The mayor of New Orleans invited residents of some of the city's most popular neighborhoods to return at their own risk beginning yesterday, a move that could bring back about one-third of the city's half-million inhabitants.
The newly opened areas, including the French Quarter and Garden District, all escaped major flooding in a city that was devastated by Hurricane Katrina a month ago before receiving a second blow from Hurricane Rita last week.
Business owners began showing up on Thursday, some saying they were pulling out and others vowing to rebuild.
PHOTO: AFP
"We are lucky. I was expecting much worse than this,'' said Germame Kassa, whose Ethiopian grocery and deli was relatively unscathed, although the stink of rotting food permeated through the locked doors. "One way or the other, we'll be back in business.''
Mayor Ray Nagin was pushing aggressively to reopen the city despite concerns raised by state and federal officials. Serious health hazards remain because of bacteria-laden floodwaters, a lack of drinkable water and a sewage system that still does not work, said Stephen Johnson, chief of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
"There are a whole lot of factors that need to be weighing on the mayor's mind,'' Johnson said.
He said the EPA was not taking a position on Nagin's plan, but he refused to answer when asked if he would allow his own family to return to New Orleans.
State officials say at least 140,000 homes and businesses across southeastern Louisiana were so badly damaged that they must be torn down. The storms also left 19.95 million tonnes of debris, including 350,000 cars and trucks, said Mike McDaniel, chief of the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality.
Even as residents were to begin pouring back into New Orleans, the police department said it was investigating a dozen officers accused of looting during the lawlessness that engulfed the city after Katrina.
"The investigation does in fact show police officers with some items,'' acting Police Superintendent Warren Riley said on Thursday.
He said four of the 12 officers have already been suspended for failing to stop looting.
"It was not clear that they in fact looted,'' Riley said of the four. "What is clear is that some action needed to be taken and it was not.''
Riley drew a distinction between taking useful items such as food and jeans, which he contended didn't amount to looting in a crisis, and taking luxuries such as jewelry.
Incidents in which officers took Cadillacs from a dealer's lot were not looting because the officers patrolled in the cars, Riley said.
Katrina's death toll in Louisiana rose to 923 on Thursday, up from 896 the day before, the state health department said.
VAGUE: The criteria of the amnesty remain unclear, but it would cover political violence from 1999 to today, and those convicted of murder or drug trafficking would not qualify Venezuelan Acting President Delcy Rodriguez on Friday announced an amnesty bill that could lead to the release of hundreds of prisoners, including opposition leaders, journalists and human rights activists detained for political reasons. The measure had long been sought by the US-backed opposition. It is the latest concession Rodriguez has made since taking the reins of the country on Jan. 3 after the brazen seizure of then-Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro. Rodriguez told a gathering of justices, magistrates, ministers, military brass and other government leaders that the ruling party-controlled Venezuelan National Assembly would take up the bill with urgency. Rodriguez also announced the shutdown
Civil society leaders and members of a left-wing coalition yesterday filed impeachment complaints against Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte, restarting a process sidelined by the Supreme Court last year. Both cases accuse Duterte of misusing public funds during her term as education secretary, while one revives allegations that she threatened to assassinate former ally Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The filings come on the same day that a committee in the House of Representatives was to begin hearings into impeachment complaints against Marcos, accused of corruption tied to a spiraling scandal over bogus flood control projects. Under the constitution, an impeachment by the
Exiled Tibetans began a unique global election yesterday for a government representing a homeland many have never seen, as part of a democratic exercise voters say carries great weight. From red-robed Buddhist monks in the snowy Himalayas, to political exiles in megacities across South Asia, to refugees in Australia, Europe and North America, voting takes place in 27 countries — but not China. “Elections ... show that the struggle for Tibet’s freedom and independence continues from generation to generation,” said candidate Gyaltsen Chokye, 33, who is based in the Indian hill-town of Dharamsala, headquarters of the government-in-exile, the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA). It
China executed 11 people linked to Myanmar criminal gangs, including “key members” of telecom scam operations, state media reported yesterday, as Beijing toughens its response to the sprawling, transnational industry. Fraud compounds where scammers lure Internet users into fake romantic relationships and cryptocurrency investments have flourished across Southeast Asia, including in Myanmar. Initially largely targeting Chinese speakers, the criminal groups behind the compounds have expanded operations into multiple languages to steal from victims around the world. Those conducting the scams are sometimes willing con artists, and other times trafficked foreign nationals forced to work. In the past few years, Beijing has stepped up cooperation
RSS