Month: January 2023

40 Killed in Senegal Bus Disaster

Posted on by SeeAF

Forty people were killed and 85 were injured when two buses crashed in a head-on collision overnight on an arterial road in Senegal’s central Kaffrine region, the government said on Sunday.

Images of the incident showed the completely mangled front end of a white bus, with blood-flecked seats, personal items and a shoe strewn around the tree-lined crash site.

Road accidents are common in Senegal, largely because of driver error, poor roads and decrepit vehicles, say experts, but the latest disaster has caused one of the heaviest losses of life from a single incident in recent years.

In a statement, the government announced three days of national mourning beginning Monday, with flags to be flown at half-mast throughout the country.

President Macky Sall will visit the crash site just outside of the village of Sikilo on Sunday, it said.

“In view of this tragedy, the head of state extends his deepest condolences to the families of the victims and wishes a speedy recovery to the injured,” the government said.

Public prosecutor, Cheikh Dieng, said in a statement that early investigations suggested a public passenger bus suffered a burst tire and swerved off course.

It then crashed “head-on with another bus coming in the opposite direction,” he said.

‘Tragic’

The statement said the incident happened around 0330 GMT.

It is “a tragic accident,” Kaffrine mayor Abdoulaye Saidu Sow, who is also the Minister of Urbanism, told AFP.

Speaking from Kaffrine, he said President Sall would be joined there by the prime minister and several other ministers on Sunday.

Opposition politician Ousmane Sonko announced on Twitter that he would postpone a scheduled fundraising program in light of the accident.

“We bow before the memory of the deceased, offer our very sincere condolences to their grieving loved ones and to all Senegalese and pray for the merciful rest of their souls as well as a speedy recovery for the injured,” he said.

Colonel Cheikh Fall, who heads operations for the National Fire Brigade, told AFP the victims were taken to a hospital and medical center in Kaffrine.

The wreckage has since been cleared and normal traffic has resumed on the road, he said.

The governor and local officials have visited the scene, he added.

In a tweet, President Sall said that after the period of national mourning finished, a government council will be held to “take firm measures on road safety.”

In October 2020, at least 16 people were killed and 15 more injured when a bus collided with a refrigerated lorry in western Senegal.

The bus, with a 60-seat capacity, was heading to Rosso near the border with Mauritania, the fire brigade said, adding that the number of people onboard was unknown.

Local media said at the time that the truck was hauling fish to Dakar.
…

your ad here

NATO Declines Serbia’s Request to Deploy Its Troops in Kosovo

Posted on by SeeEU

NATO’s mission in Kosovo, KFOR, has declined a Serbian government request to send up to 1,000 police and army personnel to Kosovo after clashes between Serbs and the Kosovo authorities, President Aleksandar Vucic said on Sunday.

Serbia’s former province of Kosovo declared independence in 2008 following the 1998-1999 war during which NATO bombed rump-Yugoslavia, comprising Serbia and Montenegro, to protect Albanian-majority Kosovo.

“They (KFOR) replied they consider that there is no need for the return of the Serbian army to Kosovo … citing the United Nations resolution approving their mandate in Kosovo,” Serbia’s Vucic said in an interview with the private Pink television.

Last month, for the first time since the end of the war, Serbia requested to deploy troops in Kosovo in response to clashes between Kosovo authorities and Serbs in the northern region where they constitute a majority.

The U. N. Security Council resolution says Serbia may be allowed, if approved by KFOR, to station its personnel at border crossings, Orthodox Christian religious sites and areas with Serb majorities.

Vucic criticized KFOR for informing Serbia of its decision on the eve of the Christian Orthodox Christmas, after Kosovo police arrested an off-duty soldier suspected of shooting and wounding two young Serbs near the southern town of Shterpce.

Police said both victims, aged 11 and 21, were taken to hospital and their injuries were not life threatening.

Kosovo authorities condemned the incident, which has inflamed tensions.

On Sunday, a few thousands Serbs protested peacefully in Shterpce against what they called “violence against Serbs.”

Goran Rakic, the head of the Serb List, which is the main Serb party in Kosovo, accused Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti of trying to drive out Serbs.

“His goal is to create such conditions so that Serbs leave their homes,” Rakic told the crowd. “My message is that we must not surrender.”

Serbian media reported that another young man was allegedly attacked and beaten up by a group of Albanians early on Saturday, while media in Pristina reported that a Kosovo bus going to Germany through Serbia was attacked and its windscreen broken with rocks late that same day.

International organizations condemned the attacks, expected to deepen mistrust between majority ethnic Albanians and around 100,000 ethnic Serbs that live in Kosovo. Half of them live in the north and most refuse to recognize Kosovo’s independence.
…

your ad here

US Town ‘Wraps its Mind’ Around 6-Year-Old School Shooter

Posted on by SeeUS

The mayor of Newport News, Virginia says the city is working to ensure that the elementary school child who shot a teacher Friday receives the support and services he needs.

In the statement issued on the city’s website Saturday Mayor Phillip Jones said, “It is almost impossible to wrap our minds around the fact that a 6-year-old 1st grader brought a loaded handgun to school and shot a teacher; however, this is exactly what our community is grappling with today.”

The shooting happened at Richneck Elementary School.  Neither the child nor his teacher have been identified by the police.

However, Jonathan R. Alger, president of James Madison University, located in Harrisonburg, Virginia, posted a statement on Facebook identifying the teacher as a university alumna, Abby Zwerner.  The statement also said “JMU is prepared to support those impacted by this incident now and in the weeks to come.”

The boy was taken into custody.  Police said the shooting was not accidental.

It was not immediately clear how the child was able to obtain the gun.

No one else was hurt in the incident.

School Superintendent George Parker, III said in a statement Saturday that the teacher is in stable condition.  Initially the teacher’s injuries were said to be life-threatening.

“There are many concerns that we will need to unpack,” Parker said, “before we will be able to determine if any additional preventive measures would have impacted the probability of this incident occurring.” 
…

your ad here

UK: Russia Facing Dilemma on Where to Focus in Ukraine

Posted on by SeeEU

Briain’s defense ministry said Sunday in an intelligence update about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that Russia seems undecided about where the greatest threat from Ukraine lies.

