Record-setting wildfires in Canada’s western province of British Columbia are expected to push more people out of their homes this week, as firefighters battle unruly blazes that have destroyed properties and closed parts of a major national highway.

The province imposed an emergency late on Friday, giving officials more power to deal with fire risks. By Saturday, more than 35,000 residents were under an evacuation order and another 30,000 were under an evacuation alert.

The McDougall Creek fire is centered around Kelowna, a city some 300 kilometres (180 miles) east of Vancouver, with a population of about 150,000. But other blazes, exacerbated by severe drought, have been reported closer to the U.S. border and in the U.S. Pacific Northwest.

Ministers and government officials urged residents living in evacuation order zones to take immediate action, in the interest of their own lives and that of the firefighters.

British Columbia Premier Daniel Eby also imposed a ban on non-essential travel on Saturday, in order to free-up accommodation for evacuees and firefighters. Authorities urged people to avoid traveling to fire zones and operate drones to take pictures, which they said would hamper the work of firefighters.

Officials have not yet given any estimates of the total number of buildings destroyed.

Forest fires are not uncommon in Canada, but the spread of blazes and disruptions underscore the severity of its worst wildfire season yet.

About 30,000 households have been ordered to evacuate in Canada’s British Columbia province, where nearly 400 wildfires are raging.

Officials have restricted travel to Kelowna, a waterside city of 132,000 people, where smoke from nearby fires hangs over Lake Okanagan.

The order is designed to ensure enough accommodation for evacuees and emergency workers.

Fires have destroyed homes in nearby West Kelowna, a city of 36,000 people.

The travel restrictions also apply to the towns of Kamloops, Oliver, Penticton and Vernon and Osoyoos.

Hundreds of miles north, a huge fire continues to edge towards the city of Yellowknife.

An official deadline to evacuate the city – the capital of Canada’s Northwest Territories – lapsed on Friday. A local official said later that day that nearly all residents had left, either by car or plane.

About 19,000 of the city’s 20,000 inhabitants had evacuated. Authorities said 39 patients were moved out of a hospital to alternative facilities on Friday evening, making them the last people to be evacuated from the city.

Environment and communities minister Shane Thompson said some people had chosen “to shelter in place”, but urged locals to leave.

In British Columbia, evacuation orders grew from covering 15,000 homes on Friday to at least 30,000 by Saturday evening. Another 36,000 homes are under evacuation alert.

The province’s emergency management minister said officials “cannot stress strongly enough how critical it is to follow evacuation orders”.

Bowinn Ma added: “They are a matter of life and death not only for the people in those properties, but also for the first responders who will often go back to try to implore people to leave.”

Premier of the province, David Eby, put the total number of people ordered to leave at 35,000, with 30,000 told to be prepared to evacuate.

Canada is having its worst wildfire season on record, with at least 1,000 fires burning across the country, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre (CIFFC).

Experts say climate change increases the risk of the hot, dry weather that is likely to fuel wildfires.

Extreme and long-lasting heat draws more and more moisture out of the ground – which can provide fuel for fires that can spread at an incredible speed, particularly if winds are strong.

Although no deaths have been reported in the latest fires, at least four firefighters have lost their lives during this record-breaking season.

Rail journeys across the Swiss Alps will take longer for the next few months after a major derailment has left the record-breaking 35-mile (57-kilometer) Gotthard Base Tunnel partially out of action.

The world’s longest tunnel was closed last week when a freight train jumped the tracks, derailing 16 carriages and damaging about five miles of rail lines, Swiss national rail operator SBB said in a statement.

SBB said the tunnel will reopen partially on August 23, with one of the two lines through the mountains unaffected by the incident. But the reduced capacity will mean re-routing passenger trains via a scenic railway that takes up to two hours longer until early 2024.

“Until further notice, passenger trains will be diverted via the panorama route,” the SBB statement said. “The journey time is extended by 60 minutes in national traffic and between 60 and 120 minutes in international traffic.”

The company said it was examining whether passengers could be safely transported with only one track in operation but for the time being it would be closed to non-freight traffic until further notice.

Opened in 2016 after 17 years of construction, the Gotthard Base Tunnel has become a vital railway link between northern and southern Europe, as well as a destination for rail enthusiasts wanting to traverse the world’s longest and – at almost 1.5 miles below the surface – deepest tunnel.

