2025-08-12 12:47

Heatwaves and alerts declared around Europe Almost 1,000 military personnel back Spanish firefighters Balkan residents mourn loss of homes and possessions Increasingly hot dry summers raise wildfire risks MADRID/LISBON, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Firefighters across Spain, Portugal, Greece, Turkey and the Balkans were battling wildfires on Tuesday with another heatwave pushing temperatures over 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) across parts of Europe. Global warming is giving the Mediterranean region hotter, drier summers, scientists say, with wildfires surging each year and sometimes whipping up into "whirls". Sign up here. "We are being cooked alive, this cannot continue," said a mayor in Portugal, Alexandre Favaios, as three fires burned. On the outskirts of the Spanish capital Madrid, a fire killed a man working at a horse stable and reached some houses and farms but was contained by Tuesday, regional authorities said. To the south in Tarifa, on Spain's coast close to Morocco, beachgoers and celebrity chef Jose Andres filmed flames and black smoke on the hills above elegant whitewashed villas. More than 2,000 people were evacuated from Tarifa as the fire - believed to have started in eucalyptus and pine forests - spread, officials said. Helicopters doused the blaze with seawater. In Albania and Montenegro, authorities issued a heatwave warning as temperatures reached 100F (38-39C). Germany issued heat warnings for much of the country on Monday, with temperatures above 86F (30C) expected until Friday. In Italy, red heat alerts were issued for 16 cities while in France, authorities declared red or orange weather alerts for much of the country. In Spain, temperatures were set to reach 111.2F (44C) in some regions, according to meteorology service AEMET. Minimal rainfall and windy conditions were expected to exacerbate the risk. SPANISH MILITARY HELPS Spain's Interior Ministry declared a "pre-emergency", putting national services on standby to support firefighting. Almost 1,000 members of the armed forces are already helping. Spain's largest region, Castile and Leon, had 32 wildfires raging on Tuesday with more than 1,200 firefighters involved. Five of the fires were categorised as a direct threat to nearby populations. In Leon province, around 3,780 residents were evacuated, while over 600 residents of seven towns in Zamora were also ordered to leave their homes. In north Portugal, more than 1,300 firefighters backed by 14 aircraft were battling three large fires. One of them, in the Vila Real area, has been burning for 10 days. Local mayor Favaios pleaded for more government help. "It's been 10 days of extremely hard fight against the flames, 10 days that our population is in panic, without knowing when the fire will knock on their door," he told broadcaster RTP. With two Portuguese waterbombing planes in need of repair, authorities on Monday requested help from Morocco, which sent two replacement planes. A heatwave that brought temperatures of around 40C to north Portugal in the past week showed signs of abating on Tuesday, with rain and thunderstorms expected, according to the weather service IPMA. Across the region in Albania, swathes of forest and farmland have been burnt by wildfires in the past week. Helicopters from the Czech Republic, Slovakia and the United Arab Emirates assisted the Balkan state to contain 19 separate wildfires stoked by strong winds on Tuesday. In neighbouring Montenegro, authorities backed by helicopters from Serbia and Croatia contained a wildfire near the capital Podgorica on Tuesday, with the city covered by smoke. Resident Dragana Vukovic told Reuters against the backdrop of her home's smouldering rafters: "Everything that can be paid for and bought will be compensated, but the memories that burned in these four rooms and the attic cannot be compensated." 'OUT OF CONTROL' In Greece at Europe's southernmost tip, wildfires in some cases fanned by gale-force winds forced the evacuation of several villages and a hotel on the tourist islands of Zakynthos and Cephalonia in the Ionian Sea along with four other parts of the mainland. "Winds are strong and the wildfire is out of control," Zakynthos mayor Yiorgos Stasinopoulos told Greek public broadcaster ERT. Another 85 firefighters and 10 aircraft fought to stop a fire reaching houses near the western Greek town of Vonitsa. The picture was similar in Turkey where a large blaze in the northwestern province of Canakkale burned for a second day after hundreds of residents were evacuated in precaution. Wildfires in Canakkale's Ezine and Ayvacik districts, which saw Canakkale airport and the Dardanelles Strait closed on Monday, were largely brought under control by Tuesday. But blazes in the city centre in the southern part of the strait were still burning, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Ibrahim Yumakli said in a post on X. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/cooked-alive-europes-wildfires-hit-tourism-spots-forests-2025-08-12/

