worldwide news
Turkey is seeing one of its worst wildfires in decades, with at least nine people killed as of Wednesday. The Turkish government is coming under growing criticism because its fleet of firefighting planes is out of action.Tourists and locals use buckets to fill a tank on a pickup truck with seawater to douse a nearby …
Read more “Fires Rage in Turkey as Anger Grows over Grounded Firefighting Aircraft”
Britain’s top military commander, General Nick Carter, said Wednesday that Western powers need to retaliate for a suspected Iranian drone strike on an oil tanker, which killed a British security guard and the ship’s Romanian captain — otherwise Tehran will feel emboldened.Speaking to the BBC, Carter, chief of the British Defense Staff, said if a …
Read more “Britain’s Top General Calls for Retaliation on Iran for Drone Strike ”
Greek firefighters on Wednesday grappled with fires razing swathes of forest land on the outskirts of Athens, forcing thousands of residents to evacuate and killing animals from tortoises to horses.The inferno has scorched the slopes of Parnitha, which includes a protected nature reserve, just north of Athens.It started in a wooden ravine and is the …
Read more “Greece Grapples with Massive Forest Fires, Evacuations”
The closed-door trial of two leading Belarusian opposition figures began in Minsk on Wednesday over charges stemming from their calls for protests against the official results of last year’s widely discredited presidential election.Maryya Kalesnikava and Maksim Znak are accused of conspiring to seize power, calling for action to damage national security, and encouraging actions harmful …
Read more “Leading Belarussian Opposition Figures Go on Trial in Minsk”
Officials in the Czech Republic say three people are dead and at least 40 are injured after a high-speed express train traveling from Munich, Germany collided with a commuter train near the western village of Milavce early Wednesday.Police say the dead include both drivers of the trains and a passenger. Fire and rescue officials say …
Read more “Czech Train Collision Leaves Three Dead, 40 Injured”
A Belarusian Olympic sprinter who said she faced punishment if she returned to her country departed Japan Wednesday on a flight bound for Austria. Krystsina Tsimanouskaya was scheduled to land in Vienna Wednesday afternoon. She is then expected to travel on to Poland, where the government has offered her a humanitarian visa. Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki posted Tuesday on Facebook that he had spoken …
More than 500 firefighters struggled through the night to contain a large forest fire on the outskirts of Athens, which raced into residential areas Tuesday, forcing thousands to flee. It was the worst of 81 wildfires that broke out in Greece over the past 24 hours, amid one of the country’s most intense heatwaves in …
Read more “Thousands Flee Homes Outside Athens as Heat Fuels Wildfires”
The United Nations accused the government of Iraq of the widespread torture of detainees held in the country’s detention centers. A U.N. report covers conditions in the centers from July 1, 2019 to April 30, 2021.Torture and ill treatment are prohibited under international law. Iraq ratified the international convention against Torture in 2011 and since …
Read more “UN Report: Torture Widespread in Iraqi Detention Centers”
A court in Belarus convicted a journalist of insulting the president in messages in a deleted chat group and sentenced him to 1 1/2 years in prison, the Belarusian Association of Journalists said Monday. The verdict in the case against Siarhei Hardziyevich, 50, comes as part of a massive crackdown that Belarusian authorities have unleashed on …
Read more “Belarus Sends Reporter to Prison Over Deleted Chat Messages”
Wildfires scorching some of Turkey’s most popular destinations have upended a nascent recovery in the country’s tourism sector hobbled for more than a year by the COVID-19 pandemic.Scenes of happy beachgoers flocking to coastal areas turned nightmarish as fires forced mass-evacuations of tourists and locals alike in cities such as Bodrum and Marmaris.Tuesday marked the …
Read more “Turkey Wildfires Scorch Recovery in Hobbled Tourism Sector”
France hopes to secure more than $350 million in humanitarian aid for Lebanon’s crisis-battered population at a donors’ conference it co-hosts with the United Nations Wednesday — marking the year anniversary of Beirut’s deadly port blast. International pressure is growing for Lebanon’s fractious parties to unify and push through reforms. Roughly 40 representatives of international …
Read more “Donors’ Conference Aims to Boost Lebanese a Year After Beirut Blast”
The British government’s scientific advisers have raised the prospect of fighting a forever war against the coronavirus saying the eradication of the virus “will be unlikely.” And they warn “there will always be variants.”They hold out the hope that the virus may evolve in such a way that it causes “much less severe disease,” but …
