A spate of wildfires is scorching parts of Europe, with firefighters battling blazes in Portugal, Spain, Croatia and southern France amid an unusual heat wave that authorities are linking to climate change.

Hundreds of firefighters, supported by six water-bomber aircraft, were battling on Thursday to bring under control two wildfires in southwestern France that have already burnt almost 4,000 hectares.

"The fires are still not under control, no casualties were reported" said the local authority for the Gironde department, where the blazes, which started on Tuesday, were raging.

The biggest of the two Gironde fires is around the town of Landiras, south of Bordeaux, where roads have been closed and 500 residents evacuated, with the blaze having already burnt 2,100 hectares (5,190 acres).

France, already hit by a series of wildfires over the last few weeks, is suffering - like the rest of Europe - from a second heatwave in as many months.

"Since the start of the year, 15,000 hectares have been burnt in the country, versus a little less than 1,000 hectares at the same date last year ... nine fires out of 10 have a human cause," Interior minister Gerald Darmanin told reporters on Wednesday night.

Elsewhere in Europe, thousands of firefighters battled more than 20 blazes that raged across Portugal and western Spain on Wednesday, menacing villages and disrupting tourists' holidays amid a heat wave that pushed temperatures above 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit) in some parts of Europe.

The other one is along the Atlantic Coast, close to the iconic "Dune du Pilat" - the tallest sand dune in Europe - located in the Arcachon Bay area, above which heavy clouds of dark smoke were seen rising in the sky.

That fire has already burnt 1,750 hectares and led to the preventive evacuation on Wednesday of 6,000 people from five surrounding campsites. Another 60 people were evacuated early on Thursday.

In Santiago de Guarda in the central Portuguese district of Leiria, Albertina Francisco struggled to hold back tears as a cloud of black smoke billowed over the tiny village.

Some villagers rescued pets while others helped firefighters battle the flames.

In Leiria, where over 3,000 hectares (7413 acres) have burned so far, authorities blocked major motorways and side streets as strong winds made it harder for firefighters to fight the flames. Portugal's most important highway, connecting its capital Lisbon to Porto, was also blocked due to another fire farther north.

Nearly 900 firefighters were combating three active blazes in Leiria alone, while in the whole of mainland Portugal there were 2,841 firefighters on the ground and 860 vehicles.

In Portugal's southern Algarve region, popular with tourists, a fire broke out in the city of Faro and spread to the Quinta do Lago luxury resort. Videos shared online showed flames edging close to villas, burning palm trees and parts of golf courses.

About half of drought-hit Portugal will remain on red alert for extreme heat conditions on Thursday, with the highest temperatures expected in the Santarem and Castelo Branco districts, the IPMA weather institute said.

Wednesday's highest temperature was registered in the central town of Lousa at 46.3 degrees Celsius (115 degrees Fahrenheit), 1 degree below a 2003 record.

At least 135 people have suffered mainly minor injuries since wildfires began in Portugal last week, and about 800 people have been evacuated from their homes, according to the Civil Protection Authority.

The World Meteorological Organisation warned on Tuesday the heat wave was spreading and intensifying in large parts of Europe.

With human-caused climate change triggering droughts, the number of extreme wildfires is expected to increase 30% within the next 28 years, according to a February 2022 U.N. report.

Searing temperatures also swept across China's vast Yangtze River basin on Wednesday; firefighters tackled a forest fire near the tourist town of Datça in Turkey; and power demand in Texas hit an all-time high as consumers cranked up their air conditioners to escape the heat.

In Spain's western region of Extremadura bordering Portugal, firefighters battled a blaze that swept into Salamanca province in the region of Castile and Leon, burning more than 4,000 hectares.

Parts of the Extremadura, Andalusia and Galicia regions were on red alert for extreme heat, Spain's AEMET meteorology service said, adding the country's highest temperature on Wednesday stood at 45.6 degrees Celsius in Huelva province./agencies

When farmer Rita Tolu saw "a big black wave storming across the horizon and taking over the fields" in April, she knew that little of her dried fodder and alfalfa crops would be left in the following days.

