Typhoon Mawar pounds Guam with destructive winds

On its current trajectory, Mawar will pass “directly” over the island. (AFP)
Short Url
Updated 24 May 2023
Follow

Typhoon Mawar pounds Guam with destructive winds

  • The eye of the storm passed just north of the island, its governor said
  • Forecasters had warned that winds of up to 225kph could cause major damage

LOS ANGELES: Typhoon Mawar roared over the US territory of Guam on Wednesday, bringing destructive winds to the Pacific military outpost.

The eye of the storm passed just north of the island, its governor said, after forecasters had warned that winds of up to 225 kilometers per hour (140 miles per hour) could cause major damage.

“What we are feeling right now is the eye going over the Rota Channel,” Governor Lou Leon Guerrero said in a Facebook video, referring to the body of water between the islands of Guam and Rota.

Local authorities earlier issued evacuation orders and opened temporary shelters, while US President Joe Biden declared a state of emergency for the island of 170,000 people, paving the way for federal aid.

“I am in a concrete-reinforced house and my windows are shuttered. I did go outside briefly and winds are getting very gusty with intermittent rains,” Beckie Merrill, a 46-year-old middle school teacher, said from a southern area of the island.

After predicting a “direct hit” on Guam, forecasters later said the typhoon had moved just north of the island.

“It looks like we are getting a near hit with the eye passing through the Rota Channel. The southern wall of the eye will pass over much of Guam. The worst winds will be in the northern third of Guam,” the US National Weather Service said.

Warnings of extreme winds and flash floods have been issued for the island with wind speeds of 74 miles per hour already recorded, forecasters said.

“I am worried for the safety of our people. This is the first storm of this magnitude for 20 years,” Guerrero said.

Evacuations were ordered for low-lying coastal areas, especially in the flood-prone southern villages.

The NWS warned of the “triple threats” of torrential rain, catastrophic winds and a life-threatening storm surge.

Winds near the eye wall could bring major damage to buildings and homes made of light materials such as non-concrete roofs and walls not made of reinforced concrete.

A calamitous storm surge threatens to wreak havoc on shorelines, and large boats “could be torn from moorings.”

“Surge may reach to between 20 and 25 feet above normal high tide for the most vulnerable storm-surge-prone areas near the eye wall,” the NWS said.

Forecasts predicted Guam will receive rainfall of 10 to 15 inches, with some areas seeing 20 inches or more, the NWS said.

This could trigger landslides in the central and southern parts of the island, the weather service warned.

“Many of us right now are feeling the full strength of Typhoon Mawar, and although it is a frightening experience that hasn’t been felt for over two decades, we want you to know that we are here for you,” Guerrero said in a Facebook post.

“Even as the typhoon makes its initial landfall, we have multiple agencies coordinating response efforts and relaying helpful information to those in need.”

People were told to stay inside and away from windows, and not venture outside during temporary lulls as flying debris can cause serious injury.

Guam’s Office of Civil Defense urged motorists to stay off the roads on Wednesday, saying “winds are expected to intensify to typhoon force winds by midday.”

About 21,700 US military personnel and their families are based at or near several facilities on Guam, which routinely hosts nuclear attack submarines and long-range bombers.

The territory is also home to crucial electronic listening posts.

The US bases have some of the Pacific region’s most significant ammunition and fuel storage facilities.

About 60 flights scheduled to depart or arrive in Guam between Tuesday and Thursday were canceled, A.B. Won Pat International Airport said.

Conditions in Guam are expected to improve on Thursday, but the storm is expected to intensify over the next few days, possibly becoming a super typhoon over the Philippine Sea, the NWS said.


