Spotlight on restraint tactics as Phillip Hulmes, 53, becomes third person in eight days to die after being shot with the stun gun Police restraint tactics are under fresh scrutiny after a third member of the public died following the use of either a Taser stun gun or pepper spray by officers. Amnesty International said the number of fatalities over the past eight days had reaffirmed its concerns that Tasers were “potentially lethal” weapons. Initial reports suggest Philip Hulmes, 53, was hit by a Taser after refusing to leave his terraced house in Over Hulton, near Bolton on Tuesday night. It is understood that his daughter had called the police after he locked himself inside his house while in possession of a knife and began to harm himself. Greater Manchester police said when officers arrived they were threatened by the man and a decision was made to “deploy the Taser”. “Following that, it became quite obvious the man had serious stab wounds to his stomach,” a spokesman said. “He was taken to Royal Bolton hospital for treatment to his injuries but died a short time later. The coroner has been informed and an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death has begun by Greater Manchester police’s professional standards branch.” A postmortem was being carried out on Hulmes and the death has been referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission. As forensic teams moved into the property on Wednesday, Kenneth Brown, who lives several doors away, said he had watched the events unfold. “We saw all the flashing lights and police and ambulance at the front,” he said. “They were shouting through the front door begging for him to open up and they had to smash it down in the end. His daughter came down and asked him to open the door.” Brown said his neighbour had worked as an HGV driver but was made redundant. Most recently, he was employed by a firm which delivered parts for mechanics. As investigators began piecing together the events which led to Hulmes’s death a white police tent covered the entrance to his property on a busy main road near the M61. Christine Bellis, 61, another neighbour said Hulmes had lived alone and was a regular dog walker who was very friendly and easy to talk to. “All we know was that the paramedics said that he had a knife with him. The police had to smash the door down,” she said. “He really was a nice bloke who kept himself to himself. We think that he had a bit of heart trouble.” Christine’s husband Raymond, 62, added: “This is a real tragedy. It is terrible because he was a very nice man.” The death of Hulmes came as the IPCC continued its investigations into two other fatalities after the use of restraint techniques by police in two different forces; Cumbria and Cheshire. Dale Burns, 27, died after being subjected to shocks from a Taser gun and pepper spray when police were called to his flat in Cumbria last week and Jacob Michael, 25, died on Monday after being pepper sprayed during his arrest by 11 officers in Widnes, Cheshire. Postmortems into Burns and Michael have proved inconclusive and investigators are waiting for the results of toxicology tests for more information. Simon Chesterman, the Association of Chief Police Officers lead officer on Tasers, told the Guardian their use was carefully scrutinised by the scientific and medical community, and in cases where there were fatalities, by the IPCC. “Where a Taser is associated with injury or something more serious then clearly there will be full investigation of that. We will be looking at the outcomes of those investigations to see if our guidance to officers needs to change. We need to understand the full circumstances of the cases and we should avoid any knee-jerk responses.” But Helen Shaw, co-director of Inquest, the charity that advises the family of those killed in contentious circumstances, said the police did not seem to have learned lessons from a pattern of cases where inquest juries had found “overwhelming evidence of unlawful and excessive use of force or gross neglect. “Whilst we await the outcome of the inquests and investigations into these recent deaths it is imperative that the police are reminded that they cannot act with impunity.” Tasers Police Independent Police Complaints Commission Weapons technology Helen Carter Sandra Laville guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
What was the role of the international community in this conflict-torn and heavily armed nation? Military intervention in other countries tends to look like the honourable thing to do while atrocities are being committed against civilians. Nevertheless, William Hague’s promise of Nato support as long as civilians are threatened looks far more like a somewhat open-ended threat. Libya is reportedly awash with weapons, which is a danger to civilians in itself. In recent years, huge piles of deadly hardware have been provided by EU countries, mainly Italy, France and Britain. Simple souls tend to believe that it would be helpful if “the international community”, that wise and neutral force for humanitarian intervention, could stick to arming only itself. If only the “international community” could agree on who and what the hell it actually was, and what, strictly speaking, it existed for. If it does. Libya Middle East Africa Muammar Gaddafi Arab and Middle East unrest Arms trade Deborah Orr guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …FishbowlDC’s Rothstein Complains Howard Kurtz ‘Pimp[s]‘ Daughter’s Article
