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The OECD became aware of the high exemption rate of students in Catalonia in the PISA tests in March 2026, when it received the relevant reports from Spain and its autonomous communities, and immediately communicated the issue to the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training, according to a spokesperson for the organization speaking to La Vanguardia. The tests were conducted in April 2025 and at that time technicians from the Ministry and the Generalitat already warned of the high rate of students exempted from taking the exams, but according to the ministry, they did not report it to their superiors, so there was no room for correction nor, supposedly, the ability to inform the OECD evaluation group.

Amid applause from volunteers and residents of the municipalities that have welcomed them these days. This is how the return home began for the 29,000 people evacuated from 15 municipalities in Madrid and Ávila who yesterday received the good news that the fire is no longer a threat to their lives or their homes.

The Burgohondo fire, in Ávila, with more than 50,000 hectares burned, the worst recorded in Spain since records began, and the one in Madrid, with more than 25,000 hectares, have been perfectly visible from space.

After five days of relentless fighting against three fires in Madrid, Ávila, and Toledo, which eventually became one (in terms of combating them, not physically), there are positive results. The race against time carried out on Monday night by hundreds of personnel finally showed “positive progress,” said the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande Marlaska, who could not hide his joy.

The Government has declared this Tuesday the territories affected by a total of 211 catastrophic episodes, mostly due to forest fires, that have occurred between March 31 and July 27, 2026, and that have caused damage in regions of fourteen autonomous communities, including Catalonia, as areas affected by a civil protection emergency. This declaration includes the current fires in the Community of Madrid and the provinces of Ávila and Toledo that prompted the declaration of a national interest emergency on July 23, the first time this decision has been made in emergencies derived from forest fires. Also the one recorded in the municipality of Vall d’Uixó in Castellón.

The fire declared on Saturday in the town of Vall d’Uixó in Castellón remains active and has already devastated about 8,500 hectares and reached an approximate perimeter of 72 kilometers. From the Advanced Command Post, the Valencian Government’s Emergency Minister, Juan Carlos Valderrama, explained that during the night from Sunday to Monday “the spread has been contained,” but he emphasized that the fire “is active, neither stabilized nor controlled.” The flames have already affected 80,000 people, including 16,000 evacuated and 65,000 confined in the municipalities of Vall d’Uixó (32,000 inhabitants), Onda (25,000), and Betxí (5,700).

No time left. Firefighting professionals (UME, firefighters, and forest rangers) are giving it their all. They know they have barely 48 hours to stop the fire that is ravaging the center of the peninsula, in the provinces of Madrid, Ávila, and Toledo, affecting about 70,000 hectares, of which around 50,000 are in the natural jewel that is Gredos, sadly making this Ávila area the largest fire in the history of Spain. And this race against time is explained by the new heat wave, the fourth, arriving on Wednesday and which will again push temperatures to between 35 and 40 degrees.

The large forest fires began yesterday to show slight signs of improvement in Ávila, Madrid, and Toledo, although the firefighting teams still have “very complex hours” ahead, after burning 77,000 hectares – with a perimeter of 280 km – and forcing the evacuation or confinement of nearly 95,000 people across the three provinces. Meanwhile, the fire in La Vall d’Uixò (Castellón) remains out of control. With this, the number of people evacuated or confined is now close to 136,000. After another day marked by flames and moderate optimism about their evolution, in the fires in central Spain alone, there are 65,096 evacuated and 29,867 confined. To these must be added the 41,000 affected in one way or another in Castellón.

The large forest fires are starting to show signs of improvement in Ávila, Madrid, and Toledo, although extinction teams still face “very complex hours” after burning 77.000 hectares, with a perimeter of 280 km, and forcing the evacuation or confinement of nearly 90.000 people in the three provinces, while the fire in La Vall d’Uixò (Castellón) continues out of control. In the fires of Ávila, Madrid, and Toledo, there are 59.896 evacuated and 29.867 confined.

The King highlighted, this midday, after visiting with the Queen a group of residents evacuated from the fire zones, the importance of the coordinated work of all administrations, emergency services, and volunteers. “United, any risk can be faced,” the King said upon leaving the La Chopera sports center, in the Madrid municipality of Villamanta, which hosts residents evacuated from Villa del Prado, Aldea del Fresno, and other municipalities in the southwest of the Community of Madrid.