2025-08-12 12:43

LONDON, Aug 12 (Reuters) - OPEC on Tuesday raised its forecast for global oil demand next year and trimmed its forecast for growth in supply from the United States and other producers outside the wider OPEC+ group, pointing to a tighter market outlook. The outlook for higher demand and a drop in supply growth from outside OPEC+, which groups OPEC with Russia and other allies, would make it easier for OPEC+ to proceed with its plan to pump more barrels to regain market share after years of cuts aimed at supporting the market. Sign up here. World oil demand will rise by 1.38 million barrels per day in 2026, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries said in a monthly report, up 100,000 bpd from the previous forecast. This year's expectation was left unchanged. In the report, OPEC also increased its forecast for world economic growth slightly this year to 3.0% as U.S. President Donald Trump's administration signs some trade deals and the economies of India, China and Brazil outperform expectations. "Economic data at the start of the second half of 2025 further confirm the resilience of global growth, despite persistent uncertainties related to U.S.-centred trade tensions and broader geopolitical risks," OPEC said in the report. Oil supply from countries outside the Declaration of Cooperation - the formal name for OPEC+ - will rise by about 630,000 bpd in 2026, OPEC said, down from last month's forecast of 730,000 bpd. Rapid growth from U.S. shale and other countries has weighed on oil prices in recent years, and OPEC+ sources have told Reuters that the group's policy shift this year to raise output was driven partly to take on U.S. shale production. OPEC's report said it now expects U.S. output of tight oil, another term for shale, to decline by 100,000 bpd in 2026, versus last month's outlook for flat output year on year. "The 2026 forecast assumes sustained capital discipline, additional drilling and completion efficiency gains, weaker momentum in drilling activities and increased associated gas production in key shale oil regions," OPEC said. OPEC's report also showed that in July, OPEC+ raised crude output by 335,000 bpd, a further increase reflecting its decisions this year to increase output quotas. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/opec-lifts-2026-oil-demand-view-trims-supply-growth-rivals-2025-08-12/

2025-08-12 12:40

NEW YORK, Aug 12 (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar slipped against the euro on Tuesday, after data showed U.S. consumer prices increased moderately in July. The consumer price index rose 0.2% last month after gaining 0.3% in June, the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics said on Tuesday. In the 12 months through July, the CPI advanced 2.7% after rising 2.7% in June. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the CPI rising 0.2% and increasing 2.8% year-on-year. Sign up here. The euro rose 0.1% versus the dollar to $1.1625, while the greenback pared gains against the yen to trade 0.1% higher at 148.29 yen . https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/dollar-slips-after-us-inflation-data-2025-08-12/

2025-08-12 12:39

PRAIA, Aug 12 (Reuters) - At least eight people were killed after flooding on Cape Verde's Sao Vicente island overwhelmed emergency services and cut key roads, a regional civil protection councillor said on Tuesday. On Monday morning torrential rains lashed the northern island in the Atlantic archipelago located off West Africa, swamping roads and sweeping away vehicles and people. Sign up here. Municipal councillor Jose Carlos da Luz told a state broadcaster seven people had died in floods and one person was electrocuted, adding that three others were still missing. In a report on Monday, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies put the death toll at nine and said 1,500 people had been displaced on Sao Vicente. Sao Vicente usually records 116 mm of rain in a year, according to Cape Verde's meteorology institute. But early on Monday 193 mm fell in just five hours, according to Ester Brito, an executive at the institute. "It is a rare situation because what was recorded is above our 30-year climatological average," she told Reuters, adding that in just two hours more rain fell than the island typically receives annually. The U.S. National Hurricane Center said on Monday that Tropical Storm Erin was located about 280 miles (455 km) west-northwest of Cape Verde and packing maximum sustained winds of 45 miles per hour (75 kph). Interior Minister Paulo Rocha said on Monday that floodwaters disrupted transport across Sao Vicente and severed the main road to Cesaria Evora International Airport, though the facility remained operational. Rockfalls also blocked traffic. "It was a difficult night marked by panic and despair," Rocha told public radio, adding that first responders were inundated with distress calls. Rescue and cleanup operations were ongoing, but Rocha said authorities were mobilising resources that would allow the island to quickly return to normal life. (This story has been refiled to fix the spelling of the interior minister's first name to Paulo from Palo, in paragraph 8) https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/cape-verde-floods-kill-least-eight-people-2025-08-12/

