International
Fiona batters Turks and Caicos as Category 3 hurricane
AFP
Hurricane Fiona battered the Turks and Caicos islands as a powerful Category 3 storm on Tuesday after leaving a trail of destruction in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.
The top US disaster management official was headed to Puerto Rico meanwhile to assess the damage in the US territory still struggling to recover from Hurricane Maria five years ago.
Fiona has left at least two people dead as it churned across the Caribbean — a man whose home was swept away in the French overseas department of Guadeloupe and another in the Dominican Republic who died while cutting down a tree.
The Turks and Caicos, a British territory of some 38,000 people, was being lashed by heavy rains and strong winds as Fiona crept northwards on a path that could see the storm approaching Bermuda late Thursday.
“Hurricane Fiona has proven to be an unpredictable storm,” Anya Williams, the deputy governor of the Turks and Caicos, said in a broadcast.
Williams said no casualties or serious injuries had been reported in the Turks and Caicos overnight but she urged residents to continue to shelter in place.
Blackouts were reported on Grand Turk and several other islands in the archipelago and 165 people were admitted to shelters, she said, adding that Britain’s Royal Navy and the US Coast Guard are standing by provide assistance.
The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said Fiona was packing maximum winds nearing 115 miles (185 kilometers) per hour, making it a major hurricane, and it is expected to become even stronger.
Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader has declared three eastern provinces to be disaster zones: La Altagracia — home to the popular resort of Punta Cana — El Seibo and Hato Mayor.
Several roads were flooded or cut off by falling trees or electric poles around Punta Cana where the power was knocked out.
Footage from local media showed residents of the east coast town of Higuey waist-deep in water trying to salvage personal belongings.
“It came through at high speed,” Vicente Lopez told AFP, bemoaning the destroyed businesses in the area.
‘I have food and water’
US President Joe Biden has declared a state of emergency in Puerto Rico — where the storm hit a day earlier — and dispatched the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to the island.
“We’re sending hundreds of additional staff in the next few days to place staff in each of the impacted communities,” FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said.
Puerto Rico Governor Pedro Pierluisi said the storm had caused catastrophic damage on the island of three million people since Sunday, with some areas receiving more than 30 inches (76 centimeters) of rain.
Michelle Carlo, medical advisor for Direct Relief in Puerto Rico, told CBS News that “a lot of people in Puerto Rico are suffering right now.”
“About 80 percent of Puerto Ricans are still without power and about 65 percent are without water service,” Carlo said.
Across Puerto Rico, Fiona caused landslides, blocked roads and toppled trees, power lines and bridges, Pierluisi said.
A man was killed as an indirect result of the power blackout — burned to death while trying to fill his generator, according to authorities.
On Monday afternoon, Nelly Marrero made her way back to her home in Toa Baja, in the north of Puerto Rico, to clear out the mud that surged inside after she evacuated.
“Thanks to God, I have food and water,” Marrero — who lost everything when Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico — told AFP by telephone.
The hurricane has left around 800,000 people without drinking water as a result of power outages and flooded rivers, officials said.
After years of financial woes and recession, Puerto Rico in 2017 declared the largest bankruptcy ever by a local US administration.
Later that year, the double hit from hurricanes Irma and Maria added to the misery, devastating the electrical grid on the island — which has suffered from major infrastructure problems for years.
The grid was privatized in June 2021 in an effort to resolve the problem of blackouts, but the issue has persisted, and the entire island lost power earlier this year.
International
Spanish Government Targets ‘Big Tech Impunity’ in AI Image Scandal
The Prime Minister of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, announced Tuesday that his government will ask prosecutors to investigate X, Meta and TikTok over the alleged creation and distribution of sexually explicit images involving minors generated through artificial intelligence.
In a post on X, Sánchez said the government would formally request that the Public Prosecutor’s Office examine potential crimes that these platforms may have committed by allowing or facilitating the use of AI tools to generate such content.
“These platforms are harming the mental health, dignity and rights of our children,” Sánchez wrote, adding that “the impunity of the giants must end.”
In recent weeks, the Spanish leader has publicly clashed with tech figures such as Elon Musk and Pavel Durov after announcing on February 3 his intention to ban social media access for minors under the age of 16.
Sánchez also signaled plans to amend legislation so that platform executives could be held legally responsible for certain violations committed on their websites.
According to figures released Tuesday by the government, one in five young people in Spain — particularly girls and teenage minors — say they have experienced the circulation of AI-generated fake nude images of themselves while underage.
International
Father Faces Murder Charges in Georgia School Shooting Case
Colin Gray, 55, appeared in court Monday facing charges of murder and involuntary manslaughter in connection with the September 4, 2024, shooting at Apalachee High School, carried out by his son, Colt.
Two 14-year-old students and two teachers were killed, and nine others were injured in the shooting in Winder, Georgia. Colt Gray, who was 14 at the time and is now 16, has been charged as an adult and is awaiting a trial date.
During opening statements, prosecutors alleged that Gray gave his son the AR-15-style rifle used in the attack as a Christmas gift in 2023, despite prior warnings that the teenager had threatened to carry out a school shooting.
According to the FBI, local authorities interviewed Colt and his father in May 2023 after receiving anonymous reports about online threats made by the teen.
“This case is about this defendant and his actions—allowing a minor in his custody to have access to a firearm and ammunition after being warned that the minor intended to harm others,” said Brad Smith, the Barrow County prosecutor.
Defense attorney Brian Hobbs told jurors that Colin Gray was unaware of his son’s intentions and had sought help for the teenager’s declining mental health.
School shootings remain a recurring issue in the United States, where firearms outnumber people and regulations governing the purchase of even high-powered, military-style rifles are relatively permissive.
Central America
Guatemala’s Attorney General Consuelo Porras Loses Bid for Constitutional Court Seat
Guatemala’s attorney general, Consuelo Porras, who has been sanctioned by the United States over corruption allegations, lost a key vote on Monday in which a public university selected two of the 10 magistrates for the country’s highest constitutional court. However, she could still seek a seat through another nominating body.
The election of five full magistrates and five alternates to the Corte de Constitucionalidad (CC) is taking place gradually over more than two months and is considered crucial in the ongoing struggle for control of Guatemala’s judiciary, which critics say has long been influenced by a political and economic elite accused of corruption.
According to results announced at a press conference, the governing council of the Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala (USAC) rejected Porras, who had applied as either a full or alternate magistrate, and instead chose two candidates aligned with the university rector. The vote was held at a hotel in Antigua, about 35 kilometers from the capital.
Despite the setback, Porras — whose term as attorney general ends on May 16 — could still be nominated to the Constitutional Court by the Corte Suprema de Justicia, which appoints two magistrates. The remaining six are selected by the president, the bar association and Congress.
“It’s always a possibility,” the 72-year-old lawyer said days earlier when asked by reporters whether she would seek nomination through another institution if she lost the USAC vote.
Porras has been sanctioned by Washington and the European Union for allegedly attempting two years ago to block the inauguration of President Bernardo Arévalo and for pursuing legal actions against anti-corruption prosecutors, judges, journalists and social leaders since taking office in 2018.
The USAC vote was controversial because most members of the university’s governing council are serving beyond the expiration of their terms. Students, academics and social activists staged protests against Porras’ candidacy.
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