The structure runs between Erstfeld on the northern side and Bodio in the south, connecting rail traffic between the Swiss city of Zurich and Milan in Italy. It also completes a freight rail corridor between Rotterdam in the Netherlands and the Mediterranean Italian port of Genoa.

SBB said that passenger services will be running at reduced capacity until the tunnel fully reopens because the panoramic route over the mountains cannot handle double-decker trains. Additional trains would also not be running at peak times.

The incredible tunnels pushing deep below the surface

Swiss rail investigators are currently trying to establish the cause of the accident in which no one was injured.

He said the company was aware that the accident would lead to inconvenience for travelers and freight customers.

“We would like to apologize for this and ask for your understanding. The teams deployed are doing everything they can to ensure that safe rail traffic through the Gotthard Base tunnel is possible again as quickly as possible.”

Fernando de Noronha is an archipelago that is comprised of 21 islands and islets which are located in the Atlantic Ocean, 354 km (220 mi) off the coast of the Federative Republic of Brazil.

The main island which gives the name to the whole archipelago, was named after the Portuguese merchant Fernão de Noronha, to whom it was given by the Portuguese crown for services rendered regarding wood imported from Brazil.

The Archipelago has never been linked to the mainland, and geologically it is the tip of a submarine volcanic formation which rises out of the deep seabed, and together with the main island it consists also from Ilha Rata, Ilha do Meio, Ilha Sela Gineta and Ilha Rasa which are the major islands.

All of them are bathed by currents coming from Africa, where the waters around the islands are very clear with excellent visibility and great year-round warm temperatures.

They are the perfect spot if one would want to see some manta rays, sharks, moray eels, goliath groopers, sea turtles and dolphins.

That is why the tourism is the major industry on the islands, where around 2,000 inhabitants are permanent residents.

Nevertheless, the beaches of Fernando de Noronha are the biggest hit for the tourists among which the most popular ones are: Baía do Sancho, Pig Bay, Dolphins Bay, Sueste Bay and Praia do Leão.

Divided between the Fernando de Noronha Marine National Park and the Fernando de Noronha Environmental Protection Area, the island of Fernando de Noronha can be visited by air through the Fernando de Noronha Airport, and also by sea.

Being inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 2001, they are definitely one of the most gorgeous islands in the Atlantic Ocean.

Nonetheless, they have the only existent atoll in the South Atlantic Ocean, which is called Atol das Rocas Biological Reserve, and it is some 150 km (93 mi) west of the main island.

This oasis which offers very fertile waters that are extremely important for the fauna, also offers different variety of flora, in which the local tropical seabirds are enjoying in this protected nature.

Even though they are battled with the introduced Tegu lizards and domestic cats which have become invasive, they continue to strive with the life which they had in the past.

Even though Brazil has many places on the mainland which would bring great awe for the visitors, this archipelago definitely will surprise all those who are not easily impressed.

Hashima Island, also known as Gunkanjima Island, is an abandoned island that is lying in the Sea of Hyūga, in the vicinity of the city of Nagasaki, in the Nagasaki Prefecture, within Japan.

The very small fortress-looking island is ringed by a seawall and it is covered in tightly packed buildings which are completely abandoned for more than forty years.

The most important role for the Japanese Hashima had from 1810 when coal was first discovered on the island, and since then until 1974, the island was used as a seabed coal mining facility.

In 1890, the island was bought from Mitsubishi Goshi Kaisha Company which later started extracting coal from undersea mines, where four main mine-shafts reaching up to 1 km (0.62 mi) in depth were built, which aided in the extraction of coal that numbered to be around 15 million tons of coal.

The apartment buildings which we see nowadays have started being constructed since 1917, and the main construction material used for them was the concrete since it offers a great protection from typhoon destruction.

Throughout the years, more and more buildings were built, however, as petroleum replaced coal in Japan in 1960s, the mines were slowly being abandoned with the official abandonment in 1974.

The highest number of residents ever to resided on the island was in 1959, where the population density was 835 people per hectare, and according to the census it was counted that there were 5,259 residents.

Today, the island belongs to the city of Nagasaki which since 2009 allowed all those willing enough to explore a forgotten, abandoned world to get there and explore the ruins.

At first, there were plans to bury the island under rubbish, however, with the help of some advocates for preservation, the grass growing structures with vines covering collapsing walls, Hashima has become one of Nagasaki’s most visited attractions.

