LOS ANGELES: Powerful winter storms lashed the United States on Wednesday, with heavy snow snarling travel across wide areas, even as unusual warmth was expected in others.
Blizzards expected to dump up to two feet (60 centimeters) of snow swept across a vast band of the country from the West Coast to the Great Lakes, grounding flights and knocking out power to tens of thousands.
Warnings of heavy snowfall were even issued for typically sunny areas near Los Angeles, as well as for more typical winter weather spots in the far north.
Forecasters with the National Weather Service said two rounds of snow would wallop parts of Minnesota in a “historic winter storm (that) will likely lead to impossible travel.”
“Heavy snow will combine with northeast wind gusts of 35 to 45 mph (55 to 70 kph)... This will lead to significant blowing and drifting snow with whiteout conditions in open areas. Some drifts may be several feet deep,” a warning said.
“If you must travel, keep an extra flashlight, food, and water in your vehicle in case of an emergency. Travel should be restricted to emergencies only. If you must travel, have a winter survival kit with you. If you get stranded, stay with your vehicle.”
More than 1,450 flights within, into or out of the United States had been canceled by 2100 GMT, according to Flightaware.com, with its “Misery Map” showing Denver and Minneapolis-St. Paul particularly badly hit.
Roads were also difficult, with Wyoming suffering from problems even on main highways.
“Please change travel plans if you are coming toward Wyoming,” the state’s department of transport posted on its Facebook page. “A major winter storm and multi-day closures are likely on Interstates and secondary roads throughout Wyoming!“
Around 150,000 properties were without power across the country, according to Poweroutage.us, the bulk of them in California, where strong winds were toppling trees.
An unusual blizzard warning was put in place for the mountains around Los Angeles from early Thursday, with snow expected to fall even at relatively low elevations.
“Now is the time to prepare for a COLD AND DANGEROUS winter storm expected for much of the week,” the NWS in Los Angeles warned.
“Several FEET of snow is expected in the mountains with a few inches possible as low as 1000 feet. Gusty and potentially damaging winds are also expected.”
While not everyone was expected to wake up to a whiteout, even people in Los Angeles will be treated to the sight of snow-dusted mountains.
“Nearly entire population of (California) will be able to see snow from some vantage point later this week if they look in right direction (i.e., toward highest hills in vicinity),” climate scientist Daniel Swain of UCLA tweeted.
It will be chilly by southern California standards, but forecasters warned that some areas of the country would be very cold, with parts of the northern and central plains seeing wind chills as low as -30 degrees Fahrenheit (-34 C).
But while the West and some northern parts of the United States are shivering, eastern areas will be unusually warm.
“These highs on Thursday will be particularly anomalous for the Ohio Valley and Mid-Atlantic, where temperatures 40+ degrees above average will feel more like June than February,” the NWS said.
Heavy snow snarls travel as winter storms hit US
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Heavy snow snarls travel as winter storms hit US
- An unusual blizzard warning was put in place for the mountains around Los Angeles from early Thursday, with snow expected to fall even at relatively low elevations
Plane with 181 on board crashes in South Korea, killing 85
- Flight from Bangkok slams into wall, erupts into fire at South Korea’s Muan International Airport
- Authorities working to rescue people in the tail section, says airport official shortly after crash
SEOUL: A Jeju Air plane carrying 181 people from Bangkok to South Korea crashed on arrival Sunday, killing at least 85, emergency services said, with a bird strike and adverse weather conditions cited as likely causes.
Two people were rescued, the agency said, and an official told Reuters they were crew members.
The crash occurred as Jeju Air flight 7C2216, carrying 175 passengers and six crew on a flight from the Thai capital Bangkok, was landing shortly after 9 a.m. (0000 GMT) at the airport in the south of the country, South Korea’s transport ministry said.
The ministry did not confirm the reports of casualties.
At least 58 bodies have been recovered but that number is not final, another fire official told Reuters.
Two people were found alive and rescue operations were under way, a Muan fire official said. Yonhap news agency said three people had been rescued.
Authorities were working to rescue people in the tail section, an airport official told Reuters shortly after the crash.
Video shared by local media showed the twin-engine aircraft skidding down the runway with no apparent landing gear before slamming into a wall in an explosion of flame and debris. Other photos showed smoke and fire engulfing parts of the plane.
The passengers included two Thai nationals and the rest are believed to be South Koreans, according to the transportation ministry.
The plane was a Boeing 737-800 jet operated by Jeju Air, which was seeking details of the accident, including its casualties and cause, an airline spokesperson said.
