Greece braced for a new wave of soaring temperatures Tuesday, as wildfires raged on several popular tourist islands, forcing mass evacuations.

In the capital city of Athens the mercury is expected to soar to 41 degrees Celsius, and reach up to 44C in central Greece, according to the national weather forecaster EMY.

Many regions of the country were on “red alert”, meaning there is an extreme risk of dangerous forest fires exacerbated by strong winds.

The very hot weather comes after a weekend of intense heat as thousands of locals and tourists fled forest fires on the Greek islands of Rhodes and Corfu, with the prime minister warning the heat-battered nation is “at war” with the flames.

Authorities evacuated nearly 2,500 people from the Greek island of Corfu on Monday, after tens of thousands of people had already fled blazes on the island of Rhodes, with many frightened tourists scrambling to get home on evacuation flights.

More than 260 firefighters were still battling flames for an eighth consecutive day on Rhodes, supported by two helicopters and two planes.

Fires were also raging on Greece’s second largest island of Evia, where Greek civil protection authorities issued an overnight evacuation order in one northern locality.

The mercury hit 46.4C in Gythio, in the southern Peloponnese peninsula on Sunday, though it failed to reach the hottest temperature nationally on record of 48C.

“We are at war and are exclusively geared towards the fire front,” Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told parliament on Monday.

He warned that the country faced “another three difficult days ahead” before high temperatures are forecast to ease.

‘Protect our home’

The severe heatwave in Greece has also been reflected across much of southern Europe and Northern Africa.

In Algeria at least 34 people have died as wildfires raged through residential areas, forcing mass evacuations.

In southeastern France officials Monday issued a fire warning at the highest level in the Bouches-du-Rhone region, warning that the weather conditions make the risk of flames “very high compared to normal summers”.

The exceptional temperatures in Greece have forced key tourist sites such as the Acropolis in Athens to close at the hottest times of the day.

Vassilis Kikilias, Greece’s civil protection minister, said crews had battled over 500 fires around the country for 12 straight days.

The fires are particularly devastating on very touristic islands such as Rhodes and Corfu where the season is in full swing and hotels are often full.

Volunteers had come to the aid of foreign tourists in the north of the island where nearly 200 people are still camped out at a school after being evacuated from the fires on Saturday.

School director Kyriakos Kyriakoulis told AFP that dozens of local volunteers and school staff had come forward to help those stranded.

“I can’t believe they are so nice, they gave so much in every way,” said 69-year-old British tourist Christine Moody, who was spending her first vacation in Greece when the fires hit.

“I am very moved,” she said.

In the village of Vati, in the southeast of the island, local mayor Vassilis Kalabodakis said that the impact on the region was “tragic”.

“The village has been ordered to evacuate but we can’t abandon it,” he said. “We are leading the fight to protect our home”.

Scientists from the World Weather Attribution group said Tuesday that the heatwaves that have hit parts of Europe and North America this month would have been almost impossible without human-caused climate change.
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Latest Developments:

Between 3,450 and 3,650 Wagner group mercenaries have arrived in Belarus since the group’s short-lived rebellion, a military monitoring group said Monday. The fighters are camped close to Asipovichy, a town 230 kilometers north of the Ukrainian border. The Wagner mercenaries are training Belarusian troops as part of an agreement to end the Wagner revolt brokered by the Belarusian president between the Kremlin and Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin.





The Russian defense industry says it is now producing more munitions per month than it did in the whole of 2022, the RIA news agency reported.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said its staff saw directional anti-personnel mines located on the perimeter of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.

The IAEA said in a statement the mines were seen Sunday “in a buffer zone between the site’s internal and external perimeter barriers.” The agency said no mines were seen “within the inner site perimeter.”

Russia has controlled the site since the early stages of its invasion of Ukraine. The IAEA has repeatedly warned of the potential for a nuclear catastrophe as it advocated for safety and security measures at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant.

IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said was told the placement of the mines was a military decision and done in an area controlled by the military.

“But having such explosives on the site is inconsistent with the IAEA safety standards and nuclear security guidance and creates additional psychological pressure on plant staff — even if the IAEA’s initial assessment based on its own observations and the plant’s clarifications is that any detonation of these mines should not affect the site’s nuclear safety and security systems,” Grossi said.

IAEA experts are also continuing to monitor the availability of water to cool the plants reactors following the June destruction of the Kakhovka dam that affected a reservoir near the plant, the agency said.

“The site continues to have sufficient water for some months,” the IAEA said.

Grain exports

The U.S. Treasury Department said Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson will address how Russia’s exit from the Black Sea Grain Initiative will hurt African states as he makes a visit this week to Kenya and Somalia.

A Treasury spokesperson said Nelson will argue that Russia abandoned the grain deal despite U.S. efforts to facilitate the flow of Russian grain and fertilizer exports.

Russia withdrew from the grain deal last week, arguing it was not benefitting enough from a parallel initiative allowing Russian food and fertilizer exports despite Western sanctions.

“He will highlight the exemptions in U.S. sanctions that have always allowed the continued flow of food and agriculture transactions,” the spokesperson said.

Putin courts African leaders

Nelson’s trip comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin prepares to host African leaders in St. Petersburg Thursday and Friday promising them free Russian grain “to replace Ukrainian grain.”

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed to Russia to revive the U.N.-brokered grain deal to allow the flow of grain exports from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports.

During his speech at the opening of a three-day food summit in Rome, Guterres said the world’s hungry will be the most adversely affected if the deal is not renewed. “The most vulnerable will pay the highest price,” he said.

Some information was provided by The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters
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The French president is pressing his country’s interests in the South Pacific this week and trying to make France’s voice heard in a region shaping up as a prime geopolitical battleground for China and the U.S. 

President Emmanuel Macron’s trip to Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu and New Caledonia starting Monday comes as French forces take part in massive U.S.-Australian-led military exercises in the region. With troops, citizens and resources spread across its Pacific territories, France wants to protect its interests and project its power alongside like-minded democracies worried about China’s growing assertiveness. 

The most strategically important stop is Thursday in Papua New Guinea, which has seen growing Chinese influence and signed a new security cooperation pact with the U.S. in May. The most populous Pacific Island nation is also negotiating a security treaty with Australia. 

Macron’s office insists the trip is not aimed at pressing an ”anti-China policy,” but at encouraging regional powers to diversify their partnerships beyond Beijing and Washington. He felt the trip was needed because of “new, more intense threats” to security, institutions and the environment in the region, according to an official in Macron’s office who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly on the matter. 

His chief diplomatic adviser, Emmanuel Bonne, speaking at the Aspen Security Forum last week, said “China is a global challenge. It is a challenge for the U.S. as well as for the EU,” adding that “there is kind of a strategic awakening in Europe today” of the need for tougher policy toward China. 

