An arson attack on a suburban Athens building that houses the offices of a Greek radio station and newspaper caused significant damage early Wednesday and drew condemnation from political leaders in Greece and elsewhere in the European Union. 

Explosions were heard before a fire broke out shortly after 3 a.m. at the building that houses radio station Real FM and the Real News newspaper in Maroussi, a northern Athens suburb. 

Firefighters extinguished the blaze. Fire Service investigators found the remnants of three gas canisters tied together on an external stairwell between the ground and first floors, as well as a can containing a flammable liquid. 

No one was injured, although a radio station sound engineer was evacuated and treated for smoke inhalation. The offices of a shipping company on the building’s top floor suffered the most damage. The newspaper in located on the first floor and the radio station on the second. 

Real Group owner Nikos Chatzinikolaou, a veteran journalist, posted a short clip from his car that showed the top of the building on fire and tweeted: “Explosions and fire at Real FM and Realnews! They are burning us! They are trying to shut us down!” 

Chatzinikolaou founded the media company in 2007. The group also includes news site enikos.gr. 

Real Group reported on its website that security cameras showed two people with their heads covered placing the canisters and can. 

Police said they suspect other people might have helped the arsonists escape, are examining security cameras from nearby buildings. 

The group’s news site said a serious malfunction in the radio station’s broadcast tower on Tuesday could be related to the fire. 

No one had claimed responsibility as of Wednesday afternoon. 

Greece has seen similar attacks on media outlets and other targets that most often turned out to be the work of far-left groups, but Tuesday’s fire caused more serious damage. 

“The freedom of the press is neither constrained nor muzzled by terrorist acts,” Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said during a Parliament session. 

Opposition leader Alexis Tsipras, several government ministers and politicians from all of the countries political parties made online and live statements strongly denouncing the attack. 

European Commission Vice President for Values and Transparency Vera Jourov joined the condemnation and said Greek authorities must do “much more … to guarantee the security of journalists and media, because this this attack is really shocking.” 

 
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Turkish officials say there is a potential breakthrough in efforts to release Ukrainian grain to world markets as global food prices soar amid Russia’s war with Ukraine. Turkey’s defense minister, Hulusi Akar, said an agreement is likely to be announced soon following four-way talks Wednesday among Russian, Ukrainian, United Nations, and Turkish officials in Istanbul.

Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said in a statement after Wednesday’s talks that a deal to allow the release of millions of tons of Ukrainian grain could come as early as next week.

Akar said Turkey would play a pivotal role in checking shipments in harbors and guaranteeing the safety of Black Sea export routes. In addition, a coordination center with Ukraine, Russia, and the United Nations for exporting grain would be set up in Turkey, he said.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, while welcoming the process, also cautioned Wednesday that this is not yet a done deal.

“More technical work will now be needed to materialize today’s progress. But the momentum is clear,” he said.

Trust has been a key stumbling block in months of diplomatic efforts to reach a deal. Kyiv has said it fears that if it de-mines its ports to allow cargo ships to export grain, Russian forces will use that move to their advantage and attack. The grain has been stuck amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Aaron Stein of Philadelphia-based Foreign Policy Research Institute said trust and international sanctions on Russia have been the main obstacles.

“This food corridor would require the Ukrainians to remove mines from seaports. They were put there for a reason to keep Russians from invading their country. And there is no appetite whatsoever to lift sanctions, and that is the Russian demand, and that is not going to happen,” said Stein.

The Reuters news agency quotes a U.N. official speaking anonymously as saying that most of the sticking points have been overcome, without giving details.

Moscow has so far not commented on the Istanbul talks.

Meanwhile, the U.N. warns that unless tens of millions of tons of grain stuck in Ukrainian ports are released, world food prices will continue to climb, threatening famine across the globe.

Ukraine is a leading wheat exporter, and nations in Africa are heavily dependent on Ukrainian grain. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine is determined to reach a deal.

Zelenskyy said his government is putting significant effort into resuming the supply of food to the world market. He said he is grateful to the United Nations and Turkey for their efforts.

The progress at the Istanbul talks has underlined Turkey’s position as a critical facilitator in negotiations between the warring parties, said Sinan Ulgen of the Center for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies, a research organization in Istanbul.