In the update, posted on Twitter, the ministry said, “The way Russia has worked on improving defenses suggests commanders are highly likely pre-occupied with the potential for major Ukrainian offensive action in two sectors: either in northern Luhansk Oblast, or in Zaporizhzhia. A major Ukrainian breakthrough in Zaporizhzhia would seriously challenge the viability of Russia’s ‘land bridge’ linking Russia’s Rostov region and Crimea; Ukrainian success in Luhansk would further undermine Russia’s professed war aim of liberating’ the Donbas.

“Deciding which of these threats to prioritize countering,” the report said, is “likely one of the central dilemmas for Russian operational planners.”

Shelling rocked the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut on Saturday, despite Russian President Vladimir Putin’s declaration of a 36-hour cease-fire to observe eastern Orthodox Christmas.

Artillery fire could be heard on both sides of the front line in Bakhmut, where Russian forces have concentrated much of their firepower trying to push west toward Kramatorsk.

What was once a city of 70,000 people is now a city mostly abandoned, its reduced population kept alive by volunteers who help maintain invincibility centers, which are often tents set up to offer electricity, internet service, heat, water and medicine.

“When we visited another invincibility point yesterday for 15-20 minutes, a rocket hit us. It damaged a volunteer vehicle, killed one person, and injured four,” Vasyl Lieslin, a humanitarian volunteer wearing a helmet and a flak jacket, told Reuters reporters on the ground.

“Volunteers were injured, and one local Bakhmut volunteer lost a limb and was evacuated. I hope that people were in their protective gear, but the situation is unclear. We know they were seriously injured,” Lieslin said.

Olha, who would not give her surname, scoffed at Putin’s empty gesture of any Christmas respite from Russia’s onslaught.

“I think they’re tricking us, it’s pretty obvious to me,” she said.

“What else can I tell you? If someone makes a promise, that someone must fulfill it. Promises are made to be kept. I just don’t understand, what do they need?” she said to Reuters reporters.

Russia shelled dozens of places along the front line during the cease-fire, the general staff of the Ukrainian armed forces said. Russia said it was only returning fire when fired upon.

Bakhmut’s underground

Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, which is fighting alongside regular Russian army troops in the battle of Bakhmut, said on Telegram he wanted to capture the small town because it contained “underground cities” that can hold troops and tanks.

“The cherry on the cake is the system of Soledar and Bakhmut mines, which is actually a network of underground cities. It not only [has the ability to hold] a big group of people at a depth of 80-100 meters, but tanks and infantry fighting vehicles can also move about,” Prigozhin said on Telegram.

Prigozhin, who likely would see his political influence in Moscow boosted if Bakhmut fell to Russia given Wagner’s role in the fighting there, said stockpiles of weapons had been stored in the underground complexes since World War I.

His comments were a reference to vast salt and other mines in the area, which contain more than 100 miles of tunnels and a vast underground room that has hosted football matches and classical music concerts in more peaceful times.

Prigozhin, also called Bakhmut “a serious logistics center” with unique defensive fortifications.

Russia’s heavy losses over a five-month effort to advance in Bakhmut has led some Western military analysts to say that any Russian victory there, if it happens, would be pyrrhic.
…

your ad here

Public Now Can See Benedict’s Tomb at St. Peter’s Basilica

Posted on by SeeEU

The public can now visit the tomb of Pope Benedict XVI in the grottoes under St. Peter’s Basilica.

The pontiff was buried Jan. 5 immediately following a funeral in St. Peter’s Square. Benedict’s tomb lies in the grottoes under the basilica’s main floor.

The Vatican announced Saturday that the public could visit the tomb starting Sunday morning.

Benedict had lived since 2013 as pope emeritus, following his retirement from the papacy, the first pontiff to do so in 600 years. He died Dec. 31 at the age of 95, in the Vatican monastery where he spent his last years.

On Thursday, his longtime secretary, Archbishop Georg Gaenswein, imparted a final blessing after Benedict’s body, contained inside three coffins — the cypress one displayed in the square during the funeral presided over by Pope Francis, a zinc one and an outer one hewn from oak — were lowered into a space in the floor.

The remains were placed in the former tomb of Benedict’s predecessor, St. John Paul II. John Paul’s remains were moved up to a chapel on the main floor of the basilica following his 2011 beatification.

Some 50,000 people attended Benedict’s funeral, following three days of the body’s lying in state in the basilica, an event which drew nearly 200,000 viewers.

The name of Benedict, the Catholic church’s 265th pontiff, was engraved on a white marble slab, the Vatican said.

The Vatican didn’t say whether Pope Francis had privately visited the completed tomb of Benedict before public viewing was permitted or might do so at some other time.

On Sunday morning, Francis was leading a ceremony for the baptism of 13 babies in the Sistine Chapel. The chapel, frescoed by Michelangelo, is the traditional setting for the baptisms, an event which closes out the Vatican’s year-end ceremonies. 
…

your ad here

California Storm Leaves 330,000 Without Power

Posted on by SeeUS

Torrential downpours and damaging winds left hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses without power in California late Sunday as the area braced for the next onslaught of severe weather.

More than 330,000 homes and businesses were reported to be still without power in California as of 3:08 a.m. ET (8:08 GMT) on Sunday night, according to data from PowerOutage.us.

At least six people have died in the severe weather since New Year’s weekend, including a toddler killed by a fallen redwood tree crushing a mobile home in northern California.

Forecasters have meanwhile warned yet another “atmospheric river” of dense, moist tropical air will clobber California on Monday with rain and mountain snow.

A National Weather Service alert Saturday warned that the cumulative effect of successive heavy rainstorms since late December could bring rivers to record high levels and cause flooding across much of Central California.
…

your ad here

Teens’ Deaths Put Spotlight on US Police Chases

Posted on by SeeUS

It was a tragically high price to pay for catching a suspected car thief: two innocent teenagers dead and a police officer jailed, facing serious charges for a car crash that resulted from the pursuit.

Maggie Dunn, 17, and Caroline Gill, 16, who were cheerleaders for their high school in the southern Louisiana town of Brusly, died in the collision Saturday. They’re the latest fatalities among hundreds every year attributed to accidents involving police pursuits.

Many police departments have tightened their policies on such pursuits in recent years. However, National Highway Transportation Safety data show that 455 deaths were tied to police pursuits in 2020.

The Louisiana case is unusual in that the local prosecutor says the officer, 42-year-old David Cauthron, acted so recklessly that he should face charges and is preparing to ask a grand jury to consider bringing them.

