Month: September 2022

At least 21 people were confirmed dead early Friday in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, and emergency management officials in the US state of Florida expect that the number to rise drastically.

 

Officials said a man died after he fell in his home and was not able to escape the rising floodwaters. Another man died while trying to drain his pool.

 

Several vehicle deaths were also reported throughout the state.

 

“People die in disasters that have nothing to do with a disaster,” said Florida Division of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie at a news conference. “The medical examiner is the one… to determine when they investigate that this is either disaster-related or not disaster-related. If it is determined to be disaster-related… it is a direct death. In other words, storm surge, rising water, things of that nature, or indirect, the stuff that led up to it after the fact.”

 

Gov. Ron DeSantis said emergency responders have rescued more than 700 people stranded due to the catastrophic floodwaters. Thousands more are waiting for help.

 

“There are over 1,000 dedicated rescue personnel who are going up and down the coastline,” DeSantis said at a news conference. “You see the really troubling images of washed-out homes on the Fort Myers beach and that really is ground zero and obviously very important, but this was such a big storm that there are effects far inland and these rescue personnel are sensitive to that and they’re going to be helping.”

 

Nearly 2 million households are still without power and early damage estimates in Florida are estimated between $25 and $45 billion with that number expected to rise as the damage is properly assessed in the days and weeks to come.

 

However, Ian is far from being finished with its destructive path. The storm is now a Category 1 hurricane and is on track to make its way through Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina on Friday and Saturday.

 

Hurricane and tropical storm-force winds in addition to heavy rains and storm surge are expected along the Atlantic coast.

 

“Hurricane #Ian will bring with it the danger of life-threatening storm surge today along the coasts of the Carolinas within the Storm Surge Warning areas,” tweeted the National Weather Service. “Hurricane #Ian has a very large wind field that will bring strong winds to a broad area for many hours.”

 

Source: Anadolu Agency

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg ruled out on Friday recognizing Russia’s annexation of four Ukrainian regions.

 

“NATO allies do not and will not recognize any of these territories as part of Russia” because “this land grab is illegal and illegitimate,” Stoltenberg told a news conference.

 

He asserted that the “sham referendums” organized in Ukraine’s Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions “were engineered in Moscow and imposed on Ukraine in total violation of international law.”

 

NATO calls on all states to reject Russia’s blatant attempts at territorial conquest, he added.

 

Stoltenberg pointed out that the war in Ukraine has reached a “pivotal moment” because the partial mobilization, the illegal annexation, and the nuclear threats show that Russian President Vladimir’s war “is not going according to plan.”

 

Putin “has utterly failed in its strategic objectives,” he further said.

 

He also reiterated that NATO must continue supporting Ukraine because it will make the world even more dangerous if the country fails to exist as an independent state.

 

Otherwise, Putin or other authoritarian powers “will see that with impunity one can use military force and invade its neighbor,” Stoltenberg explained.

 

Source: Anadolu Agency

The top diplomats from the US and Canada vowed on Friday to never recognize the results of Russia’s annexation of four Ukrainian regions.

 

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US “does not and will never recognize any of the Kremlin’s claims to sovereignty over parts of Ukraine that it seized by force and now purports to incorporate into Russia.”

 

“This territory is and will remain Ukrainian. And Ukraine has every right to defend its land, to defend its people and to take back the territory that Russia has seized from it,” he told reporters while speaking alongside his Canadian counterpart, Melanie Joly.

 

Blinken maintained that Washington and Ottawa “see eye-to-eye on this.”

 

Also speaking at the State Department, Joly said “the pre-orchestrated outcomes of these referenda have no legitimacy, and will never be recognized.”

 

“Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia will remain Ukrainian territory,” she said.

 

Putin earlier on Friday announced the annexation of the four Ukrainian regions in violation of international law following highly disputed referendums that have been denounced by the West and its allies as a cynical land grab.

 

The territories amount to more than 90,000 square kilometers (34,749 square miles) or nearly 15% of Ukraine’s total area.

 

Source: Anadolu Agency

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) on Friday condemned Russia’s illegal annexation of the Ukrainian territory.

 

Calling Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision “unacceptable,” the OSCE in a statement said: “This action by the Russian Federation, which includes military mobilization and irresponsible nuclear threats, will only lead to greater escalation of conflict, putting further millions of lives at risk and causing more senseless human suffering.”

 

“The step announced today is a blatant violation of the fundamental rules of international law, OSCE principles, and the UN Charter,” it added.

 

Urging Russia to withdraw all its forces from Ukraine, the OSCE reiterated its “unwavering support” to Ukraine’s population and its commitment to Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity.

 

The statement said the OSCE Chairman-in-Office and Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau, OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Margareta Cederfelt, OSCE Secretary General Helga Maria Schmid, and OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Secretary-General Roberto Montella “unanimously and categorically condemn the Russian Federation’s illegal annexation of territory in the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson oblasts of Ukraine, as well as the continued occupation of Crimea.”