But he insisted that Europe shouldn’t “delegate” its global security needs to the U.S. and should craft its own strategic policies. “If we want to remain relevant in today’s world and to tomorrow’s world as France, as Europeans, we need to be much more robust,” he said. 

Macron’s office says he plans to visit a French patrol ship in the area and offer infrastructure projects and a partnership to save forests and mangroves while ensuring jobs in Papua New Guinea, where France’s TotalEnergies is leading a liquefied natural gas project. 

The French tour is coinciding with trips by some top U.S. officials to the region, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to Tonga, New Zealand and Australia this week after a visit to Papua New Guinea in May. 

Macron began Monday in the French archipelago of New Caledonia, trying to rebuild trust after voters rejected a string of independence referendums that exposed entrenched frustrations of native Kanaks and inequalities with the mainland, and divisions over management of the region’s rich nickel reserves. Negotiations are underway for a new status for the territory and its institutions. 

“I am at our compatriots’ side to define the basis of this new path,” Macron said in a televised interview after arriving. 

Coastal erosion and other impacts of climate change top the agenda at each stop on Macron’s trip, in a region replete with islands that see periodic tsunamis and risk disappearing to rising seas, according to his advisers. 

France has been an uninterrupted presence in the region since the 19th century, thanks to its colonial history and continued control over territories that are home to 1.5 million citizens and some 7,000 troops across the Indo-Pacific. 
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Lithuania on Monday urged the European Union to use Baltic ports to export Ukrainian grain after Moscow declined to renew a 2022 deal on their safe passage through the Black Sea.

Russia has said it is ready to return to the agreement, which has allowed the export of nearly 33 million tons of grain from Ukrainian ports, if its demands are met “in their totality.”

Moscow says its own deliveries of agricultural products and fertilizers under the deal brokered by the United Nations and Turkey were hampered by Western sanctions.

A letter by three Lithuanian ministers to EU commissioners said Baltic ports could “serve as a reliable alternative for transiting Ukrainian products, including cereals.”

The letter, seen by AFP, said Baltic ports could help transport 25 million tons of grain annually.

It also asked the EU to cut red tape on Ukraine’s border with Poland, a member of the bloc.

Last week, Ukraine’s European neighbors urged the EU to extend a grain import ban until the end of the year, amid fears local farmers would be undercut by diverted Ukrainian supplies.

In June, Brussels agreed to allow Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Slovakia and Romania to restrict imports of grain from Ukraine through September.

Ukraine has accused Russia of stepping up attacks on ports, grain supplies and infrastructure vital to grain exports after refusing to renew the agreement.
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President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on the European Union on Monday to ensure that an “unacceptable and clearly non-European” ban on Ukrainian grain imports to five countries is lifted by a mid-September deadline.

The five central European countries want the EU ban extended at least until the end of the year. The ban is set to expire on September 15.

In his nightly video address delivered after a meeting with government officials, Zelenskyy said there could be no question of extending the restrictions beyond the deadline.

“We believe that the European side will fulfill its obligations regarding this date, when the temporary restrictions will cease to apply,” Zelenskyy said. “Any extension of these restrictions is entirely unacceptable and clearly un-European. Europe has the institutional capacity to act more rationally than closing this or that border to this or that type of good.”

Ukraine, he said, was “actively working with everyone to find a solution that is in line with the spirit of our Europe.”

The president had earlier written on the Telegram messaging app that any extension was “unacceptable in any form.”

The EU in May allowed Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia to ban domestic sales of Ukrainian wheat, maize, rapeseed and sunflower seeds, while permitting transit of such cargoes for export elsewhere.

The countries include some of Kyiv’s staunchest diplomatic supporters in its war against Moscow, but they say inflows of Ukrainian grain have hurt their farming sectors.

Poland will not lift the ban on September 15 even if the EU does not agree on its extension, its prime minister said last week.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin Monday signed new legislation which marked the final step in outlawing gender-affirming procedures, a crippling blow to Russia’s already embattled LGBTQ+ community.

The bill, which was approved unanimously by both houses of parliament, bans any “medical interventions aimed at changing the sex of a person,” as well as changing one’s gender in official documents and public records. The only exception will be medical intervention to treat congenital anomalies.

It also annuls marriages in which one person has “changed gender” and bars transgender people from becoming foster or adoptive parents.

The ban is said to stem from the Kremlin’s crusade to protect what it views as the country’s “traditional values.” Lawmakers say the legislation is to safeguard Russia against “Western anti-family ideology,” with some describing gender transitioning as “pure satanism.”

Russia’s crackdown on LGBTQ+ people started a decade ago when Putin first proclaimed a focus on “traditional family values,” supported by the Russian Orthodox Church.

In 2013, the Kremlin adopted legislation that banned any public endorsement of “nontraditional sexual relations” among minors. In 2020, Putin pushed through constitutional reform that outlawed same-sex marriage, and last year signed a law banning “propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations” among adults as well.
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High-profile British radical preacher Anjem Choudary appeared in a London court Monday, charged with leading a terrorist organization.

Choudary, 56, was charged Sunday with three counts under the Terrorism Act: directing a terrorist organization, membership in a banned organization and addressing meetings to encourage support for the organization between June 2022 and this month.

Prosecutors say the charges relate to the group al-Muhajiroun, which was outlawed by the British government in 2010. It has since operated “under many names and guises,” including the Islamic Thinkers Society, prosecutors say.

Choudary is alleged to have provided lectures to the Islamic Thinkers Society.

He was arrested at his home in London on July 17. He was charged alongside with Canadian national Khaled Hussein, 28, who was arrested at Heathrow Airport the same day after arriving on a flight.

Hussein, from Edmonton, Alberta, is charged with membership in a proscribed organization. Prosecutors say he worked with Choudary to provide “a platform” for the group’s views.

Neither man entered a plea during separate hearings at Westminster Magistrates’ Court. Both were ordered detained until their next hearing at the Central Criminal Court on Aug. 4.

Nick Price, from the Crown Prosecution Service Counter Terrorism Division, said that “criminal proceedings against Mr. Choudary and Mr. Hussein are now active and they each have the right to a fair trial.”
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An associate of imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was convicted on extremism charges Monday as the Kremlin continues to crack down on political activists.

Vadim Ostanin, who previously headed Navalny’s office in the southern Siberian city of Barnaul, was sentenced to nine years in a penal colony after being found guilty of organizing an extremist community and belonging to a nonprofit that “infringes on citizens’ rights,” Navalny’s team wrote on social media.

Prosecutors had previously asked for the 46-year-old to be imprisoned for 11 years.