2025-08-12 12:38

BAGHDAD, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Power has been restored in Iraq, a government official said on Tuesday, after electricity outages hit large parts of the country on Monday. Electricity ministry sources had told Reuters a sudden shutdown at the Hamidiya power plant in the western province of Anbar led to a fault in the electricity transmission network that caused a power outage in the central and southern regions of the country. Sign up here. The temperature in the capital Baghdad reached a high of 48 degrees Celsius (118.4 degrees Fahrenheit) on Tuesday. "The defect was brought under control and fixed in record time, and the power system is now stable," Adel Karim, an adviser to the Iraqi prime minister, told Reuters on Tuesday. Many Iraqis have relied for years on privately operated generators for power as government-provided electricity was only intermittently available. Others have turned to solar power to help meet their electricity needs. A member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, and one of the world's leading oil producers, Iraq has struggled to provide its citizens with energy since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein. In the ensuing turmoil, under-investment and mismanagement left the national grid unable to cope with demand. In March, U.S. President Donald Trump's administration rescinded a waiver that had allowed Iraq to pay Iran for electricity, as part of Trump's "maximum pressure" campaign against Tehran. Iraq is heavily dependent on Iranian natural gas imports to generate power. https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/iraq-restores-power-after-blackouts-hit-country-2025-08-12/

