Beryl heads toward Jamaica as a major hurricane after ripping through the southeast Caribbean

By: Dánica Coto And Amar Spencer-sayers

ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada (AP) — Hurricane Beryl roared through open waters on Tuesday as a monstrous Category 5 storm heading toward Jamaica after earlier making landfall in the southeast Caribbean, killing at least four people.

A hurricane warning was in effect for Jamaica and a hurricane watch for Grand Cayman, Little Cayman, Cayman Brac and for Haiti’s entire southern coast. Beryl was forecast to start losing intensity on Tuesday but still be near major hurricane strength when it passes near or over Jamaica early Wednesday, near the Cayman Islands on Thursday and into Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula on Friday, according to the National Hurricane Center.

The centre said Beryl was expected to bring life-threatening winds and storm surge to Jamaica, where officials warned residents in flood-prone areas to prepare for evacuation.

“I am encouraging all Jamaicans to take the hurricane as a serious threat,” Prime Minister Andrew Holness said in a public address late Monday. “It is, however, not a time to panic.”

Beryl is the earliest Category 5 storm ever to form in the Atlantic, fuelled by record warm waters.

Stampede at religious event in India kills at least 60 people, many women and children

By: Biswajeet Banerjee

LUCKNOW, India (AP) — A stampede among thousands of people at a religious gathering in northern India killed at least 60 and left scores injured, officials said Tuesday, adding that many women and children were among the dead and the toll could rise.

Attendees had rushed to leave the makeshift tent following an event with Hindu figure Bhole Baba, local media reported, citing authorities who said heat and suffocation inside could have been a factor. Video of the aftermath showed the structure appeared to have collapsed. Women wailed over the dead.

Deadly stampedes are relatively common around Indian religious festivals, where large crowds gather in small areas with shoddy infrastructure and few safety measures.

Initial reports suggested that over 15,000 people had gathered for the event, which had permission to host about 5,000.

Bodies were brought to hospitals and morgues by trucks and private vehicles, government official Matadin Saroj said. Government official Ashish Kumar told The Associated Press that at least 60 bodies, many of them women and children, had reached mortuaries in the district.

More than 150 people were admitted to hospitals, medical official Umesh Tripathi said.

Protests continue in Kenya as some are now calling for the president to step down

By: Evelyne Musambi

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Protests continued in Kenya’s capital and elsewhere Tuesday over a finance bill that would raise the cost of living, even after the president said he would not sign it in the wake of the storming of parliament last week.

Police fired tear gas at protesters in Nairobi as many businesses remained closed for fear of looting. The main highway to Kenya’s second largest city, Mombasa, was closed as protesters lit bonfires.

While there are concerns that President William Ruto might change his mind and sign the finance bill before next week’s deadline, some protesters also are calling on Ruto to resign and accusing him of bad governance.

But some members of the youth-led protests have expressed worries that other Kenyans are using the unrest as an excuse to cause violence.

Floods and landslides triggered by heavy rains in India’s northeast kill at least 16 people

By: Wasbir Hussain

GUWAHATI, India (AP) — Floods and landslides triggered by heavy rains have killed at least 16 people over the last two weeks in India’s northeast, where more than 300,000 have been displaced from their submerged homes, authorities said on Tuesday. 

The Indian army and air force have been assisting with rescue efforts in Assam, one of the worst-hit states, where a military helicopter flew early Tuesday morning 13 fishermen to safety after being stranded for four days on a small island on the Brahmaputra, one of Asia’s largest rivers, officials said.

In neighbouring Arunachal Pradesh state, which borders China, landslides have wiped out several roads. Army troopers there rescued 70 students and teachers from a flooded school in Changlang district, police said. Similarly, heavy flooding in the states of Sikkim, Manipur and Meghalaya swept away roads and collapsed bridges. 

So far, more than 80 people across six northeastern states have died since the end of May due to floods and mudslides brought on by the rains, according to official figures.

Giuliani is disbarred in New York as court finds he repeatedly lied about Trump’s 2020 election loss

By: Philip Marcelo

NEW YORK (AP) — Rudolph Giuliani, the former New York City mayor, federal prosecutor and legal adviser to Donald Trump, was disbarred in the state on Tuesday after a court found he repeatedly made false statements about Trump’s 2020 election loss.

A New York appeals court in Manhattan ruled that Giuliani, who had already had his New York law license suspended in 2021 for false statements he made after the election, is now “disbarred from the practice of law, effective immediately, and until the further order of this Court, and his name stricken from the roll of attorneys and counselors-at-law in the State of New York.”

Giuliani’s attorney Arthur Aidala said they were “obviously disappointed” but not surprised by the decision. He said they “put up a valiant effort” to prevent the disbarment but “saw the writing on the wall.”