List of All Articles with Tag 'eur'

At least 13 people have been killed in severe storms lashing parts of Greece, Turkey and Bulgaria. Two people have been confirmed dead and four people are missing in central Greece after torrential rain flooded homes and businesses. The body of an elderly woman was recovered close to a seaside community in the southern Pelion region near the port city of Volos on Wednesday, while 10 people were trapped in the area, Michalis Mitzikos, a local mayor, told Skai television. One man had died on Tuesday after a wall collapsed. Greece has said the weather was the most extreme, in terms of rainfall, since records have been kept. “Yesterday the rainfall was very intense, unprecedented,” said Vasilis Batsios, 44, in Volos. “For 24 hours it was non-stop and there was a lot of water; the amount of water was unbelievable.” Police issued traffic warnings for the cities of Trikala and Karditsa as the rainstorm was not expected to weaken before Thursday. Skiathos, a popular holiday island in the northwest Aegean Sea, has also been hammered by rain, leaving hundreds of British holidaymakers stranded after their flights were cancelled. Jet2, which normally operates many flights between the UK and Skiathos, has cancelled all its Tuesday and Wednesday services. Holidaymakers on the island have been left with “no way to get food” with many currently unable to get to the airport. One stranded tourist said the centre of Skiathos was “underwater” and described the situation as “horrendously scary”. Police have ordered all residents and tourists to stay off the streets and the island’s mayor has put in a request to declare a state of emergency. The Foreign Office has updated its travel advice for Greece, telling British tourists on the island to check the local emergency communication services for updates as the “situation can change quickly”. It comes as the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said that the northern hemisphere experienced its hottest summer on record, fuelled by the climate crisis A flash flood at a campsite in northwest Turkey, near the border with Bulgaria, killed at least five people and and carried away bungalow homes, with three people found dead on Wednesday. Rescuers were still searching for one person reported missing at the campsite. Another two people died in Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city, where Tuesday’s storms inundated hundreds of homes and workplaces in several neighbourhoods. The dead in Istanbul included a 32-year-old Guinean citizen who was trapped inside his basement apartment in the Kucukcekmece district, Turkish broadcaster Haberturk TV reported. The other was a 57-year-old woman who died after being swept away by the floods, the DHA news agency reported. Around a dozen people were rescued after being stranded inside a library, while some subway stations were shut down. Istanbul governor Davut Gul urged motorcyclists to stay at home. In Bulgaria, a storm caused floods on the country’s southern Black Sea coast. The body of a missing tourist was recovered from the sea on Wednesday, raising the overall death toll to three. Border police vessels and drones were assisting efforts to locate another two people still listed as missing. TV footage showed cars and camper vans being swept out to sea in the southern resort town of Tsarevo, where authorities declared a state of emergency. The Met Office said “slow-moving” Storm Daniel crossing would bring further rain to the central Mediterranean region. “Much of the area will see between 50 and 150mm of rain over the next two days from Daniel, as it’s a slow-moving system,” Stephen Dixon, a Met Office spokesperson told The Independent. “There are also strong winds and rough seas throughout the period. Daniel will gradually weaken in a few days’ time.” Greece’s weather service said a village in Pelion received 75.4cm (nearly 30in) of rain late Tuesday, by far the highest level recorded since at least 2006. It noted that the average annual rainfall in the Athens region is around 40cm (15.75in). “There is clear evidence that extreme weather events, such as floods, droughts, and wildfires, are becoming more frequent and more intense with climate change,” Aleksandra Kazmierczak, a climate expert with the European Environment Agency (EEA), told The Independent. “We have seen this across Europe this summer and now unfortunately also in Greece. We need to rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions to avoid the worst consequences of climate change, but it is equally important that we prepare our societies for its current and future impacts.” The WMO and the European Union’s climate change service Copernicus also announced that last month was the hottest August ever recorded. The month was about 1.5C warmer than pre-industrial averages. “The dog days of summer are not just barking, they are biting,” United Nations secretary-general, Antonio Guterres, said in a statement. “Climate breakdown has begun.” Read More Hundreds of Brits stranded in Greece as Skiathos flights are cancelled amid storms Moment Greece flooding sweeps cars into sea as roads turn into fast-flowing rivers Flights back to UK cancelled amid severe Greek island floods US lawmakers visiting The Hague say Russian President Putin is committing genocide in Ukraine ‘Sleaze buster’ Sir Chris Bryant joins Labour frontbench ‘Labour cannot be allowed to bankrupt Britain’, claims Sunak

A desperate rescue effort has been launched to save an American scientist trapped more than 4,000ft underground in Turkey’s third-deepest cave. Mark Dickey, 40, himself a cave rescuer, fell ill as he explored Morca Cave in the south of Turkey with a team of 14 fellow explorers. After the descent, he was treated for a serious gastrointestinal bleed on the cavern floor and now needs to be hoisted to safety. A GoFundMe has raised nearly £30,000 to fund his safe release from the extensive cave network aided by more than 100 firefighters, police, international cavers and medical staff. Have you been affected by this story? If so email barney.davis@independent.co.uk A statement on the fundraiser read: “He has gastrointestinal bleeding and when the report was received, he was clearly unable to leave the approximately 1,000-metre deep cave on his own. “The injured caver is a well-known figure in the international speleological community, a highly trained caver, and a cave rescuer himself. In addition to his activities as a speleologist, he is also the secretary of the ECRA medical committee and an instructor for cave rescue organizations in the USA. “An international rescue effort is on the way and this GoFundMe is to support the logistics of aiding in this rescue.” Morca Cave is located in the middle of the remote Taurus mountain belt with even deeper areas still to be explored and mapped. According to local reports, Mr Dickey’s health is “steadily improving”, and he will be safely evacuated in the coming days. Mr Dickey has been caving since the 1990s and is chief of New Jersey Initial Response Team - a team focusing on cave, cliff, and abandoned mine rescues in the United States. He had been planning to explore Morca’s chimneys that could go deeper in the cave and take fungus samples, according to his website. Click here to donate to the Gofundme appeal. Read More Wandsworth prison terror suspect escape: Hunt for former soldier Daniel Abed Khalife Sara Sharif: Stepmother of girl found dead at home ‘willing to co-operate with authorities’ Gabriela Kosilko missing: Friends beg missing beautician to come home as man arrested and police scour lakes Eric Nam's global pop defies expectations. On his latest album, 'House on a Hill,' he relishes in it One of the last surviving female codebreakers of Bletchley Park dies aged 99 Interpol at 100: A mixed legacy of hunting fugitives and merging police data from 195 countries

