Dozens of villages were evacuated and thousands of residents were forced to leave their homes on Thursday because of forest fires in Greece.

Firefighters said a fire that ignited in the forest area in the Olympia region in the northwest of Peloponnese on Wednesday continued throughout the night and extraordinary efforts were made to protect the ancient city and the museum, which was threatened.

Prime Minister Kiryakos Mitsotakis, toured Olympia, made investigations and received information from authorities about the status of the fire.

Ninety people stuck on the coastline in Euboea were rescued by boats and at least 13 villages were evacuated as a precautionary measure, while an emergency was declared in the region./aa

US President Joe Biden will announce Thursday his goal of reaching 40% - 50% electric vehicle sales share by 2030, the White House said in a statement.

The president will announce new actions amid his Build Back Better agenda and the bipartisan infrastructure deal, "positioning America to drive the electric vehicle future forward, outcompete China, and tackle the climate crisis," it said.

He will sign an executive order that targets making half of all new vehicles sold in 2030 zero-emissions vehicles, including battery electric, plug-in hybrid electric, or fuel cell electric vehicles, in addition to long-term fuel efficiency, emissions standards and cutting pollution.

The Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Transportation are also advancing smart fuel efficiency and emissions standards that would deliver $140 billion in net benefits, save 200 billion gallons of gasoline and reduce around 2 billion metric tons of carbon pollution, it said.

Noting that the US market share of electric vehicle sales is one-third that of the Chinese market, Biden's new investments will include installing the first-ever national network of electric vehicle charging stations, delivering consumer incentives, expansion of domestic manufacturing supply chain, and innovation of clean technologies.

The White House noted that there has been a dramatic change in the electric vehicle market since 2010 as battery pack costs dropped 85% and electric models available to US consumers expanded to more than 40% last year.

Some major automakers, along with the United Autoworkers (UAW) labor union released a separate statement via the White House showing support for Biden's steps.

"Today, Ford, GM and Stellantis announce their shared aspiration to achieve sales of 40-50% of annual US volumes of electric vehicles (battery electric, fuel cell and plug-in hybrid vehicles) by 2030 in order to move the nation closer to a zero-emissions future consistent with Paris climate goals," it said.

Other major automakers supporting Biden's plan included Ford, BMW and Volkswagen of Germany, Honda from Japan and Chinese-owned Volvo from Sweden./aa

Global food prices continued to decrease in July for the second consecutive month thanks to fall in prices of cereals, vegetable oils and dairy products, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said on Thursday.

The FAO food price index dropped 1.2% in July month-on-month to average at 123 points, but 31% above its level last year, the UN body said in a statement.

FAO's food price index measures monthly changes in the international prices of five major food commodity groups – cereal, meat, dairy products, vegetable oils, and sugar.

The cereal price index slipped 3% from June, pushed down a drop in international maize prices.

The FAO dairy price index fell 2.8%, declining for the second consecutive month, following a 12-month of increase.

"In July, international quotations for all dairy products represented in the index fell, with skim milk powder registering the biggest drop, followed by butter, whole milk powder and cheese, principally reflecting reduced import demand for spot supplies," it said.

The vegetable oil price index reached a five-month low, slipping 1.4% from a month ago, as lower prices for soy, rape and sunflower seed oils more than offset rising palm oil values.

On the contrary, the FAO sugar price index posted its fourth monthly rise with 1.7% in July, driven by firmer crude oil prices as well as uncertainties over the impact of recent frosts on yields.

This July, the meat price index was up marginally from June, the FAO said./agencies

Some 187 fires broke out in Turkey in the last eight days, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said late Wednesday during a televised interview, adding that 15 of them are currently ongoing.

The president also shared information about Turkey's efforts in putting out the blazes.

“51 helicopters, 20 planes are engaged in operations to douse forest fires,” he said.

Turkey managed to bring most fires in over 30 provinces under control but new flare-ups are adding to the country's woes. Manavgat, where the first major blaze broke out one week ago, is still grappling with the flames as new fires erupt in the western regions of Isparta, Denizli, Balıkesir and Manisa over the last two days.

Official figures from Tuesday show two fires underway in Antalya’s Manavgat and Gündoğmuş districts. Muğla has the most fires with five out of 13 blazes still threatening popular vacation resorts and rural areas in the districts of Marmaris, Köyceğiz, Menteşe and Milas.

The General Directorate of Forestry announced Wednesday that 174 fires broke out in the last eight days in 39 provinces and 160 of them were under control. The directorate said 16 water bomber planes, nine drones, 45 helicopters and around 5,250 firefighters had been mobilized to put out the fires.

