A wildfire in Spain and high temperatures elsewhere in Europe have claimed another six lives as the continent swelters in temperatures topping 40C.

Two farmers died when they became trapped by flames near the town of Coscó in Spain’s Catalonia region. Authorities said a farm worker had appealed to his boss for help, but they were unable to escape as fire spread over a large area.

In Italy, two men died after becoming unwell on beaches on the island of Sardinia, and a man in his 80s died of heart failure, after walking into a hospital in Genoa.

A 10-year-old American girl collapsed and died while visiting the Palace of Versailles south-west of Paris , reports said.

According to French broadcaster TF1, she collapsed at the courtyard of the royal estate, in front of her parents, at around 18:00 local time on Tuesday. Despite efforts by the castle’s security team and emergency services, she was pronounced dead an hour later.

France’s ecological transition minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher said earlier that two heat-related fatalities had been recorded in France and that more than 300 people had been given emergency care.

The European continent is experiencing extremely high temperatures, a phenomenon that the UN’s climate agency said is becoming more frequent due to “human-induced climate change”.

For Spain and England, the month of June marked their hottest June since records began. Spain’s weather service, Aemet, said last month’s average temperature of 23.6C (74.5F) “pulverised records”, surpassing the normal average for July and August.

The two men who died in the fire in Catalonia were identified later as the farmer owner and a worker aged 32 and 45.

Emergency services said the fire had spread to an area of up to 6,500 hectares.

Aemet forecast temperatures of 41C in the southern city of Córdoba on Wednesday, and said overnight temperatures were as high as 28C in the nearby town of Osuna the night before.

France has registered its second-hottest June since records began in 1900. June 2023 was hotter.

Four departments in France remained on the red alert level for heat on Wednesday, the highest level. These include Aube, Cher, Loiret and Yonne, according to Météo-France.

In Sardinia, where temperatures have exceeded 40C in recent days, a 75-year-old man died after falling ill on a beach in Budoni. Another man, 60, became sick while on the beach of Lu Impostu in San Teodoro.

Two construction workers in the Italian province of Vicenza were rushed to hospital at 15:30 local time on Tuesday because they fell ill as a result of the heat while working in a hole. One of the workers is in a coma, according to the Ansa news agency.

Meanwhile two wildfires have prompted emergency evacuations in Greece, as authorities warn of a very high fire risk across many regions, including Attica, Crete, and parts of the Peloponnese and Aegean islands.

In Halkidiki, a fast-moving blaze near the coastal village of Vourvourou burned through highly flammable pine forest, forcing residents and campers to flee. Power cuts have been reported in the area, while 65 firefighters, ground teams, and aerial units are battling the flames in steep terrain.

Meanwhile, in Crete, a separate wildfire near Ierapetra triggered emergency alerts in Achlia, Ferma, Agia Fotia and Galini, prompting evacuations of homes and hotels.

Strong winds pushed the fire dangerously close to tourist accommodation, with helicopters and fire crews working to prevent further spread.

Dimple Rana, heat and microclimate specialist at sustainable development consultancy Arup, told the BBC there was “a big link between heat-related impact and age”.

In the UK, for example, most heat-related deaths were among older adults, Ms Rana said. Younger children, particularly those under five, were also at risk.

Another factor to consider is that often people on lower incomes undertake more manual work, Ms Rana said, meaning they are more exposed to higher temperatures.

Heatwaves are becoming more common due to human-caused climate change, according to the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Extreme hot weather will happen more often – and become even more intense – as the planet continues to warm, it has said.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO), which is the UN’s weather and climate agency, said on Tuesday that human-induced climate change meant “extreme heat is becoming more frequent and intense”.

In a statement, the WMO added: “The effect of heat on human health is more pronounced in cities as a result of the urban heat island effect.

“This is where urban environments are significantly warmer than surrounding rural areas, especially during hot periods, due to an abundance of paved surfaces, buildings, vehicles, and heat sources.”

“This additional heat in cities exacerbates heat stress and can increase mortality during hot periods,” the agency said.

In the coming days, the United Kingdom government is moving full steam ahead to proscribe Palestine Action – a movement of young people with a conscience – as a terrorist group. Some of its members are already behind bars; others face trials or await sentencing. Yet, despite the “terrorist” label and the threat of imprisonment, tens of thousands across the country have taken to the streets chanting, “We are all Palestine Action”.

If the government’s goal was to intimidate people into silence – to ensure British complicity in genocide continues unchecked – it has badly miscalculated. A recent poll found that 55 percent of Britons are against Israel’s war on Gaza. A significant number of those opponents – 82 percent – said Israel’s actions amount to genocide. Something fundamental is shifting. There is a gaping disconnect between the media’s narrative and the views of common people, who reject ministerial spin and the framing of resistance to tyranny and fascism as terrorism.

