SAN JUAN – More than half of all homes and businesses in Puerto Rico have been left without power, following the arrival of Storm Ernesto.
The Caribbean island’s main power supplier LUMA Energy said some 998,000 customers did not have access to electricity 03:05 EDT (07:05 GMT), according to BBC’s US partner CBS News.
Ernesto, which grew into a category 1 hurricane on Wednesday, is continuing to strengthen with gusts of up to 85mph (140km/h) heading further north towards Bermuda, where it is expected to make landfall on Friday.
Forecasters predict it could become a major hurricane in the next 48 hours.
The storm swept past Puerto Rico overnight, with up to 10in (25cm) of rain expected in some places, the US National Hurricane Centre (NHC) said.
Juan Saca, LUMA’s president and chief executive, said more than 1,500 employees were working in the field to “re-establish service” and switch the electricity back on.
“We have to evaluate what needs to be done to be able to resolve it,” he told Reuters news agency.
Puerto Rico’s power grid has been wiped out before by hurricanes. In 2022, when Hurricane Fiona hit the island, around 80% of homes and businesses were cut off for almost a month.
Ernesto is the fifth named Atlantic storm to occur this season.
Hurricane Beryl was the earliest Category 5 storm on record in the Atlantic when it swept through the Caribbean and the Texas Gulf Coast last month, killing dozens of people and leaving millions without electricity. (BBC)…[+]

A bridge submerged by the flooded La Plata River is seen in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Ernesto, in Toa Baja. (Reuters)

PARAMARIBO – Education, Science and Culture Minister Henry Ori on Tuesday announced that the ministry would keep a close eye on schools that do not follow the rules and give certificates to pupils who have passed the 8th grade.

“The ministry makes the rules and if you do not want to listen, you will face the consequences,” said Minister Ori who added that firm action would be taken against school principals who do step out of line. “We always prefer dialogue but the instructions are loud and clear. Last year we had the same problem but things went smoothly as a result of consultations. I do not know why they are making a big fuss about it this year. This is the course that we have chosen,” said Minister Ori. Helima Poese, the director of AVO, explained that the exam that the 8th graders take is only aimed at determining the education gaps which is why it is not allowed to issue a certificate. The assessment exam is given in the 10th grade to determine which direction each student must go in the education system. This also means that the tenth graders are given a certificate if they pass the exam. “At the start of this school year we informed all of the nation’s primary schools not to issue any certificates but to issue a statement instead because the children continue their primary education at another school. The ministry still does not have any schools with buildings for the first until the tenth grade,” said director Poese…[+]

The Government of Guyana has banned the use of gold to pay miners wages and transact business in Guyana’s mining district.
Guyana’s Natural Resources Minister, Vickram Bharrat, at a press conference said that his government has decided to take this step as one of the ways to clamp down on smuggling and stop decline in gold declaration. The Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) published a notice in the daily newspapers, saying that “mine operators and claim/permit holders are prohibited against payment of wages and services in gold.”
“This public notice reminds all mine operators, claim holders, permit holders, and lessees that paying wages or compensating goods and service providers with gold in any form is strictly prohibited,” GGMC said in the notice before adding: “This is in accordance with the governing regulations regarding the conveyance of gold, which forbids such transactions without the proper permits or licences from the relevant authorities.”
The notice reminded too that “all mine operators and claim/permit holders and licensees must only sell gold to the “Guyana Gold Board and/or authorised dealers and their agents, or traders licensed by the GGMC” and warned that failure to comply will result in their gold being seized and legal action taken against them.
For years, the use of gold to transact business in Guyana’s interior location has been a common practice. Some of the reasons for this are because of the remoteness of some of the locations and the difficulty to get cash there-especially when it comes to the paying of wages. Most workers prefer to be paid immediately after a wash down (known as cut); only few would opt to wait on their bosses to travel to the cities and nearby landings to get cash. (Kaieteur News)…[+]

Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat. (Kaieteur News)