Ostanin was detained in November 2021, several months after Navalny’s Foundation for Fighting Corruption and his regional offices were labeled as “extremist organizations” by the Russian government.

Ostanin’s case is the latest in a string of recent convictions against regional activists linked to Navalny’s work.

Lilia Chanysheva, who headed Navalny’s headquarters in the central Russian city of Ufa, was sentenced to 7½ years in prison on similar charges on June 14. Chanysheva described her case as politically motivated.

Navalny himself is also facing a new trial on extremism charges that could keep him in prison for decades. It is due to begin next week at a maximum-security prison 250 kilometers (150 miles) east of Moscow where the 47-year-old politician is already serving time on two different convictions.

Navalny, who exposed official corruption and organized massive anti-Kremlin protests, was arrested in January 2021 upon returning to Moscow after recuperating in Germany from nerve-agent poisoning that he blamed on the Kremlin. He initially received a 2½-year prison sentence for a parole violation. Last year, he was sentenced to a nine-year term on fraud and contempt of court charges.

The new charges relate to the activities of Navalny’s anti-corruption foundation and statements by his top associates. His allies said the charges retroactively criminalize all the foundation’s activities since its creation in 2011.

Navalny has rejected all the charges against him as politically motivated and has accused the Kremlin of seeking to keep him behind bars for life.
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Substitute Cristiana Girelli’s 87th-minute header gave Italy a 1-0 win over Argentina in their Women’s World Cup opener at Eden Park on Monday, denying the South Americans a first win at the global soccer showpiece.

Veteran striker Girelli, 33, replaced 16-year-old midfielder Giulia Dragoni in the 83rd minute and needed only four minutes to make an impact, beating goalkeeper Vanina Correa with a fine header to seal a hard-fought victory.

Italy plays Sweden in Wellington on Saturday. The two teams are level on points but Sweden holds a slender advantage in Group G, topping the group on number of goals scored thanks to their 2-1 win over South Africa on Sunday.

“When you have a player like Cristiana Girelli on the bench and you see that you can’t actually score … my choice was very simple,” Italy coach Milena Bertolini said.

“She’s a weapon for us. We had a lot of the ball but just couldn’t get it into the net. And so having a player like her on the bench, it’s natural that you ask her to take to the pitch.”

Italy’s Ariana Caruso and Valentina Giacinti both had goals ruled offside in a competitive first half after Argentina nearly made a sensational start to the game, when Mariana Larroquette’s bicycle kick went narrowly wide in the second minute.

After a slow start to the second half, Italy settled into their rhythm and looked more likely to score. Manuela Giuliano’s free kick drifted over the crossbar before Giadda Greggi drew a smart stop from Correa in the 82nd minute.

Goalkeeper Francesca Durante pushed away Argentine midfielder Florencia Bonsegundo’s attempt from a free kick in stoppage time, ensuring a winning start in the tournament for the 2019 quarter-finalists in front of a crowd of 30,889.

Bertolini was vindicated after putting her faith in Dragoni as the teenager impressed on her debut before making way for Girelli, the oldest member of Italy’s squad, who scored her 54th international goal on her 104th appearance.

“Giulia is a talent,” Bertolini said. “She was ready both technically and tactically. I think that she did very well considering her age and also playing in such a big stadium in such a big event.”

Argentina caused plenty of problems for Durante but could not manage a shot on target until Bonsegundo’s free kick in the 94th minute.

They next face South Africa on Friday in Dunedin, with both teams still searching for a first World Cup victory.

“It was a very even match,” Argentina coach German Portanova said. “At times we controlled it and they did not have many opportunities. The result was somewhat unfair. A draw would have been the right score.”
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Human Rights Watch said in a statement Monday that Mali’s armed forces and “apparently” the Wagner Group mercenaries “have summarily executed and forcibly disappeared several dozen civilians in Mali’s cental region since December 2022.”

Mali’s forces and the Wagner Group have also “destroyed and looted civilian property and allegedly tortured detainees in an army camp,” according to HRW.

The rights group said it has interviewed 40 people who know about the incidents, including “20 witnesses of abuses, three family members of victims, two community leaders, five Malian civil society activists, eight representatives of international organizations, and two Sahel political analysts.

HRW said it has also “reviewed a video showing evidence of abuses by Malian soldiers and associated foreign forces.”

Malian Foreign Minister Aodoulaye Diop urged the U.N. Security Council to withdraw the U.N. peacekeeping force in Mali or MINUSMA “without delay” due to a confidence crisis between Malian officials and the 15,000 members of MINUSMA.

Malian Foreign Minister Aodoulaye Diop urged the U.N. Security Council to withdraw the U.N. peacekeeping force in Mali or MINUSMA “without delay” due to a confidence crisis between Malian officials and the 15,000 members of MINUSMA.

The Security Council has decided to end MINUSMA’s presence in Mali, but its personnel will remain there until December 31.

With the upcoming end to MINUSMA’s presence in Mali, Carine Kaneza Nantulya, HRW deputy Africa director, said, “The African Union and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) should express their concerns about grave abuses by the Malian armed forces and allied apparent Wagner Group fighters and increase pressure on the Malian authorities to end these violations and hold those responsible to account.”
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Latest developments

A previously announced meeting of a new NATO-Ukraine Council, expected to address Black Sea security, has been scheduled for Wednesday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address.





Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country is capable of replacing Ukrainian grain exports to Africa after Russia left a deal allowing for safe shipments from Ukraine through the Black Sea amid Russia’s invasion.

Russia reported Ukrainian drone attacks Monday targeting Moscow and Russia-occupied Crimea, while Ukraine said Russia carried out its latest aerial attack on the southern port of Odesa. 

Russia’s military said it downed the two drones that attacked Moscow.  The city’s mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, said two non-residential buildings were damaged, but that there were no reports of casualties.  

Russian news agencies said fragments from a drone were found in the Komsomolsky area, near Russia’s defense ministry.  

In Crimea, the Russia-installed governor said a Ukrainian drone strike hit an ammunition depot, while air defenses downed 11 drones. 

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s military said Russia destroyed a grain depot and injured four workers in the latest Russian attack on port infrastructure in Odesa. 

Ukraine’s southern military command said it shot down three Russian drones that were part of Monday’s attacks. 

Russia has hit Odesa multiple times in the week since it announced it was leaving the Black Sea Grain Initiative that allowed for the safe shipment of grain from Ukrainian ports through the Black Sea. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy used part of his nightly address Sunday to decry Russian attacks on the city of Odesa, and in particular its historic center, one of UNESCO’s world heritage sites.  

Zelenskyy vowed to retaliate, saying, “They [Russia] will definitely feel this.”    

