Day: 24 July 2023

Some 2,500 people were evacuated in the Greek island of Corfu on Monday as wildfires fueled by soaring temperatures continue to sweep large swathes of the country’s forests.

Citing the mass evacuations as a “precautionary measure,” Greece’s fire department said thousands of people were displaced over the weekend, mainly in tourist hotspots.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis had said that Athens is “waging a war” against wildfires, warning of more difficult days ahead.

Greece is prone to wildfires in the summer months, fanned by scorching winds and blazing temperatures.

Source: Kuwait News Agency

At least 31 people were killed and 74 others injured and 41 were reported missing due to heavy rains causing heavy floods and landslides across Afghanistan, said disaster management authorities on Monday.

The areas affected by the floods included Afghan capital city Kabul, the Maidan Wardak and southern Ghazni provinces, State Ministry for Natural Disaster Management, Shafiullah Rahimi added in a statement.

At least 250 livestock died while 600 residences as well as hundreds of acres of lands have been damaged within last 72 hours, he confirmed.

Rahimi added that since the start of 2023, nearly 100,000 families were affected by natural disasters in different provinces and have received food and cash aid.

Natural disasters over the past four months have killed at least 214, including the latest known “flash flood deaths,” the statement concluded.

Source: Kuwait News Agency

European Palestinian Council for Political Relations (EUPAC) lamented on Monday the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk’s exclusion of Palestine during the two-hour dialogue at the European Parliament.

“Almost all cases of human rights abuses were given attention in the discussion that took place on July 21st except for the flagrant violations by Israel against Palestinians’ human rights,” said the Brussels-based EUPAC in a statement.

The statement noted that “The High Commissioner made prolonged statements about protecting the rights of refugees while ignoring the rights of more than five million Palestinians who were forced into exile as a result of the ongoing Nakba, perpetrated by Israel since 1948.

“Mr. Turk expressed solidarity with the persecuted journalists in the world, but he did not mention the 50 Palestinian journalists who were killed by the occupation forces since 2000,” said the EUPAC.

EUPAC said it will send a letter requesting an explanation from Mr. Turk for “this deliberate marginalization of the suffering of the Palestinians and the white washing of Israel’s human rights violations against them.” It also called on all activists, diplomats, politicians, human rights advocates, or journalists, to stand up for Palestinian rights and to demand that the UN, Western governments and EU Parliament address the issue of the continued violation of Palestinian rights and their silenced suffering under Israeli occupation policies when discussing global human rights.

Source: Kuwait News Agency

A fire broke out in Al-Tuwaijriyya orchards, northeast of Baquba, Diyala Governorate Center.

A local source told the correspondent of the National Iraqi News Agency (NINA) that a fire whose causes are unknown, devoured more than 100 dunums of the orchards of Al-Tuwaijriyya on the outskirts of Al-Wajihiya district, northeast of Baquba.

He added that Civil Defense teams rushed to the scene to control the fire and prevent it from spreading to nearby areas, while the competent authorities opened an investigation into the accident.

Source: National Iraqi News Agency

Member of the Parliamentary Integrity Committee and a member of the fact-finding committee concerned with following up Nineveh funds, Abd al-Rahim al-Shammari, confirmed that what was allocated to Nineveh is 6 trillion dinars, but only 3 trillion dinars entered the Nineveh account.

Al-Shammari said in a statement to the National Iraqi News Agency (NINA) that “the committee began its work and visited the Nineveh Governorate and concluded, according to preliminary information, that the sums entered into the Nineveh Governorate account are only 3 trillion.”

He added, “The financial allocations for Nineveh in the past three years are 6 trillion dinars, but what reached the Nineveh account is only 3 trillion.”

Source: National Iraqi News Agency

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) revealed that no less than 435 children were killed, and 2,025 others were injured, during the 100 days that have passed from the conflict in Sudan.

In today’s report, the organization expressed its concern about the escalation of attacks against health facilities in parts of Sudan, noting that an estimated 68 percent of hospitals in the most affected areas have had to suspend service; because they were bombed or turned into military bases.

The organization said: Nearly 3.8 million people have been internally displaced in Sudan, including 1.9 million children, and an additional 1.7 million children have been expelled from their homes and are now moving within Sudan and crossing its borders, and they are vulnerable to hunger, disease and separation from their families.

It pointed out that movement is restricted due to the security situation and administrative barriers, and preventing the arrival of humanitarian aid, indicating that the obstacles have led to the exposure of no less than 690,000 children to acute malnutrition, and 1.7 million children under the age of one year are at risk of losing critical vaccinations, which increases the risk of disease outbreaks.

Since mid-April, Sudan has been witnessing clashes between the army and the Rapid Support Forces, which have so far left hundreds of civilian casualties, and international and regional mediations have not been able to stop the fighting once and for all.

Source: National Iraqi News Agency