'Our world is in peril,' UN secretary-general warns general assembly

CBC/Radio-Canada - 9h ago

The world's problems seized the spotlight Tuesday as the UN General Assembly opened on Tuesday with dire assessments of a planet beset by escalating crises and conflicts that an aging international order seems increasingly ill-equipped to tackle.

After two years when many leaders weighed in by video because of the coronavirus pandemic, now presidents, premiers, monarchs and foreign ministers gathered almost entirely in person for diplomacy's premier global event.

But the tone was far from celebratory. Instead, it was the blare of a tense and worried world.

"We are gridlocked in colossal global dysfunction," Secretary-General António Guterres said, adding that "our world is in peril — and paralyzed."

He and others pointed to conflicts ranging from Russia's six-month-old war in Ukraine to the decades-long dispute between Israel and the Palestinians. Speakers worried about a changing climate, spiking fuel prices, food shortages, economic inequality, migration, disinformation, discrimination, hate speech, public health and more.


After two years of holding the session virtually or in a hybrid format, 157 world leaders and their representatives are expected to attend the UN General Assembly in person

.© Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Guterres started out by sounding a note of hope, however. He showed a video of the first UN-chartered ship carrying grain from Ukraine — part of the deal between Ukraine and Russia that the United Nations and Turkey helped broker — to the Horn of Africa, where millions of people are on the edge of famine. It is, he said, an example of promise and hope "in a world teeming with turmoil."

Russia's war top of mind

Russia's invasion of Ukraine topped the agenda for many speakers. The conflict has become the largest conflict in Europe since World War II and has opened fissures among major powers in a way not seen since the Cold War.

Meanwhile, the loss of important grain and fertilizer exports from Ukraine and Russia has triggered a food crisis, especially in developing countries, and inflation in many nations.

As Jordan's King Abdullah II noted, well-off countries that are having unfamiliar experiences of scarcity "are discovering a truth that people in developing countries have known for a long time: For countries to thrive, affordable food must get to every family's table."

In an impassioned speech to the assembly, French President Emmanuel Macron said no country can stand on the sidelines in the face of Russia's aggression. He accused those who remain silent of being "in a way complicit with a new cause of imperialism" that is trampling on the current world order and is making peace impossible.

Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro, traditionally the first speaker, called for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine, protection of civilians and "the maintenance of all channels of dialogue between the parties." He opposed what he called "one-sided or unilateral" Western sanctions, saying they have harmed economic recovery and have threatened human rights of vulnerable populations.


Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro called for a ceasefire in Ukraine during his speech on Tuesday.© Mary Altaffer/The Associated Press

Neither Ukraine nor Russia has yet had its turn to speak. The assembly has agreed to allow Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to speak by video, over objections from Russia and a few of its allies.

Zelenskyy's speech is expected Wednesday, as is an in-person address from U.S. President Joe Biden. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is due to take the rostrum Saturday.
Nearly 150 leaders to speak

Nearly 150 heads of state and government are on the latest speakers' list, a high number reflecting that the United Nations remains the only place not just to deliver their views but to meet privately to discuss the challenges on the global agenda — and hopefully make some progress.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's two-day visit began Tuesday with a bilateral meeting with Chandrikapersad Santokhi, the president of Suriname, this year's chair of Caricom, a political and economic coalition of 15 member-states throughout the Caribbean.

The rest of Trudeau's UN agenda is laden with meetings on subjects close to his heart: climate change, gender equality and sustainable development, among others.

Later Tuesday he was scheduled to take part in a roundtable with former U.S. secretary of state Hillary Clinton on the virtues of inclusive job growth.

The death of Queen Elizabeth and her funeral in London on Monday, which many world leaders attended, created last-minute headaches for the high-level meeting. Diplomats and UN staff have scrambled to deal with changes in travel plans, the timing of events and the logistically intricate speaking schedule for world leaders.


Prime Minister Justin Trudeau takes part in a meeting at the United Nations in New York on Tuesday.© Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press

Factbox-Latest on the worldwide spread of the coronavirus



Mon, September 19, 2022

(Reuters) - The coronavirus pandemic remains a global emergency but the end could be in sight if countries use the tools at their disposal, a spokesperson for the World Health Organisation said.

DEATHS AND INFECTIONS

* Eikon users, click on COVID-19: MacroVitals for a case tracker and summary of news. https://amers2.apps.cp.thomsonreuters.com/cms/?navid=1775942723

ASIA-PACIFIC

* Hong Kong will soon make an announcement on its controversial COVID-19 hotel quarantine policy for all arrivals, as it wants to keep the city connected with the rest of the world and allow an "orderly opening-up".

* China's government issued draft rules aimed at making it easier for some foreigners to enter the country for visits to tourism sites along the Chinese border.

* Shanghai announced eight infrastructure projects with total investment of 1.8 trillion yuan ($256.67 billion), after the city was hit hard by COVID-19 lockdowns in April and May.

AMERICAS

* U.S. President Joe Biden said in an interview aired on Sunday that "the pandemic is over," even though the country continues to grapple with coronavirus infections that kill hundreds of Americans daily.

EUROPE

* Dutch King Willem-Alexander held his annual budget day address on Tuesday, appearing in front of a full audience in The Hague for the first time since before the pandemic.

