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THE ACROPOLIS IN Athens was closed to the public for a number of hours today as Greece grapples with its earliest ever heatwave, which prompted school closures and health warnings.
The UNESCO-listed archaeological site, which drew nearly four million visitors last year, closed from midday until 5pm this evening (10am-3pm Irish time) as temperatures reached 43 degrees in places.
Weather warnings were issued by the Hellenic National Meteorological Service, with the highest temperatures forecast for central and southern Greece. This led to the closure of some schools, which will also remain closed tomorrow.
Conditions worsened in an area north of the capital, after a fire at a cookware and food container factory sent clouds of thick black smoke into the sky.
Mobile phone alerts sent by a government disaster response agency urged residents in the area to remain indoors.
In Athens, city authorities announced that rubbish collections would also be halted for several hours and that seven air-conditioned spaces would be opened to the public.
Drones with thermal cameras were being used in Athens to co-ordinate the public health response, officials said.
Greece’s Red Cross said it had handed out some 12,000 bottles of water in the centre of the capital and at the Acropolis.
Meteorologists have noted this is the earliest heatwave in recorded history. In Greece, temperatures exceeding 38 degrees for at least three days is classed as a heatwave.
“This heatwave will go down in history,” meteorologist Panos Giannopoulos said on state TV ERT.
“In the 20th century we never had a heatwave before 19 June. We have had several in the 21st century, but none before 15 June,” he said.
The climate crisis and civil protection ministry has warned of a very high risk of fires in the Attica region around Athens.
Sheltering under a parasol, electrician Fotis Pappous said he had started his workday a few hours earlier, at 6am, on orders from his employer.
“With this kind of heat, it would be too risky otherwise,” said the 46-year-old as he tinkered with an electricity meter near Athens’s central Syntagma Square.
But for staff working over the grill in Greece’s already-buzzing tourist Plaka district, there was no room for respite.
“We have no choice, it’s the start of the tourist season,” said kebab store owner Elisavet Robou.
“We have air-conditioning and fans, and staff are allowed to take breaks, but unfortunately the climate crisis is here.
“Heatwaves came earlier this year and the season will be difficult,” she said.
The Acropolis was forced to close in July last year during a two-week heatwave that was unprecedented in its duration.
It was followed by fires which according consumed nearly 175,000 hectares of forest and farmland.
With reporting from AFP 2024 and Press Association.
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I would like to see a peer review on his theory.
He is an idiot beyond belief. If he doesn’t believe in autism, I personally invite him into my home and spend time with my beautiful sister. Jess is severely autistic but has been coming on in leaps and bounds due to the fantastic work done by the staff at her school, Saplings. She is literally the light of my life. Surely, by Humphreys “theory” if one child in a family is autistic, then all children should be due to the parents “cold” parenting. I am absolutely livid by such claims, my parents are loving and to say it was their “inadvertent” actions that caused my sister’s autism is an insult to them and to the entire autistic community. He makes me sick.
I probably shouldnt write this but I keep coming up against just how dangerous Dr Humphries’ article is. Dr Stephen Shore suggests a metaphor that I think explains the situation best. For most ‘normal’ people their social ability is like a ball, with which they can do anything. For those on the spectrum their social ability begins as a granite block. The thing is that through experience you learn tricks and cheats that cuts the corners off the block so that it becomes more of an octagon. It may never have as smooth or as easy to use as the ball but it can get you to where you need to go. If it hadnt been for my Mum’s strength of character and love I would still have the granite block, leaving me stuck in an institution somewhere. Something that Mum had been told that she should do. The danger of Mr Humphries article is thus that people on the spectrum will never learn how to cope and be left behind. I’m not suggesting that all people on the spectrum can grow themselves out of a neurological condition, especially one with as broad a range of issues as Autistic Spectrum Disorders. Rather I’m asking that people dont automatically define difference as bad. We all have trememdous potential so long as it is allowed to grow. The wonderful thing that this has highlighted is just how strong the parents and families dealing with ASD’s are. Unfortunately articles like Mr Humphries show the level of ignorance that still exists in many when it comes to the Autism debate.
Kevin, what a heartfelt inspiring comment. Thank you, it gives hope & that’s something that is in short supply when it comes to Autism & special needs in general.
Thank you Kevin for enlightening me on this subject. I think more people like yourself should be listened to get a proper perspective on the issue.
This man speaks unadulterated nonsense, and those previous posters who agree with him have obviously never read about Autism or encountered these children and their parents. This is a very sensitive issue, so people should refrain from commenting from a base of ignorance of the condition. This is not whether Sexton or O’Gara should line out for Ireland. It is far more black and white than that, and should not be open to bar stool “opinions”.
In my opinion I get the impression that no one really knows what causes Autism judging by his comments. About 11 years ago there was another controvertial comment by Dr Andrew Wakefield linking Autism to the MMR. It would be more appropriate to do clinical trials & studies rather that giving a “suggestion”. As a sister of a special needs adult, it would break my parents heart to hear that they were somehow at fault for what happened to my brother. This is a very emotive issue & should be treated as so.
