Debby soaks northern Florida, eyes Georgia next

Tropical Storm Debby dropped buckets of rain across northern Florida yesterday afternoon as it plodded toward Georgia and the Carolinas, where forecasters expect the downgraded hurricane to bring a week of torrential downpours and catastrophic flooding.The storm had lost some of its windspeed after slamming Florida’s Gulf Coast around 7am last morning as a Category 1 hurricane. It made landfall near Steinhatchee, in the Big Bend region about 70 miles southeast of Tallahassee, delivering winds of up to 80mph, the National Hurricane Center said.The hurricane centre predicted Debby would move offshore into the Atlantic by Tuesday night, then re-strengthen and come back inland to drench the coasts of Georgia and South Carolina later in the week.The centre forecast “catastrophic flooding,” with local areas along Georgia and South Carolina’s coastline receiving 20 to 30 inches of rain by Friday morning. The governors of Georgia and South Carolina have declared states of emergency in anticipation of Debby’s damage.“This is going to be an event that is going to be probably here for the next five to seven days, maybe as long as 10 days, depending on how much rainfall we get,” said Florida Division of Emergency Management Executive Director Kevin Guthrie.By midday yesterday, Debby had already dumped eight to 16 inches of rain in some parts of central Florida, according to local weather reports.Hours after the storm’s landfall in Steinhatchee, heavy rains were still falling on the beach town, and bayfront restaurants were flooded. Further south in Hillsborough County, rescue crews in Tampa recovered the body of an 18-wheeler truck driver who had lost control of the vehicle on Interstate 75 and went into the Tampa Bypass Canal, local TV station WTSP reported.Roughly 240,000 customers were without power in Florida, according to Poweroutage.us, and flight trackers showed hundreds of flights originating from and heading to Florida airports were cancelled yesterday.A slow-moving tropical storm as it passed over Cuba, Debby gained strength from exceptionally warm Gulf waters as it paralleled Florida’s Gulf Coast on Sunday.Debby bears some of the hallmarks of Hurricane Harvey, which hit Corpus Christi, Texas, in August 2017. Downgraded to a tropical storm as it moved inland, Harvey lingered over Texas, dumping about 50 inches of rain on Houston and causing $125bn in damage.Climate scientists believe man-made global warming from burning fossil fuels has raised the temperature of the oceans, making storms bigger and more devastating. The last hurricane to make a direct hit on the Big Bend region was Hurricane Idalia, which briefly gained Category 4 strength before making landfall as a Category 3 in August 2023, with winds of more than 125mph.The National Centers for Environmental Information estimated $3.5bn in damages. DeSantis described the initial effects of Debby as “modest” compared with Idalia.Forecasters expect numerous Atlantic hurricanes in the 2024 season, which began on June 1, including four to seven major ones. That would exceed the record-breaking 2005 season that spawned the devastating Katrina and Rita hurricanes.Only one hurricane, Beryl, has yet formed in the Atlantic this year. The earliest Category 5 storm on record, it struck the Caribbean and Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula before rolling up the Gulf Coast of Texas as a Category 1 storm, with sustained winds up to 95mph.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/688050/international/debby-soaks-northern-florida-eyes-georgia-next

