Wildfires tear through towns in Greece as thousands flee seaside resorts

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2 years ago

July 18, 2023

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Two large wildfires have torn through coastal towns in Greece, as the country prepares for a second heatwave.

Fanned by strong winds, the wildfires have so far raged uncontrolled through two towns near Athens, damaging homes and forcing thousands of people to flee.

Hundreds of children have been evacuated from a summer camp, located around 50 miles (80km) west of the Greek capital Athens.

Footage shows the wildfires burning and smoke billowing in the air as firefighters work alongside local residents to battle back the flames.

Weather latest: Scientist warns of ‘truly terrifying’ conditions – with heatwave to ‘intensify’

Evacuation orders have been issued for at least six seaside communities as the wildfires edged closer to summer resort towns and gusts of wind hit 45mph (70kph).

One of the fires is reported to have started near the village of Kouvaras, about 17 miles (27km) southeast of Athens.

At least five houses are believed to have been severely damaged by the fire, which also tore through the seaside residential area of Lagonisi, a popular summer resort.

Police have helped evacuate more than 100 citizens in the wider area, with the towns of Kalyvia and Anavyssos also impacted.

Around 200 firefighters, assisted by aircraft, helicopters and soldiers from the Greek army, have been involved in battling the blaze.

“Due to high winds, the blaze spread across 12km (7.5 miles) in two hours,” Greek fire service spokesman Ioannis Artopoios told a televised briefing.

“Tuesday will also be a very difficult day. There is a very high risk for fires.”

He added that police had detained a person on suspicion of arson.

Around 1,200 children in a summer camp and the residents of a rehabilitation centre have been evacuated due to another wildfire burning close to the seaside resort of Loutraki, located west of Athens and near to the ancient city of Corinth.

Wildfires are common in Greece in summer – but they can still be deadly. A wildfire killed 101 people in the seaside town of Mati, east of Athens, in 2018.

There is concern among officials this year, because a dry winter has created tinderbox conditions in Greece.

The country is also in the midst of two intense heatwaves, with the second one this week expected to bring extreme heat to Greece and other parts of Southern Europe.

Meteorologists are warning temperatures will hit new record highs in countries such as Spain and Italy this week.

The heatwave is forecast to intensify in the next two days and could last into August, the World Meteorological Organisation has said.

A new anticyclone, named Charon, after the Greek mythological boatman who ferries souls to the underworld, is behind the heatwave.

From Thursday, the second heatwave will be felt in most areas of the country, with minimum temperatures reaching up to 43C (109F) on the mainland, 41C (106F) on the Ionian islands and 38C (100F) on the Aegean islands.

The Greek meteorological service has warned of a high risk of fire this week.

Greece’s recently re-elected Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, on a trip for a leaders’ summit in Brussels, said he was being briefed over the fires, which he attributed in part to climate change.

“Today was the first really tough day of this summer,” he said.

“It is certain that more will follow. We’ve had, we have and will have fires, which is also one of the results of the climate crisis that we experience with increased intensity.”

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Israel and Syria agree to ceasefire, says US ambassador to Turkey

Published

1 hour ago

July 19, 2025

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Israel and Syria agree to ceasefire, says US ambassador to Turkey

Israel and Syria have agreed to a ceasefire, the US ambassador to Turkey has said.

Several hundred people have reportedly been killed this week in the south of Syria in violence involving local fighters, government authorities and Bedouin tribes.

As the violence escalated in the southern province of Sweida, Israel launched airstrikes, including attacks on Wednesday on the defence ministry in Damascus and a target near the presidential palace.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government said it aimed to protect Syrian Druze – part of a small but influential minority that also has followers in Lebanon and Israel.

In a post on X, the US ambassador to Turkey, Tom Barrack, said Israel and Syria had agreed to a ceasefire supported by Turkey, Jordan and others.

“We call upon Druze, Bedouins, and Sunnis to put down their weapons and together with other minorities build a new and united Syrian identity,” Mr Barrack said in a post on X.

The Israeli embassy in Washington and Syrian Consulate in Canada did not immediately comment or respond to requests for comment from the Reuters news agency.

The ceasefire announcement came after the US worked to put an end to the conflict, with secretary of state Marco Rubio saying on Wednesday that steps had been agreed to end a “troubling and horrifying situation”.