VACCINES, TREATMENTS

* Global vaccine alliance GAVI has set up financial instruments that will allow the group to immediately access pledged donor funding if it needs to buy vaccines for future pandemics, its chief executive told Reuters.

* Two COVID-19 antibody therapies are no longer recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), on the basis that Omicron and the variant's latest offshoots have likely rendered them obsolete.

ECONOMIC IMPACT

* Asian tourists are only expected to resume international travel at pre-pandemic levels gradually, by 2024, the new chief executive of online travel agency Agoda said late on Monday.

* Japanese land prices rose in the 12 months to July 1 for the first time since before the pandemic, thanks to an easing of COVID-19 curbs, an annual land ministry survey showed.

* China's exports to North Korea grew at a slower pace in August than July, as shipments of masks and other COVID-related items plunged, customs data showed.

($1 = 7.0130 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Compiled by Olivier Sorgho; Editing by)

Energy crisis key to Italy’s election — but not conservation

By COLLEEN BARRY

today

1 of 15

Men work in a galvanizing plant in Cambiano, northern Italy, Friday, Sept. 16, 2022. Zinc baths at Giambarini Group's galvanizing plants in northern Italy must remain super-heated around the clock, seven days a week, an energy-intensive process that has grown exponentially more costly as gas prices spike. The energy crisis facing Italian industry and households is a top voter concern going into Sunday's parliamentary elections as fears grow that astronomically high bills will shutter some businesses and force household rationing by winter. Never in an Italian election campaign has energy been such a central talking point. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)


MILAN (AP) — Giambarini Group’s plants in northern Italy must keep zinc baths that rustproof steel and iron parts super-heated around the clock, seven days a week, an energy-intensive process that has grown exponentially more costly as natural gas prices spike.

Methane to create molten zinc that forms a protective coating over high-rise support beams and wrought-iron fences used to take up just 3% of operating costs, but now it’s as much as 30%. The family-run company has passed some of the extra cost to customers, but business is uncertain as rising prices for raw materials freezes the construction industry that Giambarini supplies.

“We don’t know the future. We don’t know if it will get worse or better, since clients don’t know if they will have work,” said CEO Alberto Giambarini, the third generation in his family to run the business. He has orders for the coming 10 days, instead of through Christmas, like in the past. “We are living day to day.”

The energy crisis facing Italian industry and households — like those across Europe — is a top voter concern going into Sunday’s parliamentary elections as fears grow that astronomically high bills will shutter some businesses, at least temporarily, and force household rationing by winter. Prices started going up a year ago and have only been exacerbated as Russia has cut back natural gas used to generate electricity, heat and cool homes, and run factories as Europe supports war-torn Ukraine.

Already in July and August, industrial energy use dropped by double digits mostly because of scaled-back production — which experts say could affect economic growth and employment in the coming months.

At the same time, three-quarters of Italian households expect even more pain this fall with higher bills, according to the SWG polling institute. Already, 80% report important sacrifices to pay energy costs, such as delaying vacations, major purchases and eating out.

Never in an Italian election campaign has energy been such a central talking point. Candidates have sparred over whether debt-laden Italy, which has already spent more than 60 billion euros to help families, businesses and local governments, should incur yet more debt to finance new relief. They’re also facing off on whether Italy should consider investing in new nuclear technologies.

But no party is discussing mandatory conservation measures, like many of Italy’s European neighbors.

“It is remarkable to see how much all these people are commenting on energy. Before the current situation, no one would mention the issue. But at the same time, they are neglecting if not ignoring completely the climate side of this,” said Matteo Di Castelnuovo, an energy economist at Milan’s Bocconi University. “No one is going to talk about rationing or reducing consumption.”

Most major parties, including Giorgia Meloni’s far-right Brothers of Italy and Enrico Letta’s center-left Democratic Party, are largely following strategies pursued by the outgoing government of Premier Mario Draghi. They both advocate a European Union cap on natural gas prices, despite a failure to gain EU consensus in months of discussion, along with varying formulas to help families and offer tax breaks to businesses.

Pollsters and energy experts say these similarities have made it difficult for voters to be moved by energy policy.

Broadly, the campaign has focused on continued natural gas investments.

For the Democratic Party, plants that regasify liquid natural gas are positioned as a bridge to other technologies as it sets a target to add 85 gigawatts of renewable energy by 2030 in a country that for years has averaged just 1 gigawatt a year. The center-right coalition that Meloni’s party is leading wants to expand pipeline deliveries to Italy, which fits a longer-term strategy of making Italy a gas hub for Europe but does not address the EU goal of emission reductions by 2030.

The right-wing coalition and small centrist parties also advocate a return to nuclear power, which Italians have rejected in two referendums decades apart. In addition to societal resistance, the technology would take at least two decades to implement, too late to help Italy’s commitment with the Group of 7 wealthy economies to fully decarbonize by 2035, said Matteo Leonardi, executive director of the environmental think tank ECCO.

The political debate is largely focusing on lowering gas prices but not diversifying or discouraging households from consuming resources that would better support industry, Leonardi said.

