Hurricane Irma: French St Martin '95% destroyed' as Florida orders evacuations – latest
Most powerful hurricane ever recorded over Atlantic Ocean batters Barbuda, St Martin and Puerto Rico as it moves west with category 5 winds and rains
- Record-breaking Hurricane Irma wreaks havoc: ‘It’s apocalyptic’
- Irma’s destruction: island by island
- Are you affected by Hurricane Irma? Share your story
Barbuda PM blames carnage on climate change
Josephine Gumbs-Conner, a lawyer from the British Overseas Territory of Anguilla, has heaped more criticism on the British government for its response to Irma.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme she said:
Anguilla is utterly devastated. We are very familiar with hurricanes, but this particular one, Hurricane Irma, was off the charts in terms of strength. It has certain cut a swathe through Anguilla that has left us in absolute pieces.Our police service has suffered roof damage, so has our court house, so has our prisons, so has the hospital. Just in terms of essential services alone we are clearly in limping position.When you look at our island at the moment you would think that it just suffered nuclear bomb devastation. We are in such a compromised position at the moment.This kind of devastation is so significant and so widespread that to be able to put us back and make us whole again, with help it could happen perhaps in about six months.
Gumbs-Conner contrasted the lack of help given to the island ahead of the hurricane by the British government compared to the way the French government helped its overseas dependencies in the Caribbean.
She said:
In St Martin, the French made sure that they had military on the ground, so that the response given is timely, effective and helpful.That was sorely lacking in our case. There was no echoing to chainsaws in Anguilla. Roads are still impassable. While we understand that these things take time, I personally am very disappointed. We are supposed to be the same status as Gibraltar or the Falkland Island.I’m am truly disappointed. If we are indeed supposed to be in a partnership then it should work far more effectively than it is doing now.
Similar criticisms of the UK was made by Dorothea Hodge, a former UK EU representative for the government of Anguilla.
India prepared to go to war with China and Pakistan simultaneously, says top general
Army chief Bipin Rawat says stand-off with Chinese troops on Himalayan border could snowball into larger conflict, with neighbouring nuclear power ready to pounce
India’s army chief has said the country should be prepared for a potential two-front war given China is flexing its muscles and there is little hope for reconciliation with Pakistan.
General Bipin Rawat referred to a recent 10-week standoff with the Chinese army in the Himalayas that ended last week. He said the situation could gradually snowball into a larger conflict on India’s northern border. Rawat said Pakistan on the western front could take advantage of such a situation.
The Press Trust of India news agency quoted Rawat’s remarks at a seminar organised by the Center for Land Warfare Studies, a think tank in New Delhi.
Myanmar's Rohingya: stateless, persecuted and fleeing
Rohingya Muslims are once more fleeing in droves into Bangladesh, trying to escape the latest surge in violence in Rakhine state between a shadowy militant group and Myanmar's military.
It is the newest chapter in the grim recent history of the Rohingya, a people of about one million reviled in Myanmar as illegal immigrants and denied citizenship.
This is a fact box on them:
- Who are they? -
The Rohingya are the world's largest stateless community and of one of its most persecuted minorities.
Using a dialect similar to that spoken in Chittagong in southeast Bangladesh, the Sunni Muslims are loathed by many in majority-Buddhist Myanmar who see them as illegal immigrants and call them "Bengali" -- even though many have lived in Myanmar for generations.
North Korea crisis: South Korean protesters clash with police over THAAD
Protesters clashed with thousands of police at a South Korean village as Seoul deployed the four remaining launchers of the US anti-missile system designed to protect against mounting threats from North Korea.
The South's defence ministry confirmed the launchers would be installed on a former golf course near Seongju City some 217 kilometres south of Seoul on Thursday.
Two launchers and a powerful radar were already in place at the site as part of the US Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) system.
South Korea had said that Pyongyang may be gearing up for another rocket test in the aftermath of its nuclear detonation on Sunday, as it seeks to improve the capacity of its intercontinental ballistic missile program.
'Horrific' accusations of torture, sex abuse in Bahrain
Rights groups say at least 169 Bahrainis at risk of severe abuse at the hands of security forces during crackdown.
Bahrain has brutally cracked down on opponents over the past year with security forces jailing, torturing, and sexually assaulting more than 160 government critics, rights groups said on Thursday.
Between June 2016 and June 2017, at least 169 Bahrainis have also been threatened, harassed, and banned from leaving the Gulf island nation, Amnesty International said in its report, 'No one can protect you': Bahrain's year of crushing dissent.
"We have heard horrific allegations of torture in Bahrain. They must be promptly and effectively investigated and those responsible brought to justice," said Philip Luther, Amnesty's research and advocacy director for the Middle East and North Africa.
High court dismisses journalist's claim against Syria travel ban
Today 10:35 am JST
The Tokyo High Court on Wednesday upheld a lower court ruling supporting a Foreign Ministry order requiring a Japanese freelance photographer to surrender his passport because he would likely find himself in danger if he traveled to work in war-torn Syria.
In the lawsuit, Yuichi Sugimoto, 60, claimed that the order was an infringement of his right to freedom of travel and of the freedom of the press guaranteed by the Constitution. The lower Tokyo District Court dismissed the case in April.
Presiding Judge Toshimasa Fukami said, "Freedom of travel can be restricted for the sake of public welfare" although it is a basic human right assured by the Constitution.
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