Boeing and the US Federal Aviation Administration did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
All domestic and international flights at Muan airport had been canceled, Yonhap reported.
South Korean acting President Choi Sang-mok, who was named interim leader of the country on Friday after the previous acting president was impeached amid an ongoing political crisis, ordered all-out rescue efforts, his office said.
His chief of staff convened an emergency meeting.
Cambodia pardons jailed surrogate Philippine mothers
- In 2016, Cambodia issued a snap ban on commercial surrogacy after neighboring Thailand pulled the plug on the trade
- But demand for commercial surrogacy remains high after China eased its one-child policy
MANILA : Cambodia has pardoned and sent home 13 Philippine women who were jailed over a scheme to become surrogate mothers, an outlawed practice, the Philippine government said on Sunday.
They were among 24 foreign women detained by Cambodian police in September and convicted and sentenced to four years in prison on December 2 for attempted cross-border human trafficking.
The women “and three of their babies” were sent home to Manila early Sunday and taken to a government shelter for trafficking victims, the Social Welfare Department said in a statement.
Ten of the repatriated women are still pregnant, Irene Dumlao, the Social Welfare Department’s Assistant Secretary said.
“All 13 (women) departed Phnom Penh and arrived safely in Manila following the grant of royal pardon by His Majesty Preah Bat Samdech Preah Boromneath Norodom Sihamoni,” the Philippine foreign ministry said in a separate statement.
The Cambodian court ruling had said it had strong evidence showing that the 13 had “the intention... to have babies to sell to a third person in exchange for money, which is an act of human trafficking.”
The court did not give details on what would happen to the babies.
The Philippine foreign department statement warned “surrogacy is banned in Cambodia and any violation thereof is punishable under Cambodian laws.”
The social welfare ministry statement said “there is no law prohibiting or allowing surrogacy in the Philippines, providing a legal grey area prone to abuse.”
In 2016, Cambodia issued a snap ban on commercial surrogacy after neighboring Thailand pulled the plug on the trade the previous year — putting an abrupt end to a thriving industry for hopeful parents, many from Australia and the United States.
But demand for commercial surrogacy remains high after China eased its one-child policy and agencies in Cambodia continue to offer the service.
Sources in the kingdom have previously said that couples — mostly from China — are willing to pay between $40,000 to $100,000 to surrogacy agents to find a Cambodian woman who can carry their child.
Plane with 181 on board crashes in South Korea, killing 85
- Yonhap reported the plane veered off the runway and collided with a fence
SEOUL: A Jeju Air plane carrying 181 people from Bangkok to South Korea crashed on arrival Sunday, killing at least 85, emergency services said, with a bird strike and adverse weather conditions cited as likely causes.
Two people were rescued, the agency said, and an official told Reuters they were crew members.
The crash occurred as Jeju Air flight 7C2216, carrying 175 passengers and six crew on a flight from the Thai capital Bangkok, was landing shortly after 9 a.m. (0000 GMT) at the airport in the south of the country, South Korea’s transport ministry said.
The ministry did not confirm the reports of casualties.
At least 58 bodies have been recovered but that number is not final, another fire official told Reuters.
Two people were found alive and rescue operations were under way, a Muan fire official said. Yonhap news agency said three people had been rescued.
Authorities were working to rescue people in the tail section, an airport official told Reuters shortly after the crash.
Video shared by local media showed the twin-engine aircraft skidding down the runway with no apparent landing gear before slamming into a wall in an explosion of flame and debris. Other photos showed smoke and fire engulfing parts of the plane.
The passengers included two Thai nationals and the rest are believed to be South Koreans, according to the transportation ministry.
The plane was a Boeing 737-800 jet operated by Jeju Air, which was seeking details of the accident, including its casualties and cause, an airline spokesperson said.
Boeing and the US Federal Aviation Administration did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
All domestic and international flights at Muan airport had been canceled, Yonhap reported.
South Korean acting President Choi Sang-mok, who was named interim leader of the country on Friday after the previous acting president was impeached amid an ongoing political crisis, ordered all-out rescue efforts, his office said.
His chief of staff convened an emergency meeting.
Trump sides with Musk in right-wing row over worker visas
- Musk, who himself migrated from South Africa on an H1-B, posted Thursday on his X platform that luring elite engineering talent from abroad was “essential for America to keep winning”
WASHINGTON: Donald Trump weighed in Saturday in a bitter debate dividing his traditional supporters and tech barrons like Elon Musk, saying that he backs a special visa program that helps highly skilled workers enter the country.
