Cincunri Sakia

Jumat, 06 Agustus 2021

Greece fires spread uncontrolled, killing a fireman - BBC News

Two people have been killed and six areas put on high alert as uncontrolled wildfires spread across Greece.

Huge clouds of smoke are billowing over the northern outskirts of Athens, where people are being urged to leave their homes.

A 38-year-old volunteer firefighter was killed by a falling electricity pole in a suburb of the capital.

Greece's prime minister says a heat wave has turned the country into a power keg.

Firefighters are battling 154 wildfires across the country.

Fanned by unpredictable winds, the worst blazes are around the north of Athens. Fires are also raging on the nearby island of Evia, and areas close to ancient Olympia, the birthplace of the Olympic Games.

"We are facing another, more difficult night," said government minister Nikos Hardalias.

"Wildfires of unprecedented intensity and spread, all our forces are fighting the battle day and night to save lives, together with volunteers."

Thousands of people have been ordered to leave their homes outside Athens as the blaze tore through homes, cars and businesses.

The firefighter was among the first two people killed by the fires.

The other victim was the president of the Athens Chamber of Commerce, Konstantinos Michalos. He was found unconscious in a factory close to where a fire was raging.

A further 20 people have been injured.

Hundreds of residents and tourists on Evia island have been evacuated aboard ferries and fishing boats, as wildfires closed in on its shores.

"We're talking about the apocalypse, I don't know how to describe it," Sotiris Danikas, a coastguard official on the island, told broadcaster ERT.

Greece, like many parts of Europe, has been grappling with extreme weather this summer. A week-long heat wave has sparked wildfires in many parts of the country.

In neighbouring Turkey, authorities are battling the country's worst-ever wildfires. Six more neighbourhoods near a power station were evacuated on Friday.

Eight people have been killed and tens of thousands evacuated along Turkey's southern coast.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis says the fires show "the reality of climate change". Temperatures in the country have been above 40C (107 degrees Fahrenheit) all week.

Hundreds of firefighters and nearly 20 water-bombing aircrafts are trying to control the blazes across Greece. Extra firefighters and planes are being sent in from countries including France and the US.

In the village Krioneri, close to Athens, the fire scorched homes, businesses and factories.

"The fire is uncontrollable," resident Vassiliki Papapanagiotis told AFP news agency.

"I don't want to leave, my whole life is here."

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2021-08-06 22:33:44Z
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Mercer Street: Tanker blast evidence points to Iran, says US - BBC News

Mercer Street, an Israeli-managed oil tanker, seen off Fajairah Port

The US military's Central Command has announced the results of its forensic investigation into last week's fatal drone attack on a merchant tanker off Oman.

It says explosives experts concluded that the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) was produced in Iran.

The evidence has been shared with explosives experts in Britain and Israel who concurred with the findings.

The attack on the Israeli-operated MT Mercer Street killed two people.

A British security guard, Adrian Underwood, and the ship's Romanian captain lost their lives as the ship sailed past the Omani island of Masirah.

Britain, the US, Israel and Romania, were quick to blame Iran which has denied any involvement. It said if there was any proof then it should be made public.

Now a statement from Centcom has shed some light on what it says its investigation has revealed.

Throughout the past week an explosive investigations team from the US Navy's aircraft carrier the USS Ronald Reagan has been examining the evidence left behind by the drone attack.

After interviewing the survivors and studying the explosive residue they have concluded that the ship was targeted by three drones in all.

The first two, launched at the ship on the evening of Thursday 29 July, missed their target. But the third drone, launched early on Friday 30 July and loaded with a military grade explosive, hit the pilot house and exploded, killing the two men and leaving a 2-metre diameter hole.

Investigators say explosive chemical tests had identified the residue as RDX, a nitrate-based explosive, indicating that the UAV was rigged to cause injury and destruction.

The investigators also recovered part of the drone's wing and after further testing they concluded that the drone was produced in Iran. A joint statement issued by all the G7 nations on Friday condemned Iran's actions and said its actions threatened peace and stability.

