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Anger rises in Greece as fires destroy homes near Athens

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:23:24 GMT

ATHENS ― As thick black smoke filled the Athenian sky and blazes consumed homes in the suburbs, a political firestorm broke out among Greek politicians Wednesday.Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated from the Greek capital’s suburbs as fires burn through vast swathes of the densely forested Mount Parnitha and other parts of the country, and critics blame Greece’s government for mismanagement and inadequate preparation.“We are experiencing days of complete collapse,” said Stergios Kalpakis, spokesman for the main opposition Syriza party, arguing that the state had been incompetent. He accused Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis of “grandstanding” in July when he said the country was prepared for the summer and the likelihood of fires. “It’s a shame, we don’t have any water,” Thodoris Rentzos, a volunteer firefighter in Parnitha, told Open TV. “For three hours, not even a water truck. The regional authority is absent.”Gree...

Rishi Sunak broke rules by failing to properly declare wife’s shares in a childcare firm

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:23:24 GMT

LONDON — U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak broke parliament’s standards rules by failing to properly declare his wife’s shareholding in a childcare firm that stood to benefit from government policy, an investigation found.But the failure was the result of “confusion” over the process and happened inadvertently, according to parliamentary standards commissioner Daniel Greenberg. Sunak has apologized.“Having considered the information available to me, I have decided that the breach of the Code appears to have been inadvertent and that this inquiry should be concluded through the rectification procedure,” Greenberg said in a report published on Thursday.Greenberg launched the investigation in April after receiving reports about a potential breach of the rules. At a March hearing of House of Commons liaison committee, Sunak was questioned about a government childcare initiative which would provide incentive payments to people signing up as new child-minders through one of ...

Tee Thursday: Marion GC a unique course

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:23:24 GMT

I’ve long been a lover of the old-school ski area; where a red double chairlift still labors up the hill and trails are cut narrow and winding.Mind you, I love a modern high-speed lift and an impeccably groomed modern mountain too; loving old and new are not mutually exclusive. But old school? It’s a cool, interesting and special way to experience a mountain.Now I know: I feel that way about golf courses too. I discovered this when I played my very first round at historic, quirky-in-a-good way Marion Golf Club (https://www.mariongolfclub.com).Known affectionately to locals as “Little Marion,” I was drawn to try a round there after I learned it was the very first course designed by George Thomas, who would go on to design top world destinations like The Los Angeles Country Club where the US Open of Golf was played this summer.We arrived on a partly cloudy Wednesday midday, having secured a twosome online the day prior. We got there early and when we checked in (there’s a tiny, basic ...

Plane crash believed to have killed Russian mercenary chief is seen as Kremlin’s revenge

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:23:24 GMT

Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin and top officers of his private Wagner military company were presumed dead in a plane crash that was widely seen as an assassination, two months after they staged a mutiny that dented Russian President Vladimir Putin’s authority.Russia’s civil aviation agency said that Prigozhin and six top lieutenants were on a business jet that crashed Wednesday, soon after taking off from Moscow, with a crew of three. Rescuers quickly found all 10 bodies, and Russian media cited sources in Prigozhin’s Wagner company who confirmed his death.U.S. and other Western officials long expected Putin to go after Prigozhin, despite promising to drop charges in a deal that ended the June 23-24 mutiny.“I don’t know for a fact what happened but I’m not surprised,” U.S. President Joe Biden said. “There’s not much that happens in Russia that Putin’s not behind.”Prigozhin supporters claimed on pro-Wagner messaging app channels that the plane was deliberately ...

Iran, Saudi Arabia and Egypt are among 6 nations set to join the BRICS economic bloc

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:23:24 GMT

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Iran and Saudi Arabia are among six countries that will join the BRICS bloc of developing economies as new members from 2024, South Africa’s president said Thursday. United Arab Emirates, Argentina, Egypt and Ethiopia are also set to join the bloc that is currently made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, whose country presently chairs BRICS, made the announcement at a bloc summit in Johannesburg. The five current members agreed at this week’s summit to expand the bloc after two days of talks, although Ramaphosa said the idea of expansion had been worked on for over a year.It’s the second time that BRICS has decided to expand. The bloc was formed in 2009 by Brazil, Russia, India and China. South Africa was added in 2010. The BRICS bloc currently represents around 40% of the world’s population and contributes more than a quarter of global GDP.Three of the group’s other leaders, ...