Venezuelan security forces ‘knocking’ hard on protesters

Venezuelan security forces are targeting those who they say committed violent crimes during recent protests over the disputed election, in an operation informally called “knock-knock” that advocacy groups say has left protesters fearful.Three advocacy groups told Reuters security forces are working intensely to capture protesters, including minors, who they said are not being provided with lawyers and who have in some cases been charged with terrorism.President Nicolas Maduro and other officials have touted “knock-knock” as a means of targeting those behind violence at the protests, who they have described as “fascist criminals.”“Operation knock-knock is the name given by certain government spokespeople, informally, to the escalating repression,” said Gonzalo Himiob, vice-president of legal advocacy group Foro Penal.“It’s called knock-knock because that’s the bang on the door you get in the early hours of the morning,” he said.Venezuela’s electoral authority, who the opposition says favours the ruling socialists, has proclaimed Maduro the winner in the July 28 vote, saying he was re-elected with around 51% of the vote, beating opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez.The opposition says its own detailed tally shows Gonzalez likely received 67% of the vote, winning by a margin of nearly 4mn votes, and earning more than double Maduro’s support, a result in line with independent exit polls.That triggered angry protests from Venezuelans across the country over the last week, demanding that Maduro step down and a Gonzalez win be honoured. Smaller protests have backed Maduro.The US and a number of other countries in the Americas have backed Gonzalez as the election’s winner, while others, including European Union nations like France and Spain, have called for the prompt publishing of electoral rolls.Russia, China, and some others have backed Maduro’s claim to victory.Maduro told supporters on Saturday that some 2,000 people had been arrested during the protests. US-based Human Rights Watch has reported at least 20 people have been killed.Foro Penal said yesterday that it has confirmed 1,010 arrests.In a joint letter signed on Monday, Gonzalez and popular opposition leader Maria Corina Machado wrote: “We are appealing to the conscience of the military and the police and asking them to stand at the side of the people and of their own families.”But the military has long been loyal to Maduro.“I’m willing to do anything and I am counting on you to ensure order prevails,” Maduro told them in a broadcast on state television on Sunday.Venezuela’s government is taking a hardline approach, moving quickly, to make sure it holds on to power, advocacy groups said.“Staying in power means neutralising and crushing social discontent,” said Oscar Murillo, co-ordinator for local rights group Provea.The attorney general’s office has denied those arrested were protesters, instead labelling them as violent criminals behind acts of vandalism, including tearing down statues of late president Hugo Chavez, Maduro’s mentor.Two members of the military have been killed, according to Venezuelan authorities.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/688049/international/venezuelan-security-forces-knocking-hard-on-protesters

Anti-war Russian pianist dies in prison after hunger strike

A Russian pianist and anti-war activist has died in prison after going on hunger strike, his mother said, in what the European Union called a shocking case of political repression.The death of Pavel Kushnir was first reported by a Russian news site last Friday and confirmed to independent outlet Mediazona yesterday by his mother, Irina Levina.A Telegram channel with links to Russia’s security services reported in May that Kushnir had been arrested and accused of inciting terrorist activity after posting anti-war material online.Levina told Mediazona that an investigator from the FSB security service had told her that Kushnir died on July 28 while in pre-trial detention in Birobidzhan in Russia’s far east. It was not clear how long he had been on hunger strike. Levina said she had been told that he was hooked up to an intravenous drip “but apparently this was not enough” to save him.Kushnir was an accomplished concert pianist who had studied at Moscow’s Tchaikovsky conservatory.EU external affairs spokesperson Peter Stano posted on X that the case was a “shocking reminder of (the) Kremlin’s ongoing repression” and urged Russia to “respect its Constitution, release all prisoners of conscience & stop repression against anti-war protesters”.An independent Siberian politician, Svetlana Kaverzina, said Kushnir had been left isolated and without support because there was no local network of dissidents, and people had not known about his case.“We couldn’t chip in and send him a lawyer — we didn’t know. We didn’t write him letters of support — we didn’t know. We didn’t talk him out of sacrificing himself — we didn’t know. He was alone,” she wrote on Telegram.Russia released eight dissidents from its penal colonies last week together with American ex-marine Paul Whelan and journalists Evan Gershkovich and Alsu Kurmasheva as part of the biggest prisoner swap with the West since the Cold War.Human rights group Memorial says, however, that 333 people are still held as political prisoners in Russia, which has heightened a crackdown on dissent since launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.The Kremlin says Russia needs to uphold its laws to protect against threatening and subversive activity, which it frequently says is orchestrated by the West. It does not comment on individual cases, saying they are a matter for the courts and the prison service.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/688048/international/anti-war-russian-pianist-dies-in-prison-after-hunger-strike

