1 Britain expecting high 20s temperatures
Billions of litres of extra water is being readied to pump into the south of England as Britain faces another heatwave with temperatures to straddle 30C this week. Some 450 million litres of water per day is on standby - enough to fill 900,000 paddling pools, according to Thames Water. On a hot day, water consumption in London increases around 14 per cent and this shoots up to 27 per cent in the Thames Valley as people escape the capital, the company said. Alex Burkill, a meteorologist with the Met Office, said Britain would start to heat up tomorrow and peak on Wednesday and Thursday with temperatures in the high 20s and breaking 30C in some places.
2 Lake town evacuated
Flames racing through dry bush destroyed at least four homes and forced more than 1000 people to flee and firefighters to carry animals out of a northern California lake community that was evacuated in a devastating fire last year. Authorities ordered about 1200 residents to leave 500 homes as the blaze surged east of the town of Lower Lake.
3 Squirrel's nutty situation
Emergency responders in Connecticut have come to the rescue of a squirrel. Members of Enfield Emergency Medical Services responded after the rodent got its head stuck in what appeared to be a plastic or paper cup. Video posted on the Enfield EMS Facebook page shows the squirrel wildly jumping and flipping into the air in an effort to dislodge the cup. An officer covered the animal with a blanket and held its body steady while another officer removed the cup before it scampered away into some nearby bushes.
4 Bomber on bus
A suicide bomber has detonated an explosive vest on a bus in Syria near the Atmeh border crossing into Turkey killing at least 15 people and injuring 25 others, some critically, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says. The bus was carrying fighters for Syria's civil war when the attack happened. Turkey's CNN Turk television has reported that the explosion took place at the entrance of Atmeh refugee camp in Syria, near the border crossing, citing local sources.
5 Drugs mule returns
Convicted drugs mule Michaella McCollum has finally returned home to Ireland five months after being released from jail in Peru. The 23-year-old touched down in Dublin last night after flying out of Lima via London marking the first time she has been home in three years. The former dancer, from Dungannon, was arrested at Lima airport in August 2013 with Scot Melissa Reid as they tried to smuggle £1.5 million worth of cocaine in food bags from Peru to Spain. The pair were jailed for six years and eight months after admitting the offence. In March, McCollum was released on parole. This week she was granted permission to fly back to her home. Reid returned to her home in Lenzie, near Glasgow in June.