TAMPA, Florida,/MIAMI: Hurricane Irma took aim at heavily populated areas of central Florida on Monday as it carved a path of destruction through the state with high winds and storm surges that left millions without power, ripped roofs off homes and flooded city streets.
Irma, once ranked as one of the most powerful hurricanes recorded in the Atlantic, came ashore in Florida on Sunday and battered towns as it worked its way up the state.
It weakened to a Category 1 hurricane, carrying maximum sustained winds of about 85 miles per hour (135 km per hour) by 2 a.m. ET (0600 GMT) on Monday, the National Hurricane Center said. The hurricane was churning northwest in the center of the state near the Tampa and Orlando metro areas.
Many areas on both the state’s east and west coasts remained vulnerable to storm surges, when hurricanes push ocean water dangerously over normal levels.
Florida Director of Emergency Management Bryan Koon said officials would wait until first light on Monday to begin rescue efforts and assess damage, adding he did not have yet any numbers on fatalities statewide, the Miami Herald reported.
On Sunday, Irma claimed its first US fatality — a man found dead in a pickup truck that had crashed into a tree in high winds in the town of Marathon, in the Florida Keys, local officials said.
The storm killed at least 28 people as it raged westward through the Caribbean en route to Florida, devastating several small islands, and grazing Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Haiti before pummeling parts of Cuba’s north coast with 36-foot-tall (11-meter) waves.
Irma was ranked a Category 5, the rare top end of the scale of hurricane intensity, for days, and carried maximum sustained winds of up to 185 mph (295 kph) when it crashed into Barbuda island on Wednesday. Its ferocity as it bore down on hurricane-prone Florida prompted one of the largest evacuations in US history.
Some 6.5 million people, about a third of the state’s population, had been ordered to evacuate southern Florida. Residents fled to shelters, hotels or relatives in safer areas.
Many of the evacuation orders extended until at least Monday due in part to flooding, massive power outages and downed electric lines, leaving residents unable to return to their homes to survey any damage.
Jonathan Brubaker, 51, waited out the storm bunkered in a recently constructed house in Bradenton, on the state’s west coast south of Tampa, with hurricane shutters drawn, flashlights and candles ready. As a radar app on his phone showed Irma passing by, he had seen little more than gusty winds. He still had power.
“I feel like we kind of dodged bullet on this one,” he said, adding that he would wait until Monday morning before trying to sleep. “And then, I think we’re OK, knock on wood.”
TV news video of damage in Naples, a city on the Gulf coast about 125 miles (200 km) northwest of Miami, showed buildings ripped apart by hurricane winds and streets flooded by rain and storm surges.
MILLIONS WITHOUT POWER
High winds snapped power lines and left about 4 million Florida homes and businesses without power in the state, whose economy represents about 5 percent of US gross domestic product.
Miami International Airport, one of the busiest in the country, halted passenger flights through at least Monday. The airport said in a Twitter post that after assessing damage, it would determine if flights could resume on Tuesday.
Irma was forecast to continue churning northward along Florida’s Gulf Coast during Monday morning, further weakening along the way before diminishing to tropical-storm status over far northern Florida or southern Georgia later in the day.
It could dump as much as 25 inches (63.5 cm) of rain in parts of Florida and as much as 16 inches in parts of Georgia, prompting flash flood and mudslide warnings, the National Hurricane Center said.
The storm’s westward tilt to Florida’s Gulf Coast spared the densely populated Miami area the brunt of its wrath, although the wide reach of the hurricane meant the state’s biggest city was still battered.
SKYSCRAPERS SWAY IN LASHING WINDS
Five tornados were reported in Florida on Sunday, causing damage to several structures but there were no indications of anyone being seriously injured, the National Weather Service said.
Along with hurricane warnings and watches in Florida, the weather service placed tropical storm warnings for large parts of Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina.
