NATO called in as heatwave continues

EUROPE continued to swelter under a punishing heatwave as Portugal called in NATO to help combat deadly forest fires and France recorded its highest temperatures in more than half a century.

Thermometers in parts of Croatia, France, Germany, Spain and Portugal hit the symbolic 40-degree Celsius mark (104 degrees Fahrenheit), with no sign of relief until at least the start of next week and temperatures feared to soar to 42 Celsius in parts of Portugal.

"The current heat is totally exceptional - even for August," said Dominique Escale of France's national weather service Meteo France, which said the summer was the hottest on record in the country since 1949.