Author: staff
Residents in Le Porge, in France’s southwestern Gironde region, are working to stop a devastating wildfire from reigniting by finding smouldering embers in the forest and dousing them with water. Using pickup trucks fitted with water tanks and hoses, locals are targeting lingering hotspots as smoke continues to rise from the burned landscape. At least 170 homes were destroyed by the wildfire, leaving widespread damage behind it and a long recovery effort ahead.
Wildfires in France’s south-western Gironde department have forced evacuations and protective measures at strategically important defence and aerospace sites around Bordeaux, disrupting one of the country’s most important industrial clusters. Among the affected companies are ArianeGroup, Dassault Aviation, Airbus Atlantic and missile-propulsion specialist Roxel. The French Defence Ministry said 1,500 military personnel had been deployed since Saturday to support the emergency response. It added that “experts and resources” had been sent to help secure industrial sites in coordination with other government departments. ArianeGroup, whose facilities in the area produce propulsion systems for Europe’s Ariane rockets and France’s M51 ballistic missiles,…
Hungary’s former prime minister, Viktor Orbán, has accused the judiciary of a politically motivated probe targeting his far-right Fidesz party. The claims followed a raid on 21 July at a Budapest data centre hosting servers linked to Fidesz. The Bács-Kiskun County Prosecutor’s Office said the operation was part of an investigation into alleged irregularities at Hungary’s state-run National Cultural Fund. Investigators suspect the fund’s decision-making body of unlawfully awarding 1,079 grants worth more than 17 billion forints (€47 million), in breach of funding rules. But speaking outside Fidesz headquarters, Viktor Orbán said the corruption investigation had been used to justify…
Iran said it would not allow the US to determine when the two countries go to war or make peace, as four consecutive nights without new exchanges of fire raised hopes that Qatar and Pakistan-led mediation could revive the collapsed interim agreement. “We will not allow the United States to determine the timing of war and peace,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said at his weekly press briefing on Monday. He said any decision on future talks would be based solely on Iran’s national interests and that Tehran would continue defending itself “for as long as necessary”. Speaking to Austria’s…
Zinedine Zidane will take charge of France on a four-year contract from 1 August, ending Didier Deschamps’ 14-year reign as head coach. “I’m excited,” Zidane said. “The France team makes you dream. We have extraordinary players, an extraordinary team.” More than 20 years after leaving Les Bleus as a player, Zinedine Zidane is taking over from Didier Deschamps. The decision was made official on Tuesday by Philippe Diallo, president of the French Football Federation (FFF), who opened the press conference by thanking “DD” for taking the France team “to the very top.” “Zinedine is a legend of French football and…
From this Sunday, AI companies will be subject to new obligations under the EU’s AI Act requiring them to make deepfakes and other AI-generated content clearly recognisable as artificial. However, technical challenges raise doubts about how effective the rules will be. Two years ago, the EU adopted sweeping rules to regulate artificial intelligence and created a dedicated AI Office to oversee the landmark legislation’s implementation. Among its many provisions, the AI Act includes the world’s first transparency regimes for synthetic media, requiring providers of generative AI systems like Anthropic’s Claude and OpenAI’s ChatGPT to ensure that artificially generated or manipulated…
Aerial footage shows wildfires burning in Spain’s Madrid region, with helicopters and aircraft dropping water and fire retardant as firefighters battle to contain the flames. The images, captured in Sierra Oeste and nearby areas, show thick smoke rising from forests and emergency crews tackling the fires on the ground. Night footage released by the Spanish Civil Guard shows fires continuing to burn in Avila province, including areas near Sotillo de Adrada. Spain has been facing a challenging wildfire season, with extreme heat and dry conditions increasing the risk of large-scale fires. Authorities evacuated thousands of people in affected areas, while…
With hundreds of firefighters still deployed in Madrid, Ávila and Toledo battling the worst forest fire ever recorded in Spain, it is still too early to know exactly how much the blazes will cost the state’s coffers this year. However, taking the 2025 figures into account, one thing is clear: the bill will be steep. According to Greenpeace’s report (source in Spanish) “Grandes incendios forestales” (Major forest fires), drawn up using data from the National Association of Forestry Companies (Asemfo), it is estimated that last year the Spanish government allocated between 3.548 and 6.741 billion euros to extinguishing fires which,…
None of the three airlines immediately responded to requests for comment. The closure is also causing concern among trade unions, which fear passenger traffic may not return to pre-closure levels once the airport reopens. “We have been insisting with the airport management for at least two years to have a dialogue on the subject,” said Alain Goelens, a representative of trade union SETCa, referring to the impact of the traffic suspension on employment. He called for greater coordination between the airport and the Walloon regional government “to see how we are going to anticipate things, both for the staff and…
By Akis Tatsis & AFP, AP, ΚΥΠΕ, riknews.com.cy Published on 28/07/2026 – 13:39 GMT+2 United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has reiterated his commitment to efforts to restart negotiations over Cyprus after holding separate meetings with the Cypros President, Nicos Christodoulides and the Turkish Cypriot Tufan Erhürman. The UN chief said the discussions had been productive and that he would continue his efforts to support a renewed political process. Cyprus has been divided since 1974. The internationally recognised Republic of Cyprus, an EU member, controls the predominantly Greek Cypriot south, while the Turkish Cypriot-administered north is recognised only by Turkey. A UN buffer zone…