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More than 1,000 firefighters in northern Japan battled ‌to contain two wildfires for a fourth straight day on Saturday, ​as the blazes pushed closer to ‌residential areas and forced more than 3,000 residents to evacuate.The combined ‌area affected amounts ⁠to the third ‌largest recorded in Japan, where forest fires ‌have intensified in recent years.The first fire broke out on Wednesday in a mountainous ⁠area and then a second nearby threatened residential districts in the town of Otsuchi in Iwate Prefecture.Hilly terrain, dry weather and winds are hampering containment efforts, a fire department official told reporters.By Saturday, the fires had scorched about 730 hectares (1,800 acres), prompting evacuation orders covering 1,541 households and 3,233 people - about a third of Otsuchi's population.The ​town is scarred by the memory of one of Japan's worst disasters, the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami when it lost nearly a tenth of its population."Even during the 2011 disaster, ‌this area didn't burn. There was ⁠a tsunami but ​we had no fire here," said Taeko Kajiki, 76, a former nurse, ​who was among those who have been evacuated since Friday.She said she had stayed up all night watching the red glow of the flames and had packed her bankbook and medical cards as well as the turtle she has kept as a pet since 2010.The firefighters on the ground were supported by helicopters from several prefectures and Japan’s Self Defense Forces, which carried out aerial water drops to try to halt the advance of the fires."With the land so dry, fires keep igniting. We put one out, then race to ‌extinguish another, over and over again," ‌said Masashi Kikuchi, a 37-year-old volunteer ⁠firefighter, who moved to a house on higher ground after losing his home to ⁠the 2011 tsunami.Eight buildings, including one ⁠residential home, have been damaged or destroyed so far, though no injuries or fatalities have been reported, authorities said."I can't let people lose their homes again after losing them once to the tsunami," Otsuchi Mayor Kozo Hirano told reporters. He said the town would seek help from other authorities and provide services, such as hot baths, to help ​ease stress among residents.While Japan has experienced relatively few wildfires compared with other parts of the globe, climate change has increased their frequency, especially as the early spring months before the humid rainy season have been hot, dry and with winds that can whip up flames.The Japan Meteorological Agency said no rain was forecast for the region over the coming week.According to official figures, the amount of land on fire around Otsuchi is second only to the major forest fire in Ofunato in 2025, which ‌consumed about 3,370 hectares, ​and the Kushiro fire in 1992, which burned 1,030 hectares. 

Wildfires raging in southern Chile have killed at least 16 people and forced more than 50,000 to evacuate, the government said Sunday.Security Minister Luis Cordero gave the tolls for the blazes burning for two days now in the Nuble and Biobio regions about 500km (300 miles) south of Santiago.He told reporters Sunday morning that 15 deaths had been confirmed in the Biobio, bringing the total death toll to 16 after the government confirmed a death in Nuble on Saturday.President Gabriel Boric earlier declared a state of emergency as crews battled flames fueled by gusting winds and hot weather in the southern hemisphere summer.Nearly two dozen blazes are burning across the country, many of them in Nuble and Biobio."We face a complicated situation," Interior Minister Alvaro Elizalde said.The president announced the state of emergency in Nuble and Biobio in a post on the social media platform X."All resources are available," Boric wrote.Among other things, the declaration means the armed forces will now get involved.Alicia Cebrian, the director of the National Service for Disaster Prevention and Response, said most of the evacuations were in the Biobio cities of Penco and Lirquen, which have a combined population of around 60,000 people.Images broadcast by local television showed the flames in both cities, with charred cars in the streets.Wildfires have severely impacted south-central Chile in recent years.In February 2024, several fires broke out simultaneously near the city of Vina del Mar, northwest of Santiago, resulting in 138 deaths, according to the public prosecutor's office.About 16,000 people were affected by those fires, authorities said.Authorities say adverse conditions like strong winds and high temperatures helped wildfires spread and complicated firefighters' abilities to control the fires.Much of Chile is under extreme heat alerts, with temperatures expected to reach up to 38° Celsius (100° Fahrenheit) from Santiago to Biobio Sunday and Monday.Both Chile and Argentina have experienced extreme temperatures and heatwaves since the beginning of the year, with devastating wildfires breaking out in Argentina's Patagonia earlier this month. 

Director of Medical Relief in the Gaza Strip Dr. Mohammad Abu Afesh revealed that Israeli occupation forces have ordered all health and medical institutions, along with their staff, to immediately evacuate Gaza City, which is currently witnessing an intensified military operation and relentless airstrikes across its neighborhoods. Speaking to Qatar News Agency (QNA), Abu Afesh warned that the shutdown of health institutions in Gaza City, especially international ones, would deal a devastating blow to an already crippled healthcare system, ravaged by systematic targeting and destruction since the onset of what he described as a genocidal war. Despite mounting threats and the blockade on medical supplies, Abu Afesh affirmed that Medical Relief will continue its operations in Gaza City. He noted that Israeli forces committed a compounded crime by destroying the organization's main headquarters on Omar Al Mukhtar Street in the Al-Rimal neighborhood, as well as another facility in Tel Al Hawa in the southern part of the city. He further stated that nearly 1,600 humanitarian and medical workers have been killed since the beginning of the war on Gaza, calling for international accountability for Israel's crimes against medical personnel and institutions. Abu Afesh pointed out that intense Israeli bombardment in northern Gaza has forced the closure of four hospitals since the beginning of the month, halting services for thousands of wounded and sick individuals whose numbers continue to rise due to the ongoing military campaign. He stressed that forced evacuation orders, mass displacement, excessive use of firepower through aerial and artillery bombardment, and the detonation of armored vehicles in residential areas have severely impacted essential health facilities in Gaza City. Many have been evacuated, while others have ceased functioning due to the blockade, mobility restrictions on staff, and direct targeting of facilities or their surroundings. Abu Afesh reported that over 15,000 injured and ill individuals require urgent medical evacuation and access to proper treatment, yet evacuation efforts remain painfully slow and insufficient given the scale of casualties, especially as the assault on Gaza City intensifies. He urged all international and UN bodies to take immediate action to enforce a ceasefire in Gaza and ensure unrestricted access for medical teams to support what remains of the healthcare system and prevent its total collapse. Gaza's health sector is facing a suffocating crisis, with continued restrictions on the entry of medicines and medical supplies, ongoing targeting of medical personnel through killings and arrests, and the systematic destruction of major hospitals amid the escalating Israeli aggression on the besieged enclave.