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Heather
Puerto Rico&`&s power outages are the largest in US history, report says
In terms of the total number of lost hours of electricity, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands are in the midst of the largest blackout in US history, according to a report from an economic research company.
In all, Hurricane Maria has caused a loss of 1.25 billion hours of electricity supply for Americans, according to the analysis from the economic research firm Rhodium Group. That makes it the largest blackout in US history, well ahead of Hurricane Georges in 1998 and Superstorm Sandy in 2012, the group said.
That 1.25 billion number will continue to grow. More than a month after Hurricane Maria knocked out the electric grid on the islands, the vast majority of residents remain without electricity, and the restoration of that power is months away.
Aside from the 2003 blackout, all of the biggest blackouts in US history were due to hurricanes or major storms, including Hurricane Hugo in 1989, Hurricane Ike in 2008, and Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
This year&`&s hurricane season has been particularly destructive. Hurricane Irma, the Category 5 storm that tore through the Caribbean before hitting Florida in early September, caused the loss of 753 million hours of electricity, making it the fourth-largest blackout in US history.
In general, most power outages are due to disruption in the power lines that deliver energy, rather than in energy generation, Houser said. Hurricanes, with their high sustained winds and wide geographic area, are particularly likely to knock out power for large numbers of people.
Charlie
Somalia Mogadishu: Explosions rock capital
Two explosions have rocked the Somali capital Mogadishu, just two weeks after huge bomb killed more than 350 people.
The first blast was caused by a car bomb being driven into a hotel. Militants then stormed the building.
The second explosion took place near the former parliament house nearby. The number of casualties is unclear.
The Islamist militant group al-Shabab - which officials blamed for the attack two weeks ago - said it carried out the latest bombings.
Police officer Mohamed Hussein told Reuters news agency: "At least seven people including soldiers and civilians died".
The city&`&s Aamin Ambulance said it had already ferried 15 wounded , adding there were "many dead bodies".
Major Abdullahi Aden told Reuters: "It is a busy hotel frequented by lawmakers, (military) forces and civilians."
Map showing Mogadishu
Police official Ibrahim Mohamed told AFP news agency that in the second explosion a "minibus loaded with explosives" went off at a nearby intersection.
The attacks comes as provincial leader gather in Mogadishu for a meeting on Sunday with the government to agree on a united strategy against al-Shabab.
The 14 October attack left at least 358 dead, and another 56 still missing.
Rohan
EU bank may not fully repay UK until 2054 due to Brexit
The UK has been warned that billions of euros of British taxpayers&`& money could remain locked into an EU bank for more than thirty years after Brexit.
Alexander Stubb, vice president of the European Investment Bank - in which the UK is a 16% shareholder - said it would not be fully repaid until 2054. He described Brexit as a "travesty" but denied the move was a punishment. "The EIB has leveraged the economy of the UK many, many fold over the years," as he said to the reporter of BBC.
The UK has 3.5billion euros of capital at the bank and a House of Lords report said the UK&`&s investment could be worth 10.1billion euros taking into account reserves and profits.
Established in 1958, the EIB uses capital provided by EU countries to make loans at low rates, often for major infrastructure projects.
All 28 EU nations are shareholders in the Luxembourg-based bank, with the UK being the largest alongside Germany, France and Italy.
Mr. Stubb, a former prime minister of Finland, said that the UK&`&s money could be tied up for decades in after it leaves the EU in 2019.
Everyone on both sides of the negotiating table agree that we have to pay back the 3.5 billion euro, basically in cash, and that will happen over a long period, up until 2054, because that&`&s when the loans are amortised.
Thousands of files on JFK assassination has been released
The US government has released 2,800 previously classified files on the assassination of President John F Kennedy in 1963. President Kennedy was shot dead on 22 November 1963 as he travelled through Dallas in an open-topped limousine.
The Warren Commission&`&s report into the shooting, published in September 1964, said that Lee Harvey Oswald had fired the fatal shots from the Texas School Book Depository building.
President Donald Trump said the public deserved to be "fully informed" about the event, which has been the subject of numerous conspiracy theories. But some documents have been withheld at the request of government agencies.
One memo revealed that the FBI had warned police of a death threat against the assassin Lee Harvey Oswald.
"We at once notified the chief of police and he assured us Oswald would be given sufficient protection", writes the FBI director J Edgar Hoover.
Oswald, a former Marine and self-proclaimed Marxist, was shot dead in the basement of the Dallas Police department two days after President Kennedy was killed. As the documents are pored over and analyzed, other findings include a CIA memo that suggests Oswald spoke with a KGB officer at the Russian embassy in Mexico City. The memo says the KGB officer Oswald spoke with worked for a department "responsible for sabotage and assassination".
