Spain

The latest heatwave -- the third in Europe this summer -- comes as the continent is hosting a record number of tourists, the first record-setting summer of tourism since 2019, Xinhua news agency reported. Temperatures of above 48 degrees Celsius were provisionally recorded Sunday on the Italian island of Sardinia, in the southern Italian region of Apulia, and in La Palma, Spain.

However, the prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages continue to climb, with a 16.5 per cent increase recorded in March, mainly due to increases in the cost of vegetables and meat, reports Xinhua news agency. Meanwhile, core inflation, which doesn't include the price of unprocessed food or energy products, dropped by 0.1 per cent to 7.5 per cent -- 4.2 points above the general rate of inflation, said the INE.

Civil Guards evacuated the municipalities of Montan, Montanejos and Fuente la Reina, reports Xinhua news agency. Residents had already been forced to leave eight other small towns and villages on March 23. Around 500 firefighters are currently battling the flames, assisted by 23 aerial units. Around 500 firefighters.

On Wednesday, one person was killed and another hospitalised after a man carrying a large machete-type knife carried out attacks at two churches in Algeciras, southern Spain. Also on the day, a man armed with a knife killed two people and injured at least seven others on a train in northern Germany, Xinhua news agency reported.

On Wednesday, an employee of the Ukrainian embassy in Madrid was injured when a similar device exploded, BBC reported. Officials say the Defence Minister was among the other targets. Another device was also sent to the US embassy, BBC reported. It is thought the bombs could be linked to Spain's support for Ukraine, but no-one has yet claimed to have sent them.

The devices were sent to the Prime Minister, the Defence Ministry, an arms company that makes rocket launchers donated to Kiev, and a military airbase near the Spanish capital, as well as the one found at the embassy, The Guardian reported.

A fire about 60 km north-east of Alicante has destroyed about 6,500 hectares of forest since August 13, according to the state TV station RTVE. Around 1,200 people in the area of the town of Pego had to leave their homes as a precaution, reports dpa news agency. In the autonomous community of Valencia there were two more smaller-scale wildfires.

The fire in the Sierra de la Culebra nature reserve has been fueled by temperatures of over 40 degrees centigrade and winds gusting at up to 70 kilometres an hour. So far 30,800 hectares of woodland and scrub with a perimeter of 120.88 kilometres have been destroyed. The previous worst fires were in the region of Huelva in southwest Spain which destroyed 29,687 hectare in 2004 and another fire that affected 28,879 hectare in Cortes de Pallas in eastern Spain in 2012, Xinhua news agency reported.