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France and Spain race to control wildfires as fresh heatwave hits, as UN warns ‘the climate alarm is blaring’ – Europe live

Meanwhile, Spain has ended evacuation orders for 13 municipalities in two areas hit by wildfires – eight in Madrid and five in Ávila – starting from 5:00 pm local time (4pm UK). The lifting of the order means “residents can begin returning to their homes,” the ministry told AFP, without specifying how many residents were affected. At a Civil Guard checkpoint near Chapineria and Navas del Rey – two villages that were fully evacuated several days ago – a queue of more than 20 vehicles quickly formed after authorities announced the measure, according to an AFP reporter at the scene. El Mundo reported that some 34,000 Madrid residents will benefit from this lifting of restrictions, while another 21,000 will remain under confinement or evacuation measures. Restrictions and evacuations order remain in several other areas.

New evacuation from tourist sites near Bordeaux as France and Spain fight wildfires

The evacuation of nearly 4,000 people from tourist sites on France’s Atlantic coast is under way as the return of winds and extreme heat jeopardised firefighters’ battles to contain wildfires raging to the west of Bordeaux. The precautionary evacuation order, which covers campsites, holiday villages and other tourist accommodation around the resort of Lacanau, exacerbated a wildfire emergency described by the French president, Emmanuel Macron, as the “toughest” situation the country had dealt with “since the second world war”. On a visit to a crisis centre in Bordeaux, Macron warned that “the coming weeks will be tough and we have to hold out”. Rémi Lassoureille, a fire commander in the Gironde department, was quoted by Le Monde as saying that the blaze, which has destroyed 42,000 hectares (104,000 acres) of forest, was “relatively under control”, although firefighters feared a “potential flare-up of the fire on its north-west flank towards Lacanau”. “That is why we decided to evacuate the campsites,” he said. Other large fires have been contained in the nearby Landes, where thousands of evacuees were allowed to return home, and the Écrins massif in the French Alps, although one in the Gros Bessillon massif in the Var area of south-east France has not yet been fully brought under control. Wildfires in France, Spain and Italy have forced the evacuation of about 330,000 people over the past week, with Spain entering Europe’s fourth intense heatwave of the summer attempting to contain some of the worst forest fires in the country’s history. The Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, said the country faced “difficult hours, complex hours” before the new heatwave, which is forecast to begin on Wednesday, although he later said that authorities were beginning to “see light at the end of the tunnel in the fight against wildfires”, while warning about the urgency of responding to the climate emergency. A fire in the hilly terrain of Ávila, west of Madrid, has become Spain’s largest on record, burning 50,000 hectares. The firefighter Javier García told Associated Press he had never faced anything like it in his two decades protecting woodlands and rural communities. “This doesn’t have a precedent,” he said, adding that the ferocity of the wildfire was forcing firefighters to fundamentally change their tactics by prioritising evacuations and property protection because of the danger from fast-moving walls of flames and blazes too powerful to attack directly. “The evolution is alarming,” García said. The EU spokesperson Anna-Kaisa Itkonen said a number of firefighting planes and helicopters from member countries had been deployed to France and Spain. She said it was “important to clarify that no country can maintain alone all the resources that are needed to tackle every possible natural or other disaster and crisis”. EU officials have said wildfires could still be burning until early November in what threatens to be a record-breaking year of burnt land area. Wildfire weather across the bloc has been more severe this year than ever before, according to data up to 22 July from the European Forest Fire Information System. In France, which had broken its full-year record for burnt area by then, and in Spain, the cumulative numbers of fires in 2026 have also set new records. European wildfires have struck at the same time as ferocious North American ones, with hundreds of blazes continuing to devastate the western US and swathes of Canada. Meanwhile, torrential rains have flooded countries across Asia. “The climate alarm is blaring, from every direction,” said Simon Stiell, executive secretary of UN Climate Change, on Tuesday. With Europe now facing another heatwave, he said the human and economic costs of the climate crisis were reaching “national emergency” levels. “These spiralling disasters are now the lived reality for billions in a world getting rapidly hotter, as humanity moves too slowly from fossil fuels to clean energy and to protect forests,” he said. Western Europe had a wet winter and also, in some parts, a wet spring, which encouraged heavy plant growth. It has been followed by a dangerously hot and dry summer, with back-to-back heatwaves forcing moisture from plants and leaving behind a surplus of fuel that has fed the flames. The climatic drivers have been made worse by the long-running abandonment of farmland that used to fragment the landscape, preventing small fires from growing into blazing infernos. “If the issue of fuel load isn’t addressed, I think we’re going to have to get used to [fires too strong to put out],” said Dr Jesús Notario del Pino, a soil scientist at the University of La Laguna in Tenerife. “As many forestry specialists and engineers often say: what we don’t manage, the fire will.” Dr Thomas Smith, a wildfire scientist at the London School of Economics, said: “If I was holidaying on the coast of Spain or the south of France, I would make sure I have any fire alerts or fire weather apps installed on my phone and familiarise myself with the evacuation plans for the hotel or residence. It’s very important to understand that timely evacuation saves lives.” The June heatwave would have been “virtually impossible” without the added heat from more than a century of carbon pollution, a rapid analysis found last month, while the level of soil dryness in western Europe was made five times more likely by climate breakdown, according to a separate study from the same international research network last week. Estimates of the death toll from the heatwaves, from national public health agencies and independent scientists, suggest they have claimed at least 10,000 lives. Stiell said: “The science on the cause is unequivocal: global heating, driven by humanity burning colossal amounts of coal, oil and gas, is making protracted heatwaves, severe floods and violent mega-storms more frequent, more intense and more costly. “What needs to be done is equally clear: leave coal, oil and gas behind faster, scale up renewables, and protect people where the impacts are already hitting hardest.”

