Month: August 2021

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis apologized Monday for government failures in responding to wildfires that have hit the country. Citing what he called an unprecedented heat wave and prolonged drought, Mitsotakis said the fires have been difficult to put out. He said more than 500 fires in total had broken out in recent days. “I fully understand the pain of our fellow citizens who saw their homes or property burned,” Mitsotakis said in a televised address. “Any failures will be identified. And responsibility will be assigned wherever necessary.” One massive fire has been ravaging the Greek island of Evia, charring buildings and pine forests and forcing thousands of people to …

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Russia has opened a criminal investigation into two exiled allies of jailed Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny for raising funds for organizations deemed by the authorities as “extremist.” The Investigative Committee said in a statement on August 10 that the case was opened against Leonid Volkov and Ivan Zhdanov and other unnamed individuals. FILE – Leonid Volkov, chief strategist for Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, speaks during a press conference at the Lithuanian Embassy in Brussels, Belgium, Feb. 22, 2021.According to the law enforcement agency, the charge stems from a video posted on the Internet in August in which Volkov and Zhdanov “announced …

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An American woman who has long accused the late businessman Jeffrey Epstein of sexual abuse sued Prince Andrew on Monday over alleged sexual assault. Virginia Giuffre filed the lawsuit in federal court Monday in Manhattan under the Child Victims Act. Giuffre, who now lives in Australia, said she was 17 when the assault by the member of the British royal family took place. In a statement, Giuffre said, “I am holding Prince Andrew accountable for what he did to me.” She said she hopes other victims will see from her lawsuit “that it is possible not to live in silence and fear but …

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More than 600 firefighters continue to battle a massive wildfire ravaging the Greek island of Evia that has charred buildings and pine forests and forced thousands to evacuate.The fire covering the country’s second-largest island has been blazing, uncontrolled, for seven consecutive days, resulting in the deaths of a volunteer firefighter and an Athens official.The United States and several European and Middle Eastern countries sent firefighters and firefighting planes and helicopters to Greece. Over the weekend, the U.S. Navy provided a reconnaissance plane from an airbase in Sicily, according to the Navy Times.An helicopter fills with water as people watch from …

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About 800 wildfires have struck Italy this year, tripling the normal annual average and causing millions of dollars in damage. But more than half of them were likely started by arsonists or farmers breaching fire rules, authorities say.A 50-year-old sheep and goat farmer was arrested last week after a surveillance camera captured him setting undergrowth afire Thursday near the town of Montesarchio, 48 kilometers from Naples in southern Italy, near to where another wildfire raged last year.Local officials say the farmer likely wanted to renew his pasture by burning it off in defiance of strict rules regulating such burns. They …

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The United States, in coordination with Britain and Canada, rolled out new sanctions on Belarus on Monday, the one-year anniversary of the start of protests in the eastern European country against elections that were widely seen as fraudulent. Since that time, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has taken harsh action against peaceful demonstrators and political opponents. “Rather than respect the clear will of the Belarusian people, the Lukashenko regime perpetrated election fraud, followed by a brutal campaign of repression to stifle dissent,” U.S. President Joe Biden said in a statement. “From detaining thousands of peaceful protesters, to imprisoning more than 500 activists, civil …

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Hundreds of people, among them many Belarusians living in exile in Poland, marched Sunday in Warsaw to protest political repression in neighboring Belarus — a demonstration held on the eve of the one-year anniversary of the Belarus presidential election that they consider rigged.Many carried the Belarusian opposition’s red-and-white flag, which is banned in Belarus, and chanted “Long live Belarus!”The protest focused on the Aug. 9, 2020, presidential election in Belarus in which President Alexander Lukashenko was awarded a sixth term in a vote that the opposition and many in the West view as fraudulent.A belief that the vote was stolen …

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A days-old fire burned through Greece’s second-largest island Sunday, prompting more evacuations.   Thousands of tourists and residents have fled the forested island of Evia since the blaze began on August 3. Scores of homes and other buildings have been destroyed, and reports show limited visibility beneath the haze and orange sky.   Evacuation orders were issued for four villages on the island Sunday, including the seaside village of Pefki, where hundreds of people fled on a ferry before flames reached the area.   Many people in the nearby town of Gouves refused evacuation orders, attempting to save their homes …

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