Philippines, Germany commit to reaching defence pact

The Philippines and Germany yesterday committed to signing a defence co-operation arrangement this year, vowing to uphold international rules-based order in the region as tensions flare over disputed areas of the South China Sea.China and the Philippines have traded accusations in recent months over clashes in the South China Sea, including charges China intentionally rammed Manila’s navy boats, seriously injuring a Filipino sailor.Beijing has disputed this, saying its actions were lawful and professional.German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius and his Philippine counterpart Gilberto Teodoro committed to establishing long-term relations between their armed forces to expand training and bilateral exchanges, explore opportunities to expand bilateral armaments cooperation and engage in joint projects.The meeting in Manila was the first such visit by a German defence minister, as their countries mark 70 years of diplomatic relations.China claims sovereignty over most of the South China Sea, including areas claimed as exclusive economic zones by Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia.In 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague said Beijing’s claims had no legal basis. China rejects that decision.“This ruling remains valid, without any exceptions,” said Pistorius. “It is our obligation to strengthen the maritime border and we are living up to it.”China’s foreign affairs ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/687980/international/philippines-germany-commit-to-reaching-defence-pact

Police patrol far-right protests after third night of riots in British cities

UK police monitored several far-right protests and counter-demonstrations yesterday after a third night of rioting linked to misinformation about a mass stabbing that killed three young girls sparked fears of more unrest.The violence, which has seen scores of arrests across England and put Britain’s Muslim community on edge, presents the biggest challenge yet of Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s month-old premiership.It has also put hard-right agitators linked to football hooliganism in the spotlight at a time when anti-immigration elements are enjoying some electoral success in British politics.By early afternoon, demonstrations were underway in several UK cities, including Manchester, Leeds, Nottingham, Portsmouth and London, as well as Belfast in the province of Northern Ireland.There were no immediate reports of violence. Police are on high alert after 10 people were arrested and four officers required hospital treatment following a riot in the northeastern English city of Sunderland late on Friday.Footage broadcast by the BBC showed a mob of several hundred rampaging in Sunderland’s city centre, attacking police and setting fire to at least one car and a building next to a police station. Other images shared on social media showed balaclava-clad youths throwing bricks and other missiles as fireworks and flares were let off, while shops were also looted. “This was not a protest, this was unforgivable violence and disorder,” Northumbria Police Chief Superintendent Mark Hall told reporters.The unrest followed two nights of disturbances in several English towns and cities in the wake of Monday’s frenzied knife attack in Southport, near Liverpool on England’s northwest coast. They were fuelled by false rumours on social media about the background of British-born 17-year-old suspect Axel Rudakubana, charged with several counts of murder and attempted murder over the attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance party.After violence in Southport late on Tuesday, unrest rocked the northern cities of Hartlepool and Manchester as well as London 24 hours later, where 111 people were arrested outside Starmer’s Downing Street residence. In Southport, the mob threw bricks at a mosque, prompting hundreds of Muslim places of worship across the country to step up security amid fears of more anti-Islamic demonstrations.Police blamed supporters of the disbanded English Defence League, an anti-Islam organisation founded 15 years ago whose supporters have been linked to football hooliganism. In Sunderland on Friday, rioters attacked police officers, set a police station and two cars on fire, and again targeted a mosque.Anti-racism campaign group Hope Not Hate has identified more than 30 events planned for Saturday and Sunday. Far-right social media channels have advertised “enough is enough” anti-immigrant rallies, while anti-fascism groups have vowed to stage counter-protests. In Hull, one group of demonstrators chanted “You’re not British any more,” while counter-protesters shouted “Say it loud, say it clear, refugees are welcome here,” the BBC reported.In London, demonstrators attending a regular pro-Palestinian march appeared undeterred by an expected separate anti-immigration protest. “My parents told me not to come today but I am from here. The UK is my home,” 24-year-old student Meraaj Harun told AFP.Counter protests were also expected in the central city of Nottingham while South Yorkshire police said they knew of a planned protest in the town of Rotherham. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has accused “thugs” of “hijacking” the nation’s grief to “sow hatred” and pledged that anyone carrying out violent acts would “face the full force of the law”.He has announced new measures that will allow the sharing of intelligence, wider deployment of facial-recognition technology and criminal behaviour orders to restrict troublemakers from travelling. Labour politicians have accused Reform UK party leader Nigel Farage of stoking the trouble.At last month’s election, his anti-immigrant Reform UK party captured 14% of the vote - one of the largest vote shares for a far-right British party.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/687922/international/police-patrol-far-right-protests-after-third-night-of-riots-in-british-cities

