France

PARIS/LISBON, July 16 (Reuters) - Wildfires raged in southwestern France and Spain on Saturday, forcing thousands of people to be evacuated from their homes as blistering summer temperatures put authorities on alert in parts of Europe.

About 14,000 people had been evacuated from France's Gironde region by Saturday afternoon as more than 1,200 firefighters battled to bring the flames under control, regional authorities said in a statement.

PARIS, July 15 (Reuters) - The UAE is working to send an ambassador to Tehran as it seeks to rebuild bridges with Iran, the president's diplomatic adviser said on Friday, adding that the idea of a confrontational approach to Iran was not something Abu Dhabi supported.

The UAE has been trying to balance between superpower ally Washington, new friend Israel and old adversary Iran as it seeks to avoid regional tension that could torpedo its economic ambitions while at the same time building up the Gulf state's military capabilities.

PARIS, July 14. /TASS/: France seeks to end the conflict in Ukraine and does not want it to spill over and turn into a new world war, French President Emmanuel Macron said in an interview with France 2 and TF1 TV channels on Thursday.

"We would like to stop the war without joining it. We do not want a global war and a geographical spillover of this conflict to other regions," he stressed. The head of state explained that France hopes to attain this by supporting Ukraine and introducing restrictions against Russia’s economy.

PARIS, July 13 (Reuters) - About 600 firefighters, supported by six water-bomber aircraft, were on Wednesday battling to bring under control two wildfires in southwestern France, which have already burnt more than 1,700 hectares and prompted the evacuation of thousands of tourists.

"Important human and material resources are being deployed to master the fires (...) local and national reinforcements are expected," said the local authority for the Gironde department, where the blazes are raging.

PARIS, July 9 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Rampant exploitation of nature is a threat to the billions of people across the world who rely on wild species for food, energy and income, according to a new report from United Nations biodiversity experts published Friday.

From fishing and logging to the use of wild plants in medicines and perfumes, societies across the planet are deeply dependent on species that have not been tamed or cultivated in farming, with annual global legal and illegal trade in the hundreds of billions of dollars.

PARIS, July 8 (Xinhua) -- The total number of COVID-19 related deaths in France passed the 150,000 mark on Friday, after 74 deaths related to the virus were recorded in hospitals in the past 24 hours, announced the country's public health agency.

According to the French Ministry of Health, the number of COVID-19 tests reached 3 million in one week, and the number of 16 to 25 year-olds testing positive increased by 60 percent this week.

France's total number of COVID-19 related deaths hit the 140,000 mark on March 11, two years after the pandemic hit the country.

PARIS (AP) — Hundred of firefighters backed by water-dropping planes battled a large forest fire Friday in southeastern France that has forced the evacuation of nearby villages.

Thirteen firefighters have been injured in Bordezac — the village where the fire started. Overall, 18 firefighters have been injured amid several forest fires that have burned for days in the region, according to France Info.

PARIS, July 6 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Oil prices rose as much as nearly 3 per cent on Wednesday before paring some gains as investors piled back into the market after a heavy rout in the previous session, with supply concerns returning to the fore even as worries about a global recession linger.

Brent crude futures rose as much as $3.08, or 2.9 per cent, to $105.85 a barrel in early trade after plunging 9.5 per cent on Tuesday, the biggest daily drop since March. It was last up 92 cents, or 0.9 per cent, at $103.69 a barrel at 0243 GMT.

PARIS, July 6 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Police in at least five different European countries have detained dozens of people accused of smuggling people across the English Channel to the UK.

It is thought the criminal network brought up to 10,000 migrants in small boats in a period of 12-18 months.

In Germany, 18 suspects were arrested as hundreds of officers swooped in on locations across the country.

A main focus of the operation was the city of Osnabrück, which police say was one of the hubs of the operation.

PARIS, July 6 (Reuters) - France will fully nationalise EDF (EDF.PA), Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said on Wednesday, in a move that would give the government more control over a restructuring of the debt-laden group while contending with a European energy crisis.

EDF, in which the state already owns 84%, is one of Europe's biggest utilities and sits at the heart of France's nuclear strategy, which the government is banking on to blunt the impact of soaring energy prices exacerbated by the prospect of an abrupt halt to Russian gas supplies.