Thousands of residents who evacuated Jasper, a beloved tourist town in western Canada partly destroyed by a massive wildfire, were able to return Friday, authorities said. Approximately 25,000 residents and tourists were forced to flee the area three weeks ago as the fire suddenly swelled, outpacing firefighters' capabilities. "It will be long, it will be difficult," Mayor Richard Ireland said on social media Friday, adding that "we will rebuild, side by side, stronger than ever.
" The fire, touched off by lightning strikes in the drought-stricken area, destroyed more than 350 of the 1,100 buildings in the town, which is home to some 5,000 people. As of Thursday evening, the fire was estimated to be 33,000 hectares (13,400 acres) in size, the biggest in a century to hit vast Jasper National Park, which attracts some 2.5 million tourists a year.
The fire could burn for months more, authorities have warned, scorching a region known as one of Canada's natural gems, which is famed for its scenic mountains, lakes, waterfalls and glaciers. Returning has proven difficult for some residents, who came home to discover their town scarred and defaced. "As you enter into the town and see the fire residue, and everything around it, that is when it becomes emotional," Clara Adriano, whose business was destroyed, told public broadcaster CBC.
In total there are 104 active fires in the province of Alberta. Canada's western region has been hard-hit by wildfires this summer. Repeated heat waves and dry conditions, both likely linked to global climate change, are believed to be key factors, scientists say.
U.S. Senator Bob Menendez, who was convicted of corruption, said on Friday he was abandoning his bid for reelection as an independent, ending a prolific political career.
The 70-year-old New Jersey Democrat had already indicated that he would step down on August 20 from the Senate seat he has held since 2006. The senator was convicted in New York last month of extortion, obstruction of justice and accepting bribes to perform favors for businessmen with connections to Egypt and Qatar. He will be sentenced on October 29 and could spend the rest of his life in prison.
"I am advising you that I wish to have my name withdrawn from the ballot," he wrote in a letter to New Jersey's acting elections chief Donna Barber. Menendez's missive coincided with the announcement of the appointment of his replacement in the Senate as of August 20. New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, also a Democrat, announced that George Samir Helmy will represent New Jersey for the remainder of Menendez's term, which ends in January.
"It is a tragic ending to a long and largely productive career in public service," said Murphy. Menendez's wife, Nadine, has also been charged in the case. She is receiving treatment for breast cancer and will be tried separately.
In a raid on the couple's New Jersey home, FBI agents found nearly $500,000 in cash hidden around the house, as well as gold bars worth around $150,000 and a luxury Mercedes-Benz convertible. As chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, a post he left when he was indicted 11 months ago, Menendez held sway on US foreign policy. The surprise capture on US soil of Mexican drug lord Ismael "Mayo" Zambada has all the suspense of a Netflix nailbiter -- and all the mystery, too.
Wild claims of cross-border kidnapping, murder and political intrigue swirl around his arrest. But there are many gaps in the story, and few official details -- fueling mistrust, analysts say, between US and Mexican authorities. Zambada, 76, co-founded the powerful Sinaloa drug cartel with Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman in the 1990s.
He escaped capture for much of his life despite a US reward of $15 million for his capture. Then, seemingly out of the blue, Zambada was detained on July 25 with El Chapo's son, Joaquin Guzman Lopez, after they landed in the United States on a private plane. Zambada's lawyer and the US ambassador to Mexico have claimed he was taken against his will.
In a statement issued after the arrest, Zambada said Guzman Lopez had invited him to a meeting at a ranch outside Culiacan, Mexico, on July 25. There, he claimed, he was led into a dark room and "ambushed," handcuffed and bundled into a pickup truck with a hood over his head. He said he was driven to a nearby landing strip and "forced onto a private plane," which landed, according to Zambada, in El Paso, Texas -- though a US official says it landed in Santa Teresa, New Mexico.
Adding to the mystery, two of Zambada's bodyguards disappeared during the operation, Zambada said -- one of them the police chief of Mexico's Sinaloa state. "When I read the statement it sounded like a novel," former DEA agent Mike Vigil told AFP. - Politician 'murdered' - The United States and Mexico have both denied involvement in Zambada's capture, though Mexico City has alluded to conversations between Guzman Lopez and US officials.
But Zambada has sought to draw in Mexican officials, saying he had been on his way to meet the governor of Sinaloa state, Ruben Rocha -- a supporter of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. Guzman Lopez, Zambada said, had asked him to mediate in a conflict between Rocha and opposition lawmaker Hector Cuen. Zambada then claimed Cuen was "murdered" at the same place he was ambushed, while he was there.