In solidarity with Gaza

People attend a demonstration in support of Palestinians in Gaza, amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict, in London, Britain.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/687921/international/in-solidarity-with-gaza

Scholz lines up fresh crisis talks with property titans

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is launching a fresh bid to tackle a property crisis as the country braces for recession and elections that could bolster the far-right.The government has scheduled a meeting of politicians, ministries and industry representatives in Hamburg on December 6, two top industry officials said.The meeting will address the housing shortage in Europe’s most populous country, one exacerbated by the failure of major developers and a crash in investment and financing as real estate prices slumped.The last such gathering in September produced a raft of government proposals but little concrete action.“It shows something is happening,” Iris Schoeberl, president of the German Property Federation representing 37,000 firms, said of the renewed effort.“It also sends a strong signal to the people that the chancellor is tackling the issue.” Tim-Oliver Mueller, head of the German Construction Industry Federation, lamented that “much of what was discussed previously has come to nothing”.“We need concrete steps and real action,” he said.Germany’s €730bn property industry contributes a fifth of the country’s output, eclipsing its auto sector.Industry leaders have been pushing for changes including a cut to Germany’s property sales tax, which can be 6% of the price of a home, and relaxing rules to make it cheaper to build.The government didn’t respond to a request for comment. The housing ministry said it was working to support the industry with measures such as speeding up the building approvals process.For years, low interest rates and a strong economy fuelled a German property boom, which ended in 2022 when rampant inflation forced the European Central Bank to swiftly raise borrowing costs. The ensuing funk resulted in a slowing of deals, stalled projects and top developers going bust. Recent data still shows an accelerating fall in building permits for apartments, and another plummet in new building starts in the first half of the year.While the ECB’s June rate cut sparked hopes of a revival, executives remain cautious. Rolf Buch, chief executive of one of the nation’s biggest landlords Vonovia, which reported another loss for the first half of the year, predicts more property companies will go bust.Germany has failed to meet its goal of building 400,000 apartments a year as millions flock to the country to escape wars and in search of work.The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which has campaigned for policies to support housing, has a chance of winning state elections later this year as the popularity of Scholz’s three-way coalition slips ahead of a 2025 federal vote.“The housing shortage can lead to populists increasingly taking up the issue with supposedly simple answers,” warned the German Property Federation’s Schoeberl.Scholz, who is regularly confronted about the lack of affordable housing, told one gathering in Mainz earlier this year: “We must find a way so that housing goes up where it is sought and needed.”After spending tens of billions to tackle the energy crisis and boost defence spending, Germany has little left for the property crisis, with Mueller also blaming fragmented responsibility between the federal government and the 16 states for hobbling a response. Felix Pakleppa, chief executive of the ZDB industry association representing 35,000 building firms, said there should be subsidies and fewer energy-related regulations.“We in Germany have become accustomed to the gold standard for technical building specifications, which has made construction projects ever more demanding and costly,” he said.Since the September meeting, the drumbeat of bad news has continued, with the collapse of Rene Benko’s Signa real estate empire, which had a major footprint in Germany, one of the more notable failures.Some banks have also come under stress while a Frankfurt skyscraper home to Germany’s central bank and asset manager Deka filed for insolvency. Apollo-owned Demire also said four subsidiaries will file for insolvency after its bank refused to renegotiate a loan.Schoeberl, meanwhile, is pushing for measures to allow developers to build quickly, and for consistently low interest loans from a government-backed bank.“What real estate needs is trust and the ability to plan,” she said.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/687920/international/scholz-lines-up-fresh-crisis-talks-with-property-titans

