World briefs

CHINA The famously opaque People’s Bank of China is finding more of a voice, with a relative flurry of comments this month giving rare clarity on its thinking. The latest came Monday with a statement urging investors not to focus too much on short-term concerns and saying the diverging pace of credit expansion doesn’t mean monetary policy is losing steam. More on P10

PORTUGAL Authorities say a series of wildfires this month in Portugal has burned more than half of the land lost to blazes in the entire 28-nation European Union so far this year. The EU’s Forest Fire Information System, which collates wildfire data, says wildfires have charred more than 217,000 hectares in the bloc in 2016. Almost 116,000 hectares of the charred forest land is in Portugal. Four people have died in the country’s worst wildfires in recent memory.

SPAIN The party of the acting prime minister is meeting to decide if it accepts conditions that a small party has made in return for supporting his bid to end the eight-month political deadlock and form a new government.

ROMANIAN authorities say families who want to adopt a child will no longer be able to make a choice based on the child’s ethnicity. Gabriela Coman, head of the National Authority for the Protection of the Rights of the Child and Adoption, presented a new adoption law Wednesday. She said ethnicity has been eliminated as a criteria for adoption. Some Romanians don’t want to adopt a Roma child. Coman also said prospective adopters are allowed to refuse a maximum of five children.

CUBA Madonna is the latest celebrity to visit Cuba, dancing in a restaurant for her birthday and touring Havana with her family and friends. The singer arrived in Havana on Monday. Excited crowds have gathered outside the hotel where she is staying in historic Old Havana, but have caught few glimpses of the 58-year-old star. Fan Taimi Estrada Joba says she hopes to see Madonna perform a concert in Cuba someday. In her words, “We are very happy she came.”

US The second-oldest confirmed shipwreck in the Great Lakes, an American-built, Canadian-owned sloop that sank in Lake Ontario more than 200 years ago, has been found, a team of underwater explorers said yesterday.

CONGO More than 50 people are believed to have been killed in a rebel attack in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s northeast on Aug. 13, the United Nations said, raising the toll given by the African nation’s government.