Australian murder suspect denies drying deadly mushrooms

Updated 3 sec ago
Follow

Australian murder suspect denies drying deadly mushrooms

  • Erin Patterson denies all charges in the trial, which has made headlines worldwide
  • She says the beef-and-pastry dish, which she cooked in individually sized portions, was poisoned by accident
SYDNEY: An Australian woman accused of murdering three people with death cap mushrooms denied Wednesday that she turned the fungi into dry powder for the fatal meal.
Erin Patterson, 50, is charged with murdering her estranged husband’s parents and aunt in July 2023 by spiking a beef Wellington lunch with the mushrooms.
She is also accused of attempting to murder a fourth lunch guest – her husband’s uncle – who survived the dish after a long stay in hospital.
Patterson denies all charges in the trial, which has made headlines worldwide.
She says the beef-and-pastry dish, which she cooked in individually sized portions, was poisoned by accident.
Three months before the lunch, phone records placed Patterson in the Victoria state township of Loch, where a sighting of death cap mushrooms had been posted online, the court heard.
Prosecutor Nanette Rogers alleged that within two hours of finding death cap mushrooms in Loch, Patterson bought a dehydrator to use on the fungi.
Patterson admitted to buying the dehydrator.
But she denied purchasing it to dry the death cap mushrooms or that she went to Loch to find the dangerous fungi.
A month later, phone records placed Patterson in a second town in the area, Outtrim, just days after a sighting of death cap mushrooms had been posted online, the court heard.
Patterson denied she went to the area to find the fungi, but said she may have driven by the area.
Rogers suggested Patterson “blitzed” the death cap mushrooms into a powder in order to hide them in the meal.
“Disagree,” Patterson said.
The court heard Patterson had told people that she served the beef Wellington leftovers to her children a day after the lunch, as her sickened guests lay in hospital.
The accused said she scraped off the mushroom and pastry from the dish because her children were fussy eaters.
The prosecutor asked Patterson why she would feed leftovers to her children, while knowing or suspecting that the same meal had put her guests in hospital.
“I didn’t know or suspect that,” Patterson replied.
The prosecutor accused her of telling a “lie about feeding the leftovers” because it gave her “some distance from a deliberate poisoning.”
Patterson replied: “I don’t see how it could, but I disagree.”
The home cook had also invited her estranged husband Simon to join the family lunch at her secluded home in the Victoria state farm village of Leongatha.
But Simon turned down the invitation saying he felt uncomfortable going, the court heard previously. The pair were long estranged but still legally married.
Simon’s parents Don and Gail, and his aunt Heather Wilkinson, attended the lunch. All three were dead within days.
Heather’s husband Ian fell gravely ill but recovered.
The trial in Morwell, southeast of Melbourne, is expected to last another two weeks.

Former student kills 10 in Austrian high school shooting

Updated 9 min 41 sec ago
Follow

Former student kills 10 in Austrian high school shooting

  • Shooter acted alone and took his own life in the toilet at Dreierschuetzengasse high school in Graz
  • Europe has been shaken by attacks at schools and universities in recent years that were not connected to terrorism

GRAZ, Austria: Austria will observe a national day of mourning and a minute’s silence on Wednesday after a former student shot dead 10 people at a high school in an unprecedented case of gun violence that stunned the Alpine country.

The 21-year-old shooter acted alone and took his own life in the toilet at Dreierschuetzengasse high school in Graz, police said.

Investigators found a good-bye letter addressed to the suspect’s parents during a search of his residence, but it included no clues about his motive.

After arriving in Graz, Chancellor Christian Stocker described the shooting as “a national tragedy.”

“This is a dark day,” he told reporters Tuesday as he announced three days of national mourning. A minute’s silence will be observed across the country at 10:00 am (0800 GMT) on Wednesday.

Nine victims were immediately confirmed and a woman died later in hospital from her wounds, an official said. A 17-year-old French student was among the victims, his father said.

Twelve people suffered serious injuries and police said support was being provided to witnesses and those affected.

According to police, the alleged perpetrator was an Austrian from the Graz region who used two legally owned weapons.

He was a former student at the high school, but never finished his studies there, Interior Minister Gerhard Karner told reporters.

Bouquets of flowers and candles were placed in front of the school, which has around 400 students aged between 14 and 18, and nearby businesses closed.

One resident, originally from the United States, whose children attend a nearby elementary school and kindergarten, said she was “shocked” and it was “a lot to take in.”

“In my home country it happens more often as we know, but that it happens here is unheard of,” she said, declining to give her name.

“Graz is a safe city,” said Roman Klug, 55, who said he lived close to the school that he said was “known for its openness and diversity.”

Condolences poured in from across Europe.

French President Emmanuel Macron said that “France extends its deepest sympathy to the victims’ families, the Austrian people and Chancellor Stocker during this difficult time.”

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said “our thoughts are with our Austrian friends and neighbors” following the “horrific” shooting.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban offered his “deepest condolences.”

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said “the news from Graz touches my heart,” while Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni expressed her sympathies to the families of the victims following the “tragic news.”

Attacks in public are rare in Austria, which is home to almost 9.2 million people and ranks among the 10 safest countries in the world, according to the Global Peace Index.

