Qatar says negotiations between Oman and Iran over the future of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz are making major progress.
Published On 12 Aug 202612 Aug 2026
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EMERGENCY crews are battling wildfires across the popular Greek island of Kefalonia, forcing tourists and locals to evacuate homes and holiday accommodation.
Heatwave conditions and gale-force winds have fuelled blazes across the Ionian island, sending thick smoke over holiday regions and putting British travellers on alert.
Here is your guide to where the blazes are located, how they started, and what the latest official advice says for holidaymakers heading to Greece.
Wildfires initially erupted in the dense pine forests and scrubland near Pastra, in the south-east of the island of Kefalonia.
The Greek Fire Service and local municipal authorities issued urgent precautionary evacuation orders via the national emergency alert system after flames threatened nearby homes and tourist lodgings.
Evacuations were triggered for several inland villages as flames moved close to residential zones.
While precautionary evacuations were ordered, local authorities and ground crews largely brought the fire near Pastra under control.
Though firefighters – supported by specialised water-dropping aircraft and helicopters – still remain on high alert for flare-ups.
While main coastal resorts remain open, drifting smoke plumes and shifting winds have affected air quality and visibility across nearby districts.
The outbreak of wildfires on Kefalonia comes amid an intense summer heatwave gripping Greece and wider southern Europe.
While official investigations into the exact ignition points remain ongoing, authorities point to a combination of extreme environmental factors.
Prolonged periods of temperatures exceeding 40C have left vegetation bone-dry, creating conditions where a single spark can instantly trigger a wall of fire.
Strong, unpredictable gusts have also whipped embers across containment lines and made aerial firefighting exceptionally dangerous.
In coastal areas, high sea winds briefly prevented water-scooping aircraft from operating safely.
Greece has suffered dozens of wildfire outbreaks in recent days, including severe blazes in Attica, Halkidiki, and Crete, putting emergency services under heavy strain.
The UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) has updated its safety guidance for Britons visiting Greece, but has not advised against travel.
While it has not placed a blanket travel ban on visiting Greece, officials advise all travellers to exercise caution, stay informed, and follow local emergency instructions.
Travellers heading to unaffected resorts on the island can generally proceed with their plans.
But checking live traffic and local authority updates before set-off is strongly recommended.
A cluster of fast-moving wildfires has devastated the outskirts of Spokane, Washington state, with 65,000 people told to leave their homes. More than 700 buildings have been destroyed as the fires spread from surrounding vegetation into residential neighbourhoods, posing an unprecedented threat to lives and property.
The blazes have become the top firefighting priority in the US because of their scale and the danger they pose to communities. While no deaths have been confirmed, authorities say it will take time to assess the full extent of the damage as search teams begin entering the hardest-hit areas.
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The evacuation orders expanded from about 4,000 people on Sunday to 65,000 by Monday, highlighting the speed at which the fires spread into populated communities.
Here is what to know:
Spokane, Washington’s second-largest city, is at the centre of one of the state’s most destructive wildfire emergencies in recent history after three fast-moving wildfires erupted on its northern outskirts over the weekend. Fanned by strong winds and fueled by exceptionally dry vegetation, the fires have burned more than 8,000 acres (3237 hectares) and spread from surrounding forests and grasslands into residential neighbourhoods, forcing approximately 65,000 people to evacuate, according to the Spokane Valley Fire Department.
Hundreds of buildings, most of them homes, have already been destroyed, with aerial surveys suggesting many more may have been damaged. Entire neighbourhoods have been reduced to charred rubble, with some properties left standing only as brick chimneys.
The scale of the disaster has overwhelmed local resources, prompting one of the largest firefighting operations in the state, with more than 1,000 firefighters deployed from across the region.
![A handout photo made available by the Spokane Valley Fire Department shows the Fairview Fire northeast of Spokane, Washington [EPA]](https://i0.wp.com/occasionaldigest.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/14192119-1785811036.jpg?w=640&ssl=1)
Despite the massive response, the fires remain uncontained, and officials say it could take days to fully assess the destruction. While no deaths have been confirmed, authorities initially received nearly 300 reports of missing people after the evacuations, though that number has since fallen significantly as families have been reunited. Emergency shelters have been opened across Spokane, and officials are urging residents not to return to evacuated areas or fly drones, which can disrupt critical aerial firefighting operations.
Firefighters are taking advantage of a brief period of cooler temperatures and lighter winds, but forecasters warn that hotter, drier and windier weather is expected to return later this week, raising fears that the fires could spread even further.
Washington is experiencing one of its worst wildfire seasons in more than three decades, with about 450,000 acres (182,000 hectares) burned so far this summer. More than 250,000 acres have burned in recent major fires alone.
![A handout photo made available by the Spokane Valley Fire Department shows the Fairview Fire northeast of Spokane, Washington [EPA]](https://i0.wp.com/occasionaldigest.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/14192121-1785811148.jpg?w=640&ssl=1)
Local news outlets have reported that the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office announced on Monday evening that a 37-year-old had been arrested on suspicion of arson in connection with the fire.
However, experts say the conditions that allowed the fires to spread so rapidly were already in place.
Washington has been experiencing severe drought and an unusually low winter snowpack, leaving vegetation exceptionally dry and highly flammable. Those conditions have been compounded by periods of extreme heat, low humidity and strong winds, creating an environment in which even a small ignition can quickly grow into a fast-moving wildfire.
Scientists have also linked increasingly severe wildfire seasons across the western US to human-caused climate change, which has contributed to hotter temperatures, longer droughts and drier landscapes. While climate change does not directly ignite wildfires, it makes them more likely to spread rapidly and become more destructive once they start.
The Washington wildfires have become particularly severe because several factors have converged, allowing the blazes to spread rapidly.
