"If it's too late, at least we tried," said a defiant Hugo, 26, as he refilled his water tank. "Fifty thousand hectares has already been destroyed, what will we tell our children?"

Hugo grew up in the area and has returned from his home in Bali to watch his mother's house in the village of Arès, which is perilously close to the wildfires.

"It's horrible, it's our home, it's our region

Former top US health official Anthony Fauci refused to answer questions at a US Senate hearing about the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic, saying he feared Republican lawmakers would try to use his testimony to prosecute him for perjury.

He invoked the Fifth Amendment to the US Constitution, which says no individual can be "compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself".

Days before the hearing, Republican Senator Rand Paul released more than 1,000 pages of Fauci's pandemic-era writings

A major fault on Ghana's national power grid has triggered widespread outages, leaving the capital, Accra, the commercial hub of Kumasi and much of north without electricity.

Several power plants across the West African nation were forced to shut down in the early hours of Wednesday morning, the state-run power distribution company said.

"Our engineers and system operators are working continuously to restore power in the shortest time possible without compromising safety," Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo) has said in its statement.

Ghana has

In a statement, ATC Management, which represented Hansard, said: "With broken hearts we announce the passing of Glen Hansard who passed away, in the early hours of this morning, following a road traffic accident in Dublin.

"Glen's family is deeply shocked and heartbroken by this tragic loss and respectfully requests privacy at this extremely difficult time.

"The family is grateful for the support they have received and wishes to thank the emergency services who attended the scene."

Waterboys singer Mike Scott tweeted : "Travel

Japan's south-western Kyushu region has had more than 100 aftershocks since it was struck on Tuesday by a powerful earthquake which left at least 13 people dead.

Many others were said to be in "cardiopulmonary arrest" - a term often used in preliminary reports in Japan before a death is officially confirmed.

In searing heat, rescue crews are digging through the rubble at a paper factory and a shopping mall in Kumamoto prefecture, looking for trapped survivors. The mall suffered an explosion in the hour after

Spanish authorities have allowed thousands of people evacuated because of wildfires to return to their homes after restrictions were lifted in the areas of Toledo, Madrid, Ávila, and Castellón.

In the Madrid region alone, 24,000 people have been told they can return and lockdowns on another 20,000 have been lifted.

Spain and France are both braced for the start of the fourth heatwave so far this summer and some fires have continued to burn, including one at Burgohondo 15

French DJ ​and electro-house pop ‌musician Kavinsky has ​been found dead ​at his home in Paris aged 50.

The star, whose ​real name ​was Vincent Belorgey, enjoyed a slow-burning cult hit with his 2010 track Nightcall, which soundtracked the opening credits to the stylish neo-noir crime movie Drive, starring Ryan Gosling.

After being performed at the Paris 2024 Olympics closing ceremony, the modern synthwave hit became the most Shazamed song in a single day