France and Spain battle wildfires as more than 250,000 people are forced to flee homes

France and Spain battle wildfires as more than 250,000 people are forced to flee homes

MARK CARLSON 

France sent a hulking military cargo plane to dump tons of flame retardants as it battled raging wildfires on Saturday and slashed the final stage of Tour de France to redeploy security personnel to the blazes that forced tens of thousands of people to flee their homes. 

The latest wildfires in southern Europe this week have displaced more than 250,000 people, including some 70,000 people who were evacuated in central Spain. One man died in Manises, the municipality reported on its Facebook page, the first death so far in the blazes. 

In France, the giant A400M transporter swooped in low, its long plume of ochre-colored retardant trailing over drought-hit woodlands in the southwest as fire crews on the ground fought flames that authorities feared could spread toward the wine region city of Bordeaux.

Race organizers and the Paris police department announced a truncated 21st and final stage on Sunday for the three-week Tour, France’s most famous annual sporting event, reflecting the immense strain that two large fires in the southwest are causing for emergency services.

Tour riders will race Sunday inside Paris, rather than starting from Thoiry, west of the capital, on a circuit of 89 kilometers (55 miles) — down by a third from the 133-kilometer (82.5-mile) route that had been planned. Part of the race’s security detail will instead “reinforce the response efforts in the areas affected by the wildfires,” according to the statement announcing the ”exceptional measures made necessary by the situation.”

Shifting winds raise concerns for Bordeaux

With winds expected to shift in a west-to-east direction on Saturday afternoon, potentially driving flames closer to Bordeaux, fire crews and authorities were digging trenches, using retardants and taking other blaze-blocking steps, French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said, predicting a “long and very difficult” battle.

He said the fire was about 30 kilometers (20 miles) west of the city and lost some of its intensity overnight. The prefect of the Gironde region that includes Bordeaux said the blaze grew into “a firestorm” on Friday after igniting earlier this week and cautioned that it “remains dangerous” even though firefighters were making progress.

The government mobilized soldiers to join fire crews and was rushing in 1.5 million face masks to protect against choking smoke.

Authorities ordered people between the fire and Bordeaux to evacuate, including from parts of the city’s western suburbs and other towns and villages.

Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu described the fires as unprecedented and said the Gironde blaze became so strong on Friday that it had begun generating its own winds. Firefighting teams were being reinforced with the addition of hundreds of soldiers and breathing masks to filter out potentially noxious smoke particles were being rushed to those exposed, Lecornu said.

In Bordeaux, authorities took in thousands of evacuees, offering them food and shelter in an exhibition center, and the city’s mayor said it could be equipped to welcome as many as 10,000 people if that became necessary. The city’s airport said it remained open but that its bus and tram services were suspended.

Evacuation orders were sent with special alerts to mobile phones, instructing people to leave, Gironde prefect Sophie Brocas said. She said the fire had destroyed about 140 homes in the region.

The magnitude of the wildfires caught authorities off guard 

The French military A400M transport plane, specially converted for fire-fighting, was a heavyweight new tool in the battle. It joined at least 18 other water- and retardant-dropping aircraft and helicopters that Nunez said were deployed in the Gironde region, working in rotation in the smoke-filled skies.

The virulence of the French and Spanish wildfires, fueled by high temperatures and the long-term effects of climate change, caught fire crews and authorities off guard. 

Firefighters in Spain said the blazes spread so fast and violently that they could not be tackled head on. In France, some people even fled by boat when flames swept through touristic towns on the Atlantic coast. 

“We’ve never seen anything like this,” said Javier Organista, a resident of El Tiemblo, west of Madrid, where fire charred a famed chestnut grove. “When we saw the flames coming into our town, surrounding us, leaving us with practically no way out, all the neighbors joined together to try to stop its advance.” 

“It’s just really sad,” he said.

Fires have burned 130,000 hectares of forest already this year in Spain, up from an annual average of 100,000 hectares over the past decade, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said Saturday as he visited a command post west of Madrid.

Trump says US 'locked and loaded' for increased Iran strikes, no final decision made

Trump says US 'locked and loaded' for increased Iran strikes, no final decision made

AARON GLICK

US President Donald Trump said that the United States is "locked and loaded" to increase its strikes on Iran, though he has not yet made a final decision, during a press conference at the White House on Friday.

“We’re locked and loaded and ready to go, but we’re talking to them," said Trump in response to a reporter's question on the subject. "We’ll see what comes of it.”

“I think they are getting more serious as days go by for maybe obvious reasons," he added. "But we are talking to them right now. We’ll see.”

President Trump held a cabinet meeting on the subject later on Friday, according to a New York Times report citing four sources with knowledge of the meeting.

Trump noted that the US had several "exit strategies" for its war with Iran, including a "military exit," which would involve a continuation of its strikes on the Islamic regime, with the potential of a "heavier dose."

