The day was dominated by the escalating heatwave, with Météo-France extending orange alerts to 78 departments for Wednesday, as reported by BFMTV, Le Figaro, and Le Monde. This marked a significant expansion from the 43 departments under alert the previous day, with temperatures expected to reach 40°C. The drought also reached record levels in France and Switzerland.
The solar eclipse on August 12 remained a persistent secondary thread, with Le Figaro and 20 Minutes highlighting a shortage of protective glasses and Le Monde exploring religious perceptions of eclipses.
Other stories included the government reopening the sensitive pension freeze debate for the 2027 budget (Le Monde), the US Navy firing on a Panama-flagged ship violating the Iran blockade (Le Parisien), and the Colombia earthquake death toll rising to 240 (BFMTV).