After Israel warned it would destroy forces attacking Syrian Druze, Syrian President Ahmed al Sharaa told the minority group in a televised statement on Thursday that “we reject any attempt to drag you into hands of an external party”.

He then claimed Israel has “consistently targeted our stability and created discord among us since the fall of the former regime”.

It comes after the United Nations’ migration agency said earlier on Friday that nearly 80,000 people had been displaced in the region since violence broke out on Sunday.

It also said that essential services, including water and electricity, had collapsed in Sweida, telecommunications systems were widely disrupted, and health facilities in Sweida and Daraa were under severe strain.

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World

‘Horrific incident’ at sheriff training facility in LA – at least three people dead

Published

7 hours ago

July 18, 2025

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'Horrific incident' at sheriff training facility in LA - at least three people dead

At least three people have been killed after a “horrific incident” at a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department training facility, officials have said.

A spokesperson for the department said there was an explosion at the Biscailuz Center Academy Training in east LA.

The incident was reported at around 7.30am local time (3.30pm UK time).

Aerial footage from local channel KABC-TV suggests the blast happened in a parking lot filled with sheriff patrol cars and box trucks.

Attorney general Pam Bondi wrote on X: “I just spoke to @USAttyEssayli about what appears to be a horrific incident that killed at least three at a law enforcement training facility in Los Angeles.

“Our federal agents are at the scene and we are working to learn more.”

California congressman Jimmy Sanchez said the explosion had “claimed the lives of at least three deputies”.

“My condolences to the families and everyone impacted by this loss,” he said.

The attorney general said in a follow-up post that agents from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are “on the ground to support”.

The mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass, said the LAPD bomb squad has also responded to the scene.

“The thoughts of all Angelenos are with all of those impacted by this blast,” she said.

California Governor Gavin Newsom has been briefed on the incident, his press office said in a post on X.

“The Governor’s Office of Emergency Services is in contact with the Sheriff’s Department and closely monitoring the situation, and has offered full state assistance,” it added.

The cause of the explosion is being investigated.

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.

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World

Unmasked: The 18 Russian spies who mounted series of attacks on UK

Published

7 hours ago

July 18, 2025

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Unmasked: The 18 Russian spies who mounted series of attacks on UK

Dozens of Russian spies have been sanctioned by the government – including those responsible for targeting Yulia Skripal five years before her attempted murder in Salisbury.

The Foreign Office has announced that three units of the Russian military intelligence agency (GRU) have been hit with sanctions, alongside 18 military intelligence officers.

Politics latest: Diane Abbott suspended from Labour

GRU officers attempted to murder Yulia Skipal and her father Sergei using the deadly Novichok nerve agent in Salisbury.

The 18 military intelligence officers have been targeted because of a sustained campaign of malicious cyber activity over many years, including in the UK, the Foreign Office said.

The government also accused the GRU of using cyber and information operations to “sow chaos, division and disorder in Ukraine and across the world”.

One of the groups sanctioned, Unit 26165, conducted online reconnaissance to help target missile strikes against Mariupol, including the bombing of Mariupol Theatre where hundreds of civilians, including children, were murdered.

Other military officers who have been sanctioned previously targeted Yulia Skripal’s mobile phone with malicious malware known as X-Agent.

The Skripals had moved to the UK after Sergei Skripal became a double agent, secretly working for the UK. He was tried for high treason and imprisoned in Russia – and later exchanged in a spy swap.

But five years after Yulia’s phone was targeted, the pair were poisoned with the nerve agent, Novichok, in Salisbury. Russia has always denied being involved in the chemical attack.

Foreign Secretary David Lammy said: “GRU spies are running a campaign to destabilise Europe, undermine Ukraine’s sovereignty and threaten the safety of British citizens,” Foreign Secretary David Lammy said.

“The Kremlin should be in no doubt: we see what they are trying to do in the shadows and we won’t tolerate it.”

He said the UK was taking “decisive action” with the sanctions against Russian spies.

“Putin’s hybrid threats and aggression will never break our resolve. The UK and our allies’ support for Ukraine and Europe’s security is ironclad.”

Those sanctioned today include: