ATHENS: Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis insisted Friday there was no “immediate danger” from an unprecedented wave of quakes on the tourist island of Santorini that has forced thousands of residents to leave.
The state was “fully deployed not because we believe... that something disastrous is going to happen, but because we must be ready for any eventuality,” Mitsotakis said during a meeting on the island with local officials.
Santorini — which is part of a spectacular volcanic caldera — and the neighboring Aegean Sea islands of Amorgos, Ios and Anafi have been hit by hundreds of tremors since the weekend.
The activity has baffled scientists, who say that the region has not experienced seismic activity on this scale since records began in 1964.
The seismology laboratory of Athens University on Friday said over 7,700 tremors had been recorded since Jan. 26.
One of the experts advising the government on the phenomenon, seismologist Costas Papazachos, told the Kathimerini daily Friday that the activity “will continue for two to three weeks” based on the latest data.
The barrage was weaker Friday, but was still punctuated by a 4.8-magnitude tremor. The strongest was a 5.2-magnitude quake on Thursday.
No injuries or damage have been reported.
Over 11,000 residents and seasonal workers have left Santorini since the weekend by sea and air, with operators adding extra flights and ferries.
Schools on more than a dozen islands in the Cyclades island group in the Aegean Sea were shut this week as a precaution, prompting many people with children to leave Santorini until the quake scare eases.
Santorini lies atop a volcano which last erupted in 1950.
Mitsotakis on Friday said that volcanic activity in the area was “not unusual” and did not entail any “immediate, particular danger.”
“We hope this sequence will dissipate without producing a major earthquake,” Mitsotakis said.
One of Greece’s top travel destinations, Santorini attracted about 3.4 million visitors in 2023. Upwards of a million of those were cruise ship passengers.
Greek PM insists no danger from Santorini quake swarm
https://arab.news/9dcsc
Greek PM insists no danger from Santorini quake swarm
- The activity has baffled scientists, who say that the region has not experienced seismic activity on this scale since records began in 1964
- The seismology laboratory of Athens University on Friday said over 7,700 tremors had been recorded since Jan. 26
Brazil court rejects new Bolsonaro appeal against coup conviction
- The far-right firebrand, in office from 2019 to 2022, was found guilty of having led a scheme to prevent President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from taking office after Bolsonaro’s failed re-election bid
BRASILIA: A Brazilian Supreme Court judge on Friday rejected a fresh appeal by jailed former president Jair Bolsonaro against his coup conviction, declaring it inadmissible, according to a court document seen by AFP.
Bolsonaro, 70, began serving a 27-year sentence in November after the country’s highest court declared he had exhausted all appeals.
Nevertheless, his attorneys filed an appeal on the merits of the case three days after he was jailed.
Bolsonaro’s earlier failed legal effort targeted “ambiguities, omissions, and contradictions” in the trial.
Judge Alexandre de Moraes, who oversaw the trial against Bolsonaro, said he did not recognize the fresh appeal, which requires two judges to have voted against a conviction.
Only one of five judges on the Supreme Court panel voted not to convict Bolsonaro.
The far-right firebrand, in office from 2019 to 2022, was found guilty of having led a scheme to prevent President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from taking office after Bolsonaro’s failed re-election bid.
He has maintained his innocence, declaring he was a victim of political persecution.
The conservative-controlled Congress this week passed a law that could reduce Bolsonaro’s sentence to just over two years.
Lula has vowed to veto the law, however Congress has the last word and can override him.
On Friday, in response to a request from Bolsonaro’s lawyers, the Supreme Court authorized his transfer to a hospital in Brasilia for surgery to treat recurring hiccups and an inguinal hernia.
Earlier Friday, police said in a statement that an official medical exam confirmed Bolsonaro has a hernia “that requires elective surgical repair.”
According to the statement, medical experts recommended the procedures take place “as soon as possible” due to the impact of Bolsonaro’s health issues on his sleep and eating habits, and an “increased risk of complications from the hernia.”
Bolsonaro has a history of abdominal issues after being stabbed during his 2018 election campaign, and has required several follow-up surgeries.
His lawyers have also requested Bolsonaro be allowed to serve his sentence under house arrest for health reasons, but Moraes rejected that request Friday.
Bolsonaro had been under house arrest until shortly before the official start of his jail term, when he was detained after he took a soldering iron to his ankle monitoring bracelet in what the court saw as an escape attempt.
The former president said he was acting under medication-induced paranoia.