Past fires suggest effects of Europe and North America wildfires may linger for years

A spate of ferocious wildfires across North America and Europe, worsened by the climate crisis, have incinerated homes and forests and forced thousands of people to flee. Previous fires suggest the effects of these blazes may linger for years to come. The current fires and their plumes of smoke can appear to be a temporary, if immediate, crisis. Nearly 1,000 fires have sprung into life in the boreal forests of Canada, causing the evacuation of towns and toxic smoke to waft into major Canadian and US cities, prompting threats of retribution from Donald Trump, who bizarrely accused Canada of “poisoning” his country’s air. Smoke is billowing from wildfires in the US too, amid the third major heatwave of the past month which has furthered dried out parched vegetation. Vast, lightening-sparked fires across Washington, eastern Oregon and Idaho have caused a plume of smoke so large that it could reach Florida. In Europe, meanwhile, huge fires have gripped parts of the UK, France and Spain, causing the evacuation of more than 250,000 people. The climate crisis, caused by the burning of fossil fuels, is known to be creating more fire-prone conditions around the world by drying out soils and plants. “The entire Iberian peninsula is suffering the effects of the climate emergency in a very specific way,” said Pedro Sánchez, Spain’s prime minister. Scientists have also long been aware of the unhealthy consequences of wildfire smoke, which can trigger severe respiratory and cardiac problems in affected people. A recent study found that exposure to tiny particles carried in wildfire smoke will raise the risk of hospitalization for older people hundreds of miles away from fires. “The cardiovascular toll of wildfire smoke reaches well beyond the fire lines and well beyond the day the sky turns orange,” said Kai Chen, associate professor of epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health and study co-author. But identifying the ongoing effects of wildfires long after they have been extinguished has been a more recent understanding. There are continuing challenges in Maui, the second largest of Hawaii’s islands, three years after wildfires there caused more than 100 deaths and razed several thousand buildings, a new report highlights. While living and economic conditions have generally improved since the fires, many people in Maui are still struggling with health concerns such as poorer lung functions, higher blood pressure and mental health challenges, according to the Maui Wildfire Exposure Study, led by researchers at the University of Hawaii and released on Monday. “The progress is real, and it should be recognized,” said Alika Maunakea, co-director of the study and a school of medicine professor at the University of Hawaii. “But the biological, emotional and social consequences of a disaster do not disappear on the same timeline as debris removal or reconstruction.” Nearly half of all adults in the Maui study continued to report depressive symptoms, with nearly one in five differing from post-traumatic stress. The study, which conducted screenings of more than 2,500 participants, also found severe depressive symptoms and post-traumatic stress increased among children and adolescents, as did blood pressure readings and obesity levels. “Children may appear resilient while still carrying significant emotional and physical effects beneath the surface,” said Christopher Knightsbridge, a mental health therapist based in Lahaina, a coastal town that was largely destroyed by the fires. “Supporting children means supporting the entire family, including their housing, food security, daily routines and access to trusted care,” he added. The researchers stressed that long-term monitoring and intervention is required following a major wildfire event due to impacts that can last for years afterwards. While the skies over North America and Europe will eventually clear of smoke after a tinderbox summer of fire, this climate change-driven era of wildfire is set to exact a lengthy toll. As well better support for those directly affected by fires, experts say that authorities in smoke-affected areas could respond to the threat of repeated smoke exposure by creating “clean air centers” that people can flee to in order to escape smoke and other air pollutants. A research paper from last year, which found a 7% increase in mortality among a cohort of older people living in southern California over a three year period due to wildfire smoke exposure, recommended that “activation of public health measures such as clean air centers should not only depend on intensity of smoke, as the long-term effects can be harmful, even at low levels.” Lara Schwarz, an environmental health scientist at UC Berkley who led the research, said: “As wildfires become more frequent and severe in the context of climate change, with California being at high risk, understanding how these harmful wildfires will affect us in the long term is critical to informing better public health action and response.”

