LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — The large wildfire scorching the western US state of Oregon topped 300,000 acres Monday as it emerged a California power company linked to previous deadly fires may be responsible for a new blaze. Oregon’s giant Bootleg Fire has triggered over 2,100 evacuations and destroyed 67 homes in nearly two weeks of explosive growth, regularly forcing back firefighters who have only contained one quarter of its perimeter. “We are running […]
North America
New Haiti govt to be formed Tuesday, Ariel Henry as PM
by Robenson Geffrard PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AFP) — Haiti’s interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph, who has run the country since the assassination of president Jovenel Moise, will step down to make way for a new government headed by the man Moise handpicked days before his killing, an official said Monday. The new government — due to take over on Tuesday — will not have a president, and will be tasked with organizing fresh elections “as soon […]
US warns Covid ‘becoming a pandemic of the unvaccinated’
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US health authorities on Friday pleaded with Covid vaccine holdouts to roll up their sleeves and get their shots, as cases, hospitalizations and deaths surged. “There is a clear message that is coming through: this is becoming a pandemic of the unvaccinated,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Rochelle Walensky told reporters. The agency reported more than 33,000 new cases on Thursday, bringing the seven-day average up to […]
Major US wildfire grows, forcing new evacuations
LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — With oppressively hot, dry weather looming over much of the Western US and Canada on Sunday, the enormous Bootleg Fire in Oregon grew again and authorities ordered new evacuations. Bootleg, the largest of 80 major fires now active in the US, spread overnight from 274,000 acres to 290,000 acres — three times the size of the metropolis of Detroit, officials said. Some 2,000 people have had to evacuate, […]
Haitian police close net in probe of president’s murder
by Robenson Geffrard Agence France Presse PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AFP) — The assassination of Jovenel Moise by armed mercenaries was planned in the neighboring Dominican Republic, say Haitian police, who announced the detention of the slain president’s chief bodyguard and three other members of his security detail. The apparent ease with which a hit squad entered the Haitian leader’s residence in Port-au-Prince and shot him dead, with no injuries to his bodyguards, has raised suspicions […]
Mandatory indoor mask use returns to Los Angeles
LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — Wearing a face mask at an indoor public establishments will once again be mandatory in Los Angeles starting this weekend due to a steady increase in Covid-19 infections and hospitalizations, health authorities said Thursday. Los Angeles is the first large US metropolis to reimpose the use of face masks — regardless of vaccination status — in shops, grocery stores, restaurants and workplaces to help contain the pandemic. The […]
Huge fires rage in western US, Canada
LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — More than a million acres of the western US and Canada were in flames on Wednesday as multiple blazes raged across the region, fueled by soaring temperatures and drought, and with little sign of letting up. Large areas of California were placed on red alert as several conflagrations continued to burn. The so-called River Fire had still not been brought under control as it burned near Yosemite National […]
US pushes ASEAN to hold Myanmar accountable on coup
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The US has “deep concerns” about the situation in Myanmar following February’s coup, urging the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to take action, the State Department said Tuesday. Myanmar has been in chaos and its economy paralyzed since the military ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s government earlier this year, accusing it of fraud during 2020 elections. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken “called on ASEAN to take joint action to […]
‘Increased risk’ of rare nerve disorder after J&J Covid vaccine: US
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The US Food and Drug Administration updated its warning labels Monday for the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine to include information about an observed “increased risk” of a rare neurological disorder called Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS). The news is a further blow for the company, which was granted an emergency use authorization for its shot in February but has played a minor role in America’s coronavirus immunization campaign. Based on analysis […]
Wildfires rage across million acres as heat wave stifles western US, Canada
by Andrew MARSZAL LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — Wildfires were burning across more than one million acres of the western United States and Canada on Monday, as scorching temperatures held their grip on areas reeling from a brutal weekend heat wave. Some 850,000 acres were on fire in the United States — mainly in western states such as Oregon, California and Arizona — while more than 300,000 acres smoldered in Canada’s British Columbia alone, […]
Goats: unlikely allies in California’s fight against wildfires
by Inès BEL AIBA GLENDALE, United States (AFP) — Their mission, should they choose to accept it, is simple: graze. Goats are an unlikely but increasingly popular weapon in California’s fight against the wildfires that rage through the western US state every year. On a recent hot July morning, a herd of 80 ungulates were deployed to a hilly patch of land in Glendale, just outside Los Angeles. They had been chomping away for the […]
Haitian police arrest assassination suspect with ‘political’ aim
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AFP) — Haitian police announced Sunday they had arrested a Haitian national “who had political objectives” in recruiting the gunmen who assassinated President Jovenel Moise last week. “This is an individual who entered Haiti on a private plane with political objectives,” said Leon Charles, head of the Haitian National Police. Christian Emmanuel Sanon, 63, who is of Haitian nationality, arrived in the island nation in June accompanied by several Colombians, according to details […]
