2025-08-17 18:03
VILLARDEVÓS, Aug 17 (Reuters) - Scorching heat hampered efforts to contain 20 major wildfires across Spain on Sunday, prompting the government to deploy an additional 500 troops from the military emergency unit to support firefighting operations. In the northwestern region of Galicia, several fires have converged to form a large blaze, forcing the closure of highways and rail services to the region. Sign up here. Southern Europe is experiencing one of its worst wildfire seasons in two decades, with Spain among the hardest-hit countries. In the past week alone, fires there have claimed three lives and burned more than 115,000 hectares, while neighbouring Portugal also battles widespread blazes. Temperatures are expected to reach up to 45 degrees Celsius (113 Fahrenheit) in some areas on Sunday, Spanish national weather agency AEMET said. "There are still some challenging days ahead and, unfortunately, the weather is not on our side," Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez told a news conference in Ourense, one of the most affected areas. He announced an increase in military reinforcements, bringing the total number of troops deployed across Spain to 1,900. Virginia Barcones, director general of emergency services, told Spanish public TV temperatures were expected to drop from Tuesday, but for now the weather conditions were "very adverse". "Today there are extremely high temperatures with an extreme risk of fires, which complicates the firefighting efforts," Barcones said. VILLAGERS RESORT TO BUCKETS In the village of Villardevos in Galicia, desperate neighbours have organised to fight the flames on their own with water buckets as the area was left without electricity to power water pumps. "The fireplanes come in from all sides, but they don't come here," Basilio Rodriguez, a resident, told Reuters on Saturday. Added Lorea Pascual, another local resident: "It's insurmountable, it couldn't be worse". Interior ministry data show 27 people have been arrested and 92 were under investigation for suspected arson since June. In neighbouring Portugal, wildfires have burnt some 155,000 hectares of vegetation so far this year, according to provisional data from the ICNF forestry protection institute - three times the average for this period between 2006 to 2024. About half of that area burned just in the past three days. Thousands of firefighters were battling eight large blazes in central and northern Portugal, the largest of them near Piodao, a scenic, mountainous area popular with tourists. Another blaze in Trancoso, further north, has now been raging for eight days. A smaller fire a few miles east claimed a local resident's life on Friday - the first this season. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/spain-battles-20-major-wildfires-amid-scorching-heat-deploys-more-troops-2025-08-17/
2025-08-17 15:29
European leaders rush to support Ukraine in US talks Analysts link US-Russia ties to Arctic energy deals Oil and gas may enter "deep" bear market - BofA European defence spending to ramp up - Berenberg LONDON, Aug 17 (Reuters) - Defence stocks and energy markets are likely to be in focus this week, as European leaders rushed to back Ukraine in talks with U.S. President Donald Trump that may pressure Kyiv to accept a peace deal favouring Russia. Investors are watching for signs that the U.S. may move closer to Russia in a bid to exploit vast, untapped Arctic energy resources, in a major geopolitical shift that piles pressure on Europe to rapidly boost defence spending. Sign up here. Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin ended their weekend summit in Alaska without securing a Ukraine ceasefire agreement, with the U.S. President then saying he now wanted a rapid peace deal that Kyiv should accept. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is travelling to Washington on Monday for talks that leaders of nations including Germany, the UK and France will now join. "Trump seems inclined to reduce or even end US support for Ukraine. Putin got him interested in business deals," Berenberg Chief Economist Holger Schmieding said in a note to clients. "As a result, the US may lift its sanctions on Russia and invest in Russia instead," he added. "Europe will have to spend a lot more for its own defence." DEFENCE STOCK RALLY Investors have bet on that outcome since February 2022, driving a supercharged rally in European aerospace and defence stocks (.SXPARO) , opens new tab with gains of over 600% for Leonardo (LDOF.MI) , opens new tab and 1,500% for Germany's Rheinmetall (RHMG.DE) , opens new tab. The euro has rallied 13% against the dollar this year and traded at about $1.17 on Friday. Bank of America strategist Michael Hartnett highlighted the potential for U.S.