Wildfire spreads near popular French tourist town as thousands are evacuated

PARIS (AP) — About 20,000 people were evacuated from towns and vacation resorts along the French Atlantic coast Thursday as the latest in a series of wildfires raged and hundreds of firefighters were dispatched to tackle it.

Local authorities said the fire in a forest near the town of Lège-Cap Ferret, southwest of Bordeaux, spread over more than 31 square kilometers (12 square miles), though no injuries have been reported.

The prefect, or head of the surrounding Gironde region, Sophie Brocas, said some 700 firefighters have been deployed, including forces sent from the Paris region. The fire came within 300 meters (980 feet) of the first homes in Lège, and water bombers were being used.

Later in the day, the prefect's office said the wildfire had not yet been brought under control but remained contained to the north of Lège.

More than 10,000 people, including tourists staying at holiday camps and campgrounds, were moved to safety overnight, along with more than 1,000 residents living in residential areas along the forest edge. Authorities later evacuated the village of Claouey, including residents staying at several campsites, as a precautionary measure. Brocas said the evacuation involved 8,800 people.

Several municipalities have opened reception and respite centers for evacuees, the prefecture said.

Southern Europe has seen multiple large fires this summer. Scientists warn that climate change is exacerbating the frequency and intensity of heat and dryness, making the region more vulnerable to wildfires.

Following a succession of heat waves that started even before the summer, wildfires have raged across France, devastating large swaths of land amid record temperatures and dry weather. Plants and vegetation are under severe water stress, adding to the danger of fires.

According to Interior Minister Laurent Nunez, more than 12,500 wildfires have broken out since the beginning of the year, and almost 44,000 hectares have already burned.

Elsewhere in Europe, wildfires continued to rage across Sicily on Thursday, a day after a firefighter was killed during operations to put out a blaze in Caltanissetta, the national fire department said.

Italian President Sergio Mattarella sent a note of condolences to the family and colleagues of the firefighter, Alessandro Marchì, who was a department head.

In Spain, firefighters battled multiple blazes amid a heat wave with the worst temperatures expected to reach 44 C (111 F) in the southeast. A fire near Alcalá de Henares near Madrid caused the high-speed train service between the capital and Barcelona to be briefly suspended Thursday.

Meanwhile, firefighters in the province of Guadalajara continued to extinguish a week-old fire that is the second-largest on record for the country with 320 square kilometers (123 square miles) burned. Other fires raged across central Spain, including one near Toledo that destroyed some 20 homes and triggered evacuations.

Smoke rises over wildfires in the Lège-Cap-Ferret region, western France, Thursday, July 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Caroline Blumberg)

Smoke rises over wildfires in the Lège-Cap-Ferret region, western France, Thursday, July 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Caroline Blumberg)

Smoke rises as a water bomber flies over wildfires in the Lège-Cap-Ferret region, western France, Thursday, July 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Caroline Blumberg)

A water bomber drops water while fighting wildfires in the Lège-Cap-Ferret region, western France, Thursday, July 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Caroline Blumberg)

Smoke rises over wildfires in the Lège-Cap-Ferret region, western France, Thursday, July 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Caroline Blumberg)

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A South Korean court on Friday ordered billionaire SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won to pay his ex-wife 944 billion won ($640 million) in a case that the national media dubbed the “divorce of the century.”

The Seoul High Court’s ruling came months after the Supreme Court ordered further review by the appellate court of the divorce case between Chey and Roh So-yeong, the daughter of former South Korean President Roh Tae-woo.

The award to Roh, the director of a Seoul art museum, was lower than a 1.38 trillion won ($940 million) settlement ordered by the high court last year. Chey also was previously ordered to pay 2 billion won ($1.3 million) in alimony.

The value of Chey’s assets increased in recent months. Shares of SK Hynix, SK’s semiconductor affiliate, have surged with the global artificial intelligence boom.

The high court’s previous ruling was based in part on its finding that Roh’s father provided SK with 30 billion won ($20.4 million) in alleged slush funds during his presidency. The Supreme Court, however, ruled the funds could not be recognized as a legal contribution to the company’s growth.

Chey and Roh married in 1988 and have three children. Chey filed for divorce in 2017 after revealing he was in a relationship with another woman and had a child with her.

The case can be sent back to the Supreme Court if appeals are filed by Chey or Roh, who did not attend Friday's high court ruling.

Chey is among the South Korean business leaders traveling to the United States with President Lee Jae Myung, who is expected to meet U.S. tech leaders including Anthropic’s Dario Amodei, Open AI’s Sam Altman and Nvidia’s Jensen Huang in San Francisco on Friday to promote investment into South Korean AI and semiconductor initiatives.

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won arrives at the Seoul High Court in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, June 26, 2026. (Lee Young-hwan/Newsis via AP)