Scientists say drought, extreme heat and climate change are making wildfire seasons longer, more frequent and more destructive across the western US.
Drought dries out vegetation, turning forests and grasslands into fuel that can ignite and burn more intensely.
Heat and low humidity accelerate fire spread by drying vegetation even further and creating conditions in which flames can move rapidly across the landscape.
Climate change amplifies these conditions, as rising global temperatures are increasing the likelihood of prolonged droughts, more frequent heatwaves and longer fire seasons, making large, destructive wildfires more likely once they ignite.
The weather is expected to worsen again by midweek.
While Monday and Tuesday offered a brief, helpful window of cooler temperatures and calmer winds, the midweek forecast calls for a return of:
Because the fires remain completely uncontained, authorities are keeping evacuations in place. They warn that the worst outcome would be letting residents return to their homes, only to have to evacuate them again 24 to 48 hours later when the hot, windy weather returns.
Washington’s entire congressional delegation is awaiting a response from President Donald Trump regarding their request for an expedited emergency declaration to deliver immediate federal relief to displaced families.
According to the National Interagency Fire Center, most of the fire activity in the US remains concentrated across the country’s northwest.
Right now, the major fires are mostly grassland burns in Idaho, Oregon and Utah, as well as fires in Florida’s Everglades National Park, in addition to new fires reported in Left Creek in Wyoming, Antelope Creek Fire in Nevada and the Sand Creek and Middle Coulee fires in Montana.
A lightning-caused fire that has burned more than 530 square miles (about 1,370 sq km) of grassland in western Idaho and eastern Oregon continued to grow on Monday. The area is home to cattle ranches, and authorities said the fire is threatening more than 600 homes and 800 other structures.
In central Utah, a blaze quadrupled in size more than the weekend to nearly 109 square miles (282 sq km) by Monday afternoon. More than 100 cattle have died, according to law enforcement.
A total of 1,000sq km (386sq miles) has burned across Washington state, and some of the fires have not been contained.
Published On 3 Aug 20263 Aug 2026
Wildfires in eastern Washington state have forced the evacuation of 60,000 people in the Spokane area and destroyed at least 600 homes, businesses and other structures, authorities said on Sunday.
The fires in and around Spokane, the state’s second-largest city, burned about 21 square kilometres (8sq miles) over the weekend and were among dozens of wildfires across the Western United States that stretched the ability of federal, state and local agencies to fight them.
Roughly 1,000sq km (386sq miles) have burned across the state, and some of the fires, including those in the Spokane area, have not been contained.
Fire and law enforcement officials said there had been no reports of injuries or people unaccounted for, but they stressed it was early in the response effort.
Videos from the Spokane area showed buildings on fire, black smoke billowing up near neighbourhoods, and the smoking ruins of homes, with only chimneys still standing. Several officials expressed concern that the area appears set to continue having dry weather in the coming days.
“We are not out of danger,” Senator Maria Cantwell said during a news conference with federal, state and local officials in Spokane. “The next couple of days will be challenging.”
Investigators have not determined how the blazes began.
Spokane was not the only region struggling to contain fires.
Crews using bulldozers and helicopters continued for a tenth day to fight a fire that has burned nearly 1,360sq km (525sq miles) of grassland in western Idaho and eastern Oregon. The area is home to cattle ranches, with authorities saying the fire is threatening more than 600 homes and 800 other structures.
In central Utah, a massive blaze more than doubled in size over the weekend, jumping from about 41sq km (16sq miles) to 145sq km (56sq miles) by Sunday morning. More than 100 cattle have been killed, according to local law enforcement.
THOUSANDS of locals and British holidaymakers have been evacuated from Crete after deadly wildfires swept through the popular Greek hotspot.
At least three emergency responders have lost their lives during the crisis across Greece, including two firefighters who became trapped in their vehicle near the mountain village of Krya Vrysi in Crete.
Flames fanned by gale-force winds have spread across a 15-kilometre front on the island at the peak of the summer holiday season.
Around 8,000 people were ordered to move to safety as flames closed in on southern resort villages, destroying homes, farms, and livestock in their path.
The crisis comes as severe heatwaves spark wildfires across Southern Europe and parts of the UK, with firefighters battling blazes from Spain and Turkey to Suffolk.
The primary fire zone in Crete is located along the island’s southern coast in the Rethymno region, specifically within the Agios Vasileios municipality.
Villages and coastal areas hit by emergency evacuation alerts include:
More than 200 firefighters, supported by 53 fire engines, have been tackling the south-coast blazes.
Nearby resort areas such as Agia Galini were evacuated as a precaution before conditions stabilised enough for some tourists to return.
It remains safe to travel to the vast majority of Crete.
The island’s main transport hubs – including Heraklion Airport and Chania Airport – remain open and operating normally, outside the fire zone.
Popular northern holiday destinations, including Rethymno’s historic Old Town, Chania, Heraklion, Elounda, and Agios Nikolaos, currently remain unaffected and open for business.
If you are due to travel, tour operators advise checking the exact location of your accommodation.
Anyone staying near the active southern fire zone should contact their hotel or package provider before travelling, follow official 112 emergency text alerts, and ensure travel insurance covers natural disaster disruptions.
Holidaymakers on the island are urged to download emergency alert apps, keep mobile devices charged, and strictly observe local fire bans.
Specialist arson investigation teams from the Greek Fire Service have launched formal inquiries into the exact ignition points of the Rethymno fires.
While investigations are ongoing, extreme heat and weather conditions created the perfect storm for rapid ignition.
A prolonged summer heatwave pushed temperatures above 40C, thoroughly drying out low vegetation, pine forests, and olive groves across the island.
Strong gusting winds reaching up to 102 km/h (7 on the Beaufort scale) whipped minor ignitions into runaway blazes within minutes.