Miami apartment towers swayed in the high winds on Sunday, three construction cranes were toppled, and small white-capped waves could be seen in flooded streets between Miami office towers.
Waves poured over a Miami seawall, flooding streets waist-deep in places around Brickell Avenue, which runs a couple of blocks from the waterfront through the financial district and past foreign consulates. High-rise apartment buildings were left standing like islands in the flood.
“We feel the building swaying all the time,” restaurant owner Deme Lomas said in a phone interview from his 35th-floor apartment. “It’s like being on a ship.”
Police in Miami-Dade County said they had made 29 arrests for looting and burglary. “We’re on patrol and won’t tolerate criminal activity as our community recovers from Hurricane Irma,” police said in a Twitter post.
The storm and evacuation orders caused major disruption to transportation in the state that is a major tourist hub. Thousands of flights were canceled.
Irma was expected to cause billions of dollars in damage to the third-most-populous US state.
However European shares rose on Monday in early deals, led higher by insurers as the weakening of Irma raised expectations that costs for the industry might be lower than initially feared.
Irma hit just days after the Houston area was deluged by unprecedented flooding from Hurricane Harvey, which dumped more than 50 inches (127 cm) of rain in parts of Texas.
Harvey killed at least 60 people and caused an estimated $180 billion in property damage.
US President Donald Trump, acting at the governor’s request, approved a major disaster declaration for Florida on Sunday, freeing up emergency federal aid in response to Irma, which he called “some big monster.”
Irma churns through central Florida, leaves trail of destruction
Irma churns through central Florida, leaves trail of destruction
Bob Vylan and Kneecap perform in London and Glasgow despite festivals axing them for criticizing Israeli actions in Gaza
- Bob Vylan announced they will perform on Wednesday evening at the 100 Club in London
- Irish rap group Kneecap sold out their show at the O2 in Glasgow in just 80 seconds
LONDON: The rap-punk duo Bob Vylan announced a last-minute gig in London on Wednesday, and the Irish rap group Kneecap sold out their show at the O2 in Glasgow in just 80 seconds, despite being axed by festivals after using performances to publicly criticizing Israel’s actions in Gaza.
Avon and Somerset Police are investigating Bob Vylan over their Glastonbury performance in June, when frontman Bobby Vylan, 34, led crowds in chants of “death, death to the IDF”, an acronym for Israel Defence Forces, during a livestreamed show.
The Metropolitan Police are also investigating the duo from Ipswich over alleged comments made during a concert in London in May, during which Vylan, reportedly, said: “Death to every single IDF soldier out there as an agent of terror for Israel. Death to the IDF.”
The duo announced to their followers on Instagram that they will be performing a gig on Wednesday evening at the 100 Club, a venue on Oxford Street in central London.
After their Glastonbury performance, the band had their US visas revoked and were removed from their headline slot at Radar festival in Manchester, as well as an upcoming German venue. Their agency, United Talent Agency, has reportedly dropped them as well.
Bob Vylan, formed in 2017, is known for addressing issues such as racism, masculinity, and class; they have said they are “targeted for speaking up.” They are scheduled to perform at the Boardmasters surfing and music festival in Newquay, Cornwall, in August.
‘They can’t stop us’
The Irish rap trio Kneecap responded to Scotland’s first minister during their Tuesday night performance at Glasgow’s O2 Academy, which reportedly sold out in 80 seconds. However, the TRNSMT festival in Glasgow canceled the trio’s performance this weekend after concerns were raised by the police.
John Swinney called for the TRNSMT festival to disinvite the band, describing their participation as “unacceptable” due to comments he deemed “beyond the pale”.
Mo Chara, a member of Kneecap, was charged with a terrorism-related offense in June but has been released on unconditional bail after footage showed him holding a Hezbollah flag.
Chara addressed Swinney’s comments during the gig at the O2 Academy on Tuesday, asking the crowd: “What’s your first minister’s name?” and adding: “They stopped us playing TRNSMT but they can’t stop us playing Glasgow.” The trio chanted against Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who had called for their removal from festivals in England.