Dawn raid targets ‘umbrella cheaters’ reserving beach spots in Naples

Authorities in a coastal suburb of Naples seized umbrellas, loungers and deck chairs during a dawn sweep of a beach aimed at cracking down on the growing trend of people attempting to reserve prime spots overnight. Torre del Greco’s port authority said coastguard staff and local police had together collected 40 items as part of a national beach and lake safety operation that targets people labelled by the Italian press as furbetti dell’ombrellone, or umbrella cheaters. The port authority said the sweep at Laghetto, a popular, free-access beach unlike the private concessions that dominate much of Italy’s coastline during the summer, was carried out after numerous complaints about equipment being left unattended for days on end. The operation discovered “unattended chairs, umbrellas and small tables that were continuously occupying the beach, effectively reserving a spot for the owners’ return”. “It is a practice that recurs each summer, but it is expressly prohibited,” the port authority said, adding that “occupying the beach in this manner violates the regulations governing the management of maritime public domain areas”. Those leaving behind their beach equipment after sunset risk fines of up to €500 (£425) while reclaiming the confiscated personal belongings involves a bureaucratic ordeal. There was a similar blitz on a beach in Puglia earlier this month as well as on others in Liguria and in Sardinia. Italian beachgoers are battling to reclaim “free beaches” from private concessions, which, especially in Liguria, Emilia-Romagna and Puglia, are common. One such battle was recently won in Bacoli, near Naples, with the town saying the municipality aimed to make more than 80% of the local coastline free or equipped for public use.

Prisoners at Iran’s largest jail sew lips shut in hunger strike as executions soar