Harris secures Democratic presidential nomination

US Vice-President Kamala Harris (pictured) effectively secured the Democratic party’s presidential nomination yesterday, confirming her remarkable rise to party standard bearer in November’s showdown against Republican Donald Trump.Harris, 59, was the sole candidate on the ballot for a five-day electronic vote of nearly 4,000 party convention delegates.The first black and south Asian woman ever to secure a major party’s nomination, she will be officially crowned at a Chicago convention later this month.“I am honoured to be the presumptive Democratic nominee for president of the United States,” Harris said on a phone-in to a party celebration after securing enough votes by the second day of the marathon virtual vote.In the two weeks since Joe Biden ended his re-election bid, Harris has gained full control of the party, smashing fundraising records, packing arenas and erasing the polling leads Trump had built over the president.“I couldn’t be prouder,” Biden posted on X after her nomination.The nomination milestone came with Harris preparing to hit the campaign trail next week for a swing across seven crucial election states alongside her yet-to-be-named running mate.The Democratic Party decided on a virtual nomination process – departing with tradition and mirroring the procedure used in the pandemic-hit 2020 election – because of an early deadline in Ohio for submitting the names of certified candidates.The virtual roll call marks the official beginning of the 2024 convention, with the more traditional festivities getting going when thousands of party faithful descend on Chicago on August 19.The gathering will feature a ceremonial vote for Harris in what is expected to be a raucous celebration of her rise from California prosecutor to historic candidate vying for the nation’s highest office.Trump’s White House bid was turned upside down on July 21 when 81-year-old Biden, facing growing concerns about his age and lagging polling numbers, withdrew his candidacy and backed Harris.Energetic and two decades younger than 78-year-old Trump, the vice-president has made a fast start, raising $310mn in July, according to her campaign – more than double Trump’s haul.She and her running mate are scheduled to rally Tuesday in Pennsylvania – a crucial swing state, where Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro is on the shortlist to join Harris’s ticket.Biden beat Trump in Pennsylvania in 2020 by around 80,000 votes and it is seen as the biggest prize of the closely fought battlegrounds that decide the Electoral College system.The Keystone State is part of the so-called blue wall that carried Biden to victory in 2020, alongside Michigan and Wisconsin, two states where Harris is due to woo crowds on Wednesday.Harris will also tour the more racially diverse Sun Belt and southern states of Georgia, North Carolina Arizona, North Carolina and Nevada as she seeks to shore up the black and Hispanic vote that had been peeling away from the Democrats.In a sign that the Harris campaign is thinking big, US media reported that a raft of senior advisers from Barack Obama’s own historic candidacies in 2008 and 2012 have taken up top positions with her.David Plouffe, who was manager of Obama’s presidential campaign in 2008 and a senior aide during his 2012 victory, joined Harris’s campaign for president as a senior adviser, a source said.The Harris campaign is also being joined by Stephanie Cutter, a Democratic communications veteran, who previously served as Obama’s White House communications director and deputy campaign manager.She will join the campaign as senior adviser on strategy messaging.Cutter’s firm is on contract to produce the Democratic National Convention in August.Other Obama alums joining the campaign include Mitch Stewart, who worked on both Obama campaigns, and will come in as senior adviser on battleground states.David Binder, who led Obama’s public opinion research operation, will expand his role on the Harris campaign to lead the opinion research operation.All of the new hires will report to Harris campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon, another veteran of Obama’s two campaigns, who managed Biden’s 2020 campaign and built his 2024 operation from the White House.Where the now defunct Biden re-election campaign made high-minded appeals to the nation’s founding principles, Harris’s messaging has focused on the future, repositioning the race as a battle for “freedom” rather than the less tangible “democracy” that the president emphasised.She and her allies have also been more aggressive than the Biden camp – mocking Trump for reneging on his commitment to a September debate and characterising the convicted felon as an elderly crook and “weird”.“Some days I feel sorry for Republicans, because they’ve got to figure out how to run a criminal against a prosecutor,” Georgia Senator Raphael Warnock said at Harris’s Atlanta event.On the detail, however, Harris has been tight-lipped.While she has disavowed some of the leftist positions she took during her ill-fated 2020 primary campaign, she hasn’t given a wide-ranging interview since jumping into the race, meaning voters have no clear picture of her overall vision.Meanwhile Trump and his Republicans have struggled to adapt to their new adversary or hone their attacks against Harris – at first messaging that she was dangerously liberal on immigration and crime before pivoting to accusing her falsely of pretending to be black for political purposes.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/687846/international/harris-secures-democratic-presidential-nomination

