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☆ Have You Seen Paul McCartney’s Lost Bass Guitar? Tips Welcome.
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-04 | by ( Isabella Kwai | More About Isabella Kwai | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Before Beatlemania, there was the distinctive Höfner violin bass — the first guitar that Paul McCartney bought after becoming the bassist for the Beatles. That bass can be heard on some of the band’s most famous hits, including “Love Me Do,” “She Loves You,” and “Twist and Shout.”Mr. McCartney picked up the instrument in a Hamburg music store in 1961, and it accompanied the Fab Four as they rocketed to stunning success, becoming the most famous band in the world. But the guitar vanished eight years later. A new campaign is seeking to find the missing instrument, and hundreds of people have responded, hoping to help solve the decades-old mystery: Where is Paul McCartney’s missing bass guitar?

Persons: Paul McCartney, Mr, McCartney, Paul McCartney’s Locations: Hamburg

☆ Grim Struggle Begins to Identify Victims in South African Fire
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-01 | by ( Isabella Kwai | More About Isabella Kwai | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Families of the victims of a fire in downtown Johannesburg were still searching for relatives at mortuaries and hospitals on Friday to see if they had lived or died, a day after the blaze tore through an overcrowded building in one of the deadliest residential fires in South African history. At least 74 people died in the fire, a dozen of them children, with some victims jumping to their deaths from the building and others trapped inside. Health officials on Friday urged people to come forward to identify their relatives at a mortuary, adding that 40 men and 24 women were among the victims. Ten other bodies were so badly burned they were beyond recognition, they said, and DNA testing would be used to identify them. On Friday morning, the police were seen taking search dogs around the charred site.

Organizations: Health Locations: Johannesburg, mortuaries, South

☆ Scenes From Johannesburg: A Deadly Fire Downtown Kills Scores
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-31 | by ( Isabella Kwai | More About Isabella Kwai | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

A fire consumed a crowded five-story building in downtown Johannesburg early on Thursday, tearing through an informal settlement of homeless people in what was being described as one of the deadliest blazes in South African history. Owned by the city, the building once provided emergency housing for women but had become home to a large squatter camp, a sign of the scarcity of affordable housing in South Africa’s most populous city. These are photographs from the scene.

Locations: Johannesburg, South Africa’s

☆ King Charles to Visit France in September, After Protests Forced Delay
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-24 | by ( Isabella Kwai | More About Isabella Kwai | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

King Charles III of Britain announced plans on Thursday for a visit to France next month, his first trip to the country as monarch, after widespread demonstrations postponed a visit planned earlier this year and caused an awkward moment for President Emmanuel Macron. The British monarch and his wife, Queen Camilla, will visit Paris and Bordeaux from Sept. 20 to Sept. 22, Buckingham Palace said, adding that it would be a celebration of “the shared history, culture and values of the United Kingdom and France.”The French president had originally intended to host King Charles in March, in one of the king’s first overseas trips as Britain’s head of state. On the heels of a visit from Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, the plan for King Charles’s trip was a signal of a warming in the relationship between the two countries, which has been strained in the years since Britain formally left the European Union in 2021. But an outpouring of anger in March over a plan by Mr. Macron to raise the retirement age in France to 64 from 62 spurred huge street demonstrations and strikes, some of which turned violent. The strikes also disrupted train services, causing concerns over the travel logistics.

Persons: King Charles III of, Emmanuel Macron, Queen Camilla, Buckingham, ”, King Charles, Rishi Sunak, King Charles’s, Macron Organizations: Paris, European Union Locations: France, British, Bordeaux, United Kingdom, Britain

☆ Scenes From Greece, Where Hundreds of New Fires Burn
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-23 | by ( Isabella Kwai | More About Isabella Kwai | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

With forests parched from weeks of scorching heat waves, the authorities in Greece feared that this summer’s conditions had created more opportunities to spark catastrophic wildfires. Those fears came true this week, with officials calling a raft of summer wildfires the worst since modern record-keeping began. Fierce fires earlier in the season had already ravaged acres of land on several Greek islands, causing tourists to flee during the height of the travel season. The fresh fires this week razed even more of the country, resulting in apocalyptic scenes of burning homes and cars as locals used buckets of water to defend their villages. Earlier in the week, Greek firefighters recovered the bodies of 18 people, among them two children, in a forest in the northern Evros region.

Locations: Greece, Athens, Evros

In the game’s last seconds, Ona Sánchez couldn’t sit still. Then, when the referee finally blew the whistle to confirm that Spain had won the Women’s World Cup, she and the crowd around her — girls, boys, parents and other fans who had gathered to watch the match in Sant Pere de Ribes, near Barcelona — erupted in cheers. Olé, olé, olé!” Ona and her friend Laura Solorzano, both 11, and draped together in a Spanish flag, sang in the small town’s central cobblestone square as other supporters splashed water from a nearby fountain. The two friends, both players in a local soccer club, said they couldn’t have hoped for a better ending. “It was the first time I watched a World Cup,” Ona said, emerging from a group of dancing children.

