Suburbs Ignite North of Athens
A wildfire continues to rage out of control on the outskirts of Athens. Dozens of homes have gone up in flames, but authorities are not yet able to say exactly how many. With electricity pylons and cars also going up in flames, hundreds of residents are being evacuated. The fires started at the weekend, ignited by the worst heatwave in Greece in over 30 years. Midday temperatures in Athens hit 45 degrees on Tuesday. Gale force winds are also fanning the flames. More than 500 firefighters are battling the blaze on three fronts. They’re being assisted by 150 vehicles and 18 aircraft. As night fell, the sheer extent of the fire could be seen, with officials saying at least 81 separate forest fires are currently being tackled. At least seven people have been hospitalized but there have been no deaths reported.
China Combats Delta Outbreak
China is going all out to contain an outbreak of the Delta variant, which has reached more than 10 provinces. The epicentre is the city of Nanjing, where a Delta-positive case landed on a flight from Russia last month. In just a matter of weeks, 328 new community cases have been confirmed, almost equal to China’s total number of cases for the past five months. The city is now home to one high-risk and 30 medium-risk areas, where Covid-19 restrictions are in place. Cities surrounding Nanjing have put similar measures in place. All tourist sites and public transport services in the region have been closed.
In-Flight Incident over USA
And, a Frontier Airlines passenger is in custody after an in-flight incident between Philadelphia and Miami. A 22-year-old man became abusive after being accused of groping two flight attendants and punching a third. After refusing to settle down, the flight crew had no choice but to restrain him with duct tape. He continued shouting abuse at the crew and so his mouth was eventually taped too. He was taken into custody at Miami International Airport and has been charged with assault. Frontier Airlines says it maintains the utmost value, respect, concern and support for all of its flight attendants and that abuse of them will not be tolerated.
