International
3 dead, 3 missing after avalanche on Ecuador volcano: officials
AFP
An avalanche Sunday on a snow-capped Ecuadoran volcano, the highest peak in the country, killed at least three climbers and left three others missing, officials reported.
The avalanche struck a group of 16 mountaineers while at an altitude of 6,100 meters (20,000 feet) on the dormant Chimborazo volcano, according to responders.
“There are three missing mountaineers, three dead, three injured and seven rescued, out of a total of 16 people,” Quito firefighters, who provided emergency support, said in a statement.
A previous report from the country’s ECU911 security service had said four climbers had died and one was injured.
Authorities did not identify the climbers or their nationalities, but the Quito newspaper El Comercio reported that all were Ecuadoran.
The avalanche was spurred by “weather conditions” and was not caused by any volcanic activity, according to the firefighters.
Rescuers as well as police and military personnel specialized in high-elevation operations set up a command center at Chimborazo to coordinate search-and-rescue operations.
The volcano, which rises more than 6,200 meters high, is covered in snow and glaciers year-round and is located about 130 kilometers (80 miles) south of Quito.
Chimborazo attracts both Ecuadoran and foreign climbers. The towns of Riobamba and Ambato lie at its base.
Ecuador’s Environment Ministry temporarily closed the surrounding Chimborazo nature reserve, which is popular with tourists. Despite the volcano’s constant snow, it is not frequented by skiers.
The volcano has seen a number of deadly accidents in recent decades.
In 2003, the remnants of an Ecuadoran plane that crashed in 1976 with 59 people on board were found by climbers about 700 meters from the summit.
The plane had collided into a stone wall on Chimborazo, and had been covered by an avalanche.
In 2015 the remains of three climbers, believed to have disappeared 20 to 30 years ago, were discovered at about 5,500 meters.
And in 1994 an avalanche left 10 people dead, including one Swiss and six French nationals.
Chimborazo last erupted sometime between the beginning of the 5th and end of the 7th century, according to the Geophysical Institute of Quito, which said the interval between eruptions is approximately 1,000 years.
The volcano’s ice-capped summit, steep slope and its location near populated areas including towns, make it a high-risk area, according to the institute.
Chimborazo’s summit is the farthest point from the center of the Earth, at 6.38 million meters.
International
DeSantis plans “Panhandle Pokey” after court orders closure of Alligator Alcatraz
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced on Tuesday plans to build a new migrant detention center in the state’s northwest region, called “Panhandle Pokey,” following a court ruling ordering the closure of “Alligator Alcatraz” by October.
During a press conference, DeSantis justified the proposed facility, referencing the Florida Panhandle and using “pokey,” a colloquial term for jail. He estimated that 70,000 migrants in Florida already have deportation orders.
The new center, for which further details have not yet been released, would complement the “Deportation Depot”, another facility DeSantis announced in August in a former northern Florida prison, with a capacity of 1,000 to 1,500 detainees.
“So we are in the process of figuring out how to open the Panhandle Pokey, and we’ll have that in the Panhandle, and the mission continues,” said the Republican governor.
The announcement comes two weeks after a ruling by U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams for the Southern District of Florida, which ordered the dismantling of Alligator Alcatraz within 60 days. Environmental groups had filed the lawsuit. The center, opened on July 3 west of Miami, quickly became a symbol of the Trump administration’s immigration policy, with former President Donald Trump visiting the site two days prior.
International
House of Representatives releases 33,000 pages of Epstein case documents
The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday released more than 33,000 pages of documents related to the late billionaire Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender, as provided by the Department of Justice.
The release was made by the House Committee on Oversight and Reform and is described as the first installment of a series of public disclosures, following political agreements aimed at increasing transparency in the Epstein case.
“There are more documents on the way,” said Committee Chairman James Comer after announcing the release.
Out of the 333,295 pages made public, only about 3% contain new information, with the remainder already available in the public domain.
“Less than 1% of the files have been released; the Department of Justice is obstructing,” commented Representative Ro Khanna of California shortly after the records were made public.
The Epstein case has remained a high-profile issue in U.S. politics in recent months. Former President Donald Trumphad promised during his last campaign to release a purported list of Epstein’s clients, but once in office, he took a more restrained approach.
This secrecy has frustrated Trump’s political base, particularly after the Department of Justice announced in July that no further Epstein information would be released.
Meanwhile, Epstein’s former partner, Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for facilitating underage girls to Epstein, recently met with Justice Department officials and stated that her former partner did not maintain a list of high-profile clients.
In August, the Justice Department also released two interrogations of Maxwell conducted by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche in July, in which Maxwell expressed doubts about Epstein’s reported suicide in prison.
International
Dominican Republic labels ‘Cartel of the Suns’ a terrorist organization
The Dominican Republic on Tuesday officially declared the Cartel of the Suns, the alleged drug trafficking organization reportedly led by Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, a terrorist organization.
Experts, however, have questioned the existence of a traditional cartel, noting that it may instead function as a system of corruption benefiting from organized crime.
A government statement explained that President Luis Abinader’s administration has “designated the armed group Cartel of the Suns as a terrorist organization and instructed the country’s intelligence and security agencies to adopt appropriate measures to prevent incursions of the group… into national territory.”
Countries including Argentina, Ecuador, and Paraguay have also labeled the Cartel of the Suns as a terrorist entity.
While the Dominican declaration does not mention Venezuela or Maduro by name, it aligns with the United States’ stance, which has imposed sanctions against the alleged cartel and increased the reward for Maduro’s capture to $50 million.
The official statement stressed that the Dominican Constitution prioritizes combating transnational criminal activities that threaten the country’s interests, peace, stability, and national and regional security.
In response, the United States announced the deployment of warships and at least 4,000 Marines for counter-narcotics operations in the Caribbean.
DeSantis plans “Panhandle Pokey” after court orders closure of Alligator Alcatraz
House of Representatives releases 33,000 pages of Epstein case documents
Dominican Republic labels ‘Cartel of the Suns’ a terrorist organization
Tec de Monterrey honors one of its students for his contribution to nanotechnology in medicine
Defense Minister commends salvadoran soldier for Central American Cross Country victory
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