Persons: Ona Sánchez couldn’t, “, ” Ona, Laura Solorzano, ” Locations: Spain, Sant Pere, Ribes, Barcelona

☆ Thousands Evacuated in Canary Islands After ‘Most Complex’ Fire in 40 Years
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-18 | by ( Isabella Kwai | More About Isabella Kwai | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

“Tonight, at least, the fire has behaved and the weather has behaved normally,” Fernando Clavijo, the regional president for the Canary Islands, told reporters on Friday, adding that firefighters had worked intensely to stop the fire’s progress after it moved in an unpredictable manner earlier in the week. Mr. Clavijo said he was hopeful that the forecast would improve, but added that the blaze still was not under control. At least eight municipalities have been affected by the fire, though local authorities on Friday lifted the lockdown order on La Esperanza, a village northeast of Teide National Park, where 3,820 residents had been ordered earlier in the week to shelter in place. The priority on Friday, Mr. Clavijo said, was to confine the fire to an area near the village. For residents closest to the fire, the past few days have been marked by streams of choking smoke and an overcast sky with an orange glow that has been filled with falling ash.

Persons: ” Fernando Clavijo, Clavijo, I’ve, ”, María Luisa Pacheco, La Orotava Organizations: El Locations: Canary, La Esperanza, Teide, La, Spanish

☆ Free Cash in Ireland, at Least for a Moment, Thanks to a Bank Glitch
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-16 | by ( Isabella Kwai | More About Isabella Kwai | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

For some customers at the Bank of Ireland, it was a windfall too good to be true. The bank, one of Ireland’s largest, acknowledged on Wednesday that a “technical issue” with its online banking services had allowed some customers to withdraw more money than they had in their accounts, prompting the authorities to monitor crowds after long lines formed at some A.T. M.s around the country. The problems began on Tuesday, after some Bank of Ireland customers complained that they could not access online banking services, leaving them unable to pay for transactions or transfer money. But the technical glitch also allowed customers to transfer or withdraw funds without affecting their overall balance, the bank said, and some people apparently seized on the opportunity to take out money they did not have. Crowds began to gather around some Bank of Ireland A.T.M.s, according to footage circulating online and chatter on social media, even as the bank warned people not to overdraw their accounts.

Organizations: Bank of Ireland, Ireland Locations: M.s

☆ U.K. Reveals 5 Espionage Arrests After BBC Reports Russia Link
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-15 | by ( Isabella Kwai | More About Isabella Kwai | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Specialist officers from a unit of the force that covers national security policing, carried out the arrests after an investigation, the police statement said, but none of the five have been formally charged with espionage. The statement did not address the BBC report directly. Three of the people were identified by both the BBC and by the police as Orlin Roussev, 45; Biser Dzambazov, 42; and Katrin Ivanova, 32. The police said they had been separately charged with possessing false identification documents with “improper intention.” The BBC report said they had been charged with possessing false documents, including passports and identity cards for Britain, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, France, Greece, Italy, Spain and Slovenia. The police said that Mr. Roussev lived in the eastern English county of Norfolk, and that Mr. Dzambazov and Ms. Ivanova lived in the London district of Harrow.

Persons: Orlin Roussev, Biser Dzambazov, Katrin Ivanova, Roussev, Dzambazov, Ivanova Organizations: London Metropolitan Police, BBC Locations: Britain, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Greece, Italy, Spain, Slovenia, English, Norfolk, London, Harrow

☆ Heat Waves Are Killing Older Women. Are They Also Violating Their Rights?
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-06 | by ( Isabella Kwai | More About Isabella Kwai | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The women live scattered around Switzerland, speak a mix of the country’s languages — German, French and Italian — and have worked in varying professions. But the KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz, a group of about 2,400 Swiss women aged 64 and over, say they have a common fear: soaring temperatures and heat waves that are threatening them with health ailments in their final decades. “It is difficult to go outside — it is difficult to breathe,” said Fatima Heussler, 71, a member of the group who lives in Zurich, who retired after several decades of working with visually impaired older people. Last year’s summer heat was so tiring, she said she could not do even light household chores. “I used to love summer — and now I can be threatened by it.”

