Florida bracing for ‘unsurvivable’ Hurricane Helene

Waves crash against the shoreline ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Helene in Cedar Key, Florida, on September 26, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 27 September 2024
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Florida bracing for ‘unsurvivable’ Hurricane Helene

A powerful hurricane was barreling toward Florida on Thursday, with officials warning of “unsurvivable” conditions and a potentially catastrophic storm surge high enough to swamp a two-story house.

Tens of thousands of people were without power and roads were already flooded ahead of what is expected to be one of the largest Gulf of Mexico storms in decades.

Fast-moving Helene strengthened to an “extremely dangerous” Category 4 hurricane Thursday evening, ahead of landfall expected around 11pm (0300 GMT), the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.

It was packing winds of 130 miles (215 kilometers) per hour as it churned over the Gulf’s warm waters toward the Big Bend area south of Florida’s capital city Tallahassee.

“EVERYONE along the Florida Big Bend coast is at risk of potentially catastrophic storm surge,” the NHC said on social media.

Tampa and Tallahassee airports have closed, with parts of St. Petersburg, downtown Tampa, Sarasota, Treasure Island and other cities on Florida’s west coast already flooded.

About 125,000 homes and businesses were without power.

“We’re expecting to see a storm surge inundation of 15 to 20 feet above ground level,” NHC director Mike Brennan said. “That’s up to the top of a second story building. Again, a really unsurvivable scenario is going to play out here in this portion of the Florida coastline.”

The accompanying waves “can destroy houses, move cars, and that water level is going to rise very quickly,” Brennan added.

In Alligator Point, a coastal town on a picturesque peninsula in the storm’s path, David Wesolowski was taking no chances.

“I just came to button up a few things before it gets too windy,” the 37-year-old real estate agent told AFP as he boarded up his house on stilts.

“If it stays on course, this is going to look different afterwards, that’s for sure,” he said, before taking his family to higher ground in Tallahassee.

Meanwhile, Patrick Riickert refused to budge from his small wooden house in Crawfordville, a town of 5,000 people a few miles inland.

As in Alligator Point, most residents have bolted and it looked like a ghost town, but Riickert, his wife and five grandchildren were “not going anywhere,” the 58-year-old insisted.

“I am going to hunker down” and ride out the hurricane, as he did in 2018 when deadly Hurricane Michael, a Category 5 megastorm, blew through the Florida panhandle.

The NHC warned of up to 20 inches (51 cm) of rain in some spots, and potentially life-threatening flooding as well as numerous landslides across the southern Appalachians.

The National Weather Service said the region could be hit extremely hard, with floods not seen in more than a century.

“This will be one of the most significant weather events to happen in the western portions of the area in the modern era,” it warned.

Tornado warnings went out across northern Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas.

Georgia’s sprawling capital Atlanta was forecast to experience tropical storm-force winds and flash flooding from up to 12 inches of rain.

And Tennessee — more than 300 miles from the Gulf Coast — braced for tropical storm conditions statewide.

More than 55 million Americans were under some form of weather alert or warning from Hurricane Helene.

“This is going to be a multi-state event with the potential for significant impacts from Florida all the way to Tennessee,” Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator Deanne Criswell told reporters.

Vice President Kamala Harris said the White House was watching.

“The President and I, of course, are monitoring the case and the situation closely, and we urge everyone who is watching at this very moment to take this storm very seriously,” she told reporters.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis mobilized the National Guard and ordered thousands of personnel to ready for search-and-rescue operations.

He warned that the powerful storm would be dangerous, and urged everyone to take precautions.

“We can’t control how strong this hurricane is going to get. We can’t control the track of the hurricane, but what you can control is what you can do to put yourself in the best chance to be able to ride this out in a way that’s going to be safe.”

Helene could become the most powerful hurricane to hit the United States in over a year — and almost certainly the biggest.

Hurricane specialist Michael Lowry called Helene “extreme,” noting its tropical storm winds of 39 mph or higher stretched nearly 500 miles across.

