LISBON: Hundreds of firefighters in Portugal and Spain are battling fresh wildfires after a summer already scarred by devastating blazes, civil protection authorities said.

Strong winds have fanned the flames in several areas, forcing road closures, village evacuations and urgent efforts to protect homes.

The largest fire raged in Seia, central Portugal, where 600 firefighters were deployed to tackle the flames, the civil protection agency said.

The priority was “to protect homes,” the Lusa news agency quoted a civil protection spokesperson as saying. Police said they had arrested a person suspected of starting the fire.

In Spain, authorities confined the small village of Castromil in the northwest as a precaution on Saturday due to a nearby blaze.

The area had been hit hard by a wave of devastating fires in August. One blaze there revived on Saturday due to strong winds, a source in the nearby Castilla and Leon region’s environment ministry said.

Spain on Sunday ended a state of emergency that had been in effect for several weeks due to one of the worst waves of wildfires to hit the country in recent years. Four people were killed and more than 300,000 hectares burnt.

Central and northern Portugal were also ravaged in August by devastating wildfires that killed four people and caused several injuries.

The Portuguese fires destroyed about 254,000 hectares, the worst toll since 2017, according to data from the National Institute for Nature and Forest Conservation.

Portugal experienced its hottest summer since 1931 this year, the national meteorological agency said on Friday.

• Justice dept data shows violent crime at 30-year low in DC.
• DC AG files lawsuit against troop deployment.
• Protesters chant slogans denouncing Trump.

WASHINGTON: Several thousand Washington DC residents on Saturday marched to demand US President Donald Trump end the deployment of National Guard troops patrolling the capital city’s streets.

Protesters at the “We Are All DC” march, who included undocumented immigrants and supporters of Palestine, chanted slogans denouncing Trump and carried posters, some which read “Trump must go now,” “Free DC” and “Resist Tyranny.”

“I’m here to protest the occupation of DC,” said Alex Laufer. “We’re opposing the authoritarian regime, and we need to get the federal police and the National Guard off our streets.”

Claiming that crime was blighting the city, Trump last month deployed the troops to “re-establish law, order, and public safety.” Trump also placed the capital district’s Metropolitan Police Department under direct federal control and sent federal law enforcement personnel, including members of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement to police the city’s streets.

But Justice Department data showed violent crime in 2024 hit a 30-year low in Washington, a self-governing federal district under the jurisdiction of the US Congress.

The National Guard serves as a militia that answers to the governors of the 50 states except when called into federal service. The DC National Guard reports directly to the president.

“What they’re trying to do in DC is what they’re trying to do with other dictatorships,” said Casey, who declined to give his last name. “They’re testing DC, and if people tolerate it enough, they’re gonna do it to more and more areas. So we have to stop it while we still can.”

More than 2,000 troops, including from six Republican-led states, are patrolling the city. It is unclear when their mission will end, though the Army this week extended orders for the DC National Guard through November 30.

Washington DC Attorney General Brian Schwalb on Thursday filed a lawsuit for courts to block the troop deployment, arguing that it was unconstitutional and violated multiple federal laws.

But some residents have welcomed the National Guard and called for the troops to be deployed in the less affluent parts of the city where crime is rampant. The National Guard has been mostly visible in downtown and tourist areas.

Washington DC mayor Muriel Bowser has praised Trump’s surge of federal law enforcement personnel into the city, but hoped that the National Guard’s mission would end soon. Bowser said there had been a sharp decline in crime, including carjackings since the surge. The mayor this week signed an order requiring the city to coordinate with federal law enforcement. 

China on Saturday said that its military monitored the passage of Australian and Canadian warships through the Taiwan Strait, criticising their presence in the sensitive waterway as “causing trouble”.

Beijing views Taiwan as part of its territory and claims jurisdiction over the body of water that separates the self-ruled island from the Chinese mainland.

“On September 6, the Canadian frigate ‘Quebec’ and the Australian destroyer ‘Brisbane’ transited the Taiwan Strait, causing trouble and provoking,” said Senior Colonel Shi Yi, spokesperson for the Eastern Theatre Command of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

The PLA “organised naval and air forces to monitor and supervise their entire transits, effectively responding and handling the situation”, Shi said in a statement.

“The actions of Canada and Australia send the wrong signals and increase security risks,” he added.

“[Chinese] troops remain on high alert at all times, resolutely safeguarding national sovereignty and security and regional peace and stability.”

Beijing has ramped up deployment of fighter jets and naval vessels around Taiwan in recent years to press its sovereignty claim, which Taipei rejects.

The United States frequently sends ships through the Taiwan Strait, and several of its Western allies have increased their presence with regular — though less common — transits.

In June, China criticised the United Kingdom for sending a navy patrol vessel through the waterway, saying it “undermined peace and stability”.