BULGARIA: A government proposal to allow the United States military to use an air base in Bulgaria to support its operations in the Middle East was backed by the Balkan country’s parliament.

Legislators voted to allow up to eight US KC-135 refuelling aircraft along with 250 personnel and supporting equipment at Bezmer Air Base from tomorrow to October 1.

FRANCE: The minister for environmental transition back-pedalled today and stayed in office after a meeting with President Emmanuel Macron, who did not accept her resignation.

Monique Barbut, who was appointed in October, had announced a few hours earlier that she would step down over a controversial emergency agriculture Bill granting temporary exemptions for the use of restricted pesticides that scientists say are harmful to bees.

SPAIN: Firefighters in Guadalajara in central Spain battled a wildfire today that has burned over 79,000 acres in one of the largest blazes in recent memory for the southern European country.

Spain this year has already suffered 22 major forest fires. The fires have burned four times the amount of terrain compared to July of last year, according to Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.

DR CONGO: At least 999 people have died from the outbreak in Congo, according to official data published overnight into Wednesday, a grim toll in what’s already been declared the fastest Ebola outbreak in history.

The latest update from Congo’s Ministry of Health shows that as of Monday, 2,473 cases have been recorded in the latest outbreak, and 999 people have died. At least 737 patients are currently in isolation and hospitals, it said.