{
  "id": 255669,
  "title": "Italy places all major cities on red alert as heatwave grips Europe",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/07/italy-places-all-major-cities-on-red-alert-as-heatwave-grips-europe",
  "topic": "health",
  "section": "Health & Medicine",
  "published": "2026-08-07T07:23:07.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "France 24",
    "slug": "france-24",
    "url": "https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20260807-italy-places-all-major-cities-on-red-alert-new-heatwave-grips-europe"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": null,
  "summary": "Italy's health ministry has placed 27 cities on red alert due to a severe heatwave gripping Europe. The cities, stretching from Trieste in the northeast to Palermo in Sicily, are under a health emergency warning due to prolonged high temperatures.\n\nThe heatwave has disrupted energy and transportation systems across several European countries. In Hungary, some well-known buildings had their lights turned off to save energy. Bulgaria has also been hit by wildfires, with the main Trakia highway closed in both directions due to a huge fire southeast of the capital Sofia.\n\nThe heatwave has had a significant economic impact, with the European Union's environment commissioner stating that the cost of this summer's wildfires has already exceeded €15 billion. Six European Union countries have had to shut down some of their power plants due to lower river levels and increased water temperatures caused by the heatwaves, and a solar eclipse on August 12 is expected to further reduce photovoltaic output, according to Le Monde English.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Al Jazeera",
        "title": "Central Europe sees record temperatures as heatwave continues",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/07/central-europe-sees-record-temperatures-as-heatwave-continues",
        "published": "2026-08-07T10:11:26.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}