Authorities say Cauthron, an officer in the town of Addis, joined a chase in rural West Baton Rouge Parish that started when police in Baton Rouge pursued a man suspected of stealing his father’s car.

Cauthron, authorities said, drove his police car through an intersection in Brusly, which is next to Addis, ignoring a red light and colliding with a car that held the two girls and Dunn’s 20-year-old brother, Liam, who was critically injured.

“In my experience, I have not seen a police officer charged criminally in a police pursuit case,” said Chicago civil rights attorney Andrew Stroth, who has handled numerous lawsuits in such cases but has no ties to the Louisiana collision.

Cauthron remained jailed Thursday, according to online records. Neither the jail nor the parish court clerk’s office listed an attorney for him.

Parish District Attorney Tony Clayton said in a news release this week that he intends to ask the grand jury to consider charging Cauthron. Possible charges include negligent homicide and negligent injury. Clayton stressed that the investigation will be thorough, but he made clear that he believes the hot pursuit of suspect Tyquel Zanders, 24, was a deadly mistake.

“Sirens and police vehicles do not give an officer the authority to cut through a red light,” Clayton wrote, adding that evidence so far indicates Cauthron was “grossly negligent.”

Clayton didn’t limit his criticism to Cauthron. He previously publicly questioned whether police in Baton Rouge should have pursued Sanders, who was arrested, uninjured, following a chase that involved multiple law enforcement agencies on both sides of the Mississippi River.

Baton Rouge news outlets, citing arrest records, say Zanders is accused of entering a relative’s home on Saturday and making off with his father’s car before leading police on a chase across the river and into Brusly, where the crash occurred. Authorities say Zanders drove back across the river and was arrested in Baton Rouge, where he is charged with car theft, home invasion and aggravated flight.

The Baton Rouge Police Department has a pursuit policy that is posted on the city’s website and lays out when officers can an can’t give chase. A department spokesman, Sgt. L’Jean McKneely, said the pursuit that led to the two teens’ deaths is under review.

Addis police officials did not respond to a request for information about the policy.

Police pursuit deaths often get less attention than controversies over the police use of force, but criminal justice reformers are very aware of them. Policies governing pursuits in New Orleans were adopted after the city agreed to myriad reforms under a 2012 court settlement that followed numerous high-profile incidents involving deadly force.

Michael Downing, a former deputy police chief in Los Angeles, said his department adopted stronger restrictions on pursuits because of deaths, injuries and lawsuits. Strong policies are needed to temper a police officer’s natural urge to pursue a criminal suspect, he said.

With no policy, Downing said, “their instincts are going to be engage, engage, engage.”

Policies differ from department to department, and the issues at play are complex, including whether a suspect poses an immediate threat, he said.

Despite the policies adopted across the country, pursuit-related deaths remain a problem, said Stroth.

“Officers driving willfully, wantonly at high rates of speed in densely populated communities where there’s no real threat,” Stroth said. “And the results have been tragic.”
…

your ad here

Benin Elects Lawmakers, With Opposition Allowed to Stand

Posted on by SeeAF

Benin votes for a new parliament Sunday with opposition candidates authorized to stand in the legislative elections after four years of absence.

Sunday’s vote will be a key test for the West African nation, where President Patrice Talon’s supporters say he has ushered in political and economic development, but critics argue that his mandate has eroded democracy.

At the last parliamentary votes in 2019, the opposition was de facto barred from participating after a tightening of electoral regulations.

Only two political movements allied with Talon were authorized to participate then, leading to a parliament controlled by pro-government parties.

The 2019 legislative elections were also marred by violence, record abstention and an internet shutdown, rare events in a country once seen as a model of democracy in West Africa.

On Sunday seven political parties, including three allied with the opposition, have been authorized to take part in the election.

But most of Talon’s main opponents are either in prison or in exile.

Reckya Madougou has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for “terrorism,” while Joel Aivo — an academic — was given 10 years in prison for “conspiracy against the authority of state” in December 2021.

Both were tried by a special court dealing with terrorism and economic crimes, known as the CRIET. Critics say the court, created by Talon’s government in 2016, has been used to crack down on his opponents.

Around 6.6 million voters are eligible to elect 109 deputies Sunday, including at least 24 women — at least one per constituency — according to a new electoral code.

Beyond the opposition’s drive to reclaim seats in parliament, Sunday’s election will impact the future of some of the other institutions in the small country, which sits between Nigeria and Togo.

The mandate of the Constitutional Court ends this year and, three years before the 2026 presidential ballot, the court’s composition is crucial as it oversees decisions on elections.

Four judges are appointed by lawmakers while the other three are chosen by the president. A wealthy businessman, Talon was elected in 2016 and reelected in 2021.
…

your ad here

Somali Government, Al-Shabab Deny Peace Talks

Posted on by SeeAF

The Somali government and the al-Shabab militant group have each denied having peace talks.

The denial came Saturday after Abdulfatah Kasim Mohamud, a deputy defense minister and member of the parliament, said the militant group had requested talks with the government.

A senior government official later officially denied receiving a request from the militant group.

“We have not received any requests from the group,” National Security Adviser Hussein Sheikh Ali told Voice of America Somali. “The minister said he was misquoted.”

Ali said the Somali government’s position on al-Shabab has not changed.

“Our policy towards talks with Alshabab remains the same,” he wrote in a message via WhatsApp.

“We aren’t negotiating with them as a group. However, individuals who wish to leave the group will undergo a thorough process to defect and be eligible for government amnesty formally,” he added.

The militant group has also denied the existence of any talks with the Somali government. A website affiliated with al-Shabab said the deputy defense minister’s claim that the group requested talks is “baseless.”

“I can confirm that there aren’t and can be no talks between us,” a militant official told the website. The official was said to be from the group’s media department, but his name was not published.

The al-Shabab official further ruled out the possibility of talks with Villa Somalia, the seat of Somalia’s government.

In the past, the group has expressed distrust in opening dialogue with the Somali government.

In January 2018, the group’s official spokesperson, Ali Mohamud Rage, known as Ali Dhere, said dialogue is “more dangerous than the weapons of mass destruction.”

“We heard from the infidels and apostates repeatedly stating that they are open to talks with the mujahedeen,” he told al-Shabab’s radio Andalus. “This is how the infidels use dialogue, as an approach to misguide the Muslims and destroy Muslim causes.”