“The target of all these missiles is not just cities, villages or people. Their target is humanity and the foundations of our entire European culture,” Zelenskyy said Sunday in his nightly video address. “Last night, a Russian missile — it was an X-22, an anti-ship missile — hit the altar of the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral in Odesa. … One of the most valuable cathedrals in Ukraine.”   

Russian airstrikes damaged the historic Transfiguration Cathedral, as the site is also known, early Sunday.  

Father Myroslav, the assistant rector of the cathedral, said there was extensive damage inside.

“There was a direct hit to the cathedral; it completely damaged three altars,” he said.

Members of the clergy pulled icons from the rubble inside the cathedral. Mosaics were smashed. A security guard and clergymen were inside when the strike hit, but they survived.

The destruction of the historic monument has caused outrage and Zelenskyy pledged to restore the historic church.

UNESCO issued a statement “strongly” condemning the attack. European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell condemned the strike as a “new war crime.”

The first and foremost church in the city of Odesa was founded in 1794 during the Russian empire. It was demolished under Stalin in 1936. Its rebuilding commenced in 1999 after the dissolution of the Soviet Union and it was consecrated in 2003.

Blue Shield sites damaged

Separately, “a preliminary assessment in Odesa has revealed damage to several museums inside the World Heritage property, including the Odesa Archaeological Museum, the Odesa Maritime Museum and the Odesa Literature Museum. They had all been marked by UNESCO and local authorities with the Blue Shield, the distinctive emblem of the 1954 Hague Convention,” the UNESCO statement said.

Russia’s defense ministry claimed it struck areas that were suspected of being sites of terrorist acts but denied it had struck the cathedral and said the building had probably been hit by a Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile.

The airstrikes killed two people and wounded at least 19 others, including children.

Residents said the missiles hit only residential areas and small businesses.

Ukraine counteroffensive

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CNN Sunday that while Ukraine’s counteroffensive is going more slowly than originally hoped for, Ukrainian forces had reconquered half the territory that Russia had initially occupied when it invaded.

“It’s already taken back about 50% of what was initially seized,” Blinken said. “These are still relatively early days of the counteroffensive. It is tough.”

“It will not play out over the next week or two. We’re still looking I think at several months,” he said, as Ukrainian troops struggled to breach heavily entrenched Russian positions in the country’s south and east.

Blinken remarked that Russia has failed as far as what it was aiming to achieve when it invaded Ukraine.

“The objective was to erase Ukraine from the map, to eliminate its independence, its sovereignty, to subsume it into Russia. That failed a long time ago. Now Ukraine is in a battle to get back more of the land that Russia seized from it,” Blinken said.

Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Ukraine’s counteroffensive “has failed.”

While visiting St. Petersburg, Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, a key Putin ally, said Sunday, “There is no counteroffensive.”

Putin replied: “It exists, but it has failed.”

Some information was provided by The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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Firefighters struggled through the night to contain 82 wildfires across Greece, 64 of which started Sunday, the hottest day of the summer so far.

Their efforts were without the help of firefighting planes and helicopters, which do not operate at night.

The most serious fire was on the island of Rhodes. Some 19,000 people had been evacuated from several locations on the island as wildfires burned for a sixth day, Greek authorities said. No further evacuations had been ordered as of Sunday night.

The Ministry of Climate Change and Civil Protection said it was “the largest evacuation from a wildfire in the country.”

Local police said 16,000 people were evacuated by land and 3,000 by sea from 12 villages and several hotels. Six people were briefly treated at a hospital for respiratory problems. A person who fell and broke a leg during a hotel evacuation and a pregnant woman remained hospitalized, the latter in good condition, authorities said.

A number of tourists were waiting to fly back home from Rhodes International Airport.

The package holiday companies TUI and Jet2 canceled flights to Rhodes. But the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport later announced that 14 TUI and Jet2 flights carrying 2,700 passengers would depart from Rhodes airport by 3 a.m. Monday (0000 GMT).

On Saturday and early Sunday, 70,000 passengers traveled through the airport, with some being arrivals, the ministry said. The announcement did not break down the figures by arrivals and departures.

British tourist Kevin Evans was evacuated twice Saturday with his wife and three young children — first from Kiotari to Gennadi, then as the fire approached the island’s capital in the northeast, he told Britain’s PA news agency.

“There were lots of people in Gennadi sent from the hotels — many in just swimsuits having been told to leave everything in the hotel,” he told PA. “As night fell, we could see the fire on the top of the hills in Kiotari. They said all the hotels were on fire.”

Rhodes travel agent Stelios Kotiadis confirmed to the Associated Press that the evacuation was hasty. “There was panic. … The authorities were overwhelmed,” he said.

But, he said, the abandoned hotels “are in much better condition than reported in social media. … They will be ready to reopen very soon if Civil Protection gives the go-ahead.”

Kotiadis said he and other travel agents sent buses to the island’s southeast to pick up evacuated tourists. They had to go the long way around, since the road running down Rhodes’ eastern side was blocked in places.

“There were 80-90 people cramming into 50-seater buses,” he said. He added that 90% of the evacuated tourists are from European countries.

The British ambassador to Greece, Matthew Lodge, said the U.K. government was sending a rapid deployment team to support British nationals on Rhodes.

The Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that personnel had set up a help desk at Rhodes International Airport for visitors who have lost their travel documents.

There are substantial reinforcements from the European Union.

“Over 450 firefighters and seven airplanes from the EU have been operating in Greece as fires sprout across the country,” EU Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management Janez Lenarcic tweeted early Sunday afternoon.

“I called (Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis) to express our full support for Greece, which is confronted with devastating forest fires and a heavy heat wave due to climate change. Greece is handling this difficult situation with professionalism, putting emphasis on safely evacuating thousands of tourists, and can always count on European solidarity,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen tweeted Sunday evening.

The weather remained hot in the Mediterranean country on Sunday. A total of 180 locations experienced temperatures of 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) and above. The highest reading, 46.4 C, (115.5 F) was reached at the seaside town of Gytheio in southern Greece.

Of the 64 wildfires that broke out elsewhere in the country Sunday, the most serious was on Evia, Greece’s second-largest island, where authorities told residents of four southern villages to evacuate to the town of Karystos, west of where the fire was advancing.

Central Greece Vice Governor Giorgos Kelaiditis, who was near one of the villages, told state agency ANA-MPA that the situation is difficult:

“The fire may be 2 kilometers away, but the wind is strong, the growth is low, the smoke thick and the air is hard to breathe,” he said.

Northern Evia was devastated by wildfires in August 2021.

Other fires requiring evacuations broke out on the northeast side of the island of Corfu and in the northern Peloponnese, near the town of Aigio. Traffic on the old Athens-Patras national road, running across the coast, has been cut off.

Just before midnight, authorities called for more evacuations from Corfu and the northern Peloponnese. In the case of Corfu, they said the fire was “moving southeast on a broad front” and added that private vessels were on standby to pick up evacuees.