Iran and Israel have been engaged in an undeclared and so-called "shadow war" for some time now.

Israel is widely assumed to be behind a series of sabotage acts on Iran's nuclear programme, including the assassination of key scientists. It has also attacked Iranian ships suspected of carrying oil to Syria that is destined for Iran's militia ally in Lebanon, Hezbullah.

Iran has been targeting Israeli-linked shipping with limpet mines, something which the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps train intensively for. But last week's deadly drone attack marked a major escalation, killing some of those onboard and dragging in a major western power.

Days later there was a second attack on shipping with armed men briefly seizing control of another merchant tanker, the MV Asphalt Princess, before leaving it to go on its way.

The incidents come at a time of heightened tension in the region as the new, hardline President Ebrahim Raisi takes power in Iran and talks aimed at reviving the moribund deal to curb Iran's suspect nuclear programme falter in Vienna.

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2021-08-06 23:42:39Z
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Rescued Afghan interpreters plea for their comrades - Sky News

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2021-08-06 22:23:39Z
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Snickers Spain pulls TV advert after homophobia accusations - BBC News

Snickers in Spain has pulled a controversial TV advert that was heavily criticised for being homophobic.

The 20-second commercial shows Spanish influencer Aless Gibaja transform into a bearded man with a low voice after eating a Snickers ice cream.

The video went viral this week, with some calling for a boycott of Snickers.

The chocolate brand has now apologised for any "misunderstanding that may have been caused" by the film.

In it, Mr Gibaja is at a beach bar with a friend where he asks a waiter for a "sexy orange juice with vitamins A, B and C".

Parece ser que comiendo @snickers_es se te quita la pluma y ya “estás mejor”. ¿Pero cómo sigue habiendo campañas así? 🤮 #Homofobia pic.twitter.com/ccdtn7BfAw
— Mario Montes (@mariomnts) August 4, 2021

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.View original tweet on Twitter

The waiter, looking confused, offers him the Snickers ice cream. After taking a bite, Mr Gibaja appears to transform into a bearded man.

"Better?" the friend asks. "Better," replies the man. A slogan reads: "You're not yourself when you're hungry."

The advert unleashed a wave of accusations on social media that the brand was insulting gay men.

"It is shameful and regrettable that at this point there are companies that continue to perpetuate stereotypes and promote homophobia," the State Federation of Lesbians, Gays and Bisexuals tweeted.

Spain's equality minister, Irene Montero, also joined the criticism.

"I wonder to whom it might seem like a good idea to use homophobia as a business strategy," she wrote on Twitter.

"Our society is diverse and tolerant. Hopefully those who have the power to make decisions about what we see and hear in commercials and TV shows will learn to be too."

The left-wing party Podemos noted how the advert had followed a slew of homophobic hate crimes in Spain in recent months.

"In the face of a wave of LGBTI-phobia, including attacks and even murders, Snickers can't think of a better idea than to create a trashy commercial that tells you that you are not yourself if you are effeminate," it said on Twitter.

In May, five gay men were injured in three attacks during a single weekend in Barcelona.

On Thursday, Snickers Spain said it was deleting the advert and apologised for "any misunderstanding" it may have caused.

"In this specific campaign, the aim was to convey in a friendly and casual way that hunger can change your character," it said in a statement posted online.

"At no time has it been intended to stigmatize or offend any person or group."

A spokesperson for parent company Mars Wrigley said the firm wholeheartedly apologised for any harm caused by the advert and recognised that it "got it wrong".

"We take equal rights and inclusion seriously, we want a world where everybody is free to be themselves and we believe that as an employer and advertiser we have a role and a responsibility to play our part in creating that world," the firm's spokesperson added.

In 2008, a Snickers advert that featured the A-Team's Mr T calling a speed walker a "disgrace to the man race" was pulled after accusations it was offensive to gay people.

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2021-08-06 17:07:21Z
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India offers Cairn Energy $1bn refund after scrapping tax law - Financial Times

India expects to refund $1bn to UK-based Cairn Energy after it moved to scrap a retrospective tax law that unleashed bitter fights with prominent foreign investors.