While still less common than in the United States, Europe has been shaken by attacks at schools and universities in recent years that were not connected to terrorism.

In France, a teaching assistant was killed in a knife attack at a school in the eastern town of Nogent on Tuesday.

In January, an 18-year-old man fatally stabbed a high school student and a teacher at a school in northeastern Slovakia.

And in December, a 19-year-old man stabbed a seven-year-old student to death and injured several others at a primary school in Zagreb, Croatia.

In December 2023, an attack by a student at a university in central Prague left 14 people dead and 25 injured.

A few months earlier, a 13-year-old gunned down nine fellow classmates and a security guard at an elementary school in Belgrade.


Pentagon slashes in half its request for Air Force F-35s – media report

Updated 16 min 47 sec ago
Follow

Pentagon slashes in half its request for Air Force F-35s – media report

  • The Air Force now plans to seek $3.5 billion for the F-35 aircraft, and another $531 million for advance procurement of materials for it

The Pentagon is scaling back by half its request to Congress for the US Air Force’s Lockheed Martin F-35 jets, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday.

A US Defense Department procurement request document sent to Capitol Hill this week asked for 24 of the planes, down from 48 that were forecast last year, the report said.

Reuters could not immediately verify the report. Lockheed Martin and the Department of Defense did not respond to requests for comment outside regular business hours.

The Air Force now plans to seek $3.5 billion for the F-35 aircraft, and another $531 million for advance procurement of materials for it, the report said.

The Pentagon has also requested 12 of the Navy’s carrier version of the F-35, lower than the 17 Congress approved for this fiscal year, while the Marines would also see a reduction of two from this year’s funding, the report added.

In May, Lockheed Martin’s finance chief said the firm expects to be awarded a finalized contract on its F-35 jets, which have been beset by delays related to a technology upgrade.

The defense contractor delivered a total of 110 F-35 fighter jets to the United States and its allies in 2024. Lockheed’s F-35 program accounts for around 30 percent of the company’s revenue.


California governor says ‘democracy is under assault’ by Trump as feds intervene in LA protests

Updated 32 min 58 sec ago
Follow

California governor says ‘democracy is under assault’ by Trump as feds intervene in LA protests

  • Gavin Newsom: ‘California may be first, but it clearly will not end here. Other states are next’
  • California governor is head of the heavily Democratic state known as the epicenter of the so-called Trump resistance

LOS ANGELES: Calling President Donald Trump a threat to the American way of life, Governor Gavin Newsom depicted the federal military intervention in Los Angeles as the onset of a much broader effort by Trump to overturn political and cultural norms at the heart of the nation’s democracy.

In a speech Tuesday evening, the potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidate said the arrival of National Guard and Marine troops in the city at Trump’s direction was not simply about quelling protests that followed a series of immigration raids by federal authorities. Instead, he said, it was part of a calculated “war” intended to upend the foundations of society and concentrate power in the White House.

“California may be first, but it clearly will not end here. Other states are next,” a somber Newsom warned, seated before the US and California flags. “Democracy is next. Democracy is under assault before our eyes. This moment we have feared has arrived.”

As head of the heavily Democratic state known as the epicenter of the so-called Trump resistance, Newsom and the Republican president have long been adversaries. But the governor’s speech delivered in prime time argued that Trump was not just a threat to democracy, but was actively working to break down its guardrails that reach back to the nation’s founding.

″He’s declared a war. A war on culture, on history, on science, on knowledge itself,” Newsom said. “He’s delegitimizing news organizations, and he’s assaulting the First Amendment.”

Newsom added that Trump is attacking law firms and the judicial branch – “the foundations of an orderly and civil society.”

“It’s time for all of us to stand up,” Newsom said, urging any protests to be peaceful. “What Donald Trump wants most is your fealty, your silence, to be complicit in this moment. Do not give in to him.”

His speech came the same day that Newsom asked a court to put an emergency stop to the military helping federal immigration agents, with some guardsmen now standing in protective gauntlet around agents as they carried out arrests. The judge chose not to rule immediately, giving the Trump administration several days to continue those activities before a hearing Thursday.

Trump has activated more than 4,000 National Guard members and 700 Marines over the objections of city and state leaders, though the Marines have not yet been spotted in Los Angeles and Guard troops have had limited engagement with protesters. They were originally deployed to protect federal buildings.

Newsom’s speech capped several days of acidic exchanges between Trump and Newsom, that included the president appearing to endorse Newsom’s arrest if he interfered with federal immigration enforcement. “I think it’s great. Gavin likes the publicity, but I think it would be a great thing,” Trump told reporters.