He said the aim was to divide (the Mujahedeen) into groups, “so that they can support the group they see as moderates.”

Saturday, the president of Somalia, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, appointed Abdullahi Mohamed Nor as a senior presidential adviser for preventing and countering violent extremism. Nor had served as the country’s Minister of Internal Security until August this year.
…

your ad here

Meet the Clerk Who Kept Order While the House Chose Its Leader

Posted on by SeeUS

Standing up to nominate Rep. Byron Donalds for House speaker, Republican Rep. Chip Roy addressed the woman presiding over the chamber as “Madam speaker.”

The third-term congressman quickly corrected himself. “Madam clerk,” he acknowledged with a smile.

The flub, coming on the second day of voting, illustrated the rising stature of House clerk Cheryl Johnson, a central figure in the drama that became a dayslong effort to select a speaker. Round by round, she called for the start of each vote and announced at the end that, once again, no speaker had been elected.

That is, until early Saturday morning, when she named Rep. Kevin McCarthy the victor after the 15th vote.

Who is Cheryl Johnson?

According to her official bio, Johnson is the 36th person to serve as clerk and was first sworn in by then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi in 2019. She is the first Black woman to preside over the House chamber.

A New Orleans native, Johnson has worked for the House for nearly two decades, serving as chief investigative counsel and spokesperson for the Committee on Education and the Workforce. She was also counsel for the committee with oversight over the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian Institution, where she worked for 10 years liaising with congressional committees with jurisdiction over its funding.

A journalism and mass communication graduate of the University of Iowa, Johnson earned her law degree from Howard University and graduated from the senior management program at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

On Friday, in nominating Democratic House leader Hakeem Jeffries — whom Democrats unanimously supported throughout every round of voting — outgoing House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn addressed Johnson, thanking her for her service during a contentious week.

“Madam clerk, I want to begin by thanking you for your contribution to maintaining the dignity and honor of this august body,” said Clyburn, who as the No. 3 House Democrat had been the chamber’s highest-ranking Black member. “The eyes of the country are on us today. Let us consider what they will remember.”

What does the clerk do?

Until a speaker is chosen and members-elect are officially sworn in, the clerk oversees the chamber, tasked with calling each day’s session to order, calling the roll and deciding procedural questions that may arise.

It’s also up to the clerk to maintain order in the House chamber, which at times has involved using her gavel to tamp down a dull roar of chatter during the debate.

After there’s a speaker in place, the clerk’s role becomes more procedural, keeping records of floor activity, preparing, printing and distributing the daily journal, and certifying the passage of bills and resolutions.

The clerk also acts as a go-between for the House and the Senate, as well as the White House when the chamber isn’t in session, receiving and delivering messages. He or she also supervises the staff of any member who dies, resigns or is expelled, until a replacement is elected.

In addition to duties inside the chamber, there are several other offices whose jurisdiction falls under the clerk, including those tracking legislation, transcribing floor proceedings, and processing and retaining House records until they are transferred to the National Archives.

John Beckley of Virginia was chosen as the first clerk of the House in April 1789. The clerk also served as librarian of Congress until 1815, when that became a separate position.

How are clerks selected?

The clerk is a professional employee of Congress, one of the House officers elected every two years when the House organizes a new session.

Each caucus nominates candidates for those positions. Those elections happen after the session’s new speaker is selected.
…

your ad here

46 Ivorian Soldiers Return Home After Mali Pardon

Posted on by SeeAF

Forty-six Ivorian soldiers detained in Mali since July arrived home late Saturday, according to an AFP reporter at the airport, a day after they were pardoned by the neighboring country’s junta.

The troops, whose detention triggered a bitter diplomatic row between the neighboring countries, were arrested on July 10, 2022, after arriving in the Malian capital Bamako.

Mali accused them of being mercenaries, while Ivory Coast and the United Nations say they were flown in to provide routine backup security for the German contingent of the U.N. peacekeeping mission.

On Dec. 30, a Malian court sentenced the 46 soldiers to 20 years in prison, while three women among the original 49 arrested, received death sentences in absentia.

They were convicted of an “attack and conspiracy against the government” and of seeking to undermine state security, public prosecutor Ladji Sara said at the time.

On Friday, Mali’s junta leader Assimi Goita pardoned all 49 soldiers.

And on Saturday, the remaining 46 arrived at an airport in the Ivorian economic capital Abidjan.

After their plane landed at 11:40 p.m. local time (2340 GMT), the uniformed soldiers disembarked one by one, each carrying a small Ivorian flag.

They were greeted by President Alassane Ouattara before entering the presidential pavilion at the airport where their families were waiting for them.
…

your ad here

Ex-Pentagon Intelligence Analyst Who Spied for Cuba Freed

Posted on by SeeUS

A former U.S. defense intelligence analyst who was convicted of spying for Cuba more than 20 years ago has been released from a federal prison in Fort Worth, Texas.

Ana Belen Montes, 65, was released Friday, Federal Bureau of Prisons spokesperson Scott Taylor said Saturday.

Montes, an analyst for the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, was arrested in September 2001 and charged with spying for Cuba.

Montes pleaded guilty in 2002 to conspiring to commit espionage as part of a plea deal with federal prosecutors and was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

She acknowledged revealing the identities of four undercover agents for the U.S. to Cuban authorities and had faced a possible death sentence if convicted.

Federal prosecutors at the time said the four agents whose identities she revealed were not harmed.

U.S. prosecutors also accused Montes of disclosing to Cuba secrets so sensitive they could not be described publicly. Court records said she provided documents that revealed details about U.S. surveillance of Cuban weapons.

Officials at the time said Montes was believed to have been recruited by Cuban intelligence when she worked in the Freedom of Information office at the Justice Department between 1979 and 1985 and was asked to seek work at an agency that would provide more useful information to Cuba.

She began working for the Defense Intelligence Agency starting in 1985 and was considered a top analyst on the Cuban military.  
…

your ad here

Snow is a No-Show as Europe Feels the Winter Heat

Posted on by SeeEU

Mild weather has left many regions of Europe that would normally be blanketed in snow at this time of year bare, and winter sports resorts are fearing for the future.

Many are using snow machines to make artificial pistes or ‘snow runs’ leaving thin white lines snaking through otherwise green and brown landscapes.

