AFP UK

Wildfires in southern Turkey forced more people to flee their homes on Sunday as pressure on the government grew over its response to the deadly forest fires.

Turkey has suffered the worst fires in at least a decade, official data show, with nearly 95,000 hectares (235,000 acres) burned so far this year, compared with an average of 13,516 at this point in the year between 2008 and 2020.

Since the fires broke out Wednesday, six people have died and more than 330 have received medical treatment.

A neighbourhood in the tourist city of Bodrum was evacuated, CNN Turk broadcaster reported, as flames were fanned by strong winds from Milas district nearby.

Unable to leave by road, 540 residents were taken to hotels by boats, the channel said.

There were more evacuations in the village of Sirtkoy in Antalya province, NTV broadcaster reported, with images of grey smoke clouds enveloping homes.

Agriculture and Forestry Minister Bekir Pakdemirli said 107 of 112 forest fires were now under control, but blazes continued in the holiday regions of Antalya and Mugla.

Temperatures are set to remain high in the region after record levels last month. 

The general directorate of meteorology registered a temperature of 49.1 degrees Celsius (120.3 Fahrenheit) on July 20 in the southeastern town of Cizre.

The mercury is expected to reach 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) in Antalya Monday.

Turkey’s defence ministry released satellite images showing the extent of the damage with forest areas turned black and smoke still visible.

The opposition attacked President Recep Tayyip Erdogan late Saturday after a video showed the leader throwing tea to residents in fire-affected areas.

In another video, he is throwing tea to people on the side of the road from a bus.

“Tea! It’s unbelievable. Those who lose their shame, lose their heart too,” main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) spokesman Faik Oztrak tweeted.

The government has also been criticised over the lack of firefighting planes, with Turkey forced to accept help from Azerbaijan, Iran, Russia and Ukraine.

Experts warn climate change will wreak further damage in Turkey, causing more wildfires if necessary measures to tackle the problem are not taken.

According to European Union figures, Turkey has been hit by 133 wildfires in 2021 so far compared to an average of 43 by this point in the year between 2008 and 2020.

Nearly 300 firefighters, two water bomber planes and five helicopters were battling Sunday to put out a forest fire in Greece that has so far destroyed around 20 homes and injured eight people, authorities said.

Five villages have been evacuated and eight people hospitalised with burns and respiratory problems since the fire broke out early Saturday near Patras, in the Peloponnese, about 210 kilometres (130 miles) west of Athens, the firefighting service said. 

The mayor of nearby Aigialeias, Dimitris Kalogeropoulos, called it “an immense catastrophe”. 

“There has not yet been an official assessment of the damage, but around 10 houses in the area of Ziria have burnt down, as well as farming sheds and animals stables, which is a lot for the residents of the region who make their living from agriculture,” he told the ANA news agency.

Aigialeias’ town hall provided emergency accommodation on Saturday for people who had to flee their villages.

The local newspaper, Patrastimes, reported that around 30 houses, farming sheds and stables were consumed by flames in the villages of Ziria, Kamares, Achaias and Labiri.

“We slept outside overnight, terrified that we would not have a house when we woke up,” a Labiri resident told Greek TV station Skai.

The seaside resort of Loggos was also evacuated, with nearly 100 residents and tourists sent to the nearby city of Aigio. 

-‘Situation is better’ –

Civil Protection Minister Michalis Chrisochoidis, who visited the scene to assess the damage on Sunday, said “the current situation is better than it was on Saturday”.

“A hundred properties have been saved thanks to the firefighters’ battle against the flames,” he said. “We remain cautious and will support our citizens affected by this fire.”

A motorway in the region was shut down as was the Rio-Antirrio bridge across the Gulf of Corinth connecting the Peloponnese and mainland Greece, ANA reported. 

Hospitals in Patras and Aigio were put on notice to admit any injured people, while the coastguard has been on standby to rescue any swimmers overcome by smoke.

According to the civil protection agency, 58 forest fires have broken out over the past 24 hours, although most were quickly brought under control.

The EU’s European Forest Fire Information System said that 13,511 hectares had been burnt as of Sunday.

