WASHINGTON Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is heading to Latin America on a weeklong, five-nation tour expected to be dominated by the earthquake in Chile and building support for fresh penalties against Iran.Clinton plans to leave Washington on Sunday evening to attend the inauguration of Uruguay’s new president, ex-guerrilla Jose Mujica (MOO’-hee-kah).Unless the earthquake alters her itinerary, Clinton is due late Monday in Chile, where she will offer support for disaster rescue and recovery efforts.In Brazil, Clinton will seek support for more penalties on Iran over its nuclear program. Brazil is a voting member of the U.N. Security Council and has been reluctant to impose additional penalties.Clinton wraps up the trip with stops in Costa Rica and Guatemala.(AP)
Posts Tagged ‘Costa Rica’
Hillary Rodham Clinton is heading to Latin America on a weeklong, five-nation tour expected to be dominated by the earthquake in Chile
Posted: February 28, 2010 in breaking newsTags: Brazil, Chile, Clinton, Costa Rica, Disaster_Accident, Guatemala, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Iran, Islamic Republic of Iran, Jose Mujica, Latin America, NEW YORK, Politics, Politics of the United States, President, Secretary of State, U.N. Security Council, Uruguay, Washington, Washington,United States, Women in politics
earthquake on the coast of Chile has killed at least 52 people
Posted: February 27, 2010 in breaking newsTags: Antarctica, Australia, Australian Tsunami Warning Center, Bio Bio river, Carmen Fernandez, Chile, Colombia, Concepcion, Costa Rica, Disaster_Accident, Ecuador, electricity, Environment, Hawaii, Hawaii,United States, Head, head of Chile, Historic tsunamis, Howe Island, Indian Ocean earthquake, Japan, Japan and the Philippines, Juan Fernandez islands, Julio Alvarez, Maule, Maule,Chile, Michelle Bachelet, New South Wales, Norfolk Island, Oceanography, Pacific rim, Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, Panama, Peru, Physical geography, Physical oceanography, Physics, President, Queensland, Queensland,Australia, Santiago, Santiago coast, Santiago,Santiago Metropolitan Region,Chile, Simon Shalders, South America, Spokesman, the Philippines, Tsunami, U.S. West Inc., US West, US West Coast, Viña del Mar,Chile, Vina del Mar, Warning systems
A massive earthquake on the coast of Chile has killed at least 52 people, flattening buildings and triggering a tsunami. The 8.8-magnitude quake, the country’s largest in 25 years, shook the capital Santiago for a minute and half at 3:34am (0634 GMT) today. A tsunami warning has been extended across the Pacific rim, including most of Central and South America and as far as Australia and Antarctica. The wave has already caused serious damage to the sparsely populated Juan Fernandez islands, off the Santiago coast, local radio reported.
Carmen Fernandez, the head of Chile’s emergency services, said at least 52 people died. President Michelle Bachelet has declared a “state of catastrophe” in the country. The quake hit near the town of Maule, 200 miles southwest of Santiago, at a depth of 22 miles underground. The epicentre was just 70 miles from Concepcion, Chile’s second-largest city, where more than 200,000 people live along the Bio Bio river. In Santiago buildings collapsed and phone lines and electricity were brought down, but the full extent of the damage is still being determined.
Santiago resident Simon Shalders said: “There was a lot of movement. The houses were really shaking, walls were moving backwards and forwards, and doors were swinging open. “The power is still out here. There’s quite a few choppers flying around in Santiago I suppose checking out the worst-affected areas.” In the coastal city of Vina del Mar, the earthquake struck just as people were leaving a disco, Julio Alvarez told a local radio station. “It was very bad, people were screaming, some people were running, others appeared paralyzed. I was one of them.”
Several big aftershocks later hit the south-central region, including ones measuring 6.9, 6.2 and 5.6. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a warning for Chile and Peru, and a less-urgent tsunami watch for Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica and Antarctica. A spokesman said: “Sea level readings indicate a tsunami was generated. “It may have been destructive along coasts near the earthquake epicentre and could also be a threat to more distant coasts.”