In the Swiss village of Adelboden, organizers of Saturday’s ski World Cup race grappled with above-freezing temperatures to ensure athletes could compete in the popular event while spectators basked in the blazing sunshine.

Experts say this season’s lack of snow offers a glimpse of winters to come, as global temperatures keep rising due to human-caused climate change.

The impact is likely to be felt far beyond the regional tourist industry. Winter snow in European mountains such as the Alps is an important natural water store for parts of a continent that’s already suffering regular droughts the rest of the year.
…

your ad here

Christmas in a Bomb Shelter for Orthodox Ukrainians

Posted on by SeeEU

As artillery boomed outside and fighter jets flew overhead, Orthodox Christians in a battered eastern Ukrainian town held a Christmas service in a basement shelter Saturday, vowing not to let war ruin the holiday.

Nearly all the congregants and all but one choir singer had already fled Chasiv Yar for safer territory, leaving just nine people to attend the service in a residential building that partially collapsed from shelling in November.

“Christ was born in a cave. You and I are also in a cave,” priest Oleg Kruchinin told the group, gesturing to the basement lined with exposed wires and pipes and lit with an exposed bulb.

“This probably has a special meaning: Do not lose heart, do not give up… Because the Lord was born in a cave, and we also celebrate Christmas in cramped conditions.”

Chasiv Yar is situated 10 kilometers south of Bakhmut, the hottest point on the front line, and has lived under the constant threat of bombardment for many weeks.

For the first nine months of the war, the town’s Orthodox Christians worshipped in a white-brick church with golden domes, even though the building had no underground shelter.

But two weeks ago, a missile landed in the churchyard and shattered its windows, forcing them to relocate.

“One of our parishioners lives in this house, and now, since her apartment is partially destroyed, she lives in the basement, and she called us here,” explained Olga Kruchinina, the priest’s wife.

The church has done what it can to brighten the space, placing a tiny Christmas tree atop a wooden cupboard, hanging white and red tapestries and wrapping tree branches around one pipe like a garland.

Kruchinina said she was proud of the effort, even as she whipped out her mobile phone to show pictures of the larger, more lavishly decorated trees that stood in the church entrance a year ago.

“For us, everything is going well,” she said.

“When I think about the military guys I know, they are in much worse conditions.”

‘Unusual’ holiday

During the two-hour service, worshippers did their best to tune out the war, flinching only once in response to artillery fire.

Lighting beeswax candles, they lined up to give confession and receive communion as the strong smell of incense filled the low-ceilinged rooms.

The choir, formerly 15 strong, featured just one member: 62-year-old Zinaida Artyukhina, who led the group in psalms that often became solo performances.

“Normally I sing the alto part, so it was difficult to lead,” she said afterward.

“It’s unusual here. Today is my first time here in the basement,” she added.

“Thank God that we gathered at all.”

In his remarks, Priest Kruchinin compared the plight of those who have fled Chasiv Yar to that of Jesus, whose family fled to Egypt to escape King Herod.

“Today, many of our parishioners also evacuated. But everyone prays today with us wherever they are, where the Lord saved them from bombs and shells,” he said.

“And we hope that just as the Holy Family returned to their Jerusalem, in the same way our parishioners will return to their Chasiv Yar.”

In the meantime, the church hopes to keep the basement open to worshippers like Nina Popova, 77, who walks 3 kilometers to the building every day to read hymns — even when the temperature falls well below zero, as it did Saturday.

“We will serve as long as there is an opportunity,” said Kruchinina.

“If this becomes point ‘zero’ (on the front line), then of course we will not serve. But we don’t want it to turn out like this.”
…

your ad here

Ukrainian Startups Bring Tech Innovation to CES 2023

Posted on by SeeEU

The past year has been difficult for startups everywhere, but running a company in Ukraine during the Russian invasion comes with a whole different set of challenges.

Clinical psychologist Ivan Osadchyy brought his medical device, called Knopka, to this year’s consumer technology show known as CES in Las Vegas in hopes of getting it into U.S. hospitals.

His is one of a dozen Ukrainian startups backed by a government fund that are at CES this year to show their technology to the world.

“Two of our hospitals we operated before are ruined already and one is still occupied. So this is the biggest challenge,” Osadchyy said.

“The second challenge is for production and our team because they are shelling our electricity system and people are hard to work without lights, without heating in their flats,” he said.

Inspired by grandmother

He came up with the device after spending a year with his own grandmother in the hospital and finding that he had to track down nurses when she needed something.

The system works by notifying nurses when a patient has an abnormal heart rate, is due for treatment or otherwise needs help. The nurse can’t turn off their button until they’ve dealt with the issue.

“We are still working and operating because hospitals are open and we need to support them and provide efficiency and safety for patients as well,” he said.

Karina Kudriavtseva of the government-backed Ukrainian Startup Fund, says that, like Knopka, all the country’s startups have kept going since Russia’s invasion almost a year ago.

“The times have changed, their conditions have changed, but it can only make them stronger because all of the startups are working on the thing that to save the company, save the team, save the business, and save their lives, of course,” she said.

Conflict led to relocation, innovation

The invasion forced Valentyn Frechka to relocate to France, but he says his Releaf paper company has never stopped production.

When he was 16, Frechka decided to study alternative sources of cellulose in order to decrease deforestation. He’s now developed a technology that uses fallen leaves and recycled fiber to make paper.

The company’s main product is paper shopping bags, but they also make food packaging, egg trays and corrugated boxes.

Frechka said the conflict has forced the company to become more flexible and more open to opportunities.

“When this conflict happened and we located our company to France, we have found a lot of new partners and we have raised fundraising. We have raised the money for our needs,” he said. “So, it really makes us more open for the world.”
…

your ad here

Kurds from Around Europe Demonstrate Over Killings in Paris

Posted on by SeeEU

Thousands of Kurds from around France and Europe marched through Paris Saturday to show their anger over the unresolved murders of three Kurdish female activists in the French capital 10 years ago.

The marchers are also mourning three people killed outside a Kurdish cultural center in Paris two weeks ago in what prosecutors called a racist attack.

Kurdish activists from Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Belgium arrived in buses escorted by police and joined fellow Kurds from France in a peaceful march through northeast Paris. The demonstration was timed to mark the 10th anniversary of the killings of Sakine Cansiz, Fidan Dogan and Leyla Saylemez on Jan. 9, 2013.

