MONTREAL, Canada (AFP) — Shocked passengers described being tossed around an Air Canada passenger jet as it hit a pocket of turbulence on its way to Australia on Thursday and was forced to make an emergency landing. Flight AC33 from Vancouver to Sydney hit trouble around two hours beyond Hawaii and diverted back to the US island chain’s capital Honolulu, the company said in a statement. The Boeing 777-200 landed “normally” at 6.45 am (1645 […]
International
New Orleans braces for new inundation as storm looms
NEW ORLEANS, United States (AFP) — Tropical Storm Barry barreled toward water-logged New Orleans Thursday as the city girded for an ordeal that evoked fearful memories of 2005’s deadly Hurricane Katrina. The weather system, which has already caused major flooding in the low-lying city, is expected to strengthen and “become a hurricane late Friday or early Saturday,” according to the National Hurricane Center. With Barry just 90 miles (145 kilometers) from the mouth of the […]
Fierce storm kills seven in Greek tourist peninsula
by Vassilis KYRIAKOULIS THESSALONIKI, Greece (AFP) — Seven people died and at least 23 were injured as a fierce storm ripped through beachfronts in one of Greece’s top tourist areas, terrifying thousands of holidaymakers caught in the open, authorities said Thursday. Six tourists including two children were killed — two each from the Czech Republic, Russia and Romania — in the northern peninsula of Halkidiki, near Greece’s second city Thessaloniki, in the storm late Wednesday. […]
UN chief condemns airstrikes after Syria hospitals hit
(AFP) — UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Thursday strongly condemned air strikes in northwest Syria following reports that four health facilities were hit during a single day of bombing. An ambulance center, a clinic and two hospitals including one in Maarat al Numan that is among the largest in the area were attacked on Wednesday, according to the Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations, a Syrian doctors’ group. “Civilians and civilian infrastructure, including […]
US plans Gulf naval escorts after Iranians menace UK oil tanker
by Paul HANDLEY WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The Pentagon said Thursday it was discussing military escorts for vessels in the Gulf one day after armed Iranian boats threatened a British oil tanker. The White House’s nominee to become chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, said Washington was attempting to put together a coalition “in terms of providing military escort, naval escort to commercial shipping.” “I think that that will be […]
Trump backs down on including citizenship question in 2020 census
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US President Donald Trump backed down Thursday on a push to force a controversial question on citizenship onto the 2020 census following a backlash by civil rights campaigners. Critics said the administration wanted to add the question to suppress participation by immigrant communities in the once-a-decade survey that helps officials determine where to allocate federal resources. “We are pursuing a new option to ensure a complete and timely count of […]
US to probe alleged abuse of migrant children by border agents
LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — US authorities said Wednesday they are investigating allegations of abuse of migrant children by border agents, including the groping of a Honduran teenage girl, at a facility near the southern border with Mexico. The allegations were reported by NBC News, which cited official reports of the incidents — including the children’s accounts — at a Customs and Border Protection facility in Yuma, Arizona, where the migrants were held. […]
Pakistan train collision kills nine, injures 66
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — At least nine people were killed and more than 60 injured when two trains collided in central Pakistan early Thursday, officials said. The incident took place in Rahim yar Khan district in Punjab province when a passenger train coming from the eastern city of Lahore rammed into a goods train that had stopped at a crossing, a senior government official said. “At least nine dead bodies have been retrieved,” local […]
Iran tried to seize British oil tanker: report
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Armed Iranian boats attempted to seize a British tanker in strategic Gulf waters on Wednesday but were driven off by a Royal Navy frigate, CNN reported. The Iranians ordered the British Heritage oil tanker, which was crossing into the Strait of Hormuz area, to change course and stop in Tehran’s nearby waters, CNN said, citing two American officials. A US aircraft shot video of the incident, which ended when the […]
New Orleans threatened by floods as big storm forms
by Elodie MAZEIN WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The US city of New Orleans prepared Wednesday to face the first tropical storm of the season, which could become a hurricane and led the governor of Louisiana to declare a state of emergency. “It is still too soon to tell what the impact will be, but we believe there will be an impact,” New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell said at a press conference in the city […]
Five tourists killed in violent Greek hail storms: police
THESSALONIKI, Greece (AFP) –Violent hail storms killed at least five tourists in northern Greece late Wednesday, police said. A Czech couple died when strong winds blew their caravan away while a Russian man and his son were killed by a falling tree, they added. Debris from a building killed a woman from Romania. ERT television said the region of Halkidiki, near the city of Thessaloniki, was declared a state of emergency and that the minister […]
A man survives plunge over Niagara Falls
MONTREAL, Canada (AFP) — A man who was swept over the largest of the Niagara Falls has been recovered alive, found sitting on a rock in the river below with non-life threatening injuries, Canadian police said Wednesday. Niagara Park police responded to a call at 4:00 am Tuesday about a “man in crisis” on the brink of Horseshoe Falls, a 188-foot (57-meter) plunge. When they arrived, the man climbed over a retaining wall into the […]