“The response to this crisis, as they are saying in the rest of Europe, are renewables and efficiency,” Leonardi said. “You cannot face a war without arms. You cannot give the message that the state will take care of it, consume what you want.”

Italy’s famed textile industry, which gives French and Italian fashion houses their luxury edge, also is suffering. The small and medium operators that form the backbone of the system risk closure without a swift, systemic response from both Europe and Italy, said Sergio Tamborini, head of the SMI Italian Fashion System association.

“The bills that arrived in June and July were explosive,” Tamborini said.

Italy’s textile industry — along with leather and accessories accounting for revenue of 100 billion euros a year — is a luxury niche that Tamborini worries will be weakened by cheaper markets if costs aren’t reduced.

Dying and printing textiles is especially energy intensive, Tamborini said, and for some, “it is a problem of survival.”

“We should have had help already in September. We cannot wait for the next government to be active, because it could be Christmas or even after,” he said, given the fractured nature of Italian politics.

Meanwhile, Giambarini said his business has no immediate plans for short-term layoffs of 250 workers, but the outgoing government has been discussing new layoff programs to give businesses a way to avoid crippling energy costs.

Shutting down even temporarily would be devastating, taking months to relaunch, said Giambarini, adding he was still deciding which party to back.

“We are waiting for the election and hope we will get a government that will indicate a better road out of this period of crisis,” Giambarini said.

EXPLAINER: Bused, flown migrants can live in US -- for now

By ELLIOT SPAGAT

today

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Carlos Munoz reaches out to hug Larkin Stallings of Vineyard Haven, Mass., as the immigrants prepare to leave St. Andrews in Edgartown, Mass., Friday, Sept. 16, 2022. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis took the playbook of a fellow Republican, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, to a new level by catching officials flat-footed in Martha's Vineyard, Mass., with two planeloads of Venezuelan migrants. On Friday, the migrants were being moved voluntarily to a military base on nearby Cape Cod, Mass. 

(Ron Schloerb/Cape Cod Times via AP)


Republican governors have been sending more migrants released at the U.S. border with Mexico to Democratic strongholds, raising questions about their legal status, how they are lured on board buses and planes and the cost to taxpayers.

Florida’s Ron DeSantis flew about 50 Venezuelans last week to the small, upscale island of Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts. During the weekend, Texas’ Greg Abbott bused more migrants to Vice President Kamala Harris’ Washington home.

U.S. authorities are grappling with unusually large numbers of migrants crossing the border from Mexico amid rapidly changing demographics. The administration said Monday that people from Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua accounted for more than one of three migrants stopped at the border in August. Authorities stopped migrants 2.15 million times from October through August, the first time above 2 million during the government’s fiscal year.

Since April, Texas has bused about 8,000 migrants to Washington, 2,200 to New York and 300 to Chicago. Arizona bused more than 1,800 to Washington since May, while the city of El Paso, Texas, bused more than 1,100 to New York since Aug. 23.

Here are some questions and answers:

ARE MIGRANTS LEGALLY IN THE UNITED STATES?

Yes, temporarily. Tens of thousands of migrants who cross the border illegally from Mexico are released in the United States each month with notices to appear in immigration court to pursue asylum or on humanitarian parole with requirements to report regularly to immigration authorities. Migrants may seek asylum if they enter the country illegally under U.S. and international law, and U.S. authorities have broad authority to grant parole based on individual circumstances.

Migrants must keep a current address with authorities, who schedule appointments in a city with the nearest court or immigration office. They must apply separately for permission to work.

Last year, it took an average of nearly four years for asylum cases to be decided in immigration court, according to the Biden administration, leaving migrants in a legal purgatory that shields them from deportation. The backlog in immigration courts has mushroomed to more than 1.9 million cases, according to Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse.

To avoid massive overcrowding in detention facilities, the administration began releasing many migrants on humanitarian parole. The Border Patrol paroled nearly 250,000 migrants from August through June, including 40,151 in June, the latest figures released. In the previous seven months, it paroled only 11 migrants.

ARE THESE MIGRANTS KIDNAPPED?

Kidnapping is a high legal threshold, but migrants flown to Martha’s Vineyard say they were taken there on false pretenses. Migrants sign waivers that the transportation is free and voluntary.

DeSantis used a state program in which migrants deemed “unauthorized aliens” can be moved “from Florida,” though the governor has acknowledged the flights originated in Texas.

They stopped first in Florida, before going to Martha’s Vineyard, but DeSantis has not emphasized that. Instead, he maintains that the two flights were a legitimate use of funds because the migrants otherwise would have aimed to go to Florida, though he offered no evidence of that and did not say how migrants might have been vetted.

Migrants who boarded the flights told The Associated Press that a woman who approached them at a San Antonio shelter promised jobs and three months of housing in Washington, New York, Philadelphia and Boston.

On Monday, Javier Salazar, the sheriff of Bexar County, which includes San Antonio, opened an investigation into the flights, but the elected Democrat didn’t say what laws may have been broken. Other Democrats have urged the U.S. Justice Department to investigate, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom and U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, whose district includes San Antonio.

DOESN’T THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION BUS AND FLY MIGRANTS AROUND THE COUNTRY?