Another memo showed that Soviet officials feared an "irresponsible general" would launch a missile at the USSR in the wake of President Kennedy&`&s death. One memo tells how a British regional newspaper, the Cambridge News, received an anonymous call about "some big news" in the US, minutes before the assassination.
A copy of the memo was released by the National Archives in the US in July, but had gone unreported.
News comment
What next for Catalonia? Key questions
This Friday night, it was an appalling moment when people around the globe get to know that Catalan leaders finally made up their mind to quit the Spanish republic. The crisis began when Catalans voted to secede from Spain in a banned referendum that was met with police violence on October 1, it is not something new and sounds familiar for us Chinese.
As the political crisis unfolds, there are a lot more important problem to deal with in the future for Catalans.
What next for Catalan leaders?
Rajoy has fired Catalonia&`&s regional government, including its leader, Carles Puigdemont.
Speaking after a crisis cabinet meeting to decide Madrid&`&s measures, Rajoy declared the dissolution of the Catalan parliament and called a snap election in the region on December 21.
Central government ministries will assume directly the powers of the Catalan administration until the regional poll takes place, he said.
Spain&`&s prosecutor&`&s office, meanwhile, said it would file rebellion charges against Puigdemont. A court will have to decide to accept the charges.
Under Spanish law, the crime of rebellion can be punished with up to 30 years in prison.
Spain&`&s Constitutional Court has also started a review of the Catalan parliament&`&s vote.
How will Spain impose direct rule?
There are many obstacles in Madrid&`&s way, given that Catalans are fiercely protective of the region&`&s high degree of autonomy, such as direct control over education, healthcare and the police.
Spain&`&s government said it was not planning to make any arrests, but it is unclear how it will proceed if the current regional administration staff refuse to leave their offices.
Mossos d&`&Esquadra, a group of Catalonia&`&s police force favouring independence, has already said its members will not follow instructions from the central government and will not use force to remove ministers and legislators from power.
Rajoy said the Mossos chief would be fired.
Mossos officers may be replaced by national police, who used heavy-handed tactics to thwart the referendum. Some fear this could lead to physical confrontations.
Catalonia&`&s secessionist groups have meanwhile called for widespread civil disobedience.
The Catalan National Assembly called on civil servants not to follow orders from the Spanish government and urged them to follow "peaceful resistance".
It is unclear whether such calls will be followed or not. Not all Catalans support breaking away from Spain, with polls showing they are roughly split.
How will the crisis affect Catalonia&`&s economy?
Spain&`&s economy ministry has already increased its control over regional finances and started paying directly for essential services. Under the new proposal, Madrid will take full financial control.
Instability unleashed by the declaration of independence is sure to have economic consequences.
Nearly 1,700 companies have recently moved their legal headquarters out of Catalonia, a region accounting for one-fifth of Spain&`&s economic output.
Shares in Spanish companies, particularly Catalan banks, dropped sharply after the vote.
The region attracts more foreign tourists than anywhere else in the country.
What does the world think?
Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, said the Catalan parliament&`&s declaration of independence had changed nothing, adding that the EU will only deal with the central government in Madrid.
"For EU nothing changes. Spain remains our only interlocutor," Tusk said on Twitter.
The EU has insisted that the standoff in Catalonia is an internal matter for Spain and backed Madrid&`&s position that the October 1 referendum was illegal.
Madrid&`&s allies in the EU and the US meanwhile rallied behind Rajoy, voicing alarm over the latest constitutional crisis, and expressing support for a united Spain.
"A political crisis can only be solved through dialogue," Charles Michel, the Belgian prime minister, said on Twitter.
Germany and the UK said they back Spanish unity and do not recognise Catalonia&`&s unilateral declaration of independence.
"The (German) federal government does not recognise such an independence declaration," German Chancellor Angela Merkel&`&s spokesman Steffen Seibert said in a statement posted on Twitter.
"The sovereignty and territorial integrity of Spain are and always will be inviolable," he added. "We hope that those involved will use all available opportunities for dialogue and de-escalation."
UK Prime Minister Theresa May&`&s office said Britain "does not and will not" recognise the Catalan regional parliament&`&s declaration of independence, which "is based on a vote that was declared illegal by the Spanish courts".
But the Scottish government, led by the pro-independence Scottish National Party, criticised Spain for refusing dialogue and said imposition of direct rule by Madrid "cannot be the solution".
The United States has also backed Madrid&`&s efforts to keep the country united.
"Catalonia is an integral part of Spain, and the United States supports the Spanish government&`&s constitutional measures to keep Spain strong and united," State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement.