Kneecap wrote later on social media: “Hats off to the dozens of Palestine activists who’ve been here all day. Buzzing to play one of our favourite cities for a show that sold out in seconds.”
The band said that their criticism target the Israeli government and that their actions, including displaying the Hezbollah flag during a performance, were taken out of context.
In April, they concluded a performance at Coachella’s California desert music festival by projecting three screens of pro-Palestinian messages.
The first text said: “Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people,” followed by: “It is being enabled by the US government who arm and fund Israel despite their war crimes,” while the final message said: “F*** Israel. Free Palestine.”
Since October 2023, Israeli military operations in Gaza have killed more than 56,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, while more than 100,000 others have been injured. On Oct. 7, 2023, the Hamas group raided Israeli towns, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages to Gaza.
Greece to halt asylum hearings for migrants on boats from Africa
- Move came after more than 2,000 migrants landed on Crete in recent days, sparking anger among local authorities and tourism operators
- PM Mitsotakis said Greece’s navy and coast guard were willing to work with Libyan authorities to keep migrant boats from leaving the country’s territorial waters
ATHENS: Greece will suspend all asylum hearings for migrants arriving on boats from North Africa for three months, the prime minister said Wednesday following a rise in migrant arrivals from Libya.
The move came after more than 2,000 migrants landed on Crete in recent days, sparking anger among local authorities and tourism operators. Crete is one of Greece’s top travel destinations, and premier Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ home island.
Greece had hoped to stem the arrivals by reaching out to the authorities in Benghazi, eastern Libya, and the UN-recognized government in Tripoli — but that failed.
“The road to Greece is closing... any migrants entering illegally will be arrested and detained,” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told parliament.
The conservative leader said legislation would be put to a vote in the chamber on Thursday, and that Athens was keeping the EU informed on the issue.
The measure was a “necessary temporary reaction” and a message “to smugglers and their potential clients,” said Mitsotakis.
Greece took similar steps in 2020 during a migration surge at its land border with Turkiye, which Athens accused Ankara of facilitating.
Another group of some 520 people were rescued near Crete early Wednesday, and will be rerouted to the Athens port of Lavrio, the coast guard said.
“The flows are very high,” government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis told Action 24 channel late Tuesday, adding that the wave was “growing and ongoing.”
On Sunday, the Greek coast guard rescued more than 600 asylum seekers in various operations in the area.
AFP pictures showed some of them landing near Agia Galini beach on the south of Crete, where many tourists were bathing.
Migration Minister Thanos Plevris — a former member of Greek far-right party Laos — posted on X that the country was taking “immediate actions to counter the invasion from North Africa.”
“Clear message: Stay where you are, we do not accept you,” he wrote.
According to the coast guard, 7,300 asylum seekers have reached Crete and the nearby island of Gavdos this year, up from fewer than 5,000 last year.
More than 2,500 arrivals have been recorded since June alone.
To manage the influx, the government could reopen camps built in the mainland after the 2015 migration crisis, Marinakis said.
Mitsotakis told parliament that a camp would also be built on Crete, with a second one also possible.
Greece had hoped arrivals could be reduced with the help of the authorities in eastern Libya in Benghazi, and the UN-recognized government in Tripoli.
But a visit Tuesday by the EU’s migration commissioner and the migration ministers of Greece, Italy and Malta was unsuccessful.
Accusing the bloc’s delegation of a “flagrant breach of diplomatic norms,” the authorities who hold sway over eastern Libya said they had canceled the visit and told the EU officials to “leave Libyan territory immediately.”
The diplomatic breakdown has sparked concern in Greece of thousands of additional migrant arrivals from Libya.
“The other side is not cooperating,” Marinakis said, referring to the authorities in Benghazi.
