WEAKENED but still potent, Storm Barry inundated the United States’ Gulf Coast but appeared unlikely to deluge New Orleans as it continued its slow advance.
Nevertheless, on Saturday night, Governor John Bel Edwards urged residents across south Louisiana to stay “vigilant”, warning that Barry could still cause disastrous flooding across a wide stretch of the Gulf Coast overnight.
New Orleans had been braced for heavy rain at the weekend, but instead had intermittent bands of moderate showers and occasional sunshine.
Though Barry will continue to dump rain throughout the weekend, forecasters downgraded rainfall estimates for the city yesterday from 50cm to between 5cm-10cm.
National Weather Service forecaster Robert Ricks warned, however, that it was too early to say for certain that New Orleans was in the clear.
“We’re about at the [halfway] mark of the marathon right now,” he said.
After briefly becoming a Category 1 hurricane, the system weakened to a tropical storm, the National Hurricane Centre said. By late Saturday night, its maximum sustained winds had fallen to 50mph.
A 69-YEAR-OLD man armed with a rifle threw incendiary devices at an immigration jail in the US early on Saturday, and was then found dead after police arrived and opened fire, authorities said.
The US Department of Homeland Security detention facility in Washington state holds migrants pending deportation. It has also held immigration-seeking parents separated from their children under Donald Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy.
The shooting took place hours after a rally in front of the centre.
The Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the man as Willem Van Spronsen, US news outlets reported.
Deb Bartley, a friend of Van Spronsen for about 20 years, said he was an anarchist and anti-fascist, and believes the attack was intended to provoke a fatal conflict. No law enforcement officers were injured.
A BULL broke from the pack and gored three runners during the final bull run of this year’s San Fermin festival in Spain yesterday, health officials from the northern city of Pamplona said.
The six bulls were killed at the ring later in the day.
Bullfights are protected in Spain’s constitution as part of the country’s cultural heritage.
BANGLADESH’S former military dictator HM Ershad, who seized power in a 1982 coup, has died aged 91.
Ershad ruled until 1990, and was leader of the opposition in the current parliament.
His brother said Ershad had suffered from multiple conditions for some time.
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