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Helicopters airlift residents to safety from deadly floods in central Greece

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:39:39 GMT

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Severe rainstorms eased but floodwaters were still rising in parts of central Greece Friday, while fire department and military helicopters were plucking people from villages inundated by tons of water and mud that have left six dead, six missing and many people clinging to the roofs of their homes.Flooding triggered by rainstorms also hit neighboring Bulgaria and Turkey, killing a total of 18 people in all three countries since the rains began Tuesday.In Greece, severe rainstorms that lashed the country turned streams into raging torrents that burst dams, washed away roads and bridges and hurled cars into the sea. Authorities said some areas received twice the average annual rainfall for Athens in the space of just 12 hours.Evacuation orders were issued for two areas north of the city of Larissa Friday morning, with authorities sending alerts to cell phones in the area warning that the Pineios River had burst its banks. Parts of Larissa, one of Greece’s ...

Germany will keep Russian oil giant Rosneft subsidiaries under its control for another 6 months

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:39:39 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — The German government said Friday it will keep two subsidiaries of Russian oil giant Rosneft under the control of German authorities for another six months.The government announced a year ago that it was putting Rosneft Deutschland GmbH and Rosneft Refining and Marketing GmbH under the administration of Germany’s Federal Network Agency. In March, a German federal court threw out complaints from Rosneft and upheld the decision.The trusteeship gave German authorities control of three Russian-owned refineries. Rosneft accounted at the time for about 12% of Germany’s oil refining capacity.The Economy Ministry said Friday that it is extending the trusteeship again until March 10, 2024, “to secure the energy supply.”The Rosneft subsidiaries own a refinery at Schwedt, on the Polish border northeast of Berlin, which provides petroleum products for the capital and much of northeastern Germany. Until the end of 2022, it largely processed Russian oil. It now receives oil from the...

The operation could start soon to rescue a sick American researcher 3,000 feet into a Turkish cave

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:39:39 GMT

ANTALYA, Turkey (AP) — An American researcher who fell ill almost 1,000 meters (more than 3,000 feet) below the entrance of a cave in Turkey, has recovered sufficiently enough to be extracted in an operation that could last three or four days, a Turkish official was quoted as saying on Friday.Mark Dickey, a 40-year-old experienced caver, became suddenly ill with stomach bleeding during an expedition with a handful of others in the Morca cave in southern Turkey’s Taurus Mountains. Rescuers from across Europe have rushed to the cave for an operation to save him, including a Hungarian doctor, who reached and treated him.“The doctors we sent down were very successful in treating him,” Cenk Yildiz, a regional official from Turkey’s disaster relief agency, told the IHA news agency. “We are now in a position to evacuate him.”“This is a difficult operation. It would take a (healthy) person 16 hours to come out. This operation will last at least three or four days,” Yildiz continued. “Our pr...

Russian missile attack kills policeman, injures 44 others in Zelenskyy’s hometown in central Ukraine

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:39:39 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Russian missile attack Friday on President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s hometown in central Ukraine killed one policeman and injured at least 44 others, emergency officials said. It was among multiple Russian attacks across the country overnight, officials said.Ten buildings were damaged in the attack on Kryvyi Rih. Three of the people who were pulled out of the rubble were in serious condition, according to Ihor Klymenko, Ukraine’s minister of Internal Affairs. Photos posted by Klymenko on Telegram showed a building on fire and emergency services evacuating the injured.Three people were also injured in a Russian missile attack in the eastern city of Sumy, Klymenko said. Russian forces also struck the Odesa region in the west with drones for the fifth time in a week, regional Gov. Oleh Kiper said. No casualties were reported.The southern region of Mykolaiv was also targeted, Gov. Vitalii Kim said on Telegram. Ukraine’s Ministry of Internal Affairs said on...

Inside the renovated White House Situation Room: Cutting-edge tech, mahogany and that new car smell

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:39:39 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House Situation Room — a space of great mystique and even greater secrecy — just got a $50 million facelift. Actually, “room” is a misnomer. It’s a 5,500-square-foot (511-square-meter), highly secure complex of conference rooms and offices on the ground floor of the West Wing.These are the rooms where history happens, where the president meets with national security officials to discuss secret operations and sensitive government matters, speaks with foreign leaders and works through major national security crises. Where President Barack Obama and his team watched the raid that took down al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden in 2011. Where President Donald Trump monitored the 2019 operation that killed Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Where President Lyndon Johnson went over Vietnam War plans. This was no small update: The total gut renovation took a year to complete.The White House opened the classified space to a group of reporters this week fo...