Authorities across southern Europe have repeatedly warned that even minor human carelessness – like discarded glass, outdoor barbecues, or unextinguished cigarettes – can instantly trigger a major blaze in these dry conditions.
The weather outlook for Crete remains challenging, with forecasters predicting high temperatures to persist near or above 40C across the Aegean region.
But the primary hurdle for emergency crews has been unpredictable wind.
Violent, changing gusts have forced water-dropping planes and heavy helicopters to temporarily ground operations due to turbulence.
Fire crews are reliant on wind speeds dropping in the coming days.
Lower winds wills allow aerial firefighting squadrons to safely scoop seawater and drop targeted payloads on hot spots in Crete’s steep mountain terrain.
While ground teams continue to build containment lines, civil protection authorities maintain a high wildfire alert across Crete and wider Greece.
Climate change has helped southern Europe’s likelihood of wildfires double since 1981, say researchers.
Published On 30 Jul 202630 Jul 2026
Southern Europe is “becoming more flammable,” with the number of summer days featuring conditions likely to produce fires having more than doubled since 1981, according to a new report.
The study, published on Thursday in the Scientific Reports journal, said that this “major intensification” of fire-prone weather is driven by climate change. It noted that these effects are especially pronounced in France and Spain, which have been battling some of their largest blazes since records began in recent weeks.
The steep increase in the frequency of fire weather – characterised by searing temperatures, low humidity, dryness, and strong winds – “can only be attributed to global warming,” said study co-author Raul Cordero.
European countries are enduring an above-average season for wildfires, and have already overtaken 2025, which was a record-breaking year for destructive blazes.
Cooling weather and rain helped to calm the worst of the fires in France and Spain on Thursday.
France told 84,000 evacuees in the southwest of the country that it was now safe to go home, as France’s largest wildfire since 1949 pulled back.
Spain ended its state of national emergency as wildfires threatening areas near Madrid – the largest Spain has experienced since records began in 1961 – began to come under control.
However, as high temperatures moved eastwards, fires were being fought in Greece, Turkiye, and the United Kingdom.
In Greece, two firefighters died on the island of Crete on Wednesday, the fire department said, as several fires started around the country, fanned by gale-force winds. Another died in a separate fire in the Peloponnese region as the blazes continued into Thursday.
“We have difficult days ahead of us,” Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said.
Firefighters in Turkiye have been battling at least 115 fires across the country, although at least 110 were under control, according to the country’s agriculture minister.
An enormous wildfire has forced evacuations and prompted road closures in eastern England. The fire at Dunwich Heath, a significant biodiversity site, is one of the largest the region has seen.
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Weekly insights and analysis on the latest developments in military technology, strategy, and foreign policy.
Evidence has emerged indicating that China’s YJ-20 hypersonic anti-ship missile is now also being fielded aboard the People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) Type 052D class destroyers. These warships are far more numerous than the Type 055 ‘super destroyers,’ from which the missile was previously seen being fired, as we reported at the time. The new development suggests that the PLAN intends to distribute the weapon across a much broader portion of its surface fleet rather than reserving it exclusively for its largest combatants.
The first footage of Chinese YJ-20 hypersonic anti-ship ballistic missile being launched from a Type 052D destroyer.
The YJ-20 is estimated to fly at Mach 6+ with terminal speeds up to Mach 10 and a range of 1,000–1,500 km, designed to threaten large surface combatants like US… pic.twitter.com/NW7mbKd4Ow
— Clash Report (@clashreport) July 29, 2026
A new video apparently originating from the PLAN shows the launch of a YJ-20 from the cold-launch vertical launch system (VLS) on the foredeck of an unidentified Type 052D destroyer, known in the West as the Luyang III class. After being ejected from the launcher, the missile’s solid rocket motor ignites before it accelerates rapidly away. No target engagement is shown.
Typically, the Type 052D’s VLS would be loaded with variants of the HHQ-9 surface-to-air missile, YJ-18 subsonic anti-ship cruise missile, CJ-10 land-attack cruise missile, and CY-5 anti-submarine missile.
The 7,500-ton Type 052D has 64 VLS cells, 32 forward and 32 aft. It’s unclear whether each of these is able to accommodate the big YJ-20 missile.
This compares to the Type 055’s 112-cell VLS system, which makes it the PLAN’s premier surface strike platform. However, only 10 of these ships are currently in operational service, with additional vessels still under construction. By contrast, approximately 35 Type 052D destroyers have entered PLAN service, with production continuing.
Putting the YJ-20 on the Type 052Ds would significantly expand the number of Chinese warships capable of launching hypersonic anti-ship strikes, further strengthening Beijing’s growing anti-access/area-denial (A2/AD) posture across the western Pacific. On the other hand, it remains possible — although less likely — that the launch depicted is some kind of trial or experimental effort that might not lead to large-scale fielding on these hulls.
The new video follows the release of official Chinese military footage showing what the PLAN described as a “finalization test” of the YJ-20 launched from the Type 055 destroyer Wuxi, late last year. That video appeared to confirm the missile’s integration with China’s largest surface combatant, a warship design that you can read more about here.
That test from the Wuxi provided the first official acknowledgement of the ship-launched YJ-20. The missile itself had previously been unveiled publicly during China’s military parade commemorating the 80th anniversary of victory over Japan in World War II, although speculation surrounding the weapon stretches back several years before that.
A missile first observed during what appeared to be a Type 055 launch in 2022 was widely referred to as the YJ-21. Subsequent official Chinese designations now strongly suggest that weapon was actually the YJ-20, or an earlier developmental version of it.
The YJ-20 is understood to be a hypersonic anti-ship weapon employing either an aero-ballistic flight profile or potentially a boost-glide vehicle: different Chinese sources have described both concepts at various times. In either case, the missile is optimized for extremely high terminal speed combined with unpredictable maneuvering designed to defeat modern naval air defenses.
