Wildfires kill at least 3 and displace thousands across southern Europe

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Wildfires intensified across southern Europe on Wednesday with a round-the-clock battle to protect the perimeter of Greece’s third-largest city and at least three deaths reported in Spain, Turkey and Albania.

Outside the Greek port city of Patras, firefighters struggled to protect homes and agricultural facilities as flames tore through pine forests and olive groves. Tall columns of flames rose behind apartment blocks on the outskirts of the city, while dozens of vehicles were torched as flames swept through a nearby impound lot.

“Today is another very difficult day with the level of fire risk remaining very high across many parts of the country,” Fire Service spokesman Vassilis Vathrakoyiannis said. At least 15 firefighters were hospitalized or received medical attention for burns, smoke inhalation or exhaustion, he added.

As water-dropping planes and helicopters swooped overhead, residents joined the effort, beating back flames with cut branches or dousing them with buckets of water.

Firefighting resources were stretched thin in many affected countries as they battled multiple outbreaks following weeks of heat waves and temperature spikes across the Mediterranean region. On the Greek island of Chios, exhausted firefighters slept on the roadside following a night-long shift.

Aircraft rotated between blazes on the western Greek mainland, the Patras area and the island of Zakynthos. Athens also sent assistance to neighboring Albania, joining an international effort to combat dozens of wildfires. An 80-year-old man died in one blaze south of the capital, Tirana, officials said Wednesday.

Residents of four villages were evacuated in central Albania near a former army ammunition depot. In the southern Korca district, near the Greek border, explosions were reported from buried World War II-era artillery shells. Authorities said dozens of homes were gutted in a central region of the country.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez expressed condolences after the death of a firefighting volunteer in the hard-hit Castile and León region north of the capital, Madrid, where thousands have been displaced by evacuations.

“The wildfire situation remains serious, and taking extra precautions is essential,” Sánchez wrote in an online post. “Thank you, once again, to all those working tirelessly to fight the flames.”

Evacuation centers were filled to capacity in parts of central Spain, with some spending the night outdoors on folding beds. The most severe fires pushed northward into more rural areas, where some residents hosed the walls of their homes to try and protect them from fire.

Services along a high-speed rail link between Madrid and the northwestern Galicia region were suspended after fires got close to some sections of the tracks, state rail company Renfe said.

In Turkey, a forestry worker was killed Wednesday while responding to a wildfire in a southern region, officials said. The Forestry Ministry said the worker died in an accident involving a fire truck that left four others injured.

Turkey has been battling severe wildfires since late June. A total of 18 people have been killed, including 10 rescue volunteers and forestry workers who died in July.

In France, which is recovering from massive recent fires in the southern regions, temperatures of up to 42 degrees Celsius (108 Fahrenheit) were expected for the third consecutive day. Officials issued weather alerts giving local authorities discretion to cancel public events and cordon off areas with high fire risks.

Authorities across European countries have cited multiple causes for the massive fires, including careless farming practices, improperly maintained power cables and summer lightning storms.

Law enforcement officials in North Macedonia also cited indications of arson, motivated by rogue developers. Firefighters struggled to contain a blaze at a nature reserve outside the capital, Skopje, on Wednesday.

The European Union has rushed aid to fire-hit countries, including non-member states, with ground crews and water-dropping aircraft. Much of the recent effort was concentrated on Montenegro, where major wildfires continued to burn in rugged areas near the capital, Podgorica.

“Natural disasters know no borders," Ljuban Tmusic, head of Montenegro's civil protection agency said. “In Montenegro, the resources we have ... are clearly not enough.”

A man tries to put out a wildfire in Larouco, northwestern Spain, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Lalo R. Villar)

A volunteer reacts in front of a wildfire in Larouco, northwestern Spain, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Lalo R. Villar)

A male youth walks nearby as the fire approaches a house during a wildfire in Patras city, western Greece, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

A firefighter and men try to control the fire approaching a house during a wildfire in Patras city, western Greece, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

A man carries a sheep on the motorcycle during a wildfire in Patras city, western Greece, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

A seaplane drops water on a forest fire in Maceda, northwestern Spain, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Lalo Villar)

Plumes of smoke rise from a forest fire in Maceda, northwestern Spain, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Lalo Villar)

A dog runs as people fight against a wildfire in Vounteni village, on the outskirts of Patras, western Greece, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

Burned cars are seen at an impound lot in Kato Achaia, during a wildfire near Patras city, western Greece, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

A man fights against a wildfire in Vounteni village, on the outskirts of Patras, western Greece, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

A man fights against the fire as approaching a house during a wildfire in Vounteni, on the outskirts of Patras, western Greece, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

People watch a wildfire in Vounteni village, on the outskirts of Patras, western Greece, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

