Devastating forest fires in Greece
Fires around the northern parts of Evia, Greece’s second largest island, have destroyed more than 120,000 hectares of pine forest, destroyed homes and displaced hundreds of people. More than 20 countries have offered assistance to fight the fires, and the Greek Prime Minister has declared them “a natural disaster of unprecedented magnitude”.
A record-breaking heat wave that has reached temperatures as high as 46 degrees Celsius or 115 degrees Fahrenheit has also sparked wildfires in Sweden, Finland and Norway, in yet another episode of extreme weather brought on by man-made climate change that scientists have now concluded is irreversible.
Elsewhere in Europe, once-in-a-millennium floods in Germany, Belgium, Switzerland and the Netherlands have killed at least 196 people. Some places in Italy reached more than 118 degrees Fahrenheit this week as parts of the country were alternately scorched by fire, ravaged by hailstorms, or engulfed by floods.
Extreme weather: Dozens of people were rescued and others went missing after floods ripped through Turkey, flooding roads and closing access to large areas.
Related: The heat wave hissing the Pacific Northwest appears to have been far more deadly than official estimates, according to an analysis by the Times. During a blistering week in late June, about 600 more people died in Oregon and Washington than would have been normal.
Hospitals in the state are flooded with coronavirus patients, with some resorting to outdoor overflow tents. More than 10,000 Texans have been hospitalized this week and at least 53 hospitals have reached maximum capacity in their intensive care units.
By the numbers: About one in five U.S. hospitals with intensive care units, or 583 hospitals in total, recently reported that at least 95 percent of their ICU beds were full.
Here are the latest updates and maps of the pandemic.
In other developments:
Questions About Trump’s Golf Course Funding
Donald Trump may be forced to explain how he financed the purchase of two golf courses in Scotland, paving the way for a possible investigation.
The Scottish government had resisted pressure to demand financial details from Trump through an “unexplained wealth warrant,” a powerful legal tool commonly used against leading figures in organized crime or drug trafficking. But on Wednesday, a Scottish judge ruled that Avaaz, an online campaign group, should be given the right to challenge the government’s rejection of calls for such a move.
While it’s far from clear that such an investigation will ever take place in this case, Wednesday’s court ruling nonetheless represents a setback for the former president, whose financial and tax transactions in the US are being investigated.
citable: “If you don’t think there is reasonable suspicion about these purchases, then I don’t think you’ve been paying attention,” said Nick Flynn, Avaaz’s legal director. “It is the collective responsibility of Scottish ministers to act on this.”
Election Fraud: Byung Pak, a former U.S. attorney in Atlanta, told congressional investigators he abruptly resigned in January after a warning from Justice Department officials that Trump was planning to fire him for refusing to say there was widespread voter fraud in Georgia. found it.
New pronunciation: Trump’s accounting firm must give Congress its tax and other financial data from his time in the White House, a judge ruled yesterday.
THE LAST NEWS
Other great stories
Fourteen years ago, a mother organized a gender-nonconforming summer camp where children were free to express themselves. A photographer caught up with some kids a decade later, as they matured.
Elias, above, spent four summers at Camp I Am. “At the time, I was two different Eliases: School/Outdoors Elias and Dress-Up Elias,” he said. “At camp I could be Dress-Up Elias all the time.”
ART AND IDEAS
The Edinburgh Fringe, small writ
Before the pandemic, the Edinburgh Fringe, which opened on Friday and runs through August 30, was only surpassed by the Olympics and the World Cup in terms of crowd size. But some residents had called for a smaller festival — a wish granted by the pandemic.
In 2019, when it was last held, The Fringe sold more than three million tickets for 3,841 shows at 323 venues. Fewer than 850 shows will be presented this year, including a third online, following a $1.4 million bailout by the government to cover the costs of the canceled 2020 event.
The Fringe is built on the principle of open access for artists, meaning that all acts who pay an entry fee can host a show, writes Malcolm Jack – “a free-spirited alternative to the highbrow Edinburgh International Festival.”
Though leaner, this year’s program is typically weird and wonderful: stand-up comics; a cord drama about migration on a beach outside the city; and an educational walking tour, led by a pelvic physical therapist, entitled “Viva Your Vulva.”
Find out more about this year’s unusual Fringe Festival.