Unlike a traditional ballistic missile that follows a predictable parabolic arc, an aero-ballistic missile can execute quasi-ballistic maneuvers — including skip-glide or ‘porpoising’ trajectories — as it descends toward its target. These abrupt changes in altitude and direction make interception significantly more challenging.
Chinese state media have also described the missile as employing a conical boost-glide vehicle, which would use a rocket booster to accelerate to high altitude before gliding toward its target while conducting sustained maneuvering throughout the terminal phase.
Although many details remain murky, it is generally considered that the missile achieves speeds well above Mach 6 during cruise and may approach Mach 9 during its terminal attack. Estimated range is generally assessed at more than 620 miles.
Guidance is believed to combine satellite navigation and mid-course updates before transitioning to an active radar and/or infrared seeker during the final approach.
Weapons with these characteristics are particularly well suited to engaging high-value naval targets including aircraft carriers, amphibious assault ships, cruisers, and other major surface combatants. The missile likely also possesses a secondary land-attack capability against fixed targets.
With their combination of extreme speed and maneuverability, hypersonic weapons can dramatically compress an opponent’s decision-making timeline while reducing opportunities for interception, making them especially valuable against time-sensitive targets. They also require very high-end interceptors, if they can be intercepted at all.
The apparent expansion of the missile to the Type 052D is arguably an even more significant milestone than the Type 055 test itself.
For China, fielding the YJ-20 aboard both the Type 055 and the much more numerous Type 052D dramatically increases the number of PLAN hulls capable of conducting long-range hypersonic anti-ship attacks. Such a move represents another step in expanding the reach of its layered A2/AD strategy. Rather than concentrating hypersonic capability in a small number of flagship destroyers, the PLAN appears to be distributing it across a much larger force capable of operating throughout the First Island Chain and increasingly beyond it.
Clearly, a larger force of PLAN destroyers armed with hypersonic anti-ship missiles would complicate U.S. and allied naval operations across the western Pacific by increasing the number of launch platforms capable of threatening high-value warships from long stand-off ranges.
At the same time, it is unclear if the YJ-20 has formally entered full operational service. However, official test footage, public appearances during military parades, and, above all, launches from two separate destroyer classes all point toward the missile transitioning from a developmental program to a broader capability.
The development underscores two major issues for the U.S. military as it gears up to face the prospect of a potential conflict with China in the Indo-Pacific. On the one hand, the PLAN is growing at an alarming rate, and Chinese shipyards are churning out increasingly capable warship designs, not to mention submarines and other naval weapons.
The latest annual Pentagon report to Congress on China’s military, released at the end of 2025, stated that “China has the world’s leading hypersonic missile arsenal and continued to advance the development of conventional and nuclear-armed hypersonic missile technologies during the past year.”
With that in mind, the case study of the YJ-20 further underscores the fact that China is investing heavily in the development of hypersonic missiles and is now apparently scaling that capability across a larger proportion of its surface fleet, something that will have a significant effect on the regional naval balance.
Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com
Moment a projectile struck a border area between Kuwait and Iraq, sparking a fire and sending thick smoke into the sky. The scenes emerged after Kuwait said it intercepted 32 hostile drones since dawn as Iran announced strikes targeting US assets in the country.
Published On 17 Jul 202617 Jul 2026
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SEATTLE — President Trump fired the new top U.S. prosecutor in Seattle on Wednesday less than an hour after the attorney was unanimously appointed by the federal judges in the district, highlighting tensions between the courts and the president over the powerful positions.
Roger Rogoff, a former judge and veteran state and federal prosecutor, was sworn in as U.S. attorney before 8 a.m. at the U.S. courthouse in downtown Seattle. In a phone interview, he said he then went to the U.S. Attorney’s Office and asked to meet with Charles Neil Floyd, whose 120-day interim term in the position ended in February.
As he waited in a lobby, Rogoff said, he received an email from the Trump administration informing him he’d been removed. He is consulting with other lawyers about suing over his firing, he said.
Presidents normally appoint U.S. attorneys, the top federal prosecutor in each judicial district. The positions require Senate confirmation, except in temporary appointments. When temporary appointments expire before a nominee is confirmed, the judges in a judicial district can name a U.S. attorney.
But under Trump, the Justice Department has sought to leave unconfirmed prosecutors in their positions indefinitely, often through novel personnel maneuvers.
“District court judges can appoint a temporary U.S. Attorney, and POTUS can fire them,” Acting U.S. Atty. Gen. Todd Blanche said in a social media post Wednesday. He added that the judges who appointed Rogoff “abandoned the time-honored process of consultation with the administration so that the selected U.S. Attorney is qualified to serve in the administration.”
Trump named Floyd, who previously served as an immigration judge, interim U.S. attorney last October but never forwarded his nomination to the Senate. When Floyd’s time as interim U.S. attorney expired, Trump simply shifted his title, a tactic the administration has also tried in other federal judicial districts: It named him first assistant U.S. attorney, while leaving the top post empty.
In May, a U.S. appeals court panel expressed skepticism that the maneuver was legal. The federal judges in the city decided to take applications for the position, and it appointed a bipartisan panel to review the applications.
On Wednesday morning the court — comprising 17 active and senior judges appointed by five presidents — issued its unanimous order naming Rogoff the U.S. attorney for western Washington.
Democratic Washington U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, who had opposed Floyd for the U.S. attorney job, blasted Rogoff’s quick firing.
“Throughout his career, he has demonstrated an outstanding commitment to public service, and he was appointed legally by the federal judges in the Western District of Washington,” the senator said in a written statement. “This administration doesn’t want to deal with advice and consent—they just want to install cronies to carry out a corrupt political agenda.”
