Browsing: News

There was severe flooding and landslides across most of Puerto Rico as a result of Hurricane Fiona on Sunday. This was before the storm barreled its way towards the Dominican Republic, a government agency reported. The storm, hitting Puerto Rico five years after Hurricane Maria devastated the island, tore up asphalt from roads, swept away a major road bridge, closed airports, swamped cars and dumped so much rain that some rivers rose 20 feet in just hours, according to eyewitnesses. At a news conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico Governor Pedro Pierluisi said, “This has been catastrophic.” Carmen Yuln Cruz,…

Taitung County in eastern Taiwan was struck by an earthquake of 6.8 magnitude on Sunday, according to the Central Weather Bureau (CWB). According to data, the earthquake occurred amidst over 60 aftershocks following the quake, without causing any injuries or major damage. Small buildings collapsed, power outages occurred, and water pipes burst as a result of the tremors. According to the Taiwan weather bureau, the quake struck at a depth of 7.3 km (4.5 miles), with its epicentre in Taitung county, a sparsely populated part of the island. The official Central News Agency showed a picture of bottles that had…

There were at least 22 deaths and several injuries in western Nepal as a result of a landslide triggered by heavy rains, officials said on Saturday. As rescue workers searched the disaster site to try to find another ten missing people, police spokesperson Dan Bahadur Karki told us that rescue workers had pulled the dead and injured from the silt-covered wreckage of five houses that were buried under mud in Achham district, about 450 km west of Kathmandu. During the annual monsoon rains between June and September, flash floods and landslides are frequent in the Himalayan nation’s mountainous terrain. Flash…

A carbon reduction pledge of 43% by 2030 and net zero by 2050 was enshrined in legislation signed into law by Australia’s parliament with the support of the Greens party and independents. Reuters reported that the law is a first step against climate change since the Labor Party won power in May. This defeats a conservative government that had been criticized for being a global laggard. It will be more challenging for the government to pass more environmental legislation. “The passage of climate change legislation sends a message to the world that Australia is serious about driving down emissions, and…

There have been 32 deaths reported as a result of a fire at a karaoke parlor in southern Vietnam. Some parts of the building remain inaccessible more than a day after the blaze broke out. Fire broke out late Tuesday in Thuan An city, Binh Duong province, trapping workers and customers inside the multi-story venue. Despite being quickly contained, the fire continued to smolder the next day. The Vietnam News Agency reported that 32 people had died in the fire as of late Wednesday. At least one karaoke room and one storage room have not yet been accessed due to…

Despite long-strained ties between the rivals over the North’s nuclear weapons program, South Korea’s new government proposed a meeting with North Korea on Thursday to reunite families separated during the 1950-53 Korean War. AP reports that family reunions are highly emotional and humanitarian issues because they typically involve people who are in their 80s and older who want to reunite with their long-lost relatives before they die. It is unlikely that North Korea will accept the offer. This is because it is refusing Seoul and Washington’s offers to resume talks about its nuclear program and other issues. Instead, it focuses…

Albania has cut diplomatic ties with Iran and expelled its embassy staff. This is because of an alleged cyberattack carried out by Tehran on Albanian government websites nearly two months ago, Prime Minister Zoran Zaev said. A country cutting diplomatic ties over a cyberattack was the first known instance of a country taking such action. In response to what it called a troubling precedent in cyberspace, the White House threatened unspecified retaliation against Iran. According to a White House statement, the White House has been helping Albania for weeks and has concluded that Iran was behind the “reckless and irresponsible”…

During the southern Bay region of Somalia this year, “concrete indications” suggest famine is imminent. That was the conclusion of the UN, which said “famine is on its way.” This is just short of a formal declaration of famine, as thousands of people are dying from a drought exacerbated by the Ukraine conflict. U.N. humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths was “shocked to my core” when he visited Somalia and saw starving babies too weak to cry. In the affected areas, more than 850,000 people are living, and tens of thousands more will arrive in the months to come, according to United…

German government scrambles to find solutions to its energy woes as winter approaches. It puts two of its last three nuclear power plants on standby instead of shutting them down at the end of the year. Economy Minister Robert Habeck said the two power stations in southern Germany will be kept on reserve in case they are needed to stabilize the electricity grid this winter. In response to a stress test conducted on grid operators, the announcement has been made. Even if the remaining three plants continued to operate, they would only be able to make a limited contribution in…

A suicide bomber detonated explosives near the entrance to the Russian embassy in Kabul on Monday, killing six and injuring at least 10, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry and Afghan officials. Reuters reports that an armed guard shot and killed the attacker as he approached the gate. This was one of the first such attacks since the Taliban took power last year. According to Mawlawi Sabir, the head of the police district where the attack occurred, “the suicide attacker was recognized and shot by guards of the Russian embassy (Taliban). According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, an unknown militant…