Canada

Fires devastate towns in western provinces

Hundreds of forest fires burned Monday throughout western Canada, where authorities fear the worst wildfires in 50 years could worsen due to strong winds in the forecast.

A new fire at Maligne Lake, a popular tourist destination in Alberta’s Rocky Mountains, prompted authorities to evacuate 500 visitors and staff. In British Columbia, 2,800 people evacuated from the southern towns of Rayleigh and Heffley Creek began returning home after the fire threat passed.

The fires in British Columbia and Alberta have destroyed dozens of buildings and forced 11,000 people to evacuate in mostly rural communities. No deaths have been reported.

Authorities said six fires in the Kamloops area of British Columbia, 180 miles northeast of Vancouver, have scorched nearly 88,000 acres over the past two weeks.

Officials also reported 80 forest fires in the prairie province of Saskatchewan and 14 fires in neighboring Manitoba.

Bosnia-Herzegovina

Clinton to lead tribute to Srebrenica victims

Former President Clinton will preside at the opening of a memorial center for victims of the worst massacre in the Bosnian war, Bosnian officials said Monday.

The memorial ceremony will take place Sept. 20 at the site near Srebrenica, where Serb forces in 1995 overran a besieged Muslim enclave and executed up to 8,000 Muslim men and boys. Clinton was chosen to open the center, officials said, because of his role in helping end the war.

The massacre marked a turning point in the three-year, Bosnian war and prompted the international community — led by the United States — to end the conflict by ordering NATO airstrikes against Bosnian Serbs.

Soon after, the U.S. under Clinton brokered the final peace accord in Dayton, Ohio, and joined other nations in deploying peacekeepers to Bosnia.

Azerbaijan

Ailing president’s son becomes prime minister

Azerbaijan’s parliament approved the son of ailing President Geidar Aliev as prime minister Monday, a move that puts the younger Aliev a step away from the top job in this oil-rich Caspian Sea nation.

The president has not appeared in public since checking into a Turkish military hospital on July 8 for heart treatment — his second stint in a hospital this year.

The elevation of his son, Ilham, to prime minister drew protests from opposition groups, which boycotted Monday’s parliament vote in Baku and accused the elder Aliev of trying to install his son in power.

“Today’s illegal act of appointing Ilham Aliev is a coup,” said lawmaker Igbal Agazade of the opposition party Umud, or Hope.

The prime minister becomes acting president in the event that the president is incapacitated or resigns.