Month: June 2024

Athens, Greece — Firefighters were battling a series of wildfires near the Greek capital, Athens, on Sunday evening, as the country braces for another scorching summer. Greece faces a tough wildfire season after its warmest winter and earliest heat wave on record, with temperatures hitting 44°C (111°F).   “Today in Attica two extremely dangerous fires that …

Read more “Greece fights dozens of wildfires in ‘most difficult day of year’”

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ATHENS — Greek firefighters were battling a wildfire south of Athens on Sunday amid strong winds, just hours after managing to contain blazes in a mountainous area also near the capital as well as on an island in the Aegean Sea. Dozens of firefighters, backed up by 17 water-carrying aircraft, fought to tame the new fire …

Read more “Greek firefighters battle new wildfire near Athens amid strong winds “

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Long-serving Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte urged his country to support Ukraine and international cooperation in his final address to his compatriots Sunday, as an inward-looking new government is set to take over the Netherlands in two days. “It is crucial that our country is embedded in the European Union and NATO. …

Read more “Dutch PM Rutte urges support for Ukraine, EU, NATO in farewell speech”

ISTANBUL — Turkish police detained at least 15 protesters in Istanbul on Sunday for participating at a banned LGBTQ+ Pride rally, after searching the streets having arrived at the scene after participants had dispersed, a Reuters witness said.  Police declined to comment.  The Istanbul Governor’s Office said earlier Sunday that the Pride March would not be …

Read more “Turkey arrests at least 15 protesters at Pride rally”

GENEVA — Two people have died and a third is missing after torrential rains triggered a landslide in southeastern Switzerland, police said Sunday. Violent storms lashed the Alpine country with rain this weekend, with hundreds of people evacuated in the west after the Rhone River and its tributaries broke their banks. “The bodies of two people …

Read more “2 dead, 1 missing after Swiss landslide, police say”

Vienna — Austria’s far-right Freedom Party (FPO), Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s Fidesz and the populist Czech ANO party led by Andrej Babis are forming a new alliance in the European Parliament, they announced on Sunday.    The move would reorder but possibly also split nationalist forces in the assembly, provided four more parties join. Parties from …

Read more “Austrian far-right, Hungary’s Orban form new EU alliance “

Istanbul — For Iris Mozalar, a young transgender woman living in Istanbul, Pride Week is “more about resistance than celebration” under Turkey’s conservative government, which is openly hostile towards the LGBTQ community. “Ours is a struggle to survive,” the 24-year-old told AFP at her home in Istanbul where she studies urban planning and works as a …

Read more “Turkey’s Pride Week ‘more about resistance than celebration’”

THESSALONIKI, Greece — About 15,000 people attended the annual EuroPride parade Saturday, police said, in support of the LGBTQ+ community in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki amid a heavy police presence. The parade, whose motto is “Persevere, Progress, Prosper,” was staged on the ninth and last day of a series of events across the city. …

Read more “Thousands attend EuroPride parade in Greek city amid heavy police presence”

ESSEN, Germany — Leaders of the far-right Alternative for Germany on Saturday reported a surge in membership and vowed to build on the party’s success in the European Parliament election, as they target wins in three state votes in the east this year. The AfD jumped to second place in nationwide polls last year amid frustration …

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Despite the war, schools across Ukraine are celebrating the end of the academic year. Some of them have a military air to them. About 7,000 Ukrainian teenagers are studying in more than 20 military academies around the country. Omelyan Oshchudlyak has the story. Videographer: Yuriy Dankevych. …

helsinki — Estonia’s ruling center-right Reform Party has chosen Climate Minister Kristen Michal to replace outgoing leader Kaja Kallas as prime minister of the Baltic country Saturday.  The unanimous decision to nominate Michal was made following a closed-door meeting by the party’s governing board, only two days after the European Union tapped Kallas to become the …

Read more “Estonia’s ruling party taps climate minister for country’s top job”

BELGRADE, Serbia — An attacker with a crossbow wounded a Serbian police officer guarding the Israeli Embassy in Belgrade on Saturday, Serbia’s interior ministry said. The officer responded by fatally shooting the assailant. Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said in a statement that the attacker shot a bolt at the officer, hitting him in the neck. He …

Read more “Attacker wounds police officer guarding Israel’s embassy in Serbia”

MOSCOW — A Ukrainian drone attack on a house in a Russian border village killed five people, including two children, the regional governor said Saturday. The drone hit a house in the village of Gorodishche, a tiny village in Russia’s Kursk region, just a few meters from the border with Ukraine. “To our great grief, five …

Read more “Ukraine drone attack kills 5 in Russian border village”