Gaza oxygen stations face shutdown

More than 80,000 people have been forced to flee their homes and holiday accommodation across south-west France and central Spain as fierce, uncontained wildfires continue to sweep through the region. Fanned by relentless winds and intense heatwave conditions, the blazes have triggered national emergency declarations and prompted urgent requests for international military and civilian aerial support. In France, authorities ordered the total evacuation of the Cap Ferret peninsula on the Atlantic coast as a vast wildfire in the Gironde department consumed over 12,500 hectares of forest and destroyed at least 80 homes. With the main access road threatened by advancing flames, hundreds of residents and holidaymakers were evacuated by sea using ferries and local boats. A secondary blaze further south near Biscarrosse has burned an additional 2,500 hectares, leaving coastal emergency services struggling to contain the perimeter. Across the border in Spain, the central government declared a national emergency after two massive blazes merged outside Madrid and threatened to join a third active fire in the neighbouring province of Ávila. Over 19,000 people were evacuated overnight across affected municipalities as thick acrid smoke reached the capital’s outskirts. Spanish officials described the convergence of high temperatures, parched terrain, and strong winds as an unprecedented crisis for the region. Both nations have activated the European Union’s Civil Protection Mechanism to request specialized firefighting aircraft, with reinforcements deployed from Portugal, the Czech Republic, Croatia, and Slovakia. Environmental scientists highlight that Europe is warming at roughly twice the global average rate, warning that prolonged droughts and extreme seasonal weather patterns are driving wildfire destruction to historic levels across the continent.

Taiwan will carry out a new military exercise next month to test whether it can continue producing weapons if key defence facilities come under attack during a conflict with China. The drills will include relocating arms production lines and converting civilian factories into military manufacturing sites to ensure the armed forces continue receiving essential equipment even if major supply hubs are damaged. The exercise will take place as part of Taiwan’s annual Han Kuang war games, scheduled from August 5 to August 14. According to the Ministry of National Defense, the scenario will simulate China using its regular military exercises as cover to prepare for a full scale invasion. Taiwan’s armed forces will respond by immediately increasing combat readiness and launching rapid defensive operations. One of the main objectives is to determine whether industrial production can be spread across different locations without disrupting the supply of military equipment. Officials say maintaining manufacturing capacity during wartime is essential because China would likely target command centers, ports, logistics networks and defence factories early in any military campaign. Beijing considers Taiwan part of its territory and has never ruled out using force to bring the island under its control. Taiwan strongly rejects those claims, maintaining that it is already a self governed and independent nation. Major General Lu Wen-yuan, who heads the Joint Operations Division, said the exercise will assume that Chinese forces use their routine annual military drills to hide preparations for a large scale assault. Under the scenario, Taiwan will activate emergency measures and begin moving critical defence production away from vulnerable locations. The drills will include the simulated relocation of the Armaments Bureau’s 202nd Arsenal in Taipei. Civilian factories responsible for assembling complete military systems will also be mobilized after emergency orders are issued. The exercise is designed to measure how quickly industries can shift operations while continuing to meet the military’s needs during a crisis. Taiwan will also examine its ability to keep vital shipping routes open if conflict disrupts normal transport. The navy and coast guard will conduct joint operations using personnel, equipment and live ammunition. These exercises will include escorting shipments of essential supplies, protecting coastal areas, carrying out maritime law enforcement missions and testing upgraded coast guard vessels. The military planning comes as Taiwan reports a noticeable increase in Chinese coast guard activity around the island. Officials in Taipei believe the growing presence could signal greater pressure on Taiwan’s eastern coastline and threaten sea routes that are critical for importing fuel, food and other strategic supplies. For the first time, the Han Kuang exercises will also include a nationwide communications test. Mobile internet speeds will be deliberately reduced during parts of the ten day exercise to assess how the public and emergency services would communicate if network capacity became limited because of natural disasters or military action. Authorities hope the test will help identify weaknesses in emergency communication systems and improve the island’s ability to function during a prolonged crisis. The expanded drills reflect Taiwan’s efforts to strengthen its overall resilience against potential military threats. By preparing industries, transport networks and communication systems for wartime conditions, officials aim to ensure that the island can continue supporting both its armed forces and civilian population even if key infrastructure comes under sustained attack.

The United States Department of Justice has arrested leading far-right extremism expert Heidi Beirich, charging her with financial crimes in an expansion of the federal government’s criminal case against the Southern Poverty Law Centre (SPLC). A superseding indictment returned in Alabama federal court charges Beirich, the former chief financial officer and Intelligence Project director for the SPLC, with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to make false statements to a bank, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The charges stem from an April indictment against the civil rights organization over a discontinued intelligence programme that paid informants to infiltrate white supremacist groups. Federal prosecutors allege the SPLC secretly funneled donor funds through shell companies and fictitious entities to hide payments made to field sources. The government claims Beirich engaged in a romantic relationship with one informant and oversaw the transfer of $140,000 in donor funds into a shared bank account. Beirich, who currently serves as chief strategy officer and co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, denied the allegations through her legal counsel. Defense attorney Michael Proctor characterized the prosecution as politically motivated retaliation against an expert who dedicated decades to dismantling white supremacist movements. A federal judge in Alabama permitted the broader case against the SPLC to proceed last week after rejecting arguments requesting a dismissal on grounds of vindictive prosecution.