At least they haven't been spouting global warming as the cause.
"Violent storm batters Europe; at least 51 dead; Floods, wind devastate coast" by Deborah Seward, Associated Press | March 1, 2010
PARIS - A violent late-winter storm with fierce rain and hurricane-strength winds ripped across western Europe yesterday, leaving at least 51 people dead.
The storm, named Xynthia, was the worst in France since 1999, when 90 people died. Prime Minister Francois Fillon held an emergency cabinet meeting and afterward called the storm a national catastrophe.
A lot of that going around lately.
At least 45 people died in France, many of them drowning victims, while others were hit by parts of buildings or trees and branches that were ripped off by the wind. At least a dozen people were missing, and 59 others were injured.
Three people in Spain and one in Germany were killed, and a child was crushed to death in Portugal. One death was reported in Belgium. Although Britain was not hit, London’s Thames Barrier - the capital’s flood defense - was closed yesterday morning as a precaution.
Nearly 900,000 people in France were without electricity. Rivers overflowed in Brittany, while high tides and enormous waves swamped Atlantic communities in the early-morning hours. Sea walls broke in the town of L’Aguillon, where the ocean waters reached the roofs of some homes.
See article below for more on sea walls.
Helicopters lifted people to safety throughout the day.
A retired couple who had parked their car on the waterfront in the town Moutier-en-Retz died when the vehicle was swallowed by rushing waters.
How terrifying!
The threat of avalanches was high in the Pyrenees and the southern Alps due to wind and wet snow. Roofs were ripped off, chimneys collapsed, and the wind shattered the windows at a brewery in eastern France.
In Paris, winds knocked over motorcycles and spewed garbage around the streets....
The storm was moving eastward, and parts of France along the border with Germany and Belgium were on alert for heavy rain and high winds....
Winds gusting up to 118 miles per hour had blown over the Canary Islands overnight Friday, causing a crane to collapse on a building, lampposts to fall onto parked cars, and forcing flight cancellations....
Always so concerned with the damn airplanes.
"France pledges aid for flooded coastal areas" by Associated Press | March 2, 2010
PARIS - Rescue workers in dinghies cruised flooded streets on France’s Atlantic coast yesterday, searching for people still trapped in their homes by storms that smashed through concrete sea walls and killed at least 62 people across Western Europe.
The storm, called Xynthia, blew into France early Sunday with hurricane-force winds, flooding ports, destroying homes, and leaving 1 million households without electricity.
It also battered Belgium, Portugal, Spain, and parts of Germany and snarled train and air travel throughout the continent....
So it was heading east.
What happened after that?
"Natural and human factors made French storm a killer" by Remy de la Mauviniere and Elaine Ganley, Associated Press | March 4, 2010
L’AIGUILLON-SUR-MER, France - The moon was full, the wind roared, the tide was high, and people died by the dozen.
After a wall of ocean water engulfed picturesque towns along France’s Atlantic coast, residents, officials, and specialists are all asking why.
Was it due to climate change? A freak storm fueled by hurricane-force winds? The result of human greed over desirable land or bungling actions by government officials?
Many observers point to the thousands of miles of sea walls in France, many built too low, in severe disrepair, or reportedly dating from the era of Napoleon. They also cite the new houses cropping up behind them, tantalizingly close to the country’s poorly protected but much beloved shoreline.
Environmental groups say the storm should be a wake-up call about the danger of weak sea defenses, with scientists warning that climate change will bring even fiercer storms and rising seas in the years ahead.
ClimateGate discredited them.
This is a case of engineering and neglect.
At least 52 people were killed when the storm named Xynthia swept through France’s southwestern coastal communities between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m. Sunday, surprising victims in their sleep.
Most of the fatalities were on the French mainland, especially in two towns, L’Aiguillon-Sur-Mer and La Faute-Sur-Mer.
The sea walls in L’Aiguillon-Sur-Mer - the only barrier between the surging Atlantic Ocean and the sea-level land - crumbled and salty water gushed forth, ripping up trees and covering some homes.
A physicist who specializes in tides, Pierre Bouteloup, blamed what he called an “extraordinary coincidence’’: a strong wind, enormous waves, and, above all, very low atmospheric pressure that drew the water even higher.
Others say human error clinched the disaster with chaotic urbanization in flood zones and a failure to maintain the country’s aging sea walls.
