PARIS, France (AFP) — France was bracing Monday for the peak of the heatwave gripping the country, with crushing temperatures expected from the Mediterranean as far up as Brittany in the northwest. Forecasters have put 15 departments across the country on the highest state of alert for extreme temperatures, including Gironde in the southwest where forest fires have already wrought havoc. In the Landes forest, in the southwest Aquitaine region, temperatures “will be above 42 […]