 

Putin announced Friday the “accession” of Ukraine’s four regions to Russia.

 

On Sept. 23-27, Ukraine’s separatist regions of Donetsk and Luhansk and Russian-controlled parts of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson held referendums on joining Russia.

 

The Russian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday said over 98% of people living in the Ukrainian regions supported the “accession” to Russia.

 

The referendums have been condemned by the international community, with European nations and the US calling them “sham” and saying that they will not be recognized.

 

Source: Anadolu Agency

As drought continues to take a toll on livestock and people in East Africa, wildlife in Kenya is dying in large numbers in many protected parks across the country.

 

Carcasses of dead buffaloes, zebras, giraffes, elephants, and other animals litter the parks attracting scavengers such as vultures and hyenas.

 

The animals are dying due to one of the worst droughts ever to hit East Africa, with experts saying it has been the worst drought experienced in the eastern part of Africa for over 40 years.

 

In an exclusive interview with Anadolu Agency, Nancy Githaiga, the country director of Africa Wildlife Foundation in Kenya, said that 109 elephants have been recorded dead in the Tsavo National Park, Kenya’s largest, over the past year.

 

“Although cases of poaching have greatly dropped due to surveillance, the number of elephants is now going down significantly because of drought,” she said.

 

“It’s not just elephants, it’s giraffes, zebras, and all wildlife that are dying, you will find their carcasses around.”

 

In the near past, Kenya’s wildlife was facing threats from poachers, but today it is the effects of climate change which deal it the biggest blow.

 

“If we were to look at the numbers of wildlife we lost through poaching in the last few years and what we have lost in the last year through drought, we can’t even make a comparison,” Githaiga said.

 

According to Save the Elephants, a wildlife nongovernmental organization, a wild African female elephant, Moonson, who survived being shot five times by poachers, also died due to the drought in northern Kenya.

 

Iain Douglas-Hamilton, CEO of Save the Elephants, said in a statement that it is feared that the drought in Kenya may stretch into 2023.

 

“We are working with our partners, local communities and government in Kenya to address the long-term problems the drought will bring to wildlife and communities alike,” he said.

 

Other wildlife animals dying in large numbers include zebras, buffaloes and giraffes, which are endangered according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

 

Lothika Malemba, a ranger who has worked in the Tsavo National Park for 20 years, told Anadolu Agency that she has never seen such a drought.

 

“Since this year started we have experienced little to no rainfall, the drought has killed many animals in a way that I have never seen before, our water pans and boreholes have all dried up, there is no pasture, we are losing mostly buffaloes, zebras and elephants.”

 

She added that the Grevy’s zebra, the rarest in the world, are also dying in large numbers.

 

As Africa gears to host the Conference of Parties (COP27) summit in Egypt in November, the major discussion will be on environmental loss and damage. Conservationists hope that the key discussions around climate catastrophes will also feature the loss of wildlife to the climate crisis, especially in the East African region.

 

Source: Anadolu Agency

India on Saturday launched 5G internet services in the country, ushering in a new technological era.

 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the 5G services during the 6th edition of the India Mobile Congress 2022 being held in the national capital New Delhi.

 

At the launch, Modi said the day is “historic” and that the launch is a gift from the “telecom industry to 130 crores (1.3 billion) Indians.”

 

He added that the launch is a significant achievement for the country’s “Digital India” initiative, which aims to “transform India into a digitally empowered society.”

 

In a statement issued ahead of the launch, the Prime Minister’s Office stated that 5G technology will “provide seamless coverage, high data rate, low latency, and highly reliable communications,” ushering in a “new technological era.”

 

“It will increase energy efficiency, spectrum efficiency, and network efficiency,” it said.

 

In a separate statement, the Ministry of Communications said, “the launch of 5G services follows years of intense preparation.”

 

“Recently, 5G spectrum auctions were conducted successfully and 51,236 MHz (megahertz) was allocated to Telecom Service Providers,” it said, adding, “the auction aggregated the demand for a robust 5G ecosystem.”

 

The ministry noted that 5G technology has the potential to “unleash new economic opportunities and societal benefits, giving it the potential for being a transformational force for Indian society.”

 

“It will help the country leapfrog the traditional barriers to development, spur innovations by startups and business enterprises as well as advance the ‘Digital India’ vision.

 

“The cumulative economic impact of 5G on India is expected to reach $450 Billion by 2035,” the ministry said.

 

After the launch, the services will be available in selected cities, with the ministry stating that they will gradually cover the entire country over the next couple of years.

 

In July, the ministry informed parliament that the country had over 800 million mobile internet subscribers as of May this year.

 

Source: Anadolu Agency