Latest news with #GregorioBorgia
Toronto Sun
5 days ago
- Climate
- Toronto Sun
Outdoor work in Southern Europe's tourist hot spots is becoming hellish
Published Jul 24, 2025 • Last updated 33 minutes ago • 4 minute read Tourists use umbrellas to shelter from the heat as they line up for a tour of the Forum in Rome, on Tuesday, July 22, 2025. Photo by Gregorio Borgia / AP Photo Cruel heat is baking southern Europe as the continent slips deeper into summer. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account In homes and offices, air conditioning is sweet relief. But under the scorching sun, outdoor labour can be grueling, brutal, occasionally even deadly. A street sweeper died in Barcelona during a heat wave last month and, according to a labour union, 12 other city cleaners have suffered heatstroke since. Some of Europe's powerful unions are pushing for tougher regulations to protect the aging workforce from climate change on the world's fastest-warming continent. Cleaning the hot streets Hundreds of street cleaners and concerned citizens marched through downtown Barcelona last week to protest the death of Montse Aguilar, a 51-year-old street cleaner who worked even as the city's temperatures hit a June record. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Fellow street sweeper Antonia Rodriguez said at the protest that blistering summers have made her work 'unbearable.' 'I have been doing this job for 23 years and each year the heat is worse,' said Rodriguez, 56. 'Something has to be done.' Extreme heat has fueled more than 1,000 excess deaths in Spain so far in June and July, according to the Carlos III Health Institute. 'Climate change is, above all, playing a role in extreme weather events like the heat waves we are experiencing, and is having a big impact in our country,' said Diana Gomez, who heads the institute's daily mortality observatory. Even before the march, Barcelona's City Hall issued new rules requiring the four companies contracted to clean its streets to give workers uniforms made of breathable material, a hat and sun cream. When temperatures reach 34 C (93 F), street cleaners now must have hourly water breaks and routes that allow time in the shade. Cleaning work will be suspended when temperatures hit 40 C (104 F). This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Protesters said none of the clothing changes have been put into effect and workers are punished for allegedly slacking in the heat. They said supervisors would sanction workers when they took breaks or slowed down. Workers marched behind a banner reading 'Extreme Heat Is Also Workplace Violence!' and demanded better summer clothing and more breaks during the sweltering summers. They complained that they have to buy their own water. FCC Medio Ambiente, the company that employed the deceased worker, declined to comment on the protesters' complaints. In a previous statement, it offered its condolences to Aguilar's family and said that it trains its staff to work in hot weather. Emergency measures and a Greek cook In Greece, regulations for outdoor labour such as construction work and food delivery includes mandatory breaks. Employers are also advised — but not mandated — to adjust shifts to keep workers out of the midday sun. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Greece requires heat-safety inspections during hotter months but the country's largest labour union, the GSEE, is calling for year-round monitoring. European labour unions and the United Nations' International Labour Organization are also pushing for a more coordinated international approach to handling the impact of rising temperatures on workers. 'Heat stress is an invisible killer,' the ILO said in a report last year on how heat hurts workers. It called for countries to increase worker heat protections, saying Europe and Central Asia have experienced the largest spike in excessive worker heat exposure this century. In Athens, grill cook Thomas Siamandas shaves meat from a spit in the threshold of the famed Bairaktaris Restaurant. He is out of the sun, but the 38 C (100.4 F) temperature recorded on July 16 was even tougher to endure while standing in front of souvlaki burners. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Grill cooks step into air-conditioned rooms when possible and always keep water within reach. Working with a fan pointed at his feet, the 32-year-old said staying cool means knowing when to take a break, before the heat overwhelms you. 'It's tough, but we take precautions: We sit down when we can, take frequent breaks and stay hydrated. We drink plenty of water — really a lot,' said Siamandas, who has worked at the restaurant for eight years. 'You have to find a way to adjust to the conditions.' The blazing sun in Rome Massimo De Filippis spends hours in the blazing sun each day sharing the history of vestal virgins, dueling gladiators and powerful emperors as tourists shuffle through Rome's Colosseum and Forum. 'Honestly, it is tough. I am not going to lie,' the 45-year-old De Filippis said as he wiped sweat from his face. 'Many times it is actually dangerous to go into the Roman Forum between noon and 3:30 p.m.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. At midday on July 22, he led his group down the Forum's Via Sacra, the central road in ancient Rome. They paused at a fountain to rinse their faces and fill their bottles. Dehydrated tourists often pass out here in the summer heat, said Francesca Duimich, who represents 300 Roman tour guides in Italy's national federation, Federagit. 'The Forum is a pit; There is no shade, there is no wind,' Duimich said. 'Being there at 1 p.m. or 2 p.m. in the summer heat means you will feel unwell.' This year, guides have bombarded her with complaints about the heat. In recent weeks, Federagit requested that the state's Colosseum Archaeological Park, which oversees the Forum, open an hour earlier so tours can get a jump-start before the heat becomes punishing. The request has been to no avail, so far. The park's press office said that administrators are working to move the opening up by 30 minutes and will soon schedule visits after sunset. — Wilson reported from Barcelona, Spain, Gatopoulos from Athens and Thomas from Rome. Read More Sports Golf Sunshine Girls Canada Canada
Toronto Sun
20-07-2025
- Politics
