Briefly

UNITED KINGDOM

Defense minister to step down at next poll

Defense Secretary Ben Wallace will not stand as a member of parliament in the next national election, and will leave government when Prime Minister Rishi Sunak carries out his next cabinet reshuffle, he told The Sunday Times newspaper. Wallace, a member of the ruling Conservative party, has been an MP since 2005. He has been the defense secretary for four years. The newspaper said Wallace told Sunak his plans on June 16 but had hoped to make the announcement over the summer before leaks forced his hand. He was security minister under former Prime Minister Theresa May, before being promoted to defense secretary by her successor Boris Johnson.

SPAIN

Thousands flee as wildfire out of control

At least 4,000 people were evacuated as a forest fire burned out of control on the Spanish island of La Palma, authorities said on Sunday, as Europe struggled to cope with a heat wave. The fire in La Palma started in the early hours of Saturday in El Pinar de Puntagorda, a wooded area in the north of the island in the Canaries. The blaze forced the evacuation of people from the villages of Puntagorda and neighboring Tijarafe. Ten aerial units and 300 firefighters on the ground sought to bring the wildfire under control on the island, which forms part of a Spanish archipelago off the coast of western Africa. The fire had affected more than 46,500 hectares of land, authorities said.

SAUDI ARABIA

Sudan officials in Jeddah for peace talks

Sudanese representatives have arrived in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, to resume talks with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, Sudanese government sources told Reuters on Saturday, after three months of fighting between the army and the RSF. Previous talks in Jeddah facilitated by Saudi Arabia and the United States were suspended by both countries in early June after numerous cease-fire violations, Reuters reported. Separately, a mediation attempt launched by Egypt began on Thursday, an effort welcomed both by the Sudanese army, which has close ties to Egypt, and the RSF. The conflict has resulted in more than 3 million people being uprooted.

Agencies Via Xinhua