Thousands of people are being evacuated from popular Greek islands Rhodes and Corfu, which are being ravaged by wildfires.
Horrifying footage from the islands shows a sky filled with smoke and an orange haze, and tourists running down the streets as the flames creep closer to hotels.
Many have had to flee their hotels and shelter in nearby schools, airports and alternative hotels.
The evacuation on Rhodes has been described as the ‘biggest in Greek history’.
Similar scenes are now beginning to unfold on Corfu too as extreme temperatures rage in parts of Europe.
Jet2 and TUI have both cancelled all flights to Rhodes, but are still taking scheduled planes out to the island without passengers, ready to bring people home.
Jet2 said yesterday: “The situation in Rhodes continues to evolve quickly, and our absolute priority is the health, safety and well-being of customers and colleagues in the affected areas.”
EasyJet has cancelled all package holidays to the island up to and including Tuesday 25 July, though some flight-only bookings are still operating.
Mass evacuation in Rhodes due to #wildfire – When are people going to realize business as usual is coming to a shuddering halt whether they want to believe in climate change or not. pic.twitter.com/XIx1u6Wazz
The latest advice from the British government is this: “Extreme temperatures are affecting many areas of Greece and there are a number of active wildfires. If you are a British national affected by wildfires, please follow the guidance from the emergency services. Call the Greek Emergency Services on 112 if you are in immediate danger.
“The Greek government has established a Crisis Management Unit to respond to the situation in Rhodes. They can be contacted on +30 210 368 1730 / +30 210 3681259 / +30 210 3681350.
“In the first instance, please contact your airline or travel operator who can assist you with return travel to the UK.
“If you are planning to travel to any areas affected by wildfires, please check with your travel operator or hotel prior to travel that the area you plan to visit.”
And here’s the latest advice from major airlines operating to Rhodes
Jet2 – Rhodes advice as of Sunday 23 July 2023, 10.50pm
Due to the wildfires affecting Rhodes and the impact across the island, we have made the difficult decision to cancel all flights going from the UK to Rhodes up to and including 30 July. As a result of this, we will be contacting affected customers with regards to their refund and rebooking options. We currently plan to operate flights from Rhodes to the UK as normal.
We know the situation for many currently in Rhodes is very difficult. The safety and wellbeing of our customers is our highest priority and we are doing all we can to assist customers in affected areas.
We will be operating two repatriation flights tomorrow from Rhodes to Gatwick in addition to our scheduled flights. We will also operate a further repatriation flight on Tuesday.
Any easyJet flight-only customers who have been evacuated from their hotel and are currently at the airport should contact easyJet’s airport staff. Any customers from affected areas wishing to travel back early can contact easyJet’s Customer Services team on our dedicated line for customers in Rhodes + 44 (0) 330 5515147 (open 7am-11pm BST or 9am-1am EEST)
Other flight-only customers due to travel to and from Rhodes over the coming days should continue to check the status of their flights on Flight Tracker. If you are booked to travel to or from Rhodes before the 29th of July, our flights are still operating. However, if you would like to change your plans, then you will be able to transfer your flight to another date or can request a flight voucher for the value of your unused flights, by calling easyJet Customer Services.
Our tour operator, easyJet holidays is currently working to comply with requests of the local authorities and is in contact with customers in resort to support them.
easyJet holidays have sadly had to cancel easyJet holidays packages departing up to and including Tuesday 25 July, and customers will receive a full refund. We are proactively contacting easyJet holidays customers due to travel up to and including Saturday 29 July to confirm their options.
TUI – Rhodes advice as of Sunday 23 July 2023, 2pm
Our teams are working hard with local authorities in Greece to ensure the safety and wellbeing of all our customers currently on holiday in Rhodes and impacted by the wildfires. We’d like to reassure you that we’re doing all we can to provide support and assistance. We appreciate how distressing and difficult it is for those who have been evacuated and ask they follow the advice of the local authorities, reps on the ground and hotel staff.
For those due to travel to Rhodes we can confirm we have cancelled all outbound flights up to and including Tuesday 25th July and passengers will receive full refunds. Those due to travel on Wednesday 26th July can amend to another holiday or cancel free of charge.
Those customers currently in Rhodes will return on their intended flight home.
The safety of our customer and staff is of top priority and we will continue to keep a close eye as the situation develops and share more updates.
Spanish journalist rubbishes reports of Barcelona debating ending Marcus Rashford’s loan deal early
Danny Jones
Spanish journalist Guillem Balagué has come out to rubbish reports that FC Barcelona have been considering ending Marcus Rashford’s loan deal early.