The lower house of parliament on Friday approved a draft law introduced the previous day, cancelling a 2012 policy that enabled New Delhi to tax some foreign investments retrospectively. The upper house is expected to approve the law as early as next week.

New Delhi would also drop $13.5bn in outstanding claims against multinationals such as telecoms group Vodafone, pharmaceuticals company Sanofi and brewer SABMiller, now owned by AB InBev, as part of efforts to repair its damaged reputation as an investment destination.

Analysts say the legal initiative would allow New Delhi to resolve a bitter international tax battle with Cairn that has grown increasingly embarrassing for India. The UK energy group has sought in recent months to seize some of the government’s estimated $70bn worth of overseas assets.

“It’s a settlement offer masquerading as a law,” said one foreign business analyst, who requested anonymity.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government hopes the resolution of the dispute can bolster its reputation among foreign companies as it seeks new investment to revive India’s Covid-battered economy.

“We want to give a message to the investors that the country believes in the stability and certainty of taxation,” Tarun Bajaj, revenue secretary, told journalists on Friday. “Taxation is a sovereign right and can’t be taken away. But we should use it sparingly, judiciously.”

Bajaj said that about $1.2bn collected from companies under the soon to be scrapped tax provision would be refunded if the companies agreed to drop outstanding litigation, including claims for interest and penalties.

About $1bn of this would go to Cairn and $270m to other groups including Vodafone, he added.

The revenue secretary also said India would drop about a dozen pending tax cases on which no collections have been made but which are valued — along with interest and penalties — at $13.5bn

“All the demands that have been created will be nullified,” Bajaj said. But to settle, the affected companies would “agree only to accept the principal amount, and not interest or anything else.”

An international arbitration panel in December ordered New Delhi to pay Cairn $1.2bn, plus interest and costs, in relation to the 2014 seizure and sale of a 10 per cent stake in Cairn’s former Indian operation.

New Delhi’s refusal to honour the arbitration award prompted Cairn to embark on a quest to seize Indian government assets abroad, including planes of state-owned Air India, and diplomatic apartments in Paris.

Cairn, which estimated the value of the arbitral award at $1.7bn, said on Thursday it had “noted” the proposed legislation and was “monitoring the situation”. The company declined to comment on the proposed $1bn refund.

Meyyappan Nagappan, a tax lawyer who has worked with the Indian government, said: “I don’t know if there’s enough in the deal for companies to go ahead and settle”.

Speaking of the affected companies, he added: “I don’t get damages, I don’t get legal costs, I don’t even get interest on the tax, which every company that’s owed taxes gets.”

He continued: “If Cairn has an award in its favour and they’re confident of winning an appeal and being able to enforce, which they have threatened to do, they have a lot more to gain than what’s being offered in this deal.”

Cairn shares were up 7 per cent on Friday following a 27 per cent jump on Thursday.

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2021-08-06 16:48:00Z
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Afghanistan war: Taliban capture regional capital Zaranj - BBC News

A city in southwestern Afghanistan has become the country's first provincial capital to fall to the Taliban in recent years.

Multiple local officials said the Taliban had captured Zaranj, in Nimroz province, on Friday afternoon, in a significant blow to government forces.

The militants continue to make rapid advances in the country, as foreign troops withdraw.

They have taken swathes of countryside and are now targeting key cities.

Other provincial capitals under pressure include Herat in the west, and the southern cities of Kandahar and Lashkar Gah.

The UN's special envoy for Afghanistan, Deborah Lyons, on Friday said the war in the country had entered a "new, deadlier, and more destructive phase", with more than 1,000 civilians killed in the past month.

She warned that the country was heading for "catastrophe", and called on the UN Security Council to issue an "unambiguous statement that attacks against cities must stop now".

"To attack urban areas is to knowingly inflict enormous harm and cause massive civilian casualties. Nonetheless, the threatening of large urban areas appears to be a strategic decision by the Taliban, who have accepted the likely carnage that will ensue," she said.

