International
Severe floods and widespread power outages in Puerto Rico due to Hurricane Ernesto
Puerto Rico suffered severe floods and widespread power outages this Wednesday due to the copious rains brought by tropical storm Ernesto, which became a category 1 hurricane when it passed to the north of the island.
The rainfall caused all the rivers on the island to be “close to or above their overflow level,” according to meteorologist Ernesto Morales, of the National Meteorological Service (SNM), said at a press conference.
The weather agency warned from the beginning of the day of sudden floods in most of Puerto Rico and predicted total accumulations of rain of between 6 and 10 inches (15 to 25 centimeters).
One of the most affected areas was the northern Toa Baja, at the mouth of the La Plata River, where the authorities had to evict several families because the water reached the homes of neighborhoods such as San José.
Inspector Robert Ramos Rosario, director of the Criminal Investigation Corps of the Bayamón area, explained to EFE that Highway 2 was closed for the safety of citizens due to the overflow of the river.
“Every time there is an atmospheric event this happens because the river comes from the mountainous area of Barranquitas, Comerío, Cayey and Naranjito, and flows here,” he lamented.
One of the people who could not cross was Arsenio Inocencio Frías, an employee of the Los Nevarez Cowboy, who tried to challenge police security and take a shorter stretch to attend to the 300 cows that he has to milk twice a day.
“I have to get there,” he told EFE Frías, who assured that in the area these floods “have happened quite a few times.”
The NHC stressed that tropical storm alerts are maintained for the British and American Virgin Islands, as well as for the Puerto Rican islands of Vieques and Culebra, according to the 11:00 local time bulletin (15.00 GMT).
At that time the tropical storm was about 280 kilometers (175 miles) northwest of San Juan (Puerto Rico) and about 1,340 kilometers (835 miles) south-southwest of Bermuda.
It is the third hurricane so far in the hurricane season in the Atlantic basin, which began on June 1, and has produced five tropical storms: Alberto, Beryl, Chris, Debby and Ernesto.
Of them, Beryl, Debby and Ernesto were strengthened until they reached hurricanes. Beryl even reached the highest category on the Saffir-Simpson scale, the five, causing destruction and death in the Caribbean and in the United States.
This hurricane season in the Atlantic is expected to be one of the most active and intense in decades because up to 25 storms and 13 hurricanes are expected to form.
Hundreds of people are in the shelters set up by the authorities of Puerto Rico, where there are blocked roads and some rivers are overflowing after the passage of Ernesto, who has become a hurricane.
According to data from the Department of the Family, at least 375 people have sought refuge in 72 shelters in different municipalities of the island.
The torrential rains and strong gusts of wind have caused damage to private homes, as well as the fall of trees and some light poles.
Dozens of roads in municipalities in the north, center and east of the island are obstructed by water, trees or landslides.
Some of the most affected areas have been the municipal islands of Vieques and Culebra, for which the National Hurricane Center (NHC) of the United States maintains tropical storm alerts.
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden signed an emergency declaration to help Puerto Rico face the consequences of Hurricane Ernesto, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) reported.
The agency pointed out in a statement that the presidential order authorizes it to coordinate response efforts in order to reduce the difficulties and suffering of the local population.
The objective, according to his note, is to provide adequate support to the 78 municipalities of that Commonwealth to “save lives, protect property, safety and public health and minimize or prevent the threat of a catastrophe.”
The Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in Puerto Rico resumed air operations on Wednesday after the passage of the tropical storm Ernesto, already turned into a hurricane, which caused the cancellation of 145 flights.
About 80 flights were canceled on this day, in addition to the 65 suspended on Tuesday, according to the statement from Aerostar, the operating company of the airport.
The president of Aerostar, Jorge Hernández, reported that air operations were restarted after a process of inspection of the facilities.
International
Ukraine finds in technology its best ally for war
Ukraine has found in technology its best ally for war, with a commitment to innovation that makes the difference both on the battlefield and in the daily lives of millions of citizens who have to live with the invasion.
In a conflict that from the beginning has been compared to a fight between David and Goliath, the “slingshot” of Ukraine is technology: hybrids between a missile and a drone to accurately attack Russian bases, robots that evacuate wounded soldiers or kamikaze devices that destroy bridges.
