It may not be Italy but Russians still need a day-time siesta to break up the work day amid the worst heatwave in the country in over 100 years, Russia's chief doctor recommended Tuesday.

"Given the heat, work could be carried out earlier or later while during the hottest hours of the day we can institute a prolonged pause," the head of Russia's health and safety watchdog Gennady Onishchenko was quoted by state mouthpiece Rosskiskaya Gazeta as saying.

Under current Russian legislation, labour must not stretch beyond seven hours if temperatures exceed 28.5 degrees Celsius (83.3 degrees Fahrenheit) in the work place.

And by law employees must not work more than one hour, if in-office barometers peak above 32.5 degrees Celsius (90.5 degrees Fahrenheit).

The recent heat wave has brought searing temperatures at up to 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) in the capital and about seven degrees above average across Russia, in the hottest summer in over 100 years, according to the federal meteorological service.

Drought-hit Vietnamese capital hit by floods
Hanoi (AFP) July 13, 2010 –

Heavy rains after weeks of drought turned the streets of Vietnamese capital Hanoi Tuesday into rivers up to half a metre deep.

A heavy downpour that lasted for more than two hours forced motorbike commuters to push their machines through the dirty water and trees were down.

Police said on state radio that scores of locations in the city of several million people were flooded or snarled by traffic jams.

A meteorologist said the city centre was hardest hit, with about 120 millimetres (4.7 inches) of rain falling in the rush-hour period.

Hanoi had been suffering for weeks from a drought which meteorologists said was the worst in decades.

It worsened power shortages and led to blackouts in the country, which gets more than one-third of its electricity from hydropower.

earlier related report

Hungary issues heatwave warning
Budapest (AFP) July 14, 2010 –

Hungarian authorities issued a heatwave warning Wednesday, advising people to drink plenty of water and avoid going out with temperatures set to soar above 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) later this week.

The head of the ANTSZ public health service Judit Paller said that children and the elderly in particularly should drink plenty, with the heatwave alert not expected to be lifted until Sunday at the earliest.

In Budapest, where the thermometers measured 35 degrees Celsius in the shade, bottles of water were being handed out to pedestrians and car drivers at major road intersections.

Hungary experienced a severe heatwave three years ago with temperatures reaching a record 41.9 degrees in the south of the country on July 20, 2007.

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