One of Vladimir Putin's commanders used two military helicopters to transport his pet cat during the war in Ukraine, a defected Russian pilot has claimed. The cat was airlifted in the military-grade helicopter for around one hour, while another flew alongside it to provide cover during the 114-mile journey, according to former Russian airman Maksim Kuzminov. Mr Kuzminov spoke out in an interview with The New Voice of Ukraine after choosing to leave Russia’s armed forces. Asked for examples of any illogical uses of aviation during the war in Ukraine, Mr Kuzminov said: “Our commander needed to transport a cat, which had some impressive pedigree. To do this, two Mi-8 and Mi-24 [helicopter] crews were assigned. “So, two helicopters transported this wonderful animal, so to speak, from Rostov to Yeysk [air base] — the Mi-8 was flying the cat in, while the Mi-24 was circling to provide cover. “We burned a lot of fuel, resources. Furthermore, the crews aren’t always allowed to rest.” The former pilot said six military personnel were on board for the mission despite Russia experiencing a lack of pilots. Mr Kuzminov, 28, has reportedly been paid £398,000 for defecting and is now urging his former Russian colleagues to follow suit. “The truth is, there are no Nazis or fascists,” he told the Ukrainian news outlet, to counter the message Mr Putin has used to justify the “special military operation” launched in February last year. He said he got in touch with representatives of the Ukrainian military intelligence about the possibility of changing sides and he was offered safety as well as the financial reward. Mr Kuzminov landed his Russian Mi-8 helicopter in Ukraine’s Poltava Oblast on August 23 - giving the chopper to his new bosses as well as spare parts for the aircraft. “It’s a real disgrace what is happening here,” he said of the war. “Murder, tears, blood. “People are simply killing each other. That’s all I can make of this and I don’t want to be a part of it. What is going on now is simply the genocide of the Ukrainian people. Both Ukrainian and Russian.” Read More Russia-Ukraine war – live: 16 killed in missile strike on market town during ‘evil’ attack Ukraine destroys ‘Russian-occupied warehouse’ in drone strike CCTV captures Russian shell landing on Ukrainian market killing at least 16 The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary The harrowing discovery at centre of The Independent’s new documentary

An announcement is likely soon on the UK becoming a fully-fledged member of the multi-billion euro programme.

Further storms are set to batter a Greek island where hundreds of British tourists are stranded following flash floods. At least one person was killed and five others are thought to be missing after cars were swept away and streets submerged by rainfall in parts of Greece on Tuesday. It comes as the World Meteorological Organisation said that the northern hemisphere experienced its hottest summer on record, fuelled by climate change. Skiathos, a popular holiday island in the northwest Aegean Sea, was forecast to be hit with heavy showers and thunderstorms throughout Wednesday morning. Holidaymakers on the island have been left with “no way to get food” with many currently unable to get to the airport. One stranded tourist said the centre of Skiathos is “underwater” and described the situation as “horrendously scary”. Flooding is also affecting parts of Turkey and Bulgaria with the death toll across the three countries currently at 11. Read More UK’s hottest day of the year likely to be on Saturday, Met Office says The death toll from fierce storms and flooding in Greece, Turkey and Bulgaria rises to 8 It’s September but the sun is still dangerous – here’s how to stay safe

Forty-nine elite Russian soldiers were killed on the way to defend a key battleground on the front line in Ukraine, it has been claimed. US think tank the Institute for the Study of War, citing a Russian military blogger, said the troops were killed in one day of fighting near the village of Staromayorske, Donetsk. The blogger posted an audio recording on 5 September purportedly from a soldier in the Russian 247th VDV Regiment in which the soldier claims that he has to retrieve bodies of Russian personnel near Staromayorske. “The Russian soldier’s claims suggest that elements of the 247th Regiment remain defending in the western Donetsk-eastern Zaporizhia Oblast area, despite claims from a prominent Russian source in late August that some elements are fighting in the Robotyne area,” the think tank said in a statement. Earlier, Ukraine’s ground forces commander said the situation along the eastern frontline remains “difficult”. Oleksandr Syrskyi added that the main task for Ukraine’s troops is to ensure reliable defence and prevent the loss of strongholds. Read More British Challenger 2 tank ‘destroyed in Ukraine’ – defence source Wagner to be declared a terrorist organisation, Home Office says Why Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un are desperate for each other’s help Drone warfare map reveals how Ukraine is striking Russia hundreds of miles from the frontline

King Charles will be on a charm offensive on this month's rearranged state visit to France.

Russia’s central bank will offload 150 billion rubles ($1.5 billion) of foreign exchange in the domestic market this

German factory orders plummeted in July, a sign that the woes of Europe’s biggest economy continued into the

Irish police say a young girl has died after she entered the water at a beach in County Cork.

Gardaí say Commissioner Drew Harris is to attend a series of meetings as part of an ongoing operation.

Irish police say they observed 865 drivers speeding over the course of 24-hours.