Red warning for south-east England after record June heat, as France braces for more stifling temperatures – Europe heatwave live

Key events The UK Met Office has extended a red heat alert into Friday for a large area of south-east England, the first time such warnings have been issued for three days in a row. The red warning is in place until 9pm for London , Oxfordshire , Bedfordshire , Hampshire and Kent . Amber heat warnings are in place for a wider area on Friday, and are running into Saturday for parts of east and south-east England. On Friday, swathes of Scotland , England , Wales and Northern Ireland face yellow warnings for thunderstorms. A weather warning for thunderstorms and heavy rain is in place across Scotland for the entirety of Friday, following days of baking temperatures. Temperatures reached 31.2C at Threave in Dumfries and Galloway on Thursday, according to Met Office data. However, the weather is set to change dramatically as rainier conditions sweep in from the north-west. The Scottish Environment Protection Agency has issued flood alerts for every area of Scotland other than Shetland . In Europe, France is braced for more stifling heat. From noon, Paris will begin a ban on drinking alcohol in public for certain times of the day. You can read more about that here . The ban also covers takeaway alcohol sales in Paris. Police said the ban was necessary as hospitals were overwhelmed and had reached ‘“saturation point”. At least 48 people have died in France from drowning since the start of the heatwave. …