Stock market today: Global shares mostly rise after Wall Street rally

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:23:24 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Global markets mostly rose Thursday after Wall Street rallied to its best day since June as pressures from the bond market relaxed a bit. France’s CAC 40 added 0.9% in early trading to 7,314.49. Germany’s DAX gained 0.8% to 15,859.15. Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.4% to 7,349.46. U.S. shares were set to trade mixed with Dow futures slipping less than 0.1% to 34,510.00, while S&P 500 futures gained 0.6% to 4,475.25. Oil prices fell. Asian benchmarks rose. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 gained 0.9% to finish at 32,287.21. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added 0.5% to 7,182.10. South Korea’s Kospi jumped 1.3% to 2,537.68. The Bank of Korea’s Monetary Policy Board left the base rate unchanged at 3.50%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng surged 2.1% to 18,212.17, while the Shanghai Composite rose 0.1% to 3,082.24. A major event of the week for markets is a speech later in the day by U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. He is speaking at a Ja...

Republican candidates fight each other, and mostly line up behind Trump, at the first debate

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:23:24 GMT

MILWAUKEE (AP) — The Republican presidential candidates vying to be the leading alternative to front-runner Donald Trump fought — sometimes bitterly — over abortion rights, U.S. support for Ukraine and the type of experience needed to manage an expansive federal government during the first debate of the 2024 campaign. But when it came to arguably the most consequential choice facing the party, virtually everyone on the debate stage in Milwaukee on Wednesday night lined up behind Trump, who declined to participate, citing his commanding lead. Most said they would support Trump as their nominee even if he is convicted in a series of cases that range from his handling of classified documents to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his role in making hush money payments to a porn actress and other women.“Let’s just speak the truth,” said tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. “President Trump, I believe, was the best president of the 21st century. It’s a fact.”In the face of ...

UK political watchdog says Prime Minister Rishi Sunak ‘inadvertently’ broke ethics rules

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:23:24 GMT

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was chided by Parliament’s standards guardian on Thursday for failing to declare his wife’s financial interest in a childcare firm that stood to benefit from government policy.Standards Commissioner Daniel Greenberg said Sunak broke the code of conduct for government ministers, but said the mistake was “inadvertent” and that the prime minister should not be sanctioned for the error.Greenberg opened an investigation in April over Sunak’s failure to declare when questioned by a committee of lawmakers that his wife. Akshata Murthy, held shares in the company Koru Kids, which had been selected to receive government support for childcare firms.Greenberg said Murthy’s shareholding “was a relevant interest that should have been declared.” But he said the failure stemmed from confusion about the rules rather than an intent to deceive.“I confirm that the matter is now closed,” he said.Sunak apologized for the mistake.The finding follows a stri...

Niger junta’s 3-year transition plan is a ‘provocation,’ says West African regional bloc

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:23:24 GMT

NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — The West African bloc ECOWAS rejected the proposal by Niger’s mutinous soldiers for a three-year transition to democratic rule, with a commissioner describing the slow timeline as a provocation.The door for diplomacy with Niger’s junta remained open but the bloc is not going to engage in drawn-out talks that lead nowhere, Abdel-Fatau Musah, the ECOWAS commissioner for peace and security, told The Associated Press in an interview Wednesday. “It is the belief among the ECOWAS heads of state and also the commission that the coup in Niger is one coup too many for the region and if we allow it then we are going to have a domino effect in the region and we are determined to stop it,” Musah said. While direct talks and backchannel negotiations are ongoing, he said the door to diplomacy wasn’t open indefinitely.“We are not going to engage in long, drawn out haggling with these military officers … We went down that route in Mali, in Burkina Faso and elsewhere, and ...

In the news today: NWT officials turning residents back as wildfire threat remains

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:23:24 GMT

Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed on what you need to know today…N.W.T. officials want evacuees to stay out for nowNorthwest Territories officials are using roadblocks to turn back Yellowknife residents who are attempting to return home despite the city still being under a state of emergency.All but about 1,600 of Yellowknife’s 20,000 residents have left the community due to the continued threat of wildfires that have caused the evacuation of a number of northern communities.The government of the N.W.T clarified its evacuation order Wednesday, telling the non-essential personnel who remain that they need to leave and those who think the danger is over to stay away. The fact that the fires haven’t progressed over the past few days has prompted some to believe the threat is over.Heavy rain aids in tempering B.C. wildfiresFirefighters in British Columbia’s southern Interior continue to battle a number of major...