NEW YORK – Columbia University President Minouche Shafik has resigned from her position, four months after the institution was rocked by campus protests over the war in Gaza.
Ms Shafik’s resignation comes only a year after she took the position at the private Ivy League university in New York City, and just a few weeks before the autumn semester is due to begin.
Ms Shafik is now the third president of an Ivy League university to resign over her handling of Gaza war protests.
In April, Ms Shafik authorised New York Police Department officers to swarm the campus, a controversial decision that led to the arrests of about 100 students who were occupying a university building.
The episode marked the first time that mass arrests had been made on Columbia’s campus since Vietnam War protests more than five decades ago.
The move inflamed other protests at dozens of colleges across the United States and Canada.
In an email to students and faculty on Wednesday, Ms Shafik wrote that she has overseen a “period of turmoil where it has been difficult to overcome divergent views across our community”.
“This period has taken a considerable toll on my family, as it has for others in our community.”
Katrina Armstrong, chief executive officer of the Columbia University Irving Medical Center, will serve as the interim president.
“Over the summer, I have been able to reflect and have decided that my moving on at this point would best enable Columbia to traverse the challenges ahead,” Ms Shafik wrote in her letter.
“I have tried to navigate a path that upholds academic principles and treats everyone with fairness and compassion,” she continued.
“It has been distressing – for the community, for me as president and on a personal level – to find myself, colleagues, and students the subject of threats and abuse.”
Students’ anger over how Israel is fighting its war against Hamas has raised fraught questions for university leaders, who are already struggling with combustive campus debates around what is happening in the Middle East.
US college campuses have been a flashpoint for Gaza war protests since Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October, and Israel’s subsequent incursion into the Gaza Strip.
The leaders of Harvard University, University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology all testified before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.
The presidents of Harvard and UPenn ultimately resigned amid backlash over their handling of campus protests and congressional testimony, including their refusal to say that calling for the deaths of Jews could violate university policy.
In April, Ms Shafik defended her institution’s efforts to tackle antisemitism to Congress, saying that there had been a rise in such hatred on campus and the college was working to protect students.
Ms Shafik is a highly-respected Egyptian-born economist who formerly worked for the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the Bank of England.
She also previously served as president of the London School of Economics.
Ms Shafik, who received a damehood in 2015, was previously considered to be on the shortlist for the Bank of England governor, the BBC reported in 2019.
Her letter adds that she has been asked by the UK Foreign Secretary to lead a “review of the government’s approach to international development and how to improve capability”.
The decision, she wrote, “enables me to return to the House of Lords and to reengage with the important legislative agenda put forth by the new UK government”.
Her resignation comes after three Columbia University deans also resigned last week, after text messages showed the group used “antisemitic tropes”, according to a statement by Ms Shafik, while discussing Jewish students.
The text exchanges were originally published by the Republican-led House Committee on Education and the Workforce in early July. (BBC)…[+]

President of Columbia University Dr. Nemat (Minouche) Shafik. (The Week)

FUZHOU – China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the country’s top economic planner, on Thursday specified key tasks it will undertake to conserve the ecological environment.
The NDRC will act to advance reform in ecological conservation and promote green, low-carbon and high-quality development, said Zhao Chenxin, deputy head of the commission, at an event held in the city of Sanming, east China’s Fujian Province, to mark National Ecology Day.
The commission will work actively, but prudently, towards achieving carbon peak by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060, will step up efforts to protect the ecological environment, and strengthen international cooperation in green and low-carbon development, he added.
The NDRC will implement fiscal, tax, financial, investment and pricing policies as well as standards to support green and low-carbon development, Zhao noted.
The official also pledged to refine the mechanisms for realizing the market value of ecosystem goods and services, advance comprehensive compensation for ecological conservation, and improve the trans-regional compensation mechanism for ecological conservation.
Meanwhile, the NDRC will deepen international cooperation concerning the circular economy, promote the export of advanced technologies, products, standards and business models for green and low-carbon development, and actively participate in global climate governance, Zhao remarked.
Last year, China’s top legislature voted to designate Aug. 15 as the country’s National Ecology Day — with the aim of enhancing public awareness and actions to protect the ecological environment. (Xinhua)…[+]

PARAMARIBO – A man was recently arrested on a drug trafficking charge at his house located in Flora. A team of police officers and officers from a special police unit surrounded the suspect’s house before barging in and taking him into police custody. On April 23rd, 2022 R.B. evidently brought several boxes to a local shipping company. When the customers officers screened these boxes, they found 12 cocaine pellets. The cocaine that was intercepted and seized had a combined weight of 164 grams. The suspect had repeatedly managed to avoid being arrested but last Monday his luck ran out. R.B. who was handed over to the Anti-Narcotics Brigade is currently in jail awaiting trial. The investigation is ongoing…[+]