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Greece Tames Wildfire Near Athens, Arson Suspected

A firefighting helicopter drops water during a fire that broke out in Varis - Koropiou, eastern Attica, Greece, 19 June 2024. (EPA)
A firefighting helicopter drops water during a fire that broke out in Varis - Koropiou, eastern Attica, Greece, 19 June 2024. (EPA)
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Greece Tames Wildfire Near Athens, Arson Suspected

A firefighting helicopter drops water during a fire that broke out in Varis - Koropiou, eastern Attica, Greece, 19 June 2024. (EPA)
A firefighting helicopter drops water during a fire that broke out in Varis - Koropiou, eastern Attica, Greece, 19 June 2024. (EPA)

Greek firefighters appeared close to containing a wildfire near Athens on Wednesday that forced dozens to flee their homes, and authorities now believe the fire was the result of arson as well as hot, dry conditions.

Traffic was suspended along a main highway connecting Koropi to Athens' southern suburbs, about 30 km (19 miles) south of Athens.

There were no reports of deaths or injuries. A fire service official said the intensity of the blaze had eased but it was not out, noting that high winds carry sparks that can quickly open new fronts.

Civil protection minister Vassilis Kikilias said officials have verified indications that the fire near Athens was the result of arson as well as extreme weather conditions.

He said there is a video and photos of the suspected arsonist and authorities will publish them.

In Koropi, a storage facility and at least one home were burned, and flames crept into a boat dry dock and across fields of dry grass and olive trees. Authorities evacuated two nearby villages.

"I saw a lot of smoke behind our building, it was very close to us. It went around the hill and passed in front of us," local resident Anastasia Papadopoulou told Reuters.

Volunteer and professional firefighters dragged hoses over blackened fields in 35 degree Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) heat.

Much of the area has had no rain for weeks, leaving large areas bone dry. Six firefighting planes, 16 helicopters, dozens of fire engines and more than 150 firefighters were dispatched to the scene, the fire service said.

Several hundred firefighters were deployed to battle more than 60 forest fires across the country, with 16 fires still active, including a big one in Peloponnese. High winds and hot temperatures will extend the risk into Thursday.

"Since noon we had a new fire breaking out almost every 10 minutes," Kikilias said.

After forest fires last year forced 19,000 people to flee the island of Rhodes and killed 20 in the northern mainland, Greece has scaled up its preparations this year by hiring more staff and increasing training.

Wildfires are common in the Mediterranean nation, but they have become more devastating as summers have become hotter and drier, which scientists relate to climate change.

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Varieties

Models with Down Syndrome in Romania Strike a Pose for World Down Syndrome Day

Antonia Voicu laughs before the SEEN Anonymous Seamstresses Gala, an event organised by the Down Plus Bucharest, an NGO supporting youngsters with Down Syndrome and other intellectual disabilities, in Bucharest, Romania, Wednesday, March 18, 2026, ahead of the World Down Syndrome Day, on March 21. (AP)
Antonia Voicu laughs before the SEEN Anonymous Seamstresses Gala, an event organised by the Down Plus Bucharest, an NGO supporting youngsters with Down Syndrome and other intellectual disabilities, in Bucharest, Romania, Wednesday, March 18, 2026, ahead of the World Down Syndrome Day, on March 21. (AP)
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Models with Down Syndrome in Romania Strike a Pose for World Down Syndrome Day

Antonia Voicu laughs before the SEEN Anonymous Seamstresses Gala, an event organised by the Down Plus Bucharest, an NGO supporting youngsters with Down Syndrome and other intellectual disabilities, in Bucharest, Romania, Wednesday, March 18, 2026, ahead of the World Down Syndrome Day, on March 21. (AP)
Antonia Voicu laughs before the SEEN Anonymous Seamstresses Gala, an event organised by the Down Plus Bucharest, an NGO supporting youngsters with Down Syndrome and other intellectual disabilities, in Bucharest, Romania, Wednesday, March 18, 2026, ahead of the World Down Syndrome Day, on March 21. (AP)

Dozens of models with Down syndrome strutted down a catwalk at a fashion show in Romania’s capital for an evening celebrating style, “atypical beauty” and courage to mark World Down Syndrome Day.

The SEEN Anonymous Seamstresses Gala in Bucharest brought together designers from across the country, who created garments “with great kindness, care and creativity” for young people with Down syndrome and other intellectual disabilities.

Georgeta Bucur, the president of Down Plus Association Bucharest, which organized the event held on Wednesday at the Romexpo center, said 50 seamstresses each created a costume for a youngster they had never met.

“The costumes were created without anyone trying them on," she said. “But the most important thing is that the people gathered together again. This event is really special ... it’s the most beautiful thing that could happen.”

For 19-year-old Antonia Voicu, who wore a puffy green netted dress and a crown of red roses, taking the stage was like a dream come true.

“I feel like I’m always fashionable, and I like to strike a pose, so I like to do like this,” she said, before stepping on the runway. “I’m not nervous at all.”

Antonia’s caretaker, Diana Negres, said the event was “a big step” for Antonia, who had always dreamed of “being a star” parading on stage. “This event gives her exactly this,” she said. “This is her first time, we did no preparation at all, so everything will be spontaneous.”

Cristina Bucur, a seamstress and one of the organizers, said the idea for the fashion show came to her because she has a child with a disability.

"I wanted the other children to see what it’s like to wear a costume during a fashion show, what it’s like to be cheered on stage,” she said. “They enjoy it enormously because they see that someone looks at them, that someone does something for them.”

