Extreme heat breaks records in E China

BEIJING, Aug 04 (AFP): Swathes of eastern China baked under a scorching heat wave on Saturday, with temperatures in some areas reaching record highs, weather authorities said.

China is enduring a summer of extreme weather, with unseasonable heat searing parts of the north and east while torrential rains have triggered floods and landslides in central and southern regions.

The country is the world's largest emitter of the greenhouse gases that scientists say drive global warming and make extreme weather more frequent and intense.

The mercury rose to 41.9 degrees Celsius (107.4 degrees Fahrenheit) in the eastern city of Hangzhou at around 2:30 pm (0630 GMT) on Saturday, according to a report on the weather office's online news portal.

The figure "broke the record for the (city's) highest air temperature in the history of observation", the report said.