MADRID (AP) — Hundreds of firefighters battled two blazes Tuesday in the Fontainebleau forest south of Paris that have consumed nearly 2,000 hectares (about 4,900 acres) and forced the evacuation of 1,000 people, local authorities said.
Bigger fires have been ravaging areas of southern France, but the Fontainebleau fire is exceptionally close to the densely populated region surrounding the French capital.
Water-dumping planes dived into the Seine River repeatedly to scoop up water to douse the fires — the first time such aircraft have ever been used to fight fires in the Paris region, the regional fire chief said.
Smoke blanketed the treetops and hung in the air Tuesday as authorities sought to get the fires under control.
No deaths or injuries have been reported.
Four days after a fire ravaged a remote expat community in southern Spain, judicial authorities have identified 10 of the 13 fatalities using biological samples.
Most of the deceased, all of whom were adults, are foreign nationals. They include five British citizens — including a woman who died in the hospital — three Belgian nationals, a French woman, and a Spanish national, judicial authorities said in a statement late Monday.
Ten people remain unaccounted for.
The Los Gallardos fire affected some 70 square kilometers (27 square miles) of forest and farmland — an area larger than the size of Manhattan.
Spain is experiencing extreme heat, which combined with wind and little rainfall is creating the ideal conditions for small wildfires to grow unchecked.
Europe is the world’s fastest-warming continent, with temperatures increasing twice as fast as the global average since the 1980s, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.
Teresa Medrano contributed from Madrid.
A firefighter carries a fire hose after a wildfire in the region of the Fontainebleau forest, south of Paris, France, Tuesday, July 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Emma Da Silva)
A firefighter sprays water after a wildfire in the region of the Fontainebleau forest, south of Paris, France, Tuesday, July 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Emma Da Silva)
TOKYO (AP) — Worries about a bubble in artificial intelligence investments are absurd, SoftBank Group’s CEO Masayoshi Son said Tuesday, deriding such doubts as backward and akin to questioning the use of cars and planes.
“To ask whether AI is a bubble is a foolish question,” Son told executives at an annual company event in Tokyo. “AI will transform our lives completely, and do so in a way that generates profits.”
“Those who refuse to evolve are closing down their world. Those who condemn AI are themselves spitting upward,” Son added.
Financial markets have recently been swept by waves of concern that the meteoric rise in share prices of companies like Nvidia, and massive investments in data centers, might not yield returns that match hopes for huge profits from AI.
Son founded SoftBank more than four decades ago and is a pioneer in Japan’s technology investments. He was an early supporter of AI and has invested tens of billions of dollars in related companies.
Son said he estimates that almost $5 trillion in investments will be needed annually and globally to expand data centers, increase production of computer chips and provide energy systems and other infrastructure for AI.
“In 2040, approximately 20% of the world’s GDP will be replaced by AI-related industries, the world of superintelligence,” he said.
SoftBank oversees a sprawling collection of businesses through what it calls Vision Funds. Its other businesses include telecommunications and energy.
Tokyo-based SoftBank Group Corp. earlier reported its profits for the fiscal year through March soared nearly five-fold to 5 trillion yen ($32 billion) from a year earlier as its AI investments paid off.
The tech giant has invested $34.6 billion in OpenAI. It sold its stake in computer chip maker Nvidia last year to free up funds for more investments in AI and data centers.
SoftBank recently started a battery business in Japan to build next-generation electric power infrastructure in anticipation of growing electricity demand driven by AI use.
AP Business Writer Elaine Kurtenbach in Bangkok contributed.
Masayoshi Son, chairman and CEO of SoftBank Group, speaks during a business event in Tokyo, Tuesday, July 14, 2026. (Miyuki Saito/Kyodo News via AP)
Masayoshi Son, chairman and CEO of SoftBank Group, speaks during a business event in Tokyo, Tuesday, July 14, 2026. (Miyuki Saito/Kyodo News via AP)