In Romania, about 12,000 people have Down syndrome, and over 6 million worldwide, according to the Romania Down Syndrome Federation. In 2022, the Eastern European country reported that a person with Down syndrome was born per 847 births.

“On stage, us children go on a parade, and today I’m dressed in a nice dress and try to do some modeling,” said nine-year-old Marusika Burlaca, who took to the stage wearing a pink dress studded with little pearls after having her hair done up.

“Maybe they get a bit nervous at times, it’s the emotions, but they really like to be the center of attention,” said Larisa Bucur, one of the organizers. “We know that they want to be in the spotlight. I think it’s a very good opportunity for them.”

World Down Syndrome Day celebrates the lives of people with Down syndrome to make sure they have equal freedoms and opportunities, and to raise awareness. In 2011, the United Nations General Assembly declared March 21 as the official day of observation.

This year’s theme is combating loneliness, which the World Down Syndrome Day website says can have an outsized impact on people living with Down syndrome.

“Everyone feels lonely sometimes,” it states. “But for many people with Down syndrome and other intellectual disabilities, loneliness is a more common and painful experience.”

Varieties

Vanishing Glacier on Germany's Highest Peak Prompts Ski Lift Demolition

An aerial view taken with a drone shows the Schneefernerkopf ski lift prior to its demolition at the Zugspitze ski resort near Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany on March 20, 2026. (Photo by Philipp Guelland / AFP)
An aerial view taken with a drone shows the Schneefernerkopf ski lift prior to its demolition at the Zugspitze ski resort near Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany on March 20, 2026. (Photo by Philipp Guelland / AFP)
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Vanishing Glacier on Germany's Highest Peak Prompts Ski Lift Demolition

An aerial view taken with a drone shows the Schneefernerkopf ski lift prior to its demolition at the Zugspitze ski resort near Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany on March 20, 2026. (Photo by Philipp Guelland / AFP)
An aerial view taken with a drone shows the Schneefernerkopf ski lift prior to its demolition at the Zugspitze ski resort near Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany on March 20, 2026. (Photo by Philipp Guelland / AFP)

Vanishing glaciers atop Germany's highest mountain prompted the demolition of a ski lift Friday, as global warming reshapes the Alps.

A ski slope that for decades ran down the Schneeferner glacier on the Zugspitze has melted away, leading operator Bayerische Zugspitzbahn Bergbahn AG to begin dismantling the lift after more than 50 years of service.

"The glaciers in Bavaria will inevitably melt away, as they can no longer survive in the face of climate change," Christoph Mayer, a glaciologist at the Bavarian Academy of Sciences, told AFP.

High-tension cables anchoring the existing ski lift will be cut with blasting charges on Friday evening, said the operator's spokeswoman Laura Schaper.

The lift's pylons, which are built on the ice, will fall once the cables have been severed, she said near the glacier on Friday.

The peak of Zugspitze, which stands at 2,962 meters (9,700 feet), is located in the Wetterstein massif along Germany's border with Austria.

"The ice is receding, the terrain and the lift have changed drastically," Schaper said. "The slope has become significantly steeper, and for that reason it's no longer technically feasible to keep operating the lift."

New data on the remaining glaciers in the Bavarian Alps released Thursday found that the glaciers have receded by more than a quarter just between 2023 and 2025, losing around one million cubic meters of ice over only two years.

Wilfried Hagg, a geologist at the Munich University of Applied Sciences who worked on the study alongside Mayer, told AFP that climate change is entirely to blame.

Hagg told AFP that there's "absolutely no" chance of saving any of Germany's remaining glaciers.

There are four remaining glaciers in Bavaria: the northern part of the Schneeferne and the Hoellentalferner, which is also located on the Zugspitze.

Two others are both located on the Berchtesgarden massif: the Wazmann, at 2,713 meters, and Blaueis at 2,607 meters.

Those glaciers "are in very bad shape," Hagg said, with the two on Berchtesgarden "likely to disappear completely very soon -- this year or next".

Varieties

NASA Hauls Repaired Moon Rocket from Hangar Back to Pad for Early April Launch

NASA's Artemis II Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft are seen at Launch Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida on March 20, 2026. (Photo by Gregg Newton / AFP)
NASA's Artemis II Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft are seen at Launch Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida on March 20, 2026. (Photo by Gregg Newton / AFP)
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NASA Hauls Repaired Moon Rocket from Hangar Back to Pad for Early April Launch

NASA's Artemis II Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft are seen at Launch Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida on March 20, 2026. (Photo by Gregg Newton / AFP)
NASA's Artemis II Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft are seen at Launch Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida on March 20, 2026. (Photo by Gregg Newton / AFP)

For the second time this year, NASA moved its moon rocket from the hangar out toward the pad Friday in hopes of launching four astronauts on a lunar fly-around next month.

If the latest repairs work and everything else goes NASA's way, the Space Launch System could blast off as early as April 1 from Florida's Kennedy Space Center. The Artemis II crew went into quarantine this week in Houston.

The 322-foot (98-meter) rocket began the slow 4-mile (6.4-kilometer) trek in the middle of the night, transported atop a massive crawler used since the 1960s Apollo era. The trip was held up for several hours by high wind but completed by midday, 11 hours after it began.

The three Americans and one Canadian will zip around the moon in their capsule and then come straight home without stopping. Their mission should have been completed by now, but hydrogen fuel leaks and clogged helium lines forced two months of delay, The Associated Press reported.

While technicians plugged the leaks at the pad, the helium issue could only be fixed in the Vehicle Assembly Building, forcing NASA to roll the rocket back at the end of February.

The last time NASA sent astronauts to the moon was during Apollo 17 in 1972. The new Artemis program aims for a two-person landing in 2028.