August 24, 2011 No Comment![FishbowlDC’s Rothstein Complains Howard Kurtz ‘Pimp[s]‘ Daughter’s Article](http://newsbreakingonline.com/wp-content/themes/transcript/timthumb.php?src=%3Cimg+src%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fnewsbreakingonline.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2011%2F08%2F459e0886b7k_body.jpg-150x110.jpg%22+%2F%3E&q=90&w=190&h=100&zc=1 "FishbowlDC’s Rothstein Complains Howard Kurtz ‘Pimp[s]‘ Daughter’s Article")
Howard Kurtz committed journalistic “incest” by tweeting an article written by his daughter for TheHill.com. That is, according to Fishbowl DC editor, Betsy Rothstein, who ranked it a 6.5 out of 10 on the journalistic “incest scale” : Today Howie takes a quick break from self-pimping to pimp his daughter, Judy Kurtz, who writes the “In the Know” gossip column for The Hill. “John McCain learns the meaning of a Shabbat elevator.” He links to this story by Judy. As The Daily Beast‘s Washington Bureau Chief, Howard Kurtz has been known to write upwards of seven tweets to promo “Reliable Sources,” the Sunday morning program he hosts on CNN. In a sense, it’s touching that he’s taking a feather out of his pimp cap and trying to pass the magic on to his daughter. But there’s something unpalatable about it considering he wouldn’t do this for another journalist and, to our knowledge, has never given a nod to that column or most Capitol Hill gossip columns before. This is our third Incest Desk item on this father-daughter duo. While some get upset when we link a father and daughter journo team for this feature, please understand we’re not saying there’s actual incest going on. It’s Washington incest — disturbing in its own right, but that’s all. We’re giving it a 6.5 on the 1-10 Incest scale (1 is best, 10 is worst). We reached out to The Hill for comment. They declined. Good on The Hill. Such a despicable smear doesn't deserve being dignified with a response. On another note, MediaBistro appears to have lower standards than MSNBC, which suspended then-anchor David Shuster for saying, on air, that the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign had “pimped out” daughter Chelsea.
Continue reading …
Fugitive from slaughterhouse continues to outwit her would-be rescuers, who are battling to prevent hunters shooting the animal Three months after Yvonne went on the run, the hunt for Germany’s most famous fugitive is heating up after a search party discovered a sign of her wanderings – a field littered with cowpats. Yvonne, a six-year-old dairy cow, escaped from a Bavarian farm in May days before she was due to be slaughtered. When the local authorities in Mühldorf gave hunters permission to shoot her on sight, animal rights activists waded in. Gut Aiderbichl, an animal sanctuary in Austria, paid Yvonne’s owner €600 (£530), vowing to bring the cow to safety before she was knocked down by a Bavarian bullet. Her whereabouts have now become a national obsession in Germany, with one tabloid offering a reward of €10,000 for her safe return. Her story has spread across the world. On Wednesday Gut Aiderbichl said it had had media inquiries from Abu Dhabi and South Africa, where a psychic claimed to have communicated with her. Indians had been stressing Yvonne’s holiness. Despite the publicity, Yvonne remains at large. An animal whisperer from Switzerland failed to coax her back from the Bavarian forest using telepathy; Ernst, the bull with a “deep baritone moo” and manly musk, also proved strangely resistible. The plan for Friesi, Yvonne’s “long-lost” two-year-old son, to be deployed as an inducement has yet to be put into action: he is still being briefed on his special role (tugging at Mum’s heartstrings). Last week a local radio station leased a helicopter equipped with a heat-seeking camera to fly over the woods where Yvonne is believed to be hiding, but reported that she ran away “nimble as a weasel” when they hovered overhead. This week the Gut Aiderbichl search party spotted some vital clues, including cowpats created, they swear, by Yvonne. A hunter claimed that in the early hours of Monday he came face-to-face with Yvonne, Michael Aufhauser, who runs Gut Aiderbichl, reported. “He told us he looked into her eyes and she looked back like a wild animal, not a dairy cow,” said Aufhauser. The hunter was not allowed to shoot Yvonne because Gut Aiderbichl had been granted an injunction which made it temporarily illegal to kill her. The latest injunction is due to expire on Sunday, though Aufhauser is confident it will be extended. “Right now we are just waiting for her,” he said. “Maybe she will come to us in an hour, maybe days or weeks. But we will stay for as long as it takes.” Germany Europe Animals Animal welfare Animal behaviour Helen Pidd guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