But on Monday, the Sinaloa prosecutor's office released video footage allegedly showing Cuen's murder -- on July 25, but in a robbery at a gas station in Culiacan. Rocha, for his part, has denied any links to the Sinaloa Cartel and said he was in Los Angeles on the day in question. Lopez Obrador and Mexico's new president-elect, Claudia Sheinbaum, have backed up his claim.
On Thursday, the Mexican attorney general's office said it would charge anyone involved in Zambada's "illegal" handover with "treason." - Revenge? - Experts say Zambada's story could be a ploy to avoid standing trial in the United States, where he has pleaded not guilty to charges of drug trafficking and money laundering, among others. His defense could argue "there was an extraterritorial application of American justice," Mexican security expert David Saucedo told AFP.
But Vigil said this was unlikely to work, pointing to a Mexican national prosecuted on US soil two decades ago for the murder of a DEA agent, despite claiming he was illegally detained. Vigil, who had served in Mexico several times, also highlighted seeming improbabilities in Zambada's version of events, finding it odd that one of the world's most wanted men would travel with only four bodyguards to meet Guzman Lopez -- a rival drug lord -- to resolve a political matter. A likelier scenario, said Vigil, was that Guzman Lopez gave up Zambada in exchange for benefits for himself and his brother Ovidio, extradited to the United States in 2023.
It could also be "revenge" for Zambada's relatives testifying against "El Chapo" at the trial that saw him sentenced in New York to life imprisonment. - 'Requires corruption' - Whatever the truth, Zambada's capture showed once again that drug trafficking "does not occur independently" of state actors, "but rather requires corruption to exist and grow," according to Cecilia Farfan of the University of California San Diego's Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Mexico has a long history of drugs intersecting with politics.
Genaro Garcia Luna, a former homeland security minister, was found guilty last year in New York of protecting the Sinaloa cartel. Zambada's arrest also highlights difficulties in US-Mexico anti-drug cooperation, said Saucedo, amid accusations that Mexico follows a "hands off" approach. The Sinaloa cartel is one of the most powerful criminal groups in Mexico along with the Jalisco New Generation.
Lopez Obrador, who says the United States' DEA-led drug fight has failed, insisted Monday that arresting top-level drug lords does nothing to solve the underlying problem. He accused Washington of seeking to link governments to drug trafficking in a bid to "subdue" them. Spiraling criminal violence, much of it linked to drug trafficking and gangs, has seen more than 450,000 people murdered in Mexico since 2006.
Hurricane Ernesto lashed Bermuda with heavy rains and strong winds early Saturday, leaving much of the British Atlantic Ocean territory without power as it made landfall, with meteorologists warning of a dangerous storm surge and floods. The cyclone, which hit Puerto Rico earlier this week, was over the archipelago after making landfall at 0830 GMT packing maximum sustained winds of 85 miles (137 kilometers) per hour, according to the Miami-based National Hurricane Center. "A dangerous storm surge is expected to produce significant coastal flooding on Bermuda in areas of onshore winds.
Near the coast, the surge will be accompanied by large and destructive waves," the NHC warned. Ernesto was expected to dump six to nine inches (150 to 225 millimeters) of rain on Bermuda. "This rainfall will likely result in considerable life-threatening flash flooding, especially in low-lying areas on the island," the NHC said.
The storm had left nearly 26,000 customers without electricity, Bermuda's power firm Belco reported, or more than 70 percent of its customers on the island with a population of 64,000. Bermudians on Friday prepared for the storm's arrival, hauling boats out of the ocean and water, boarding up windows, filling bathtubs with water and stocking up on batteries and food supplies. "This storm is the real deal," Minister of National Security Michael Weeks said after a meeting of emergency officials on Friday, according to The Royal Gazette newspaper.
"This is not a storm to be taken lightly," he said, warning islanders to expect 36 hours of hurricane-force winds. "Please take every precaution to protect your life and property. Stay indoors, stay safe, and I pray that we are all spared any real loss or damage," Weeks added, according to the Gazette.
Some key roads were closed and bus and ferry services were suspended, it added. Bermuda's L.F.
Wade International Airport said it would remain shut until Sunday after the storm had passed. Ernesto was moving northeast and expected to slowly depart Bermuda Saturday and move near or east of Newfoundland in eastern Canada on Monday night, the NHC said..