Cansiz was a founder of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, also known as the PKK, which Turkey, the United States and the European Union consider a terrorist group.

Kurdish activists suspect the Turkish intelligence service was involved in the killings. The suspected attacker, a Turkish citizen, died in French custody before the case reached trial. Turkish officials suggested at the time that the killings may have been part of an internal feud among Kurdish activists or an attempt to derail peace talks.

Marchers carried banners bearing the victims’ portraits, as well as flags for the PKK, which is banned in Turkey.

Berfin Celebm, a 26-year-old who came from Amsterdam for the march, accused Turkey of involvement in both the 2013 and 2022 attacks.

“I want to support my struggle and I want to support Kurdish women,” she told The Associated Press.

While most marchers were Kurdish, the crowd also included left-wing French activists and some ethnic Turks.

“Today we are here to support our Kurdish friends because I am Turkish myself, and it is very important, because what is happening with the Kurdish people can happen to us as well tomorrow,” said Ibrahim Halac, a Turkish man living in Paris.

Organizers sought to keep the crowd contained. Paris police were on alert Saturday after skirmishes at Kurdish gatherings in the past, notably in response to last month’s shooting.

After the December 23 attack, the suspected assailant told investigators he had a “pathological” hatred of non-European foreigners, according to prosecutors. He was handed preliminary charges of racially motivated murder, though Kurdish activists suspect the attack was politically driven.

Turkey summoned France’s ambassador last week over what it called propaganda by Kurdish activists in France after the shooting.

The PKK has waged a separatist insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984. Turkey’s army has battled Kurdish militants affiliated with the PKK in southeast Turkey as well as in northern Iraq, and recently launched a series of strikes against Kurdish militant targets in northern Syria.
…

your ad here

NASA Satellite Falling From the Sky Soon

Posted on by SeeUS

A 38-year-old retired NASA satellite is about to fall from the sky.

NASA said Friday the chance of wreckage falling on anybody is “very low.” Most of the 5,400-pound (2,450-kilogram) satellite will burn up upon reentry, according to NASA. But some pieces are expected to survive.

The space agency put the odds of injury from falling debris at about 1-in-9,400.

The science satellite is expected to come down Sunday night, give or take 17 hours, according to the Defense Department.

The California-based Aerospace Corp., however, is targeting Monday morning, give or take 13 hours, along a track passing over Africa, Asia the Middle East and the westernmost areas of North and South America.

The Earth Radiation Budget Satellite, known as ERBS, was launched in 1984 aboard the space shuttle Challenger. Although its expected working lifetime was two years, the satellite kept making ozone and other atmospheric measurements until its retirement in 2005. The satellite studied how Earth absorbed and radiated energy from the sun.

The satellite got a special send-off from Challenger. America’s first woman in space, Sally Ride, released the satellite into orbit using the shuttle’s robot arm. That same mission also featured the first spacewalk by a U.S. woman: Kathryn Sullivan. It was the first time two female astronauts flew in space together.

It was the second and final spaceflight for Ride, who died in 2012.
…

your ad here

Somalia’s President Calls on Young al-Shabab Fighters to Surrender

Posted on by SeeAF

Somali president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has called on young al-Shabab fighters he says are “brainwashed” to surrender to the government amid ongoing military offensives against the group.

Speaking at a mosque in the country’s capital Friday, Mohamud, who last year after his election for second term declared an “all-out war” against the Islamist insurgents, also called on the al-Shabab fighters to denounce the terrorist ideology before it is too late.

His remarks came after the militants carried out two attacks on government forces in Somalia’s central region in two days, killing more than 43 people including senior officers.

He said he wants to tell the boys to return from the wrong path they are taking. He urged them to return to their government, to their people and to their religion. He said every step they take from now on will only increase their guilt.

The president’s message comes as Somali forces, backed by locals, continue battling the group in the “total war” he declared on the militants.  Government forces have liberated large swathes of territory from the group, mainly in the south-central state of Hirshabelle.

Speaking to state-run television in Mogadishu, Somali Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre said an investigation is underway into soldiers who were arrested on suspicion of facilitating the al-Shabab attack on the Villa Rays Hotel in Mogadishu in late November.  

Barre did not say how many soldiers were involved.

He says all the soldiers who were working that day have been arrested and an investigation is currently underway. He says he wants the ongoing investigation to be successful and impartial.

The hotel attack claimed by the militant group al-Shabab killed at least 13 people, including five al-Shabab attackers.

The popular Villa Rays hotel was located near the presidential palace in Mogadishu and was frequented by senior government and security officials.

The Somali government has been fighting al-Shabab for more than 15 years.  The Islamist group carries out deadly attacks in the Horn of Africa nation targeting government officials and African Union peacekeepers.
…

your ad here

UN Calls On Belarus to Drop Charges Against Nobel Peace Laureate

Posted on by SeeEU

The U.N. human rights office has called on the government of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko to drop criminal charges against Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Ales Bialiatski and to immediately free him from detention. 

Belarusian Laureate Ales Bialiatski went on trial Thursday in the capital, Minsk, on charges that human rights activists widely view as bogus.  If found guilty, he faces up to 12 years in jail.

Two other representatives of his organization, the Viasna Human Rights Center, also are on trial and could face lengthy prison sentences.  U.N. human rights spokesman Jeremy Laurence says his office has serious concerns about the conduct of their trial.

“The trio are among hundreds detained after a violent crackdown on anti-government protests back in 2020,” said Laurence. “We call for the charges against them to be dropped and their immediate release from detention.”  

Bialiatski jointly won the 2022 Nobel peace prize along with Russian human rights organization Memorial and the Ukrainian human rights organization Center for Civil Liberties.  Bialiatski did not attend the award ceremony in October because he was in prison.

Laurence says Bialiatski and his colleagues are being held on charges of financing protests against the government and of violating public order.

“I am not a lawyer, so I cannot go into the technical detail of the laws itself under which they have been charged,” said Laurence. “Suffice to say that we consider these to be arbitrary arrests, constitute arbitrary detention.  And that the charges are simply politically motivated.” 