Fugitive from slaughterhouse continues to outwit her would-be rescuers, who are battling to prevent hunters shooting the animal Three months after Yvonne went on the run, the hunt for Germany’s most famous fugitive is heating up after a search party discovered a sign of her wanderings – a field littered with cowpats. Yvonne, a six-year-old dairy cow, escaped from a Bavarian farm in May days before she was due to be slaughtered. When the local authorities in Mühldorf gave hunters permission to shoot her on sight, animal rights activists waded in. Gut Aiderbichl, an animal sanctuary in Austria, paid Yvonne’s owner €600 (£530), vowing to bring the cow to safety before she was knocked down by a Bavarian bullet. Her whereabouts have now become a national obsession in Germany, with one tabloid offering a reward of €10,000 for her safe return. Her story has spread across the world. On Wednesday Gut Aiderbichl said it had had media inquiries from Abu Dhabi and South Africa, where a psychic claimed to have communicated with her. Indians had been stressing Yvonne’s holiness. Despite the publicity, Yvonne remains at large. An animal whisperer from Switzerland failed to coax her back from the Bavarian forest using telepathy; Ernst, the bull with a “deep baritone moo” and manly musk, also proved strangely resistible. The plan for Friesi, Yvonne’s “long-lost” two-year-old son, to be deployed as an inducement has yet to be put into action: he is still being briefed on his special role (tugging at Mum’s heartstrings). Last week a local radio station leased a helicopter equipped with a heat-seeking camera to fly over the woods where Yvonne is believed to be hiding, but reported that she ran away “nimble as a weasel” when they hovered overhead. This week the Gut Aiderbichl search party spotted some vital clues, including cowpats created, they swear, by Yvonne. A hunter claimed that in the early hours of Monday he came face-to-face with Yvonne, Michael Aufhauser, who runs Gut Aiderbichl, reported. “He told us he looked into her eyes and she looked back like a wild animal, not a dairy cow,” said Aufhauser. The hunter was not allowed to shoot Yvonne because Gut Aiderbichl had been granted an injunction which made it temporarily illegal to kill her. The latest injunction is due to expire on Sunday, though Aufhauser is confident it will be extended. “Right now we are just waiting for her,” he said. “Maybe she will come to us in an hour, maybe days or weeks. But we will stay for as long as it takes.” Germany Europe Animals Animal welfare Animal behaviour Helen Pidd guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
Intellectual property office sides with Bobby G against three other original ex-bandmates in legal ruling over dispute The UK intellectual property office has been making its mind up which members of Bucks Fizz, the pop group which won the 1981 Eurovision song contest, are eligible to claim the name as their own. Rival members of the original group, Mike Nolan and Cheryl Baker on one side and Robert Gubby, aka Bobby G on the other, resorted to law to establish who could claim the name during their respective bands’ tours of out-of-season holiday camp 80s weekends. Allan James, the principal hearing officer, sided with Gubby. With forensic attention to detail, an exegesis worthy of Shakespearean scholarship and a little asperity, James ruled in a 25-page judgment that Gubby and his partner, Heidi Manton, owned the name, having registered it as a trademark in 2001. Exhibit A was a letter from Nolan dating back to June 1981, which ceded the rights to them. The dispute arose in 2009 as Nolan and Baker – referred to under her real name Rita Stroud – later joined by the group’s other original member, Jay Aston, started touring again, calling themselves the Original Bucks Fizz. They complained that Gubby’s rival group, called Bucks Fizz or Bobby G’s Bucks Fizz, were misleading audiences into thinking they were the band that won Eurovision with Making Your Mind Up. In fact over the past 30 years, as the ruling pointed out, 15 people have belonged to Bucks Fizz at various times. The ruling stated: “The submission that two original members are enough to avoid misleading the public (possibly provided these are Rita Stroud and Mike Nolan) but that one original member is not enough appears to me to be an arbitrary distinction. “The public would have no reason to expect the group performing as Bucks Fizz to consist of the original lineup … [that] had not performed together for 24 years.” Bucks Fizz, the penultimate British winners of the Eurovision contest (Katrina and the Waves scored the latest UK victory, in 1997), was specifically formed to compete by the Big Note Music group and, though the group toured for three years after the competition and had a number of hits, the trademark registration had lapsed. According to the judgment, the group had fewer than 100 fans. Giving evidence for Nolan and Baker, Ian Stocker, a longstanding fan and operator of a website dedicated to the group, insisted that he and his relatives spoke of little else and that people were misled. “The subject of Bucks Fizz is often raised and discussed with me at social gatherings,” he said. “The most commonly asked question is in connection with what the band is currently doing and who is currently in the band. This has caused much confusion over the years.” James said: “This suggests that Mr Stocker’s circle … are well aware that the current lineup is not the original one. Of course, given his own exceptional interest the level of knowledge of his friends may not be typical of the public at large.” Nolan and Baker will face costs from the hearing, likely to be about £5,000. Chris McLeod, director of trademarks at the law firm Squire, Sanders and Dempsey said: “The case shows the importance of registering trademarks and the importance of music groups – which are often partnerships – having written partnership agreements in place at the outset so they retain equal rights to the name.” Intellectual property Pop and rock Eurovision Stephen Bates guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