Tolu, 40, and other farmers working in the central areas of the Italian island of Sardinia have seen swarms of billions of locusts ravage their land in the worst such invasion in more than three decades.

The invasion is projected to affect an area of around 60,000 hectares this year, double that of 2021 and compared with just 2,000 hectares in 2019.

Tolu said that many of her colleagues "might have to shut down their businesses" as the plague of locusts adds to the impact of drought and rising fuel costs on farmers.

She and her family run a dairy farm of 200 hectares near the village of Noragugume, where crops and animal fodder such as ryegrass and clovers are also grown and around 1,000 sheep graze.

This year, Tolu was able to collect just 200 stacks of hay - against 1,000 in 2021, she said, with some of it harvested early as a precaution and losing some of its nutritional quality.

"Here people farm the land to avoid purchasing fodder and other animal feeds," said Rita Zaru, the mayor of Noragugume, where over 70% of the around 280 inhabitants are employed in farming and shepherding.

Zaru said that anyone who had opted to farm grassland this year to boost milk production had lost the whole of their initial investment because of the locusts.

The problem is not new in Sardinia. In 1946, about 1.5 million hectares of land, accounting for two-thirds of the island's territory, were affected as locusts spread quickly across fields abandoned during World War Two.

Ignazio Floris, who teaches General and Applied Entomology at Sardinia's Sassari University, said depopulation and uncultivated lands were once again one of the main reasons behind this kind of natural event.

Rising temperatures and lack of rain also play a big role as dry and compacted soil make it easier for locusts to lay their eggs.

Floris noted that this year's invasion has been affecting an area equal to 2%-3% of the island, a swathe of territory much smaller than the 1946 catastrophe or 1988-89, when 81,000 hectares were hit.

The outlook is uncertain but Floris does not expect locusts to multiply as rapidly in 2023 in the light of planned remedies such as plowing more fields and the deployment of a specific type of beetle that feeds on the locust's eggs.

He also ruled out the locusts endemic in Sardinia "making the jump" to other parts of Italy, noting that their particular species – the Moroccan locust – differs from the Desert locust that has ravaged African countries and Lebanon in recent years.

According to Tolu, Sardinian farmers were ready to play a more important role in helping to fight the plague by plowing more of their land.

"We are worried ... but we do not want to lose hope after so many years of crisis," she said./ REUTERS

The government has now ruled out adopting the recommendations of international economic agencies that advised Kuwait in special reports to increase fuel prices “to match international prices, and to support the state’s budget resources, especially since the current prices are considered among the lowest in the world.”

A ministerial source told a local Arabic daily that the file of increasing fuel prices is not on the table of the government subsidy review committee, which is headed by the Ministry of Finance, indicating that this committee reviews market conditions, compares them with the value of subsidies, and monitors their adequacy and whether they need to be increased, reduced, or directed to specific categories, rather than generalized.

The source stressed that “the subsidy committee stems from a clear and consistent governmental direction, which is to help the citizen to live a decent life, protect him from any fluctuations in prices that affect his livelihood and provide his requirements easily, especially at the level of providing food and basic supplies, as well as the needs of building residential plots away from any Contingent costs arising from conditions relating to labor and construction materials.

The source stated that the state can currently support the production of fuel according to the differences from the value of its price in the global market, and there is no need to think about increasing its prices, but rather to maintain the current prices, as they are appropriate according to adequate studies conducted by government technical committees specialized in the oil sector and the Ministry of Finance./

A recent study showed Kuwait is the cheapest Gulf country in the first half of 2022 and the ninth cheapest in the Arab world. The ranking by Numbeo, the world’s largest cost of living database, includes costs of groceries, eating out at restaurants, transportation and utilities.

Athoob Al-Shuaibi, a Kuwaiti currently living in Dubai, told Kuwait Times that Dubai is considered expensive in some ways compared to Kuwait. “Fuel is more expensive than Kuwait – it costs me KD 20 for regular fuel to fill up my SUV. Clothes however are cheaper,” she said. Shuaibi added organic food (vegetables, fruits and fresh baked goods) and flowers of all types are also cheaper in Dubai and available in all seasons.

