International

Hurricane Francine is approaching the coast of Louisiana, in the southern United States, strengthened

A little strengthened Hurricane Francine approaches this Wednesday to the coast of Louisiana (USA) with maximum sustained winds of 150 kilometers per hour (90 miles) and threatens with a “dangerous” storm surge to a large coastal area of the southern United States.

According to the National Hurricane Center (NHC), the cyclone, the fourth of the current Atlantic season, was located 315 kilometers (195 miles) southwest of Morgan City (Louisiana) and 420 kilometers (260 miles) east northeast of the mouth of the Rio Grande.

Meteorologists predict that Francine, which is category 1 on the Saffir-Simpson scale, out of a total of 5, will make landfall in Louisiana this afternoon or evening, and then the center of the cyclone is expected to move towards Mississippi.

There are hurricane warnings for the Louisiana coast from Vermilion-Cameron Line to the east of Grand Isle; also for Lakes Maurepas and Lake Pontchartrain, including the New Orleans metropolitan area.

Meteorologists also have Cameron (Louisiana) under threat of storm surge to the border between Mississippi and Alabama, Vermilion Bay and Lake Maurepas and Lake Pontchartrain.

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This risk includes Mobile Bay and the border between Mississippi and Alabama to the borders between Alabama and Florida.

Other tropical storm alerts cover the Louisiana coast east of Sabine Pass to Vermilion-Cameron Line, east of Grand Isle (Louisiana) to the border between Alabama and Florida, as well as both lakes and the metropolitan area of New Orleans.

The storm, which formed after a few weeks of calm in the Atlantic basin, moves northeastward at 19 kilometers per hour (12 miles).

The previous cyclonic system was Ernesto, which became a category 2 hurricane and caused serious floods and blackouts in Puerto Rico, as well as havoc in the Bermuda Islands.

There are already four hurricanes that have formed so far this Atlantic season – which began on June 1 and ends on November 30 – along with Beryl, Debby and Ernesto.

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Beryl quickly reached the highest category, 5, causing destruction and death in the Caribbean and the United States.

This season of hurricanes in the Atlantic is expected to be one of the most active and intense in decades, with the formation of up to 25 storms and 13 hurricanes.

International

Marco Rubio warns Venezuela against military action against Guyana

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned Venezuela on Thursday that a military attack on Guyana would be “a big mistake” and “a very bad day for them,” expressing his support for Georgetown in its territorial dispute with Caracas.

“It would be a very bad day for the Venezuelan regime if they attacked Guyana or ExxonMobil. It would be a very bad day, a very bad week for them, and it would not end well,” Rubio emphasized during a press conference in Georgetown alongside Guyanese President Irfaan Ali.

International

Ecuador oil spill worsens as containment dam collapses

The collapse of a containment dam holding back part of the 25,000+ barrels of oil spilled from a pipeline rupture nearly two weeks ago has worsened the environmental crisis in northwestern Ecuador, contaminating rivers and Pacific beaches.

The Ecuadorian government attributed the March 13 pipeline rupture—which led to the spill of 25,116 barrels of crude—to an act of sabotage. The spill affected three rivers and disrupted water supplies for several communities, according to authorities.

On Tuesday, due to heavy rains that have been falling since January, a containment dam on the Caple River collapsed. The Caple connects to other waterways in Esmeraldas Province, a coastal region bordering Colombia, state-owned Petroecuador said in a statement on Wednesday.

Seven containment barriers were installed in the Viche River, where crews worked to remove oil-contaminated debris. Additional absorbent materials were deployed in Caple, Viche, and Esmeraldas Rivers, which flow into the Pacific Ocean.

Authorities are also working to protect a wildlife refuge home to more than 250 species, including otters, howler monkeys, armadillos, frigatebirds, and pelicans.

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“This has been a total disaster,” said Ronald Ruiz, a leader in the Cube community, where the dam was located. He explained that the harsh winter rains caused river levels to rise, bringing debris that broke the containment barriersthat were holding the accumulated oil for extraction.

International

Federal court blocks Trump’s use of Enemy Alien Act for deportations

A federal appeals court upheld the block on former President Donald Trump’s use of the Enemy Alien Act on Wednesday, preventing him from using the law to expedite deportations of alleged members of the transnational criminal group Tren de Aragua.

With a 2-1 ruling, a panel from the Washington, D.C. Court of Appeals affirmed previous decisions by two lower court judges, maintaining the legal standoff between the White House and the judiciary.

On March 14, Trump invoked the 1798 Enemy Alien Act, a law traditionally used during wartime, to deport hundreds of Venezuelans whom he accused of belonging to Tren de Aragua, a criminal organization that originated in Venezuelan prisons.

The centuries-old law grants the president the power to detain, restrict, and expel foreign nationals from a country engaged in a “declared war” or an “invasion or predatory incursion” against the United States, following a public proclamation.