Laurence notes the human rights office, and the special procedures unit are closely following the case.  He says concerns about widespread, gross violations in Belarus have been raised at the Human Rights Council and the U.N. General Assembly.
…

your ad here

After Peace Deal, Orthodox Ethiopians Keep a Christmas of Hope

Posted on by SeeAF

“I was able to come this year because there is peace,” says Asme Mamo as he joins crowds of worshippers celebrating Orthodox Christmas in the historic Ethiopian town of Lalibela.

Two months after a cease-fire deal between the Ethiopian government and Tigray rebels to end two years of devastating war, Africa’s largest Christian site is alive with excitement and religious fervor as the faithful flock to Lalibela for the festivities.

A white tide of tens of thousands of worshippers of all ages, draped in their immaculate “netela” [a shawl covering the head and shoulders], thronged the UNESCO World Heritage Site and its magnificent rock-hewn 12th and 13th century churches.  

In recent years, the crowds were much sparser in the Amhara town, one of Ethiopia’s holiest and most storied places.

Lalibela lies only 40 kilometers as the crow flies from Tigray, where the conflict erupted between government forces and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, or TPLF, in November 2020, spilling over periodically into neighboring regions.

The town itself was at the center of a fierce struggle between the warring sides, changing hands four times during the fighting, although the ancient churches appear to have been spared the scars of war.  

Seized by Tigray rebels in an offensive in mid-2021, it was recaptured by pro-government forces on December 1, 2021, before falling back into the hands of TPLF fighters 10 days later. The rebels finally left Lalibela at the end of December that year after they announced a withdrawal to their Tigray stronghold.  

A surprise peace deal was signed last November 2 in the South African capital Pretoria to silence the guns in northern Ethiopia and allow the gradual resumption of humanitarian aid and the restoration of basic services – communications, electricity, banking, transport – in Tigray, long cut off from the outside world.

‘So many people’

“I wanted to come last year but I couldn’t because of the war,” says Asme, who traveled from Wolkait in western Tigray, a disputed area claimed by both the Amhara and Tigrayan ethnic groups.  

“I didn’t expect so many people to be here,” says the 30-year-old science teacher of Amhara origin.  

The Pretoria agreement has allowed traffic to resume in northern Ethiopia, so Asme came to Lalibela by bus with fellow pilgrims from his home village.  

Others arrived on foot from surrounding villages, by car, or by plane from the capital Addis Ababa and abroad from countries such as Britain, German and the United States.

Asme described the atmosphere of the festival as “special.”

“Even the greetings among each other are unique because people have missed each other. Everybody is excited about peace.”

Lalibela’s high priest Kengeta Belay said he was “overwhelmed” by the numbers joining the celebrations.

“This is the benefit of peace. People are coming from all four directions to worship freely without fear of anything… My joy is boundless.”

“I have been attending the festivities for over 40 years. I was born and raised here and became a priest. This year’s celebration is the biggest crowd of pilgrims I’ve ever seen,” smiled the 55-year-old clergyman, just minutes before the start of a night of candlelit ceremonies.

‘Prayers for freedom’  

Massed in and around Lalibela’s unique complex of churches – but also on surrounding hills and even in trees, the faithful sang, prayed, ate, slept or enjoyed long discussions with their fellow pilgrims.

Songs, psalms and ululations rang out from Saint Mary’s church, the oldest of the 11 stone houses of worship and the heart of celebrations for Genna (Christmas in Amharic).

With her eyes closed and her head bent over a prayer stick, Bethlehem said she was savoring the “peaceful and joyful atmosphere” of the festivities.  

“Our country was unstable in the past few years, there was war. Thanks to God, all that has passed,” said the young banker from Addis Ababa, who did not want to give her family name or age.

“Today, I witnessed that peace is worth more than anything. My prayer and my wish is that God grants freedom for my country, for myself, and for all of us.”
…

your ad here

US Appeals Court Strikes Down Ban on Bump Stocks

Posted on by SeeUS

A U.S. appeals court Friday struck down a rule the Trump administration had adopted following a 2017 Las Vegas mass shooting that banned “bump stocks,” devices that allow people to rapidly fire multiple rounds from semiautomatic guns.

In a 13-3 decision, the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said that despite “tremendous” public pressure to impose a ban, it was up to the U.S. Congress rather than the president to take action.

While the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms (ATF) and Explosives had interpreted a law banning machineguns as extending to bump stocks, U.S. Circuit Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod said the law did not unambiguously prohibit them.

Elrod, writing for the majority, said the law also did not give “fair warning that possession of a non-mechanical bump stock is a crime.”

One of the dissenting judges, Stephen Higginson, wrote that the majority employed reasoning “to legalize an instrument of mass murder.”

Three other federal appeals courts have rejected challenges to the ban. While the Supreme Court in October declined to hear appeals from two of the earlier decisions, Friday’s ruling raises the prospect the court could eventually decide the issue.

“The resulting circuit split should bring this decision to the U.S. Supreme Court’s attention promptly and supply a suitable vehicle for deciding this issue once and for all,” said Mark Chenoweth, the president of the New Civil Liberties Alliance, a conservative group that litigated the case.

ATF, the arm of the Justice Department that adopted the rule, declined to comment.

A bump stock lets a gun’s stock, which rests against the shoulder, slide backward and forward, letting users take advantage of the gun’s recoil to fire rapidly.

Though gun restrictions are often championed by Democrats, former President Donald Trump’s Republican administration imposed the ban on bump stocks through an ATF rule after a gunman used them in killing 58 people at an October 2017 country music concert in Las Vegas.

Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration also supports the ban, which took effect in 2019.

In December 2021, a three-judge 5th Circuit panel had upheld the ban, ruling against Texas gun owner Michael Cargill, who opposed it.

Friday’s decision reversed that ruling. Most of the judges in the majority were appointed by Republican presidents, while the dissenting judges were appointed by Democratic presidents.
…

your ad here

US Boy, 6, Shot His Teacher, Police Say

Posted on by SeeUS

A 6-year-old boy shot his teacher Friday in the classroom in the southern U.S. state of Virginia, police said.

The first grader was taken into custody after the shooting at the Richneck Elementary School in Newport News.

Police Chief Steve Drew said the handgun shooting was not accidental and the teacher, a woman in her 30s, had suffered life-threatening injuries.

No children were injured in the incident.

How the boy obtained the gun was not immediately clear.

The elementary school will be closed Monday.
…

your ad here

House Republicans Hold 14th Vote on House Speaker 

Posted on by SeeUS

The U.S. House of Representatives has failed on a 14th ballot to elect a new speaker.