In Milas, a massive blaze encircled a thermal plant, coming within just 1 kilometer (0.62 miles) of the facility. Authorities announced that ditches had been dug around the plant to prevent flames from reaching it. Local authorities said Wednesday that the fire was under control.

"The flames reached the wall of the power plant last night. The fire is now out," Milas Mayor Muhammet Tokat told Reuters. Two planes and four helicopters had helped firefighters on the ground to douse the flames, he said, and the power plant had resumed operations. Tokat said he had requested aerial support to the area around the power plant days ago while he was visiting a nearby neighborhood damaged by the blaze. Tanks with flammable materials at the plant were emptied as a precaution./agencies

The US walked back on Wednesday remarks from senior officials regarding Afghan refugee flows amid a diplomatic row with Turkey, and voiced regret about the comments.

State Department spokesman Ned Price said Washington "did not intend to single out any particular country as a destination for refugees."

"We do regret the concerns that statements have raised regarding the potential travel of Afghans to Turkey, and we reiterate our gratitude to Turkey for its substantial humanitarian efforts in hosting over 4 million refugees, more than any other country in the world," Price told reporters during a news conference.

"It is not the US government’s policy to encourage or to direct individuals seeking protection to specific safe havens, nor did we in this case," he added.

Turkey said Tuesday that it would not accept the “irresponsible decision taken by the US” regarding Afghan refugees after a senior Biden administration official told reporters on a background briefing that it is important for countries neighboring Afghanistan to ensure "their borders remain open."

"Obviously, if people go north or if they go via Iran to Turkey – we’ve already seen some arrivals in Turkey – that people have an opportunity both to enter the country as well as to register with either the government or with UNHCR," the official said as he addressed the expansion of the US refugee program for Afghans.

The State Department did not respond to multiple requests from Anadolu Agency to explain the comments.

Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Tanju Bilgic responded to the official's remarks by saying, "it is unacceptable to seek a solution in our country without our consent, instead of finding a solution among the countries in the region."

“No one should expect the Turkish nation to bear the burden of the migration crises caused by the decisions of third countries in our region," he said./aa

Forest fires are a global threat just like the COVID-19 pandemic, Turkey’s president said Wednesday.

The whole world is currently facing this challenge, which is like a “terrorist threat,” Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a live television interview.

He said 187 forest fires have erupted in Turkey in the past eight days, with 15 of them yet to be put out.

Some 51 helicopters and 20 planes are engaged in operations to douse the wildfires, the president said.

He added that Turkish intelligence and police personnel are thoroughly investigating the fires.

Erdogan said Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev told him that his country will send another amphibious aircraft, which is currently undergoing maintenance, to Turkey to support its ongoing battle against the forest fires in its southern provinces.

Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Wednesday that Azerbaijan will send a new team to help Turkey in its firefighting efforts.

A total of 160 personnel, 40 fire trucks and a plane will arrive from Azerbaijan early Thursday, Cavusoglu said.

This will be the third team Baku has sent to assist Turkey’s fight against the wildfires.

According to official figures, at least eight people have lost their lives since the fires started in south and southwestern Turkey last Wednesday.

-COVID-19 vaccination

Turning to the global coronavirus pandemic, Erdogan said Turkey aims to get emergency use authorization for its indigenous Turkovac COVID-19 vaccine as soon as possible for its widespread use in the country.

"Phase 1 and Phase 2 of our domestic vaccine Turkovac have been successfully completed," he said, adding the clinical and research phase started in June.

He also said that the Turkish economy will see 7% growth this year and inflation and interest rates will drop in the coming period.

Turkey has administered more than 74.33 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines since it launched a mass vaccination campaign in January, according to figures released Wednesday.

The country is continuing its intensive vaccination campaign to curb the spread of the coronavirus, with everyone 18 and over eligible for vaccine shots.

Amid a nationwide drop in cases and an expedited vaccination drive, Turkey entered a new normalization phase on July 1, lifting almost all virus-related restrictions.

However, seeking to limit the spread of the Delta variant of the virus, the country suspended flights from India and required arrivals from the UK, Iran, Egypt and Singapore to have negative COVID-19 test results taken within 72 hours prior.

Since December 2019, the pandemic has claimed nearly 4.25 million lives in 192 countries and regions, with more than 200 million cases reported, according to US-based Johns Hopkins University.

-Cyprus issue

On the Cyprus issue, Erdogan said Turkey is considering an international meeting to discuss issues regarding the region in the fall. The scope of the meeting will be about the Eastern Mediterranean, Cyprus and mainly the town of Maras, also known as Varosha.