A fire that broke out west of the important archaeological site of Epidaurus, including a famous ancient theater, has been partly contained, the Fire Service said.

A relative respite from the heat Monday, with highs of 38 C (100.4 F) forecast, will be followed by yet more high temperatures starting Tuesday. However, it should get significantly cooler on Thursday, with temperatures in the low- to mid-30s Celsius, the country’s Meteorological Service said Sunday evening.

 
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No clear winner emerged in a nail-biting finish to Spain’s election on Sunday as the right failed to fulfill predictions of a victory big enough to push Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez from power. 

The two leading parties will seek to negotiate coalition deals in pursuit of a governing majority, but analysts warned the process could end in a hung parliament and another election. 

With 100% of votes counted by 1:30 a.m. on Monday (2330 GMT), the opposition center-right People’s Party (PP) had 136 seats in parliament while Sanchez ruling Socialists (PSOE) had 122 seats. 

Both were short of the 176 seats needed to govern. But the Socialists performed better than forecast while the PP failed to clinch a predicted clear majority, injecting drama into the vote counting.

The parties with the greatest potential to be kingmakers were nearly even with far-right Vox on 33 and far-left Sumar on 31 seats. 

The result meant that Sanchez went from likely outgoing premier to a potential contender to form another government. It also all but torpedoed the prospect of a far-right party taking part in another European government as pollsters had projected with a PP and Vox coalition. 

The Teneo advisory firm put Sanchez’ odds of forming a coalition far above those of PP leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo, with a 45% probability he could negotiate a deal with far-left Sumar and smaller parties. But it assigned the same percentage probability to a new election being required. 

Repercussions of uncertainty

The lack of a clear result cast a shadow on Spain’s current presidency of the European Union council and risked unsettling markets. 

Speaking to jubilant supporters outside the PSOE’s central Madrid headquarters late on Sunday, Sanchez said Spaniards had rejected the “backward-looking bloc, which proposed a total repeal of all the progress we have made over the last four years.” 

In a more muted address at the PP headquarters across town, Feijoo insisted his party had won the election and would seek to avoid uncertainty by speaking to all willing parties to form a government. Vox leader Santiago Abascal said Sanchez could block any attempt by the right to form a government. 

King Felipe VI will invite Feijoo, the top vote winner, to try to secure the prime ministership. In a similar situation in 2015, PP leader Mariano Rajoy declined the king’s invitation, saying he could not muster the support. 

If Feijoo declines, the king may turn to Sanchez with the same request. The law does not set a deadline for the process but if no candidate secures a majority within two months of the first vote on the prime minister, new elections must be held. 

Sanchez called a surprise snap election after the left took a drubbing in local elections in May. 

Sunday’s vote coincided with what would have been many Spaniards’ summer holidays and one of the hottest months in the sunbaked nation. Voters showed up in swimsuits and used ballots as fans while polling stations brought in air conditioners or moved voting tables outside. 

Turnout was up, at 70.40% compared to 66.23% in the last election in 2019. 

Polls in the weeks leading up to voting — and even those released as the final ballot box was sealed at 9 p.m. — predicted a working majority for Feijoo’s PP and Vox. 

Ignacio Jurado, political science professor at Madrid’s Carlos III University, blamed the PP’s negative campaign against Sanchez for a drop in support and said Sanchez’s abrupt move in calling snap elections might still pay off. 

“The PP needed something more, especially because Vox is a hindrance,” he said. 

‘This isn’t looking good’

As the results rolled in on Sunday night, a mood of jubilation outside the PP headquarters turned anxious as the gap between the PP and PSOE remained stubbornly slim. 

Galo Contreras, PP mayor of a town in the northern Burgos province, said he was not surprised the race was so close given missteps by the PP in the last week.

Each seat gained for the PP was loudly celebrated by the crowd of supporters. But one admitted as the night went on: “This isn’t looking good.” 

Meanwhile, at the Socialists’ headquarters, some senior officials were smiling. A supporter in the corridor said gleefully: “We were dead but we’re now alive.” 

Feijoo could try to persuade smaller parties to back a PP-Vox coalition. But many appear reluctant to support the ascent of a far-right party into power for the first time since the four-decade rule of dictator Francisco Franco, who died in 1975. 

Sanchez has more options for negotiations but may still struggle to cobble together a majority, with potential allies looking for concessions in return for their support. 

In the present scenario, Sanchez’s PSOE would rely heavily on Catalan separatist parties Junts and ERC or Basque separatists EH Bildu. 

Junts’ main candidate recently said the party would seek a new vote on Catalan independence in return for coalition support, while the region’s former leader, Carles Puigdemont, has said he would support neither Sanchez nor Feijoo. 

Jose Ignacio Torreblanca, director of the Madrid office of the European Council on Foreign Relations, said Spain was now faced with “a catastrophic tie.”
…

Herve Renard knows all about World Cup shocks. He also knows an early setback can be overcome in international soccer. 

With that in mind, the France coach was not unduly concerned by his team’s 0-0 with Jamaica on Sunday, which was one of the biggest surprises so far at the Women’s World Cup. 

Renard led Saudi Arabia to a famous win against Argentina at the men’s World Cup in Qatar last year, before Lionel Messi’s team rebounded and went on to lift the trophy for their country. 

“I’ve already won competitions after drawing my first two games,” said the two-time Africa Cup of Nations-winning coach. “Let’s talk about the World Cup 2022. I don’t think that we should be getting ahead of ourselves. 

“There are lots of people, lots of teams that start with the fanfare and are not there come the final and others are maybe slow to get out of the starting blocks.” 

While there is no need for France to panic, this was still an unexpected result for the fifth-ranked team in the world and one of the tournament favorites. 

By contrast, Jamaica is ranked 43rd and entered the tournament co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand having lost all its games at its World Cup debut in 2019 with a goal difference of -11. 

“We always tell our players just don’t worry about the rankings,” said Jamaica coach Lorne Donaldson, who declared his country’s first point ever in the competition as its greatest achievement in soccer. 

“I think it is the No. 1 result I have seen men or women,” he said. “I would put it there. If you go by the rankings, you would say that result on this stage has to be No. 1.” 

Jamaica’s players ran onto the field after the final whistle as if they’d been crowned world champions. It would have been a very different story had Kadidiatou Diani’s 90th-minute header not struck the bar. 

In a game of few chances, Diani had France’s best opportunities to score a winner, but could not find a breakthrough at the Sydney Football Stadium. 

She forced a save from Jamaica goalkeeper Rebecca Spencer in the first half and saw another effort deflected wide. 

Another header in the second half also went wide of the target before her late effort came back off the bar. 