In December, Alina Habbaresigned as the top federal prosecutor for New Jersey after an appeals court said she had been serving in the post unlawfully.
Lindsey Halligan, who pursued indictments against a pair of Trump’s adversaries, left her position as an acting U.S. attorney in Virginia after a judge concluded her appointment was unlawful and that indictments she brought against James and former FBI Director James Comey must be dismissed.
The judges there named James Hundley, who had handled criminal and civil cases for more than 30 years, but the administration fired him. It also fired a court-appointed U.S. attorney in northern New York.
Rogoff, who spent 20 years as a state prosecutor and six as a federal prosecutor before becoming a state judge, said he knew the administration might fire him immediately. But he said he had no qualms about the potential conflict he was walking into. Being U.S. attorney is “the best job there is” for a prosecutor, he said.
“I’m really proud of my career,” Rogoff said. “The fact that the judges of this district — most of whom I’ve spent my career appearing in front of, or trying cases against, or working with — believed that I was the right person to do this work is just really humbling and amazing.”
Johnson writes for the Associated Press.
Last week, the U.S. Forest Service and Department of the Interior expanded the situations in which their firefighters are allowed to wear N95 masks.
Starting in September, the federal government began allowing firefighters to wear the masks, but not when they were working on the fire line, only at times such as in camp and sitting in vehicles. Now they’ll be allowed to wear them during some work battling wildfires, including patrolling for areas where the blaze has jumped past fire lines and putting out smoldering remains after a fire is contained.
Masks are still prohibited during firefighters’ most grueling tasks — digging lines to stop fires and directly attacking flames. And the masks they’re using, N95s, do not protect against all of the toxic substances in wildfire smoke.
Nonetheless, health experts applauded the move as a step in the right direction.
Here’s why it took so long to get here:
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Research has linked wildfire smoke to a range of long-term health issues, including respiratory problems, cardiovascular diseases and cancers.
“The fire service knows that,” said Rachael Jones, professor and chair of environmental health sciences at UCLA’s Fielding School of Public Health. “They all have stories” of lung damage or cancer, either their own or their coworkers’.
But this wasn’t always common knowledge.
“The verbiage was that wildland smoke was benign,” one firefighter told Jones’ colleagues for a recent study on firefighters’ thoughts on mask use. “It was like sitting around a campfire.”
Even as scientists and fire officials came to terms with the very real long-term health risks, some firefighters still had concerns that masks could muffle communication, make it hard to breathe and interfere with other equipment. That slowed adoption.
Missing crucial orders because a voice is muffled, or struggling to pull out an emergency fire shelter because a mask is in the way, could be the difference between life and death.
“These are not trivial things when the fact is that they reflect life safety outcome,” Jones said.
Deciding on the right type of mask or respirator has slowed adoption too. There are no commercially available respirators that protect against all of the dangerous pollutants in wildfire smoke.
Scientists have not even fully determined which pollutants pose the greatest risks to firefighters, further complicating a choice.
N95s filter for solid particles in the air but not dangerous gases. Heavy smoke or sweat can cause them to clog.
Half-face respirators — often gray rubber with pink canisters — offer different filters for different gases, but none can filter all of the concerning gases in wildfire smoke. The masks and backup canisters are also much bulkier to carry around than N95s.
Respirators that can filter out all of the “literally hundreds” of concerning compounds in smoke “just simply don’t exist,” said Matt Rahn, research director for the Wildfire Conservancy, a nonprofit dedicated to protecting firefighters.
The result: “In our pursuit for perfection in finding the best respiratory devices for firefighters, we’ve basically fallen into a decision paralysis of doing nothing,” Rahn said. “It’s been that way for years.”
The federal government acknowledges the limitations of N95s in its educational material for firefighters. In a statement to The Times, the Forest Service said it will begin studying different respirators in a small pilot program to “determine if their use will be suitable for the wildland fire environment.”
The Forest Service said that N95s are already “readily available” to its firefighters and that it has more than 30,000 of them.
Many in the western United States will have to celebrate the country’s 250th birthday with fewer fireworks due to heightened wildfire risk. Utah’s governor restricted fireworks statewide through July 5 as multiple wildfires raged in the state and the National Weather Service issued a rare “Particularly Dangerous Situation” warning, Kathy McCormack reports for the Associated Press. California officials, meanwhile, warned of zero tolerance for illegal fireworks, with some local governments recently increasing fines, Kassia Bonesteel reports for CBS News.
Three federal wildland firefighters were killed and two were injured by the fast-moving Knowles fire in Colorado on Saturday. As a ground crew began some of the first attacks on the fire, an order came over the radio to “get out of there now,” CNN reported. Within minutes, the crew was forced to deploy their emergency shelters, a desperate last line of defense when escape is impossible. Firefighters lined the streets of Grand Junction, Colo., on Sunday in a procession for their fallen colleagues.
Much of the western U.S. is facing above normal fire potential after one of the hottest and driest winters in recent years. Coastal Southern California, conversely, is facing average wildfire potential, fire weather analysts say, thanks to monsoon breezes bringing damp air from the tropics.
A pair of hazardous chemical crises in Greater Los Angeles — at an aerospace facility in Garden Grove and a warehouse in Boyle Heights — have left Californians questioning why environmental and public health agencies such as the South Coast Air Quality Management District and the state’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health failed to address known risks, a team from CalMatters and the LA Local reports.
The Boyle Heights warehouse fire coincided with a spike in emergency room visits for smoke inhalation and throat pain, my colleague Hayley Smith found. Meanwhile, the water used to fight the toxic blaze ended up in the Los Angeles River, The Times’ Mack Baysinger reports. Local organizers collected water samples for testing as L.A. County public works deployed floating barriers to contain the runoff.
