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New Zealand and Australia are to explore moves toward more “seamless travel” between the two nations to enhance

The number of Japanese fell in all the country’s 47 prefectures for the first time since the data

Newly released video shows a Southern California man yelling, "you're gonna kill me" during his violent arrest by a Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputy in February.

Frantic purchases of ammunition, the daylight assassination of a mayor, and a growing body count inside Ecuador's prisons signal that the country's roiling security crisis is going from bad to worse.

Small farmers in Mexico struggling to preserve colorful native corn varieties are finding new hope in the market

Paris plans to make the Seine the centerpiece of the 2024 Olympic Games, with long-term efforts to clean up the river allowing swimming events to take place in its waters.

Lawrence Wong admits corruption probes and resignations are a "setback" for the government.

A federal judge has vacated Bowe Bergdahl's dishonorable discharge from the US Army, roughly seven years after the former soldier was convicted of desertion and misbehavior before the enemy after abandoning his outpost in Afghanistan in 2009.

Most conspicuous among the hundreds of thousands of anti-government protesters waving blue and white Israeli flags outside parliament

Wildfires have raged across Greece for seven consecutive days, triggering large-scale evacuations, rescue flights for British tourists and warnings from officials that things may yet get worse. While the cause of the blazes has not officially been identified, local authorities have suggested at least some could have been the work of arsonists. But climate science and fire risk specialists say it’s undeniable that rising temperatures and prolonged heatwaves mean the fires in the Mediterranean country have spread faster and burned over larger areas. Why are the wildfires so severe in Greece? Over the past few weeks, forest fires have erupted in several parts of Europe – including Switzerland, Italy, Turkey, Croatia, and Spain – as a heatwave sweeps the continent. But Greece has been the worst hit. According to a government spokesperson, an average of 50 wildfires broke out daily for 12 consecutive days in July, with 64 recorded in one weekend. Dr Matthew Kasoar at Imperial College’s Leverhulme Centre for Wildfires, Environment and Society told The Independent that the tinder-dry conditions would make it easier for them to spread. He said: “Fire risk increases rapidly when there are periods of prolonged hot weather, which allow the soil and vegetation to completely dry out.” “Climate change has increased the severity, frequency, and duration of heatwaves when they occur,” he added, as temperatures on the southern Greek mainland rose as high as 45C (113 degrees Fahrenheit) this month. “A lot of the wildfires we’re seeing in Greece have been in areas with shrubby vegetation,” climate science expert Dr Nigel Arnell said. A study by the University of Florida found that spot fires tend to spread further from their original fire perimeter in areas where woody plants such as shrubs and trees replace herbaceous plants like grasses. Is human-induced climate change responsible for the fires? Cambridge professor Adam Pellegrini, who is an expert in forest ecosystems and climate change, said that one of the best examples of anthropogenic, or human-caused climate change contributing to fire activity comes from the western United States. “A 2016 study looked at the area that was burned in a year in the western forests, as well as weather and aridity condition,” he explained. “The researchers ran a model that simulated climate with and without anthropogenic [greenhouse gas] emissions. “Under these climate simulations, which have uncertainties, they found there was a high likelihood that you wouldn’t see these fires that we see now, without climate change,” Dr Pellegrini continued. The study showed that human-induced climate change contributed to an additional 4.2 million hectares of forest being affected by fire during 1984–2015 – double the forest fire area expected without it. “That was done in the western US but those are the kinds of analyses that are required [for the wildfires in Europe]”, Dr Pellegrini said. “My guess is people will now be trying to do that.” An analysis by the World Weather Attribution network found that the recent heatwaves in Europe and the United States would have been “virtually impossible” without human-caused climate change. According to the study, climate change meant this year’s heatwave in Europe was 2.5C hotter. Are these extreme weather events preventable? The way to reduce the increase in heat and drought, and the frequency with which they occur, is stopping greenhouse gas emissions, Dr Pellegrini said, adding: “That is the number one way to do it.” Better ways to adapt and mitigate the damage from wildfires include controlled burns during a cooler, wetter time of the year. “That way you burn out the fuel for the fires, so if there’s a really hot and dry year, hopefully a forest fire won’t be as intense,” he added. Limitations include the high cost of controlled burns, as well as accessibility issues in remote areas such as Siberia, where forest fires have raged since last year. Another way to reduce fire risk is through animal grazing, Imperial College researcher Oliver Perkins explained. “In fire-prone regions of Spain, goat farmers are paid, not to produce food but, to reduce fire risk by grazing flammable vegetation.” Is there a threat of wildfires in the UK? Dr Kasoar warned that almost every region in the world is facing more intense and more frequent hot weather, and the UK is no exception. “We have seen record-breaking heat and fires in the south of the UK last summer, and with the country’s largest fires being recorded in the last few years,” he added. “Unless we stabilise global temperatures by reducing global emissions to net zero, wildfires will continue to become an ever more present risk here in the UK and across many other parts of the world. Read More Greece fires – live: Tourists in Rhodes and Corfu evacuated as Croatia also battles wildfires Where are the Italy wildfires as temperatures rise to 47.6C on Sicliy? Simon Calder on Greece: Latest travel advice for tourists as wildfires continue to ravage Rhodes and Corfu Where are the Italy wildfires as temperatures rise to 47.6C? Are Greece wildfires caused by climate change? Greece fires: Rhodes and Corfu tourists evacuated as Croatia also battles wildfires

Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) called on Republican donors to force candidates who have little to no chance to win the Republican nomination for president out of the race to prevent Donald Trump from winning. The 2012 Republican presidential nominee-turned-chief critic of the former president within the GOP wrote an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal that any candidate had a shot of beating Mr Trump if the contest became a two-person race. “For that to happen, Republican megadonors and influencers – large and small – are going to have to do something they didn’t do in 2016: get candidates they support to agree to withdraw if and when their paths to the nomination are effectively closed,” he said. Mr Romney set the deadline of 26 February, which would be after the Iowa caucuses, the New Hampshire primary, the Nevada caucus and the South Carolina primary. He said plenty of Republican candidates with no chance of winning benefit greatly from their candidacies. “Left to their own inclinations, expect several of the contenders to stay in the race for a long time,” Mr Romney noted. “They will split the non-Trump vote, giving him the prize. A plurality is all that is needed for winner-take-all primaries.” Mr Romney also cited the presidential candidacy of his father, the late George Romney, when he ran in 1968 and how many moderate Republicans got behind him before the elder Romney dropped out and they pledged their support to Nelson Rockefeller to stop Richard Nixon. But Mr Romney said such circumstances don’t exist today because of the rise of super PACs, which allow for unlimited fundraising. “A few billionaires have already committed tens of millions of dollars,” he said. “They have a responsibility to give their funds with clear eyes about their candidate’s prospects.” Mr Romney is the only Republican Senator who voted to convict Mr Trump for both of the former president’s impeachments in 2020 and 2021. The former Massachusetts governor said donors who back a candidate with a slim chance should receive a hard pledge that they will drop out and back the candidate with the best chance of beating Mr Trump by 26 February. “Donors may think that party leaders can narrow the field,” he wrote. “Not so. Candidates don’t listen to party officials, because voters don’t listen to them either. And the last people who would ever encourage a candidate to withdraw are the campaign staff and consultants who want to keep their jobs for as long as possible.” Polling in early states showed Mr Trump continues to hold a commanding lead in many of the early states, including Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. “Our party and our country need a nominee with character, driven by something greater than revenge and ego, preferably from the next generation,” he said. “Family, friends and campaign donors are the only people who can get a lost-cause candidate to exit the race. After Feb. 26, they should start doing just that.” Read More Trump news – live: Trump shares QAnon post on Truth Social as ex-NYPD boss hands evidence to Jan 6 probe Watch: Jill Biden meets France’s first lady to celebrate US rejoining Unesco Hunter Biden's guilty plea is on the horizon, and so are a fresh set of challenges Judge vacates desertion conviction for former US soldier captured in Afghanistan Putting a floating barrier in the Rio Grande to stop migrants is new. The idea isn't.

The House Republican majority is hitting its stride as a fully weaponized arm of Donald Trump's bid for a second White House term as it seeks to drag President Joe Biden into a swamp of so far unsubstantiated corruption allegations.