Sin categoría
Hurricane Beryl leaves at least 6 dead, destruction and “alarming precedent” in the Caribbean
Beryl’s passage through the Caribbean has already left at least six dead, generating concern about the speed in its formation and for reaching the greatest power that a cyclone (category 5) can have at such an early stage in the Atlantic hurricane season, something that is seen as an “alarming precedent.”
On Monday night, Beryl reached category 5 (the maximum on the Saffir-Simpson scale, which measures cyclones by its winds), and dropped to 4 on Tuesday afternoon, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC), based in Miami.
At least three people died on Tuesday in Granada, in addition to a death recorded on Monday in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, islands of the Eastern Caribbean.
The Prime Minister of Granada, Dickon Mitchell, said that “possibly more” people have lost their lives on this island and neighboring Carriacou.
Mitchell said that efforts are being made to get a helicopter to visit Carriacou since the sea is still very rough and the Coast Guard ships probably won’t be able to arrive.
The cyclone, the first of the Atlantic hurricane season, has left significant destruction of buildings, roads and boats in several countries of the Caribbean Community (Caricom), which suspended its annual meeting and convened a virtual meeting to evaluate the damage and design a collective response.
On the other hand, the Venezuelan authorities reported on Tuesday two deaths, five missing and more than 600 homes affected in the state of Sucre (northeast), due to the overflow of the Manzanares River after the passage of Beryl.
The Minister of Internal Affairs, Remigio Ceballos, reported that medical care was provided to the population and that “reinforcements” were deployed with firefighters and other rescue organizations “for analysis, damage assessment and mitigation work.”
In Puerto Rico, the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (DRNA) reported the closure of several spas in the north and southwest of the island due to the dangerous maritime conditions caused by the hurricane.
“The conditions are not suitable for bathers,” the DRNA urged in its message, while the National Meteorological Service (SNM) issued warnings of coastal flooding and marine currents, as well as for small boats.
On the other hand, the Dominican Republic began to feel the indirect effects of the hurricane on Tuesday, which remains a dangerous system with maximum sustained winds of 260 kilometers per hour (160 miles per hour).
Faced with this panorama, the Emergency Operations Center (COE) of the Dominican Republic put on alert 24 of the country’s 32 provinces, two of them, Barahona and Pedernales (southwest) in red (maximum), and where the indirect effects of the hurricane are already felt, which led to the start of preventive evacuations and the suspension of classes.
Meanwhile, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador criticized on Tuesday the “sensationalism” around Hurricane Beryl, which at the end of this week may make landfall in southeastern Mexico.
“They will never be helpless, but also do not get upset, because there will also be a lot of sensationalism, too much information about the hurricane, exaggerated,” the president said.
The National Meteorological Service (SMN) warned on Monday of a double impact in Mexico, where between Thursday and Friday it would land in Quintana Roo, the largest tourist state in the country, and between Sunday and Monday in Veracruz, in the Gulf of Mexico.
On the other hand, cruise companies such as Royal Caribbean, Norwegian and Carnival diverted or canceled their itineraries before Beryl’s advance through the Caribbean, justifying the priority of the safety of their guests and crew.
Beryl will be heading to Jamaica – it is expected to pass near this island on Wednesday – and the next day it will affect the Cayman Islands. In addition, it can pass through the coasts of Haiti from the borders with the Dominican Republic to the town of Anse d’Hainault, according to the NHC.
Precisely, the Government of Jamaica announced on Tuesday the closure of the international airport and the non-essential government offices, as part of the preparations for the arrival of the cyclone.
Beryl surprised the small archipelagos of the Eastern Caribbean with its rapid formation and ability to gain power, which according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is an “alarming precedent.”
The UN meteorological agency stressed that since it was registered, a hurricane of maximum intensity had never been formed in the Atlantic at this point of the year.
In the current Atlantic season, which runs from June 1 to November 30, three tropical storms have already formed with name: Alberto, Beryl and Chris, the latter that also had a rapid development and wreaked havoc in Mexico.
For the WMO, the arrival of Beryl with this force two weeks earlier than usual could be the anticipation of “a very active season with risks for the entire Atlantic basin.”
Meteorologist José Manuel Galvez told EFE that in recent years there has been a process known as “rapid intensification” of these tropical systems, which “tends to prevail.”
