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Hundreds Wed at Valentine's Day Ceremony in Mexico

ALFREDO ESTRELLA / AFP
ALFREDO ESTRELLA / AFP
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Hundreds Wed at Valentine's Day Ceremony in Mexico

ALFREDO ESTRELLA / AFP
ALFREDO ESTRELLA / AFP

With tears in their eyes and smiles beneath their face masks, more than 660 couples tied the knot Monday at a Valentine's Day mass wedding in Mexico.

The newlyweds included Francisco Calvo, 74, and Rosalba Silva, 67 -- two widowers who met five years ago, AFP said.

"I didn't think I would have another chance, but love arrived because love arrived," Silva said, smiling next to her new husband at the ceremony in a suburb of Mexico City.

For Jonathan Garcia, a mass wedding is almost a family custom.

"Two of my sisters in my family have already been married this way and we saw they were happy so we said 'let's continue the tradition,'" the 40-year-old said.

What the mass wedding lacks in intimacy it makes up for with perks such as free marriage certificates, said Maria Darinka Rendon, a council official in Ciudad Nezahualcoyotl.

"Gathering 661 families in one place was quite a challenge," she admitted.

But it is worth it for what is "a very emotional event, for the spouses, for the families and for us who are going to witness it," she added.

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Smoke From Canadian Fires Reaches Europe, Says EU Climate Monitor

This photo provided by the Manitoba government shows wildfires in Flin Flon, Manitoba, Canada on Tuesday, May 27, 2025. (Manitoba government via AP)
This photo provided by the Manitoba government shows wildfires in Flin Flon, Manitoba, Canada on Tuesday, May 27, 2025. (Manitoba government via AP)
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Smoke From Canadian Fires Reaches Europe, Says EU Climate Monitor

This photo provided by the Manitoba government shows wildfires in Flin Flon, Manitoba, Canada on Tuesday, May 27, 2025. (Manitoba government via AP)
This photo provided by the Manitoba government shows wildfires in Flin Flon, Manitoba, Canada on Tuesday, May 27, 2025. (Manitoba government via AP)

Heavy smoke from intense wildfires in Canada has reached northwestern Europe, the European Union's climate monitoring service said on Tuesday.

The huge plumes are at very high altitude and do not pose an immediate health risk, it said in a statement.

"Smoke originating from the wildfires in the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan has been transported across the Atlantic," the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) said.

Satellites tracked the smoke in mid-May, with some plumes reaching as far east as Greece and the eastern Mediterranean.

"A second, much larger, smoke plume crossed the Atlantic during the last week of May, reaching northwestern parts of Europe on June 1," CAMS said.

Additional plumes are expected to shade the continent in the coming days.

Wildfire smoke is comprised of gaseous pollutants such as carbon monoxide, along with water vapor and particle pollution, which can be particularly hazardous to health.

A high concentration of carbon monoxide is expected to pass over northwestern France, including the Paris Basin, on Tuesday.

The high-altitude smoke headed for Europe is not expected to have a significant impact on surface air quality, but is likely to result in hazy skies and reddish-orange sunsets.

Manitoba in central Canada is experiencing its worst start to the fire season in years due to drought, and Saskatchewan to the west declared a state of emergency at the end of May, evacuating thousands of residents.

"Central regions of Canada have experienced a very intense few weeks in terms of wildfire emissions," said Mark Parrington, scientific director at CAMS.

Canadian authorities have forecast a more intense fire season than usual this summer in central and western Canada, due in particular to severe or extreme drought.

Elsewhere, extensive forest fires have been raging in Russia's Far Eastern Federal District since early April, particularly east of Lake Baikal, generating carbon emissions of around 35 million tons, Copernicus reported.