France’s EU Affairs Minister says it’s time for Europe to leverage “all the tools” it has to protect itself from the increasingly “aggressive trade practices” of foreign competitors. He adds that China and the US have long abandoned the foundational rules of international trade.

The UN climate chief has said that a record-breaking early heatwave scorching a swathe of western Europe was "a brutal reminder of the spiraling impacts of the climate crisis".

The French capital, Paris, on Saturday hit 31.9°C, its highest temperature of the year. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu will hold a meeting Thursday with key ministers to go over government preparations for the heatwave.

Europe, which is in the throes of a record-smashing heat wave this week, is the world's fastest-warming continent and stretches into an even more rapidly heating Arctic.