Machines to support troops
“We are trying to fight them with machines because we do not have enough people,” explained the Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation, Alex Bornyakov, in an interview with EFE during the Web Summit, the technology congress held this week in Lisbon.
This commitment to technological innovation allowed Ukraine to destroy part of the Russian fleet in the Black Sea with small kamikaze ships, an “exact example” of the metaphor between David and Goliath, the deputy minister said.
Ukrainian forces also use sentinel drones to monitor a territory, capable of attacking the enemy if necessary; robots that help evacuate soldiers so as not to endanger other companions; and autonomous devices to locate and extract mines.
This year the biggest bet is drone missiles, such as the Palianytsia, with a flight range of between 500 and 700 kilometers and which can be used against targets in Russian territory.
“By next year we are definitely going to produce more of our own missiles,” explained Bornyakov, who explained that the budget for the purchase of drones is around 3,000 or 4 billion dollars.
In addition, they will allocate another 80 million to innovations in Defense.
Technology for day to day
These efforts are not only aimed at the battlefield but also at using technology to help Ukrainians live with the war on a daily basis.
An example is ‘Kiev Digital’, the mobile application that the City Council of the Ukrainian capital launched in 2021 and that since the invasion has become indispensable for the Kievites.
“We notify people that a missile attack is coming. We offer you additional information about where the bomb shelters are, where the target of the attack is, which shelters have Wi-Fi and how to get there,” Oleg Polovynko, who advises the consistory on digitization issues, exemplified to EFE.
The app reports on other consequences of the war such as power cuts but also on the basic services of any city, such as the transport network or online procedures.
18% of the population uses it daily and about 40% weekly, said Polovynko, who assured that Kiev is already a global reference in digital transformation and “all cities have to learn” from it.
Objective: to boost the technological ecosystem
The Ukrainian technological ecosystem is present this year at the Web Summit with more than 80 start-ups, some of them oriented to the Defense sector, such as BeesAM and RMachine, specialized in mines.
Others, such as Inheart.memorial, are dedicated to helping to remember and honor the deceased, with a platform to make digital memorials that allows you to gather biographies, photographs, videos, links to social networks and other resources.
Then a QR is created that is placed next to the tombstones, so that anyone can know their story.
Although the idea emerged before the war, it now includes many pages dedicated to the “heroes,” the CEO of the platform, Oleksander Sydorov, explained to EFE, who pointed out that they have added new features such as the last battle or the medals received.
Promoting the technological ecosystem was already one of the purposes of the Ukrainian Government in 2019, before the invasion, as the deputy minister recalled: “We set ourselves the goal of becoming one of the leading technological hubs in Europe.” The war has accelerated the process.
International
Trump will nominate Doug Burgum, governor of North Dakota, as Secretary of the Interior
The president-elect of the United States, Donald Trump, will officially announce on Friday the nomination of the governor of North Dakota, Doug Burgum, as the next Secretary of the Interior.
This was announced on Thursday night during the speech he offered at the gala dinner held at his private club in Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach (Florida), which from today until Saturday hosts a new edition of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).
“We are going to reduce regulatory waste, fraud and inefficiency,” promised the Republican, winner of the electoral fair on November 5 and who will assume his second term on January 20.
Burgum: another one that Trump left in the race
Billionaire and former executive director of a technology company, Burgum ran in the primaries for the nomination of the Republican Party and even participated in the first two debates, finally abandoned the race to the White House last December.
Shortly after, Bergum, 68 years old and governor of North Dakota since 2016, gave his support to the former president (2017-2021) in the race for the Republican nomination and campaigned with him in several events.
His name was even on the final list of the Republican’s possible presidential running mates, who finally opted for Ohio Senator JD Vance.
The ‘gala’ of the CPAC
The president-elect has today been the leading figure of the gala dinner of the conservative America First Policy Institute that is held in his mansion and social club, and in which he has been presented by actor Sylvester Stallone, who referred to the Republican as “the second George Washington.”
JD Vance, the speaker of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, and billionaire Elon Musk, who is having a prominent participation in the transition process of the future Trump Administration, have been part of the gala.
“He’s good. He has done a fantastic job. Really an incredible mind,” Trump said at dinner.
The president of Argentina, Javier Milei, also participated in the event, who on the podium was “grateful” and “blessed” to be among “true giants.”