Researchers say climate change likely plays a role in the rapid intensification of hurricanes, because there is more energy in warmer oceans for them to feed on.


Family first: Biden joins list of US presidents pardoning relatives

Updated 12 sec ago
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Family first: Biden joins list of US presidents pardoning relatives

  • Bill Clinton granted a pardon to his half-brother Roger, who had served time in prison on 1985 drug charges
  • Donald Trump pardoned Charles Kushner, a fellow real estate magnate whose son Jared is married to Trump’s daughter Ivanka
WASHINGTON: US presidents traditionally dole out pardons as they leave office but Joe Biden’s “full and unconditional” pardon of his son Hunter is a rare instance involving a family member.
Bill Clinton granted a pardon to his half-brother Roger, who had served time in prison on 1985 drug charges, on January 20, 2001, his last day in office.
And Donald Trump pardoned Charles Kushner, a fellow real estate magnate whose son Jared is married to Trump’s daughter Ivanka, at the end of his first term in the White House.
Trump, now president-elect, nominated Kushner, 70, who pleaded guilty in 2004 to tax evasion, witness tampering and making illegal campaign contributions, on Saturday to be the next US ambassador to France.
Kushner, who served 14 months in prison, admitted hiring a prostitute to seduce his brother-in-law, who was cooperating in the campaign finance inquiry, and sending a videotape of the encounter to his own sister.
Hunter Biden, who has struggled with alcohol and drug addiction, is the first child of a sitting president to receive a pardon.
His father, who leaves office on January 20, had repeatedly said he would not pardon his son — but in announcing the move on Sunday he claimed that Hunter had been “selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted.”
“I believe in the justice system, but as I have wrestled with this, I also believe raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice,” Biden said.
“No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter’s cases can reach any other conclusion than Hunter was singled out only because he is my son — and that is wrong,” the president said.
Hunter Biden pleaded guilty to tax evasion in September and was facing up to 17 years in prison. He risked 25 years in prison for the felony gun charge but was not expected to receive such stiff sentences in either case.
Presidents have also used their constitutionally-mandated pardon powers over the years on close friends and political allies.
One of the most controversial pardons in recent years was that of former president Richard Nixon by his successor in the White House, Gerald Ford.
Ford granted a “full and unconditional” pardon to Nixon, who was facing potential prosecution over the Watergate scandal, on September 8, 1974.
Trump is the first former president convicted of a crime — falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment to a porn star — but he will not be able to pardon himself because the case involved state and not federal charges.

Trump warns ‘hell to pay’ if Gaza hostages not freed before his inauguration

Updated 23 min 34 sec ago
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Trump warns ‘hell to pay’ if Gaza hostages not freed before his inauguration

  • Trump has vowed staunch support for Israel and to dispense with Biden’s occasional criticism
  • Israel’s retaliatory campaign post Oct. 7 has killed more than 44,000 people in Gaza

WASHINGTON: US President-elect Donald Trump on Monday warned Gaza militants of massive repercussions if hostages are not released by the time he takes office.
The threat comes after exhaustive diplomacy by outgoing President Joe Biden’s administration that has so far failed to secure a deal that would both end Israel’s war in Gaza and free hostages seized 14 months ago.
“If the hostages are not released prior to January 20, 2025, the date that I proudly assume Office as President of the United States, there will be ALL HELL TO PAY in the Middle East, and for those in charge who perpetrated these atrocities against Humanity,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
“Those responsible will be hit harder than anybody has been hit in the long and storied History of the United States of America. RELEASE THE HOSTAGES NOW!“
Trump has vowed staunch support for Israel and to dispense with Biden’s occasional criticism, but has also spoken of his desire to secure deals on the world stage.
Hamas staged the deadliest ever attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. The assault resulted in 1,208 deaths, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Militants seized 251 hostages during the attack, some of whom were already dead. Of those, 97 are still held in Gaza, including 35 the army says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed 44,429 people in Gaza, according to figures from the territory’s health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.