He added that there was a "smarter strategy," in which Iran would make a deal. "They want to make a deal," said Trump. "I just don't think they're ready yet."

They want to be the tough guys," Trump continued. "As we speak, we are talking to them."

When asked if targeting Iranian power plants would constitute a war crime, the US president declined to answer.

Trump initially began discussing Iran following a reporter's question on the US-Saudi nuclear deal, which, according to Trump, now hinges on Saudi Arabia joining thr Abraham Accords.

The president said that Iran was a primary reason for Saudi hesitancy to join the Accords, but things would be different now that the "problem" of the regime was "disappearing day by day."

He described Iran as "the bully of the Middle East," saying that they "are not going to be that much of a bully anymore."

Trump added that Iran has "no navy, no air force, no anti-aircraft, no radar, no nothing."

President Trump emphasized the significance of the "iron wall" created by the US blockade against Iran in the Strait of Hormuz.

He noted the situation as "not very complex," hinging simply on the US demand that Iran "cannot have a nuclear weapon."

"If they have even the thought of a nuclear weapon, we would just continue to go, but at much higher levels," Trump said, noting that he is "not in a hurry."

"We've taken out their first level of leadership," noted Trump. "We've taken out their second level of leadership. We've taken out their third level, and we're negotiating with the rest."

Trump concluded by stressing that Israel "would not be around anymore" if he had not been reelected, saying the Jewish state would have been "hit by a nuclear weapon."

"If I wasn't here, there would be no Israel," he concluded. "And there would probably be no Middle East."

M5.0 earthquake joins small group of major Texas Panhandle events

M5.0 earthquake joins small group of major Texas Panhandle events

Teo Blašković

A rare M5.0 earthquake struck northwestern Roberts County in the Texas Panhandle at 05:21 CDT (10:21 UTC) on July 23, 2026. This is the fourth earthquake at or above M5.0 in the Texas Panhandle since 2011. Nearly 91% of all known Panhandle earthquakes since 1907 were below that threshold.

The epicenter was located about 38 km (24 miles) south-southeast of Spearman in northwestern Roberts County, Texas, at a depth of 5.7 km (3.5 miles).

According to the USGS, about 103 000 people are estimated to have felt light shaking and 640 000 weak. The agency issued a Green alert for shaking-related fatalities and economic losses.

High Plains Observer reported the quake was felt in Amarillo, Oklahoma City, and Tulsa. No damage or injuries had been reported.

Earthquakes of this magnitude are rare in the Texas Panhandle. The National Weather Service (NWS) office in Amarillo said nearly 91% of known regional earthquakes since 1907 were below M5.0.

The NWS chronology through 2011 lists three earlier earthquakes at or above M5.0 — an M5.4 near Panhandle in 1925, an M5.0 near Borger in 1936 and an M5.2 near Dalhart in 1948. The 1925 earthquake remains the largest in the regional list.

The NWS says natural tectonic activity and petroleum production have both been considered as explanations for past Panhandle earthquakes. Sparse seismic records before 1920, when oil and gas development began in the region, make those historical connections difficult to prove or disprove.

The Dismantling Of Global Energy And Food Infrastructure.

The Persian Gulf Is Never Coming Back — And That’s Exactly What They Want

Mike Adams

I believed — and you probably did too — that the Strait of Hormuz would eventually reopen and be restored to full operation. I believed that the fighting would stop, the tankers would flow again, and the world would return to some semblance of normalcy. But I was wrong, and so was everyone who held onto that hope.

The people in charge don’t want the world to work for human civilization, it turns out. They want collapse, and they are getting it by making sure the Persian Gulf is permanently taken offline.

This isn’t a war that merely got out of hand. It’s a deliberate, engineered dismantling of global energy and food infrastructure. As I detailed in March 2026, the closure of the Strait of Hormuz is not a temporary disruption — it is a geopolitical and financial reality that has already snapped shut [1]. The assumption that problems will be solved because they always have been is a dangerous illusion [2]. We are watching the greatest crisis in human history unfold, and the very people who caused it may have no real desire to end it.

Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and even the United States all have strong incentives to end the war and reopen the Strait. They need oil revenue, stable markets, and functional supply chains. But those incentives don’t matter at the highest levels of global control. The globalist agenda does not seek restoration — it seeks systemic collapse. 

The damage extends beyond oil. Desalination plants are now being targeted, raising fears that the next targets in the U.S.-Iran war will be the very facilities that make life possible in the Gulf. As Peter Zeihan noted, a wrecked Iranian client state is one that cannot be a springboard for future action [7]. But the wreckage doesn’t stop at Iran’s borders. The entire region’s infrastructure is being systematically dismantled, and there is no reasonable timeline for recovery.

