Beijing (TIP): Beijing logged its hottest June day since records began on June 22, the national weather service said, as swathes of northern China sweltered in 40-degree heat. Scientists say rising global temperatures — caused largely by burning fossil fuels — are aggravating extreme weather worldwide, and many countries in Asia have experienced deadly heatwaves and record temperatures in recent weeks. At the Nanjiao weather station in southern Beijing, considered a benchmark for temperatures in the capital, the mercury hit 41.1 degrees Celsius (106 degrees Fahrenheit) at 3.19 pm (0719 GMT) on Thursday, the weather service said in a statement also carried by state broadcaster CCTV. The figure is half a degree higher than the station’s previous monthly record of 40.6 C taken in June 1961, and second only to the 41.9 C measured in July 1999, according to weather data. (AFP)