French firefighter arrested for deliberately starting Fontainebleau forest blaze

Firefighters in France have brought a major wildfire under control at the royal forest of Fontainebleau, home to the 16th-century palace once occupied by Napoleon, but the operation has been marred by a shocking discovery: one of their own deliberately started the blaze. The firefighter allegedly poured petrol on vegetation and ignited it, prompting colleagues to describe his actions as a betrayal of public trust. The incident has raised serious questions about security protocols within France’s emergency services.
Approximately 800 firefighters remain deployed at the scene as authorities tackle a particularly challenging aspect of the disaster: suspected underground fires burning beneath the forest floor that threaten to reignite and spread. These so-called “zombie fires” burning in peat and root systems can smoulder undetected for weeks and prove extremely difficult to extinguish, requiring sustained monitoring and specialist techniques.
In separate news from Japan, where intense heat continues to grip Tokyo, there has been a notable cultural shift as male office workers begin defying long-standing workplace conventions. A growing number of men are arriving at their offices in shorts without jackets or ties, challenging decades of rigid dress codes. However, the trend has sparked criticism from traditionalists, with some conservative commentators arguing that the display of bare, hairy legs is unprofessional and undermines Japan’s formal business culture.

Source: Ynet — Original article in Hebrew.