Losing 20 million barrels of oil per day and 10 percent of global fertilizer production means global depression and famine. The Haber-Bosch process that feeds half the world is about to go offline because natural gas — the feedstock for nitrogen fertilizer — is no longer flowing from its best sources [8]. Oil prices will skyrocket, diesel rationing will hit food transport, and hundreds of millions will die.

The 10-year famine is about to be unleashed [9]. The real threat from the Iran war hits farmers, not fuel pumps, as diesel and fertilizer shortages cripple agriculture [10]. We are already seeing it: commercial crude oil stockpiles in the U.S. fell to a 22-year low as Gulf Coast exports drained inventories [11]. Without fertilizer, crop yields collapse. Without diesel, food cannot be harvested or transported. The system is gridlocked, and the elites are counting the bodies they hope will soon be stacked high.

Christian Persecution Is Spreading

Christian Persecution Is Spreading - Will The West Wake Up?

PNW STAFF

Somewhere today, a Christian will be arrested for attending a prayer meeting.

A pastor will preach knowing government agents may be listening. A family will be driven from its village because it refuses to renounce Christ. A young believer will hide a Bible beneath the floorboards. A church congregation will gather without signs, music or public announcements because discovery could mean imprisonment--or death.

For hundreds of millions of Christians, persecution is not an uncomfortable conversation or an occasional insult on social media. It is the daily cost of following Jesus.

International Christian Concern's newly released 2026 Global Persecution Index examines persecution in more than 20 countries and warns that the forces threatening Christians are not retreating. They are spreading, cooperating and becoming increasingly sophisticated. Meanwhile, Open Doors estimates that more than 388 million Christians--approximately one in seven believers worldwide--now face high levels of persecution or discrimination because of their faith.

Behind that number are real people.

They are mothers who have watched militants burn their homes. They are pastors who disappeared into prison systems. They are converts rejected by their families. They are children growing up in refugee camps because terrorists decided Christians no longer belonged in their ancestral communities.

Persecution Is Taking Many Forms

There is no single face of Christian persecution.

In parts of Africa, it arrives with rifles and machetes. Islamist militants raid villages, murder residents, kidnap women and force survivors from their land. Open Doors documented 4,849 faith-related Christian deaths during its latest reporting period. More than 4,400 occurred in sub-Saharan Africa, with Nigeria accounting for over 70 percent of the global total.

These attacks are not merely isolated outbursts of tribal violence. In many regions, they form a pattern: Christian communities are attacked repeatedly, government protection is inadequate or nonexistent, and displaced families discover that returning home may be impossible.

In North Korea, persecution comes through a totalitarian state that regards Christianity as a threat to the regime itself. Possessing a Bible, contacting a missionary or participating in secret worship can place an entire family in danger. North Korea remains the most dangerous country in the world in which to be identified as a Christian.

In China, persecution is increasingly technological and bureaucratic. The government does not need to burn every church when it can regulate sermons, monitor online activity, control religious appointments and steadily narrow the boundaries of permissible belief. Registered churches face pressure to align their teaching with Communist ideology, while house churches remain vulnerable to raids and closure.

In India and Nepal, Hindu nationalism is turning Christianity into a supposed foreign threat. Anti-conversion laws can be used to criminalize evangelism, baptism or even ordinary expressions of faith. A Christian accused of attempting to convert someone may face police action or mob violence before the facts are ever examined.

In Myanmar, Buddhist nationalism has helped create an atmosphere in which Christian villages can be destroyed and minority believers driven from their homes.

In Iran, converts from Islam risk surveillance, interrogation and imprisonment for participating in underground churches. Yet Christianity continues to spread through quiet relationships, house fellowships and digital networks that the government has been unable to eliminate completely.

In Algeria, the pressure has become so severe that Open Doors reports there are now no functioning Protestant churches in the country.

Even Syria, where Christians have endured civil war and the rise of ISIS, has become significantly more dangerous. Syria climbed from 18th to sixth place on the 2026 World Watch List, driven partly by instability and violence, including an attack on a Damascus church that killed 25 people.

The Persecutors Are Learning From One Another

Perhaps the most disturbing warning in the ICC report is that persecution is becoming more coordinated.

Authoritarian governments are sharing surveillance methods. Intelligence services are tracking religious dissidents beyond national borders. Exiled believers may escape their country without escaping the reach of the regime.

This "transnational repression" allows governments to threaten relatives, monitor diaspora communities, pressure foreign authorities and attempt to force asylum seekers back into danger.

Western technology can also become an instrument of oppression. Facial-recognition systems, artificial intelligence, phone monitoring, digital identity platforms and enormous databases give governments powers earlier dictators could only have imagined.

The persecutor of the future may not need to station a police officer outside every church. An algorithm could identify who attends, who donates, who downloads a Bible and who communicates with foreign Christians.

Persecution is therefore no longer limited to mobs, prisons and firing squads. It can be built into banking systems, travel permissions, employment records and access to public services.

More....