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Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

CAIRO, Canada — Canadian authorities are urging all remaining residents in the northeastern part of the province of British Columbia to leave immediately, despite improving weather conditions, after thousands have already been evacuated due to a fast-growing wildfire. The blaze, which started Friday, almost doubled in size the following day, reaching about 17 square kilometers. BC Wildfire Service maps showed the fire burning just a few kilometers west of Fort Nelson's city limits. Online footage shared by locals showed thick plumes of smoke rising high into the sky with houses in the foreground. In some photos, haze seemed to cover wide areas. The Northern Rockies Regional Municipality and Fort Nelson First Nation issued a joint statement warning people staying behind that "emergency medical services are not available, nor are groceries or other amenities." The municipality mayor, Rob Fraser, said most of the 3,500 residents in and around Fort Nelson, B.C., have been evacuated, adding that police were going door to door to ensure everyone got out. He said the Parker Lake fire is one of three major wildfires near Fort Nelson, located in the far northeastern corner of British Columbia, about 1,600 kilometers from Vancouver. Health authorities said Fort Nelson General Hospital has been safely evacuated and closed until further notice. Resident Bud Streeper posted a video update from the area on Saturday, saying that the winds that had whipped the Parker Lake wildfire into exponential growth on Friday night diminished overnight, reducing fire activity around the town. The high winds pushed smoke from the blaze into parts of neighboring Alberta on Saturday, putting the city of Edmonton under an air quality advisory with hazard levels rated at 10-plus — or "very high risk" — forecast. Meteorologists are not anticipating rain and have advised people to stay indoors. Authorities in Alberta also issued an alert about a wildfire nearly 25 kilometers southwest of the oil sands city of Fort McMurray that can impact visibility on highways in some areas. No evacuation order has been given so far. In 2023, Canada witnessed a record number of wildfires that have also caused choking smoke in parts of the U.S. and forced tens of thousands of people to evacuate across British Columbia. 

BARCELONA, Spain — Catalonia is holding a regional election on Sunday whose outcome will reverberate in Spain's national politics. The ballot will be a test both for the strength of the separatist movement in the wealthy northeastern part of Spain and for the policies of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez. More than 5.7 million voters are eligible to choose lawmakers for the regional parliament based in Barcelona. Separatists have held the regional government for more than a decade. But polling and a national election in July show that support for secession has shrunk somewhat since former regional president Carles Puigdemont led an illegal – and futile – breakaway bid in 2017. Puigdemont is a fugitive from Spain's laws since he fled the country days after his failed secession attempt. But that isn't stopping him from running in this election as he campaigns from southern France. He has said that he will return to Spain when the newly elected lawmakers convene to choose a regional president at some point after the election. By that time, Puigdemont hopes to be cleared of any legal troubles after Spain's parliament gives final approval to a contentious amnesty for him and hundreds of other separatists. The amnesty forms part of Sánchez's intense push to reduce tensions in Catalonia that also included the pardoning of jailed high-profile separatists. If voters don't validate that by coming out in support of his Socialist party, then it would be a blow to the leader who heads a minority coalition in Madrid. Sánchez has campaigned alongside Salvador Illa, the candidate of the Socialists. Illa won the most votes in a 2021 regional election but was unable to stop separatist Pere Aragonès from forming a government. The election will feature a battle inside the separatist camp between Puigdemont's conservative Together party and Aragonès's Republican Left of Catalonia. An upstart pro-secession, far-right party called Catalan Alliance, which rails against unauthorized immigration as well as the Spanish state, will hope to earn parliamentary representation. A total of nine parties are running and no single one is expected to come close to winning enough votes to reach the absolute majority of 68 seats in the chamber. So deal-making will be critical.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

KATHMANDU, Nepal — One of greatest climbing guides on Mount Everest has scaled the world's highest peak for the 29th time, extending his own record for most times to the summit, expedition organizers said Sunday. Kami Rita reached the 8,849-meter peak at 7:25 a.m. local time Sunday along with other climbers, said Mingma Sherpa of the expedition organizer Seven Summits Treks. He was reported in good health and already on the way down to lower camps. Kami Rita had climbed Mount Everest twice last year, setting the record for most climbs on the first and adding to it less than a week later. He and fellow Sherpa guide Pasang Dawa have been competing with each other for the title of most climbs of the world's highest peak. Pasang Dawa has 27 successful ascents of the mountain. Kami Rita first climbed Everest in 1994 and has been making the trip nearly every year since. He is one of many Sherpa guides whose expertise and skills are vital to the safety and success each year of foreign climbers who seek to stand on top of the mountain. His father was among the first Sherpa guides. In addition to his Everest climbs, Kami Rita has scaled several other peaks that are among the world's highest, including K2, Cho Oyu, Manaslu and Lhotse. Mingma Sherpa said the weather on the mountain was good and favorable for climbing to the summit. The first set of climbers reached Everest's summit just a few days ago and there are hundreds more who will be attempting to get up the mountain this month. Nepalese authorities have issued hundreds of climbing permits to foreign climbers, At least as many local Sherpa guides will be accompanying them during the climbing season.

BANDUNG, Indonesia — A bus slammed into cars and motorbikes after its brakes apparently malfunctioned in Indonesia's West Java province, killing at least 11 people, mostly students, and injuring dozens of others, officials said Sunday. The bus carrying 61 students and teachers was returning to a high school in Depok outside Jakarta, the capital, late Saturday from the hilly resort area of Bandung after a graduation celebration, said West Java police spokesperson Jules Abraham Abast. It sped out of control on a downhill road and crossed lanes, hitting several cars and motorbikes before it crashed into an electricity pole, he said. Nine people died at the scene and two others died later in the hospital, including a teacher and a local motorist, Abast said. Fifty-three other people were hospitalized with injuries, including some in critical condition, he said. "We are still investigating the cause of the accident, but a preliminary investigation showed the bus's brakes malfunctioned," Abast said. Local television footage showed the mangled bus in the darkness on its side, surrounded by rescuers, police and passersby as ambulances evacuated the injured. Road accidents are common in Indonesia due to poor safety standards and infrastructure. Last year, a tourist bus with an apparently drowsy driver slammed into a billboard on a highway in East Java, killing at least 14 people and injuring 19 others. In 2021, a tourist bus plunged into a ravine in the West Java hilly resort of Puncak after its brakes apparently malfunctioned, killing at least 27 people and injuring 39 others.