Regarding real estate, Shuaibi noted Dubai is a lot cheaper than Kuwait. “This is the key factor, which is why expats settle here, with entire communities owned by expats.” She said the price of land in Kuwait in an urban area can reach a quarter of a million dinars or more, but a property with three bedrooms, a maid’s room, a large outdoor area and two parking spaces in Dubai costs around KD 140,000.

For Razi Salman, who used to live in Saudi Arabia, the cost of living in Kuwait is similar to Saudi Arabia, but there is a good difference in prices. “If a person wants to live in Kuwait, on average he will need KD 220 per month without rent. Rent for a one-bedroom apartment ranges between KD 160 and KD 350, while a two-bedroom flat ranges from KD 300 to KD 500,” he said. Salman said prices of foodstuff are reasonable and even cheaper than in many countries, but after the coronavirus pandemic, prices have risen significantly, as most vegetables cost more than earlier.

As for the cost of education in Kuwait, he said this generally ranges between KD 400 to 800 annually per child, without the cost of additional children’s activities. “As for meals, a meal at a fast-food restaurant costs KD 2 to KD 4. As for a mid-range restaurant, price ranges between KD 4 and KD 12, while prices at an high-end restaurant range from KD 12 to KD 25,” he explained.

Meanwhile, Kuwait is third in the Gulf and Arab countries in terms of rental hikes, after Qatar and the UAE. Kuwait ranks higher than several European countries such as France, Germany, Sweden, Finland, and Italy, as well as China. Numbeo calculated the estimated monthly expenses for a family of four is KD 783.790 without rent, and KD 209.110 for a single person without rent. The study revealed the cost of living in Kuwait is, on average, 34.25 percent lower than in the United States, while the rent is, on average, 41.04 percent lower than in the US./Kuwait Times

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) cut its economic growth forecast for the US to 2.3% for 2022, citing record inflation and the Federal Reserve's aggressive moves.

The previous figure in June estimated that the US economy would expand 2.9%, which was lowered from a 3.7% growth projection.

"The rapid recovery of demand and associated depletion of slack, rising energy prices, and ongoing global supply disruptions have led to a significant acceleration in inflation," the IMF said Tuesday in its 2022 Article IV Consultation with the US.

"Wage and price pressures are broad based and have spread quickly across the economy. Longer-run measures of inflation expectations have started to drift higher and shorter horizon measures of inflation expectations have increased significantly," it said in a statement.

The IMF said the US government deficit rose nearly 9% of its GDP with $1.9 trillion due to President Joe Biden's American Rescue Plan that was passed in March 2021.

"The fiscal deficit is now declining rapidly but, despite this, public debt is markedly higher than its pre-pandemic levels and is expected to continue to rise as a share of GDP over the medium term," it said./aa

The Bank of Canada announced Wednesday it increased interest rates by 100 basis points, which marked the steepest rate hike since August 1998.

The central bank said it increased its target for the overnight rate to 2.5%, with the bank rate now reaching 2.75% and the deposit rate climbing to 2.5%.

The bank said it is continuing its policy of quantitative tightening in order to fight against high inflation.

Inflation in Canada is higher and more persistent than the central bank expected, and it will likely remain around 8% in the next few months, the bank said in a statement.

"While global factors such as the war in Ukraine and ongoing supply disruptions have been the biggest drivers, domestic price pressures from excess demand are becoming more prominent," it added.

"Many central banks are tightening monetary policy to combat inflation, and the resulting tighter financial conditions are moderating economic growth," it noted.

Canada's consumer inflation rose to 7.7% in May year-on-year, recording the highest annual gain since 1983. It posted an annual gain of 6.8% in April.

The bank said it forecasts Canada’s economy will grow by 3.5% in 2022, 1.75% in 2023, and 2.5% in 2024, adding: "Economic activity will slow as global growth moderates and tighter monetary policy works its way through the economy."/aa