This is a medical/Scientific issue and it is unqualified opinions that make it an emotive issue.Humphreys should know better and stop feeding the media with self serving bullshit.
There have been studies already done that disprove the refrigerator mother “theory”. That is why it is so shocking that someone who should know better would suggest such a thing.
Joe I absolutely agree you, actually I couldn’t have put it better myself..
I am an adult autistic,and a grandmother, and I am going to spell it out on very simple words:
Tony Humprheys attitutude (as well as the “Refrigerator Mother” theory) are just useless and senseless gratuitious abuse of parents who are young enough to be my kids.
What an arrogant man.
Why is he arrogant? He could be correct!
He is arrogant because 1. he has already been proven wrong by real studies, and he should know that and 2. considering the love and affection my family lavished on my children, and continue to do so (my snugglebug!), I’d like to see how he explains how my oldest is autistic- and my youngest (who is more stand-offish in the affection department) is not.
Well to be honest with you this article here is the first I have come across about this guys findings and it seems that the original article was take down by the Examiner. But from what I am reading it wasn’t taken down because he was proved wrong it was taken down because it upset a lot of folks, psychologists included. From what I read above in the short article I thought he was trying to say that children diagnosed with Autism who came from an environment where communication etc was poor were less likely to progress that children from healthy emotionally nourishing environments, which seems to make sense.
Also Amanda I hope you or anyone else was offended by comment as there was no offence caused!
The man is obviously a quack. I heard him interviewed and he has all the symptoms of a snake oil salesman.
Humphreys has not “opened up a debate”. He has a fringe opinion – one that was discredited in the 1960s. Debating this sets us back 50 years.
Would there be a debate if If Humphreys wrote an article that said smoking does not cause cancer? No, it is just wrong – plain and simple (rather like the man now that I think of it).
I agree with him. maybe he was z bit blunt about it. sure think about it. if you couldnt talk and were trying to tell someone something. if they didnt take the time to understand you. you would either shut down or get frustrated n violent even prehaps.
Should I just show home movies from when my child was a baby? When he was non-verbal, we actually took a while to notice because we understood him so well- his non-verbal-ness was initially blamed on us spoiling him. Then we took him to a developmental pediatrician, who confirmed him autistic.
People who believe that lack of parental affection or attention causes autism need to go out in their communities and work with these families and these kids, get educated on the latest REAL studies on the subject, and stop the ignorance that goes into the stigma of blaming families for ASD.
Just because an idea sounds plausible doesn’t mean that it is true. He needs to back up his assertions with data, and if he cannot do so then he should not be taken seriously.
Of course you would either shut down or get frustrated and even violent…but you would not become autistic…
Autism is something very different again…
The Angry masses ridiculed Freud or Jung for their contributions at first. It was not very flattering news to ‘most’ people.
Humphreys thinks he has opened up a debate. It’s more like he has re-animated an old, discredited theory from over 50 years ago. If there is a debate, it is not a scientific debate. Even the authors Tony cites have distanced themselves from him.There’s a lot we don’t know about autism, but one of the things we know is that it is not caused by cold parenting.
Tony is not a scientist and he should keep his psychobabble to himself. People like him (psychoanalysts) are responsible for unquantifiable damage caused to people with autism in France. We need to stick to evidenced based approaches to autism diagnosis and treatment.
I agree communication is important but the child also needs to initiate the communication in order for the parent to respond. It’s not a one way process directed by the parent. Frequently children with ASD do not initiate any communication or seek it out from others making it difficult for the most loving parent to respond. Social communication is one of the core impairments in ASD. Therefore communication with these children requires some innovation often involving visual symbols. For some it is often their preferred way of communicating because they have difficulty inferring the intent of others. Parents’ traditional ways of showing love adapts accordingly. I refer to children with more severe ASD and not Aspergers. Laying the blame at the parent’s doorstep is totally inappropriate.
Well I can speak as an high functioning autistic and add to what you have said that too much engagement can feel like invasion, become overwhelming and have the absolute opposite effect on an autistic…like, for examle, me…
I find it very hard to believe that this is the sole and only cause, plus he has no real evidence. Surprising that somebody who is a qualified psychologist can come up with such thin evidence. Most of these social developmental problems are due to a combination of factors, not just one blanket one. That said, one of the parents of an autistic child I know of is socially very difficult and dysfunctional himself, but that’s only one atypical case. Parental behaviour might be a factor in a minority of cases, but it’s unlikely to be the only factor.
An outrage.
Delayed the Angelus by 4 minutes!
No shame…
I think its unfair for people that dont live with autism to comment about this including said doctor. Noone knows more about autism than those who live with it. Im very sceptical of some of these guys expertise. I live with bi polar & I can tell you I never met a doctor that knows as much about it as I do cos i live it. We must also question these peoples attitudes as we dont have support in real terms from the health service in this country. I would not have the confidence in the people that work in such a broken system. I think its important to point out that until we have a proper working system here we should be sceptical about what they say.
im not suggesting that parents cause autisim at all. but im sure some would be communicating better if they were to do courses. its a two way street.