A man takes away goats during a wildfire in Vounteni, on the outskirts of Patras, western Greece, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

Firefighters prepare to control the wildfire in Vounteni, on the outskirts of Patras, western Greece, Wednesday, Aug, 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

A firefighter walks as the fire approaching a house during a wildfire in Vounteni, on the outskirts of Patras, western Greece, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

Men watch a wildfire in Vounteni, in the outskirts of Patras, western Greece, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

A firefighter runs at a house as a fire approaching a house during a wildfire in Vounteni, on the outskirts of Patras, western Greece, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

A man tries to control the fire during a wildfire in Vounteni, on the outskirts of Patras, western Greece, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

People try to control a wildfire in Vounteni, on the outskirts of Patras, western Greece, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A South Korean court sentenced former President Yoon Suk Yeol to five years in prison Friday in the first verdict from eight criminal trials over the martial law debacle that forced him out of office and other allegations.

Yoon was impeached, arrested and dismissed as president after his short-lived imposition of martial law in December 2024 triggered huge public protests calling for his ouster.

The most significant criminal charge against him alleges that his martial law enforcement amounted to a rebellion, and the independent counsel has requested the death sentence in the case that is to be decided in a ruling next month.

Yoon has maintained he didn’t intend to place the country under military rule for an extended period, saying his decree was only meant to inform the people about the danger of the liberal-controlled parliament obstructing his agenda. But investigators have viewed Yoon’s decree as an attempt to bolster and prolong his rule, charging him with rebellion, abuse of power and other criminal offenses.

In Friday’s case, the Seoul Central District Court sentenced Yoon for defying attempts to detain him, fabricating the martial law proclamation, and sidestepping a legally mandated full Cabinet meeting and thus depriving some Cabinet members who were not convened of their due rights to deliberate on his decree.

Judge Baek Dae-hyun said in the televised ruling that imposing “a grave punishment” was necessary because Yoon hasn’t shown remorse and has only repeated “hard-to-comprehend excuses.” The judge also restoring legal systems damaged by Yoon’s action was necessary.

Yoon’s defense team said they will appeal the ruling, which they believe was “politicized” and reflected “the unliberal arguments by the independent counsel.” Yoon’s defense team argued the ruling “oversimplified the boundary between the exercise of the president’s constitutional powers and criminal liability.”

Prison sentences in the multiple, smaller trials Yoon faces would matter if he is spared the death penalty or life imprisonment at the rebellion trial.

Park SungBae, a lawyer who specializes in criminal law, said there is little chance the court would decide Yoon should face the death penalty in the rebellion case. He said the court will likely issue a life sentence or a sentence of 30 years or more in prison.

South Korea has maintained a de facto moratorium on executions since 1997 and courts rarely hand down death sentences. Park said the court would take into account that Yoon’s decree didn’t cause casualties and didn’t last long, although Yoon hasn’t shown genuine remorse for his action.

South Korea has a history of pardoning former presidents who were jailed over diverse crimes in the name of promoting national unity. Those pardoned include strongman Chun Doo-hwan, who received the death penalty at a district court over his 1979 coup, the bloody 1980 crackdowns of pro-democracy protests that killed about 200 people, and other crimes.

Some observers say Yoon will likely retain a defiant attitude in the ongoing trials to maintain his support base in the belief that he cannot avoid a lengthy sentence but could be pardoned in the future.

On the night of Dec. 3, 2024, Yoon abruptly declared martial law in a televised speech, saying he would eliminate “anti-state forces” and protect “the constitutional democratic order.” Yoon sent troops and police officers to encircle the National Assembly, but many apparently didn’t aggressively cordon off the area, allowing enough lawmakers to get into an assembly hall to vote down Yoon’s decree.

No major violence occurred, but Yoon's stunt caused the biggest political crisis in South Korea and rattled its diplomacy and financial markets. For many, his decree, the first of its kind in more than four decades in South Korea, brought back harrowing memories of past dictatorships in the 1970s and 1980s, when military-backed leaders used martial law and emergency measures to deploy soldiers and tanks on the streets to suppress demonstrations.

After Yoon's ouster, his liberal rival Lee Jae Myung became president via a snap election last June. After taking office, Lee appointed three independent counsels to look into allegations involving Yoon, his wife and associates.

Yoon's other trials deal with charges like ordering drone flights over North Korea to deliberately inflame animosities to look for a pretext to declare martial law. Other charges accuse Yoon of manipulating the investigation into a marine’s drowning in 2023 and receiving free opinion surveys from an election broker in return for a political favor.

A supporter of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol shouts slogans outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold signs and flags outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

A supporter of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol waits for a bus carrying former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold signs as police officers stand guard outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold signs and flags outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold signs outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

A picture of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol is placed on a board as supporters gather outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)