Small cracks found at top of monument after tremor on US east coast, while city officials order inspection of all school buildings The earthquake that hit the east coast of the US on Tuesday left minor cracks in the pyramid at the top of the Washington Monument and forced the precautionary closure of Washington DC’s schools. Although no casualties or any serious damage have yet been reported as a result of one of the biggest quakes to hit the east coast, the Washington schools authority issued a statement saying that, while it understood the inconvenience the closure would cause to some parents, it wanted engineers to inspect its 126 school buildings. The US parks department, which is responsible for many of DC’s monuments, reported some minor cracks on the pyramid at the top of the 555ft monument. The national cathedral in Washington, one of the highest buildings in the city, also suffered minor damage, with several capstones dislodged from its spires. The quake, which registered 5.8 on the Richter scale, was followed by a tremor on Wednesday morning. The quake on Tuesday led to the evacuation of the White House, Congress, schools and offices. Many workers then headed home or to the nearest bar to wait for the traffic to ease. Planes were grounded and trains stopped while rails were checked. The media response to the quake was greeted with mild amusement in California, where tremors are a regular occurrence. Cable channels such as CNN – which, until that point, had been providing almost non-stop reports from Muammar Gaddafi’s compound in Tripoli – switched to devote a lot of their coverage to the quake. The Washington Post led with it on Wednesday, headlining: “Earthquake jolts DC area”. The Post reported that the first warnings of the quake may have come from the National Zoo, where officials said red-ruffed lemurs began “alarm calling” a full 15 minutes before the quake hit and. In the great ape house, Iris the orangutan bellowed 10 seconds before the keepers felt it. The east coast is bracing itself for the landfall of Hurricane Irene, which is on course to hit North Carolina. United States Washington DC Natural disasters and extreme weather Ewen MacAskill guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
University-educated workers still earn far more than those who left school at 16, but gap is narrowing The value of holding a degree has been eroded as the share of the population with a university education has more than doubled over two decades, a study shows. But graduates still attract a hefty salary premium compared with workers who finished their education at 16. An analysis of salaries in the final quarter of 2010 showed graduate employees earning 85% more than those who left school after GCSEs. In the last quarter of 1993, graduates earned 95% more. Since 1993, the percentage of the UK population with a degree has more than doubled from 12% to 25% last year. According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), which compiled the study, the dip in graduate earnings is explained by a fall in the proportion of graduates doing highly skilled jobs. In 1993, 68% of graduate employees had a job in the highest skill group – including roles as managers, engineers or accountants – compared with 57% in 2010. Nicola Dandridge, chief executive of Universities UK , which represents vice-chancellors, defended university education and said the figures showed the graduate premium had held up over time. “Looking at all graduates, degree holders continue to earn considerably more than non-graduates over a working lifetime and are also more likely to be in employment,” she said. “Despite the exponential growth in the number of people gaining a degree since 1993, there still remains a considerable pay premium for graduates.” But holding a degree is no guarantee of financial success. The ONS analysis also found that the bottom 20% of graduate employees earned less than the average for those whose highest qualification was A-levels. The worst-paid 15% of graduate workers earned less than the average for those who had only GCSEs. The analysis is based on data from the Labour Force Survey , a sample of UK households. Most people whose education finished at age 16 are working in jobs categorised as “lower-middle skill” – such as shop assistants, secretaries or machine operatives, the ONS found. There has been a fall in the percentage of people with no formal educational qualification, from 25% of the population in 1993 to 11% last year. This is mainly due to the fact that older people are less likely to have formal qualifications. As this swath of the population retires, the proportion of those with no qualification