Greece is hit by forest fires every summer, but experts have warned that global warming increases both their frequency and intensity.

The country has been in the grip of another heat wave since Friday, with temperatures hovering between 42 and 44 degrees Celsius (111 Fahrenheit), weather forecasters say.

Several days ago, a fire ravaged Mount Penteli, close to the capital Athens, but caused no casualties.

It was the same area where a fire began in July 2018 that went on to claim 102 lives in Greece’s worst-ever toll from a forest inferno.

Less than two hours from Madrid, 76-year-old Francisca Benitez has to brush her teeth every night with bottled water because her village has no supply of drinking water. 

In Lastras de Cuellar in the central Castilla y Leon region, nitrates and arsenic have made the water undrinkable for the village’s residents, who number 350 in winter and nearly 1,000 in summer. 

And across the country, dozens of villages are suffering the same fate because groundwater resources are at risk from agricultural pollution, a lack of water quality controls and drought. 

Every Monday, the villagers walk to the main square in Lastras to buy multipacks of mineral water in 1.5 litre bottles, sold at a discounted price, which some take away in wheelbarrows. 

Alejandro Martin, 17, is there to help his 95-year-old grandfather bring home the precious resource which is then poured into a pan so they can prepare coffee.

Outside, clusters of empty plastic bottles dangle from the balconies alongside banners demanding access to drinking water.

“This is not normal in the 21st century!” protests Mercedes Rodriguez, 41, who belongs to a local residents association.  

Mayor Andres Garcia also points to the “lack of (public) funding” which has slowed down a project to ensure drinking water supplies by the end of the year.

In Castilla y Leon alone, 63 municipalities were without running water in March, according to the region’s main television station. 

National figures are not available. 

According to the health ministry, a 2019 study of national water resources found that 67,050 samples — some taken from the same place on different dates — were undrinkable. 

– Nitrates and manure –

Nitrate levels are a cause for concern, with nearly three out of 10 — 28 percent — of Spain’s groundwater monitoring stations registering a concentration close to or above the potability threshold. 

Fully 22 percent of Spain’s overall surface area — which covers 506,000 square kilometres (195,000 square miles) — is exposed to nitrate pollution due to the nature of the soil or through agricultural activities, the environment ministry says. 

And many are increasingly blaming agricultural pollution for the water crisis. 

Lierta, a tiny village in the northeastern Aragon region, has been deprived of drinking water since 2018 because of nitrate pollution and residents are currently fighting plans to set up a new farm for 3,000 pigs. 

Under a scorching sun, a lone dog can be seen drinking from a fountain in a landscape dominated by vast golden wheatfields that are dotted with pig farms. 

In this area, there are already “close to 20,000 pigs and just 50 villagers”, says 68-year-old Bernard Mas, a member of the residents’ association that has just managed to get the farm project suspended for a year. 

In a country where pork products reign supreme, “intensive livestock farming and huge macro farms are a real problem” for local water quality due to the pollution from manure, says Luis Babiano, head of the Spanish Association of Public Water Supply and Sanitation Operators (AEOPAS). 

But excess nitrates in water sources are mainly the result of “fertiliser use in agricultural activity” which is “the main problem” in the countryside, an environment ministry report found late last year. 

– ‘Without water, we’ll disappear’ –

“In rural areas, water resource management is lacking and residents of some small settlements may be drinking non-potable water without knowing it,” the report said. 

And such concerns have even reached Brussels with the European Commission last year issuing an ultimatum, warning Spain to improve its water quality control or face heavy fines. 

In the long term, drought could also jeopardise the quality of Spain’s water resources, especially as the impact of climate change gathers pace. 

If the quantity of water decreases but the level of harmful substances does not, proportionally it means the level of such pollutants in Spain’s water resources increases, explains Babiano.

In Lastras, Rodriguez fears that the water shortage could spell the end of their little community. 

“A village that doesn’t have water is destined to disappear. Who is going to come and live in a village where they don’t have tap water?” she wonders. 

“Who is ever going to set up a business here?”