Cyprus has been mired in a decades-long dispute between Greek and Turkish Cypriots, despite a series of diplomatic efforts by the UN to achieve a comprehensive settlement.

Ethnic attacks starting in the early 1960s forced Turkish Cypriots to withdraw into enclaves for their safety.

In 1974, a Greek Cypriot coup aimed at Greece's annexation led to Turkey's military intervention as a guarantor power to protect Turkish Cypriots from persecution and violence. As a result, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) was founded in 1983.

It has seen an on-and-off peace process in recent years, including a failed 2017 initiative in Switzerland under the auspices of guarantor countries Turkey, Greece and the UK.

The Greek Cypriot administration entered the European Union in 2004, the same year Greek Cypriots thwarted a UN plan to end the longstanding dispute./aa

Azerbaijan will send a new team to help Turkey in its efforts to battle the wildfires in the country, Turkey’s foreign minister said on Wednesday.

Some 160 personnel, 40 fire trucks, and one plane will arrive from Azerbaijan early on Thursday, Mevlut Cavusoglu said at a news conference in Manavgat, a district in Turkey’s Mediterranean province of Antalya where wildfires are currently raging.

This will be the third team Baku has sent to assist Turkey’s fight against the wildfires that have erupted in southwestern Turkey since last week.

Cavusoglu was accompanied by Environment and Urbanization Minister Murat Kurum and Transport and Infrastructure Minister Adil Karaismailoglu.

Cavusoglu said six planes, two unmanned aerial vehicles, 17 helicopters, 1,878 emergency vehicles, and over 6,500 personnel have been engaged in efforts to douse blazes in Manavgat.

Four planes hired from a private Ukrainian company arrived at Isparta Airport in western Turkey on Wednesday, while two more planes rented from an Israeli firm will arrive in the country on Thursday, the foreign minister added.

According to Cavusoglu, Turkey has received offers of assistance from Pakistan, Poland, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the US, Canada, and Japan.

Kurum, the environment, and urbanization minister, said the medical treatment of 708 out of a total of 722 citizens wounded in the blazes has been completed.

“Nearly 13 million Turkish liras have been provided to 912 people whose houses were damaged in the fires. Aid amounting to 47.5 million Turkish liras has reached the region so far,” he said.

A total of 187 fires broke out in Turkey in the last eight days, and 15 of them are currently ongoing, according to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday./aa

Some former EU politicians, along with human rights experts, have expressed solidarity with the Kashmiri people, urging the international community to take immediate action to address the alarming human rights situation in the Indian-administered Muslim-majority valley.

Speaking at an online conference late Tuesday, organized by the think tank Islamabad Institute of Conflict Resolution (IICR), in collaboration with the international NGO World Kashmir Freedom Movement, the speakers criticized the use of force against civilians in the Indian-administered Kashmir.

On Aug. 5, 2019, the Indian government stripped Jammu and Kashmir of its autonomous status and divided it into two centrally ruled territories.

Supporting the resistance of the Kashmiri people, Julia Ward, a former member of the European Parliament, noted that when a government takes away the rights of people, they have the right to resist.

"I would be resisting against people taking away my rights," she said.

Criticizing Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Ward added that he is responsible for the current situation in Kashmir and other parts of India, saying: "I don't have a quarrel with the Indian people, and I think it's very important that we're having these discussions we are absolutely clear about who is responsible for this and who is perpetrating this, and (that) is the Indian government is particularly Narendra Modi and the BJP party."

Prominent British historian and writer Victoria Schofield on her part said: "We should not give up on Kashmir although the tragedy of Kashmir has passed on generations."

"It is imperative to forgo the blame game and come to a resolution which is humane and gives people their due rights," Schofield stressed.

She also highlighted that human rights abuses by the Indian government should be criticized rather than presenting the Indian state as a huge economic market.

Danielle Khan, the dean of John Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies of the US, also hit out at New Delhi for the detention of Kashmiris following August 2019 actions and urged the US to pressure and compel India to negotiate the Kashmir issue on the table.

"Indian forces are involved in severe human rights abuses in Kashmir and it will continue to happen if conflict resolution is not achieved," Khan said.

Phil Benion, a former member of the EU Parliament and vice chair of the Liberal Human Rights Committee, in his video message also showed solidarity with Kashmiris and said "the international community was not sufficiently pressing India" to refrain from taking illegal actions and committing human rights violations in Kashmir.

He urged the international community, the US, and UK to pressurize India to stop human rights abuses in Kashmir.