Prisoners at Iran’s largest jail have sewn their lips shut as hundreds of them joined a mass hunger strike amid a surge in executions over drug offences and charges linked to anti-government protests. The hunger strike, involving at least 1,500 death row prisoners at Ghezel Hesar prison near Tehran, began two weeks ago after six men convicted on drug-related charges were transferred to solitary confinement before their possible execution, according to Iranian rights groups. In a series of videos shared by rights groups in exile, prisoners are seen sitting in a prison hallway, holding placards reading “No to Executions” and chanting “Be our voice”. In one graphic video, a prisoner addresses the camera to say he is sewing his lips shut because, six days into the hunger strike, no prison official has responded to the protest. The footage then shows another prisoner off camera using a needle and thread to stitch the man’s lips together. In another video, a prisoner calls for urgent medical help for those whose conditions he says are deteriorating. “The guards will not open the door so we can take them to the prison infirmary,” he says. The protest is the latest act of defiance in the prisoner-led campaign against executions, which began in January 2024 and has spread across prisons in Iran amid a sharp rise in the use of the death penalty. There has been a huge spike in executions this year amid the war with the US, and families of those on death row and rights groups have raised the alarm over the worsening human rights crisis in the country. At the weekend, Donald Trump abruptly called off a two-week bombing campaign, but has threatened to restart strikes unless negotiations with Tehran make progress. One source in Tehran said: “Whenever the shadow of war over the regime lifts even slightly, the regime becomes more savage. They noted that a prisoner was executed on 6 April – the date that the US and Iran agreed to a ceasefire. “The intensity of executions has actually increased since the war supposedly ended.” According to the Oslo-based non-profit Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO), at least 424 executions have been carried out this year, with hundreds more on death row. Most executions were handed down in drug-related cases, IHRNGO said. On Tuesday, officials hanged two men who were convicted of “waging war on God” over the deaths of two police officers during the anti-government protests. Twenty-six people linked to the January protests have been hanged this year. Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, the director of IHRNGO, said people sentenced to death for drug offences were among the most marginalised and voiceless prisoners on death row. “Last year alone, at least 795 people were hanged on drug-related charges, with almost no international reaction and hardly any domestic or social media campaigns to save them. By staging this protest, the prisoners in Ghezel Hesar are taking an extraordinary risk. They know that the authorities can execute them at any moment, yet they have chosen to raise their voices in the hope that the international community will finally hear them and increase the political cost of these executions,” he said. According to Amnesty International, revolutionary courts, which have jurisdiction over national security and drug-related offences, lack independence and routinely impose harsh sentences, including death sentences, after grossly unfair trials. In a message relayed to the Guardian, one death-row protester said: “We are prisoners who turned to such mistakes simply to afford the basic necessities of life, and deeply regret our actions. Where else in the world is a human life taken for a first mistake?” A similar protest was held at the prison in October 2025, when more than 1,500 prisoners went on a six-day hunger strike, leading to a rare visit by authorities. But activists say conditions have not improved since. Moein Khazaeli, a human rights lawyer at Dadban, a legal counselling centre for Iranian activists, said executions continue following unfair trials over drug-related offences. “In many cases, defendants do not have access to lawyers or a meaningful right to defend themselves. There are also cases in which charges are fabricated against people from ethnic minority or poor backgrounds,” Khazaeli said. “Death sentences issued by the revolutionary courts are a violation of human rights and even Iran’s own laws.” Executions have also surged among political prisoners and protesters arrested after the nationwide protests in January. Many of the death sentences were issued on the basis of confessions extracted under torture, Amiry-Moghaddam said. “The Islamic Republic has no legitimate justification for using the death penalty for drug offences. It is not required by Islam, and the authorities themselves have repeatedly acknowledged that executions have failed to deter drug trafficking or drug use. On the contrary, both drug trafficking and addiction have continued to rise over the years. Those sentenced to death are rarely major traffickers; they are typically the lowest-ranking couriers, recruited because of poverty for a small payment. Many are convicted solely on the basis of confessions extracted under torture,” he added. Families of those on death row in Ghezel Hesar have staged protests outside the prison in support of those inside, but sources said authorities violently cracked down on their gathering. Additional reporting by Patrick Wintour

Javier Milei accuses US Democrats of financing ‘anti-Argentina campaign’ at World Cup

