Spanish wildfires rage as former Latin leaders grounded in Caracas

It happened while you were sleeping. Here is what global agencies reported overnight from Friday to Saturday.

• Spanish firefighters have been conducting over 50 operations nationwide, extinguishing forest and meadow fires since Friday afternoon. Most of these fires are in central and southwestern Spain, where temperatures have been over 40°C for several days. One of the largest fires is ravaging forests and fallow land in the municipality of Puebla de Maestre, in Extremadura, in the western part of the country. More than 1,000 hectares of forests and meadows were consumed in just a few hours. Efforts to combat the fire are being hampered by gusty, shifting winds and significant ground dryness.

• A plane carrying former presidents of Latin American countries heading to Caracas for the elections was denied permission to take off on Friday due to Venezuela's airspace blockade, informed Panama's President Jose Raul Mulino. On board were former Panama, Costa Rica, Bolivia, and Mexico presidents. All former presidents are critics of President Nicolas Maduro's government, who will be seeking a third six-year term in Sunday's elections.

• Donald Trump announced that he will organise another rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. It was in this city two weeks ago that an armed man shot the Republican candidate for President of the USA during an election rally.

• Diplomats from Israel and the USA condemned the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Francesca Albanese, who supported a social media post juxtaposing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with Adolf Hitler. "It is inconceivable that Albanese is still allowed to use the UN as a shield to spread antisemitism. Once again promoting hatred and tarnishing the memory of the Holocaust," stated the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.