Sabah Aslam, the chief executive of the IICR, and Fahim Kayani, the head of Tehreek-e-Kashmir in the UK also addressed the conference.

"The people of this region (Jammu and Kashmir) have faced seven decades of extreme human rights abuses, multiple crimes that amounted to acts of genocide, and India's own involvement in terrorist activities that have targeted this region," said Lee Rhiannon, a former Australian senator.

"I wish to pay tribute to local Kashmiris, journalists, and local activists who over the past two years have stepped up their protest, and their resistance. Sadly, many have died. So, many have suffered and I believe we have the responsibility to publicly stand with the people of Kashmir," she added.

Disputed region

Muslim-majority Kashmir has been the main ingredient in the long-simmering rivalry between Pakistan and India since the two nuclear-armed neighbors gained independence from the British Empire in 1947.

The picturesque Himalayan valley is held by the two countries in parts and claimed by both in full. Since 1947, the two neighbors have fought three wars, two of them over Kashmir.

Some Kashmiri groups in Jammu and Kashmir have been fighting against the Indian rule for independence or unification with neighboring Pakistan.

According to several human rights organizations, thousands of people have been killed and tortured in the conflict in the region since 1989.

Already heightened tensions between the two countries touched a further low after India stripped the longstanding semi-autonomous status of the valley in August 2019, prompting Islamabad to downgrade diplomatic relations with New Delhi and suspend bilateral trade./agencies

Latin American countries announced more coronavirus cases and deaths Wednesday as they continued efforts to contain the disease.

According to data from the Brazilian Health Ministry, 1,209 people died in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of deaths to 558,432.

A total of 32,316 people tested positive, bringing the total number of cases to over 19.98 million.

In Brazil, the country with the highest number of COVID-19 deaths after the US, more than 18.74 million people have recovered

Mexico

According to Mexico's Health Ministry, 351 more people died from the disease in the last 24 hours, bringing the total death toll to 241,936.

A total of 18,911 new virus-related cases are reported in the country, taking caseload to over 2.88 million.

The ministry also stated that the total number of people who have recovered from the virus has surpassed 2.25 million.

With a population of more than 126 million people, Mexico ranks 16th in the world in terms of COVID-19 cases, according to the Worldometers website, which compiled COVID-19 data from around the world.

Argentina

As of Tuesday, 402 more people died of coronavirus, pushing the death tally to 106,447 in Argentina, according to data by the country’s Health Ministry.

The virus infected up to 14,850 people, bringing the total number of COVID-19 cases to over 4.96 million.

The recovery toll in Argentina, a country with a population of 45 million, was also reported to be at least 4.6 million.

The country is 8th in the world in terms of the number of cases.

Colombia

According to data from the Colombian Health Ministry, 268 people lost their lives due to coronavirus, increasing the total number of virus-related deaths in the country to 121,484.

In the country, where 6,929 people tested positive in the last 24 hours, the total number of cases surpassed 4.8 million, and the number of those who recovered exceeded 4.6 million.

With a population of nearly 50 million people, Colombia ranks 9th in the world in terms of the number of COVID-19 cases.

Peru

According to Peru's Health Ministry, 38 people died of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, and the country has reported 815 new cases.

The total number of cases in the country surpassed 2.11 million, the number of deaths from the virus reached 196,598, and the number of people who recovered exceeded 2.83 million.

Chile

According to a statement issued by the Chilean Health Ministry, the number of COVID-19-related casualties has increased to 35,640, with 24 people dying in the last 24 hours.

The total number of cases increased by 616 to 1.61 million, with 1.57 million people recovering.

Bolivia

According to the Bolivian Ministry of Health, 23 people have died in the last 24 hours, with 727 new cases reported.

The number of cases has risen to 475,265, the death toll has soared to 17,882, and the number of people who have recovered has gone up to 410,833.

Paraguay

According to the Ministry of Health in Paraguay, 49 people have died in the last 24 hours, with 336 new cases of the virus.

The total caseload reached 453,367, with 15,135 casualties and 422,995 people regaining their health since the virus outbreak.

Guatemalan

According to Guatemalan media reports, 35 people have died in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of deaths to 10,483, and the number of cases to 373,047, an increase of 2,789 from the previous day.

In addition, 328,765 people recovered from the deadly disease.

Honduras

According to Honduran media, 60 people have died in the last 24 hours and 1,128 new cases have been reported.

The number of cases in the country has increased to 301,700, the number of casualties has risen to 7,962, and the number of those who have recovered their health has increased to 101,909.

The global COVID-19 case count has surpassed 199.7 million, with 4.25 million deaths./aa