More than a week has passed since Ferran Torres scored the extra-time goal that gave Spain its second World Cup, but – at least for Argentina’s president – the tournament is not over. Javier Milei has claimed that a coordinated “anti-Argentina campaign” was behind criticism of the country’s team, accusations of racism among its fans and conspiracy theories alleging that Lionel Messi’s side was secretly being favoured by Fifa. Now, the far-right president has taken the narrative a step further, alleging that the supposed campaign was financed by the US Democratic party and the governments of Brazil and Mexico. “It was the work of progressive minds who do not want the ideas of freedom to succeed,” claimed the self-styled libertarian in an interview with a local radio station on Sunday. He went on to claim that the “government of Brazil”, led by the leftwing president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, had allegedly provided the largest share of the funding. Analysts in Argentina said Milei had embraced the narrative as a distraction from his plummeting popularity, while others argued that the “real anti-Argentina campaign” was the one the president was waging “with his chainsaw” austerity plan. Yet the narrative has gained traction, even reaching people who do not support Milei. Pablo Torres, a 52-year-old bookseller from Buenos Aires who “never voted for him and never would”, said there had been a social media “bombardment” against the country that left him feeling “outrage” and “disgust”. He said some of the accusations of racism had come from “great colonial powers that enslaved people, trafficked enslaved people and decimated populations”, adding: “They denied the existence of the black population in Argentina, and ignored our idiosyncrasies and our history … We are a welcoming home for all nations.” During the tournament, incidents involving racist behaviour by some Argentine supporters drew widespread attention. Hours before the final, the US actor Samuel L Jackson posted an Instagram story that said: “Dear black people, please do not cheer or root for Argentina to win the Fifa World Cup. Argentina has historically been one of, if not the most, racist countries in the world.” The post prompted reactions even from human rights organisations such as Amnesty International Argentina, which acknowledged racism in the country but criticised “reducing the country to a stereotype”. Milei, meanwhile, posted that the criticism could be attributed to Argentina’s opposition, which had “validated the woke movement that is now accusing us of being racist”. Over the weekend, he also decided to blame Brazil – while on Brazilian soil. On Saturday, the Argentinian president attended the launch of the presidential campaign of the far-right senator Flávio Bolsonaro, the son of the former president Jair Bolsonaro and Lula’s main challenger in October’s presidential election. In his speech, as well as calling Lula a “thief” and a “prisoner” – prompting a strong reaction from the Brazilian government – Milei said: “If you examine the data from the recent anti-Argentina campaign, the place from which the most attacks came was Brazil.” He reinforced the claim on Sunday, this time adding Mexico and the US Democratic party. The digital anthropologist Mercedes Máspero analysed more than 2m posts on social media and wrote that she had found “some undeniable patterns” of orchestration such as the repeated use of variations of “disgusting human beings” in different languages. Even so, it was “a tough call” to describe it as a coordinated campaign “because the narrative is incredibly widespread”, she wrote. Natalia Aruguete, a researcher at Argentina’s National Scientific and Technical Research Council who specialises in social media and political agendas, said she had seen “no evidence of a large-scale coordinated operation”, despite the existence of “a hostile, widespread and transnational conversation centred on Argentina”. “Brazil had a significant presence [in those messages],” she added, “particularly in the conversation about racism, but … Milei’s accusation of alleged Brazilian involvement was not backed up by any public evidence.” Some critics said that the last time the idea of such a campaign was propagated by the state was during the brutal 1976–83 dictatorship, whose crimes Milei has repeatedly downplayed. During the 1978 World Cup, hosted by Argentina, the military junta claimed that criticism of the regime’s human rights violations was part of an “anti-Argentina campaign”. Aruguete said Milei had turned a “diverse online conversation” into a political conflict that fits his narrative of a “culture war” against the left, at a time when his administration is facing “internal deterioration”: inflation appears to be under control, but rising unemployment and corruption scandals have driven the president’s popularity to its lowest point since taking office. The narrative that suggests Argentinians are all victims of a supposedly orchestrated campaign by leftwing foreign governments “allows Milei to shift the focus of the debate away from his own governance issues and on to an external adversary”, said Aruguete.