The French were expected to be too strong for Jamaica, but favorites have not had everything their own way so far in the tournament. The 2019 quarterfinalists were the latest to struggle against an underdog. 

Australia needed a penalty to get a 1-0 win against Ireland, while European champion England also needed a spot kick to overcome Haiti 1-0. Nigeria held Olympic champion Canada 0-0. 

“The French are used to having the upper hand during the opening games, but this is something that is going to change because things are getting a lot closer,” Renard said. “We need to keep our heads up high, and we need to keep our confidence high.” 

Jamaica did well to disrupt a France team that struggled to put together fluid moves. 

In one of France’s few moments of quality in the first half, Diani saw a low effort bundled around the post by Spencer. From the resulting corner, Wendie Renard headed over from close range. 

Kadidiatou was fractions away from giving France a halftime lead when firing from the edge of the area. Chantelle Swaby managed to get something in the way of the shot, which deflected narrowly wide with the keeper beaten. 

After seeing another header go wide after the break, Kadidiatou almost came up with the decisive moment when hitting the bar. 

On an otherwise joyous night for Jamaica, it may come to regret the red card for star forward Khadija Shaw, who will be suspended for the next game. 

What’s next 

France plays Brazil in Brisbane on Saturday. Jamaica travels to Perth where it will face Panama. 
…

A previously announced meeting of a new NATO-Ukraine Council, expected to address Black Sea security, has been scheduled for Wednesday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address Sunday.

NATO spokesperson Oana Lungescu said Saturday that the meeting, requested by Zelenskyy in a telephone conversation with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, would discuss the situation following Russia’s withdrawal from a year-old deal overseeing grain exports from Ukrainian ports.

“In fact, the date was agreed upon immediately after our conversation yesterday,” Zelenskyy said. “The meeting will be held this Wednesday.”

He said the meeting was among events Ukraine was preparing for in the coming week that would strengthen the country’s defense. He said new support packages were being prepared including more air defense, artillery, and long-range weapons.

Lungescu said the meeting would address the operation of a corridor for grain exports and take place at the level of ambassadors. The council’s inaugural meeting, at NATO’s summit in Vilnius, was attended by heads of state or government.
…

U.S. golfer Brian Harman won the British Open on Sunday, easily fending off four other golfers by six shots to capture his first major championship.

Harman, the 26th-ranked player in the world, grabbed the lead in the year’s last major championship at the Royal Liverpool Golf Club in Hoylake, England, after Friday’s second round in the four-day tournament and never relinquished it.

British golf fans cheered for other players in hopes they could catch the 36-year-old, left-handed player and shouted some taunts at him that Harman said were “unrepeatable.”

But with other players unable to cut into his lead in a steady rain, Harman finally won cheers Sunday as he sank a 12-meter putt for a birdie on the par-4-14th hole and a shorter putt for another birdie on the par-5 15th.

He finished the 72-hole tournament at 271, 13 under par and 6 shots ahead of South Korea’s Tom Kim, Austria’s Sepp Straka, Australia’s Jason Day and Spain’s Jon Rahm.

It was Harman’s first victory on the professional golf circuit since 2017. He collected $3 million for the win, and the tournament’s ornate Claret Jug.
…

Danish rider Jonas Vingegaard has won the Tour de France for a second straight year as cycling’s most storied race finished Sunday on the famed Champs-Elysees. 

With a huge lead built up over main rival Tadej Pogacar, the 2020 and 2021 winner, Vingegaard knew the victory was effectively his again before the largely ceremonial stage at the end of the 110th edition of the Tour. 

Vingegaard drank champagne with his Jumbo-Visma teammates as they lined up together and posed for photos on the way to Paris. 

It had been a three-week slog over 3,405 kilometers (2,116 miles) with eight mountain stages across five mountain ranges. Vingegaard seized control of the race over two stages in the Alps. 

Little had separated the two rivals until Vingegaard finished a time trial 1 minute, 38 seconds ahead of Pogacar on Tuesday, then followed up the next day by finishing the toughest mountain stage of the race almost 6 minutes ahead of his exhausted rival. 

“I’m dead,” Pogacar said. 

The Slovenian rider responded by winning the penultimate stage on Saturday, but Vingegaard still had an insurmountable lead of 7 minutes, 29 seconds going into the final stage – a mostly ceremonial stage which is contested at the end by the sprinters. 

“We have to be careful not to do anything stupid,” Vingegaard warned Saturday, “but yeah, it’s amazing to take my second victory in the Tour de France.” 

Belgian cyclist Jordi Meeus won the final stage in a photo finish between four riders on the line, just ahead of Jasper Philipsen, Dylan Groenewegen and Mads Pedersen. 

“It was my first Tour. It was a super nice experience already so far, and to take the win today is an incredible feeling,” Meeus said. 
…

Neighborhoods in northeast Paris have struggled for years with the scourge of crack cocaine and its use in public. The Summer Olympics, kicking off a year from Wednesday, are offering an impetus to tackle the problem.

Yet despite a surge in arrests and new promises of tougher security around the 2024 Paris Games, some residents question whether the newfound focus is just pushing users elsewhere instead of treating medical and mental health problems, a lack of housing and jobs and other deeper ills at the root of the crack crisis.

Residents in the 18th and 19th arrondissements, or districts, of the French capital have long complained about the open-air crack use in their neighborhoods that stands in sharp contrast to the postcard-perfect tourist areas of Paris farther south.

Small groups of people could be seen using illicit drugs Sunday at the Porte de la Chapelle metro station and tram stop, located across the street from a new multi-purpose arena that is slated to host badminton and rhythmic gymnastics during the 2024 Olympics. Similar scenes play out along local quays and public parks.

Police cleared out a large encampment of drug users last year at Forceval Square, just outside a huge park that hosts the Paris Philharmonic and other cultural spaces. Since then, police have made an all-out effort to prevent more from gathering, deploying up to 600 officers a day in the northeastern part of the city alone.

Paris police chief Laurent Nuñez promised after taking his job in 2022 to eradicate crack from the streets before the Olympics. On Thursday, he declared the efforts a success.

Police have arrested 255 people for selling crack cocaine in Paris so far this year, Nuñez said, compared to 285 in all of 2022. Paris Prosecutor Laure Beccuau said an average of two people a day were brought to justice on charges related both to the consumption and selling of crack this year.

While residents welcome the attention to the problem, some say the number of users hasn’t necessarily diminished, but has instead been dispersed.

“If the chief of police congratulates himself today, it is because there have been no new camps,” said Frédéric Francelle, the spokesperson of Collectif19, an association of 19th-arrondissement residents calling for an end to drug use in the streets. “But there are still places where consumption is done in the open.”

