100 million people in path of India's worst cyclone in five years - CNN

On Thursday, Tropical Cyclone Fani had winds of 190 kmph (118 mph) with gusts of 201 kmph (124 mph), making it equivalent in intensity to a Category 3 major hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale.

It is expected to hit Odisha state on Friday afternoon.

As Fani was classified as an "extremely severe cyclonic storm" in India, the country's Coast Guard and Navy deployed ships and helicopters for relief and rescue operations. Army and Air Force units have also been put on standby in Odisha, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh states.

Some 900 cyclone shelters have been set up across Odisha to house evacuees and school is canceled across the state on Thursday and Friday. Teams are going door to door to warn people.

"They are being told what to take with them if they leave and the precautions they need to take if they stay," said Ameya Patnaik, assistant commandant for the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) in Odisha.

Evacuations have also begun neighboring Andhra Pradesh, while those in West Begal have been told to be ready to leave, officials told CNN. Fishermen have been warned not to venture into the sea due to the extreme conditions.

Fani, which is still about 270 kilometers (170 miles) off of the coast off India, strengthened rapidly on Monday and Tuesday, becoming the strongest storm to move through the Bay of Bengal this early in the year since Tropical Cyclone Nargis in 2008.

Nargis went on to strike Myanmar with winds over 200 kph (124 mph), bringing a devastating storm surge and flooding rainfall that resulted in more than 100,000 deaths in the country.

Fani is expected to bring large storm surges and significant wind damage near the landfall location. Inland flooding will also be a major threat.

Portions of eastern India and Bangladesh can expect 150 to 300 mm (6 to 12 inches) of rain with locally higher amounts regardless of the intensity.

As Fani approaches India it will be moving nearly parallel to the coast. A slight move to the east or west would have a significant impact on the timing of landfall as well as the intensity. A more easterly track means that landfall would be farther north in India, perhaps even into Bangladesh.

If that happens, the storm would likely be a category or two weaker as it moves over cooler waters.

Cyclone season

Fani is the first tropical cyclone of the year in the northern Indian Ocean.

The season doesn't have a defined start and end like the Atlantic basin season, but it does have two main periods of activity: late April to early June, and October to November.

These two periods are prior to, and immediately following, India's southwest monsoon season. The southwest monsoon season lasts from June through September and provides India with the vast majority of its annual rainfall.

Tropical cyclone activity during the monsoon season is extremely rare because the monsoon is characterized by high wind shear, which makes it difficult for tropical storms to form.

CNN's Brandon Miller and Taylor Ward contributed

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https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/02/india/cyclone-fani-evacuations-india-intl/index.html

2019-05-02 08:18:00Z
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Thailand's king surprises with royal wedding ahead of coronation - NBC News

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May 2, 2019, 8:05 AM UTC

By Reuters

BANGKOK — Just days before his official coronation, Thailand's King Maha Vajiralongkorn on Wednesday married the deputy head of his personal guard force and gave her the title Queen Suthida.

The surprise announcement was carried in the Royal Gazette, and footage from Wednesday's wedding ceremony was later shown on the nightly Royal News segment aired on all Thai television channels.

Vajiralongkorn, 66, also known by the title King Rama X, became constitutional monarch after the death of his revered father, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, in October 2016, after 70 years on the throne.

He is due to be officially crowned in elaborate Buddhist and Brahmin ceremonies on Saturday, followed by a procession through Bangkok the next day.

A portrait of Thai King Maha Vajiralongkorn in Bangkok.JORGE SILVA / Reuters

In 2014, Vajiralongkorn appointed Suthida Tidjai, a former flight attendant for Thai Airways, as a deputy commander of his bodyguard unit.

Some royal observers and foreign media had linked Suthida romantically with the king, but the palace had previously never acknowledged a relationship between them.

The king made Suthida a full general in the Royal Thai Army in December 2016, and the deputy commander of the king's personal guard in 2017.

Among the dignitaries at the wedding were Prayuth Chan-ocha, the leader of the military junta that has run Thailand since a 2014 army coup, as well as other members of the royal family and palace advisers, the wedding footage showed.

King Maha Vajiralongkorn attends a ceremony in Bangkok last year.ATHIT PERAWONGMETHA / Reuters, file photo

Vajiralongkorn has previously been married and divorced three times and has seven children.

While the king took the throne after the death of his father, his formal coronation follows a mourning period for King Bhumibol, whose royal cremation was held a year after his death.

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2019-05-02 08:05:00Z
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Thai King marries general days before his coronation - CNN

A royal statement released Wednesday said the 66-year-old monarch "has decided to promote Gen. Suthida Vajiralongkorn Na Ayudhya, his royal consort, to become Queen Suthida and she will hold royal title and status as part of the royal family."

The statement added that the king "performed a royal wedding ceremony with Gen. Suthida Vajiralongkorn Na Ayudhya in accordance to law and royal traditions in a full and righteous manner."

The pair officially married May 1 at the Ampornsathan Throne Hall in Bangkok's Dusit Palace. The King's younger sister, Princess Sirindhorn, and Chairman to Privy Council, Gen. Prem Tinsulanonda, signed the marriage document as witnesses.

Junta leader Prayut Chan-o-cha also attended the ceremony.