Please clarify what courses you are referring to?
“im not suggesting that parents cause autisim at all”
Then why are you agreeing with him? Make your mind up.
P.
With all due respect Gill if a child is completly non verbal and has parents, teachers, special needs assistants, speach therapists all working together to help a child learn to speak………which is what happens when a child has a diagnosis of autism……..can you suggest these courses for us who arent in the know??? This is why the article is so damaging to the autism community. people who do not know anything about autism and dont live with it are now telling us we have it wrong. My daughter who was born first walked, talked and did everything early, her brother who is autistic didnt speak till he was four. Same parents, same amount of love………in fact Ben had me full time as I gave up work when he was born, so he got far more attention than she did. Its a nurological condition………my son learns different to other people but he can learn. He is fully verbal now thanks to the team we have behind us.
There are plenty of courses *ANY* parent can take to make their parenting better and more mindful, and kudos to anyone who does them, but it has nothing, whatsoever, to do with autism, one way or another.
With respect Gill, why comment on Autism if you don’t even know how to spell it?
Spot on I’m autistic, my parents have NEVER being bad to me, the chap hasn’t got a clue. I personally won’t ever buy the Examiner now and I hope everyone in the country stops visiting their site and buying their papers, cripple them completely into extinction to set an example to everyone, don’t mess with us. Of course that won’t happen cause as we can see above certain people fall for bloody anything papers spout unfortunately, but I would like at least a few people to do this to hurt them at least a little bit financially and I urge everyone reading this comment to abandon that paper.
There should be mandatory Mensa tests prior to all public broadcasts to protect humanity
yerman is obviously trying to drum up business for himself from distressed parents . With his ” all the experts are wrong , and I’m right and have a cure ” bull . A shyster is all he is .
he got his free advertising though .
He appears to have no compassion, no empathy and shows no sign of remorse. He appears to seek attention, regardless of whether that attention is the result of people agreeing with him , or not. He does not appear to have the ability to understand the pain and suffering he is causing. Indeed, he seems to quite enjoy this. It is, as if he is actually taking pleasure in causing people pain. These psychological traits remind me of particularly nasty individuals, who for the life of me, I cannot remember what they are called. Ahem…
Somebody bloody put this guy back in his box and all of those agreeing with him, he nor you haven’t got a clue.
Here in Ireland, we have a long held tradition of putting unstinting faith in the medical profession. If Dr. Humphrey’s stands by his claims well then let’s look at the evidence. You can’t just come out with a comment like that and not have some sample studies to back it up. That would be totally unprofessional if not completely irresponsible given his credentials. If Autism is, as he says, linked to parental neglect, well then that is a very serious allegation for any family to take on board. But before we start lighting fires and going on a witch hunt let’s take a step back for a moment. This theory was surely mentioned long before now and if it is just a notional idea well then it needs to be treated as such. Just because Dr. Humphrey’s has letters after his name does not make him right, it’s just a highly qualified opinion.
The problem with the psychodynamic view is that: (1) It doesn’t adequately explain autistic behaviours; (2) there is no significant correspondence between deprivation behaviours of neglected children and behaviours of autistic children – in fact there are vast differences – you would expect otherwise if Humphreys proposal was true; (3) it doesn’t adequately explain the prevelance of epilepsy or other concurrent disorders such as SID in ASD; (4) it doesn’t explain why parents of children with autism have non-autistic siblings; (5) research contradicts a developmental view – e.g. behaviours evident at birth (such as atypical vocalisations, rigidity on touch), plus in one study 50% of people with autism showed evidence of organic brain disorder, and there is also evidence in the literature of organic brain damage such as meningitus leading to rapid onset autism; (6) the previous leading exponent of the field was exposed as a child abuser and a charlatan; (7) it’s a chicken and egg fallacy – just because intensive and adaptive social interventions lead to visible improvements in autism doesn’t mean maladaptive social responses cause it – that’s like saying penicillin causes measles.
Why did this Article get such coverage to cause so much hurt and distress to Parents and families who live with Autism particularly as he has no documented evidence to his claims
Sorry – I missed one out. Why the gender difference of at least 4:1? Mummies don’t like boys?
Fox News- us Pays $Millions in secret to vaccine -caused autism injured kids.
http://philosophers-stone.co.uk/wordpress/2011/05/fox-news-%E2%80%93-us-pays-millions-in-secret-to-vaccine-caused-autism-injured-kids/
Are some of the medical profession running scared and twisting the blame because of the epidemic of autism, ADHD, and other forms of brain damage which has been linked to vaccine injury?
No – we (parents of children on the ASD spectrum) don’t need that claptrap stirred up again either
Fox News- US Pays $ millions in secret to vaccine-caused autism injured kids.
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