International from Thursday, August 6th, 2026

A wildfire prompted an evacuation alert on Wednesday about 30 km (18.64 miles) from Vancouver, one of Canada's largest metropolitan areas, as blazes in Western Canada continued to spread due to dry and hot weather.

North Korea fired a short-range ballistic missile on Thursday towards the sea off the peninsula's eastern coast, South Korea's military said, the first such launch in more than 40 days after a series of weapons tests earlier this year.

Italy took the unprecedented step of placing all its major cities on the highest level of health alert due to high temperatures on Thursday while Hungary turned off the lights at some of its best-known buildings to save energy as a heatwave maintained its grip on large parts of Europe.

Work to build Google's planned Indian data centre hub is in full swing, with a hillside above the site stripped to red earth and terraced into steps, but mounting opposition from environmentalists is creating hurdles for the US tech giant's $15 billion project.

Israel said two of its soldiers were killed in southern Lebanon on Wednesday while Lebanese authorities said Israeli retaliatory attacks killed at least one person, a flare-up in violence that coincided with the latest round of talks between the two countries.

Rescuers worked on Thursday to douse fires and clear debris in Ukraine's eastern city of Balakliia after Russian strikes on homes killed three overnight, authorities said on the Telegram messaging app.

The temperature in Austria climbed to a record high on Wednesday, while Hungarians curbed power use as the latest heatwave and drought took their toll on central and southern Europe.