International
U.S. authorities say new Ohio train derailment poses no public risk
March 6th |
Ohio authorities say there is no indication of any public health risk from the derailment of a Norfolk Southern freight train between Dayton and Columbus, the second company train derailment in the state in a month.
Norfolk Southern and Clark County officials say 28 of the southbound train’s 212 cars, including four empty tanker trucks, derailed about 4:45 p.m. Saturday in Springfield Township, near a business park and the county fairgrounds. Springfield is about 46 miles (74 kilometers) west of the state capital of Columbus.
As a precautionary measure, residents living within 1,000 feet (305 meters) were asked to shelter in place and responding firefighters deployed the county’s hazardous materials team as a precautionary measure, but authorities said early Sunday that there was “no indication of injury or public health risk at this time.”
A team from Norfolk Southern, the hazardous materials team and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency “each independently examined the accident site and verified that there was no evidence of spills at the site,” authorities said.
Authorities confirmed Sunday afternoon that no hazardous materials were involved in the derailment.
However, Norfolk Southern general manager Kraig Barner said a couple of other cars on the train headed from Bellevue, Ohio, to Birmingham, Alabama, were carrying liquid propane and a couple more were carrying ethanol. The rest of the train was made up of mixed cargo, such as steel and finished automobiles, he said.
“Many of the cars that derailed were empty cars,” Barner said.
Officials said two of the four empty tank cars that derailed had been carrying diesel exhaust fluid and the other two had residual amounts of polyacrylamide water solution, which Barner said is an additive commonly used in wastewater treatment.
County officials say environmental officials have confirmed that the derailment is not near a protected water source, meaning there is no risk to public water systems or private wells. The shelter-in-place order affected only four or five homes, officials said.
No injuries to the public or the two-person train crew were reported, he said. The cause of the derailment is under investigation and the findings will be turned over to the Federal Railroad Administration, Barner said.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said Saturday night that President Biden and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg had called him “to offer assistance from the federal government.”
On Feb. 3, 38 cars of a Norfolk Southern freight train in East Palestine, in northeastern Ohio near Pennsylvania, derailed and several of the train’s cars carrying hazardous materials caught fire.
Although no one was injured, nearby neighborhoods in both states were in danger. The accident prompted the evacuation of about half of the town’s approximately 5,000 residents, an ongoing multi-governmental emergency response, and lingering concerns among villagers about long-term health impacts.
International
Uribe requests freedom amid appeal of historic bribery conviction
Former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe on Monday requested that the Supreme Court restore his freedom while he appeals the historic 12-year house arrest sentence he received for bribery and procedural fraud.
Uribe, the most prominent figure of Colombia’s right wing, was convicted last week by a lower court for attempting to bribe paramilitary members into denying his ties to the violent anti-guerrilla squads.
Since Friday, the 73-year-old has been under house arrest at his residence in Rionegro, about 30 km from Medellín. The judge justified the measure by citing a risk of flight.
However, Uribe’s defense team rejected that argument and formally petitioned the court to immediately lift the detention order, claiming it lacks legal basis.
Uribe, a dominant force in Colombian politics for decades, is now the first former president in the country’s history to be convicted and placed under arrest, found guilty of witness tampering and obstruction of justice to prevent links to paramilitary groups.
He has repeatedly denounced the trial as politically motivated, blaming pressure from the leftist government currently in power.
His political party, Centro Democrático, has called for nationwide protests on August 7 in support of Uribe, who remains popular for his hardline stance against guerrilla groups.
Uribe has until August 13 to submit his written appeal. The case will then move to the Bogotá High Court, which has until October 16 to uphold, overturn, or dismiss the sentence. If the deadline passes without a decision, the case will be archived.
International
U.S. Embassy staff restricted as gunfire erupts near compound in Port-au-Prince
The poorest country in Latin America and the Caribbean is currently engulfed in a deep political crisis and a wave of violence driven by armed groups — a situation that an international security mission led by Kenya is attempting to stabilize.
Due to the worsening security conditions, the U.S. government has suspended all official movements of embassy personnel outside the compound in Port-au-Prince, the U.S. State Department announced Monday in a security alert posted on social media platform X.
“There are intense gunfights in the Tabarre neighborhood, near the U.S. Embassy,” the alert reads, urging the public to avoid the area.
Tabarre is a municipality located near Port-au-Prince International Airport, northeast of the Haitian capital.
According to a July report by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, at least 3,141 people were killed in Haitibetween January 1 and June 30 of this year.
International
Israel says 136 food aid boxes airdropped into Gaza by six nations
The Israeli military announced on Sunday that 136 boxes of food aid were airdropped into Gaza by the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Egypt, Germany, and Belgium.
“In recent hours, six countries conducted air drops of 136 aid packages containing food for residents in the southern and northern Gaza Strip,” read the statement, which added that the operation was coordinated by COGAT, the Israeli defense body overseeing civil affairs in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The Israeli military emphasized that they will “continue working to improve the humanitarian response alongside the international community” and reiterated their stance to “refute false allegations of deliberate famine in Gaza.”
The announcement comes as UN agencies warn Gaza faces an imminent risk of famine. More than one in three residents go days without eating, and other nutrition indicators have dropped to their worst levels since the conflict began.
The agencies also noted the difficulty of “collecting reliable data in current conditions, as Gaza’s health systems —already devastated by nearly three years of conflict— are collapsing.”
Meanwhile, Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry reported on Sunday that hospitals in the enclave recorded six deaths from hunger and malnutrition on Saturday, all of them adults.
Uribe requests freedom amid appeal of historic bribery conviction
U.S. Embassy staff restricted as gunfire erupts near compound in Port-au-Prince
Israel says 136 food aid boxes airdropped into Gaza by six nations
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Uribe requests freedom amid appeal of historic bribery conviction