Philippine navy tracks Russian submarine spotted in South China Sea  

Updated 02 December 2024
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Philippine navy tracks Russian submarine spotted in South China Sea  

  • Manila has faced increasing territorial confrontations in disputed waters
  • Russia’s Kilo-class submarines are known to be among the stealthiest  

MANILA: A warship and aircraft were deployed by the Philippine military to track a Russian submarine that passed through the South China Sea off the country’s western coast last week, a navy official said on Monday. 

The Russian Kilo-class submarine was sighted in the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone on Nov. 28, about 80 nautical miles off the western province of Occidental Mindoro, according to the Armed Forces of the Philippines. 

“At the onset, we were surprised. We were concerned why there was a submarine,” Commodore Roy Vincent Trinidad, Philippine Navy spokesman for the South China Sea, told Arab News. 

“We sent four different aircraft over a span of four days, we made several sorties and we also dispatched a frigate, and we established communications.” 

The Russian submarine, which identified itself as UFA 490, said it was waiting for improved weather conditions and was en route home to the eastern city of Vladivostok after wrapping up an exercise with the Malaysian navy. 

It has since left the Philippines’ EEZ and was moving slowly in surface mode, which was “unusual,” Trinidad said. 

Russia’s Kilo-class submarines are considered some of the stealthiest and have been regularly refined since the 1980s. 

The Russian Embassy in Manila could not be reached for comment.

The submarine, like other foreign ships, has the right to pass through the Philippines’ EEZ under the UN Convention of the Law of the Sea’s freedom of navigation. 

But the Russian vessel’s presence still raised concerns in Manila, which has dealt with increasing territorial confrontations in the disputed South China Sea, particularly between Chinese and Philippine coast guard and naval forces. 

“All of that is very concerning. Any intrusion into the West Philippine Sea, of our EEZ, of our baselines, is very worrisome. So yes, it’s just another one,” President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. told reporters on Monday.

The Philippines, China and several other countries have overlapping claims in the disputed waters, a strategic waterway through which billions of dollars of goods pass each year. 

Beijing has maintained its expansive claims of the area, despite a 2016 international tribunal ruling the historical assertion to it had no basis.

In 2022, China and Russia declared a “no limits” partnership when Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Beijing. The two countries carried out live-fire naval exercises in the South China Sea in July.


International Criminal Court chief lashes out at US, Russia over threats and accusations

Updated 02 December 2024
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International Criminal Court chief lashes out at US, Russia over threats and accusations

  • Judge Tomoko Akane: ‘The court is being threatened with draconian economic sanctions by another permanent member of the Security Council as if it was a terrorist organization’