The frequent subject of discussion among enthusiasts for ruins, with the greater attention that is received for the island, begs the question whether the buildings that are collapsed due to the strong typhoons should be restored, and those which are in danger of collapse to be stabilized, nevertheless, once that is done, the island will loose its originality.

Still, in 2009, Japan requested for the island to be put on the UNESCO World Heritage List among with 22 other industrial sites, which was approved by the organization on 5 July 2015.

With operators providing tours to the visitors of Hashima Island, the sightseeing of this eerie place is definitely quite memorable, as every visitor can see what can come from further industrialization of the countries, and with the appearance of the island in plenty of feature films and games, more people would get the urge to visit this impressive abandoned place.

Strong winds and heavy rain have hit parts of Scotland overnight.

Storm Betty, named by the Irish meteorological service, brought severe weather across the UK as it moved in from the Atlantic.

ScotRail confirmed disruption was expected to continue on nine routes until about 19:00.

On Friday the Met Office issued a yellow wind warning for Dumfries and Galloway where gusts were predicted to reach 50mph.

Meanwhile, three yellow rain warnings were in place across 17 local authorities for nine hours. Both warnings expired at midday.

Forecasters had also warned the conditions could cause travel issues as well as a possible flood risk to homes, businesses and roads.

The rain warnings applied to Angus, Clackmannanshire, Dundee, Fife, Perth and Kinross, Stirling, Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Moray, Dumfries and Galloway, East Lothian, Midlothian, Scottish Borders, Argyll and Bute, North Ayrshire, South Lanarkshire and West Dunbartonshire.

The highest rainfall totals were expected over east-facing high ground in the Angus Hills and the Grampian Mountains where between 40-60mm could accumulate.

Thousands will be travelling across the country for major events on Saturday, including the final day of the World Pipe Band championships on Glasgow Green and Viaplay Cup football matches, starting with Rangers v Morton at 12:30.

Organisers of the Hazlehead parkrun in Aberdeen announced the cancellation of Saturday’s planned 5k.

The event director said the move was part of an agreement with Aberdeen City Council not to stage the race when storms or high winds were predicted.

The forecast is expected to improve on Saturday with sunny spells and showers for the rest of the weekend.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) issued nine flood alerts and warned of flooding from surface water and small watercourses.

Its stated: “Particularly at risk are urban areas and the transport network. Impacts may include flooding to low-lying land and roads with difficult driving conditions. Isolated properties may also be at risk.”

The Met Office has warned people living and working on the coast to take extra care during windy and stormy weather, and to be prepared for the weather changing quickly.

Stormy Betty, named by Met Eireann, is the second named storm in August following Storm Antoni earlier this month.

Forecasters expect Saturday to see the remnants of Storm Betty move north and bring some showers in western parts of the UK, and more persistent rain in western Scotland.

For Sunday and next week, sunshine and showers are expected.

An earthquake with a 6.1 magnitude has interrupted a live TV broadcast in Bogota, Colombia.

The tremor was followed by a series of aftershocks, estimated at 5.6 and 4.8 magnitudes.

There were no immediate reports of major damage from Thursday’s quake, which Colombia’s national geological service reported as a magnitude 6.1.

The Colombian agency said it struck at 12:04pm (17:04 GMT), with its epicentre in the town of El Calvario, 40km (25 miles) southeast of Bogota.

It hit at a depth of less than 30km (19 miles).

Central Colombia is seismically active and features one of the country’s main geological faults.

Albanian police said they had arrested four people in the past 24 hours for causing fires as soldiers and firefighters were deployed in coastal tourist areas to fight spreading forest blazes.

Many farmers in Albania set fire to cultivated fields to clear stubble, weeds and waste before sowing a new crop. In July Albania has identified and charged 14 people with starting wildfires.

Two farmers were arrested for causing a fire close to the tourist village of Qeparo leaving dozens of hectares burning and endangering houses and olive tree plantations.

The Albanian army said it had sent 40 soldiers to help local authorities fight the fire, carrying shovels and water on their backs on top of a hill.

Local and foreign tourists watched an army helicopter collect water from the Ionian Sea to pour on the blaze, although most were continuing their vacations unhindered.

Police said two people in the eastern town of Elbasan were also arrested for burning their land after the fire went out of control and spread to other areas.

Police appealed citizens not to “light any fire under any circumstances because this action constitutes a crime and punishable by law.”

Albania’s ministry of defense said 95 fires were reported in the first two weeks of August.