About this Episode
Two firefighters died battling a wildfire on Crete as southern Europe faced another wave of extreme heat and fast‑moving blazes. France and Spain grappled with massive fires (Gironde, Ávila/near Madrid and Guadalajara among hardest hit), forcing large evacuations, injuring crews and burning record‑breaking areas. Authorities warned the coming days were critical before temperatures rise again, EU assets and dozens of international teams were deployed, and experts said climate change and dried vegetation are making fires larger, more frequent and harder to control.
US and Saudi forces struck Iran‑aligned militia sites across Iraq, killing at least 20 members of the Popular Mobilisation Forces and wounding dozens, military and militia statements said. Centcom said the joint strikes hit logistics and weapons sites used to direct recent drone attacks on US forces and Saudi energy infrastructure. Saudi officials said the strikes were carried out in self‑defence. Iraq condemned the raids as a violation of its sovereignty, and Iran denounced them as unlawful and warned of consequences. The action followed an Iranian missile salvo at US positions and prompted a rise in oil prices amid fears of wider regional escalation.
Four women have accused actor and musician Jared Leto of criminal sexual conduct for alleged incidents that occurred when they were teenagers, the BBC reported. The women describe a range of claims including sexual assault, grooming and explicit phone calls, and say some encounters took place when they were 14–17; the BBC says it corroborated parts of the accounts with messages, photos and witnesses. Leto has not responded to the BBC’s allegations. The report forms part of a wider documentary in which ten women describe troubling encounters with Leto between 2002 and 2016.
