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 broke out in residential areas and spread rapidly due to strong winds in Keratea and Stamata were tackled,” Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Minister Vasilis Kikilias said late on Sunday.   He said there was no longer an active front in Stamata, north of Athens, …

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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. Together we are stronger than alone. Especially now,” the 57-year-old Rutte said from his office in The Hague. After leading the country for 14 years, he will take his experience with consensus-building to Brussels, where he will take over as NATO’s new secretary-general later this …

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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 permitted. Turkish police blocked central Istanbul to prevent the march from taking place, shutting down metro stations and blocking traffic on the main streets.  President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Islamic-rooted AK Party has toughened its rhetoric against the LGBTQ+ community over the past decade and banned …

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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 at least a quarter of the European Union’s 27 member states are needed to officially form a new political group.    While Fidesz has remained outside larger groupings since it parted ways with the mainstream center-right European People’s Party (EPP) in 2021, the FPO is part …

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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 DJ and model — on the eve of the annual Pride celebration, which Turkey’s government routinely bans. During his re-election campaign last year, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his allies turned the LGBTQ community into his favorite target, railing against them as “perverse” and …

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TOKYO — The Paris Olympics open next month and the agency that oversees doping enforcement is under scrutiny following allegations it failed to pursue positive tests of Chinese swimmers who subsequently won medals — including three gold — at the Tokyo Games in 2021. The focus on the World Anti-Doping Agency and China’s swimmers raises questions for athletes about the fairness of the competitions and the effectiveness of doping control at the Olympics. “It’s hard going into Paris knowing that we’re going to be racing some of these athletes,” American swimmer Katie Ledecky, a seven-time Olympic champion, said in a television …

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PARIS — Voters across mainland France have begun casting ballots Sunday in the first round of exceptional parliamentary election that could put France’s government in the hands of nationalist, far-right forces for the first time since the Nazi era. The outcome of the two-round election, which will wrap up July 7, could impact European financial markets, Western support for Ukraine and how France’s nuclear arsenal and global military force are managed. Many French voters are frustrated about inflation and economic concerns, as well as President Emmanuel Macron’s leadership, which they see as arrogant and out-of-touch with their lives. Marine Le Pen’s …

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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. It was to be followed later Saturday by a concert and a series of parties. “This participation from across Europe sends a message,” parade participant Michalis Filippidis told the Associated Press. “It is very, very good. We are all united like a fist and, despite …

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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 with infighting in Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition, worries over sluggish growth in Europe’s largest economy, and concerns over the impact of the war in Ukraine. While a string of scandals and anti-extremism protests has dampened the AfD’s support in recent months, the nationalist, Eurosceptic party …

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