A band of 20 right-wing lawmakers has successfully blocked California Congressman Kevin McCarthy over four days of voting from becoming speaker because they believe he is not conservative enough.

McCarthy gained backing earlier Friday from 15 of the holdouts, coming up just a few votes short of the majority he needs to win the speakership. He must receive 218 votes to win the job, if all 434 current members of the House vote.

McCarthy’s path to winning depends on how many lawmakers are present for the vote, which affects the size of the winning majority, as well as how many of his opponents he can win over.

Allies of McCarthy say two Republican supporters of his leadership are planning to return to Washington Friday night for the vote, giving him a better chance to clinch the speakership.

McCarthy told reporters Friday he believed “we’ll have the votes to finish this once and for all.”

Committed to the contest

The Republican has never given any indication that he would drop out of the contest to lead the House, which would also, under a provision of the U.S. Constitution, make him second in the line of succession to the U.S. presidency.

Republicans hold a slim 222-212 margin over Democrats in the new session of the 118th Congress, with one current vacancy, meaning McCarthy can lose the support of no more than four Republicans and still be able to reach a majority of 218, if all Democrats vote.

Republicans who are holding up the vote for speaker say they want to reduce the power of the speaker’s office and give rank-and-file lawmakers more influence over the creation and passage of legislation.

McCarthy has acceded to several of the right-wing lawmakers’ demands, including allowing a single member to call for a snap internal House election to vacate the speakership if they don’t approve of his legislative policies or the way he is overseeing the chamber.

He has also promised them key committee assignments and full House votes on some of their legislative priorities, such as imposing term limits on lawmakers and stronger border controls to curb undocumented migrants from entering the U.S. across the southwestern border with Mexico.

House business on hold

It has been 100 years since neither a Republican nor a Democrat won the House speakership on the first round of voting.

Electing a speaker in the House is the chamber’s first order of business as a new session of Congress opens. Without a speaker, the lawmakers, all newly elected or reelected in last November’s nationwide congressional elections, have not been sworn in.

As such, the new Republican majority cannot form House committees to begin to consider legislation, start promised investigations of the Democratic administration of President Joe Biden, or provide constituent services for voters in their congressional districts.

The 57-year-old McCarthy has sought for years to lead the House. Over the past several weeks, he has met repeatedly with his Republican foes in an effort to secure their support.

Whomever the Republicans eventually elect will replace outgoing Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who remains a House member and cast her votes for Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, the new Democratic minority leader in the House. All House Democrats have voted for Jeffries on all the previous speakership ballots, but he has no chance of winning because no Republicans plan to vote for him to help him reach the 218 majority.

Democrats, who have been locked in a 50-50 split with Republicans in the Senate the past two years, gained an edge in the nationwide congressional elections nearly two months ago and will hold a 51-49 majority, counting three independents who work with the Democrats.

New senators were sworn in on Tuesday.
…

your ad here

California Storm Leaves Thousands Without Power, Another Storm Looms

Posted on by SeeUS

Utility crews in Northern California worked to restore power to tens of thousands of homes Friday following two days of fierce winds and torrential rain, even as the region braced for another onslaught of stormy weather heading into the weekend.

The next bout of heavy showers and gusty winds was expected to sweep the northwestern corner of California late Friday and spread southward into the San Francisco Bay Area and central coast through Saturday and Sunday, the National Weather Service said. Southern Oregon was also forecast to take a hit.

The coming storm – another “atmospheric river” of dense moisture flowing in from the Pacific – is likely to dump more rain on a region already saturated from repeated downpours since late December, renewing risks of flash flooding and mudslides, the NWS said.

Hillsides and canyons stripped bare of vegetation by past wildfires are especially vulnerable to rock- and mudslides, according to forecasters.

In addition to heavy rains, up to 60 centimeters of snow was expected to fall over the weekend in higher elevations of the Sierras, where accumulations of 46 centimeters or more were measured earlier this week.

On Friday much of the northern two-thirds of California, the most populous state in the United States, was under flood watches, gale-force wind advisories and winter-storm warnings as forecasters urged residents to prepare for the deluge and stay off roads in flood-prone areas.

The ominous forecast comes on the heels of a massive Pacific storm that unleashed hurricane-force wind gusts, pounding surf, soaking rains and heavy snow across California for two days. The northern portion of the state was hardest hit.

As of Friday morning, some 60,000 homes and businesses remained without electricity in several Northern California counties because of the weather, according to data from Poweroutages.us.

Howling winds uprooted trees already weakened by prolonged drought and poorly anchored in rain-soaked soil, taking down power lines and blocking roadways across the region. Road travel was also disrupted by flash floods and rock slides.

High surf

High surf and runoff from heavy rains combined to flood several blocks in the seaside city of Santa Cruz, and heavy waves tore up wooden piers in the adjacent town of Capitola and nearby Seacliff State Beach.

Farther north, pounding waves broke through the rear doors of the historic Point Cabrillo lighthouse in Mendocino County, flooding its ground-floor museum, the Mendocino Voice newspaper reported.

The two-day storm, which ended Thursday night, was powered by an immense atmospheric stream of moisture from the tropical Pacific and a sprawling, hurricane-scale, low-pressure system known as a bomb cyclone.

It marked the third and strongest atmospheric river to strike California since early last week. Research predicts that climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of such rainstorms, punctuating extensive periods of extreme drought.

At least six people have died in the severe weather since New Year’s weekend, including a toddler killed by a fallen redwood tree crushing a mobile home in Northern California.

The rapid succession of storms left downtown San Francisco drenched in 26 centimeters of rain from Dec. 26 through Wednesday, the wettest 10-day stretch recorded there in more than 150 years, since 1871, according to the NWS.

The highest all-time rainfall total ever documented over 10 days in the city’s downtown was 36.5 centimeters, an 1862 record the NWS said would likely stand through the downpours to come.

The storms have brought welcome replenishments to Sierra Nevada snowpack, a critical source of California’s water supply, but experts say much more snow will need to fall through the winter to markedly improve the state’s grave drought situation.

For better or worse, the weather service predicted that yet another, “likely stronger,” atmospheric river storm was “on the horizon for Monday,” part of a larger pattern that forecasters believe is likely to persist at least through the middle of January.
…

your ad here