The headwaters of the Colorado River, a vital source of water for 35 million people and 5 million acres of farmland, is drier than anyone can remember, my colleague Ian James reports. As seven U.S. states and Mexico remain gridlocked in complex debates over use of the river, it’s a stark reminder that the climate of the 21st century will leave less for everyone.
Europe is facing its second major heat wave of the year, with France recording its hottest day ever, Lauren Dalban reports for Inside Climate News. As residents struggled to handle the extreme heat, worsened by climate change, so did climate infrastructure championed to combat it. Trains were halted as the heat risked buckling tracks and nuclear reactors were slowed or powered off as the cooling water they discharged became too hot, the New York Times’ Chico Harlan reported.
This is the latest edition of Boiling Point, a newsletter about climate change and the environment in the American West. Sign up here to get it in your inbox. And listen to our Boiling Point podcast here.
For more wildfire news, follow @nohaggerty on X and @nohaggerty.bsky.social on Bluesky.
Travelers Championship second round
-16 S Scheffler (US); -14 V Hovland (Nor); -12 E Cole (US), A Bhatia (US); -10 M Fitzpatrick (Eng), B Griffin (US), B Cauley (US)
Selected others: -9 J Rose (Eng), T Fleetwood (Eng); -8 R MacIntyre (Sco), W Clark (US); -7 A Rai (Eng), S Lowry (Ire)
Scottie Scheffler fired a 10-under-par 60 to hold the lead after the second round of the PGA Tour Travelers Championship.
The world number one made 11 birdies and a lone bogey on Friday to move to 16 under at TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, Connecticut.
That put him two shots clear of Norway’s Viktor Hovland, who also threatened a rare round of 59 as he fired a bogey-free 61 which included seven birdies and an eagle.
Jim Furyk holds the tour-record lowest round at 58, but Scheffler is one of 14 players to have made a 59, which for him came during the 2020 Northern Trust at TPC Boston.
The 30-year-old American had the chance to repeat the feat with a birdie at the 18th hole but missed from just outside 26 feet.
“It was a little tricky,” Scheffler said. “It actually went right to start, and there was a tonne of break right to left at the end.
“It was a tough read, but overall it was a really solid day. I was pretty happy with my execution.”
On his plans for the weekend, the four-time major winner added: “Hard to keep up that pace, but continue to execute, continue to give myself looks.”
Compatriot Akshay Bhatia sat four shots off the lead in a share of third place having matched his career-low round with a bogey-free 62, with fellow American Eric Cole alongside him after a 65.
England’s Matt Fitzpatrick lurked two strokes back on 10 under, having had to settle for a four-under 66 after two bogeys on his final three holes, with Justin Rose and Tommy Fleetwood a single shot further behind and Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre at eight under.
Salah may have been a superstar at Liverpool. He is on an even higher plane in Egypt.
With every touch comes loud cheers from his country’s fans, with huge pressure on his shoulders on every appearance.
Sunday’s goal was his 68th for his country in 118 appearances, leaving him just one shy of manager Hassan’s all-time goal scoring record, and some will say it’s his most important yet as Egypt finally ended a 92-year wait for a World Cup win.
No player has been involved in more shots during a game at this World Cup than Salah was against New Zealand – having five shots himself and creating five more for others.
Former Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou, told ITV: “If there was any doubt about Mo’s impact on this team, you can still see it.
“It will give them enormous belief. They had to deal with adversity and their big player stood up and that will give them big confidence. You need your big players to perform to progress.”
Former Jamaica winger Jobi McAnuff added: “Just when he was needed, Mo Salah stood up for his country.”
Salah has played for the senior national team for 14 years and his importance to Egypt is such that high-ranking government officials have been known to get involved when he has been injured.
“I even had calls from Egypt’s Minister of Health,” recalls Dr Mohamed Aboud, the national team’s medic, about the time Salah sustained a serious shoulder injury in Liverpool’s defeat by Real Madrid in the 2018 Champions League final, leading to speculation he could miss the World Cup in Russia a few weeks later.
But, despite helping Liverpool to the Premier League title in 2019-20 and 2024-25, the player has yet to lift a trophy for his country.
The generation before Salah won three Africa Cup of Nations titles in a row between 2006 and 2010. Since then, there have been two defeats in finals, against Cameroon in 2017 and Senegal in the 2021 edition, which took place in early 2022.
This World Cup win at least banishes one of Egypt’s ghosts.
BBC News understands the yacht had drifted towards the Admiral Grigorovich, a Russian frigate which has been operating in the Channel.
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June 16 (UPI) — A Russian warship, the Admiral Grigorovich, allegedly fired warning shots toward a British pleasure yacht Tuesday morning in the English Channel.
The shots came within about 500 yards of the yacht, BBC News reported. The incident took place in international waters between the Isle of Wight, a British island, and Normandy, part of France. Those on the yacht have not reported any damage or injuries.
“We are investigating reports of an incident in the channel,” a U.K. Ministry of Defense spokesperson said.
BBC News said the yacht apparently drifted toward the Russian frigate in foggy conditions. The bigger ship sounded an audible warning — with no immediate response from the yacht — before it fired the shots.
This incident comes after U.K. forces seized a Russian-linked tanker, the Smyrtos, on Sunday in the same area. The tanker was carrying sanctioned oil. However, British authorities said Tuesday’s incident is not linked to that seizure.
It’s not unusual for Russian ships to pass through the channel while being monitored by Royal Navy ships. The Admiral Grigorovich was shadowed Tuesday by the HMS Mersey, BBC News said.
The Russian frigate has regularly escorted shadow fleet vessels — the ships Russia uses to avoid sanctions on oil imposed after its invasion of Ukraine.
