Southern Europe yesterday battled fresh fires in the wake of a blistering heatwave, with Greece awaiting the arrival of firefighting aircraft from Russia and Italy preparing to declare a state of disaster in the south.
The declaration, which was expected at a morning cabinet meeting, was aimed at appropriate funding for fire-ravaged regions of central and southern Italy, as well as Sardinia.
At least 4,500 hectares of protected areas have burned as well as more than 5,000 hectares of farmland worth some 1 billion euros (US$1.4 billion).
PHOTO: EPA
Another 15,000 hectares are believed to have been destroyed in the northern Peloponnese in Greece, one of the country's most scenic areas.
Greek fire-fighters continued to battle over a dozen wildfires around the country for a fourth straight day yesterday.
The largest front was in the southern region of Achaia in the Peloponnese, where over 230 firemen backed by troops and two helicopters fought a blaze that since Tuesday has destroyed around 100 homes and properties in local villages, killing three elderly villagers who did not flee the area in time.
"The situation has improved somewhat, but there are still many fronts in progress," a fire department press officer said.
Help was expected to arrive after Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged to send "water-bomber" aircraft following a request by Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis.
Fires were raging yesterday across the Greek mainland, from the northern regions of Ioannina, Kastoria, Florina, Pieria, Kozani and Salonika to the southern regions of Messinia and Corinth and the central region of Viotia.
Firefighters had trouble reaching two of the fires in Ioannina and Kastoria because of land mines dating from World War II and the Greek Civil War more than 60 years ago.
A Russian plane was also sent to traditional ally Serbia, joining firefighters, army and police units tackling 16 forest fires throughout the country, where more than 12,000 hectares were ablaze.
Helicopters and Canadair water bombers were likewise sent from Turkey, Slovenia and Croatia to Macedonia to help control more than 20 fires, some of them suspected to have been caused by arsonists.
Malaysia yesterday installed a motorcycle-riding billionaire sultan as its new king in lavish ceremonies for a post seen as a ballast in times of political crises. The coronation ceremony for Malaysia’s King Sultan Ibrahim, 65, at the National Palace in Kuala Lumpur followed his oath-taking in January as the country’s 17th monarch. Malaysia is a constitutional monarchy, with a unique arrangement that sees the throne change hands every five years between the rulers of nine Malaysian states headed by centuries-old Islamic royalty. While chiefly ceremonial, the position of king has in the past few years played an increasingly important role. Royal intervention was
X-37B COMPARISON: China’s spaceplane is most likely testing technology, much like US’ vehicle, said Victoria Samson, an official at the Secure World Foundation China’s shadowy, uncrewed reusable spacecraft, which launches atop a rocket booster and lands at a secretive military airfield, is most likely testing technology, but could also be used for manipulating or retrieving satellites, experts said. The spacecraft, on its third mission, was last month observed releasing an object, moving several kilometers away and then maneuvering back to within a few hundred meters of it. “It’s obvious that it has a military application, including, for example, closely inspecting objects of the enemy or disabling them, but it also has non-military applications,” said Marco Langbroek, a lecturer in optical space situational awareness at Delft
The Philippine Air Force must ramp up pilot training if it is to buy 20 or more multirole fighter jets as it modernizes and expands joint operations with its navy, a commander said yesterday. A day earlier US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said that the US “will do what is necessary” to see that the Philippines is able to resupply a ship on the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) that Manila uses to reinforce its claims to the atoll. Sullivan said the US would prefer that the Philippines conducts the resupplies of the small crew on the warship Sierra Madre,
AIRLINES RECOVERING: Two-thirds of the flights canceled on Saturday due to the faulty CrowdStrike update that hit 8.5 million devices worldwide occurred in the US As the world continues to recover from massive business and travel disruptions caused by a faulty software update from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, malicious actors are trying to exploit the situation for their own gain. Government cybersecurity agencies across the globe and CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz are warning businesses and individuals around the world about new phishing schemes that involve malicious actors posing as CrowdStrike employees or other tech specialists offering to assist those recovering from the outage. “We know that adversaries and bad actors will try to exploit events like this,” Kurtz said in a statement. “I encourage everyone to remain vigilant