Wildfire spreads near Athens amid scorching heat, prompting evacuations orders
(LONDON) — Wildfires were burning Monday morning near Athens amid scorching temperatures throughout Greece, emergency and weather officials said.
Government officials warned of an high fire hazard in several areas, including the Athens peninsula and the Boeotia region northwest of it.
Both areas were among those where the risk category was raised to five, meaning there’s an extreme risk of fire, weather officials said in a statement released Sunday.
Officials issued on Monday evacuation orders for several towns north and northwest of Athens, including Anatoli, Daou Penteli, Nea Penteli and parts of Dione, according to 112 Greece, the country’s emergency hotline.
More than 250 people were evacuated with the help of police officers near Athens, the Greek Police said on social media. About 380 officers were working in the area, with dozens of vehicles and two-wheelers, police said.
Local emergency responders were notified they should be “on increased civil protection readiness in order to face any fire incidents immediately,” the Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection said.
Temperatures near Athens were expected to climb on Monday to about 95 degrees, before spiking to about 100 degrees on Tuesday and Wednesday, according to the Hellenic National Meteorological Center.
(LONDON) — A large fire was burning at a Russian military airfield early on Thursday after it was targeted by drones overnight, officials said.
Videos circulating on Russia social media showed fires and thick black smoke rising from the Marinovka airfield near Volgograd in southern Russia, which the region’s governor confirmed was attacked by multiple drones overnight.
Gov. Andrey Bocharov claimed the drones were shot down but that one fell causing a fire.
Other videos shared overnight appear to show the moment of the attack, with the sound of gunfire followed by explosions near the air base.
The reported attack comes as Ukraine appears to be intensively targeting Russian airfields amid its incursion into Russia.
Last week, Ukraine launched its largest drone attack of the war targeting airfields, striking four in western Russia. On Wednesday, Ukraine even appeared to target an airfield deep in Russia’s north near Murmansk, inside the Arctic Circle.
A massive fire is also continuing to expand at a major fuel storage facility in Russia’s southern Rostov region, which has now been burning out of control for five days after a drone strike.
Dramatic videos showed enormous black smoke clouds rising from the facility, where huge fuel tanks have continued to explode. Another video showed firefighters driving away quickly as a tank exploded.
(LONDON) — The United States has announced it has invited Sudan’s warring parties to talks in Geneva, Switzerland, as international and regional efforts intensify for a cease-fire in the northeast African nation’s civil war.
The U.S.-mediated talks are set to be co-hosted by Switzerland and Saudi Arabia, a senior U.S. official told ABC News, building off the unsuccessful Jeddah negotiations process with additional observation from the African Union, Egypt, the United Nations and the United Arab Emirates.
“A few things have changed: One is the acuteness of the horrors, and two is the greater alignment across the region among our African and Gulf counterparts that this is an unacceptable situation, and that nobody wins from the continued destabilization,” the senior U.S. official told ABC News.
“We have to listen to the Sudanese people and deliver a process on a cease-fire and humanitarian aid access,” the official said.
The talks are set to begin in about three weeks, on Aug. 14, in Switzerland. The U.S. official said the U.S. is also looking into civilian participation at the talks. The talks are expected to be attended by representatives of the warring parties, who met separately with a U.N. envoy.
It comes as talks in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, broke down at the end of last year, with the warring parties refusing to budge or honor their commitments under the Jeddah declaration. However, recently concluded talks in Geneva were described by The U.N. Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy for Sudan Ramtane Lamamra as an “encouraging initial step” in the complex process.
In a statement posted on X, Rapid Support Forces Paramilitary Group (RSF) chief Mohamed Daglo — commonly known as Hemedti — said the RSF is “ready to deal with these talks constructively.” He said he welcomed the invitation by U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.
Sudanese Army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan was yet to make a public statement on the invitation.
The scheduled negotiations arrive as the war in Sudan approaches its 16th month, U.N. Spokesman Stéphane Dujarric in a briefing on Tuesday, adding that the U.N. “continues to be extremely alarmed” by the situation.
“Almost 26 million men, women and children are acutely hungry,” said Dujarric. “The equivalent to the entire population of Australia. 750,000 people are just one step away from famine.”
On April 15, 2023, war broke out in Sudan’s capital Khartoum following months of tensions between the SAF and RSF paramilitary group linked to a planned transition to civilian rule. Fighting has since spread across the northeast African nation and intensified with allied militias joining the fight.
The conflict has precipitated the world’s “largest internal displacement crisis,” driving over 10 million people — about 20% of Sudan’s population — from their homes according to the U.N.’s International Office of Migration. At least 16,000 people have been killed according to the U.N.
A new report by Doctors Without Borders this week revealed civilians are enduring “horrific levels of violence,” with thousands across the country being treated for war-related injuries caused by explosions, gunshots and stabbings amid “shocking” reports of sexual and gender-based violence.