“President (Recep Tayyip) Erdogan has been careful to highlight that Turkey wants to maintain relations with both sides. So, as a result of this balanced policy, Turkey has been trying to carve out a space for diplomatic influence as a facilitator or potentially as a mediator,” said Ulgen.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has close ties with his Ukrainian and Russian counterparts. Ahead of the Istanbul talks, the Turkish leader spoke with Zelenskyy. Next week, the Turkish leader is scheduled to meet face-to face with President Vladimir Putin in Tehran for talks that could be key to finalizing any deal to get Ukrainian grain back on world markets. 
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Thousands of firefighters battled more than 20 blazes that raged across Portugal and western Spain on Wednesday, menacing villages and disrupting tourists’ holidays amid a heat wave that pushed temperatures above 45 degrees Celsius in some parts of Europe.

In France, hundreds of firefighters, supported by six water-bomber aircraft, battled two wildfires in the southwest, which prompted the evacuation of thousands of campers, Gironde prefect Fabienne Buccio said.

In Santiago de Guarda in the central Portuguese district of Leiria, Albertina Francisco struggled to hold back tears as a cloud of black smoke billowed over the tiny village.

“It was very hard,” said Francisco, 42, who was helping her sick sister evacuate. “Nobody helped — the firefighters and the (water-bomber) aircraft only got here now. … The state must do more to help us.”

Some villagers rescued pets while others helped firefighters battle the flames.

In Leiria, where more than 3,000 hectares have burned so far, authorities blocked major motorways and side streets as strong winds made it harder for firefighters to douse the flames. Portugal’s most important highway, connecting its capital, Lisbon, to Porto, was also blocked by another fire farther north.

Nearly 900 firefighters were combating three active blazes in Leiria alone, while in the whole of mainland Portugal there were 2,841 firefighters on the ground and 860 vehicles.

In Portugal’s southern Algarve region, popular with tourists, a fire broke out in the city of Faro and spread to the Quinta do Lago luxury resort. Videos shared online showed flames edging close to villas, burning palm trees and parts of golf courses.

About half of drought-hit Portugal will remain on red alert for extreme heat conditions on Thursday, with the highest temperatures expected in the Santarem and Castelo Branco districts, the IPMA weather institute said.

Wednesday’s highest temperature was registered in the central town of Lousa at 46.3 degrees C, one degree below a 2003 record.

Retiree Antonio Ramalheiro blamed inadequate forest management in addition to the heat wave for the wildfires.

“It is scary when the fire comes,” the 62-year-old said. “If it reaches the house, it is a disgrace … you lose everything.”

At least 135 people have suffered mainly minor injuries since wildfires began in Portugal last week, and about 800 people have been evacuated from their homes, according to the Civil Protection Authority.

More than 2,700 hectares have burned so far in France’s Gironde region, prefect Buccio told BFM TV. The biggest of the two fires is around the town of Landiras, south of Bordeaux, where roads have been closed and 500 residents evacuated.

The other one is along the Atlantic Coast, close to the iconic Dune du Pilat — the tallest sand dune in Europe — in the Arcachon Bay area, above which heavy clouds of dark smoke were seen rising in the sky.

That fire led to the preventive evacuation of 6,000 people from five surrounding campsites. They were taken to a local exhibition center for shelter.

“Other campers woke us up at around 4:30 in the morning. We had to leave immediately and quickly choose what to take with us,” Christelle, one of the evacuated tourists, told BFM TV.

On the eve of Bastille Day, the Gironde prefecture has forbidden all fireworks until Monday in towns and villages near forests.

The World Meteorological Organization warned on Tuesday that the heat wave was spreading and intensifying in large parts of Europe.

With human-caused climate change triggering droughts, the number of extreme wildfires is expected to increase 30% within the next 28 years, according to a February 2022 U.N. report.

Searing temperatures also swept across China’s vast Yangtze River basin on Wednesday; firefighters tackled a forest fire near the tourist town of Datca in Turkey; and power demand in Texas hit an all-time high as consumers cranked up their air conditioners to escape the heat.

In Spain’s western region of Extremadura bordering Portugal, firefighters battled a blaze that swept into Salamanca province in the region of Castile and Leon, burning more than 4,000 hectares.