Over the years, Trump has threatened to intercede in California’s long-running homeless crisis, vowed to withhold federal wildfire aid as political leverage in a dispute over water rights, called on police to shoot people robbing stores and warned residents that “your children are in danger” because of illegal immigration.

Trump relishes insulting the two-term governor and former San Francisco mayor – frequently referring to him as Gov. “New-scum” – and earlier this year faulted the governor for Southern California’s deadly wildfires.

Trump has argued that the city was in danger of being overrun by violent protesters, while Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass have called the federal intervention an unneeded – and potentially dangerous – overreaction.

The demonstrations have been mostly concentrated in the city’s downtown hub. Demonstrations have spread to other cities in the state and nationwide, including Dallas and Austin, Texas, Chicago and New York City, where a thousand people rallied and multiple arrests were made.

Trump left open the possibility of invoking the Insurrection Act, which authorizes the president to deploy military forces inside the US to suppress rebellion or domestic violence or to enforce the law in certain situations. It’s one of the most extreme emergency powers available to a US president.

“If there’s an insurrection, I would certainly invoke it. We’ll see,” he said from the Oval Office.


Ukraine says Russian strikes hit Kharkiv, killing two

Updated 41 min 6 sec ago
Follow

Ukraine says Russian strikes hit Kharkiv, killing two

  • The State Emergency Service of Ukraine said eight children were wounded in the attack
  • Peace talks in Turkiye last week failed to yield a breakthrough toward ending the conflict

KYIV; killed two people and wounded 54 including children early Wednesday, authorities said, as Moscow pushed ahead with its relentless attacks after rejecting an unconditional ceasefire.

“Seventeen strikes by enemy UAVs (drones) were carried out in two districts of the city tonight,” Kharkiv Mayor Igor Terekhov said on Telegram, later adding that 37 people were wounded and “several people were rescued from houses engulfed in flames.”

The State Emergency Service of Ukraine said eight children were wounded in the attack.

Russia has escalated its bombardments of Ukraine despite US President Donald Trump urging Moscow to end its three-year invasion, with Kyiv launching retaliatory attacks deep inside Russian territory.

After a previous overnight barrage of more than 300 drones and seven missiles on Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged Kyiv’s Western allies to respond with “concrete action.”

“Action from America, which has the power to force Russia into peace. Action from Europe, which has no alternative but to be strong,” Zelensky wrote on social media.

Peace talks in Turkiye last week failed to yield a breakthrough toward ending the conflict, with Russia rejecting calls for an unconditional ceasefire and demanding Ukraine give up its territory and bid to join NATO.

But the two sides agreed to swap more than 1,000 prisoners of war and hand over the bodies of dead soldiers, swapping groups of captured soldiers on Monday and Tuesday.

Kharkhiv, which lies less than 50 kilometers from the Russian border, has been hit by a surge in large-scale nighttime attacks over the past week.

Wednesday’s strikes left a five-story building on fire in Slobidskyi district, while several houses were hit in Osnovyansky district, Mayor Terekhov said.

He said “there may be people trapped under the rubble.”

The attack came after Russia pummelled the city on Saturday in what Terekhov called “the most powerful attack” on Kharkiv since the start of the war.

Four people were killed and more than 50 wounded as homes and apartment blocks were hit overnight and guided bombs were dropped on the city on Saturday afternoon.

Ukraine is also stepping up its drone attacks on Russia, targeting military production and bases.

On Tuesday, one person was killed and four others wounded in a drone attack that destroyed a convenience store in the Russian region of Belgorod, according to Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov.

Nevertheless, the two sides carried out a second prisoner of war swap on Tuesday.

The deal should see the freeing of all captured soldiers under the age of 25, as well as those who are sick or severely wounded, though neither side has specified the number of soldiers involved.

But Zelensky has said it is “pointless” to hold further talks with the current Russian delegation – who he previously dismissed as “empty heads” – since they could not agree to a ceasefire.

As a condition for halting its invasion, Russia has demanded that Ukraine cede the territories Moscow says it has annexed and forswear joining NATO.

It has also rejected a proposed 30-day unconditional ceasefire sought by Kyiv and the European Union, arguing that this would allow Ukrainian forces to rearm with Western deliveries.

Ukraine is demanding a complete Russian withdrawal of from its territory and security guarantees from the West.