Nearly 300 firefighters, two water bomber planes and five helicopters were battling Sunday to put out a forest fire in Greece that has so far destroyed around 20 homes and injured eight people, authorities said.

Five villages have been evacuated and eight people hospitalised with burns and respiratory problems since the fire broke out early Saturday near Patras, in the Peloponnese, about 210 kilometres (130 miles) west of Athens, the firefighting service said. 

A motorway in the region was shut down as was the Rio-Antirrio bridge across the Gulf of Corinth connecting the Peloponnese and mainland Greece, the ANA news agency reported. 

Hospitals in Patras and the neighbouring city of Aigio were put on notice to admit any injured people, while the coastguard has been on standby to rescue any swimmers overcome by smoke.

According to the civil protection agency, 58 forest fires have broken out over the past 24 hours, although most were quickly brought under control.

Greece is hit by forest fires every summer, but experts have warned that global warming increases both their frequency and intensity.

The country has been in the grip of another heat wave since Friday, with temperatures hovering between 42 and 44 degrees Celsius (111 Fahrenheit), weather forecasters say.

Several days ago, a fire ravaged Mount Penteli, close to the capital Athens, but caused no casualties.

It was the same area where a fire in July 2018 claimed 102 lives in Greece’s worst-ever toll from a forest inferno.

Imagine a Covid-19 vaccine that came as a pill: no needles, no medical professionals required to administer it, potentially delivered directly to people’s homes. 

Israeli pharmaceutical Oramed is attempting to accomplish just that, and is poised to start its first clinical trial in early August, CEO Nadav Kidron told AFP in an interview.

With just 15 percent of the world’s population fully vaccinated, the global fight to end the pandemic is far from over.  

Oral vaccines are particularly attractive for the developing world, because they reduce the logistical burden of immunization campaigns, said Kidron.

But they could also increase uptake in wealthy countries where needle aversion is an often missed factor in hesitancy. 

A recent survey found nearly 19 million Americans who decline vaccines would take them if they had a pill option.

“In order for the vaccine to really work well, we need as many people to take it as possible,” said Kidron.  

Other benefits include reduced syringe and plastic waste, and potentially fewer side effects.

– Challenges for oral delivery –  

Despite many theoretical advantages, there have been few successful oral vaccines because the active ingredients tend not to survive the journey through the gastro-intestinal tract.

Exceptions include vaccines for diseases that are themselves transmitted through the mouth and digestive system — for example there is an effective oral polio vaccine.

Oramed, which was founded in 2006, believes it has overcome the technical hurdles by designing a capsule that survives the highly acidic environment of the gut. 

It invented its technology for a previous product, an experimental oral form of insulin, the lifesaving drug required by diabetics that has until now been only administered by injection. 

Developed with Nobel Prize winning biochemist Avram Hershko who is on Oramed’s scientific advisory board, the company’s capsule has a highly protective coating that makes it slow to degrade.

It also releases molecules called protease inhibitors that stop enzymes in the small intestine from breaking down the insulin, and an absorption enhancer to help the insulin cross into the bloodstream.

This drug has been dosed in hundreds of patients in late stage clinical trials in the US, with results expected in September 2022.

Oramed has now launched a new majority-owned company called Oravax, which takes the capsule technology from the oral insulin product and uses it for an oral Covid-19 vaccine.

– Virus-like particle – 

To evoke an immune response, the company’s scientists have designed synthetic coronavirus-like particles. 

These mimic three key structures of the pathogen: the spike protein, the envelope protein and the membrane protein.

Most currently authorized vaccines, like Pfizer or AstraZeneca, are based on the spike protein alone, making them less protective over time as the spike protein of the coronavirus mutates. 

By targeting multiple parts of the virus, including structures that mutate less, the Oravax vaccine could be more variant-proof, Kidron said.

The company has applied to begin trials in multiple countries and expects to begin its first in Israel within weeks, pending approval from the health ministry.

Kidron said he foresaw a role for the vaccine initially in developing countries which haven’t yet bought up enough supply of current vaccines — before eventually developed markets.

A vaccine pill could become especially attractive if ongoing boosters are required.

If it’s successful, it would also represent a proof of concept for future orally administered vaccines, he added.