City 'fell without a fight'

Taliban insurgents claimed victory in Zaranj - a major trading hub near the Iranian border - in a post shared on Twitter.

"This is the beginning, and see how other provinces fall in our hands very soon," a Taliban commander told Reuters news agency.

Pictures posted on social media showed civilians looting items from government buildings. Taliban insurgents were photographed inside the local airport and posing at the entrance to the city.

The militants made a sustained bid to seize the city after capturing surrounding districts.

But Nimroz's Deputy Governor Roh Gul Khairzad told reporters that Zaranj had fallen "without a fight".

She and other local officials complained of a lack of reinforcements from the Afghan government.

"The city was under threat for a while, but no one from the central government listened to us," Ms Khairzad said.

The last time the Taliban captured a provincial capital was in 2016, when they briefly held the northern city of Kunduz.

The militants have swept through Afghanistan in recent months, launching a major offensive to coincide with the withdrawal of US forces after 20 years of military operations. The capture of Zaranj will add to their momentum, analysts say.

Overnight, US and Afghan forces launched air strikes on the group's positions in Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province.

Government troops have vowed not to lose the strategically significant city, and fighting there has been fierce. Officials have urged civilians to evacuate, with thousands trapped or fleeing for their lives.

Earlier on Friday, the director of Afghanistan's government media centre was assassinated by Taliban militants in the capital, Kabul. The Taliban said Dawa Khan Menapal had been "punished for his deeds".

PROFILE: Who are the Taliban?
ANALYSIS: How the Taliban retook half of Afghanistan
ON THE GROUND: Bodies on the streets as fighting traps Afghans

US Chargé d'Affaires to Afghanistan Ross Wilson tweeted that he was "saddened and disgusted" by the killing, adding: "These murders are an affront to Afghans' human rights and freedom of speech."

Days earlier, an attack on the Afghan defence minister's house in Kabul left at least eight people dead. The minister, Bismillah Khan Mohammadi, was not at home at the time.

A map showing who's in control of Afghanistan

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2021-08-06 16:27:45Z
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Afghanistan war: Taliban capture regional capital Zaranj - BBC News

A city in southwestern Afghanistan has become the country's first provincial capital to fall to the Taliban in recent years.

Multiple local officials said the Taliban had captured Zaranj, in Nimroz province, on Friday afternoon, in a major blow to government forces.

The militants continue to make rapid advances in the country, as foreign troops withdraw.

They have taken swathes of countryside and are now targeting key cities.

Other provincial capitals under pressure include Herat in the west, and the southern city of Lashkar Gah, in Helmand province.

Zaranj is a major trading hub near the border with Iran. After capturing surrounding districts, the militants made a sustained bid to seize the city.

Two official sources told the BBC the city had been taken. The government has not yet officially commented.

A police spokesperson in Nimroz told Reuters news agency that the Taliban had been able to capture Zaranj because of a lack of reinforcements from the government.

The insurgents claimed victory in a post shared on Twitter.

"This is the beginning, and see how other provinces fall in our hands very soon," a Taliban commander told Reuters.

Some reports said a deal had been reached with the Taliban, allowing Afghan officials to flee to Iran with their families.

Pictures posted on social media showed civilians looting items from government buildings.

The last time the Taliban won a provincial capital was in 2016, when they briefly held the northern city of Kunduz.

She warned that the country was heading for "catastrophe", and called on the UN Security Council to issue an "unambiguous statement that attacks against cities must stop now".

Earlier on Friday, the director of Afghanistan's media and information centre was assassinated by Taliban militants in the capital, Kabul. The Taliban said Dawa Khan Menapal had been "punished for his deeds".

PROFILE: Who are the Taliban?
ANALYSIS: How the Taliban retook half of Afghanistan
ON THE GROUND: Bodies on the streets as fighting traps Afghans

US Charge d'Affaires to Afghanistan Ross Wilson tweeted that he was "saddened and disgusted" by the killing, adding: "These murders are an affront to Afghans' human rights and freedom of speech."

Days earlier, an attack on the Afghan defence minister's house in Kabul left at least eight people dead.

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