Page 30 - bon-dia-aruba-20210730

A30 world news
Diabierna 30 Juli 2021

Wildfires in southern Turkey leave 3 dead, 58 hospitalized

ters (30 miles) north, kept “Those responsible will have three dead, at least 112 peo-
firefighters engaged. to account for the attacks ple were affected by the fires,
against nature and forests,” including 58 who were hos-
Three people were killed in Altun said Twitter. pitalized, mostly for smoke
those fires, and authorities inhalation.
evacuated nearly 20 neigh- Pakdemirli said a total of 53
borhoods or villages. forest fires were reported in Authorities also rescued 10
the country on Wednesday people stranded at a restau-
The Antalya region is a pop- and Thursday, but that most rant near Akseki.
ular vacation destination for of them had been brought
tourists from Russia and oth- under control. Three planes, Pakdemirli said more than a
er parts of Europe. 38 helicopters and some 1,000 farm animals perished
4,000 firefighters were de- while 1,500 acres of agricul-
Fires also broke out Thurs- ployed to battle the blazes, he tural land and 120 acres agri-
day in 16 other locations, said. cultural glasshouses were de-
including in the Icmeler re- stroyed in Manavgat. He said
gion, close to the resort of Wildfires are common in 10 intubated intensive care
Marmaris, 320 kilometers Turkey’s Mediterranean and patients at Manavgat’s state
(200 miles) west of Antalya, Aegean regions during the hospital were transferred to
that briefly threatened holi- arid summer months, al- other hospitals as a precau-
day homes and hotels. A ho- though some previous forest tion.
tel in the Aegean beach resort fires have been blamed on
of Guvercinlik, near the town arson or outlawed Kurdish Patrizia Under, who was va-
of Bodrum, was also evacu- militants. cationing in the Icmerler
ated, Pakdemirli said. area, said she was bathing in
(AP) — Turkish authori- The dead in the fires in An- the sea with friends when
ties on Thursday began A wildfire that broke out Mehmet Oktay, the mayor of talya included a 82-year-old she noticed a fire blazing on
investigating the cause of Wednesday in Manavgat, in Marmaris, told NTV televi- man in Akseki’s Kepezbeleni a mountainside behind a resi-
a string of forest fires in Antalya province, and was sion that he could not rule neighborhood, where 80% of dential area that engulfed the
Turkey’s Mediterranean fanned by strong winds and out “sabotage” for the fire the houses were incinerated, air with smoke.
and southern Aegean re- scorching temperatures, was there, while Fahrettin Al- the district’s governor, Vol-
gions, including two near largely contained, Agricul- tun, the Turkish presidential kan Hulur, told Anadolu. “We got out of the sea and got
the coastal resort town ture and Forestry Minister communications director, into our car and left,” she said
of Manavgat that killed Bekir Pakdemirli said. But said “comprehensive investi- The Turkish government’s by telephone, as she waited
three people and sent over another fire that started over- gations were ... launched into Disaster and Emergency for authorities to allow peo-
50 others to the hospital as night and swept through the the cause of the fires.” Management Presidency, or ple to return to their homes.
homes burned down. district of Akseki, 50 kilome- AFAD, said in addition to the

Tunisia's leader wants corrupt tycoons to fund poor regions

(AP) — Tunisia’s presi- Saied met Wednesday night 13.5 billion dinars (nearly $5 does not exceed seven dinars. tion to work with wholesale
dent is proposing that with the head of the Tuni- billion) from state coffers. They pay people to block the and retail traders to lower
hundreds of tycoons sus- sian employers organization, train and put obstacles on the food prices by avoiding mo-
pected of embezzlement Samir Majoul, and proposed Saied called out corruption in tracks. It is not normal that nopolization and speculation.
reach a deal with the state an unusual deal to some 460 the phosphate sector, whose Tunisia, which was the sec-
to finance public hospi- leading business figures sus- production has fallen signifi- ond-largest exporter of phos- Corruption was a major
tals, schools and develop- pected of embezzling billions cantly in recent years. phate in the world, becomes driver of Tunisia’s 2010-2011
ment projects in poor re- of dollars in the years leading an importer,” Saied said. revolution, and many Tuni-
gions to avoid convictions. up to Tunisia’s 2011 revolu- Phosphate producers “charge sians are frustrated that a de-
tion. 25 dinars per ton for (truck) He also urged the president cade of democracy has failed
President Kais Saied seized transport, whereas by train, it of the employers’ organiza- to wipe it out.
new political powers this To avoid legal action, Saied
week and is trying to tackle suggested reaching a settle-
the corruption and tax eva- ment with the magnates
sion that have long plagued under which they would fi-
the economy, notably in the nance development projects
lucrative phosphate sector in poor regions, to “return
and food trading. the money looted from the
Tunisian people.”
Saied is also seeking to coun-
ter accusations that his sur- The projects could include
prise decision to fire the construction of hospitals,
prime minister and suspend schools and public roads, and
parliament amounts to a the businessmen would be
coup. He insisted Wednesday responsible for ensuring their
on the “provisional” nature of maintenance for 10 years,
the move and on his attach- Saied said.
ment to the freedoms and
rights guaranteed in the Tu- The businessmen’s names
nisian Constitution, created appear in a voluminous re-
after protesters overthrew a port established by an inves-
dictator in 2011. The country tigative commission in the
is considered the only demo- aftermath of the revolution
cratic success story resulting which overthrew autocratic
from the Arab Spring upris- leader Zine El Abidine Ben
ings that year. Ali in 2011. They are sus-
pected of embezzling around