Ever notice governments are never held responsible for anything?
Sounds like the roads back here in the states (all the tax loot has gone to banks and wars, folks).
I drive 'em everyday. I've seen the signs promoting the stimulus, and I look around and say where is the work, ker-thump?
France has as many as 6,200 miles of sea walls, some built in the 18th century, said Deputy Ecology Minister Chantal Jouanno. And about one-tenth of them - 620 miles - “can be considered a risk,’’ she said.
Yeah, I guess blowing up nuclear bombs was more important.
Sea walls were on the agenda yesterday at President Nicolas Sarkozy’s Cabinet meeting - and he ordered an immediate inspection of all such barriers in France.
Don't you love government?
Always a day late, but they are looking out for you, right?
--more--"
So what else has been happening in France, Boston Globe?
PARIS - A hippo was permitted to stay put after she threw a temper tantrum in a shipping crate.
Yeah, see?
Why is GETTING ANGRY the ONLY THING PEOPLE LISTEN TO, huh?
The zoo has not had major work done since it opened in 1934, and its crumbling displays eventually became a safety hazard.
What are you French folks doing with all your tax loot?
Don't you guys ever fix anything?
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But they DO HARBOR WAR CRIMINALS!
PARIS - French authorities yesterday briefly detained the widow of former president Juvenal Habyarimana of Rwanda, whom Rwanda is seeking on charges related to the nation’s 1994 genocide, officials said.
Agathe Habyarimana was taken into custody at her home in Courcouronnes, south of Paris, on a Rwandan warrant, said a judicial official who was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter and could not be named.
She was released on the condition that she remain in France and check in with local police every month, the official said. Habyarimana told prosecution officials she would fight Rwandan attempts to extradite her, a statement from the prosecutor’s office said.
Rwanda welcomed the arrest, conducted just days after President Nicolas Sarkozy of France visited the nation to repair long-troubled ties.
First I've seen or read of it.
He said Paris wanted “all those responsible for the genocide to be found and punished,’’ including those believed to be living in France.
Amazing!
This as they seek to rewrite laws to absolve Israeli war criminals.
A French advocacy group for genocide survivors describes France as a haven for those who helped perpetrate the killings, and it has filed 16 lawsuits against people living there, including Habyarimana.
Related: France's Mass-Murdering Holocaust Deniers
And they are SHELTERING THEM now?
The group’s leader, Alain Gauthier, cautiously welcomed her arrest.
But extradition proceedings “could drag on for a long time, and could end with a refusal to hand her over,’’ Gauthier said.
The genocide was sparked when a plane carrying President Habyarimana was shot down as it approached Rwanda’s capital.And CUI BONO?
--more--"
Also see: Cutting Through the African Bush
Staying in the region:
"Landslides in Uganda kill 70; 250 missing" by Associated Press | March 3, 2010
BUDUDA, Uganda - Rivers of mud swamped houses, stores, and at least one school after heavy rains in this Central African country, killing at least 70 people with some 250 still missing, officials and survivors said yesterday.
Rains that began Monday evening continued through the night, triggering landslides in the Bududa region, 170 miles east of Kampala. Uganda’s minister of state for disaster preparedness said the army would join the rescue effort....
That hasn't been working out anywhere lately. Might want to rethink it.
Bududa has long suffered from landslides but rarely has the death toll been so high....
First I ever remember reading about them
As for the last time I saw Uganda in the paper....
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Let's skip around Africa a bit and see what else the Globe presented us:
MEKNES, Morocco - King Mohammed VI yesterday ordered experts to check the safety of Morocco’s historic mosques as the death toll from the collapse of a centuries-old minaret rose to 41 people, the official news agency said. The minaret fell onto a crowded mosque during prayers Friday here, a UNESCO heritage site and a walled city that is a maze of winding narrow streets. Some 75 people were injured, 17 of whom are still hospitalized, the North African nation’s official MAP news agency said.
--more--"
FLASHBACK:
36 DEAD AFTER MINARET COLLAPSES IN MOROCCO -- The structure fell during prayers yesterday at a mosque in the old town of the historic city of Meknes, injuring 71. Officlas said heavy rain had weakened the minaret, which was built four centuries ago under Sultan Moulay Ismail, who made Meknes his capital.
And while we are there, shoot....