Mitsotakis on Wednesday said Greece’s navy and coast guard were willing to work with Libyan authorities to keep migrant boats from leaving the country’s territorial waters, or to turn them back before entering Greek waters.
Libya has been gripped by conflict since the 2011 overthrow and killing of longtime ruler Muammar Qaddafi in a NATO-backed uprising.
Greece had reached out to eastern Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar before the botched EU visit, sending Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis on Sunday.
Gerapetritis is also scheduled to hold talks with the UN-recognized government in Tripoli on July 15.
How a Muslim woman from Sulu made history as a Philippine Air Force pilot
- Rosemawattee Remo has flown more than 2,000 hours on critical missions
- She currently serves as deputy wing commander in 410th Maintenance Wing
CLARK AIR BASE, PAMPANGA: In 1998, when she sat in the cockpit for the first time, Rosemawattee Remo was not just fulfilling her dream — she was also making history by becoming the first female Muslim pilot in the Philippine Air Force.
Born and raised in Sulu, in the predominantly Muslim southern Philippines, Remo grew up in a traditional household where male and female roles were clearly defined.
Her decision to join the military, travel some 1,000 km away from home and fly aircraft was not initially welcomed.
“My father was a (school) principal then and he wanted me to follow in his footsteps,” she told Arab News.
“The day before my departure to Manila, I told him that I had a scheduled flight and he told me: ‘You’re way ahead of your brothers ... we’re still alive and you’re already making decisions on your own.’”
But she did not feel discouraged: “Those words keep ringing in my ears every time I’m at my lowest,” she said. “(They remind me) that I can’t give up.”
Holding the rank of colonel and currently serving as deputy wing commander of the PAF’s 410th Maintenance Wing, Remo started her military career in 1992 with the Women’s Auxiliary Corps under the Armed Forces. A year later, she enrolled in the Officer Candidate School.
Her graduation in 1994 coincided with the implementation of a landmark law that for the first time allowed women to hold combat and leadership roles in the army, navy, air force and police — positions previously exclusively for men.
“We were nearing our graduation. We were told to draw lots and, fortunately, I took the Philippine Air Force,” Remo said.
Four years later, she started her training as a pilot and soon specialized in helicopter rescue missions. Assigned to the PAF 505th Search and Rescue Group, she flew Bell 205 and Huey helicopters for disaster response and served as a co-pilot aboard a larger Sikorsky or Black Hawk for military transport and relief missions.
Married to a fellow PAF pilot, she has three children and has always found ways to balance her military service with motherhood — and even make them complement each other.
In the aftermath of deadly Typhoon Frank in 2008, when she flew relief operations in Central Mindanao in conditions suitable for flight, she had two major motivations that kept her going: the distressed people on the ground suddenly filling with hope as they heard the chugging sound of helicopter blades, and her own kids waiting for her at home.
“I always brought them along with me in the deployment area, so every time I got out of the aircraft I saw my kids waiting for me,” she said. “I needed to go back home right after the mission ... I had to do everything to survive.”
Col. Remo has flown more than 2,000 hours on critical missions — search and rescue, relief, rehabilitation. She also took part in skydiving exhibitions between 1999 and 2014.
The first Filipino Muslim woman in such a role, she tries not to see her achievements as anything extraordinary.
“I always keep my feet grounded,” she said. “If you have a dream, then you have to persevere and find ways to attain (it).”
EU lawmakers reject attempt to curb far right’s sway on climate talks
- A Patriots spokesperson said the group would not prioritize trying to meet a September deadline for countries to submit new climate targets to the United Nations
- Green lawmakers said they feared the target would now be watered down or face long delays
BRUSSELS: The European Parliament on Wednesday rejected a proposal to fast-track talks on the EU’s new climate target, scuttling a move by liberal, socialist and green lawmakers to try to limit the influence of climate skeptic lawmakers on the goal.