Yes, but under different circumstances. Like earlier administrations, it transports migrants between detention facilities, often on their way to being removed from the country.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had more than 4,800 domestic flights in the last year, including 434 in August, according to Witness to the Border, a group that criticizes U.S. enforcement. The top five destinations from March to August were: Alexandria, Louisiana; Laredo, Texas; Phoenix; and Harlingen and El Paso in Texas. ICE also buses many migrants.

The Department of Health and Human Services transports unaccompanied children to “sponsors,” who are often family, or child-only detention facilities.

DID ANYONE ASK FOR THIS?

Republican-led states say they are sending migrants to “sanctuary” cities that welcome immigrants. While the definition of a sanctuary city is slippery, a sudden influx of migrants can test attitudes and limits of generosity.

Chicago’s “Welcoming City Ordinance” prohibits asking people about their immigration status, denying services based on immigration status and disclosing information to federal immigration authorities.
New York limits cooperation with U.S. immigration authorities, partly by prohibiting police officers from participating in joint enforcement or by letting immigration agents work in city jails.

In Martha’s Vineyard, the six towns that make up the island south of Boston haven’t issued any “sanctuary” declarations.

The Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for restrictions, keeps an extensive list of “sanctuary” jurisdictions, which, by its definition, limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities. They include Boston and seven other Massachusetts cities. None of the towns in Martha’s Vineyard are on the list.

WHO’S PAYING AND HOW MUCH?

Texas has committed billions of dollars to Abbott’s “Operation Lone Star,” an unprecedented move into border security that includes the bus trips, prosecuting border crossers for trespassing and massive presence of state troopers and National Guard.

The Florida Legislature allocated $12 million for its program for the current budget year.

The city of El Paso, which last week contracted a private bus company at a cost of up to $2 million, plans to seek reimbursement from the federal government.

___

Associated Press reporters Don Babwin in Chicago, Anthony Izaguirre in Tallahassee, Florida, and Sophia Tulp and Philip Marcelo in New York contributed to this report.

UPDATED

Fiona wallops Turks and Caicos, Puerto Rico still stunned

By DÁNICA COTO

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A vehicle is submerged after Hurricane Fiona in Salinas, Puerto Rico,  Monday, Sept. 19, 2022. 

(AP Photo/Stephanie Rojas)

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Hurricane Fiona blasted the Turks and Caicos Islands on Tuesday as a Category 3 storm after devastating Puerto Rico, where most people remained without electricity or running water and rescuers used heavy equipment to lift survivors to safety.

The storm’s eye passed close to Grand Turk, the small British territory’s capital island, on Tuesday morning after the government imposed a curfew and urged people to flee flood-prone areas. Storm surge could raise water levels there by as much as 5 to 8 feet above normal, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center.

Late Tuesday morning, the storm was centered about 40 miles (65 kilometers) north-northwest of that island, with hurricane-force winds extending up to 30 miles (45 kilometers) from the center.

“Storms are unpredictable,” Premier Washington Misick said in a statement from London, where he was attending the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. “You must therefore take every precaution to ensure your safety.”

Fiona had maximum sustained winds of 115 mph (185 kph) and was moving north-northwest at 9 mph (15 kph), according to the Hurricane Center, which said the storm is likely to strengthen further into a Category 4 hurricane as it approaches Bermuda on Friday.

It was forecast to weaken before running into easternmost Canada over the weekend.

The broad storm kept dropping copious rain over the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, where a 58-year-old man died after police said he was swept away by a river in the central mountain town of Comerio.

Another death was linked to a power blackout — a 70-year-old man was burned to death after he tried to fill his generator with gasoline while it was running, officials said.

Parts of the island had received more than 25 inches (64 centimeters) of rain and more was falling on Tuesday.

National Guard Brig. Gen. Narciso Cruz described the resulting flooding as historic.

“There were communities that flooded in the storm that didn’t flood under Maria,” he said, referring to the 2017 hurricane that caused nearly 3,000 deaths. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”

Cruz said 670 people have been rescued in Puerto Rico, including 19 people at a retirement home in the northern mountain town of Cayey that was in danger of collapsing.

“The rivers broke their banks and blanketed communities,” he said.

Some people were rescued via kayaks and boats while others nestled into the massive shovel of a digger and were lifted to higher ground.

He lamented that some people initially refused to leave their homes, adding that he understood why.

“It’s human nature,” he said. “But when they saw their lives were in danger, they agreed to leave.”

The blow from Fiona was made more devastating because Puerto Rico has yet to recover from Hurricane Maria, which destroyed the power grid in 2017. Five years later, more than 3,000 homes on the island are still covered by blue tarps.

Authorities said Monday at least 2,300 people and some 250 pets remained in shelters across the island.

Fiona triggered a blackout when it hit Puerto Rico’s southwest corner on Sunday, the anniversary of Hurricane Hugo, which slammed into the island in 1989 as a Category 3 storm.

By Tuesday morning, authorities said they had restored power to more than 285,000 of the island’s 1.47 million customers. Puerto Rico’s governor, Pedro Pierluisi, warned it could take days before everyone has electricity.

Water service was cut to more than 837,000 customers — two thirds of the total on the island — because of turbid water at filtration plants or lack of power, officials said.