“The scale of death, suffering, and destruction in Sudan is devastating. This senseless conflict must end,” said the U.S. State Department in a statement. “The United States calls upon the SAF and the RSF to attend the talks and approach them constructively, with the imperative to save lives, stop the fighting, and create a path to a negotiated political solution to the conflict.”
(LONDON) — The U.S. said it is “gravely concerned” following a “large-scale escalation” of fighting in El Fasher, capital of Sudan’s North Darfur state, amid a civil war that has been raging in the North African country for more than a year.
Initial reports of escalating fighting began to surface on Sept, 12 following what eyewitnesses recount as a multidirectional attack on the city by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group.
The shelling has been consistent, with explosions being heard in the city “several times this week,” Salah, a resident of the city, told ABC News on Tuesday. He asked to be identified by only his first name.
“There are casualties and many civilians have been killed and injured,” Salah said. “People are dying of famine and diseases. It’s a literally catastrophic situation. As I am speaking, the RSF shelling is going on.”
An analysis from the Yale School of Public Health’s Humanitarian Research Lab confirmed the escalation of fighting, finding “unprecedented,” “high-tempo and intense combat activity” ongoing in the North Darfur capital. The report detected “high tempo aerial bombardment” by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and “structural damage” from RSF bombardment and other combat activity.
“The current levels of high-tempo combat activity are likely to effectively reduce what is left of El-Fasher to rubble,” reads the report.
The U.N. said it has yet to establish the number of civilian casualties in the city.
In a statement, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said she was “gravely concerned about reports of a serious escalation in RSF’s months-long siege on El Fasher.”
That concern was echoed by America’s Special Envoy to Sudan Tom Perriello who said he is “extremely concerned” by the RSF’s repeated attacks on the North Darfur capital.
Two displacement camps — Abu Shouk and Al Salaam — have been shelled in the RSF’s renewed attacks according to US’ Special Envoy to Sudan.
El Fasher is the largest city in Sudan’s Darfur region and the Sudanese Army’s (SAF) last stronghold in the region. The city has been at the center of a fierce battle as warring parties vie for its control, the Rapid Support Forces besieging the city since May of 2024.
The unprecedented escalation brings renewed threat to “hundreds of thousands” of civilians, according to the U.N. That estimate included internally displaced persons who found refuge in the city, many of whom had been displaced from elsewhere through the course of Sudan’s now 17-month civil war.
“The humanitarian situation is so sad,” Yasin told ABC news over the phone from Tawila, a small town in North Darfur where many fleeing the conflict have sought refuge.
He asked to only be identified by his first name for his safety.
“Prices are spiking for food, medicine end fuel is so rare and expensive,” Yasin said.
“Life in El Fasher was scary because every day there are bombs, shelling and crossfire as well as intense clashes,” he said. “Yesterday evening RSF shelled areas like Mawashy Market, Thoura and Mudarag. These areas are filled with civilians, and the number of human losses till no are unknown because people are hiding.”
The U.N. Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan Clementine Nkweta-Salami has expressed “profound sadness and frustration” over the situation, saying the attacks on the city “violate every humanitarian principle.”
“This is heartbreaking and must stop,” Nkweta-Salami said. “There is no excuse for direct attacks on civilians, their assets and essential facilities such as hospitals.”
In a statement sent to ABC News, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), also known as Doctors Without Borders, says nutritional screenings carried out in conjunction with Sudanese health authorities in Zamzam camp, just 15 km south of El Fasher, indicate malnutrition rates that are “likely some of the worst in the world.”
“Not only do the results confirm the disaster that we and other stakeholders have been observing and alerting on for months, they also indicate that every day, things are getting worse and we’re running out of time,” said Michel Olivier Lacharité, head of emergency operations for MSF. “We are talking about thousands of children who will die over the next few weeks without access to adequate treatment and urgent solutions to allow humanitarian aid and essential goods to reach Zamzam.”
The war in Sudan has precipitated one of the world’s worst hunger crises with over 750,000 people experiencing “catastrophic levels of food insecurity.” according to the U.N.
The conflict has killed over 20,000 people according to a senior U.N. official, but local groups warned the true toll is likely much higher. At least 13 million people have been forced to flee their homes since fighting began in April 2023, according to the International Office of Migration (IOM).
“The level of destruction, death, displacement and disease in Sudan is tragic,” said World Health Organisation Director-General Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus on Tuesday.
The WHO chief was in Chad on Tuesday to join the delivery of a medical supplies convoy across the Chadian border of Adré into Sudan.
Recent flooding has hampered the delivery of aid through the Adré border.
“Chad’s valleys are filled with carcasses of trucks. But we are making progress,” said Toby Harward, the U.N.’s deputy humanitarian coordinator for Sudan.
“I urge RSF to halt its attack, including bombardments destroying infrastructure and threatening civilian life, and fulfil its commitments to the international community to protect civilians,” said Thomas-Greenfield.