Hurricane Lee now a Category 5 storm, expected to maintain strength

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:39:39 GMT

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (WFLA) — Hurricane Lee tore through open waters toward the northeast Caribbean late Thursday becoming the first Category 5 storm of the Atlantic season.Lee was not expected to make landfall although forecasters said tropical storm conditions are possible on some islands. Meteorologists said it was too early to provide details on potential rainfall and wind gusts. Hurricane Lee: ‘Powerful’ Category 5 storm expected to maintain intensity, NHC says The Category 5 hurricane was located about 630 miles east of the northern Leeward Islands. It had winds of up to 165 miles per hour and was moving west-northwest at 14 mph.The storm is expected to remain a major hurricane into next week.“Lee continues to strengthen at an exceptional rate,” the National Hurricane Center said."Hurricane Lee continues to strengthen and may reach 180 mph max winds as it travels to the north of the Leeward Islands," said WFLA meteorologist Leigh Spann. "While the long-range forecast ...

5 things to know this Friday, September 8

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:39:39 GMT

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- Happy Friday! According to Meteorologist Jill Szwed, today won't be as hot. However, the heat index will still surge into the 90s. Get the latest news, weather, sports and more delivered right to your inbox! A standoff shut down Upper Union Street in Schenectady for several hours Thursday. The call for the incident came in just after 3 p.m. Meanwhile, as the asylum seeker issue continues, Governor Kathy Hochul said she spoke with the White House Chief of Staff about the situation Thursday. These stories, and more, are covered in your five things to know this Friday morning. 1. No charges filed after Schenectady standoffA standoff shut down Upper Union Street in Schenectady for several hours Thursday. The call for the incident came in just after 3 p.m.2. Governor Hochul keeps pushing for federal support for asylum seekersAs the asylum seeker issue continues, Governor Kathy Hochul said she’s speaking with the White House Chief of Staff about the situation t...

UAlbany defense scheming for Rainbow Warriors offense

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:39:39 GMT

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- This week UAlbany will do battle with Hawaii, and there's a heavy point of emphasis being made on stopping the Rainbow Warrior's passing attack. Get the latest news, weather, sports and more delivered right to your inbox! Junior quarterback Brayden Schager leads that attack. Schager threw for over 300 yards and three touchdowns in last week's 37-24 loss to Stanford. Despite the loss, Schager showed efficiency finding 10 different receivers. The Great Danes defense will have its hands full, trying to stop an offense that likes to attack vertically. Head coach Greg Gattuso believes that it's going to be an interesting test for his team. "You know they throw the ball over it a lot, and the quarterback is a good player," Gattuso said. "Everybody that has a good quarterback can beat you, and we almost proved that on Saturday night you know, and he runs well, he can make all the throws, and they have talent around him so I've got a good look at their fronts, an...

New European Supercomputer inaugurated in Portugal

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:39:39 GMT

On 6 September, the Commission and the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU) together with the Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa and the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology inaugurated Deucalion, the latest EuroHPC supercomputer. Deucalion is located at the Azurém Campus, Guimarães, Portugal.The new world-class system will be used to advance research and development in domains such as energy efficient technologies, weather forecasts, and sea and oceanic research. It will also help develop industrial applications in drug discovery, new materials design, neuroscience, climate-friendly energy systems, and other areas.Deucalion, the seventh EuroHPC supercomputer installed in the European Union, is the most powerful and advanced computational resource in Portugal. It represents an investment of €20 million including €7m of EU funding and has a peak performance of 10 Petaflops – or 10 million billion calculations per second. Moreover, it off...

Wine production in Belgium on a high – thanks to climate change

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:39:39 GMT

Whisper it quietly but wine production in Belgium is enjoying something of a real boom, writes Martin Banks.That is partly due to a phenomenon we have all come to know about of late – climate change.Warming temperatures – clearly evident this summer throughout Europe and the rest of the world – is helping wine growers enormously in Belgium.“Better weather means a better grape,” declares Pierre-Marie Despatures, who is part of a team running a highly successful organic vineyard near Namur in Wallonia.His wine estate, Domaine du Chenoy, has already made a name for itself and its wines rank well when compared with others in France and elsewhere.Pierre-Marie was on hand to explain some of the secrets of their success” at event in Brussels on 7 September.The “Sofitel Wine Days”, part of a series of similar events, was an opportunity to take stock of wine production in Belgium and also sample the delights of a culinary offering from “The 1040”, a popular restaurant at Sofitel Brussels Eur...