NAIROBI - Kenya’s prime minister said yesterday that he wants former UN chief Kofi Annan to mediate a dispute with the president that is threatening a power-sharing agreement that helped end postelection bloodshed two years ago.
The public spat between the two leaders has deepened fractures in the coalition government formed in 2008 after more than 1,000 Kenyans were killed in the country’s worst violence since gaining independence from Britain in 1963.
Prime Minister Raila Odinga dismissed two Cabinet ministers Sunday over corruption allegations, but President Mwai Kibaki immediately reinstated them, part of a weekend to-and-fro over what constitutional powers the premier has.
The US Embassy welcomed the decision to force government officials to step aside, and called for a thorough and transparent investigation. But the rift has turned personal, and the nation’s attorney general hinted it could lead to a constitutional crisis.
U.S. quietly working to get this government tossed, 'eh?
The call to bring in Annan signals the seriousness of the dispute. Annan mediated the power-sharing agreement in early 2008 that stopped machete-wielding factions and police from spilling more blood....
If it is/was so serious, how come I haven't seen a word since, readers?
Related: Kenya Turns Terrorist
ALGIERS - The powerful chief of Algeria’s national police, on the front line in the war against Islamist insurgents, was shot and killed by a colleague during a meeting yesterday at his headquarters, authorities said.
Two others were injured in the attack on Ali Tounsi, including a security chief for the Algiers region, a law enforcement official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to give information to the media.
Tounsi, 73, headed this North African nation’s police for 16 years. He had been an institution in the country’s fight against Islamic militants since the 1990s, when insurgents tried to overthrow the military-backed government. The violence killed up to 200,000 people.
Yeah, they won elections and then the army nullified them.
That's an attempted overthrow by "Islamic insurgents," not a military coup, got it?
Tounsi’s attacker turned his weapon on himself after the shooting at the security headquarters, the Interior Ministry said.
I NEVER LIKE THAT!
He's just a little bit dead.
You know, like sort of pregnant.
--more--"
And here are some fellas you haven't heard much about (and won't afterward, either):
BRUSSELS - A NATO destroyer sank a pirate mothership in the Indian Ocean off the Somali coast after allowing the crew to leave, the alliance said yesterday.
That's because they are working for CIA.
Shona Lowe, an antipiracy spokeswoman, said the HDMS Absalon - the Danish flagship of the three-vessel NATO flotilla in the region - disrupted a pirate operation by “scuttling’’ one of the large boats Somali gangs used to transport attack teams to piracy hunting areas far off the coast.
The mothership was fired on and sunk after its crew members were transferred to a smaller boat in tow, which was allowed to return to the mainland, she said.
“NATO is not in the business of firing at skiffs with pirates in them,’’ Lowe said in an interview from NATO’s naval headquarters in Northwood, near London.... The action occurred Sunday in the Indian Ocean, not the adjacent Gulf of Aden, where most pirate attacks take place.
Piracy in the region soared as the rule of law crumbled in Somalia and organized criminal gangs ramped up the lucrative business of boarding ships in the Gulf of Aden or the Indian Ocean - one of the world’s busiest sea lanes - and holding them, their crews, and cargos for ransom....
How can that be AFTER the WORLD COMMUNITY began PATROLLING THOSE WATERS, hmmm?
NATO maintains a three-ship flotilla, which also includes the frigates USS Boone and the British HMS Chatham, to fight the pirates. The European Union has a separate, six-ship squadron in the region as part of its antipiracy mission, known as Operation Atalanta, as do other nations such as the United States, India, Russia, and China....
Yeah, those "pirates" sure are crafty to outwit the entire world.
One wonders why pirates are not active in every sea lane in the world, huh?
I mean, if the global government can't patrol the Gulf of Aden, how are they going to secure the rest of the world?
--more--"
Related: Slow Saturday Special: Suddenly Somalia
Yeah, something is starting to stink, isn't it, readers?
And I saved the best (alphabetically) for last:
"President feted in lavish celebration
BULAWAYO - President Robert Mugabe’s supporters say they spent $300,000 to celebrate his 86th birthday in this impoverished country. Delma Lupepe, a member of Mugabe’s party, said yesterday that he helped raise the money from donors.
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Btw, when was the last time the Globe bothered with Zimbabwe, 'eh?
I guess he's not such a monster after all.