James MacClearly, Liberal Democrat defense spokesman, said in The Guardian that reports of a Russian ship firing shots in the English Channel are “deeply concerning.”
“Russian is quite literally on our doorstep,” he said. “Aggression and intimidation in our waters must not be tolerated.”
After the seizure of the Smyrtos on Sunday, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said it was “yet another blow to Russian and reminds those fueling Putin’s war in Ukraine that they cannot hide.”
Videos show missiles over Israel as the Israeli military says Iran launched a new wave of attacks. The escalation follows a deadly Israeli strike on Beirut, with Iran warning it would abandon negotiations and return to ‘direct confrontation’.
Published On 7 Jun 20267 Jun 2026
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WASHINGTON — Several FBI analysts tied to the creation of a 2023 memo warning of a potential threat from Catholic “violent extremists” were fired Friday, according to their lawyer, the latest wave of terminations under Director Kash Patel.
The fired employees included four intelligence analysts and a supervisory analyst. The FBI declined to comment.
“This action is manifestly unjust, completely unsupported by the facts, and subverts standard FBI policy and procedure,” their lawyer, David Laufman, said in a statement. “These individuals deserved far better for the exceptional and faithful public service they rendered to protect our country.”
The January 2023 intelligence product produced by analysts in the FBI’s Richmond, Va., field office emerged as a political focal point after it was issued, with Republicans in Congress citing it as part of their broader claim that the FBI during the Biden administration was targeting conservatives.
Then-FBI Director Chris Wray denied that allegation and the agency has said the document was quickly retracted and an internal review was launched. Merrick Garland, the attorney general under President Biden, has said he was “appalled” by the memo.
Earlier Justice Department investigations into the memo challenged the analytical tradecraft but did not find intentional misconduct by the analysts involved.
The firings are part of a broader personnel purge under Patel, a President Trump loyalist who over the last year has pushed out dozens of employees who either contributed to investigations of the president or who were perceived as not in alignment with the administration’s agenda. The Justice Department has engaged in similarly sweeping firings of prosecutors since Trump took office last year.
In February, for instance, the FBI fired a group of counterintelligence agents who participated in the investigation into Trump over his retention of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla.
Critics including former federal officials say the purge has transformed federal law enforcement agencies into politically motivated extensions of the Trump White House. The classified documents investigation resulted in a federal indictment against Trump, but the case was dismissed after his 2024 election.
The Richmond memo, which emerged from a domestic terrorism investigation, sought to examine a potential link between what it called “Radical Traditionalist Catholic” ideology and racially and ethnically motivated extremists. It warned of the potential for violence and also highlighted what the authors described as “new avenues for tripwire and source development.” FBI leadership quickly condemned those findings once the document became public.
An internal FBI review described in a 2023 letter to Congress and based on interviews with 26 people “found that all individuals involved in the creation, review and approval of the product failed to adhere to analytic tradecraft standards and failed to recognize that the product, as drafted, equated the subjects’ interest in their self-described form of religion with racially or ethnically motivated violent extremist (RMVE) ideology without sufficient evidence or articulable support.”
The failure to adhere to standards, including on proper domestic terrorism terminology, “created the appearance that the FBI conducts investigative activity based on religious affiliation,” the letter said. “One of the FBI’s most fundamental principles is that investigative activity may not be based solely on the exercise of rights guaranteed by the First Amendment.”
A Justice Department inspector general report in 2024 summarized the earlier FBI review by saying that though there were departures from proper analytic tradecraft, “no evidence of a malicious intent or an improper purpose” were found.
MS NOW earlier reported the firings.
Tucker and Richer write for the Associated Press and reported from Los Angeles and Washington, respectively.
Kai Havertz fires Arsenal into an early lead in the Champions League final against Paris St-Germain in Budapest.
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The TWZ Newsletter
Weekly insights and analysis on the latest developments in military technology, strategy, and foreign policy.
The MQ-9 Reaper has become the latest platform to test-fire laser-guided 70mm Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) rockets. The trials, conducted with the U.S. Air Force, involved an MQ-9 employing the APKWS in its original air-to-ground capacity, as well as against aerial targets. While giving MQ-9’s standard APKWS capability against ground targets seems relatively straight forward, putting the air-to-air optimized variant of the rocket on the MQ-9 would open up another option for the counter-uncrewed air system (C-UAS) mission, which has only gained in importance since the war with Iran.
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI), the manufacturer of the MQ-9, confirmed today that it had conducted recent flight tests of an Air Force MQ-9A armed with APKWS at the Nevada Test and Training Range (NTTR).
According to the company, “the demonstration featured multiple types and variations of shot profiles, including aerial targets. All shots were executed flawlessly by the MQ-9A crews using laser-guided rockets and a specialized launcher.”
The utility of APKWS against ground targets for the MQ-9 family of drones is abundantly clear. It provides an extremely precise, relatively low-collateral option that can also drastically expand the drone’s magazine depth. Standard APKWS can be used against a large number of ground and surface targets, from lightly armored vehicles to troops under shallow cover.
Redefining Precision with the APKWS® Laser-Guided Rocket
Then there is the air-to-air application. In U.S. military service, the laser-guided air-to-air rocket is known as AGR-20F, a variant of the APKWS II, specifically, also known as the Fixed Wing, Air Launched, Counter-Unmanned Aircraft Systems Ordnance (FALCO). In its press release, GA-ASI refers to the rocket simply as APKWS. FALCO includes the modified laser-guidance and control section and a proximity fuze that is ideal for taking down smaller aerial targets. FALCO-equipped rockets can also be used against soft ground targets, like standard vehicles and fast boats.
The test campaign was, in part, a response to “real-time technological adaptation requirements,” GA-ASI explained. The urgent need for C-UAS capabilities saw the trials accelerated, reducing the time between planning, integration, and flight test.