“I’ve always liked the (H1-B) visas, I have always been in favor of the visas, that’s why we have them” at Trump-owned facilities, the president-elect told the New York Post in his first public comments on the matter since it flared up this week.
An angry back-and-forth, largely between Silicon Valley’s Musk and traditional anti-immigration Trump backers, has erupted in fiery fashion, with Musk even vowing to “go to war” over the issue.
Trump’s insistent calls for sharp curbs on immigration were central to his election victory in November over President Joe Biden. He has vowed to deport all undocumented immigrants and limit legal immigration.
But tech entrepreneurs like Tesla’s Musk — as well as Vivek Ramaswamy, who with Musk is to co-chair a government cost-cutting panel under Trump — say the United States produces too few highly skilled graduates, and they fervently champion the H1-B program.
Musk, who himself migrated from South Africa on an H1-B, posted Thursday on his X platform that luring elite engineering talent from abroad was “essential for America to keep winning.”
Adding acrimony to the debate was a post from Ramaswamy, the son of immigrants from India, who deplored an “American culture” that he said venerates mediocrity, adding that the United States risks having “our asses handed to us by China.”
That angered several prominent conservatives who were backing Trump long before Musk noisily joined their cause this year, going on to pump more than $250 million into the Republican’s campaign.
“Looking forward to the inevitable divorce between President Trump and Big Tech,” said Laura Loomer, a far-right MAGA figure known for her conspiracy theories, who often flew with Trump on his campaign plane.
“We have to protect President Trump from the technocrats.”
She and others said Trump should be promoting American workers and further limiting immigration.
Musk, who had already infuriated some Republicans after leading an online campaign that helped tank a bipartisan budget deal last week, fired back at his critics.
Posting on X, the social media site he owns, he warned of a “MAGA civil war.”
Musk bluntly swore at one critic, adding that “I will go to war on this issue.”
That, in turn, drew a volley from Trump strategist Steve Bannon, who wrote on the Gettr platform that the H1-B program brings in migrants who are essentially “indentured servants” working for less than American citizens would.
In a striking jab at Trump’s close friend Musk, Bannon called the Tesla CEO a “toddler.”
Some of Trump’s original backers say they fear he is falling under the sway of big donors from the tech world like Musk and drifting away from his campaign promises.
It was not immediately clear whether Trump’s remarks might soothe the intraparty strife, which has exposed just how contentious changing the immigration system might be once he takes office in January.
Social media adverts offer illegal migrants ‘package deals’ to UK
- Home Office vows to crackdown on ‘despicable’ gangs promoting services on TikTok
- Over 450 migrants cross English Channel in small boats on Christmas Day
LONDON: People smugglers are using TikTok adverts to lure migrants to the UK with “package deals.”
More than 150,000 people have crossed the English Channel in small boats from mainland Europe to try and enter Britain illegally since 2018, the UK said on Friday.
Traffickers have started to deploy new techniques advertised on social media to encourage more people to make the perilous journey in winter, The Times newspaper reported.
These include deals offered on TikTok for as little as £2,500 ($3,140) with payment only required on reaching the UK coast. The adverts said specialized handlers would collect the migrants, take them to rented accommodation and find them work.
The Times said the adverts were being run by Albanian smuggling gangs. One TikTok account named “Journey to London” offered deals to get people from Albania to England.
Another used a photo of the boat that would carry the migrants and the promise of a “secure crossing.”
The smugglers also offered to fly customers into the UK on stolen passports for £12,000. They urged one prospective client to make use of the Christmas period when airports are busier, The Times reported.
The recent calm weather has sparked a surge in small boat crossings, with more than 850 people making the journey across the Channel on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.
While the adverts predominantly targeted Albanians, the highest numbers of migrants using small boats in the year up to September were from Afghanistan, Iran and Syria.
A Home Office spokesperson described the smuggling gangs as “despicable” and said they were “exploiting vulnerable people by peddling lies on social media and placing them in horrendous conditions, working for next to nothing.”
“Anyone found to be doing this will face severe penalties and we are working with the National Crime Agency and major social media companies to rapidly remove online adverts promoting dangerous small boat crossings,” the person said.
TikTok told The Times it had proactively removed adverts posted by the users.
The number of small boat crossings hit a peak in 2022, when 45,774 people made the journey. More than 36,000 have done so this year.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has promised to “smash” the people smuggling gangs, with the issue of immigration featuring heavily in campaigning for the July election.
