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Russia: Cat thrown off train into snow found deadRussia's RZhD rail giant has apologised to the owners of a cat who died after being thrown off a company train by a conductor in freezing temperatures."We sincerely regret that the cat Twix died", the state-owned RZhD said, vowing to change its regulations.Footage earlier emerged apparently showing the ginger-and-white cat being unceremoniously dumped into the snow in Kirov, east of Moscow, on 11 January.The train conductor is reported to have mistaken the male cat for a stray.This happened after the feline escaped from its travel crate, and was spotted by passengers walking through a carriage.When the episode came to light, hundreds of volunteers started searching the railway station area in Kirov.The cat was eventually found dead on Saturday, and later identified by its owners.More than 70,000 people have now signed a petition calling for a criminal investigation to be opened against the female conductor, after local authorities refused to do so.A separate petition - signed by more than 200,000 - is asking for the female conductor, who has not been publicly identified, to be sacked.
Land for Rich Tourists: Greece’s Luxury Travel Could Bring $2.7 BillionAlready catering to wealthy travelers and attracting more 5-Star hotels and resorts for the rich, the luxury travel industry in Greece is seen soaring to $2.7 billion by 2030.
Worries Persist Greece Not Ready for Repeat Year of More WildfiresDeadly wildfires that struck Greece during a record summer heat wave are likely to recur despite a host of new government measures aimed at preventing them, warn environmentalists.Speaking to The Parliament magazine, Pavlos Georgiadis – an international biodiversity and ecosystem restoration expert and Kostis Grimanis, an Athens-based climate and energy campaigner at Greenpeace said that climate change forecasts for 2024 are especially worrisome for Greece.The 2023 fires destroyed more than 96,000 hectares (237,221 acres) killed at least 20 people and devastated the Dadia National Forest near the border with Turkey, with refugees among the victims.There were fires around Athens and the islands of Corfu and Rhodes, where 19,000 tourists had to flee and complained of a lax response from the government while praising locals for helping them.The European Union and other countries were pressed in action for what was said to be the biggest operation the bloc had ever conducted in firefighting and aiding beleaguered Greek fire crews and water-dropping aircraft.After the fires, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, whose New Democracy government had already bolstered firefighting crews and added aircraft – but blamed for not ensuring municipalities had clear forests of dry mass – announced a range of measures to detect and fight wildfires.They include placing temperature measurement sensors and cameras on archaeological sites and in high-risk forests, recruiting 1,000 firefighters and 500 foresters, and the reforestation of 165,000 acres in the next two years.But Georgiadis is skeptical and said of the 16 members only two are natural scientists with any expertise in dealing with the problems and ideas for mitigation and solutions..“All of them are connected to the government party; this is how things go in Greece,” he said. No restoration ecologists or wildlife biologists are represented – and no locals are involved.
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Topic: 21/01/24 (Read 659 times)