Parts of the Extremadura, Andalusia and Galicia regions were on red alert for extreme heat, Spain’s AEMET meteorology service said, adding the country’s highest temperature Wednesday stood at 45.6 C in Huelva province.
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With thousands of sanctions already imposed on Russia to flatten its economy, the U.S. and its allies are working on new measures to starve the Russian war machine while also stopping the price of oil and gasoline from soaring to levels that could crush the global economy.

The Kremlin’s main pillar of financial revenue — oil — has kept the Russian economy afloat despite export bans, sanctions and the freezing of central bank assets. America’s European allies plan to follow the Biden administration and take steps to stop their use of Russian oil by the end of this year, a move that some economists say could cause the supply of oil worldwide to drop and push prices as high as $200 a barrel.

Washington and its allies want to form a buyers’ cartel to force Russia to accept below-market prices for oil. Group of Seven leaders have tentatively agreed to back a cap on the price of Russian oil. Simply speaking, participating countries would agree to purchase the oil at lower-than-market price.

Russia has given no sign whether it might go along with this. The Kremlin also has the option of retaliating by taking its oil off the market, which would cause more turmoil.

High energy costs are straining economies and threatening fissures among the countries opposing Russian President Vladimir Putin for the invasion of Ukraine in February. President Joe Biden has seen his public approval slip to levels that hurt Democrats’ chances in the midterm elections, while leaders in the United Kingdom, Germany and Italy are coping with the economic devastation caused by trying to move away from Russian natural gas and petroleum.

The idea behind the cap is to lower gas prices for consumers and help bring the war in Ukraine to a halt. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is currently touring Indo-Pacific countries to lobby for the proposal. In Japan on Tuesday, Yellen and Japanese Finance Minister Suzuki Shunichi said in a joint statement that the countries have agreed to explore “the feasibility of price caps where appropriate.”

However, China and India, two countries that have maintained business relationships with Russia during the war, will need to get on board. The administration is confident China and India, already buying from Russia at discounted prices, can be enticed to embrace the plan for price caps.

“We think that ultimately countries around the world that are currently purchasing Russian oil will be very interested in paying as little as possible for that Russian oil,” Treasury Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo told The Associated Press.

The Russian price cap plan has support among some leading economic thinkers. Harvard economist Jason Furman tweeted that if the plan works, it would be a “win-win: maximizing damage to the Russian war machine while minimizing damage to the rest of the world.” And David Wessel at the Brookings Institution said an “unpleasant alternative” is not attempting the price cap plan.

If a price cap is not implemented, oil prices will almost certainly spike because of a European Union decision to ban nearly all oil from Russia. The EU also plans to ban insuring and financing the maritime transport of Russian oil to third parties by the end of the year.

Without a price cap mechanism to reduce some Russian revenues, “there would be a greater risk that some Russian supply comes off the market. That could lead to higher prices, which would increase prices for Americans,” Adeyemo said.

A June Barclay’s report warns that with the EU oil embargo and other restrictions in place, Russian oil could rise to $150 per barrel or even $200 per barrel if most of its sea-borne exports are disrupted.

Brent crude on Tuesday was trading just under $100 per barrel.

James Hamilton, an economist at the University of California, San Diego, said garnering the participation of China and India will be important to enforcing any price cap plan.

“It’s an international diplomatic challenge on how you get people to agree. It’s one thing if you get the U.S. to stop buying oil, but if India and China continue to buy” at elevated prices, “there’s no impact on Russian revenues,” Hamilton told the AP.

“The less revenue Russia gets from selling oil, the less money they have to send these bombs on Ukraine,” he said.

One possibility is that Russia could retaliate and take its oil off the market completely.

In that case, “the main question is will countries have enough time to find alternatives” to prevent massive price increases, said Christiane Baumeister, an economist at the University of Notre Dame who studies the dynamics of energy markets.

With five months until the end of the year, when EU bans begin to take effect, a Russian price cap plan would likely need to be in place and operating effectively to avoid further spikes in gas prices that have frustrated U.S. drivers. Biden has warned that high gas prices this summer were the cost of stopping Putin, but prices could climb to new records and lead to economic and political pain for the president.

Without the price cap, “if the EU import ban goes into effect together with the insurance ban,” Baumeister said, the impacts “will be passed onto consumers through gasoline prices.”
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Like most of his predecessors as Conservative Party leader, Prime Minister Boris Johnson is wealthy, white and male. There’s a good chance his successor will be different.