“You have done a fantastic job in a short time and it is an honor to have you here,” Trump said, who stressed that the libertarian “has made Argentina great again,” alluding to the slogan of his campaign since 2016.
The US president-elect announced today another outstanding nomination: that of former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., known for his conspiracy theories about vaccines, as the new Secretary of Health.
International
The Ibero-American Summit begins, the first without Latino presidents except the host
The XXIX Ibero-American Summit started this Friday in Cuenca (Ecuador) with the attendance of the lowest leaders in the history of this forum, which began in 1991, and without any president of Latin America, with the exception of the host, Daniel Noboa, an unprecedented fact in this series of meetings between the twenty-two countries of Ibero-America.
This event, whose motto is ‘Innovation, inclusion and sustainability’, only the King of Spain, Felipe VI; the president of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, and the head of the Government of Andorra, Xavier Espot, arrived, while, in another unprecedented event, the chairs of three countries were empty: Mexico, Nicaragua and Venezuela, which maintain broken relations with Ecuador.
Ibero-American Summit in the midst of tensions
Despite the scarce presence of leaders, the delegations are working to adopt a declaration that includes the agreements reached during the preparatory meetings, especially in terms of cooperation, but the talks are encountering obstacles in countries opposed to gender policies and focused on the sustainable development objectives (SDGs), according to sources close to the negotiation.
Tensions also focused on Cuba’s disagreement with Argentina’s claim to remove from the declaration a condemnation of the United States blockade of the Caribbean country, according to other sources also consulted by EFE during the development of the meeting of foreign ministers.
Given the difficulty of achieving the unanimity necessary to issue a statement from this Summit, countries such as Spain, Costa Rica, Panama and Chile promoted a declaration supported by the vast majority of participants, which will not be an official document of the appointment.
Allamand asks for cohesion
“It would be absurd to ignore that the region is experiencing convulsive times,” admitted the Ibero-American Secretary General, Chilean Andrés Allamand, in his speech at the opening ceremony of the Ibero-American Summit.
The head of the Ibero-American General Secretariat (Segib) remarked that “the world needs more and not less multilateralism, cooperation and solidarity,” in a context where “politics is besieged by fragmentation and polarization.”
“The consequence of this is the great difficulty in generating consensus, which slows down the reforms that could lay new foundations of prosperity and coexistence,” said Allamand.
In that sense, he recalled that “the Ibero-American meeting allows us to distinguish us in a world in which conflicts explode, threats loom, injustices are perpetuated.”
“The Ibero-American meeting is the one that allows, in times of difference, to reach consensus, in times of fragmentation, to provide unity, in times of division and to promote cohesion,” while, “in times of difference, to take steps to argumentation, but not to exclusion.”
Thus, Allamand invited to “claim Ibero-America” and take advantage of “a work of more than 30 years in which the search for consensus has prevailed and in which advances have been generated with a real impact on people’s lives.” “This is not the time for resignation, but for ambition,” he added.
Noboa: “We carried out the Summit despite the conflicts”
For his part, Noboa said that his administration has worked to carry out this Summit, “despite all the internal and external problems and conflicts.”
The president, the youngest in Latin America, 36 years old, called for innovative solutions against transnational organized crime, climate change, the labor inclusion of young people, environmental protection, access to education and the strengthening of connectivity.
That is why he encouragered support for young people through job creation and vocational training, which in his opinion will open paths towards equitable economic growth.
“This will only be possible to achieve with the commitment of the business sector, as evidenced at the XV Ibero-American Business Meeting, which concluded this afternoon with the approval of the ‘Commitment to employability’,” Noboa celebrated at the Ibero-American Summit.
“The alarming unemployment rates make us an easy target for organized crime, which undermines the economic and social development of our nations. We must promote policies that encourage public-private investments and allocate resources to education to forge a better future for youth,” he concluded.
After the inauguration of the XXIX Ibero-American Summit, the forum will continue this Friday with the development of the plenary sessions, in which the Heads of State and Government will intervene, as well as the delegates of the other representations.
Ukraine finds in technology its best ally for war
Trump will nominate Doug Burgum, governor of North Dakota, as Secretary of the Interior
The Ibero-American Summit begins, the first without Latino presidents except the host
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