A year after a homophobic double murder, Slovakia's LGBTQ community is concerned about the increase in hate speech ahead of elections on Saturday in a country where...

Jimmy Butler hit Al Horford with his own timeout celebration as the Heat demolished the Celtics in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals.It wasn't enough that the Miami Heat utterly embarrassed the Boston Celtics on Sunday, going up 3-0 in the Eastern Conference Finals with a 128-102 vict...

Two pilots fighting wildfires in Greece joined the death toll from the extreme weather blistering Europe on Tuesday, as temperatures are forecast to peak on Wednesday and the wildfire risk is set to remain high until at least the end of the week. Commander Christos Moulas, 34, and copilot Pericles Stefanidis, 27, died when their plane, which had been dropping water, crashed near the town of Karystos on the island of Evia near Athens, where one of a number of fires has been burning. A senior meteorologist at the Met Office, Amy Bokota, told The Independent that the latest heatwave gripping the Mediterranean is set to further intensify on Wednesday, when the extremely warm weather is expected to peak, with a high risk of wildfires continuing until at least Friday. Parts of Greece, Italy, Turkey and the Balkans will experience temperatures in the low to mid-40s Celsius on Wednesday, she said, with records likely to be broken in places. Wildfires rely on high temperatures and windy conditions, so although the temperatures are forecast to drop to a little above average on Thursday and Friday, the wind is due to increase and consequently the elevated risk of wildfires will continue, especially as “everything is so dry”, said Ms Bokota. A third successive heatwave in Greece pushed temperatures back above 40C in parts of the country on Tuesday. Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated from homes and resorts amid fires that have raged for days, exacerbated by strong winds. The holiday island of Rhodes has been hit particularly hard by the blazes, and the battle to contain the flames continued for a seventh day on Tuesday. The Greek government said authorities there were carrying out the largest evacuation ever undertaken in the country. Yet many British tourists are continuing to fly to Rhodes undeterred. Despite just 44 of the 85 scheduled passengers opting to travel on a morning flight from London Gatwick on Tuesday, the mood was mostly upbeat and the high number of empty seats went largely unnoticed, with one passenger remarking happily on the rarity of having enough space on a plane. “I’m sure you know it is hot,” the pilot announced as he began the descent, adding: “We all wish you luck in Rhodes, whatever the reasons are for you taking this flight out there today.” The crew returned to Gatwick with a packed flight of 186 passengers. “I want to get off the island as soon as possible,” one woman on holiday with her three young children told The Independent at the check-in queue at Rhodes international airport. Describing the terrifying moments prior to their party of seven’s escape from Lardos on Saturday afternoon, Jodie Sutton, a 31-year-old from Southport, said: “We were watching the fire coming over the mountain. It didn’t get too close, we were out of there. “[The evacuation was] chaotic, we were rammed on a coach with hundreds of people. It was hot and sweaty, and I’ve got three young kids with me.” “We got taken to a school in Archangelos, then that was in danger, so we had to move from there too, to Rhodos,” said the full-time mother, whose children are aged one, two and seven. “We had to sleep on the floor in a basketball court. The kids got blankets. The [volunteers] were amazing.” But she added: “Tui told us nothing. Jet2 told us nothing. We ended up phoning the fire brigade, the police and the British government and Greek government last night, and they said, ‘Stay where you are, you are safe.’” Another couple who visited nearby Lindos on Saturday, before the road to the village was shut because high winds were fanning the flames in unpredictable directions, recalled the smoke from the fires blocking out the sun like an eclipse. John Rennie, 49, a project manager from Southport, who was catching a flight to Manchester with his wife Marie-Claire, said they were ultimately only affected by power outages and water shortages. It was a minimal impact compared to that suffered by their host at Kremasti, whose family saw fire burn through two of their homes. “He was helping as a volunteer. There seems to be a big community circle on the island helping each other,” Mr Rennie told The Independent. Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has warned of difficult days ahead: “All of us are standing guard. In the face of what the entire planet is facing – especially the Mediterranean, which is a climate-change hot-spot – there is no magical defence mechanism. If there was, we would have implemented it.” Elsewhere, fire forced the temporary closure of Palermo airport in Sicily. Regional authorities said a woman died after an ambulance could not reach her home because of the blaze. Further north, the weather broke and an intense overnight storm tore off roofs and brought down trees in cities including Milan. Two women were killed in the northern provinces of Monza and Brescia. Algeria was fighting to contain devastating forest fires along its Mediterranean coast, where blazes have killed at least 34 people, including 10 soldiers encircled by flames during an evacuation, the country’s defence ministry said. Some 8,000 firefighters and 530 trucks, backed by military firefighting aircraft, fought the blazes in scorching heat. Wildfires spread to France on Tuesday afternoon, with several dozen firefighters using aircraft to battle a blaze in Cagnes-sur-Mer and Villeneuve-Loubet close to Nice international airport. While temperatures have been topping 40C in Europe, it has been even hotter in north Africa, with temperatures of 49C recorded in some cities in Tunisia. Extreme weather throughout July has caused havoc across the rest of the planet, mirroring the chaos wreaked throughout southern Europe, with record temperatures in China and the United States sparking forest fires, water shortages, and a rise in heat-related hospital admissions. Without human-induced climate change, the events this month would have been “extremely rare”, according to a study by World Weather Attribution, a global team of scientists that examines the role played by climate change in extreme weather. Read More Arsonists behind Corfu’s devastating wildfires as Greece ‘at war’ Tourists flying into Greece inferno reveal why they refuse to cancel holiday Greece wildfire: Video shows Rhodes hotel before and after blaze Playing with fire: We are not just breaking heat records, we are smashing them

