to see if they might be shared.
“We would like to see the global spotlight on monkeypox act as a catalyst to beat this disease once and for all in Africa,” she said Thursday.
Global Covid cases approach 550 million
The overall number of Covid cases is gradually approaching 550 million amid a rise in new infections in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Europe.
According to the latest global data, the total case count mounted to 549,667,293 while the death toll from the virus reached 6,352,025 on Tuesday morning.
The US has recorded 88,910,140 cases so far and 1,041,027 people have died from the virus in the country, the data shows.
Also read: Covid-19: Bangladesh logs 2 more deaths with 2,101 infections
In India, as many as 13,562 new Covid-19 cases were recorded in 24 hours, taking the total tally to 43,420,608, according to the data released by the health ministry on Monday.
Besides, 21 deaths were reported due to the pandemic in the country since Saturday morning, bringing the death toll to 525,020.
Covid in Bangladesh
Bangladesh reported two more Covid-linked deaths with 1,680 new infections in 24 hours till Sunday morning.
The new figures took the country’s total death toll to 29,140 and the caseload to 19,65,173, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
The daily case positivity rate jumped to 15.66 per cent from Saturday’s 15.07 per cent as 10,778 samples were tested during the period, said the DGHS.
Also read: Health Minister concerned over uptick in Covid, urges return to protocols
The deceased included a woman and a man, both from Dhaka division.
On Saturday, the country recorded 1,280 cases with three deaths from Covid-19.
The mortality rate remained unchanged at 1.48 per cent. The recovery rate declined to 97.02 per cent from Saturday’s 97.10 per cent as 169 patients recovered during this period.