“Imagine… the flu vaccine comes to you in the mail, you take it, you’re done.” 

Greenland’s ice sheet has experienced a “massive melting event” during a heatwave that has seen temperatures more than 10 degrees above seasonal norms, according to Danish researchers. 

Since Wednesday the ice sheet covering the vast Arctic territory, has melted by around eight billion tonnes a day, twice its normal average rate during summer, reported the Polar Portal website, which is run by Danish researchers.

The Danish Meteorological Institute reported temperatures of more than 20 degrees Celsius (68 Fahrenheit), more than twice the normal average summer temperature, in northern Greenland.

And Nerlerit Inaat airport in the northeast of the territory recorded 23.4 degrees on Thursday, the highest recorded there since records began.

With the heatwave affecting most of Greenland that day, the Polar Portal website reported a “massive melting event” involving enough water “to cover Florida with two inches of water” (five centimetres).

The largest melt of the Greenland ice sheet still dates back to the summer of 2019.

But the area where the melting took place this time is larger than two years ago, the website added.

The Greenland ice sheet is the second largest mass of freshwater ice on the planet with nearly 1.8 million square kilometres (695,000 square miles), second only to Antarctica.

The melting of the ice sheets started in 1990 and has accelerated since 2000. The mass loss in recent years is approximately four times greater than it was before 2000, say the researchers at Polar Portal.

One European study published in January said that ocean levels would rise between 10 and 18 centimetres by 2100 — or 60 percent faster than previously estimated — at the rate which the Greenland ice sheet was now melting.

The Greenland ice sheet, if completely melted, would raise the ocean levels by six to seven metres.

But with a relatively cool start to the Greenland summer, with snowfalls and rains, the retreat of the ice sheet so far for 2021 remains within the historical norm, according to Polar Portal. The melting period extends from June to early September.

Around a dozen homes were destroyed and five people were hospitalised with breathing problems Saturday in a forest fire near Patras, Greece’s third largest city, authorities said.

Some 145 firefighters, 50 trucks, eight firefighting planes and helicopters have been mobilised to extinguish the fire in the Zeria region in the Peloponnese, about 210 kilometres (130 miles) west of Athens, the firefighting service said. 

The authorities evacuated people from five villages in the region as well as from the tourist resort of Loggos on the coast.

Around a dozen homes burned and five people experiencing breathing problems were transported to hospitals in the region, the civil protection authority said.

A motorway in the region was shut down as was the Rio-Antirrio bridge across the Gulf of Corinth connecting the Peloponnese and mainland Greece, the ANA news agency reported, but traffic resumed on  Saturday evening.

Hospitals in Patras and the neighbouring city of Aigio had been put on notice to admit any injured people, while the coastguard have been on standby to rescue any swimmers overcome by smoke.

According to the civil protection agency, 56 forest fires had broken out over the past 24 hours, although most were quickly brought under control.

Greece is hit by forest fires every summer, but experts have warned that global warming increases both their frequency and intensity.

The country has been in the grip of another heat wave since Friday, with temperatures hovering between 42 and 44 degrees Celsius (111 Fahrenheit), weather forecasters say.

Several days ago, a fire ravaged Mount Penteli, close to the capital Athens, but caused no casualties.

It was the same area where a fire in July 2018 went on to claim 102 lives in Greece’s worst-ever toll from a forest inferno.

China and Australia ramped up Covid-19 curbs Saturday as Delta variant cases surged and tens of thousands rallied in France against restrictions designed to stop the pandemic.

The Delta variant, which was first identified in India, is forcing governments to reimpose tough measures, while other nations are reconsidering plans to open their economies.

The variant has spread to 132 countries and territories. The pandemic has killed more than four million people and shows no sign of slowing.

“Delta is a warning: it’s a warning that the virus is evolving but it is also a call to action that we need to move now before more dangerous variants emerge,” the World Health Organization’s emergencies director Michael Ryan told journalists. 

China’s outbreak now spans 14 provinces, the most widespread in several months, challenging the country’s early success in tackling the disease after it was first detected in the city of Wuhan in late 2019.