THE HAGUE, Netherlands: The president of the International Criminal Court lashed out at the United States and Russia for interfering with its investigations, calling threats and attacks on the court “appalling.”
“The court is being threatened with draconian economic sanctions by another permanent member of the Security Council as if it was a terrorist organization,” Judge Tomoko Akane, in her address to the institution’s annual meeting, which opened on Monday.
Akane was referring to remarks made by US Sen. Lindsey Graham, whose Republican party will control both branches of Congress in January, and who called the court a “dangerous joke” and urged Congress to sanction its prosecutor. “To any ally, Canada, Britain, Germany, France, if you try to help the ICC, we’re going to sanction you,” Graham said on Fox News.
This marks the first time the global court of justice calls out a sitting leader of a major Western all.
Graham was angered by an announcement last month that judges had granted a request from the court’s chief prosecutor Karim Khan to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his former defense minister and Hamas’ military chief for crimes against humanity in connection with the nearly 14-month war in Gaza.
The decision has been denounced by critics of the court and given only milquetoast approval by many of its supporters, a stark contrast to the robust backing of an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin last year over war crimes in Ukraine.
Graham’s threat isn’t seen as just empty words. President-elect Donald Trump sanctioned the court’s previous prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, with a travel ban and asset freeze for investigating American troops and intelligence officials in Afghanistan.
Akane on Monday also had harsh words for Russia. “Several elected officials are being subjected to arrest warrants from a permanent member of the Security Council,” she said. Moscow issued warrants for Khan and others in response to the investigation into Putin.
The Assembly of States Parties, which represents the ICC’s 124 member countries, will convene its 23rd conference to elect committee members and approve the court’s budget against a backdrop of unfavorable headlines.
The ICC was established in 2002 as the world’s permanent court of last resort to prosecute individuals responsible for the most heinous atrocities — war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and the crime of aggression. The court only becomes involved when nations are unable or unwilling to prosecute those crimes on their territory. To date, 124 countries have signed on to the Rome Statute, which created the institution. Those who have not include Israel, Russia and China.
The ICC has no police force and relies on member states to execute arrest warrants.
US President Joe Biden called the warrants for Netanyahu and the former defense minister “outrageous” and vowed to stand with Israel. A year ago, Biden called the warrant for Putin “justified” and said the Russian president had committed war crimes. The US is not an ICC member country.
France said it would “respect its obligations” but would need to consider Netanyahu’s possible immunities. When the warrant for Putin was announced, France said it would “lend its support to the essential work” of the court. Another member country, Austria, begrudgingly acknowledged it would arrest Netanyahu but called the warrants “utterly incomprehensible.” Italy called them “wrong” but said it would be obliged to arrest him. Germany said it would study the decision. Member Hungary has said it would stand with Israel instead of the court.
Global security expert Janina Dill worried that such responses could undermine global justice efforts. “It really has the potential to damage not just the court, but international law,” she said.
Milena Sterio, an expert in international law at Cleveland State University, told the AP that sanctions against the court could affect a number of people who contribute to the court’s work, such as international human rights lawyer Amal Clooney. Clooney advised the current prosecutor on his request for the warrants for Netanyahu and others.
“Sanctions are a huge burden,” Sterio said.
Also hanging heavy over the meeting in the Hague, are the internal pressures that Khan faces. In October, the AP reported the 54-year-old British lawyer is facing allegations he tried to coerce a female aide into a sexual relationship and groped her.
Two co-workers in whom the woman confided reported the alleged misconduct in May to the court’s independent watchdog, which says it interviewed the woman and ended its inquiry after five days when she opted against filing a formal complaint. Khan was never questioned. He has denied the claims.
The Assembly of States Parties has announced it will launch an external probe into the allegations. It’s not clear if the investigation will be addressed during the meeting.
The court, which has long faced accusations of ineffectiveness, will have no trials pending after two conclude in December. While it has issued a number of arrest warrants in recent months, many high-profile suspects remain at large.
Member states don’t always act. Mongolia refused to arrest Putin when he visited in September. Sudan’s former President Omar Al-Bashir is wanted by the ICC over accusations related to the conflict in Darfur, but his country has refused to hand him over. Last week, Khan requested a warrant for the head of Myanmar’s military regime, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, for attacks against the country’s Rohingya Muslim minority. Judges have yet to decide on that request.
“It becomes very difficult to justify the court’s existence,” Sterio said.


‘Stampedes’ kill 56 at Guinea football match: government

Updated 02 December 2024
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‘Stampedes’ kill 56 at Guinea football match: government

  • Local media said the match in the southeastern city was part of a tournament organized in honor of Guinea’s junta leader

CONAKRY: Stampedes at a football match killed 56 people in Guinea’s second-largest city of N’Zerekore, the junta-controlled government said Monday.
“Protests of dissatisfaction with refereeing decisions led to stone-throwing by supporters, resulting in fatal stampedes” at Sunday’s match, the government statement said, which was published as a news ticker on national television.
“Hospital services have put the provisional death toll at 56,” it added.
Prime Minister Amadou Oury Bah condemned the “incidents that marred the match between the teams of Labe and N’Zerekore,” in a post on Facebook.
“The government is following the situation and reiterates its call for calm so as not to impede hospital services from aiding the injured,” he added.
Local media said the match in the southeastern city was part of a tournament organized in honor of Guinea’s junta leader, Mamady Doumbouya, who seized power in a 2021 coup and has installed himself as president.
Such tournaments have become common in the West African nation as Doumbouya eyes a potential run in presidential elections expected next year and political alliances form.