Like the defiant youth of Palestine Action, I too was once branded a terrorist. In 1981, I was a member of the United Black Youth League. We knew building petrol bombs was legally “wrong”, but we believed in our right to defend our community – even by armed means – against fascist threats in Bradford. Arrested alongside 11 others, I faced terrorism charges carrying life sentences in what became known as the Bradford 12 case.

While our struggle was against local fascists, Palestine Action’s fight is nobler: exposing and halting a genocide in Palestine, carried out by Israel’s neo-fascist regime with British support. And unlike us, they have not taken up arms. Where we built crude weapons in self-defence against immediate violence, Palestine Action has used only nonviolent direct action – spray-painting warplanes, occupying factories, and disrupting business as usual – to confront British complicity in genocide. I recognise their rage – I have gone hoarse screaming about genocide myself. How many burning children must we see to know it is wrong? How many starving families must be slaughtered to sustain an apartheid state?

The pain is sharper knowing the weapons murdering Palestinians are made in Britain. It is worse watching hypocritical politicians twist words – from Keir Starmer justifying genocide early on, to now hiding behind hollow phrases like “Israel’s right to defend itself”. But as United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese and many others have repeatedly clarified: “Israel has no right to defend itself against those it occupies.”

If the UK government succeeds, anyone associated with Palestine Action will be branded a “terrorist”. During the Bradford 12 trial, we were painted the same way. Like Palestine Action activists, we had, in our own time, fought for a more just and fairer world.

Palestine Action emerged from the failure of endless protests demanding an end to never-ending wars and justice for Palestine. As they state: “Palestine Action is a direct action movement committed to ending global participation in Israel’s genocidal and apartheid regime. Using disruptive tactics, we target enablers of the Israeli military-industrial complex, making it impossible for them to profit from Palestinian oppression.”

We, the Bradford 12, were born from the police’s failure to protect us from fascist violence. We took armed self-defence into our own hands in an organised community defence. To do nothing would have been the greater crime. Similarly, UK complicity in genocide demands action. Disrupting the war machine is not criminal; it is a moral necessity.

At our 1982 trial in Leeds Crown Court, tens of thousands mobilised to demand our acquittal. They saw through the state’s lies – they knew convicting us would unleash repression against youth movements, trade unions, and anyone fighting for justice. The jury faced a pivotal question: What kind of world do you want to live in if you acquit these men? I testified that, faced with the same threats, we would do it all again. That question echoes today; if Palestine Action is criminalised, we risk slipping into a lawless world where genocide becomes the norm, not the exception.

We were acquitted, establishing a legal precedent for armed community self-defence. Palestine Action needs no precedent to justify its cause, because its actions are already grounded in legality, morality, and nonviolence. It is not a threat – it is a moral compass. The UK must follow it, not ban it.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.

Jihadist fighters have launched a series of simultaneous attacks on military posts across numerous towns in Mali – the third major assault on the army over the last month.

Mali’s army said it repelled Tuesday morning’s attacks, allegedly “neutralising” more than 80 militants, without saying if there were any other casualties.

However, Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM), an al-Qaeda-linked group who said it was behind the attacks, said it had taken control of three army barracks.

For more than a decade Mali has been wracked by a deadly Islamist insurgency, as well as attacks from separatist movements.

In a statement broadcast on national TV, army spokesperson Souleymane Dembele said: “The enemy suffered significant losses in every location where they engaged with the security and defence forces.”

Col Dembele added that the army recovered weapons, vehicles and motorcycles from the assailants.

Earlier, the armed forces said that the attacks had occurred across seven towns and cities, including Binoli, Kayes and Sandere, near the border with Senegal. There were also attacks further north, near Mali’s frontier with Mauritania.

A resident of Kayes told the BBC that gunshots could be heard “everywhere” during the attack.

“The police station was damaged, as well as the governor’s house,” he said, adding that casualty figures were still unclear.

JNIM called its attack “co-ordinated and high quality” in a statement posted on social media. They did not detail any casualties.

The group has also said it carried out two other significant recent attacks.

On 2 June, militants targeted both an army camp and airport in the ancient, northern city of Timbuktu.

Just a day before, a raid killed at least 30 soldiers in the centre of the country.

The attacks, the latest sign of rising insecurity in Mali and the wider Sahel region, came after the United States Africa Command warned about growing efforts by various different Islamist militant groups which operate in the Sahel to gain access to West Africa’s coastline.

During a press conference in May, the commander of United States Africa Command (Africom), Gen Michael Langley, described recent attacks in Nigeria, the wider Sahel, and the Lake Chad Basin as deeply troubling.

He warned that the groups’ access to the coast would significantly boost their capacity for smuggling and arms trafficking.