The eight candidates running in a party election to succeed Johnson are four men and four women, with roots in Iraq, India, Pakistan and Nigeria as well as the U.K. The race could give the country its first Black or brown prime minister, its third female leader, or both.

With the first round of voting by Conservative lawmakers set for Wednesday, the bookies’ favorite is former Treasury chief Rishi Sunak, son of Indian parents who came to Britain from East Africa. Other contenders include Kemi Badenoch, whose parents are Nigerian; Nadhim Zahawi, who was born in Baghdad and came to Britain as a child and Suella Braverman, whose Indian parents moved to Britain from Kenya and Mauritius.

With Penny Mordaunt and Liz Truss also in the race, only two white men — Tom Tugendhat and Jeremy Hunt — are running.

Zahawi, who recalled coming to Britain at age 11 speaking no English, said “the Conservative Party has made me who I am today.”

But if the contenders reflect the face of modern Britain, the winner will be chosen by an electorate that does not. The next party leader, who will also become prime minister, will be chosen by about 180,000 Conservative members who tend to be affluent, older white men.

The slate of candidates reflects successful efforts to attract more diverse talent to the party and shake its “pale, male and stale” image, begun after former Prime Minister David Cameron became party leader in 2005. Cameron made a push to draft diverse candidate shortlists for solidly Conservative seats, an effort that has seen Black and brown Tory lawmakers elected in constituencies that are predominantly white.

The party’s attempt to attract aspiring politicians from immigrant backgrounds has succeeded despite a Brexit vote in which the winning “leave” side — championed by Boris Johnson — played on concerns about immigration.

“The Conservative Party is very diverse at the very, very top,” said Sunder Katwala, director of the equality think-tank British Future. “It’s a massive, rapid change, and it’s a level of ethnic diversity that has never been seen in any leadership field for any political party in any Western democracy.

“It’s clear that minority candidates have a sense that their voice, their story, is relevant to this moment. That might be the story of aspiration, it might be the story of inclusive patriotism after Brexit.”

Change has happened despite the Conservatives lagging behind the left-of-center Labour Party in terms of overall diversity. Labour, which passed Britain’s first race relations act in 1965, has long seen itself as the natural home for ethnic-minority voters, as well as a champion of women’s rights. Half of Labour’s lawmakers are women and 20% come from non-white backgrounds; among Tory legislators, 24% are women and 6% belong to ethnic minorities.

But minorities in the Tory party have risen higher, and faster. Sunak, Zahawi and Javid all served in Johnson’s Cabinet in senior posts. Both of Britain’s female prime ministers — Margaret Thatcher and Theresa May — have been Tories, while Labour has never had a female leader.

The only British prime minister from an ethnic minority background was 19th-century leader Benjamin Disraeli, who came from Sephardic Jewish stock. He was a Conservative, too.

“Labour continues to regard minorities as groups to be protected or talked about a lot — but for whatever reason it seems they can’t or won’t advance them on merit to the highest offices,” said Conservative commentator Alex Deane. “The conservative approach is to advance people on ability regardless of gender or color and — guess what?— it works.”

If the candidates’ backgrounds are diverse, their views are less so. Johnson’s drive for a “hard” Brexit from the European Union, regardless of the economic cost, drove many pro-European and centrist lawmakers out of the government. Those who remain, of all backgrounds, are small-state, free-marketeers inspired by “Iron Lady” Thatcher.

Contenders have fallen over one another to promise tax cuts, painting Sunak as a left-winger because he has suggested that slashing taxes might not immediately be possible amid war in Ukraine and a stuttering post-pandemic economy.

Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London, said the race was “a contest between different strains of Thatcherism.”

In part that’s because the candidates are wooing an electorate, members of the Conservative Party, that is significantly less diverse — racially, economically and ideologically — than Britain as a whole.

A study of political party membership by Queen Mary University of London and Sussex University, completed in 2020, found 95% of Conservative members identified as “White British,” compared to about 86% of the population as a whole. Some 63% of party members were men, 58% were aged 50 or older and 80% were middle class or above.

Still, Katwala, who studies British social attitudes, is confident the Conservative electorate “will see the leaders through their politics and through issues” rather than through gender or ethnicity.

“Britain has become a more tolerant, less racially prejudiced country, very significantly, over the last few generations,” he said.

“What makes ethnic diversity normal in politics is when you’ve got it on the right, on the left and in the middle.”
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