China has put more than one million people under lockdown and reinstituted mass testing campaigns.

“The main strain circulating at present is the Delta variant… which poses an even greater challenge to virus prevention and control work,” Mi Feng, spokesman for the National Health Commission (NHC), said.

In Australia, where only about 14 percent of the population has been vaccinated, the third-largest city of Brisbane and other parts of Queensland entered a snap lockdown Saturday after six new cases were detected.

“The only way to beat the Delta strain is to move quickly, to be fast and to be strong,” said Queensland’s Deputy Premier Steven Miles, announcing three days of strict stay-at-home orders for millions.

– ‘Crippling the economy’ –

The stop-start imposition of restrictions is taking its toll on weary populations.

“This government is… crippling the economy and also destroying our country’s democracy,” Karmun Loh, taking part in a protest in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur, told AFP.

France meanwhile, has endured months of curfews and lockdowns only to enter a new era of “health passes” in July. Entry to cafes, restaurants and cultural venues are to be restricted to the vaccinated or those who can show they have been vaccinated or have a negative test.

More than 200,000 people protested across France Saturday for a third straight week, with angry confrontations.

Police in Paris used tear gas and water cannon and made several arrests. 

“Macron resign”, demonstrators shouted in the southern city of Marseille, referring to President Emmanuel Macron. 

“I am neither a guinea pig nor a QR code,” one protester wrote on a placard.

The French authorities meanwhile have reimposed restrictions in some of its overseas territories, where cases are surging, most recently in Martinique, La Reunion and French Polynesia.

Bangladesh eased curbs however despite a Delta surge, prompting hundreds of thousands of garment workers to rush back to major cities after the government said export factories could reopen from Sunday.

“Police stopped us at many checkpoints and the ferry was packed,” said factory worker Mohammad Masum, 25, who left his village before dawn and walked more than 30 kilometres to get to the ferry port.

– Africa deaths rising –

In Africa, official figures put the daily death toll at 1,000 a day on average over the last seven days: 17 percent up on the previous week and the highest recorded since the pandemic began.

Here, as elsewhere, the official numbers are  underestimates, as the World Health Organization has pointed out.

Rwanda however ordered the lifting of a lockdown on the capital Kigali and eight other districts even though Covid cases are still on the rise with the new measures running from August 1-15.

And Niger, one of the world’s poorest countries, took delivery of 302,400 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine donated by the United States.

‘The war has changed’

Millions of Americans could meanwhile find themselves homeless starting Sunday as a nationwide ban on evictions expires.

President Joe Biden this week urged Congress to extend the 11-month-old moratorium, after a recent Supreme Court ruling meant the White House could not do so.

But Republicans balked at Democratic efforts to extend the eviction ban through mid October, and the House of Representatives adjourned for its summer vacation.

The latest analysis from the US Centers for Disease Control found that fully immunised people with so-called breakthrough infections of the Delta variant can spread the disease as easily as unvaccinated people. 

While the jabs remain effective against severe disease and death, the US government agency said in an internal document leaked Friday that “the war has changed” as a result of Delta.

burs-jxb-jj/ach 

Greenland’s ice sheet has experienced a “massive melting event” during a heatwave that has seen temperatures more than 10 degrees above seasonal norms, according to Danish researchers. 

Since Wednesday the ice sheet covering the vast Arctic territory, has melted by around eight billion tonnes a day, twice its normal average rate during summer, reported the Polar Portal website, which is run by Danish researchers.

The Danish Meteorological Institute reported temperatures of more than 20 degrees Celsius (68 Fahrenheit), more than twice the normal average summer temperature, in northern Greenland.

And Nerlerit Inaat airport in the northeast of the territory recorded 23.4 degrees on Thursday, the highest recorded there since records began.

With the heatwave affecting most of Greenland that day, the Polar Portal website reported a “massive melting event” involving enough water “to cover Florida with two inches of water” (five centimetres).

The largest melt of the Greenland ice sheet still dates back to the summer of 2019.

But the area where the melting took place this time is larger than two years ago, the website added.

