International

Smoke blanketing U.S. and Canada could last for days as fires continue unabated

Photo: AP

June 8 |

On air quality maps, purple indicates the most serious situation. In reality, it is a dangerously dense haze that disrupts the daily lives of millions of people across the United States and Canada, obscuring the skyline of cities and painting the sky orange.

And with little change in the weather forecast, smoke from the fires in Quebec and Nova Scotia and fine particulate clouds reaching as far as North Carolina should continue through Thursday, and possibly into the weekend.

That’s at least one more day in a dystopian environment that brought players off baseball fields, brought actors off Broadway stages, delayed thousands of flights and prompted the reappearance of facemasks and telecommuting, while raising concerns about the health effects of prolonged exposure to such poor-quality air.

The system causing the big U.S.-Candy smoke – a low-pressure system over Maine and Nova Scotia – “will possibly stick around for at least the next few days,” said Bryan Ramsey, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

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“Conditions are likely to remain unhealthy, at least until the wind direction changes or the fires are put out,” he added. “Given that the fires are active, and they’re really large, they’re likely to continue for weeks. So it’s all going to depend on the wind shift.”

In the eastern United States, authorities warned residents to stay indoors and limit outdoor activity Thursday as well, extending “code red” alerts for poor air quality for the third straight day as forecasts show winds will continue to push smoke-laden air southward.

In Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser ordered schools to cancel outdoor recess and field trips on Thursday. In the Philadelphia suburbs, authorities set up a shelter for the homeless to take shelter from the smoke.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said the state will distribute 1 million N95 masks – those recommended at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic – at state facilities including 400,000 in New York City.

The more than 400 active fires in Canada have displaced 20,000 people. The United States sent more than 600 firefighters and equipment to the country to fight the blaze, and other countries also provided assistance.

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In a phone conversation on Wednesday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau thanked President Joe Biden for his support, the Canadian president’s office said, adding that the two “recognized the need to work together to address the devastating impact of climate change.”

Canadian authorities say the country is suffering the worst fire season in its history. It started earlier than expected because the ground is drier than usual and accelerated rapidly. Smoke from fires had been affecting the United States since last month, but the situation was exacerbated by recent blazes in Quebec, where on Wednesday there were about a hundred burning out of control.

International

Trump urges Putin to reach peace deal

On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated his desire for Russian President Vladimir Putin to “reach a deal” to end the war in Ukraine, while also reaffirming his willingness to impose sanctions on Russia.

“I want to see him reach an agreement to prevent Russian, Ukrainian, and other people from dying,” Trump stated during a press conference in the Oval Office at the White House.

“I think he will. I don’t want to have to impose secondary tariffs on Russian oil,” the Republican leader added, recalling that he had already taken similar measures against Venezuela by sanctioning buyers of the South American country’s crude oil.

Trump also reiterated his frustration over Ukraine’s resistance to an agreement that would allow the United States to exploit natural resources in the country—a condition he set in negotiations to end the war.

International

Deportation flight lands in Venezuela; government denies criminal gang links

A flight carrying 175 Venezuelan migrants deported from the United States arrived in Caracas on Sunday. This marks the third group to return since repatriation flights resumed a week ago, and among them is an alleged member of a criminal organization, according to Venezuelan authorities.

Unlike previous flights operated by the Venezuelan state airline Conviasa, this time, an aircraft from the U.S. airline Eastern landed at Maiquetía Airport, on the outskirts of Caracas, shortly after 2:00 p.m. with the deportees.

Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, who welcomed the returnees at the airport, stated that the 175 repatriated individuals were coming back “after being subjected, like all Venezuelans, to persecution” and dismissed claims that they belonged to the criminal organization El Tren de Aragua.

However, Cabello confirmed that “for the first time in these flights we have been carrying out, someone of significance wanted by Venezuelan justice has arrived, and he is not from El Tren de Aragua.” Instead, he belongs to a gang operating in the state of Trujillo. The minister did not disclose the individual’s identity or provide details on where he would be taken.

International

Son of journalist José Rubén Zamora condemns father’s return to prison as “illegal”

Guatemalan court decides Wednesday whether to convict journalist José Rubén Zamora

The son of renowned journalist José Rubén Zamora Marroquín, José Carlos Zamora, has denounced as “illegal” the court order that sent his father back to a Guatemalan prison on March 3, after already spending 819 days behind barsover a highly irregular money laundering case.

“My father’s return to prison was based on an arbitrary and illegal ruling. It is also alarming that the judge who had granted him house arrest received threats,” José Carlos Zamora told EFE in an interview on Saturday.

The 67-year-old journalist was sent back to prison inside the Mariscal Zavala military barracks on March 3, when Judge Erick García upheld a Court of Appeals ruling that overturned the house arrest granted to him in October. Zamora had already spent 819 days in prison over an alleged money laundering case.

His son condemned the situation as “unacceptable”, stating that the judge handling the case “cannot do his job in accordance with the law due to threats against his life.”