Search and rescue effort under way after vessel sank in Stock Island, in the Florida Keys, hours before hurricane made landfall
Eighteen people are missing after a boat carrying Cuban migrants sank off Florida due to Hurricane Ian, further underlining the human cost of the storm.
US border patrol said on Wednesday that it responded to a migrant landing in Stock Island, in the lower Florida Keys, Reuters said.
Continue reading...Figures likely to be an underestimate, says Global Witness, as land defenders are killed by hitmen, crime groups and governments
More than 1,700 murders of environmental activists were recorded over the past decade, an average of a killing nearly every two days, according to a new report.
Killed by hitmen, organised crime groups and their own governments, at least 1,733 land and environmental defenders were murdered between 2012 and 2021, figures from Global Witness show, with Brazil, Colombia, the Philippines, Mexico and Honduras the deadliest countries.
Continue reading...‘Major, major’ storm, estimated to be 140 miles wide, sweeps inland after causing huge flooding on coast, with millions of residents in its path
Hurricane Ian, one of the most powerful storms ever to strike the US mainland, has battered south-west Florida with high winds, rain and storm surges as it weakened and moved inland.
More than 2m homes and businesses were left without power as the storm swept ashore in south-west Florida on Wednesday afternoon, bringing “catastrophic” 150mph (240km/h) winds and a deadly storm surge of up to 18ft. Hours later, the storm – estimated to be about 140 miles (225km) wide – was downgraded from a category 4 to a category 1 storm as it moved slowly north-east, causing major flooding.
Continue reading...Government says country ‘moving ahead’ with ceasefire as new leftist president Gustavo Petro promises ‘total peace’
At least 10 armed groups in Colombia, including the Gulf Clan crime gang and dissident members of the Farc rebels who rejected a peace deal have agreed to participate in unilateral ceasefires, according to the government.
President Gustavo Petro, who took office in August, has promised to seek “total peace” with armed groups, fully implementing a 2016 peace accord with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) and meeting with dissidents and gangs.
Continue reading...Severe storm that killed two and flattened homes in Atlantic Canada highlights need for longterm strategy against climate change
Brian “Smokey” Osmond was cooking at his home in Newfoundland’s coastal Port aux Basques when he spotted flood waters creeping into his garage on Saturday morning.
Osmond moved his truck up a hill to safety. But as he returned, a powerful storm surge struck.
Continue reading...Thaw Nandar Aung, AKA Han Lay, feared being sent home after she was stopped at Thai border last week
A Myanmar fashion model who was denied entry to Thailand and feared arrest by the military government in Yangon if she was forced back home from exile has flown to Canada, which she says has granted her asylum.
Thaw Nandar Aung, also known as Han Lay, left on a flight from Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport early on Wednesday, according to Archayon Kraithong, a deputy commissioner of Thailand’s Immigration Bureau. He said he was not authorised to reveal her destination.
Continue reading...The woman likely to be the first transgender member of parliament says she still feels threat hanging over her
No one does political rags to riches stories quite like Brazil, but even in a nation where the most celebrated president in decades once shined shoes to survive, the story of Erika Hilton takes some beating.
The transgender teenager was kicked out of her house aged 14 and spent several years as a sex worker in rural Brazil before reconnecting with her mother and studying teaching and gerontology at university.
Continue reading...Electricity grid collapses in Cuba after hurricane passes through, as 2.5 million people in Florida ordered to evacuate
Cuba’s electricity grid has collapsed, leaving the entire country without power in the wake of Hurricane Ian, as residents in Florida braced for the arrival of what is expected to be a catastrophic Category 4 storm.
The western end of Cuba was hit by violent winds and flooding on Tuesday, affecting infrastructure, state-run media reported, while some of the country’s most important tobacco farms were devastated.
Continue reading...Thousands evacuated in Pinar del Río, as Floridians are warned storm may strengthen to category 4
Hurricane Ian has torn into western Cuba with nothing to stop it from intensifying into a catastrophic category 4 hurricane before its expected landfall in Florida on Wednesday.
Tampa and St Petersburg in Florida could get their first direct hit by a major hurricane since 1921.
Continue reading...Reforms met open resistance from growing evangelical movement and other religious groups
Cubans have approved a sweeping “family law” code that would allow same-sex couples to marry and adopt as well as redefine rights for children and grandparents, officials said, though opposition in the national referendum was unusually strong on the Communist party-governed island.
The measure – which contains more than 400 articles – was approved by 66.9% to 33.1%, the president of the national electoral council, Alina Balseiro Gutiérrez, told official news media, though results from some places remained to be counted.