Day 2: Nigerian police crack down on protests as rights group says 13 killed

Nigerian police fired shots in the air to break up protests in the capital Abuja yesterday as rights group Amnesty International accused security forces of killing at least 13 demonstrators during nationwide rallies against economic hardship. Curfews were in place across several northern states and there was a heavy security presence on the second day of the demonstrations.An AFP photographer saw police in Abuja firing rifle shots over the heads of protesters in the city centre, while security forces scattered hundreds of protesters using tear gas.“We were ruthlessly dispersed, but I think that it only made us more resolute,” said 29-year-old activist Damilare Adenola, leader of the Take It Back group organising protests in Abuja. “Hunger is the greatest motivation of this protest - that is why we are calling for the end of bad governance.”The turnout was lower than on Thursday, when thousands took to the streets in cities across the country calling for the government to reduce fuel prices and tackle Nigeria’s worst economic crisis in a generation. Africa’s most populous country is battling high inflation and a tumbling naira after President Bola Ahmed Tinubu ended a fuel subsidy and liberalised the currency more than a year ago in reforms the government says will improve the economy in the long term.Dubbed #EndbadGovernanceinNigeria, the protest movement won support with an online campaign, but officials had warned against attempts to follow the same path as recent violent demonstrations in Kenya, where protesters forced the government to abandon new taxes. Nigerian protest leaders have vowed to press ahead with rallies in the coming days despite warnings from the authorities.Police said they had made hundreds of arrests across the country including 269 people they accused of “destruction, looting, and instigating chaos” in the northern city Kano on Thursday. Anietie Ewang, a researcher at Human Rights Watch, said she was concerned by “reports of excessive use of force by Nigerian security forces” and urged the authorities to listen to protesters.In a statement on X yesterday, Amnesty International said security forces killed six people in Suleja near the capital, four in the northeastern city of Maiduguri and three in Kaduna in the northwest the previous day. “Our findings, so far, show that security personnel at the locations where lives were lost deliberately used tactics designed to kill while dealing with gatherings of people protesting hunger and deep poverty,” Amnesty said.Conflicting accounts have emerged over the number of deaths and police in Maiduguri told AFP four people died in explosions, without providing details. On Thursday, the national police chief rejected claims that officers had attacked peaceful protesters and said one officer had been killed and others injured, without providing details.In a statement on X, Inspector General Kayode Egbetokun said he had “placed all units on red alert” to respond to “further threats to public safety and order.” Kano was calmer on Friday following intense clashes between police and protesters the previous day, but residents said hundreds of people demonstrated in the nearby town of Minjibir.Officials have imposed a curfew in Kano as well as in the northern states Yobe, Katsina, Borno and Jigawa. In Nigeria’s economic hub Lagos, a few dozen protesters gathered in the Ojota area yesterday. Around 1,000 people marched peacefully in the mainland area on Thursday, chanting “Tinubu Ole”, using the Yoruba language word for thief. Nigerians are struggling with high costs - food inflation is at 40% and fuel has tripled in price since a year ago - but many people were also wary about insecurity around protests.Nigeria’s protests come after Kenyan President William Ruto was forced to repeal new taxes and name a new cabinet following weeks of anti-government protests in the worst crisis in his almost two years in office.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/687845/international/day-2-nigerian-police-crack-down-on-protests-as-rights-group-says-13-killed

