'Invaluable' training: Shooter drill tests school, responders

More than 1,000 firefighters are struggling to contain a major wildfire that has burned a large area of pine forest in southwestern France in a region that was already ravaged by flames last month. Local authorities said more than 68 square kilometers (26 square miles) have burned since Tuesday in the Gironde region and the neighboring Landes as France like other European countries swelters through a hot and dry summer. Temperatures were expected to reach 40 C (104 F) on Thursday in the region. The blaze forced the evacuation of about 10,000 people and destroyed at least 16 houses.

The European Union’s full ban on Russian coal imports kicks in at a time when British defense intelligence says that Western sanctions are increasingly having an impact. That includes even Russia’s defense exports. Britain says that Moscow was already strained by the need to produce armored fighting vehicles for its troops in Ukraine and hence “is highly unlikely to be capable of fulfilling some export orders” in a sector it has long taken pride in. The British intelligence update on Thursday highlighted “the increasing effect of Western sanctions.”

Africa’s national parks, home to thousands of wildlife species such as lions, elephants and buffaloes, are increasingly threatened by from below-average rainfall and new infrastructure projects, stressing habitats and the species that rely on them. A prolonged drought in much of the continent’s east, exacerbated by climate change, and large-scale developments, including oil drilling and livestock grazing, are hampering conservation efforts in protected areas, several environmental experts say. The parks not only protect flora and fauna but also act as natural carbon sinks — storing carbon dioxide emitted into the air and reducing the effects of global warming.

Shares have mostly advanced in Europe and Asia after Wall Street benchmarks closed at three-month highs. Investors were cheering a report showing inflation cooled more than expected in July. U.S. futures edged higher Thursday and oil prices also advanced. The S&P 500 jumped 2.1% Wednesday on expectations that slower inflation will mean the Federal Reserve won’t hike interest rates as much as feared. It was a welcome respite for technology stocks, cryptocurrencies and other investments that have been among the year’s biggest losers due to aggressive rate hikes meant to tamp down price increases. The government said consumer inflation jumped 8.5% in July from a year earlier. But that was down from June's four-decade high of 9.1%.

Some of the world’s most prized works of contemporary Western art have been unveiled for the first time in decades — in Tehran. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, a hard-line cleric, rails against the influence of the West. And the Islamic Republic has plunged further into confrontation with the United States and Europe as it rapidly accelerates its nuclear program and diplomatic efforts stall. But contradictions abound in the Iranian capital, where thousands of well-heeled men and hijab-clad women marveled at 19th- and 20th-century American and European minimalist and conceptual masterpieces. They're on display this summer for the first time at the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art.