Breaking News, Latest Philippines Headlines, World, Entertainment, Politics, Weather & Video News
ATHENS, Greece (AFP) — A fire scorched forests at the base of Mount Penteli north of Athens Tuesday and was approaching the surrounding suburbs, firefighters and local authorities said. Authorities have sent alerts to mobile phones of residents of the affected area, warning them to “be ready to follow instructions,” but had not issued any evacuation orders. “No one is in danger,” a spokesman for the firefighters, Vassilis Vathrakoyannis, told Skai radio. Earlier, the mayor […]
LOS ALTOS, United States (AFP) — As wildfires ravage the western United States and Canada, some fire departments near San Francisco are teaming up to share staff to bolster their collective defenses during a historically severe season. Authorities said the northern California scheme — which includes the city of Palo Alto, Los Altos County and Santa Clara County — helps first responders adapt to new wildfire patterns, so they can attack blazes in their early […]
CHICO, United States (AFP) — Thousands of US firefighters are battling a blaze in California that has grown so big it is generating its own weather system, with authorities warning conditions could worsen on Monday. The flames have grown so large that they have created clouds that can cause lightning and high winds, which in turn can serve to fuel the fire. Around 5,400 firefighters were struggling to contain the inferno. “It could be a […]
MONTREAL, Canada (AFP) — Thousands of residents fled blazes in western Canada on Wednesday with several hundred soldiers scheduled to deploy to fight this year’s virulent and early fires, which are wreaking havoc across portions of western North America. “I have a holiday trailer that is my new home,” said Margo Wagner, head of a district in the western province of British Columbia, who has found herself among the evacuees. The fire marks the second […]
MONTREAL, Canada (AFP) — Canada’s western province of British Columbia declared a state of emergency Tuesday, with wildfires expected to grow even larger in the coming days due to high heat and winds. “We have reached a critical point,” said provincial public safety minister Mike Farnworth. “Based on the advice of emergency management and wildfire officials, and my briefing last night on the worsening weather, I am declaring a provincial state of emergency.” The decision […]
LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — The large wildfire scorching the western US state of Oregon topped 300,000 acres Monday as it emerged a California power company linked to previous deadly fires may be responsible for a new blaze. Oregon’s giant Bootleg Fire has triggered over 2,100 evacuations and destroyed 67 homes in nearly two weeks of explosive growth, regularly forcing back firefighters who have only contained one quarter of its perimeter. “We are running […]
LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — More than a million acres of the western US and Canada were in flames on Wednesday as multiple blazes raged across the region, fueled by soaring temperatures and drought, and with little sign of letting up. Large areas of California were placed on red alert as several conflagrations continued to burn. The so-called River Fire had still not been brought under control as it burned near Yosemite National […]
NASIRIYAH, Iraq (AFP) — A fire that enveloped a Covid isolation unit in southern Iraq killed 64 people, a medical source told AFP in an updated toll on Tuesday. “Sixty-four (bodies) were retrieved and 39 identified and handed over to their families,” the source at the Dhi Qar Forensic Science Department said. The deadly Monday evening blaze at Al-Hussein Hospital in the provincial capital Nasiriyah, which medics said was fuelled by the explosion of oxygen […]
by Bassem al-Rikabi NASIRIYAH, Iraq (AFP) — At least 41 people died when fire engulfed the coronavirus isolation ward of an Iraqi hospital on Monday, the second such deadly blaze in three months, a health official said. The fire broke out at the Al-Hussein hospital in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah late Monday and was brought under control by local civil defence forces. Another health official, Haydar al-Zamili, told AFP that the “fire… ripped […]
by Inès BEL AIBA GLENDALE, United States (AFP) — Their mission, should they choose to accept it, is simple: graze. Goats are an unlikely but increasingly popular weapon in California’s fight against the wildfires that rage through the western US state every year. On a recent hot July morning, a herd of 80 ungulates were deployed to a hilly patch of land in Glendale, just outside Los Angeles. They had been chomping away for the […]
by Sam Jahan and Shafiqul Alam DHAKA, Bangladesh (AFP) — The owner of a factory where 52 people died in a fire was arrested for murder Saturday as it emerged that children as young as 11 had been working there. Police said Abul Hashem and four of his sons were among eight people detained over the inferno, which broke out Thursday and raged for more than a day. A separate inquiry has been launched into […]
by Valentine girl with Charlie Charalambous in Larnaca ARAKAPAS, Cyprus (AFP) — Cyprus said a deadly forest fire that was the worst to hit the island in decades was close to being brought under control Sunday after water bombing by Greek and Israeli aircraft. Fanned by strong winds, the fire broke out Saturday afternoon and swept through the southern foothills of the Troodos mountain range as the country grappled with a blistering heatwave. The fire […]