“We recognize the value that a system like APKWS brings to the MQ-9 aircraft as a tool to counter one-way attack drones,” said GA-ASI President David R. Alexander. “APKWS can increase the number of weapons the MQ-9A is able to carry, as well as being able to carry new, lower-cost weapons. More than anything, this integration effort underscores how government and industry can collaborate to rapidly test and make new capabilities available to warfighters.”
Exactly how many APKWS a single MQ-9 can carry is unclear, but the standard pods used for these weapons are loaded with seven rounds, as seen loaded on the MQ-9A involved in the live-fire trials. Nineteen-round rocket pods are also a possibility. The MQ-9 in its standard configuration has seven hardpoints, with six main underwing pylons usually utilized for weapons.
The potential of the MQ-9, or MQ-9 variants, to carry APKWS for the C-UAS role is something that GA-ASI brought up last month.
In particular, the Mojave short takeoff and landing (STOL) drone was earmarked for C-UAS, as part of a broader mission scope for the aircraft.
“We’ve shown APKWS mounted to Mojave in a static display at some of the recent U.S. Army shows where Mojave STOL was present,” General Atomics spokesperson C. Mark Brinkley told TWZ in April. “Integrating new weapons is a multi-part process. Fit tests, weight considerations, captive carry for airworthiness, software, [and] actual live-fire.”
“For Mojave STOL and other GA-ASI aircraft, we’re inside that process now with APKWS,” he added. “It’s flying and firing soon, [in] weeks, not months.”
Meanwhile, GA-ASI presented a CGI video showing the Mojave STOL undertaking the rocket-armed drone-hunter mission “somewhere in the Western Pacific.” In this scenario, the Mojave STOL used an EagleEye multi-mode radar, as well as its infrared sensor in the turret under its nose, to spot and track a pair of kamikaze drones clearly modeled on the Iranian-designed Shahed-136 pattern.
Mojave STOL: Real. Rugged. Ready Today.
The drone is then depicted warning a forward U.S. outpost about incoming uncrewed aerial threats through a satellite link. From a ruggedized laptop on the ground, an operator directs that the kamikaze drones be neutralized. A Mojave equipped with two 19-shot rocket pods then moves in and destroys them. The aircraft is later shown being rearmed at a very austere jungle airstrip.
It is noteworthy that, prior to APKWS, MQ-9s and related drones have demonstrated, during testing, their ability to destroy airborne targets using various other weapons, including AIM-9X and Hellfire missiles.
Meanwhile, APKWS has emerged as an increasingly popular choice in the air-to-air C-UAS role since U.S. Air Force F-16s began employing the rockets this way in combat against Houthi drones in 2024. TWZ was first to report on this development. The total number of U.S. military and foreign aircraft platforms cleared to use a variant of the rocket specifically optimized for air-to-air use continues to grow.
There are advantages and disadvantages to using a drone like the MQ-9 or Mojave STOL as a drone-hunter.
Drones of this kind have questionable survivability in high-end operations. The latest conflict with Iran has underscored the vulnerability of the Reaper, in particular.
On the other hand, TWZ has previously highlighted how a drone like the Mojave could be used to provide more localized force protection, including against uncrewed aerial threats, at forward outposts and rear areas in the context of a larger conflict.
The attributes of the Mojave STOL — including its short- and rough-field capabilities — make it especially relevant for a future conflict in the Pacific. Here, it would be able to push its C-UAS and other capabilities far forward, including to island outposts. As for the MQ-9, as used in the live-fire trials, this aircraft is not rough-field-optimized like the Mojave STOL, but can still operate from forward areas with semi-prepared airstrips.
At the same time, the capabilities inherent in the Mojave STOL mean it can also operate from aircraft carriers and big-deck assault ships, opening up the possibility of rocket-armed examples setting up counter-drone screens in maritime scenarios.
When it comes to the air-to-air APKWS, this weapon is well-suited to slower-flying and less dynamic targets. Compared to traditional air-to-air missiles, it comes with a much lower cost-per-engagement and offers greater magazine depth, as you can read about here.
In terms of finding targets, drones like the MQ-9 and Mojave STOL have limited situational awareness compared to traditional air-to-air platforms. They can be fitted with onboard radar with air-to-air modes, which could serve as a primary detection sensor. So, too, could infrared search and track (IRST) sensors, which have been tested extensively on other GA-ASI drones. Thereafter, the MQ-9’s MTS electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) turret would provide target ID and engagement functions. Taking advantage of tactical networks could also provide the drone with critical initial telemetry to aid in the IR/EO sensor’s lock-up.
It’s also worth noting that drones like the MQ-9 or Mojave STOL are not anywhere near as quick to respond to incoming drone threats, and especially run down multiple incoming hostiles in a short period of time, as fighters. On the other hand, they are able to loiter for far longer at a fraction of the cost, providing resilient combat air patrols. They could also perform strike and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) support while on station.
For its part, the MQ-9 offers these capabilities coupled with a higher performance and a more extreme endurance over the Mojave STOL. With hundreds of MQ-9s available, many could be armed with APKWS and tasked to provide anti-drone screening against lower-volume raids across large areas.
Indeed, it could be well imagined how APKWS-armed MQ-9s could have played a valuable role in this context during the conflict with Iran earlier this year, protecting allied Arab gulf states and U.S. installations from incoming one-way attack munitions. An MQ-9 picket line of sorts could have been set up over the Gulf, for instance, thinning incoming drones waves. Or these aircraft could have been perched to the east of major bases, providing a final airborne layer counter-drone defense.
With the MQ-9 and the related MQ-1C Gray Eagle being widely operated by the U.S. military and a number of export customers, the ability to transform these aircraft into rocket-armed drone hunters could be of high interest indeed.
Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com