The Greenland ice sheet is the second largest mass of freshwater ice on the planet with nearly 1.8 million square kilometres (695,000 square miles), second only to Antarctica.

The melting of the ice sheets started in 1990 and has accelerated since 2000. The mass loss in recent years is approximately four times greater than it was before 2000, say the researchers at Polar Portal.

One European study published in January said that ocean levels would rise between 10 and 18 centimetres by 2100 — or 60 percent faster than previously estimated — at the rate which the Greenland ice sheet was now melting.

The Greenland ice sheet, if completely melted, would raise the ocean levels by six to seven metres.

But with a relatively cool start to the Greenland summer, with snowfalls and rains, the retreat of the ice sheet so far for 2021 remains within the historical norm, according to Polar Portal. The melting period extends from June to early September.

Mushrooming outbreaks of the Delta variant prompted China and Australia to impose stricter Covid-19 curbs on Saturday, as the WHO urged the world to contain the mutation before it turns into something deadlier and draws out the pandemic.

China’s most serious surge of coronavirus infections in months spread to two more areas Saturday — Fujian province and the megacity of Chongqing — in an outbreak that now spans 14 provinces.

More than 200 cases have been linked to an original Delta cluster in Nanjing city where nine cleaners at an international airport tested positive.

“The main strain circulating at present is the Delta variant… which poses an even greater challenge to virus prevention and control work,” said Mi Feng, spokesman for China’s National Health Commission.

The nation where the disease first emerged has rushed to prevent the highly transmissible strain from taking root by putting more than one million people under lockdown and reinstituting mass testing campaigns.

Worldwide, coronavirus infections are once again on the upswing, with the World Health Organization announcing an 80 percent average increase over the past four weeks in five of the health agency’s six regions, a jump largely fuelled by the Delta variant.

First detected in India, the strain has now reached 132 countries and territories.

“Delta is a warning: it’s a warning that the virus is evolving but it is also a call to action that we need to move now before more dangerous variants emerge,” the WHO’s emergencies director Michael Ryan told a press conference. 

Both high- and low-income countries are struggling to gain the upper hand against Delta, with the vastly unequal sprint for vaccines leaving room for variants to wreak havoc and further evolve. 

In Australia, where only about 14 percent of the population is jabbed, the third-largest city of Brisbane and other parts of Queensland state entered a snap lockdown Saturday as a cluster of the Delta variant produced six new cases.

“The only way to beat the Delta strain is to move quickly, to be fast and to be strong,” Queensland’s Deputy Premier Steven Miles said while informing millions that they would be under three days of strict stay-at-home orders.

– ‘Crippling the economy’ –

Restrictions are also in place in many other parts of the Asia-Pacific region to combat Delta. In Malaysia a nationwide lockdown spurred protest Saturday as people defied the curbs to take to the streets, piling pressure on the country’s embattled prime minister to resign.

Anger is growing at the government’s handling of the virus led by Muhyiddin Yassin.

“This government is… crippling the economy and also destroying our country’s democracy,” Karmun Loh, taking part in the protest in downtown Kuala Lumpur, told AFP.

The Bangladesh government was easing curbs however despite a Delta surge, prompting hundreds of thousands of garment workers to rush back to major cities after the government said export factories could reopen from Sunday.

‘The war has changed’

With the Delta variant spreading at speed, doubts are growing over the efficacy of vaccines against the strain.

The US Centers for Disease Control on Friday released an analysis that found fully immunised people with so-called breakthrough infections of the Delta variant can spread the disease as easily as unvaccinated people. 

While the jabs remain effective against severe disease and death, the US government agency said in a leaked internal document that “the war has changed” as a result of Delta.

An analysis of a superspreading event in the northeastern state of Massachusetts found three-quarters of people sickened were vaccinated.

“As a vaccinated person, if you have one of these breakthrough infections, you may have mild symptoms, you may have no symptoms, but based on what we’re seeing here you could be contagious to other people,” Celine Gounder, an infectious diseases physician and professor at New York University, told AFP.

Asked if Americans should expect new recommendations from health authorities or new restrictive measures, US President Joe Biden responded, “in all probability”, before leaving the White House by helicopter for the weekend.

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