falls. Separately, government figures published on Wednesday showed a big rise in the number of people aged 19-24 who are not in education, employment or training – so-called Neets. The Department for Education said nearly a fifth of that age group falls into the category. The figures show that in the second quarter of this year, 794,000 of those aged 19-24 were not in work or study – up by 120,000 in a year. However, the number of those aged 16-18 who are neither working or studying fell by more than 10,000 to 186,000. Jim Hillage, director of research at the Institute for Employment Studies , said: “The labour market is a very tough place to be for young people at the moment. Young adults who can’t find an apprenticeship or a college place are finding it particularly hard to compete for jobs against older, more experienced, jobseekers not just from this country but also from the rest of Europe. “Unfortunately it seems likely that the situation will get worse before it gets better as the economic recovery falters and job growth stalls.” A government spokesman said: “The number of young people not in education, employment or training has been too high for too long – we are determined to bring the number down. “There are encouraging signs, with the proportion of 16- to 18-year-olds in the Neet category falling recently, and government departments are working together to ensure that all those aged 16 to 24 are provided with the coherent support they need. “We have made clear our commitment to raising the participation age, so all 16- and 17-year-olds are in education or training by 2015, and our cross-government strategy later in the year will set out how we will improve post-16 participation further.” Andy Burnham, Labour’s shadow education secretary, said: “These figures show that the Tory-led government is being far too complacent about getting young people back to work or into training, and risks leaving the next generation behind. “By scrapping Labour’s guarantee of an apprenticeship place for young people who want one, scrapping the EMA [education maintenance allowance] and cutting careers services, this government is making it harder for young people to get on – so that for the first time there is a risk that the next generation will do worse than the last.” Higher education GCSEs Schools Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) Graduate careers Work & careers Office for National Statistics Andy Burnham Jeevan Vasagar guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …University-educated workers still earn far more than those who left school at 16, but gap is narrowing The value of holding a degree has been eroded as the share of the population with a university education has more than doubled over two decades, a study shows. But graduates still attract a hefty salary premium compared with workers who finished their education at 16. An analysis of salaries in the final quarter of 2010 showed graduate employees earning 85% more than those who left school after GCSEs. In the last quarter of 1993, graduates earned 95% more. Since 1993, the percentage of the UK population with a degree has more than doubled from 12% to 25% last year. According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), which compiled the study, the dip in graduate earnings is explained by a fall in the proportion of graduates doing highly skilled jobs. In 1993, 68% of graduate employees had a job in the highest skill group – including roles as managers, engineers or accountants – compared with 57% in 2010. Nicola Dandridge, chief executive of Universities UK , which represents vice-chancellors, defended university education and said the figures showed the graduate premium had held up over time. “Looking at all graduates, degree holders continue to earn considerably more than non-graduates over a working lifetime and are also more likely to be in employment,” she said. “Despite the exponential growth in the number of people gaining a degree since 1993, there still remains a considerable pay premium for graduates.” But holding a degree is no guarantee of financial success. The ONS analysis also found that the bottom 20% of graduate employees earned less than the average for those whose highest qualification was A-levels. The worst-paid 15% of graduate workers earned less than the average for those who had only GCSEs. The analysis is based on data from the Labour Force Survey , a sample of UK households. Most people whose education finished at age 16 are working in jobs categorised as “lower-middle skill” – such as shop assistants, secretaries or machine operatives, the ONS found. There has been a fall in the percentage of people with no formal educational qualification, from 25% of the population in 1993 to 11% last year. This is mainly due to the fact that older people are less likely to have formal qualifications. As this swath of the population retires, the proportion of those with no qualification falls. Separately, government figures published on Wednesday showed a big rise in the number of people aged 19-24 who are not in education, employment or training – so-called Neets. The Department for Education said nearly a fifth of that age group falls into the category. The figures show that in the second quarter of this year, 794,000 