Persons: ”, Fatima Heussler, Isabelle Joerg, “ Locations: Switzerland, —, Zurich, Basel

☆ Greenpeace Protesters Scale U.K. Prime Minister’s Roof With Ease
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-03 | by ( Isabella Kwai | More About Isabella Kwai | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Greenpeace activists, angered by Britain’s decision to issue new licenses for oil and gas exploration in the North Sea, took their opposition to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Thursday — or at least to the rooftop of one of his homes. With apparent ease and unhindered by security guards, the four protesters walked onto the grounds of the manor house Mr. Sunak owns in the village of Kirby Sigston in North Yorkshire, climbed onto the roof and draped the facade with panels of black fabric. “It really was about this image of pouring oil all over the prime minister's house,” said Ami McCarthy, a political campaigner for Greenpeace, who said Mr. Sunak was choosing profits over addressing climate change. “We need our prime minister to stop being so hellbent on fossil fuels.”Mr. Sunak and his family, who live in London, were not at the residence at the time, the North Yorkshire police said, and the four protesters were eventually arrested after spending several hours on the roof. They were taken into custody on suspicion of causing criminal damage and public nuisance.

Persons: Rishi Sunak, Sunak, Kirby Sigston, ”, Ami McCarthy, Mr Organizations: Greenpeace, North Yorkshire police Locations: North, Kirby, North Yorkshire, London

☆ Amsterdam to Cruises: ‘Party Time Is Over’
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-21 | by ( Isabella Kwai | More About Isabella Kwai | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Amsterdam will bar cruise ships from docking in the city center as part of a broader effort to curb pollution and reduce the large numbers of tourists who visit the Dutch capital. The City Council passed a proposal on Thursday to close a terminal where more than a hundred cruise ships dock each year not far from the central train station. “The motivation of the proposal from the City Council was to reduce the number of tourists, but also for environmental reasons,” Amsterdam’s deputy mayor, Hester van Buren, said in a statement on Friday. The cruise ship measure was the latest attempt by Amsterdam to cap the number of visitors and crack down on bad behavior as the tourism industry has rebounded, addressing residents’ longstanding grievances linked to overcrowding and rowdy tourists. Last year, the city drew about 20 million visitors and in 2021, close to nine million tourists came either for a day trip or overnight, according to city data.

Persons: ”, Hester van Buren Organizations: The City Council, City Council Locations: Amsterdam, The

Hundreds of protesters stormed the Swedish Embassy in Baghdad early Thursday and set fire to parts of it ahead of a demonstration outside the Iraqi Embassy in Sweden, where recent Quran burnings have inflamed anger in the Muslim world. At the latest demonstration in Sweden on Thursday, Mr. Momika and another protester kicked around copies of the Quran and stomped on a replica of the Iraqi flag. In response, Iraq’s prime minister, Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, expelled the Swedish ambassador and directed Iraq’s chargé d’affairs to withdraw from the Iraqi embassy in Sweden, a government spokesman said. The severing of diplomatic relations came “in response to the repeated permission of the Swedish government to burn the Noble Qur’an, insult Islamic sanctities and burn the Iraqi flag,” Mr. al-Sudani said in a tweet. The Iraqi government also suspended the operating license in the country of the Swedish telecommunications company Ericsson.

Persons: Salwan, Eid, Momika, Mohammed Shia, Iraq’s, d’affairs, Mr, Sudani Organizations: Iraqi Embassy, Ericsson Locations: Swedish, Baghdad, Iraqi, Sweden, Stockholm

☆ With Offices Vacant, London’s Canary Wharf Seeks Growth Beyond Banking
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-14 | by ( Isabella Kwai | More About Isabella Kwai | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The gleaming skyscrapers of London’s east skyline, built almost 40 years ago, are home to the headquarters of the world’s biggest banks and tens of thousands of their office workers. As firms adjust to hybrid work, many are downsizing their physical footprint. HSBC became the latest, announcing recently that it would leave its longtime headquarters in Canary Wharf in late 2026 and move its 8,000 employees to a smaller space in London’s central banking district about three miles to the west. Its departure, on the heels of several other firms, has spurred speculation over the future of a district. The move comes as the owners of Canary Wharf, a purpose-built, 128-acre financial services hub, are pivoting to re-energize it, adding more residences, building labs to lure life-sciences groups and hosting cultural shows and activities.

Organizations: HSBC Locations: London’s, Canary, Canary Wharf

☆ Spain Rescues Migrants After Search for Missing Boat
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-10 | by ( Isabella Kwai | More About Isabella Kwai | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The migrants were “in good health” on a rescue vessel headed for Arguineguin, a coastal town on Gran Canaria, the Spanish authorities said. They declined to specify where the migrants had traveled from but said they were sub-Saharan Africa. Little more was known about the boats reported missing in Senegal, which is about 1,000 miles away from the Canary Islands. Many migrants have died in recent years trying to cross the Atlantic and the Mediterranean in attempts to get to Europe. In one of the worst such maritime tragedies, last month a boat that set sail from Libya capsized, killing hundreds of people off the coast of Greece.

Persons: Caminando Fronteras, Helena Maleno Garzón, ”, Maleno Garzón Organizations: Gran Canaria Locations: Gran, Spanish, Africa, Saharan Africa, Senegal, Canary, Europe, Libya, Greece

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