The well-known football reporter, who regularly works with the likes of Sky Sports, CBS Sports, BBC and more, is one of many to have publicly decried false claims made about the Manchester United loanee, who joined the La Liga giants at the start of this summer.
Barca themselves are also said to have quashed the rumours, with Balagué’s quotes having now been widely circulated online.
Speaking via X over the weekend, the 56-year-old put it simply: that the rumblings are nonsense, reassuring that the club have plenty of faith in his abilities.
Absolutely rubbish that Barcelona is planning to end up early @MarcusRashford loan deal
Barça told his representative that they have a lot of confidence in Rashford’s potential and that they believe he will recover as a top player
As you can see, the Catalan-born RCD Espanyol fan also chose to publicly align himself with former England footballer, Gary Lineker, who has suggested that a targeted and discriminatory narrative against Rashford has developed in recent years.
Though he didn’t state it verbatim, Balagué added: “No more to say, apart from the fact I agree with Gary Lineker and his treatment by some media.”
In case you were unaware of what he’s precisely referring to, Lineker said in a chat with the Man United forward on his The Rest Is Football podcast that he believes Rashford “wouldn’t face the same criticism if he was white.”
Having also made the move from Britain to Barcelona back in 1986 (spending a total of three seasons there), the 64-year-old knows plenty about adjusting from playing in one country to another.
You can see the interview in full here.
The interview was conducted shortly after Rashford’s loan deal was completed, and he had plenty to say about his boyhood team.
Responding to Balagué’s social media post, one commenter wrote: “This nonsense is coming from racist journalists in England who refuse to leave [Rashford] alone. They bullied him when he was in England, especially during times when he seemed unhappy.
“Now, these haters have followed him to Barcelona. Rashford is one of the kindest players in the world, but these clowns just won’t let him live his life in peace.”
It is worth noting, however, that the original reports in question and ultimately aggregated by media across Europe and here in the UK come from a domestic outlet, El Nacional.
While he is yet to rediscover the form of his peak years in United red at the Camp Nou, he is now entering what are traditionally seen as the ‘prime’ period in a footballer’s career and did show more positive signs on loan at Aston Villa during the second half of the previous campaign.
At 27, there is still plenty of time to turn things around; that being said, after being brought back into the national team and with his parent club holding an option to buy clause for around a reported £20 million, the question remains whether he will be returning to Old Trafford at the end of the term. Speaking of…
How Greater Manchester ranks as NHS ‘league tables’ are published for first time ever
Emily Sergeant
A ‘pioneering’ new system of league tables revealing the best and worst performing NHS Trusts has been published for the first time ever.
This marks a new era of ‘transparency’ and ‘accountability’ in the NHS, with the league tables delivering on the Government’s promise to drive up standards, tackle variation in care, and ensure people get the high-quality service they rightly expect.
Every trust in England – from urgent and emergency care, through to elective operations and mental health services – will be ranked quarterly against ‘clear and consistent’ standards.
“This is not just about data, it’s about delivery,” the Government says.
Letting patients and the public access more data will help to drive improvement even faster. It will support them to identify where they should demand even better from their NHS.
Read more about the new league tables on overall performance for NHS services across England ⬇️ https://t.co/e8DYNakbfR
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) figures reveal that four out of five of England’s 134 ‘acute’ hospital trusts are considered to be failing.
Among the best-performing hospitals in the country was Manchester’s specialist Cancer hospital, The Christie, which was actually ranked in an impressive third place, while across Greater Manchester as a region, the highest ranked trusts were Tameside and Bolton, which came in 58 and 59 respectively on the list.
Manchester University Foundation Trust, in the heart of the city centre, came in 71st place.
The rest of the region’s trusts all came in the bottom half of the rankings – with Stockport at 86, Wigan at 92, and finally the Northern Care Alliance at 116.
NHS ‘league tables’ ranking every trust have been published for first time ever / Credit: Stephen Andrews (via Unsplash)
Sadly, it was revealed that more than half of the 20 worst general hospitals are in the north of England, but it is London that dominates the top half of the table.
“These league tables will identify where urgent support is needed and allow high-performing areas to share best practises with others, taking the best of the NHS to the rest of the NHS,” explained Heath Secretary, Wes Streeting.
“We must be honest about the state of the NHS to fix it.
Daisy Jackson -
24th July 2023 
