Firefighters were locked in a potentially decisive push Tuesday to encircle Belgium's largest wildfire in a century, despite rainclouds hampering air support operations over the High Fens nature reserve, AFP reported.
The blaze, which has charred a vast expanse of peatland, pine trees, and hiking trails, grew over the weekend to half the size of Manhattan - a staggering 3,000 hectares (7,500 acres). Hundreds of firefighters have been working night and day to wrestle it under control, because nothing says 'fun weekend' like a fire the size of a small city.
Much of the fire has now been contained, but a hard-to-access front closest to the German border remains a concern, with gusty easterly winds adding an extra challenge. Because clearly, the fire wasn't already difficult enough.
"This day will likely be decisive if firefighters succeed in their strategy of encircling the fire," said crisis cell spokesman Tony Hosmans. "If that happens, the fire will be completely surrounded, and we can hope to stop its advance," he added, sounding like a general planning a siege against a particularly stubborn enemy.
Meanwhile, in other news that might make you want to hide under a rock, 10 people were killed in overnight Russian strikes on Ukraine, with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying Kyiv will "definitely respond" with its own strikes. Ukraine launched over 600 drones at Moscow and surrounding areas, which is either a show of strength or a very aggressive game of paper airplanes.
Moscow has threatened the UK with "consequences" after reports that British drones have been used to strike targets on Russia's mainland for the first time. UK prime minister Andy Burnham, in a shocking display of backbone, pledged his policy on supporting Ukraine will not change. Belgium's foreign minister Maxime Prévot, meanwhile, was rushed to a bomb shelter in Kyiv after an air alert, proving that diplomacy these days involves a lot of running and ducking.
Germany opened a new centre for drone security, warning about "the shadow war of the 21st century." Because if there's one thing the 21st century needed, it's more shadows and more war.
In Spain, several earthquakes, three of which were magnitude 4.0 or higher, hit Granada, leaving three people injured and causing local damage. The tremors come after a 5.0 quake on Saturday, because the ground apparently can't make up its mind.
Belgian firefighters suspended their air operations for the day amid foggy weather, which is like trying to fight a fire with a water pistol in a sauna.
Successive intense heatwaves and an increasingly severe, continent-wide drought have left many of Europe's farmers in an "unprecedented" crisis. French vegetable production is down by "a very significant extent," with shortfalls of 25% for courgettes, 35% for lettuces, 40% for peas, 60% for broccoli, and 50% to 100% for artichokes. So if you were planning on a nice artichoke dip, you might want to rethink.
"The vegetable sector is facing a historic crisis," said Prince de Bretagne, which represents over 1,300 vegetable producers in Brittany, calling for "urgent action." The culprit? Accelerated, human-caused global heating and a supersized El Niño, which have scorched fields across Europe, with temperatures routinely exceeding 30C and often 35C, almost no rainfall, and hot winds.
Cereal production is equally hard hit, with the French agriculture ministry estimating the maize harvest will be down by 35% on 2025 levels at about 9m tonnes, a quantity last seen in 1980. That's a lot of missing corn, and it's likely to cause big problems for livestock farmers, who are already reporting milk yields down by 10%-15%.
And as if we needed more bad news, a study in The Lancet Public Health found that people aged 60 and over face health dangers from heat at much lower temperatures than previously thought. Older adults will bear the brunt of increasingly frequent heatwaves, with their bodies less able to cool themselves, leading to a higher risk of serious health issues, including death. The study, led by Stanford University, suggests that "intolerable heat will be experienced at much larger scales and for longer durations, affecting far more people than previously thought." So, basically, we're all in trouble, but especially the elderly.
Back to the fire: some 500 emergency workers are still active in the High Fens region, with 40 German firefighters joining across the border to assist. Because when your forest is on fire, you take all the help you can get, even from the neighbors you usually argue with about borders.
In other news, a Hungarian court ordered the continued detention of a Polish bus driver suspected of falling asleep at the wheel, resulting in a crash that killed 12 people and injured dozens on Sunday. The driver, who was carrying 57 pilgrims, ran into a ditch and tipped over. Three people sustained life-threatening injuries, and 20 others were seriously hurt. The driver is suspected of negligently causing a road accident resulting in mass fatalities. Because falling asleep at the wheel is apparently a thing, and it's as bad as it sounds.
On a lighter note, the famous Palio dell' Assunta horse race will take place this afternoon in Siena, Italy, after being delayed twice due to tricky weather conditions. Up to 15,000 people are expected to attend, with ten horses representing ten of the 17 districts competing for the prestigious Drappellone trophy. Enhanced security measures, including a special anti-drone system, have been adopted, because even horse races aren't safe from drones these days.
Finally, in a story that's actually inspiring, Sophie Adenot became the first French female astronaut to venture outside the International Space Station for a spacewalk on Tuesday, accompanied by American astronaut Anil Menon. During the six-and-a-half-hour mission, they were to replace an antenna that allows the ISS to communicate with mission control in Houston. "I'm out," Adenot, 44, said after exiting the ISS, some 400 kilometers above Earth. French president Emmanuel Macron congratulated her, saying she embodies "French pride as much as a horizon for little girls who dream of infinity." Because even in space, there's hope.