GREECE
New fires force evacuations
Two new brushfires have broken out, forcing the overnight evacuation of four villages on the island of Evia, authorities said yesterday. The new blazes came several hours after a major blaze led to the mobilization of more than 100 firefighters and the evacuation of another village. The island’s fire department said that the two new fires broke out simultaneously shortly before midnight on Thursday. Firefighters managed to limit the spread of the initial blaze, but it continued to burn. A total of 255 firefighters, four water bombers and three helicopters, along with 100 ground vehicles and earth-moving machinery, were battling the three fires.
POLAND
Tax break for young passed
Lawmakers have approved a measure that would exonerate most workers younger than 26 from income taxes as the government seeks to stem the flow of young people to other EU nations in search of better-paying jobs. The Sejm approved the measure introduced by the ruling conservatives in a vote late on Thursday by an overwhelming majority. The bill would exonerate workers younger than 26 from the 18 percent personal income tax for those whose gross earnings do not surpass 85,500 zlotys (US$22,696) per year. That level is higher than the nation’s average income, estimated to be about 60,000 zlotys per year before tax. The approval of the measure by the Senate and its signature by the president is widely expected. About 2 million people could benefit from the measure, said supporters of the legislation, which should enter into force from Aug. 1. The nation has long been hemorrhaging skilled workers to other EU states where they can find better-paying jobs, posing both a long-term demographic risk and a short-term problem to find enough workers to continue a streak of economic growth since the fall of communism in 1989. The measure was one of the campaign promises made by the ruling Law and Justice party ahead of the European parliamentary elections in May and legislative elections scheduled for later this year.
UNITED STATES
City blocks off skate ramp
A homemade skate ramp made in part from ashes of a man shot and killed at an Albuquerque, New Mexico, skate park is now blocked off. KOAT-TV reported that the city government this week temporarily blocked off access to the memorial, because it was built without permission from officials. Albuquerque Parks and Recreation Director Dave Simon said that nothing may be constructed on city property without prior authorization. City officials have said that they want to assess the ramp for safety and structural integrity. Cody Raver was shot and killed at Los Altos skate park in April. His friends built the ramp at the skate park in his honor and mixed some of his ashes in with the cement.
Indonesia and Malaysia have become the first countries to block Grok, the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot developed by Elon Musk’s xAI, after authorities said it was being misused to generate sexually explicit and nonconsensual images. The moves reflect growing global concern over generative AI tools that can produce realistic images, sound and text, while existing safeguards fail to prevent their abuse. The Grok chatbot, which is accessed through Musk’s social media platform X, has been criticized for generating manipulated images, including depictions of women in bikinis or sexually explicit poses, as well as images involving children. Regulators in the two Southeast Asian
COMMUNIST ALIGNMENT: To Lam wants to combine party chief and state presidency roles, with the decision resting on the election of 200 new party delegates next week Communist Party of Vietnam General Secretary To Lam is seeking to combine his party role with the state presidency, officials said, in a move that would align Vietnam’s political structure more closely to China’s, where President Xi Jinping (習近平) heads the party and state. Next week about 1,600 delegates are to gather in Hanoi to commence a week-long communist party congress, held every five years to select new leaders and set policy goals for the single-party state. Lam, 68, bade for both top positions at a party meeting last month, seeking initial party approval ahead of the congress, three people briefed by
Yemen’s separatist leader has vowed to keep working for an independent state in the country’s south, in his first social media post since he disappeared earlier this month after his group briefly seized swathes of territory. Aidarous al-Zubaidi’s United Arab Emirates (UAE)-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) forces last month captured two Yemeni provinces in an offensive that was rolled back by Saudi strikes and Riyadh’s allied forces on the ground. Al-Zubaidi then disappeared after he failed to board a flight to Riyadh for talks earlier this month, with Saudi Arabia accusing him of fleeing to Abu Dhabi, while supporters insisted he was
The Chinese Embassy in Manila yesterday said it has filed a diplomatic protest against a Philippine Coast Guard spokesman over a social media post that included cartoonish images of Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Jay Tarriela and an embassy official had been trading barbs since last week over issues concerning the disputed South China Sea. The crucial waterway, which Beijing claims historic rights to despite an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis, has been the site of repeated clashes between Chinese and Philippine vessels. Tarriela’s Facebook post on Wednesday included a photo of him giving a
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