Kerber here, taking a turn subbing in for Sharon Kimathi, who will return next week.

For the main story this week I wanted to flag my colleague's excellent project on wildfires in Spain as the countryside empties. You'll also find links to our coverage of Middle East energy prices, miners' pay in Ghana, and plans for a British North Sea gas field, among other things.

Please follow me on LinkedIn. You can reach me via ross.kerber@thomsonreuters.com.

Europe is emerging from one of its worst wildfire seasons on record. Deadly blazes this year ripped through countries including Spain, France and Greece, forcing hundreds of thousands to evacuate and burning 699,000 hectares (1.7 million acres) - an area more than four times the size of London.

A quiet factor driving the blazes is how governments and private landowners are managing the continent's emptying countryside. As shrubs and trees take over abandoned farmland, the continuous vegetation provides fuel for flames to spread, I learned from this excellent graphics-driven work by my colleagues.

The team focused on a megafire in Spain that began near Burgohondo, a mountain village about 90 km (56 miles) west of Madrid, on July 22. The last hotspots were extinguished on October 3, after the blaze consumed 63,000 hectares and prompted the evacuation of more than 60,000 people.

Spain's changed landscape played a part, the report makes clear. Spain's forest cover rose 38% from 1990 to 2025, as a greater proportion of Spaniards chose to live in cities and government plans encouraged tree-planting on former farmland.

All those trees are surely good for the planet by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. But the downside is the forests must be managed, and fire prevention costs money. Many small landowners can't afford the maintenance work, and joining forces with neighbours can be a challenge when they don’t know who holds the derelict plot next door, the report states. I'd encourage you to read the rest of the story by clicking here.

• EXPORTS vs PRICES: New tensions in the Middle East would be expected to weigh on oil supplies, but the region's crude exports have rebounded and now stand above pre-war levels. Yet oil prices keep climbing, suggesting investors still worry whether the flows can be sustained.

• STEADY JOBS: Ghana's mining regulator has been ordered to standardise pay and employment conditions, as officials try to ease union concerns over a planned shift of mining operations from multinational companies to local contractors.

• ECOSYSTEMS ON THE EDGE: Many of the Earth's most important ecosystems have been pushed close to their tipping points by global warming caused by fossil fuel emissions, a leading climate scientist said at the Reuters Sustainability Europe conference in London.

• PREPPING FOR EL NINO: Eyeing a potential slowdown tied to the El Niño weather phenomenon, Peru unveiled a package of economic measures aimed at cushioning its impact. Affected firms will receive liquidity support and tax payment deferrals, Economy Minister Elmer Cuba said.

• MORE GAS: Britain has approved the controversial Jackdaw North Sea gas field, setting aside concerns about fossil fuel use as the country's Labour government seeks to balance its climate goals with energy security concerns. Surging energy costs during the Iran war have held back Britain's economy.

• MORE MONEY: The European Investment Bank doubled to €30 billion ($33.6 billion) its planned spending on projects to help adapt to climate change-driven events like heatwaves, droughts, wildfires and floods.