Continue reading...Tropical systems often strengthen in warmer areas of Atlantic, but can also intensify elsewhere in certain conditions
Late last week, Canada’s Atlantic coast was hit by Hurricane Fiona, with maximum sustained winds in the region of 90mph (145km/h). Hurricanes rarely maintain such an intensity that far north. Why? Hurricanes are fuelled by high sea surface temperatures (SSTs), and ideally high sea temperatures over a large depth. As you move away from the tropics, SSTs typically reduce.
But hurricanes are not confined to the warmer areas of the Atlantic, such as the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. Tropical systems often strengthen in these regions, but can sometimes sustain or even strengthen elsewhere given favourable conditions. Ocean currents can transport warmer water poleward which can produce regions at higher latitudes that have higher SSTs than their surroundings. Tropical systems that track northwards over warmer seas can maintain intensity or even strengthen, such as happened with Hurricane Fiona.
Continue reading...The deaths within days of 11 sturgeon, a species unchanged for thousands of years, have puzzled scientists
When the first spindly, armour-clad carcass was spotted in the fast-flowing Nechako River in early September, Nikolaus Gantner and two colleagues scrambled out on a jet boat, braving strong currents to investigate the grim discovery.
Days later, the remains of 10 others were spotted floating along a 100km stretch of the river in western Canada.
Continue reading...Troops to remove trees and restore transport links after Fiona caused severe damage including torn-off roofs and flooding
Canadian troops are being sent to assist the recovery from the devastation of storm Fiona, which swept away houses, stripped off roofs and knocked out power across the country’s Atlantic provinces.
After surging north from the Caribbean as a hurricane, Fiona came ashore before dawn on Saturday as a post-tropical cyclone, battering Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Quebec with hurricane-strength winds, heavy rains and huge waves.
Continue reading...Post-tropical cyclone reaches Gulf of St Lawrence after racing through Nova Scotia forcing evacuations
Powerful storm Fiona ripped into eastern Canada on Saturday with hurricane-force winds, forcing evacuations, knocking down trees and powerlines, and reducing many homes on the coast to “just a pile of rubble in the ocean”.
The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said the centre of the storm, downgraded to post-tropical cyclone Fiona, had reached the Gulf of St Lawrence after racing through Nova Scotia.
Continue reading...Canadian actor had pleaded guilty to second-degree murder over shooting near Vancouver
The actor Ryan Grantham – featured in the CW show Riverdale and the movie Diary of a Wimpy Kid – has been sentenced to life in prison for fatally shooting his mother in their home in Canada.
Grantham, 24, was sentenced on Wednesday after pleading guilty earlier this year to second-degree murder, which carries an automatic sentence of life in prison, reported the New York Times.
Continue reading...Bid to move pop star’s Colombian tour date to capital’s biggest venue has united supporters of clubs who play there
Rival Colombian football fans, more used to hurling insults at each other on the terraces, have united against a common enemy: Harry Styles. At stake is what takes place at Bogotá’s football stadium on 27 November: either the Colombian football championship final, or the latest leg of the British pop star’s world tour.
Styles had been scheduled to play in the car park of an amusement park in the capital city, but fans started a social media campaign for the concert to be moved after pop star Dua Lipa’s show there last weekend was plagued by logistical and technical problems.
Continue reading...Fema makes individual assistance available to only 55 of the 78 municipalities on the island, leaving some feeling ignored
Six days after Hurricane Fiona struck Puerto Rico, Alexiz and Roberto Núñez still don’t know where their next meal is coming from.
The couple, whose home in Arecibo flooded during the storm, is relying on a neighbor’s cooking and some canned goods delivered by the government to get by.
Continue reading...Storm surges and heavy rainfall expected before weather event gradually weakens this weekend, say meteorologists
A powerful storm has hit eastern Canada with hurricane-force winds nearly a week after devastating parts of the Caribbean.
The US National Hurricane Centre (NHC) said the centre of Fiona, which transformed from a hurricane into a post-tropical cyclone late on Friday was crossing eastern Nova Scotia, bringing high winds and heavy rains.
Continue reading...Nearly a million customers lack power but restoration is proceeding faster than after Hurricane Maria
An estimated 928,000 homes and businesses were still without power in Puerto Rico on Friday morning after Hurricane Fiona hit on Sunday, causing an island-wide power outage for its roughly 3.3 million people.
Hurricane Fiona was passing Bermuda heading towards Nova Scotia in Canada, classed as a major hurricane with winds of up to 125mph (200km/h). The storm has killed at least eight people.
Continue reading...Hurricane causes blackout across Puerto Rico while typhoon forces 8m to flee homes in Japan
It has been very active across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans in recent days with more than five storms officially named.
Hurricane Fiona in the Caribbean was the first storm of the tropical Atlantic season to strengthen into a major hurricane. Fiona made landfall on Sunday across south-western Puerto Rico, where it dumped 762mm (30in) of rain with sustained gusts of 115mph.
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