-Russia Arctic drilling projects to exploit 15% of the world's undiscovered oil and 30% of the world's undiscovered natural gas, resulting in a deep energy bear market. Brent crude, which dropped more than 1% to near $66 a barrel, on Friday, was still priced for a Ukraine peace deal, Hartnett cautioned, while Trump wanted lower energy prices for U.S. consumers . Ukraine's government bonds - key mood indicators - rallied when news of the summit emerged earlier this month but have stalled at a still-distressed 55 cents per dollar. "I would think they will be a bit weaker following the recent strength as the mood seems to favour Russia following Friday's summit," Aegon Asset Management head of emerging market debt Jeff Grills said. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/global-markets-face-shaky-week-ahead-us-pressure-mounts-ukraine-2025-08-17/
2025-08-17 14:25
Cloudburst in Buner causes over 150 mm of rain in an hour Global warming shifts monsoon path 100 km west, official says Provincial chief minister pledges to rebuild and compensate victims in Buner BAYSHONAI KALAY, Pakistan, Aug 17 (Reuters) - Aziz Ahmed, a local schoolteacher in Buner, northwestern Pakistan said the thunder accompanying recent torrential rains was so loud he thought the "end of the world had come". Water, rocks and trees were swept down the mountainside after two days of intense monsoon rains, burying people and homes in their path. Sign up here. “You can say that those who survived have gone mad,” said Ahmed, pointing to a house where just one family member still lived. By Sunday morning, the death toll from the rains across the mountainous north of Pakistan had risen to at least 337 people, with most killed in flash floods, according to the National Disaster Management Authority. In Buner, a three-and-a-half-hour drive from the capital Islamabad, 207 lives were lost and others are still missing. Officials said that Buner was hit by a cloudburst, a rare phenomenon where more than 100 mm (4 inches) of rain falls within an hour in a small area. In Buner, there was more than 150 mm of rain within an hour on Friday morning. Syed Muhammad Tayyab Shah, who leads risk assessment at the authority, said that global warming had changed the pattern of the annual monsoon, pushing it around 100 km west of its normal path. More heavy rain was expected across Pakistan until early September, officials said. Ali Amin Gandapur, chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, who visited Buner on Sunday, vowed to rebuild infrastructure, compensate victims, and move those living in dangerous places to homes in safer spots. “We can’t bring back the dead, but what we can do, I pledge will be carried out,” said Gandapur. In the remote village of Bayshonai Kalay, the smell of rotting corpses hung in the air on Sunday, as locals waited for heavy machinery to arrive to remove debris. Muhammad Sher said that five houses had existed immediately around where he was standing, with some 30 homes lost in total. He said that some 40 of the villagers’ bodies had been found, including his cousin’s, which had been washed around two kilometers away. “This was a natural disaster which came and wiped out our entire village," Sher said. "Some people were taken away, some were saved, and there was a lot of chaos." https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/flash-floods-devastate-buner-pakistan-after-rare-cloudburst-kills-hundreds-2025-08-17/
2025-08-17 13:12
MOSCOW, Aug 17 (Reuters) - Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said that it had prevented a Ukrainian drone attack on the Smolensk nuclear power plant in western Russia on Sunday. The Soviet-era Smolensk nuclear power station, about 330 km (200 miles) southwest of Moscow near the border with Belarus, has three RBMK reactors - the same basic design as the reactors at the Chernobyl nuclear power station. Sign up here. The FSB, the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB, said that Russian radio-electronic warfare systems intercepted a Ukrainian drone over the territory of the Smolensk nuclear power station. "Electronic warfare forces intercepted an aircraft-type UAV - a Ukrainian-made 'Spis' attack UAV - over the territory of the Smolensk Nuclear Power Plant," the FSB said in a statement. "The Ukrainian armed forces continue provocations in the form of an attempted attack by unmanned aerial vehicles on Russian nuclear energy facilities." The Smolensk nuclear power station said it was operating as normal. There was no reported damage to any of the reactors or key operating infrastructure. Russian state news agency RIA Novosti published pictures which showed what it said were parts of the drone. Russia's defence ministry said the Ukrainian drone had been heading towards the Smolensk nuclear power station, Interfax reported. Reuters was unable to immediately verify battlefield reports from either side. There was no immediate comment from Ukraine on the Russian reports. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-says-it-prevented-ukrainian-drone-attack-smolensk-nuclear-power-plant-2025-08-17/