- Toronto Sun
Pope Leo XIV renews his call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza
Published Jul 20, 2025 • 1 minute read Pope Leo XIV waves to faithful at the end of the noon Angelus prayer in the square in front of the Apostolic Palace for in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, Sunday, July 20, 2025. Photo by Gregorio Borgia / AP CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy (AP) — Pope Leo XIV renewed his call on Sunday for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, asking the international community to respect international laws and the obligation to protect civilians. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account 'I once again call for an immediate end to the barbarity of this war and for a peaceful resolution to the conflict,' the pontiff said at the end of his Sunday Angelus prayer from his summer retreat in Castel Gandolfo. Leo also expressed his 'deep sorrow' for the Israeli attack on the only Catholic church in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, which killed three people and wounded 10 others, including the parish priest. 'I appeal to the international community to observe humanitarian law and respect the obligation to protect civilians as well as the prohibition of collective punishment, the indiscriminate use of force, and the forced displacement of populations,' the pope added. The shelling of the Holy Family Catholic Church in Gaza also damaged the church compound, where hundreds of Palestinians have been sheltering from the Israel-Hamas war, now in its 21st month. Israel expressed regret over what it described as an accident and said it was investigating. 'We need to dialogue and abandon weapons,' the pope said earlier Sunday, after presiding over Mass at the nearby Cathedral of Albano. 'The world no longer tolerates war,' Leo told reporters waiting for him outside the cathedral. Asked about his phone conversation on Friday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Leo said, 'We insisted on the need to protect the sacred places of all religions.' The pope will remain in Castel Gandolfo until Tuesday evening, when he returns to his Vatican residence, a Vatican spokesman said Sunday. Editorial Cartoons Relationships Uncategorized World Toronto & GTA
Glasgow Times
20-07-2025
- Politics
- Glasgow Times
Pope renews call for immediate Gaza ceasefire
'I once again call for an immediate end to the barbarity of this war and for a peaceful resolution to the conflict,' the pontiff said at the end of his Sunday Angelus prayer from his summer retreat in Castel Gandolfo. Leo also expressed his 'deep sorrow' for the Israeli attack on the only Catholic church in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, which killed three people and wounded 10 others, including the parish priest. A gust of wind blew the Pope's cloak up as he finished delivering the Angelus prayer (Gregorio Borgia/AP) 'I appeal to the international community to observe humanitarian law and respect the obligation to protect civilians as well as the prohibition of collective punishment, the indiscriminate use of force, and the forced displacement of populations,' the Pope added. The shelling of the Holy Family Catholic Church in Gaza also damaged the church compound, where hundreds of Palestinians have been sheltering from the Israel-Hamas war, now in its 21st month. Israel expressed regret over what it described as an accident and said it is investigating. 'We need to dialogue and abandon weapons,' the Pope said earlier on Sunday, after presiding over Mass at the nearby Cathedral of Albano. 'The world no longer tolerates war.'
Irish Examiner
20-07-2025
- Politics
- Irish Examiner
Pope renews call for immediate Gaza ceasefire
Pope Leo has renewed his call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, asking the international community to respect international laws and the obligation to protect civilians. 'I once again call for an immediate end to the barbarity of this war and for a peaceful resolution to the conflict,' the pontiff said at the end of his Sunday Angelus prayer from his summer retreat in Castel Gandolfo. Leo also expressed his 'deep sorrow' for the Israeli attack on the only Catholic church in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, which killed three people and wounded 10 others, including the parish priest. A gust of wind blew the Pope's cloak up as he finished delivering the Angelus prayer (Gregorio Borgia/AP) 'I appeal to the international community to observe humanitarian law and respect the obligation to protect civilians as well as the prohibition of collective punishment, the indiscriminate use of force, and the forced displacement of populations,' the Pope added. The shelling of the Holy Family Catholic Church in Gaza also damaged the church compound, where hundreds of Palestinians have been sheltering from the Israel-Hamas war, now in its 21st month. Israel expressed regret over what it described as an accident and said it is investigating. 'We need to dialogue and abandon weapons,' the Pope said earlier on Sunday, after presiding over Mass at the nearby Cathedral of Albano. 'The world no longer tolerates war.'
The Herald Scotland
20-07-2025
- Politics
- The Herald Scotland
Pope renews call for immediate Gaza ceasefire
Leo also expressed his 'deep sorrow' for the Israeli attack on the only Catholic church in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, which killed three people and wounded 10 others, including the parish priest. A gust of wind blew the Pope's cloak up as he finished delivering the Angelus prayer (Gregorio Borgia/AP) 'I appeal to the international community to observe humanitarian law and respect the obligation to protect civilians as well as the prohibition of collective punishment, the indiscriminate use of force, and the forced displacement of populations,' the Pope added. The shelling of the Holy Family Catholic Church in Gaza also damaged the church compound, where hundreds of Palestinians have been sheltering from the Israel-Hamas war, now in its 21st month. Israel expressed regret over what it described as an accident and said it is investigating. 'We need to dialogue and abandon weapons,' the Pope said earlier on Sunday, after presiding over Mass at the nearby Cathedral of Albano. 'The world no longer tolerates war.'
