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Death toll in Greece fires at 63 The winged statue of victory stands in front of smoke from fires in the village of ancient Olympia near the birthplace of the Olympic Games, in southwestern Greece on Sunday. Firefighters rushed helicopters and buses Monday to evacuate more than two dozen villages threatened by towering walls of flames that had killed 63 people while ravaging swaths of forest and farmland in Greece’s worst wildfire disaster in memory. Death toll in Greece fires at 63
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NEW YORK
Fire officials reassigned
Three senior fire officials responsible for inspecting the condemned skyscraper where two firefighters died were stripped of their commands and reassigned Monday, and the Fire Department ordered intensive inspections of buildings under demolition.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg also announced that a preliminary investigation indicated that careless smoking by construction workers started the deadly Aug. 18 fire at the former Deutsche Bank building, which was heavily damaged in the Sept. 11 attacks and was being dismantled and cleaned of toxic debris floor by floor.
Two firefighters died of cardiac arrest while trying to battle that blaze.
BURLINGTON, Wis.
More rain hits Midwest
Another round of thunderstorms brought more rain and a flash-flood warning to an already deluged southwestern Wisconsin on Monday, forcing residents below four dams to evacuate.
Strong wind knocked out power to parts of Vilas and Oneida counties, and the National Weather Service briefly issued a flash flood warning for Vernon County as up to 3.5 inches of rain drenched the area.
Elsewhere, cleanup and recovery were under way in parts of the Great Lakes region hit hard by last week’s storms. President Bush declared north-central Ohio a disaster area, clearing the way for residents of the heavily flooded region to apply for grants for temporary housing and home repairs.
Storms and flooding were blamed for at least 18 deaths across the upper Midwest.
WASHINGTON
Obesity rates climb
Obesity rates continued to climb in 31 states last year, and no state showed a decline.
Mississippi became the first state to crack the 30 percent barrier for adults considered to be obese. West Virginia and Alabama were just behind, according to the Trust for America’s Health, a research group that focuses on disease prevention.
Colorado continued its reign as the leanest state in the nation with an obesity rate projected at 17.6 percent.
This year’s report, for the first time, looked at rates of overweight children ages 10 to 17. The District of Columbia had the highest percentage — 22.8 percent. Utah had the lowest — 8.5 percent.
Health officials say the latest state rankings provide evidence that the nation has a public health crisis on its hands.
Unfortunately, we’re treating it like a mere inconvenience instead of the emergency that it is,” said Dr. James Marks, senior vice president at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a philanthropy devoted to improving health care.
KABUL, Afghanistan
6 Westerners are killed
Fighting between NATO troops and Taliban fighters killed eight soldiers – including six Westerners – and 10 militants in eastern and southern Afghanistan, where insurgent attacks are running at their highest level since the U.S. invasion, officials said Monday.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said he was adding 150 military trainers to a 1,000-person contingent in Afghanistan after months of speculation about his country’s commitment to the international force.
“I decided to reinforce the presence of our trainers in the Afghan army, because it is (the Afghan army) that must first of all wage and win the fight against the Taliban,” Sarkozy said in opening an annual conference of French ambassadors, his first as president.
Times Leader wire reports