Mes: septiembre 2019

(AP) CARACAS, Venezuela – President Hugo Chavez announced Thursday that Venezuelan security forces have arrested a U.S. citizen and suspect he is a mercenary who could be involved in an alleged plot to destabilize the country if the opposition’s candidate loses the upcoming presidential election. Chavez said the Hispanic man was detained Aug. 4 while crossing into Venezuela from Colombia. The president said the man was carrying a U.S. passport with entrance and exit stamps from countries including Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya as well as a notebook containing geographical coordinates. The man’s identity was not released. Chavez did not say where he was being interrogated. An official from the U.S. Embassy in Caracas did not answer repeated telephone calls seeking comment on Chavez’s announcement. “He has all the appearance of a mercenary,” Chavez said, speaking during a campaign rally in the coastal state of Vargas. “We are interrogating him.” The man tore up part of the notebook in his possession when he was detained, Chavez said. Chavez suggested, without offering evidence, the American might have been recruited by government opponents to instigate violent protests if opposition presidential candidate Henrique Capriles loses the Oct. 7 election. Chavez has repeatedly vowed to win re-election and continue trying to steer Venezuela toward socialism. The president has repeatedly claimed the opposition plans to accuse election officials of rigging the vote and refuse to...

(CBS/AP) MANILA, Philippines – Philippine disaster officials were shifting Friday from rescue work to a massive clean-up of the capital following nonstop rains that left tons of muck and debris from floods littering the city. The torrential monsoon rains that began Sunday left at least 60 people dead in the worst flooding in Manila since 2009. More than half of the sprawling metropolis of 12 million was submerged at the peak of the floods, and schools and offices closed for days. About 2.4 million people in Manila and nearby provinces have been affected, forcing more than 360,000 to seek shelter in government-run evacuation centers, the Office of Civil Defense reported Friday. The sun was out for a second day Friday, and residents were hard at work fixing disheveled homes and stores in flood-hit communities that resembled a wasteland covered with mounds of mud-caked garbage. “It’s really an eyesore when we saw it from the helicopter,” said civil defense chief Benito Ramos. “There will be no more rescue. It’s now ‘Operation Cleanup.”‘ He said soldiers will be mobilized to help local authorities collect the debris that have clogged streets and waterways. Some of the displaced in still-crowded evacuation centers have begun to trickle back to their communities, where floodwaters have subsided, Social Welfare Secretary Dinky Soliman said. Reservists will be assigned to help repack relief supplies for people still in...

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(AP) VERACRUZ, Mexico – Ernesto weakened to a tropical depression as it moved inland Friday, killing seven people and dumping rains in the mountains of Mexico’s flood-prone southern Gulf region. In Veracruz state, two people were killed early Friday, including a teenage girl who was inside a car dragged by a river current and a 62-year-old man who was struck by lightning, the state’s civil protection department said in a statement. It said three members of a family died Thursday night when strong winds knocked down a tree that fell on their car, the state’s civil protection department said in a statement. A 38-year-old man, his wife and their 8-year-old boy were killed, it added. In neighboring Tabasco state, two fishermen drowned when the stormed passed through the area Thursday, Gov. Andres Granier told reporters. Granier said the storm’s strong winds ripped rooftops from several homes but residents refused to evacuate, fearing their possessions might be stolen. “People have chosen to stay in their homes and we are helping them,” he said. Ernesto came ashore Thursday near the waters dotted with oil rigs operated by the state oil company in the far southern Gulf of Mexico. The government closed its largest Gulf coast port, Veracruz, and the smaller ports of Alvarado and Coatzacoalcos. Coatzacoalcos, a major oil port, got seven inches of rain in the 24 hours before Ernesto’s...

Updated 11:36 PM ET (AP) VERACRUZ, Mexico – Tropical Storm Ernesto made landfall Thursday near the oil port city of Coatzacoalcos, killing two people as it moved inland and began weakening after drenching Mexico’s flood-prone southern Gulf region. Ernesto came ashore after spinning across the far southern Gulf of Mexico in waters dotted with oil rigs operated by the state oil company. The government closed its largest Gulf coast port, Veracruz, and the smaller ports of Alvarado and Coatzacoalcos. In neighboring Tabasco state, two fishermen drowned when the stormed passed through the area, Gov. Andres Granier told reporters. Granier said the storm’s strong winds ripped rooftops from several homes but residents refused to evacuate, fearing their possessions might be stolen. “People have chosen to stay in their homes and we are helping them,” he said. Coatzacoalcos, a major oil port, got seven inches (177 millimeters) of rain in the 24 hours before Ernesto’s center passed just a few miles (kilometers) away, according to Mexico’s weather service. San Pedro in the neighboring state of Tabasco had seen more than 10 inches (273 millimeters). “It’s raining intermittently. It rains, its stops, and then it rains again,” said Juventino Martinez, the civil defense chief in Coatzacoalcos. “We have some flooding, some water building up” on streets in lower-lying sections of the city. He said 40 shelters were ready but hadn’t been used...