Air Canada walks back new seat selection policy change after backlash
Air Canada has paused a new seat selection fee for travellers booked on the lowest fares just days after implementing it.
Greece evacuated people in boats from an island beach Wednesday amid heavy smoke from a nearby wildfire and fire crews fought to keep flames away from the birthplace of the ancient Olympic Games as the country sweltered under a record heat wave.
With over 100 wildfires burning in Greece, the European Union sent assistance to it and other southeast European countries grappling with huge wildfires. The help came a day after another major blaze burned more than 100 homes and businesses near the Greek capital of Athens.
Civil Protection chief Nikos Hardalias said 118 wildfires broke out over the past 24 hours, and warned that even worse days could lie ahead for the hard-pressed fire service.
“We are making a titanic effort on many fronts,” he told an evening briefing. “According to our threat forecasts, tomorrow too is expected to be a difficult day ... The toughest part lies ahead of us, the next days and weeks will be even harder. Our key target is to protect human lives.”
Evacuations were taking place in Greece's southern Peloponnese region due to a major fire near ancient Olympia - where the Olympics were held every four years from 776 B.C. for more than a millennium. The adjacent town of Ancient Olympia was evacuated, with another seven nearby villages. The area was ravaged by wildfires in 2007 that cost dozens of lives but spared Olympia's ruined sports venues and temples.
The mayor of the nearby town of Pirgos said a strong firefighting cordon had been placed around the verdant site.
“I think the site's security is at a satisfactory level,” Panagiotis Andonakopoulos said.
The coast guard evacuated about 90 people stranded on a beach near the northern village of Rovies on the island of Evia. Private boats helped in the operation. Media reports said three firefighters suffered burns. Several homes were burnt as well as swaths of forest.
Temperatures in Greece reached 45 degrees Celsius (113 Fahrenheit) Wednesday, in what authorities described as the worst heat wave since 1987. Neighboring countries face similar conditions, fueling deadly wildfires in Turkey and blazes in Italy and across the Mediterranean region. Officials in Albania said one person died of smoke inhalation near the southern city of Gjirokaster,.
An EU disaster response group said firefighters and water-dropping planes were being sent from EU members to Italy, Greece, Albania and North Macedonia.
“Following the situation with great concern. European solidarity is at work to fight these terrible fires,” EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen tweeted.
The EU Atmosphere Monitoring Service said smoke plumes from the region's wildfires were clearly visible in satellite images, which also showed that the intensity of the wildfires in Turkey was at the highest level since records started in 2003.
Greek scientists said the total destruction in just three days this month in Greece exceeded 50% of the average area burnt in the country in previous years. An Athens Observatory report said an estimated 6,000 hectares (14,800 acres) went up in smoke in the wildfires between Sunday-Wednesday - compared to 10,400 hectares in the whole of last year.
The causes of the Greek wildfires were unclear, but authorities say human error and carelessness are most frequently to blame.
Outside Athens, low-flying helicopters and planes dumped water on charred forests around Tatoi, 20 kilometers (12 1/2 miles) north of Athens, where more than 500 firefighters had battled through the night to contain the blaze that started Tuesday. At least 80 cars were burned.
“The ground crews did vital work, (fighting) nightmarish fires in suburban forests,” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said, visiting a mobile control center. “We had no loss of human life. ... Homes will be rebuilt and over time the forest will grow back.”
Firefighters pumped water from a swimming pool to douse the flames, and water-dropping buckets were attached to military helicopters. Authorities said more than 100 homes and businesses had been seriously damaged or destroyed, and more than 500 people were put up for the night in hotels.
The fire sent clouds of smoke over the Greek capital. It also raged close to a large forested estate and palace that once belonged to Greece's royal family and is now a public park but Greece's Culture Ministry said Wednesday the Tatoi estate was not harmed.
It said artifacts “of particular historic and artistic value” were removed from storage areas in the estate as a precaution. Under a major restoration program, thousands of artifacts from the former palace - including ceremonial carriages, luxury cars, antiquities, paintings and clothes - have been stored for years on the estate pending conservation.
Sporadic power outages occurred after the flames toppled electricity transmission towers, adding more strains to Greece's overloaded national power grid at the height of the key summer tourist season.
The heat wave is forecast to hover over Greece and Turkey until the end of the week.
------
Derek Gatopoulos in Athens and Elena Becatoros in Argostoli, Greece. contributed.
Air Canada has paused a new seat selection fee for travellers booked on the lowest fares just days after implementing it.
An ongoing municipal strike, court battles and revolt by half of council has prompted the province to oust the mayor and council in Black River-Matheson.
Three officers on a U.S. Marshals Task Force serving a warrant for a felon wanted for possessing a firearm were killed and five other officers were wounded in a shootout Monday at a North Carolina home, police said.
A Calgary elementary school principal has been charged with possession of child pornography, authorities announced Monday.
The Vancouver Island Health Authority is downplaying what staff describe as a cockroach infestation in a medical unit of Saanich Peninsula Hospital.
Toronto police say 12 people are facing a combined 102 charges in connection with an investigation into a major credit fraud scheme.
One of the winners of a historic US$1.3 billion Powerball jackpot last month is an immigrant from Laos who has had cancer for eight years and had his latest chemotherapy treatment last week.
Britney Spears and her father Jamie Spears will avoid what could have been a long, ugly and revealing trial with a settlement of the lingering issues in the court conservatorship that controlled her life and financial decisions for nearly 14 years.
The clock is ticking ahead of the deadline to file a 2023 income tax return. A personal finance expert explains why you should get them done -- even if you owe more than you can pay.
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.
The lawyer for a residential school survivor leading a proposed class-action defamation lawsuit against the Catholic Church over residential schools says the court action is a last resort.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.