According to the NHC, it is expected that by midweek Beryl will gradually lose intensity, although he will still maintain hurricane winds.
International
Trump warns Hamas that they will be “eradicated” if they break the ceasefire with Israel in Gaza
The President of the United States, Donald Trump, urged Hamas again this Monday to stop the violence and take the terms of the peace plan it promotes with Israel in Gaza, warning that otherwise they could be “eradicated,” although in turn he ruled out the possible presence of soldiers from his country in the Strip.
“We have peace in the Middle East for the first time in history; we reached an agreement with Hamas for which they will be very good, they will behave well and they will be kind. And if not, we will go and we will eradicate them,” the president told the press during a meeting at the White House with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
Trump clarified, however, that if that happened “there would be no American soldiers on the ground at all” because it would only be enough to ask several of the countries that supported the peace proposal to take charge of the Palestinian militant group: “Israel would intervene in two minutes,” he added.
“I could tell them to intervene (to the countries) and take care of it. But for now, we haven’t said it. We are going to give (Hamas) a small chance and, hopefully, there will be a little less violence,” said the president, whose plan received the support of Arab and European nations during a peace summit in Egypt.
The American insisted that the militant group “has been very violent, but no longer has the support of Iran. He no longer has the support of anyone. They have to behave well, and if they don’t, they will be eradicated,” he repeated.
Israel bombed several points in Gaza on Sunday and killed dozens of people, in response to what it interpreted as a “violation” of the agreement by Hamas, a week after the entry into force of the ceasefire promoted by the Trump Administration.
The bombings took place after clashes in the Rafah area, located in southern Gaza and controlled by the Israeli Army, which left two Israeli soldiers dead.
After these clashes, Israel claimed to have “resumed the application of the ceasefire”. Shortly after, Trump assured for his part that the truce “is still in force.”
The Republican president had already threatened last week to “kill” Hamas members if they did not comply with the ceasefire agreement with Israel and “continue to kill in Gaza.”
The militant group has mobilized in Gaza to regain control after the start of the ceasefire in the Strip, which has meant the withdrawal of Israeli troops from half of the territory. In the midst of this tense situation, there have also been clashes between Hamas and other local militias.
Several videos show summary executions of people whom Palestinian militants accuse of collaborating with Israel, which according to local sources, have occurred in Gaza City.
Sin categoría
Trump files $15 billion defamation suit against The New York Times
U.S. President Donald Trump has filed a $15 billion defamation and libel lawsuit against The New York Times, which denounced the legal move on Tuesday as an attempt to silence the press.
In this new stage of his presidency, the 79-year-old Republican leader has escalated his long-standing hostility toward traditional media, repeatedly attacking critical journalists, limiting their access, or taking them to court.
The lawsuit, filed Monday in Florida, seeks $15 billion in damages, along with additional punitive compensation “in an amount to be determined at trial.”
The New York Times had reported last week that Trump threatened legal action over articles concerning a birthday letter allegedly sent by him to financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The letter featured a typed message inside the outline of a nude woman. Trump denies that the accompanying signature is his.
“For too long, The New York Times has been allowed to lie, defame, and slander me freely — and that ends NOW!” Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social.
Sin categoría
Maduro warns Venezuela would enter armed struggle if attacked by foreign forces
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro stated on Friday that if his country were attacked, it would enter a phase of armed struggle, amid his claims of “threats” from the United States, which is conducting a military deployment in Caribbean waters near Venezuela’s coast under the pretext of combating drug trafficking.
Maduro emphasized that Venezuela is currently in the non-armed phase, which he described as political, communicational, and institutional, but added that if the country were somehow aggressed, it would move to a planned, organized armed struggle involving the entire population, whether the threat is local, regional, or national.
“We would enter a stage of armed struggle, in defense of peace, territorial integrity, sovereignty, and our people,” Maduro said during an event activating citizen militias, broadcast on state channel Venezolana de Televisión (VTV).
He also noted that Venezuela is currently in a phase of readiness and preparation to defend the country and will proceed to the deployment of defensive capacities, including training and retraining of the entire Venezuelan population.
Maduro described the Venezuelan people as pacifist yet warrior-like, asserting that “no one will enslave us, neither today nor ever.”
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