The far-right Patriots of Europe group, which rejects EU policies to curb climate change, on Tuesday took on the role of lead negotiators for the 2040 climate target, seeking to steer talks on the goal, which the group said it firmly opposed.
Lawmakers rebuffed a proposal on Wednesday to fast-track the negotiations, which would have skipped stages where the Patriots could exert most influence, and limited their ability to set the timings for negotiations.
A total of 379 lawmakers rejected the plan to accelerate the talks, versus 300 in favor and eight abstentions.
The vote puts the Patriots firmly in the lead for the parliament as it negotiates the final 2040 climate target with EU member countries. The Patriots will now draft an initial negotiating proposal for the parliament.
A Patriots spokesperson said the group would not prioritize trying to meet a September deadline for countries to submit new climate targets to the United Nations.
“What truly matters is achieving a deal that delivers real benefits for our citizens. Patriots have never negotiated under pressure like traders in a marketplace,” the spokesperson said.
The Patriots are the third-biggest lawmaker group in the EU Parliament and the group includes the political parties of France’s far-right leader Marine Le Pen and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
The Patriots secured the lead negotiating role in a closed-door meeting on Tuesday by outbidding the parliament’s biggest group, the center-right European People’s Party, EU officials told Reuters.
Green lawmakers said they feared the target would now be watered down or face long delays. “There is an acute danger that the European Union’s climate target will be buried,” said German EU lawmaker Michael Bloss.
The attempt to fast-track the talks failed because it was not supported by the EPP — the party of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Dutch EPP EU lawmaker Jeroen Lenaers said the group did not deem the fast-track procedure necessary, and wanted to “improve” the Commission’s proposed target to cut emissions 90 percent by 2040, without specifying further.
Some EPP lawmakers have said a 90 percent target is too ambitious. Governments from Italy to Poland have pushed back this year on ambitious emissions-cutting goals, citing concerns over the costs for industries.
Palestinian family in Gaza ask UK court for help to join relative
- Family of six have been granted leave to join relative in UK
- Lawyers say three children fired upon when accessing aid
LONDON: A Palestinian family of six who are stuck in Gaza despite having permission to join a relative in Britain asked London’s High Court on Wednesday to make officials reconsider their refusal to ask Israel for help to leave the enclave.
Lawyers representing a Palestinian couple and their four children said the family were given leave to enter the United Kingdom to join the family member, who is a British citizen.
A London tribunal ruled earlier this year that the family should be permitted to enter the UK, in a decision which was publicly criticized by Prime Minister Keir Starmer and opposition leader Kemi Badenoch in February.
But the family’s lawyers say Britain’s foreign ministry is refusing to provide assistance because it will not ask Israel whether the family can leave Gaza to provide the biometric data needed to travel to Britain, as there is no operating visa center in Gaza.
Tim Owen, a lawyer representing the family, said they were asking the High Court to order the foreign office to reconsider its decision.
Owen said in court filings that three of the family’s four children had recently been fired upon when attempting to access aid, with one of the children also having been struck in the wrist by shrapnel from a tank shell.
He told the court that there was a “consular-level process which has been established by Israel” in order to evacuate people from Gaza, but that the foreign office “have not even made the request.”
The foreign office, however, says evacuating citizens from Gaza is incredibly complex and that Britain can only offer support in exceptional circumstances.
The department’s lawyer Julian Milford told the court that the foreign office was aware of 10 people in Gaza with unconditional leave to enter Britain and a further 28 with permission, subject to biometric checks.
Milford cited evidence from a department official urging caution over the “expenditure of political and diplomatic capital with Israel and others” in relation to such cases.
The family’s lawyers say they were, like nearly all of Gaza’s 2.3 million population, displaced by the conflict which began with a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel in October 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli figures.
Israel’s retaliatory war has killed over 57,000 Palestinians, Gaza’s health ministry says, and reduced much of Gaza to rubble. (Reporting by Sam Tobin; Editing by Alison Williams)
