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WORLD NEWS Tuesday 8 augusT 2023
NATO and the EU send aid to Slovenia after floods that killed at

least 6 and left many homeless

LJUBLJANA, Slovenia (AP) Even Ukraine, which is trying
— The European Union to repel a full-scale invasion
and NATO began sending by Russia, offered help.
urgent aid Monday to Slo- “The Ukrainian side will,
venia after severe flooding in line with its capabilities,
over the weekend affect- support its friends and part-
ing two-thirds of the small ners that find themselves
European country killed at in trouble, just as Slovenia
least six people and left is supporting the Ukrainian
hundreds homeless. nation and helping us divert
NATO Secretary-General Russian aggression,” Oleg
Jens Stoltenberg spoke by Nikolenko, spokesperson
phone with Slovenian Prime for Ukraine’s Foreign Minis-
Minister Robert Golob on try, wrote on social media.
Monday, expressing his The floods were caused by
sympathy and the trans- torrential rains Friday that
Atlantic alliance’s strong caused rivers to swell swift-
solidarity with Slovenia, a ly and burst into houses,
NATO statement said. fields, villages and towns.
“I express my deepest con- Slovenia’s weather service
dolences to the people of said a month’s worth of rain
Slovenia for the loss of life fell in less than a day.
and widespread devasta- Experts say extreme weath-
tion caused by this week- A flooded area is seen in Crna na Koroskem, Slovenia, Sunday, Aug. 6, 2023. er conditions are partly fu-
end’s floods,” Stoltenberg (AP Photo) eled by climate change.
said. Protection Pool stationed tors with the accompa- termine urgent humanitar- Parts of Europe have seen
On Sunday, Slovenia and in Greece. Greece is also nying staff, the European ian needs. record heat and wildfires
Cyprus activated a Euro- sending 20 tons of liquid re- Commission said. The German Interior Ministry this summer.
pean Union Civil Protection tardant via the EU Civil Pro- Bulgaria and Croatia have said it was sending a team Entire villages are still under
Mechanism because of the tection Mechanism. also offered support, includ- from the Federal Agency water in Slovenia. Crops
floods in Slovenia and wild- France is sending two ex- ing helicopters, excavators, for Technical Relief to Slo- have been destroyed and
fires in Cyprus that have af- cavators with engineer- prefabricated bridges and venia. The first team, spe- cars stuck in mud. Major
fected those EU states. ing units to Slovenia, while engineering teams. The cialized in rescue, was ex- highways in parts of Slo-
The EU is sending to Cyprus Germany is sending two United States has also de- pected to arrive Monday venia have been closed.
two Canadair firefighting prefabricated temporary ployed staff to Ljubljana to and additional teams were Many bridges have also
airplanes from the EU’s Civil bridges and two excava- assess the situation and de- expected to follow. collapsed. q

Lecturers in the UK refuse to mark exams in labor dispute, leaving

thousands unable to graduate

By Sylvia Hui “Because of the marking dreds of thousands of U.K. school of English and Dra- graduate study opportuni-
Associated Press boycott, they didn’t have workers to demand better ma, have been affected, ties. The uncertainties have
LONDON (AP) — Hafsa Yu- enough grades to confirm pay amid a cost-of-living with many left in limbo be- been particularly worrying
suf was supposed to gradu- that I was able to gradu- crisis. cause they have no idea for international students,
ate last week. The 21-year- ate,” Yusuf said. “We all Now thousands of students when they can get the who face additional com-
old English literature ma- paid as normal, just to get from Cambridge to Edin- grades they need for pend- plications and costs to re-
jor had spent 200 pounds an email two weeks be- burgh are unable to gradu- ing job offers and post- main in the U.K. q
($255) on graduation gown forehand saying you can’t ate or face indefinite de-
rental, photography and come.” lays in receiving their final
tickets for her family to at- She said that while most of marks because of the latest
tend the ceremony. her family live in the U.K., labor dispute, which began
But just two weeks before other students are interna- in April and shows no sign
the big day, Queen Mary tional and have paid for of resolution.
University of London sent flights for their families to It’s not clear exactly how
her an email saying she come from abroad. “It’s re- many students are affect-
couldn’t graduate be- ally devastating,” she said. ed, but the University and
cause of industrial action Yusuf and the class of 2023 College Union, which rep-
taken by academic staff had already endured se- resents academics and
across the U.K. vere disruptions to their lecturers, estimated that
Lecturers at some 140 uni- college experience. They “easily tens of thousands”
versities have refused to entered university in 2020, will not graduate this sum-
mark exam papers and at the height of COVID-19 mer as disruptions look likely
coursework, in an escala- lockdowns. Then came uni- to drag on into the next ac- Tanzil Chowdhury, senior lecturer in Public Law at Queen Mary
tion of a simmering dispute versity staff strikes, part of a ademic year. University, sits at his university office during an interview at
over pay and working con- huge and ongoing wave Yusuf said at least 130 stu- London’s Queen Mary University, Thursday, August 3, 2023.
ditions. of industrial action by hun- dents from her faculty, the (AP Photo/Kwiyeon Ha)