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       If you’re in the Northern Hemisphere, you’re probably aware that it’s been quite hot. Parts of the United States are bracing for a potential record heat wave this week, while wildfires are already spreading across areas of the American West. The season’s earliest heat wave on record in Greece saw the closure of the famed Acropolis in Athens and a number of tourists collapsing and, in some instances, dying while hiking in parts of the Mediterranean nation. More than a dozen Muslim pilgrims died of heatstroke on the road to Mecca, as the annual Hajj in Saudi Arabia was ravaged by extreme temperatures.