Heat waves fueling massive wildfires across Europe

Thousands of firefighters are battling blazes in Portugal, France and Spain. [Forward to a friend]( | [Subscribe]( | [View in your browser]( [Top of The World]( --------------------------------------------------------------- What The World is following Heat waves fueling massive wildfires across Europe [A forest fire closes on a house in the village of Bemposta, near Ansiao, central Portugal, July 13, 2022] Credit: Armando Franca/AP Europe A scorching heat wave is fueling wildfires across Europe, including in Portugal, France and Spain. In Portugal alone, around [3,500 firefighters]( are battling dozens of blazes, with parts of the country seeing record-breaking temperatures. Officials there say more than 600 people had to be evacuated, and around [120 needed medical treatment](. France currently has two major blazes raging. And most of Spain was placed on high alert, with Thursday expected to be the hottest day of the year. Scientists say that heat waves have become more frequent, more intense and longer-lasting. Sri Lanka Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has [emailed his letter of resignation]( to the country’s parliamentary speaker. Rajapaksa has now [arrived in Singapore]( from the Maldives — where he had fled to from Colombo on Wednesday, when he was supposed to resign — following mass protests over the country’s economic crisis. It remains unclear if he will move on to another destination. Acting President Ranil Wickremesinghe has now imposed a curfew for a second day. United States-Israel During US President Joe Biden’s visit to Israel, the country’s caretaker prime minister, Yair Lapid, pushed him to go beyond his official stance on Iran, and called on all nations to act if Iranians continue “to develop their nuclear program.” Adopting different approaches, Israel has conducted [covert sabotage and assassination operations]( to slow Tehran down, while the US has insisted on diplomacy and restoring the 2015 Iran nuclear deal that former US President Donald Trump withdrew from. During a news conference in Jerusalem, Biden also added that he was [“not going to wait forever”]( for Iran to rejoin those talks. --------------------------------------------------------------- From The World [President Biden’s visit to Israel focuses on regional security]( [US President Joe Biden greets Holocaust survivors, Rena Quint and Gita Cycowicz, in the Hall of Remembrance at Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, in Jerusalem, July 13, 2022.]( Credit: Debbie Hill/UPI Pool photo ​​​​​​​US President Joe Biden is visiting Israel and the Palestinian territories. He says his top agenda item is regional security. Scheduled meetings with Israeli officials will focus on strengthening the [regional relationships]( that Israel has forged with some of its Muslim neighbors. [Modular housing in Ukraine provides shelter — and hope — for internally displaced people]( [Hundreds of thousands of displaced people have ended up in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, near the Polish border, where prefabricated homes have become a fast and affordable way for the city to house refugees.]( Credit: Ashley Westerman/The World Around 7 million people have been internally displaced in Ukraine since Russia first invaded in February. Hundreds of thousands of them have ended up in the western city of Lviv, near the Polish border, where [prefabricated homes]( have become a fast and affordable way for the city to house refugees. --------------------------------------------------------------- Double take It was a Van Gogh painting — and then another! Experts at the National Galleries of Scotland say they were X-raying a canvas before an exhibition, when they discovered a [hidden self-portrait]( of Vincent van Gogh under layers of glue and cardboard on the back of an earlier work called Head of a Peasant Woman. It’s said that Van Gogh often re-used canvases to save money. 🎨 [Screenshot of Van Gogh Museum tweet]( Credit: Twitter In case you missed it on The World --------------------------------------------------------------- Don't forget to subscribe to The World's Latest Edition podcast using your favorite podcast player: [RadioPublic](, [Apple Podcasts](, [Stitcher](, [Soundcloud](, [RSS]( [The World logo]( [The World on Facebook]( [The World's Twitter account]( [Donate]( | [Forward to a friend]( | [Subscribe]( | [Edit your subscription]( | [Unsubscribe]( | [View in your browser]( Top of the World is written weekday mornings by the team at [The World](. [The World]( is produced by [PRX]( and [GBH](.