Politics
Greek wildlife suffers as climate changes
A badly burned tortoise that survived a Greek wildfire wriggles in an Athens animal clinic despite lots of painkillers, one of the latest victims of climate change that is playing havoc with the country’s wildlife.
Most of the scorched scales on its back had to be removed with forceps.
“It was really depressed and had its mouth open trying to breathe because of the smoke” when volunteers brought it in, said vet Grigorios Markakis.
Even though “it’s much better” now, the prognosis is not good, he told AFP. “If the whole shell is burned, imagine what happened inside… All the internal organs will be dysfunctional.”
Markakis, 28, cares for orphaned, injured or sick creatures, from hedgehogs to snakes to storks, from a first aid station of the Greek wildlife protection group Anima.
The NGO has seen a surge in animal admissions — largely because of climate change, which scientists say is driving longer, more intense and more frequent heatwaves worldwide, fuelling wildfires and generating other dangers for wildlife.
Greece suffered several major forest fires this summer amid high temperatures, especially around Athens and in the western Peloponnese.
The government said around 45,000 hectares (111,200 acres) have burned this year.
“These fires are now harder to suppress and often wipe out vast areas of critical habitat, killing animals directly and displacing many more,” said Nikos Georgiadis, from the World Wildlife Fund Greece.
“Prolonged droughts, rising temperatures, and forest dieback all degrade habitats, reduce food and water availability, and make survival more difficult for many species,” he told AFP.
Thirsty vultures
Anima staffer Anna Manta said “more and more animals” are being brought to them because of the prolonged heat.
“Most get exhausted or they are forced to leave the nests really, really early,” she told AFP. Birds “just jump off the nests… because they get roasted alive”, she told AFP.
In July, when Greece suffered a searing heatwave with temperatures above 40C, Anima admitted 1,586 animals. In June it was 2,125 — nearly 300 more than during the same period last year.
“Last year we thought that it was the worst year we had ever seen… And then we had June,” Manta said.
The centre has received many young emaciated and exhausted vultures.
“Down in Crete, they can’t find water. Most of them go to the sea to drink water. They get poisoned because their body cannot process salt,” said Manta.
The team treats them with medicine and fluids for a few days, before taking them to outdoor cages to socialise. They are released back into the wild after six months.
One such juvenile griffon vulture had just received IV fluids into a vein. Afterwards an employee carried it out — with a pained look on her face because lice from the weak bird were crawling onto her.
“Climate change affects also the microorganisms, the parasites, the diseases, by affecting their transmission,” said Markakis.
“The transmission is probably easier because these microorganisms can live for longer periods,” he said.
‘It was magic’
Perched on a computer monitor was a long-eared owl. When Anima president Maria Ganoti began typing, the bird turned and looked down at the keyboard with its big orange eyes.
Later, it turned again to stare when people brought in a shoebox with a quail attacked by cats, followed by a fox hit by a car — an increasing phenomenon.
Georgiadis said the root cause of such incidents was habitat degradation and “the expansion of urban areas close to or into forests, (which) pushes foxes and other animals to venture into cities”.
Before Markakis took the injured fox to the operating table, he told how one of his “best life moments” was treating and releasing a cub that had severe head injuries back into the wild.
“I just gave it a last look, I opened the door (of its cage) and it immediately disappeared — without even a thank you!” he laughed. “But it was magic.”
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump has revealed plans to build a massive new ballroom at the White House, marking one of the biggest changes to the presidential residence in more than a century.
Construction crews have already started tearing down part of the East Wing to make way for the grand project, which the US president says will be “big, beautiful, and built to last for generations.”
A mechanical excavator had ripped through the façade of the East Wing, leaving a tangle of broken masonry, rubble and steel wires, AFP journalists at the scene saw.
Republican Trump said, as he hosted college baseball players at the White House on Monday, that “right on the other side you have a lot of construction that you might hear occasionally.”
The 79-year-old billionaire later officially announced that work had started on the ballroom, the biggest addition to the US presidential mansion in more than a century.
“I am pleased to announce that ground has been broken on the White House grounds to build the new, big, beautiful White House Ballroom,” Trump said on his Truth Social network.
Trump said the East Wing was being “fully modernised as part of this process, and will be more beautiful than ever when it is complete!”
The East Wing is where US first ladies have traditionally had their offices. The president works in the West Wing, and the couple live in the Executive Mansion.
‘Generous Patriots’
But while Trump said that the East Wing is “completely separate from the White House itself,” it is, in fact, physically joined to the main mansion by a covered colonnade.
Trump says the new 90,000-square-foot ballroom with a capacity of 1,000 people is needed to host large state dinners and other events that currently have to be held in a tent.
The former reality TV star held a glitzy dinner at the White House last week for donors to the ballroom.
The guests included representatives from tech firms like Amazon, Apple, Meta, Google, Microsoft and Palantir, and defence giant Lockheed Martin — all companies with significant contracts or other dealings with the government.
They also included twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, the founders of crypto platform Gemini, who were made famous as jilted investors in the film The Social Network about the birth of Facebook.
“The White House Ballroom is being privately funded by many generous Patriots, Great American Companies, and, yours truly. This Ballroom will be happily used for generations to come!” he said on Monday.
It is the largest part of the huge makeover Trump has given the White House since returning to power in January, including covering the Oval Office with gold décor and paving over the Rose Garden.
Trump has also unveiled plans for a huge triumphal arch in Washington, which was dubbed the “Arc de Trump” after AFP first revealed the proposal.
ABU DHABI: At least Nine Arab nationals have been referred to the court in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) over allegations of kidnapping and blackmail stemming from a financial dispute.
Authorities said the suspects detained a victim for a week, assaulted him, and recorded footage showing him bound and in a compromising state. The video was later circulated on social media in an attempt to extort money from his family.
The UAE Federal Public Prosecution said the suspects were swiftly arrested. Investigators also seized mobile phones and vehicles used in the crime, uncovering evidence that pointed to the gang’s coordinated criminal operations.
Officials said the gang operated in a highly coordinated manner and posed a direct threat to public safety and law and order. The accused face severe penalties, including life imprisonment or the death sentence.
UAE Attorney General Dr Hamad Saif Al Shamsi stressed that national security and stability remained the highest priority.
He confirmed that the Public Prosecution would continue to take strict and impartial action against anyone committing crimes that threaten public peace or the nation’s security.
- Tehran confirms scrapping nuclear monitoring deal with IAEA.
- Development follows reimposition of UN sanctions last month.
- Iran may review fresh IAEA proposals despite deal’s cancellation.
DUBAI: Iran has called off its nuclear cooperation deal with the UN’s atomic watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that it signed in September, the country’s state media reported, citing its Supreme National Security Council Secretary on Monday.
The decision comes after Western powers reimposed UN sanctions on Tehran. The move is seen as another blow to efforts aimed at rebuilding trust and monitoring Iran’s nuclear activities.
The statement came around three weeks after Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araqchi, said Tehran would scrap the agreement, which allowed the IAEA to resume inspections of its nuclear sites, if Western powers reinstated UN sanctions.
Those were reinstated last month.
The confirmation will be a setback for the International Atomic Energy Agency, which has been trying to rebuild cooperation with Tehran since Israel and the United States bombed the nuclear sites in June.
“The agreement has been cancelled,” Ali Larijani said while meeting his Iraqi counterpart in Tehran, according to state media.
“Of course, if the agency has a proposal, we will review it in the secretariat,” he added.
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