Francelle said that while the city’s current focus appears to be security, drug users need medical and social help.

“We doubt that they’re really trying to treat them by the time the Olympics start,” Francelle said. “They’ll just pressure them to go somewhere else. They will try to move them to the provinces or the suburbs.”

Last month, a treatment center across the street from the new Olympic arena was moved a few blocks away. It is run by two community associations, Gaïa-Paris and Aurore.

Workers at the center say the number of visitors jumped 30% after the Forceval Square site was cleared but has dropped again, to around 150 people per day.

Local authorities have asked the associations to hire more people, open earlier and close later, according to Gaïa-Paris deputy director Victor Deprez.

“The idea is to broaden our capacities,” Deprez said. “In a way, their request is that these people are not visible in the streets during the day.”

Efforts also are underway to increase the number of hospital beds for crack users in the Paris region, up from 39 at five sites currently to 50 by September, said Amélie Verdier, chief of the Paris region state health agency. She could not provide an estimate of the number of crack users in Paris today, though past estimates ran to several thousand.

Police chief Nunez said the law enforcement presence around the new arena and other places in the city will be increased “by five or 10 times” during the Olympics.

The arena is among only a few venues being built from scratch for the Paris Olympics, all in underprivileged, multi-ethnic neighborhoods to give the areas an economic boost. The facilities will be used at the Paralympics too before being handed over to local clubs and schools.

“The Olympics are an opportunity to ask ourselves questions about the people who remain in the street,” Jamel Lazic, who oversees drug consumption rooms at Gaïa-Paris that are intended to reduce the harm to addicts and prepare them for treatment. “Maybe it will be an opportunity to try to deal with the problem and to open up large-scale facilities that can accommodate these people and have a bettter strategy. Why not?”
…

The Netherlands kicked off their Group E campaign with a 1-0 win over Women’s World Cup debutants Portugal at Dunedin Stadium on Sunday, thanks to a first-half goal from Stefanie Van der Gragt that was awarded on a VAR review.

The Dutch edged Portugal 3-2 a year ago in the European Championship group stage, but this time the Iberian side were no match for the team in their trademark orange and did not have a shot on target until the 82nd minute.

The Dutch scored in the 13th minute from a corner when Van der Gragt rose above the defense at the far post to head home, but the flag went up for offside when the lineswoman deemed Jill Roord to be obstructing the goalkeeper.

However, the offside decision for interfering with play was overturned on a VAR review by the referee after she watched a replay on the monitor and the goal stood, sparking a second celebration from the Dutch team.

“We celebrated the goal and then we saw the assistant referee, so we had to wait for the final decision,” Van der Gragt told reporters after she was named the player of the match.

“It’s always difficult to celebrate a second time but it was good. I’m really happy that we won, that was the most important thing today.”

Roord nearly made it 2-0 minutes later when she had a free header in the six-yard box, but the unmarked midfielder headed over the bar to hand Portugal a lifeline.

Portugal, however, failed to muster a shot on goal in the first half while at the other end they thwarted waves of attacks from the Dutch.

The story was the same in the second half when Portuguese keeper Ines Pereira denied Danielle van De Donk with a fine reflex save after some clever passing to set up the midfielder.

“Portugal were really combative. There were moments where we were great and moments where there is room for improvement,” Dutch coach Andries Jonker said.

Portugal substitute Telma Encarnacao finally created their best opportunity in the 82nd minute when she charged down the right flank and cut in to shoot, but Dutch keeper Daphne van Domselaar was up to the task and parried her attempt.

“We should have had a reaction after the goal, we had a well-balanced game and structure. But compared to other matches with the Netherlands, they had a lot more possession… This is where we suffered,” Portugal coach Francisco Neto said.

“The players showed great character to play the 2019 runners-up. We managed to break their rhythm, we just need to play more matches and get experience.”

The Netherlands move level with group leaders United States on three points but sit second on goal difference ahead of Thursday’s titanic clash – a repeat of the 2019 final where the Americans won their fourth World Cup crown.

“We’re not afraid of America, we respect them, we have no fear,” Jonker said, adding that their focus since June had been the opening game against Portugal.

“This was the most important game and now it’s time to focus on the United States.”

 
…

ATHENS, GREECE — Some 19,000 people have been evacuated from the Greek island of Rhodes as wildfires continued burning for a sixth day on three fronts, Greek authorities said Sunday.

The Ministry of Climate Change and Civil Protection said it was “the largest evacuation from a wildfire in the country.”

Local police said that 16,000 were evacuated by land and 3,000 by sea, from 12 villages and several hotels, with no casualties. Six people were briefly hospitalized with respiratory problems and were later released.

On Sunday morning, 266 firefighters and 49 engines on the ground were joined by five helicopters and 10 planes – seven Greek, two Turkish and one Croatian to help put out the wildfire, authorities said. A further 15 engines are expected later in the day.

In the mountainous part of Rhodes, an active front of the wildfire, firefighters have been trying to stop the blaze from spreading to nearby dense forests.

Southwest of the resort of Kiotari, the main focus of Saturday’s evacuations, a trench was being dug to keep the fire from crossing a creek and threatening another seaside village, Gennadi.

The weather remains hot in the Mediterranean country Sunday. Before midday, temperatures had already reached 38 C. Winds were low but are notoriously variable in Rhodes, as in other Greek islands.

Some of the evacuated, including tourists, are being accommodated in other hotels, gyms and a conference center. A shipping company has offered one of its ships for accommodation.

Managers from the evacuated hotels are seeking their former clients to get them in touch with their tour operators, authorities said.

Other island visitors have headed to the airport to try and fly home. Greece’s ministry of foreign affairs has announced that it is coordinating with embassies to assist those who might have left their travel documents behind during the evacuation.

Authorities have designated an unprecedentedly large part of the mainland, the whole eastern part of central and southern Greece, plus the islands of Evia and Rhodes as well as large swaths of the southwest, as Category 5, the highest for risk of fire outbreaks Sunday. A further chunk of Greece has been designated Category 4, very high risk.

Temperatures are expected to reach 43 C in the capital, Athens, Sunday and 45 C in the interior plains of central Greece.
…

MADRID — Polling began Sunday in Spain in a general election that could make the country the latest European Union member to swing to the political right.

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called the early election after his Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party and its far-left partner, Unidas Podemos, took a beating in local and regional elections in May. Sánchez has been premier since 2018.

Most opinion polls for Sunday’s voting have put the right-wing Popular Party, which won the May vote, ahead of the Socialists but likely needing the support of the extreme right Vox party if they want to form a government.

Such a coalition would return a far-right force to the Spanish government for the first time since the country transitioned to democracy in the late 1970s following the nearly 40-year rule of dictator Francisco Franco.

