Some 3,000 people have been evacuated from their homes as a wildfire that broke out on Wednesday in the mountains near the Spanish city of Marbella continues to rage on Thursday, officials said.

Three of the firefighters combating the wildfire have been injured. One of them is in serious condition after 25% of his body suffered serious burns.

Around 500 people are trying to tame the blaze, including those from Spain’s Military Emergencies Unit.

However, a Malaga government official confirmed on Thursday morning, that the wildfire still has the upper hand.

“Last night was tremendous. The fire was advancing very rapidly,” Malaga government official Francisco Javier Salas told local broadcaster Cadena Ser.

“It still isn’t under control. If the weather changes and the wind starts blowing from the other direction, the fire will stop and start going the other way, but these things are unpredictable,” Javier Salas said.

He said that he cannot rule out more evacuations beyond the around 3,000 residents who have already been ordered to leave their homes in and around the town of Benahavis.

Benahavis is just around 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) away from the glamorous Costa del Sol resort city Marbella.

The blaze comes as Spain’s meteorological agency warns that the country’s earliest official heatwave could begin on Friday, with temperatures hitting 44 degrees Celsius (111 degrees Fahrenheit) in parts of Andalusia.

Already, the mercury is expected to rise to 31 degrees on Thursday in Marbella./aa

An official of India's ruling party has been named by police in a case for inciting people after her insulting remarks against Prophet Muhammad spurred a string of condemnations from the oil-rich Gulf states and other Muslim-majority nations.

Nurpur Sharma, spokeswoman for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has been named in one of two cases registered for "inciting people on the basis of various divisive lines," the Delhi police said Thursday.

Indian journalist and author Saba Naqvi was also booked in the case after an alleged anti-Hindu tweet.

On Sunday, BJP suspended the membership of Sharma, and another worker Naveen Kumar Jindal was expelled from the party over comments he made about Islam on social media.

Sharma had made insulting remarks against Prophet Muhammad in a television debate, triggering a wave of condemnations within India and from the Islamic world.

More than a dozen countries -- as well as international organizations -- condemned the controversial remarks.

The latest development comes as Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian is on a three-day visit to New Delhi.

Abdollahian met Ajit Kumar Doval, India's national security adviser on Wednesday.

In a statement issued after the meeting, Iran said the Indian top official expressed regret over the recent controversy and promised action./aa

Türkiye “neutralized” three members of the PKK terrorist group in northern Iraq, near the Turkish border, according to Turkish defense sources on Thursday.

The terrorists were targeted in the Gara region by Türkiye’s National Intelligence Organization (MIT) during counter-terror operations, said the sources, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

PKK terrorists often use northern Iraq, across the Turkish border, to hide out and plan attacks on Türkiye.

Turkish authorities use the term “neutralize” to imply the terrorists in question surrendered or were killed or captured.

Mehmet Erdogan, code-named Ahmet Rubar, a senior ringleader of the organization's so-called military wing HPG in Iraq's Makhmour-Kirkuk-Sulaymaniyah region, among others was also neutralized in the operations recently intensified by the MIT in northern Iraq and Syria.

Last week, Dilbirin Kacar, code-named Rojda, who was determined to have participated in various terror acts as the assassin of the PKK/YPG terror group, was also brought to Türkiye in an operation in Syria.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the US, and EU – has been responsible for the deaths of over 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants.

The YPG is the PKK’s Syrian offshoot./aa

Japan is to finally reopen its borders to international travelers starting Friday after banning foreign tourists for more than two years, as the country gradually relaxes its COVID-19 border controls. Under the plan announced by the government in May, Japan will initially accept visitors on tours with guides and fixed itineraries from the 98 low-risk countries and regions, including the US and China. Tourists from those areas will be exempt from virus testing and self-quarantine even they are unvaccinated.

Kuwaiti tourists will not be eligible for the entry, but the government plans to widen the scope of foreign travelers in stages if there are no major problems. Japan divides countries and regions into three categories: blue, yellow and red, and Kuwait is listed in the middle-risk yellow category. Still, Kuwaiti business travelers, technical interns and students have been allowed to visit Japan.

Those visitors from the “yellow” group are required to take virus tests upon arrival and self-quarantine at home for three days, but both requirements are waived if they have completed three rounds of COVID-19 vaccines.

In order to check the impact on the COVID- 19 situation, Japan launched small group tours on a trial basis for travel company employees from the US, Australia, Singapore and Thailand late May. Infections situation in Japan has stabilized in recent weeks, with the number of new cases staying about 20,000 to 30,000 per day Japan tightened its border controls in February 2020 in response to the global spread of the virus.

Then, it effectively imposed an entry ban on all non-resident foreign nationals in November due to concerns over the highly infectious Omicron strain of the virus. “Resuming inbound tourism, which can benefit from the depreciation of the yen, has great significance for Japan’s regional economies,” Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters on May 31. (KUNA)

Director of the Cooperative Societies Development Department in the Kuwaiti Ministry of Social Affairs Hayam Al-Khudair on Wednesday reassured about food security in the country, saying that the stores are full of foodstuffs.

She said in a press statement during a tour of the food security system team at Al-Zahra Cooperative Society that this tour aimed at following up the food situation and taking all possible measures to enhance, protect and sustain it. (KUNA)

An explosion from an attack by an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) injured three civilians in Iraq’s northern province of Erbil late Wednesday, according to officials. 

Security forces were dispatched to the area on the Erbil-Pirmam highway, media outlets reported.

Vehicles sustained damage from the blast, but no casualties were reported by officials.

An investigation was launched to determine the reason behind the explosion./aa

There is a “real” risk of monkeypox becoming established in non-endemic countries, the World Health Organization warned on Wednesday, while also reiterating that the COVID-19 pandemic “is not over.”

“More than 1,000 confirmed cases of monkeypox have now been reported to WHO from 29 countries that are not endemic for the disease,” said WHO chief Tedros Ghebreyesus.

He said no deaths have been reported in the outbreaks, adding that the UN health agency “does not recommend mass vaccination against monkeypox.”

“Cases have been reported mainly, but not only, among men who have sex with men. Some countries are now beginning to report cases of apparent community transmission, including some cases in women,” said Tedros.

He said the spread of the disease to several non-endemic countries “suggests that there might have been undetected transmission for some time.”

“The risk of monkeypox becoming established in non-endemic countries is real,” he emphasized.

He pointed out that the “virus has been circulating and killing in Africa for decades,” with more than 1,400 suspected cases and 66 deaths across the continent just this year.

“It’s an unfortunate reflection of the world we live in that the international community is only now paying attention to monkeypox because it has appeared in high-income countries,” he added.

Even more dangerous’ COVID-19 variant possible

Tedros said the perception that the COVID-19 pandemic is over is “misguided” as the virus claimed more than 7,000 lives last week.

“The pandemic is not over, and we will keep saying it’s not over until it is,” he asserted.

While cases and deaths decline globally, the WHO continues to urge caution as there is “not enough testing and not enough vaccination” worldwide, he explained.

On average, some 75% of health workers and people over 60 globally have been vaccinated, according to the WHO chief.

The rates, however, are “much lower in low-income countries,” said the WHO chief, adding that “68 countries have still not achieved 40% coverage.”

“Vaccine supply is now sufficient, but demand in many countries with the lowest vaccination rates is lacking,” said Tedros.

He warned that a “new and even more dangerous variant could emerge at any time.”

Hepatitis of unknown cause in children

The WHO is also monitoring reports of unexplained hepatitis in children around the world, according to Tedros.

“More than 700 probable cases of hepatitis of unknown cause in children have now been reported to WHO from 34 countries, and a further 112 cases are under investigation,” he said.

“At least 38 of these children have needed liver transplants, and 10 have died.”

He said the UN agency is working with countries to investigate the cause, but the five viruses that commonly cause hepatitis have not been detected in any of these cases.

“WHO receives reports of unexplained hepatitis in children every year, but a few countries have indicated that the rates they are seeing are above what is expected,” said Tedros./aa