onsdag 12 augusti 2026
More than 280 arrested for fires in Greece
281 people have been arrested in Greece so far this year for crimes related to fires.
252 of them have been arrested for fires caused by negligence and 29 for arson, the Greek fire service said.
The Greek government has in recent years tightened penalties for people convicted of causing fires. They now face prison sentences of up to 20 years and fines of up to 200,000 euros.
Greece remained on high alert for fires on Wednesday, just days after a fire destroyed more than 11,000 hectares of pine forest, shrubland and farmland near a seaside resort northwest of the capital Athens.
On Wednesday, a 59-year-old man was arrested in Thessaloniki in northern Greece for his involvement in more than five fires over a two-week period.
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China's "economic czar" has died
Former Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji, whose market reforms made the country a global superpower, has died at the age of 97.
Zhu oversaw China's economic policy for more than a decade from the early 1990s, first as vice premier and later as premier, CNN reports.
He implemented a series of sweeping changes to liberalize the economy, including the privatization of unprofitable state-owned companies.
Internationally, he is best known for leading China's entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001, paving the way for double-digit growth that transformed China into a global superpower.
China's ruling Communist Party, in an official obituary, praises Zhu's role during a "crucial stage" when the country "transitioned from a planned economy to a socialist market economy."
Putin threatens to seize Western ships
Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened on Wednesday to seize ships belonging to Western countries. This in response to plans to sell the cargo seized from Russian ships in the so-called “shadow fleet”.
Several European companies have stopped ships carrying Russian oil in violation of European sanctions.
New sanctions adopted last month allow EU countries to sell oil – a major source of income for Russia – or other cargo seized from the ships.
Putin has called the measures “piracy”.
“We will be forced to respond in kind,” Putin said aboard a cruiser off Sakhalin Island, where the Russian navy was conducting military exercises.
Moscow will act “wherever we deem it necessary and appropriate – anywhere,” he added.
Documents from a Swedish court seen by AFP earlier in August showed that Stockholm will hand over a seized Russian ship to Kiev, suspected of carrying grain from occupied Ukraine.
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