Opposing them are the Socialists and a new movement called Sumar that brings together 15 small leftist parties for the first time ever.

With no party expected to garner an absolute majority, the choice is basically between another leftist coalition and a partnership of the right and the far right.

Polling stations for the some 37 million voters opened at 0700 GMT and will close at 1800 GMT. Near-final results are expected by midnight.

The election takes place at the height of summer, with millions of voters likely to be vacationing away from their regular polling places. But postal voting requests have soared, and officials have estimated a 70% election turnout.

Sánchez’s government has steered Spain through the COVID-19 pandemic and dealt with an inflation-driven economic downturn made worse by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

But his dependency on fringe parties to his minority coalition afloat, including separatist forces from Catalonia and the Basque Country, and his passing of a slew of liberal-minded laws may cost him his job.

The right-wing parties dislike everything about Sánchez, saying he has betrayed and ruined Spain. They vow to roll back dozens of his laws, many which have benefited millions of citizens and thousands of companies.

The election takes place at the height of summer, with millions of voters likely to be vacationing away from their regular polling places. But postal voting requests have soared, and officials have estimated a 70% election turnout.

Coming on the tail of a month of heat waves, temperatures are expected to average above 35 degrees Celsius and to rise between 5 and 10 degrees Celsius above normal in many parts of the country Sunday.

Spain’s 36 million voters will be able to cast their ballots between 9 a.m. and 8 p.m. (0700 and 1800 GMT), with near-final results expected by midnight. 
…

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko will meet Sunday, the Kremlin said, two days after Moscow warned that any aggression against its neighbor and staunchest ally would be considered an attack on Russia. 

After Poland decided earlier this week to move military units closer to its border with Belarus in response to the arrival in Belarus of forces from Russia’s Wagner Group, Putin said Moscow would use all means to react to any hostility toward Minsk. 

The Kremlin said Lukashenko is paying a working visit to Russia and will talk to Putin about further development of the countries’ “strategic partnership.”  

While not sending his own troops to Ukraine, Lukashenko allowed Moscow to use Belarusian territory to launch its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and has since met with Putin frequently. 

The two countries have since held multiple joint military training exercises. In June, Lukashenko allowed his country to be used as a base for Russian nuclear weapons, a move broadly condemned by the West. 

The perception that Lukashenko depends on Putin for his survival had fanned fears in Kyiv that Putin would pressure him to join a fresh ground offensive and open a new front in Russia’s faltering invasion of Ukraine. 

On Thursday, the Belarusian defense ministry said Wagner Group mercenaries have started to train Belarusian special forces at a military range just a few miles from the border with NATO-member Poland. 

Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was shown in a video welcoming his fighters to Belarus on Wednesday, telling them they would take no further part for now in the war in Ukraine but ordering them to gather strength for Wagner’s operations in Africa while they trained the Belarusian army. 

 
…

A Russian war reporter was killed and three colleagues were wounded in Ukraine on Saturday in what the defense ministry said was a Ukrainian attack using cluster munitions, prompting outrage from Moscow.

In a separate incident, German broadcaster Deutsche Welle said one of its journalists, Yevgeny Shilko, had been wounded elsewhere in Ukraine in a Russian attack with cluster munitions that killed a Ukrainian soldier. It said his life was not in danger.

Cluster bombs are in the spotlight after Ukraine received supplies of them from the United States this month. Many countries ban them because they rain shrapnel over a wide area and can pose a risk to civilians. Typically, some bomblets fail to explode immediately but can blow up years later.

Reuters could not independently verify the use of such weapons in either incident on Saturday. Both sides have used them in the course of Russia’s 17-month invasion of Ukraine.

The dead Russian journalist was named as Rostislav Zhuravlev, a war correspondent for state news agency RIA. His three colleagues were evacuated from the battlefield after coming under fire in Ukraine’s southeastern Zaporizhzhia region, the defense ministry said.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova denounced what she called “criminal terror” by Ukraine and said, without providing evidence, that the attack appeared deliberate.

“Those responsible for the brutal reprisal against a Russian journalist will inevitably suffer well-deserved punishment. The entire measure of responsibility will be shared by those who supplied cluster munitions to their Kyiv protégés,” she said.

No comment was immediately available from Ukraine on the incident.

Ukraine has pledged to use cluster munitions only to dislodge concentrations of enemy soldiers. White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said this week that Ukrainian forces were using them appropriately and effectively against Russian formations.

Konstantin Kosachyov, deputy speaker of the Russian upper house of parliament, said the use of the weapons was inhuman and the responsibility lay both with Ukraine and the United States. Leonid Slutsky, a party leader in the lower house, called it a “monstrous crime.”

Their reactions ignored the fact that Russia’s own use of cluster bombs in the war has been documented by human rights groups and by the U.N.

U.S.-based Human Rights Watch said in May that Russian forces had used the weapons in attacks that had caused hundreds of civilian casualties and damaged homes, hospitals and schools. 
…

BELGRADE, Serbia — Three people died in Serbia during another deadly storm that ripped through the Balkans this week, local media said Saturday.

The storm Friday first swept through Slovenia, moving on to Croatia and then Serbia and Bosnia, with gusts of wind and heavy rain. Authorities reported power distribution issues and extensive damage — including fallen trees — that destroyed cars and rooftops.

On Wednesday, another storm killed six people in the region, four in Croatia, one in Slovenia and another in Bosnia.

Meteorologists said the storms were of such powerful magnitude because they followed a string of extremely hot days. Experts say extreme weather conditions are likely fueled by climate change.

In the northern Serbian city of Novi Sad, a 12-year-old was found dead in the street during the storm, but it remains unclear whether he was struck by lightning or was electrocuted, said the official RTS television.

Local media say Novi Sad was hit the hardest, with the storm damaging the roof of the city’s exhibition hall. Some 30 people have sought medical help, and many streets remained blocked Saturday morning.

In the village of Kovacica, in northeastern Serbia, a woman died from smoke inhalation after a fire erupted when lightning hit a tree by her house, the RTS said.

Serbian police said Saturday that a man died in the northwestern town of Backa Palanka after he tried to remove power cables that fell on his house gate.

In Croatia, the storm wreaked havoc in various parts of the country, as authorities were already scrambling to control the damage left by Wednesday’s storm.

“We work night and day, no stopping,” Nermin Brezovcanin, a construction worker in the capital, Zagreb, told the official HRT TV.

Several people were injured in a tourist campsite in the northern Istria peninsula packed with visitors from abroad during the summer. Croatia’s Adriatic Sea coastline and islands attract millions of tourists each summer.

Slovenia reported that storms hugely damaged forests in the Alpine nation and warned of potential flash floods.

Elsewhere in Europe, a continuing heat wave caused wildfires and public health warnings.
…