2025-08-17 10:46
BEIJING, Aug 17 (Reuters) - At least 10 people died in a flash flood in northern China, state media reported on Sunday, with two others still missing, as the East Asian monsoon continues to unleash atmospheric chaos across the world's second-largest economy. The banks of a river running through the grasslands of Inner Mongolia burst at around 10 p.m. (1400 GMT) on Saturday, the report said, washing away 13 people camping on the outskirts of the city of Bayannur, a major agricultural hub. Sign up here. A search and rescue operation involving more than 700 people is underway, according to state news agency Xinhua. One person has been rescued. China has suffered weeks of extreme weather since July, battered by heavier-than-usual downpours with the monsoon stalling over its north and south. Weather experts link the shifting pattern to climate change, testing officials as flash floods displace thousands and threaten billions of dollars in economic losses. Bayannur is an important national grain and oil production base, as well as a sheep breeding and processing centre. At the other end of the country, a three-and-a-half-month fishing suspension in the southern province of Hainan ended on Saturday, state media reported, after agricultural affairs officials ordered ships to shelter in port owing to persistent, heavy rain. In the southwestern province of Sichuan, severe weather on Friday killed two people and injured three others at a beer festival in the city of Mianzhu, after a truss fell on them, according to a local police report on Saturday. The deluge in Inner Mongolia follows a deadly downpour in Beijing - just under 1,000 km (621 miles) away - late last month which killed at least 44 people and forced the evacuation of more than 70,000 residents. The central government announced last week 430 million yuan ($59.9 million) in fresh funding for disaster relief, taking the total allocated since April to at least 5.8 billion yuan. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/northern-china-flash-flood-kills-10-xinhua-reports-2025-08-17/
2025-08-17 09:03
KAMPALA, Aug 17 (Reuters) - Uganda has inaugurated its first large-scale gold mine, a $250 million Chinese-owned project in the country's east that will also refine the bullion to 99.9% purity, according to a statement from the president's office. The landlocked east African country, which has a variety of minerals including copper, cobalt and iron ore, wants to expand its mining industry and position itself as a major gold producer and exporter. Sign up here. Last year Uganda raised $3.4 billion from gold exports, according to central bank data, about 37% of the country's total export revenue. The figure includes the re-export of gold brought into the country, with nearly all its domestic production from small-scale artisanal miners. While its gold export earnings have increased in recent years, it is still far behind Africa's largest bullion producer Ghana, which raised $11.6 billion from shipments of the metal last year. "In order to wake up in the minerals sector, we must have full value addition for all minerals like gold, lithium, tin among others," President Yoweri Museveni said in a statement issued late on Saturday. The Wagagai Gold Mining Project, owned by Wagagai Mining (U) Limited and covering just over nine square kilometres in Busia district, was inaugurated by Museveni on Saturday. The plant, which has started operations, is expected to process 5,000 tons of gold ore per day and produce about 1.2 metric tons of refined gold a year, according to the statement. That compares to Uganda's total domestic production of just 0.0042 tons in 2023. Uganda will use the revenue generated by exporting gold to develop assets such as power stations and the country's railway, Museveni said. Landlocked Uganda is currently constructing a 2.7 billion euro ($3.16 billion) standard gauge railway to reduce the cost of transporting its exports and imports via neighbouring Kenya. ($1 = 0.8549 euros) https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/uganda-targets-higher-exports-with-first-large-scale-gold-mine-2025-08-17/