The Joint Australian Tsunami Warning Center issued also warned of a “potential tsunami threat; to New South Wales state, Queensland state, Lord Howe Island and Norfolk Island”. Any potential wave would not hit Australia until Sunday morning local time, it added. Earthquakes are relatively common in Chile, which is part of the pacific “ring-of-fire” tectonic-plate boundary, and many buildings are built to withstand tremors. The largest earthquake ever recorded struck the same region on May 22, 1960. The magnitude-9.5 quake killed 1,655 people and left two million homeless. The tsunami that it caused killed people in Hawaii, Japan and the Philippines and caused damage to the US West Coast.
30,000 police officers and soldiers set to be deployed across Honduras
Posted: November 29, 2009 in breaking newsTags: 30, Argentina, Brazil, Brazilian embassy, Chronology of events of the 2009 Honduran coup d'état, Congress, Costa Rica, Coup d'état, European Union, Heads of state, Honduran constitutional crisis, Honduras, human rights, Manuel Zelaya, Micheletti, Organization of American States, ousted president, Politics, Politics of Honduras, President, presidential election, presidential elections, Roberto Micheletti, Supreme Court, tear gas canisters, Tegucigalpa, Tegucigalpa,Francisco Morazán,Honduras, United Nations, United States, vice presidents, War_Conflict
Tegucigalpa, Honduras About 30,000 police officers and soldiers were set to be deployed across Honduras on Sunday for a presidential election that is being viewed in starkly different terms inside the country.Those who support ousted President Manuel Zelaya, who was forced from office in a coup in June, are urging citizens to stay home.They say that participating in the polls is tantamount to legitimizing the de facto government of Roberto Micheletti, who replaced Zelaya.The current government, on the other hand, sees the election as a means to end months of international isolation. The coup, widely condemned worldwide, cut off foreign aid to the Central American nation and dealt a blow to its economy.Micheletti’s administration is hoping the international community will recognize whoever emerges the winner of the race.The United States has already said that it will, adding that elections will reset the clock. But Argentina and Brazil have said they will not.
“I believe that tomorrow a lack of voter participation and rejection of dictatorship will prevail,” Zelaya said Saturday. “It will speak by itself. Do not go with the results given by the dictator Micheletti.”Fearing violence, police and military have stockpiled 10,000 tear gas canisters and other crowd-control equipment.This, in turn, has alarmed many residents, “triggering fears of an increased risk of excessive and disproportionate use of force by security forces around the presidential elections,” said the human rights group Amnesty International.The political crisis started June 28, when a military-backed coup removed Zelaya from power, shuttling him off in his pajamas to nearby Costa Rica. A few hours later, Congress swore in Micheletti, the legislature’s president, as Zelaya’s replacement.
The United Nations, the Organization of American States, the European Union and most nations — including the United States — condemned the coup and demanded that Zelaya be reinstated immediately.Five months later, Zelaya is still not in power, holed up instead in the Brazilian embassy in the Honduran capital. The ousted president sought refuge there after secretly returning to his country September 21.It appeared that a solution had been reached October 29, when Zelaya and Micheletti agreed to a deal brokered by the United States. The pact said Congress would vote on Zelaya’s return to power after consultation with the nation’s Supreme Court and other bodies. The vote was to have been held within a week but is now scheduled for next week, after the elections.
The Supreme Court ruled 14-1 this week that Zelaya cannot return to office without first facing trial on charges that he acted unconstitutionally when he tried to hold a vote that could have led to the lifting of presidential term limits. The Supreme Court had ruled that the vote was illegal and Congress had forbidden it.The coup came on the day the vote was to have been held.Micheletti stepped down temporarily this week to try to distance himself from Sunday’s elections. He said he will resume office Wednesday. The new president is scheduled to be sworn in January 27.In addition to the presidency, voters will cast ballots on Sunday for three vice presidents, 128 members of congress, and mayors and other municipal leaders throughout the nation