Fiona was not expected to threaten the U.S. mainland.

In the Dominican Republic, authorities reported one death: a man hit by a falling tree. The storm displaced more than 12,400 people and cut off at least two communities.

The hurricane left several highways blocked, and a tourist pier in the town of Miches was badly damaged by high waves. At least four international airports were closed, officials said.

The Dominican president, Luis Abinader, said authorities would need several days to assess the storm’s effects.

Fiona previously battered the eastern Caribbean, killing one man in the French territory of Guadeloupe when floodwaters washed his home away, officials said.

Hurricane Fiona: More than 1 million still without power in Puerto Rico


Heavy rains and strong winds from Hurricane Fiona lash an area near Nagua in the Dominican Republic on Monday. Photo by Orlando Barria/EPA-EFE

Sept. 20 (UPI) -- More than a million people in Puerto Rico were still without electricity on Tuesday after Hurricane Fiona swept across the U.S. territory with powerful winds and drenching rains.

Fiona made landfall in Puerto Rico on Sunday and immediately impacted the island's power grid. Monday, utility officials said 1.3 million people were without electricity. On Tuesday that number was just under 1.2 million, according to PowerOutage.us.

"We want our customers to know that [we have] been and will continue to work around the clock to restore power," Abner Gomez, public safety manager at Puerto Rico utility company LUMA, said in a statement.

"We will continue to work nonstop until every customer is restored and the entire grid is re-energized. While these efforts continue over the coming days, we strongly encourage customers to continue to exercise caution and stay away from any downed power lines."

Hurricane Fiona dumped more than 2 feet of rain on Puerto Rico before it moved to the west toward the Dominican Republic. The storm caused rivers on the Caribbean island to spill over and create severe flooding and landslides.

At the peak of the storm, Puerto Rico saw winds of more than 100 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center.

The impact of Hurricane Fiona is seen in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Sunday.

 The storm strengthened into a major hurricane on Tuesday. 

Photo by Thais Llorca/EPA-EFE

Officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency are in Puerto Rico to coordinate relief efforts.

"This is a disaster, honestly. The situation in this area is going to be very bad," San German Mayor Virgilio Olivera said according to El Nuevo Dia, adding that the flooding has blocked many roads.

Meanwhile in the Dominican Republic, officials said that more than 700,000 people were without power Tuesday -- and that dozens of aqueducts are out of service, leaving more than a million residents without clean drinking water.

Fiona strengthened into a major hurricane on Tuesday and headed northwest toward Bermuda. A storm is considered a major hurricane when maximum sustained winds exceed 110 mph.

An area of San Juan, Puerto Rico, is seen on Sunday amid severe weather conditions from Hurricane Fiona. 

Photo by Thais Llorca/EPA-EFE

Fiona dumps more rain on Puerto Rico; troops rescue hundreds

By MARICARMEN RIVERA SANCHEZ and DÁNICA COTO

today

PHOTOS 1 of 24

Homes are flooded on Salinas Beach after the passing of Hurricane Fiona in Salinas, Puerto Rico, Monday, Sept. 19, 2022. (AP Photo/Alejandro Granadillo)


SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Hurricane Fiona unleashed more rain on Puerto Rico on Monday, a day after the storm knocked out power and water to most of the island, and National Guard troops rescued hundreds of people who got stranded.

The governor warned that it could take days to get the lights back on.

The blow from Fiona was made more devastating because Puerto Rico has yet to recover from Hurricane Maria, which killed nearly 3,000 people and destroyed the power grid in 2017. Five years later, more than 3,000 homes on the island are still covered by blue tarps.

The storm stripped pavement from roads, tore off roofs and sent torrents pouring into homes. It also took out a bridge and flooded two airports.

Authorities reported two deaths from the hurricane — a Puerto Rican man who was swept away by a flooded river and a person in the Dominican Republic who was hit by a falling tree.

The storm was still expected to dump up to 15 inches (38 centimeters) of rain in some places as it spun away from the U.S. territory that is home to 3.2 million people.

Forecasts called for the storm to grow into a major hurricane of Category 3 or greater. It was on a path to pass close to the Turks and Caicos islands on Tuesday and was not expected to threaten the U.S. mainland.

One death in Puerto Rico was associated with the blackout — a 70-year-old man who was burned to death after he tried to fill his generator with gasoline while it was running, officials said.

Gov. Pedro Pierluisi declined to say how long it would take to fully restore electricity, but he said for most customers it would be “a question of days.”

Since the start of the storm, National Guard troops have rescued more than 900 people, Gen. José Reyes told a news conference.

Meanwhile in the Dominican Republic, authorities closed ports and beaches and told most people to stay home from work. Nearly 800 people were evacuated to safer locations, and more than 700 were in shelters, officials said.

The hurricane left several highways blocked, and a tourist pier in the town of Miches was badly damaged by high waves. At least four international airports were closed, officials said.



The Dominican president, Luis Abinader, said authorities would need several days to assess the storm’s effects.

Back in Puerto Rico, the National Weather Service office said flash flooding was occurring in south-central parts of the island and tweeted, “MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND IMMEDIATELY!”

Up to 22 inches (56 centimeters) of rain fell in some areas of Puerto Rico, and forecasters said another 4 to 8 inches could fall as the storm moves away, with even more possible in some places.

“It’s important people understand that this is not over,” said Ernesto Morales, a weather service meteorologist in San Juan.

He said flooding reached “historic levels,” with authorities evacuating or rescuing hundreds of people across Puerto Rico.

“The damages that we are seeing are catastrophic,” Pierluisi said.

Water service was cut to more than 837,000 customers — two thirds of the total on the island — because of turbid water at filtration plants or lack of power, officials said.

Before dawn Monday, authorities in a boat navigated the flooded streets of the north coast town of Catano and used a megaphone to alert people that the pumps had collapsed, urging them to evacuate as soon as possible.

Authorities said at least 1,300 people spent the night in shelters across the island.

Brown water poured into streets and homes and closed airports in Ponce and Mayaguez.

The system also ripped asphalt from roads and washed away a bridge in the central mountain town of Utuado that police said was installed by the National Guard after Maria hit as a Category 4 storm.

Fiona also tore the roofs off homes, including that of Nelson Cirino in the northern coastal town of Loiza.

“I was sleeping and saw when the corrugated metal flew off,” he said as he watched rain drench his belongings and wind whip his colorful curtains into the air.

After roaring over the Dominican Republic, Fiona moved into the open Atlantic, where it was projected to strengthen, according to the National Hurricane Center.

On Monday evening, it was centered about 130 miles (205 kilometers) southeast of Grand Turk Island and heading northwest at 10 mph (17 kph), with maximum sustained winds of 105 mph (165 kph).

Tropical storm-force winds extended for 140 miles (220 kilometers) from the center.

U.S. President Joe Biden declared a state of emergency as the eye of the storm approached the island’s southwest corner.

Fiona previously battered the eastern Caribbean, killing one man in the French territory of Guadeloupe when floodwaters washed his home away, officials said.

The system hit Puerto Rico on the anniversary of Hurricane Hugo, which slammed into the island in 1989 as a Category 3 storm.

SEE

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2022/09/hurricane-fiona-rips-through-powerless.html

Hurricane Fiona strengthens, pummels Dominican Republic after leaving Puerto Rico in dark

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2022/09/first-hit-by-privatization-puerto-rico.html

World's fossil fuel reserves could generate 3.5 trillion tons of greenhouse gases


Activists gather in front of Los Angeles City Hall in February 2020. 

Activists spoke about the health problems people experience when

 living near oil and gas extraction, particularly in low-income neighborhoods. 

File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI | License Photo

Sept. 19 (UPI) -- Burning the world's fossil fuel reserves could emit about 3.5 trillion tons of greenhouse gases, according to a new analysis.

Carbon Tracker Initiative, with data support from Global Energy Monitor, developed and launched on Monday the Global Registry of Fossil Fuels -- what the group described as the "first-ever fully transparent, public database" that tracks fossil fuel production and global impact.

Extracting and using all identified reserves of coal, oil and gas would emit more global warming emissions than all that have been released into the atmosphere since the industrial revolution, an analysis of data from the registry shows.

The database shows that Russia and the United States each have enough fossil fuel reserves to raise the temperature of the planet by 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit, a temperature that the United Nations and climate scientists worldwide has said passing would lead to catastrophic climate change effects.

The United States has the potential to release 577 billion tons of emissions, mostly from coal.

"You've got governments issuing new licenses or permits for coal that are completely decoupled from their own climate commitments," Mark Campanale, founder of Carbon Tracker Initiative, told The Guardian.

The database shows that about 27 billion tons of emissions that the United States has the potential to release come from fossil fuel projects that are already being developed.

RELATED Scientists surprised to learn Mexico mangroves have trapped carbon for millennia

"It's like a country announcing that they're going on a climate change diet and they're going to eat salad for lunch and then sneaking back to their office and working their way through a box of donuts," he said.

"You're not on a diet if you're stuffing your face with donuts, but that's what's happening with countries and their developers of fossil fuels."

Russia, before the war in Ukraine, was a major supplier of oil and gas -- particularly to most of Europe. Even as countries move away from dependency on Russian fossil fuels, Moscow has identified enough that would release 490 billion tons of greenhouse gases.

RELATED Kamala Harris meets with Caribbean leaders to discuss climate change

The maximum amount of global carbon dioxide emissions that would result in limiting climate change to that 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit temperature is known as the carbon budget. The database shows enough fossil fuel reserves have been identified worldwide to blow the remaining budget seven times over.

"Countries like to talk about emissions, they don't want to talk about fossil fuels," Campanale said.

"Emissions are from the use of fossil fuels and you can't do anything about emissions until you've actually come to a conclusion about what you're going to do about fossil fuels."

U.S. diets among the worst, with little improvement seen globally

By HealthDay News

Nations with the highest diet scores included Vietnam, Iran, Indonesia and India, while the lowest scoring countries included Brazil, Mexico, the United States and Egypt, researchers found.

 Photo by FotoshopTofs/Pixabay

Despite everything people have learned about good nutrition, folks around the world aren't eating much healthier than they were three decades ago, a new global review has concluded.

Diets are still closer to a poor score of zero -- with loads of sugar and processed meats -- than they are to a score of 100 representing lots of fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts and whole grains, Tufts University researchers report.

"Intake of legumes/nuts and non-starchy vegetables increased over time, but overall improvements in dietary quality were offset by increased intake of unhealthy components such as red/processed meat, sugar-sweetened beverages and sodium," said lead author Victoria Miller. She's a postdoctoral scholar at Tufts' Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy in Boston.

For the study, researchers measured eating patterns among adults and children across 185 countries, based on data gathered from more than 1,100 diet surveys.

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The world's overall dietary score is around 40.3, representing a small but meaningful 1.5-point gain between 1990 and 2018, researchers found.

But scores varied widely between regions, with averages ranging as low at 30.3 in Latin America and the Caribbean to as high as 45.7 in South Asia.

Only 10 countries, representing less than 1% of the world's population, had diet scores over 50.

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Nations with the highest diet scores included Vietnam, Iran, Indonesia and India, while the lowest scoring countries included Brazil, Mexico, the United States and Egypt.

Women were more likely to eat healthier than men, researchers found, and older people more so than younger adults.

"Healthy eating was also influenced by socioeconomic factors, including education level and urbanicity," Miller said in a university news release. "Globally and in most regions, more educated adults and children with more educated parents generally had higher overall dietary quality."

Poor diets are responsible for more than a quarter of all preventable deaths worldwide, the researchers said in background notes.

Countries can use this data to guide policies that promote healthy eating, said Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, a cardiologist and dean for policy at the Friedman School.

"We found that both too few healthy foods and too many unhealthy foods were contributing to global challenges in achieving recommended dietary quality," he said in the release. "This suggests that policies that incentivize and reward more healthy foods, such as in health care, employer wellness programs, government nutrition programs, and agricultural policies, may have a substantial impact on improving nutrition in the United States and around the world."

The findings were published Monday in the journal Nature Food.

More information

The World Health Organization has more about a healthy diet.

Copyright © 2022 HealthDay. All rights reserved.



U.N. says number of people facing hunger increased in 2021


A farmer harvests black ginger, known for its medicinal properties, and endemic in Phnom Kulen in Cambodia. 

Photo courtesy of United Nations

Sept. 19 (UPI) -- The United Nations began a global forum Monday to highlight the "Decade of Family Farming," aimed at identifying policies to help global agriculture, which began three years ago.

Qu Dongyu, the director-general of the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization, said that the number of people facing hunger worldwide increased in 2021 and has faced further pressure this year amid Russia's war in Ukraine.

"Family farmers need to be at the center of efforts to transform agrifood systems if we are to make real progress towards ending hunger," Qu said.

Qu added that family farming "is the main form of agriculture" globally and responsible for producing 80% of the world's food in terms of value.

The initiative that began Monday will provide a way to discuss the "unique role" of family farmers, as well as "tale stock" of achievements in the implementation of the forum and strengthen collaboration to ensure global food security.

Data from the United Nations published in July shows that the number of people affected by hunger globally increased to as many as 828 million last year, a rise of about 46 million since 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic began.

Around 45 million children under the age of five were suffering from wasting, the "deadliest form of malnutrition," in 2021 alone, according to the United Nations. Another 149 million children suffered stunted growth and development because of malnutrition.

The administration of President Joe Biden will host a White House conference on hunger, nutrition and health later this month.

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$T
Tom Barrack, friend and former fundraiser for Trump, faces trial for UAE ties


Thomas J. Barrack Jr., who was chairman of Donald Trump's 2016 Inaugural Committee, speaks to the press at Trump Tower in New York City on January 10, 2017. 

File Photo by Anthony Behar/UPI | License Photo

Sept. 19 (UPI) -- Jury selection in New York City was scheduled to begin Monday in the trial of Thomas Barrack, a close friend and former fundraiser to Donald Trump who's accused of improperly acting as a foreign agent during Trump's presidency.

Barrack, a billionaire investor, was arrested and indicted by a grand jury a year ago over accusations that he unlawfully used his friendship with Trump to lobby his administration on behalf of the United Arab Emirates.

Barrack was released on a $250 million bond and has pleaded not guilty to the charges in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

Matthew Grimes, an employee of Barrack's, was also charged and pleaded not guilty and a third man, Rashid Al Malik, has not yet been located.

According to the indictment, Barrack informally advised senior U.S. officials on foreign policy in the Middle East and sought to be appointed as special envoy to the region beginning in January 2017 when Trump took office.

Individuals acting as an agent of a foreign government are required to notify the U.S. attorney general.

In its indictment, the grand jury found that there was enough evidence to show that top UAE officials "tasked" Barrack and his co-defendants with "influencing public opinion" and "obtaining information about foreign policy positions" as well as "developing a back channel line of communication" to Trump.

Prosecutors say that Barrack continued to promote UAE foreign policy interests during media appearances through October 2017 "after soliciting direction" from Al Malik.

The grand jury indictment says Al Malik, Grimes and Barrack at one point began drafting a proposed strategy for the UAE to increase its political influence in the United States beginning in mid-2016. The strategy recommended the UAE use its financial investments to increase "influence with USA and European governments and people."