Trump loses appeal of gag order in hush money criminal case

A New York state appeals court has rejected Donald Trump’s challenge to a gag order in his hush money criminal case, where the former US president was convicted in May on charges stemming from hush money paid to an adult entertainment actor.The decision by the Appellate Division in Manhattan means the Republican presidential nominee cannot comment publicly about individual prosecutors and others in the case until Justice Juan Merchan sentences him on September 18, seven weeks before the November 5 election.Trump’s lawyers have argued that the gag order violated Trump’s constitutional free speech rights under the First Amendment.Steven Cheung, a spokesperson for Trump’s campaign, said Trump “continues to forcefully challenge” the gag order.“The gag order is blatantly un-American as it continues to gag President Trump,” Cheung said in a statement.Merchan imposed the gag order a few weeks before the trial began on April 22, saying Trump’s history of making threatening statements could undermine the proceedings.The original order prevented Trump from commenting on prosecutors, court staff, witnesses and jurors.A separate order against naming the anonymous jurors remains in effect.Merchan lifted the restrictions on witnesses and jurors following Trump’s May 30 conviction.The Appellate Division, a mid-level appeals court, said threats that Bragg’s staff received in the wake of the verdict continue to pose a “significant and immediate” threat. – Reuters

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/687803/international/trump-loses-appeal-of-gag-order-in-hush-money-criminal-case

Lahore hit by record rainfall

Pakistan’s second-largest city of Lahore was deluged with record-breaking rainfall yesterday, the national weather agency said, with hospitals flooded, power interrupted and streets in the metropolis submerged.The eastern city was lashed by almost 360mm (14”) of rain in three hours, the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) said.“This was record-breaking rainfall,” the agency’s deputy director Farooq Dar told AFP.The previous record dates to July 1980, when 332mm fell over three hours.“Look at all these buckets and how much water has accumulated. We’re exhausted from trying to remove the water,” Sadam, a 32-year-old shopkeeper, told AFP as he took stock of his considerable losses.The PMD had forecast a wetter-than-usual monsoon season this year for Pakistan, one of the countries experts say is most vulnerable to extreme weather being spurred by climate change.Over the past three days, 24 people have been killed by rainfall in the country’s mountainous northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the Provincial Disaster Management Authority said.In Lahore, a city of 13mn in the eastern Punjab province, one person was killed by electrocution as a result of yesterday’s cloudburst, according to local police.The city’s commissioner declared an emergency and said offices and schools would be shut for the day.Yasir Ali, a 26-year-old resident, said it was a “sad day for the nation”.“For a poor person it is heartbreaking that he’s been unable to go to work today,” he told AFP.Two government hospitals in Lahore reported flooding in their wards, and there were intermittent power outages continuing into the afternoon.Roads were also submerged, bringing traffic and businesses to a standstill.Ahmed Khan, 48, who earns a daily wage, appealed to the government “to pay some attention here and resolve this water issue”.Maryam Sharif, the chief minister of Punjab province, posted on X that “the entire government machinery is in the field” to drain the water.The summer monsoon brings to South Asia about 70-80% of the region’s annual rainfall between June and September.It is vital for agriculture, but changing weather patterns that scientists attribute to climate change are putting both lives and livelihoods at risk.Earlier this year Pakistan – home to 240mn people – was hit by a succession of heatwaves and this April was the wettest since 1961.At least 143 people died from lightning strikes and other storm-related incidents in April.In neighbouring India, at least 160 people, most believed to be labourers and their families, have been killed by torrential rains causing landslides in the southern coastal state of Kerala.In 2022, a third of Pakistan was submerged by unprecedented monsoon rains that displaced millions of people and cost $30bn, according to a World Bank estimate.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/687801/international/lahore-hit-by-record-rainfall