2025-08-12 12:34

Miller pushes back on "Make America Healthy Again" narrative Wellness influencer Hari's platform has grown with MAHA movement Survey shows people increasingly trust peers and influencers over experts Aug 12 (Reuters) - Michelle Miller stands in a field of corn, stalks stretching above her perfectly styled hair, holding a tiny microphone and addressing an audience online. She was farming genetically-modified corn in Iowa in 2017, she says, when a tornado hit. Now a social media influencer who goes by the name the "Farm Babe," Miller says the wind knocked her corn flat on the ground. But in a feat of botanical fortitude, the plants bounced back. Sign up here. "So when you ask farmers: why are they growing these GMO seeds?" she says in the video, "it's because the genetics hold up." Miller has starred in hundreds of videos, often set in fields and on farms, since she began her influencing career. She aims to debunk what she sees as misperceptions around farming perpetuated by another universe of influencers, many of whom are now closely aligned with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and his Make America Healthy Again, or MAHA, campaign. But unlike Miller's GMO corn, arguments in favor of the status quo in U.S. food and agriculture are increasingly falling flat, especially on social media. Among the most prominent of those MAHA influencers is Vani Hari, who blogs as "The Food Babe" -- Miller says her own name is a self-conscious spin-off. Hari has gained millions of followers by railing against processed food, GMOs, pesticides and other mainstays of the U.S. food system. Although Miller partners with powerful interests in the food and agriculture industry with huge marketing budgets, her message is not gaining as much traction as Hari's. Her Instagram account, for example, had just over 43,000 followers in early August, to Hari's 2.3 million. The bloggers' uneven rivalry speaks to the ascendance of a movement that has put conventional food and farming in its crosshairs, and Big Agriculture's struggle to respond. Hari and Miller, both in their 40s, emerged as food commentators in the 2010s amid a boom in social media influencing, when a single post going viral could help rocket its author to fame and fortune. Their rise also coincided with growing national attention on the relationship between food, obesity and chronic illness, with then-First Lady Michelle Obama spearheading new regulations on school nutrition and promoting vegetable gardening and exercise through her "Let's Move!" campaign. Hari grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina, where she said she was largely raised on ultra-processed foods, to which she attributes later chronic health conditions, from eczema to endometriosis. An appendectomy in 2002 launched her on a quest to understand the source of her health issues. She pored over books on nutrition at the library, from which she concluded that her diet was at the root of her diseases, and those of many other Americans. "I wanted to investigate: what was it about these foods that made me feel so bad?" Hari said. Hari began writing a blog in 2011 as The Food Babe, a name suggested by her husband, with the aim of educating her friends and family. The blog reached well beyond her immediate circle and led to book deals and the creation of Truvani, a line of supplements now sold at Target and Walmart. More recently, she has become a sort of mascot of the MAHA movement, though she is a registered Democrat, according to public voter registration records. At a press conference in April, at which Kennedy announced the administration's intention to phase out synthetic food dyes, Hari was an opening act, appearing in a bejeweled white suit before a room of press and MAHA supporters. When Kennedy took the stage, he called her an "extraordinary leader." She said she does not have a formal role in the administration. Miller wanted her own pulpit after she began noticing Hari's content in 2014. A commercial farmer of soybeans, corn and livestock in Iowa at the time, Miller said she posted a comment on Hari's Facebook page taking issue with her claims about the toxicity of GMO crops. After that, Miller said, she was blocked. So, she launched a rival blog. "I really took it upon myself to be a myth buster for the industry," she said. Hari did not respond to questions about blocking Miller or others who make critical comments. Hari has published books blasting corruption in the food industry as well as her own cookbooks, and sells subscriptions to her blog. The supplements, however, are her main business, Hari said. She declined to disclose the company's value. Miller, who said she is not registered with either political party, travels about 300 days a year, doing paid speaking engagements, farm visits and branded partnerships with companies like Tyson Foods, Domino's Pizza and the California Beef Council. She also writes a column for an agriculture industry trade publication. She declined to say exactly how much she earns, but her published fee for speeches ranges from $2,500 to $15,000. Mariah Wellman, a professor of advertising and public relations at Michigan State University who focuses on social media and wellness, said both women likely earn in the high six figures for their work. But they speak to different audiences. And the constraints of traditional public relations may hinder pro-agriculture messaging, while the MAHA crowd's comfort with social media helps propel its narrative. "When you think about large brands and large agricultural companies, they are headed by a demographic that's not super comfortable with influencer culture," said Wellman. She said that such companies often find it hard to keep up with fast-moving social media trends as they like to vet their partnerships carefully. Miller, for her part, is sometimes frustrated by the challenges of working with an industry that is less nimble on social media, noting that it skews older and male, and saying it is often "preaching to the choir." But she sees it as part of her mission to help agriculture better communicate about itself. Hari has gained traction as public skepticism of U.S. public health institutions grew during the Covid-19 crisis. And her profile exploded when Kennedy, a longtime vaccine skeptic and environmental lawyer who was involved in suing companies like Bayer Monsanto over its pesticides, joined President Donald Trump's administration. Kennedy's MAHA zeal has already inspired corporate action and state legislation on food. In June, Kraft Heinz and General Mills announced they would phase out synthetic food dyes, which MAHA adherents believe cause problems ranging from hyperactivity in children to cancer, by 2027. Scientists say there is not yet a large enough body of evidence to show whether synthetic food dyes cause these problems. West Virginia in March banned some synthetic food dyes from being sold in the state, and Arizona and Utah have recently banned a list of synthetic food dyes in school meals. Communications firm Edelman found in a large, global public opinion survey , opens new tab taken in 2024 that people, especially those aged 18-34, are increasingly disregarding the advice of credentialed medical providers in favor of recommendations from friends, family and social media. As Lauri Baker, a professor of agricultural communication at the University of Florida, says: "In almost any study we've conducted, people are more likely to trust someone who looks like them, thinks like them, who they believe is like them." https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/farm-babe-fights-gmos-big-ag-pushing-back-maha-influencers-2025-08-12/