of those aged 19-24 were not in work or study – up by 120,000 in a year. However, the number of those aged 16-18 who are neither working or studying fell by more than 10,000 to 186,000. Jim Hillage, director of research at the Institute for Employment Studies , said: “The labour market is a very tough place to be for young people at the moment. Young adults who can’t find an apprenticeship or a college place are finding it particularly hard to compete for jobs against older, more experienced, jobseekers not just from this country but also from the rest of Europe. “Unfortunately it seems likely that the situation will get worse before it gets better as the economic recovery falters and job growth stalls.” A government spokesman said: “The number of young people not in education, employment or training has been too high for too long – we are determined to bring the number down. “There are encouraging signs, with the proportion of 16- to 18-year-olds in the Neet category falling recently, and government departments are working together to ensure that all those aged 16 to 24 are provided with the coherent support they need. “We have made clear our commitment to raising the participation age, so all 16- and 17-year-olds are in education or training by 2015, and our cross-government strategy later in the year will set out how we will improve post-16 participation further.” Andy Burnham, Labour’s shadow education secretary, said: “These figures show that the Tory-led government is being far too complacent about getting young people back to work or into training, and risks leaving the next generation behind. “By scrapping Labour’s guarantee of an apprenticeship place for young people who want one, scrapping the EMA [education maintenance allowance] and cutting careers services, this government is making it harder for young people to get on – so that for the first time there is a risk that the next generation will do worse than the last.” Higher education GCSEs Schools Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) Graduate careers Work & careers Office for National Statistics Andy Burnham Jeevan Vasagar guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
North Carolina could be hit on Saturday as first hurricane this year to threaten US intensifies into a category 3 tropical cyclone Hurricane Irene strengthened to a category 3 tropical cyclone – with winds of 115mph – over the Bahamas on Wednesday as it moved north towards the US, where is expected to sweep past the Carolinas and upwards at the weekend. Irene is the first hurricane to threaten the US this year and is expected to intensify further over the coming days. The US National Hurricane Centre (NHC) warned of an “extremely dangerous” storm surge. Forecasters predict that Irene will hit North Carolina’s Outer Banks region on Saturday afternoon and then track up the eastern coastline to New England. Even if the centre of the storm stays offshore, the hurricane could hit cities including Washington and New York with winds and rain, and cause coastal flooding and power cuts. “Irene will be a large storm, impacting areas far from the storm centre track,” Jeff Masters, a hurricane expert at forecasters Weather Underground, wrote in his blog. But as forecasts of more than four days can have a margin of error of up to 200 miles, US emergency officials have warned the US east coast to be on the alert for what they describe as a large and potentially dangerous storm. Residents along the coast were already jittery after a 5.8 magnitude earthquake was felt in Washington and cities from the Carolinas to Canada on Tuesday. At 8am local time, Irene was carrying winds of 115 and was about 55 miles south-east of Acklins Island in the Bahamas, the Miami-based NHC said. The wind speed made it a category 3 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson intensity scale, posing a high risk of injury and death from flying and falling debris. Forecasters see Irene swinging north from Thursday, sparing Florida and Georgia from any direct impact and heading towards to Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, where the Outer Banks barrier islands are often battered by storms. If Irene makes a direct landfall, it will be the first hurricane to hit the US since Ike pounded the Texas coast in 2008. But forecasts showed it posing no threat to US oil and gas installations in the Gulf of Mexico. AccuWeather said Irene would strike the Outer Banks on Saturday afternoon or evening, but the hurricane would affect the eastern Carolinas much sooner. North Carolina’s governor, Bev Perdue, urged residents to ensure they had three days worth of food, water and supplies. Voluntary evacuations were to begin on Wednesday for parts of the Outer Banks, whose beaches are popular summer holiday spots. Irene drenched the north-eastern Caribbean islands earlier in the week. The first death from the storm was reported on Tuesday in Puerto Rico, where a woman was swept away. Heavy rains have continued there, causing flooding and mudslides. Nearly 300,000 residents were without electricity and 58,000 were without water. Natural disasters and extreme weather Bahamas Caribbean North and Central America North Carolina United States guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …