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LOS ANGELES, USA (Reuters) — Fire officials said that they had effectively stopped the uncontrolled spread of a massive brush fire on the northern edge of Los Angeles on Monday, but were still working to contain it, according to local news sources. More than 1,000 firefighters are battling the fire, dubbed the La Tuna Fire, which started in Los Angeles County on Friday and has rapidly burned thousands of acres of land. California Governor Jerry […]
VIDOR, Texas (Reuters) — Aerial footage provided by a drone showed widespread flooding still affecting portions of Texas on Monday (September 4). Video of Vidor, Texas showed homes and businesses still surrounded by water and trucks slowly moving through substantial flooding. Portions of Texas were edging toward recovery from the devastation left by Hurricane Harvey, a storm that dumped some 50 inches (125 cm) of rain on the low-lying Gulf coastal region after coming ashore […]
LA PAZ, Mexico (AFP) — Tropical Storm Lidia has left at least four people dead in its sweep across Mexico’s Baja California peninsula, wrecking infrastructure and homes along the way, authorities said Friday. Two people were electrocuted and two — including a child — drowned trying to cross a raging stream to safety, the state emergency agency said in a report. Lidia has been wreaking havoc up and down Mexico’s Pacific coast and as far inland as Mexico City since Wednesday. It made landfall […]
HOUSTON, United States (AFP) – Monster storm Harvey hit the south Texas coast late Friday and then stalled, gushing torrents of rain over Houston, the country’s fourth largest city with six million people in the greater metropolitan area. The storm continues to pour rain as it heads slowly through neighboring Louisiana. How much rain? Up to 52 inches (132 centimeters) of rain fell from Saturday through Wednesday morning in parts of coastal Texas, and more […]
HOUSTON, United States (AFP) – The operators of a flooded chemical plant outside Houston warned Wednesday they are dealing with a “critical issue” triggered by Harvey’s torrential rains and have no means to prevent a possible explosion at the site. As a precautionary measure officials had already ordered the evacuation of an area within 1.5 miles (three km) of the organic peroxides plant in Harris County, which is owned by French group Arkema. Rich Rowe, […]
by Jorge Svartzman Agence France-Presse RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil – A wave of privatizations announced by Brazil’s President Michel Temer has fired up the stock market with hopes of economic renewal, but critics fear an irresponsible fire sale. It’s an impressive list with 58 items ranging from the Congonhas aircraft terminal in Sao Paulo to big state-run energy utility Eletrobras and even the national mint, which produces banknotes and passports. Throw in Temer’s decree, also unveiled this week, […]
by Leila Macor Agence France-Presse MIAMI, United States (AFP) – The state of Florida was set Thursday to execute its first death row inmate in nearly two years, and planning to administer a lethal injection cocktail that has never been used before in the United States. Mark Asay is scheduled to be executed at 6 pm (2200 GMT). The 53-year-old white inmate was sentenced to death in 1988 for a racially motivated double murder in […]
CHICAGO, United States (AFP) – Several United States cities began ordering evacuations Thursday as major storm Harvey was upgraded to hurricane status on its path towards hundreds of miles of coastline in Texas and Louisiana — an area that processes some 7 million barrels of oil a day. The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) warned that Harvey was “rapidly intensifying” and creating a potential for “life-threatening and devastating” floods. The storm’s center was due to […]
by Lucio Tavora with Paola Ramon in Sao Paulo Agence France-Presse SALVADOR, Brazil (AFP) – Two Brazilian ferry wrecks in as many days left at least 39 people dead, authorities said Thursday, as rescuers searched for several more who were still missing. “We deeply regret the loss of tens of lives in the boat accidents in Para and Bahia,” two states in the north of the country, President Michel Temer said on Twitter. Regional authorities […]
by Damian Wroclavsky Agence France-Presse BRASILIA, Brazil – Venezuela’s fugitive former top prosecutor resurfaced in Brazil on Wednesday claiming to possess “a lot” of proof of President Nicolas Maduro’s corruption and warning that her life remains in danger. Days after a dramatic escape from chaotic Venezuela, Luisa Ortega, 59, turned up the heat on Maduro, who has asked Interpol to issue a “red notice” warrant for the arrest of his critic. Ortega — speaking at a […]
by Sebastian Smith Agence France-Presse RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil – Brazil’s army went into action again Monday to support police in raids on some of Rio de Janeiro’s most violent favelas — but not before a rogue soldier allegedly tipped off the drug gangs. In the third such operation in just over two weeks, about 5,000 marines, army soldiers, air force personnel, police and agents from the elite federal intelligence service launched raids at dawn in seven neighborhoods, […]
GUATEMALA CITY (AFP) — Seven people including two children were killed and 12 injured in a gang shooting in a hospital in Guatemala on Wednesday, officials said. Police said gunmen burst into the Roosevelt Hospital in Guatemala City to rescue a jailed gang member who had been transferred there for a medical appointment. The shooters were members of the Salvatrucha gang, one of the most notorious bands terrorizing Central America. The attackers arrived in a car and […]