The indictment says UAE officials, through Al Malik and Barrack, also sought to influence the Trump administration to consider designating the Muslim Brotherhood as a foreign terrorist organization. The co-defendants further arranged discussions between the top UAE officials and Trump, including phone calls and meetings at the White House with senior officials from Saudi Arabia.

Prosecutors say that Barrack also repeatedly lied to the FBI about his activities and was charged with obstruction of justice.

Former federal prosecutor Antonia Apps told CBS News that the charge of working as an undisclosed foreign agent has been used for decades in cases involving espionage.

Barrack has denied wrongdoing and filed a lawsuit against the Justice Department in July, which seeks an injunction to force the department to provide a list of current and recent registrations of foreign agents he'd requested under the Freedom of Information Act.

"The information requested has a strong likelihood of constituting exculpatory evidence in connection with Mr. Barrack's upcoming trial, and as such, is critical to the preservation of Mr. Barrack's due process rights," the suit says.

Barrack's trial is expected to last about five weeks.

FACED RACISM IN HOCKEY

Veteran defenseman P.K. Subban retires from NHL

New Jersey Devils defenseman P.K. Subban, who announced his retirement Tuesday, spent the past three seasons with the franchise. 

File Photo by Alex Edelman/UPI | License Photo

Sept. 20 (UPI) -- Veteran defenseman P.K. Subban will retire from the NHL, ending a decorated 13-year hockey tenure, he announced Tuesday on social media.

"I remember my dreams of playing in the NHL and winning a Stanley Cup, similar to the guys on the Don Cherry Rock'em Sock'em tapes at the end of every volume, with the black eyes, broken bones, and tears of joy," Saban wrote on Twitter and Instagram.

New Jersey Devils defenseman P.K. Subban appeared in 77 games

 last season. File Photo by Archie Carpenter/UPI | License Photo

"To this day, I still dream about it. However, the end of this chapter is closing and after 13 years in the NHL, I have made the decision to retire," the unrestricted free agent wrote.

Subban, 33, spent seven seasons with the Montreal Canadiens, three with the Nashville Predators and three with the New Jersey Devils. He scored five goals and logged 17 assists in 77 games last season for the Devils.

He totaled 115 goals and 467 points in 834 career appearances.

The three-time All-Star also won last season's King Clancy Memorial Trophy, an honor given by the NHL for leadership and humanitarian contributions.



He also won the 2012-13 James Norris Memorial Trophy, given to the league's top defenseman. He also won a gold medal with Canada at the 2014 Winter Games.

"I never looked at myself or ever felt I was 'just a hockey player,'" Subban wrote. "I always looked at myself as a person who happened to play hockey.

"Having that perspective allowed me to enjoy every shift like it was my last, celebrate every goal with emotion, and play every game as if someone paid to watch me play who had never seen me play before."

Subban also thanked his family, fans, teams and the league for their support throughout his career.

"I look forward to the road ahead, and the many exciting opportunities to come," Subban wrote. "I'm excited to share what those are with you all when the time comes!"

The NHL preseason will start Saturday. The regular season will start Oct. 7.

Former Nashville Predators defenseman P.K. Subban (R)

 scored 115 goals during his 13-year NHL career. 

File Photo by Archie Carpenter/UPI |

Longtime NHL defenseman P.K. Subban (76) was a three-time All-Star.

 File Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI | License Photo

PRISON NATION U$A
Senate report finds nearly 1,000 uncounted deaths in prisons

Reporters get a tour of the improvements made on the third floor at the St. Louis Justice Center in St. Louis on Wednesday, May 4, 2022. A new report found nearly 1,000 deaths each year in state and local prisons are uncounted. 

Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI | License Photo

Sept. 20 (UPI) -- Nearly 1,000 deaths in state and local prisons went uncounted by the federal government in fiscal year 2021, according to a newly released bipartisan Senate report.

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations will hold a hearing on the report Tuesday.

Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., the subcommittee's chairman, said that there were "shocking long-term gaps in federal oversight."

The 10-month investigation into how the Justice Department oversees the Death in Custody Reporting Act accuses the agency of missing deaths in counts that are available to the public. The law also requires state and federal agencies to report in-custody death information to the attorney general, who must then provide the results to Congress. That information was due at the end of 2016, but it won't be ready until 2024, according to the report.

Seventy percent of records supplied to the Justice Department were also missing at least some information related to the deaths.

"DOJ's failure to implement DCRA has deprived Congress and the American public of information about who is dying in custody and why," the report says. "This information is critical to improve transparency in prisons and jails, identifying trends in custodial deaths that may warrant corrective action -- such as failure to provide adequate medical care, mental health services, or safeguard prisoners from violence -- and identifying specific facilities with outlying death rates."

Christine Tartaro, a professor of criminal justice at Stockton University in New Jersey, told NBC News that she was befuddled by a lack of transparency in mortality data when she was writing a book on suicide in prisons.

"We can't fix what we don't know is broken," Tartaro said, "and if we don't have the data, we can't tell where the problems are."

According to the most recent Justice Department data, 4,234 people died in state and federal prisons in 2019, a 6.6% decrease from 2018. But the 143 homicides in state prisons in 2019 were the most recorded since collection began in 2000.