News in brief
By The Associated Press
Wildfires send about 25,000 fleeing from Canadian Rockies
EDMONTON, Alberta | Multiple wildfires in the Canadian Rockies’ largest national park have sent up to 25,000 visitors and residents fleeing west over the last open mountain road. They navigated through darkness and soot Tuesday following a government alert during the area’s busiest tourist time of the year.
Hundreds of wildfires are burning in western Canada, and those fleeing Jasper National Park and Jasper town in Alberta province were given the unusual order later to make a vast U-turn east if they needed a place to stay. That’s because to the west, British Columbia province already has more than 300 wildfires of its own.
Hamas, Fatah sign a declaration to form future govt.
RAMALLAH, West Bank | Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah have agreed to form a government together. The two groups made the announcement Tuesday in Beijing after China-sponsored talks.
It was the latest attempt at resolving a longstanding rivalry that looms over any potential vision for the rule of Gaza after the war with Israel. Previous similar declarations have failed, raising doubts about whether the negotiations in China might lead to reconciliation. Hamas has ruled the Gaza Strip for 17 years.
Fatah is the main force in the U.S.-backed Palestinian Authority that administers parts of the occupied West Bank.
The two groups gave no details on how or when the government would be formed.
Colombia’s president signs bill to ban bullfighting
BOGOTÁ, Colombia | Colombia’s president has signed a bill that bans bullfights in the South American country, further reducing the short list of nations around the world where the centuries-old tradition is still legal. President Gustavo Petro signed it in front of hundreds of animal rights activists during a ceremony Monday in Bogota’s bullring.
The ban was approved by Colombia’s Congress in May, after months of heated debates. The bill calls on the government to completely ban bullfights across the nation by 2027. Bullfighting aficionados argue the ban violates the rights of minorities to express their cultural heritage and say they will challenge the law in Colombia’s Constitutional Court.
—From AP reports
