Iraqi government forces have entered central Kirkuk, residents say, after taking key installations outside the disputed city from Kurdish fighters. Witnesses told the BBC they saw federal forces entering the provincial government building. Clashes were reported south of Kirkuk earlier in the day, while thousands of residents fled the city. It comes three weeks after the Kurdistan region held a ...

A spate of wildfires in central and north Portugal which started at the weekend has killed at least 31 people, civil defence authorities say. Dozens of the 145 fires still raging are considered serious, a spokeswoman said. To the north, fires which broke out across the border in Spain’s Galicia region claimed at least three lives. Thousands of firefighters are ...

The Council of Churches in Zambia (CCZ) says government should comprehensively address the nation on the procurement of 42 fire engines at a total cost of US$42 million. CCZ General Secretary Father Emmanuel Chikoya says in-as-much-as CCZ appreciates every genuine and prudent expenditure aimed at procuring the much-needed equipment to combat fires in the country, the Council is concerned about ...