Raging wildfires have forced the evacuation of over 220,000 people from the Gironde department in southwestern France as the devastating flames continue to spread.
As the disaster intensifies, local authorities in Gironde ordered an additional 55,000 residents to be evacuated on the outskirts of Bordeaux late on Saturday, with at least 42,000 hectares of land being destroyed in the prefecture so far.
Thousands of evacuees are now packed into emergency shelters, with no timeline given as to when they may be able to return as firefighters battle to bring the blaze under control.
Many spoke of the sense of urgency with which they had to leave their homes.
"It was 2 a.m, I'd just started to fall asleep when suddenly, my mobile phone went 'boom, boom, boom'. The neighbors were panicking and getting in their cars. I quickly grabbed some things along with my parents," said Jean Philippe, an evacuee.
Despite the hasty nature of the emergency evacuation, a strong team of volunteers is on hand to serve food, set up beds, are make extra room for additional people who may need to shelter here.
"What is complicated is that there are a lot of people coming at once. Several cities around the Bordeaux area were told to evacuate. We have enough food, water and provisions," said Yannick, one of the volunteers.
For now, residents can only stay and wait for news as emergency crews fight to save the communities they had to leave behind.
The fires have also caused severe transport disruptions. French national railway operator SNCF announced Sunday that rail traffic south of Bordeaux has been suspended until further notice, with services cut towards the seaside resort town of Arcachon and Morcenx, the site of a famous nature reserve.
About 98,000 hectares of land have been burned by wildfires across France so far in 2026, setting a historical record for the country, French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said Saturday.
The situation is so severe that France has requested the activation of the European Union Civil Protection Mechanism, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday.
Raging wildfires force evacuation of over 220,000 in southwestern France
China’s electronics industry surged in the first half of the year, posting a 96.9 percent profit jump on strong computing power demand, with the sector’s gains lifting overall profit growth of industrial enterprises above designated size by 8.5 percentage points, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Monday.
The growth in profits of the electronics sector has been a significant driving force of the rapid increase in profits of industrial enterprises with an annual main business revenue of at least 20 million yuan (about 2.95 million U.S. dollars), the NBS said.
Profits in computer system manufacturing soared 689.3 percent, while computer peripheral equipment manufacturing jumped 305.8 percent, fueled by demand for servers and high‑performance workstations.
In the electronic device manufacturing field, integrated circuit manufacturing rose 2,579.5 percent and discrete semiconductor devices 31.2 percent. In the electronic component and special materials field, profits of electronic special materials manufacturing expanded 209.7 percent and electronic circuit manufacturing 26.9 percent.
The breadth of gains across upstream and downstream sectors has provided important support to industrial profits.
"These industries share a common feature, which is relatively long industrial chains. The stable development of these industries has also led to the recovery of profits along the upstream and downstream of the chains. Therefore, it has played an important supporting role in the growth of industrial profits," said Wei Qijia, researcher of the State Information Center under the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).
Meanwhile, new growth drivers boosted profits across related industries. Recycled rubber manufacturing and aluminum smelting both rose more than 100 percent, while optical fiber manufacturing surged 410.4 percent. Profits in raw material manufacturing also climbed, as unit costs continued to fall and overall profitability improved.
"New technologies will be leveraged to further reduce the operating costs of enterprises. At the same time, implement and refine various policies aimed at alleviating the burdens of real economy enterprises. By continuously optimizing the business environment, we will steadily expand the room for enterprises' profit growth, and create more favorable conditions for the steady recovery of the industrial profits," said Wei.
China's electronics sector profits up 96.9 pct in H1