Read more “British Scientists Fear a Forever COVID War, Germany Opts for Booster Shots”
Belarusian Olympic sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya said Tuesday she is focused on her safety and seeking refuge in Europe after facing threats from officials at home.“They made it clear that upon return home I would definitely face some form of punishment,” she told The Associated Press in a videocall interview. “There were also thinly disguised hints …
Read more “Belarusian Olympian Says She Faced Punishment at Home”
A Belarusian activist was found dead in a park near his home in Kyiv early on Tuesday, a day after he was reported missing, Ukrainian police said. Vitaly Shishov, who led a Kyiv-based organization that helps Belarusians fleeing persecution, had been reported missing by his partner on Monday after not returning home from a run. Police said …
Read more “Missing Belarusian Activist Found Dead in Kyiv Park”
Huan Huan, a giant panda on loan to France, gave birth to twin cubs very early Monday, according to the Beauval zoo. The twins, born around 1 a.m., are Huan Huan and her partner Yuan Zi’s second and third cubs, after the first panda ever born in France, Yuan Meng, in 2017. “The two babies are …
Every day sees more Afghan refugees reach Turkey after a grueling trek across Iran. As far as they’re concerned their journey is far from over — they want to get to the countries of the European Union — for them the Promised Land. But it is a land that is unwilling to accept them and …
Read more “As Taliban Advances, Europe Fears an Afghan Migration Crisis”
A record number of migrants has crossed the English Channel from France to the United Kingdom this year in small boats. The British government is seeking to deter the migrants by making irregular migration a criminal offense.The migrants come from Africa, the Middle East and South Asia. Most are fleeing conflict or poverty.At its narrowest …
London’s Heathrow Airport welcomed fully vaccinated travelers arriving from the United States and most parts of the European Union Monday, the first day they could do so without going into quarantine.Heathrow Chief Executive John Holland-Kaye called lifting quarantine rules “a milestone,” saying it has allowed families to reunite that have been kept apart by the …
Read more “Britain’s Heathrow Airport Opens to Vaccinated International Travelers”
Polish authorities on Monday granted a humanitarian visa to a Belarusian Olympic sprinter in Tokyo to seek political asylum in Poland after she alleged her team’s officials were trying to force her to fly home to Belarus against her wishes.The runner, Krystsina Tsimanouskaya, told officials in Tokyo she feared she would not be safe in …
Read more “Poland Grants Humanitarian Visa to Belarusian Olympian”
A record number of migrants has crossed the English Channel this year from France to Britain in small boats. The British government is aiming to deter the migrants by making it a criminal offense to arrive in the country without permission, as Henry Ridgwell reports from London. Camera: Henry Ridgwell …
A record-breaking heat wave across southeastern Europe has fueled deadly wildfires in Turkey as well Greece and Italy and threatened the national power grid in Greece.Firefighters from the European Union arrived in Turkey on Monday where they joined local volunteers in fighting deadly wildfires along its coastline for a sixth day, The fires have been …
Read more “Heat Wave in Southern Europe Spawns Wildfires in Turkey, Italy, Greece”
Britain will begin offering a booster dose of a COVID-19 vaccine to 32 million Britons starting in early September, The Telegraph reported Sunday. The shots will be available in as many as 2,000 pharmacies with the goal of getting them into arms by early December. The government has been preparing since at least June, …
Read more “Britain to Offer COVID-19 Booster Shots This Fall”
Rescue ships picked up more than 700 people trying to cross the Mediterranean in makeshift vessels this weekend, mainly off the coasts of Libya and Malta, a migrant aid group said Sunday.The latest figures came as United Nations migration officials repeated their calls for a fairer mechanism to share the responsibility of caring for them, …
Read more “More Than 700 Saved From Mediterranean This Weekend, Aid Group Says”
Kosovo’s president on Sunday awarded a medal to the late son of U.S. President Joe Biden for his service in building the country’s justice system after war ended more than two decades ago.Beau Biden worked in Kosovo after the 1998-1999 war, helping to train local prosecutors and judges for the Organization for Security and Co-operation …
Read more “Kosovo Honors Beau Biden, Late Son of US President”