Ons Jabeur thanked the rain after battling back from a set down to beat Canada's Bianca Andreescu and reach the...

Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust (BREIT) said on Monday that redemption requests declined in June after months of

LeQuint Allen ran for three touchdowns in the first half, Syracuse scored on six consecutive possessions and the Orange routed Western Michigan 48-7

One week after the self-described worst game of Caleb Williams’ college career, he has to face a Utah defense that beat Southern California twice last season

TL;DR: As of June 10, get Microsoft Office Training and a lifetime license to Microsoft

Georgia beat Tennessee in football... again. Naturally, the Dawgs' fanbase had a field day following Carson Beck's dominant performance and Brock Bowers' return

(Reuters) -American Eagle Outfitters raised its annual revenue forecast on Wednesday, betting on steady demand for its wide-legged pants, tops

Spain will face either European champions England or co-hosts Australia in Sunday’s World Cup final after a dramatic 2-1 victory in their last-four showdown with Sweden. Jorge Vilda’s side, who had never won a knockout game at the tournament before their arrival in Australia and New Zealand, could be just 90 minutes away from lifting the biggest prize of all. Here, the PA news agency takes a closer look at a team which have perhaps already-exceeded even their own expectations. Coach Vilda learned his football at the feet of his father Angel, who worked as a physical trainer for – among others – Luis Aragones at Atletico Madrid, Johan Cruyff at Barcelona and Jupp Heynckes at Real Madrid. A physical education graduate, the 42-year-old was appointed boss in 2015 having worked with Spain’s under-age teams, but had to significantly remodel his squad after a rebellion in 2022 which saw 15 players make themselves unavailable – Aitana Bonmati, Ona Batlle and Mariona Caldentey have since returned to the fold – in protest at the conditions under which they were having to operate. Key players Twice Ballon d’Or winner Alexia Putellas is undoubtedly the star of the Spain squad on paper, but having fought her way back from the anterior cruciate ligament injury she suffered on the eve of last summer’s Euros, the 29-year-old Barcelona midfielder has been used sparingly in the tournament and played only the opening 57 minutes of the semi-final, one of three starts to date. In her absence, Bonmati, Alba Redondo and Jennifer Hermoso have each scored three times, but Barca team-mate and former international sprinter Salma Paralluelo, 19, has proved the woman for the big occasion with vital strikes from the bench in both the last eight and the semi-finals. Pedigree Spain are playing at their third World Cup finals tournament, but had never before progressed beyond the last 16. They reached the quarter-finals at Euro 2022, where they led eventual winners England with six minutes of normal time remaining before going down 2-1 in extra-time. Ranked sixth in the world by FIFA, they are an emerging force in the international game and are bidding to add the senior World Cup to those they currently hold at under-17s and under-20s levels. Style of play Vilda favours a 4-3-3 formation and a possession-based game which he believes is aligned to the philosophy instilled by Cruyff during his time in charge at Barcelona. The system relies on high-tempo passing and movement and a relentless press in attack to create the space in which their highly-technical game-changers can thrive. Familiarity is a weapon too – seven of the starting XI against Sweden play their club football with Champions League winners Barca. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live We can do beautiful things – Micky van de Ven excited by Tottenham prospects Millie Bright confident England can cope with hostile atmosphere in Sydney Ben Stokes tipped to make U-turn and feature for England at World Cup

The Miami Marlins have won four straight games to move into second in the NL East, and they have their ace, Sandy Alcantara, on the mound on Friday to take on the San Francisco Giants.The Giants enter this series on a three-game winning streak, pulling them ahead of the San Diego Padres for thir...