Vajiralongkorn assumed the throne following the death of his father in 2016, becoming King Rama X. He is the 10th member of the Chakri dynasty, which has ruled Thailand since Rama I took the throne in 1782.

His coronation takes place on Saturday, with celebrations expected to last until the following Monday.

It is the fourth marriage for Vajiralongkorn, who has two daughters and five sons, only one of whom is officially recognized as a prince.

Queen Suthida has been a feature of the royal household for years. In 2016 Vajiralongkorn promoted her to the rank of general -- and a year later made her deputy commander of the King's Royal Guard Command.

As an important member of the royal family, she is protected by Thailand's lese majeste laws.

What's lese majeste?

The crime of lese majeste -- insulting the royal family -- is enforced by monarchies around the globe. But few are stricter than Thailand, where the law makes it illegal to defame, insult or threaten the King, queen, heir-apparent or regent.

Because of these restrictions, the media -- including CNN -- can only report certain details about senior members of the royal family.

Those found guilty of lese majeste can be jailed for up to 15 years for each count, with some sentences stretching to 60 years.

Despite its long pedigree, there is no clear legal definition of what exactly constitutes lese majeste, and complaints can be filed by anyone, from officials to members of the public.

Cases have spiked in recent years, with reports that the military junta used the law to silence dissent.

CNN's Lauren Said-Moorhouse contributed to this report.

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2019-05-02 07:10:00Z
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Cyclone Fani Set to Strike India as Hundreds of Thousands Evacuate - The New York Times

Hundreds of thousands of people evacuated parts of India’s eastern coast Thursday as a powerful cyclone moved north, bringing fears of widespread destruction in the coming hours.

Cyclone Fani was expected to hit the coast Friday with heavy rain, powerful winds and storm surge in some low-lying areas. More than 100 million people are potentially in the path of the storm, AccuWeather reported.

The India Meteorological Department classified Fani as an “extremely severe cyclonic storm,” the equivalent of a Category 3 or 4 hurricane, and said it would land with sustained winds of more than 100 miles per hour and gusts of up to 120 m.p.h.

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Note: Times on the map are shown in local time in India. | Source: Joint Typhoon Warning Center | By The New York Times

As much as eight inches of rain is forecast to fall on northern parts of the state of Andhra Pradesh and on the state of Odisha. The storm is expected to continue north, hitting the neighboring countries of Bangladesh and Bhutan, as well as parts of the Indian states of West Bengal, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Meghalaya.

“I appeal to everyone that the children, women, old and disabled be evacuated first,” Naveen Patnaik, chief minister of Odisha, said Wednesday, Indian media reported. “All precautions have been taken to face the cyclone. We are fully prepared to tackle the cyclone Fani.”

Mr. Patnaik said that about 800,000 people were expected to be moved to safer places by Thursday evening.

The Bay of Bengal has experienced many of the world’s deadliest tropical cyclones, the result of warm air and water temperatures producing storms that strike the large populations along the coast.

Image

A fisherman near Visakhapatnam, in northern Andhra Pradesh state, on Wednesday.CreditReuters

A cyclone in 1999 killed more than 10,000 people, most of them in Odisha, where it lingered for more than a day, flooding villages and coastal areas and blowing apart bridges and houses.

The state was much better prepared for Cyclone Phailin in 2013, the most powerful storm to hit the Indian coast since 1999. After the cyclone 20 years ago, Odisha set up a disaster management agency and invested in building shelters, strengthening coastal embankments and preparing evacuation routes, according to a World Bank report.

In 2013, about one million people were evacuated, more than twice as many as in 1999. The storm killed 45 people, and preparations helped avoid greater casualties, the World Bank said.

“All of these efforts bore fruit when Cyclone Phailin made landfall,” the report said.

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2019-05-02 06:05:14Z
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John Bolton on violent clashes in Venezuela: 'There’s a lot at stake' for 'the hemisphere as a whole' - Fox News

As the unrest continued in Venezuela on Wednesday, National Security Adviser John Bolton said that “there’s a lot at stake here for the people of Venezuela but for the hemisphere as a whole.”

Opposition leader Juan Guaidó has called for a new round of mass protests on Wednesday after a day of violent uprising in Venezuela against President Nicolas Maduro.

After being absent for most of the day, Maduro took to the airwaves to proclaim that Guaidó's rebellion had been defeated. However, that did not stop Guaidó, who is recognized by the U.S. and more than 50 other nations as Venezuela's rightful president, from calling for more protests.

“Honestly, our judgment is that the overwhelming number of military service members in Venezuela support Juan Guaidó and the opposition,” Bolton said on “Fox & Friends” Wednesday.

He added: “It’s just a matter of time before they come over to the opposition and some of that could happen today.”

TRUMP THREATENS CUBA WITH 'FULL AND COMPLETE' EMBARGO, 'HIGHEST-LEVEL SANCTIONS,' CITING VENEZUELA ROLE

Bolton went on to say that how Guaidó and the actions are being referenced in a serious problem.

"That's really a major part of the problem here. People incorrectly refer to what Juan Guaidó is doing as a coup. He’s the legitimate president. He’s trying to take control of the government,” Bolton said.

“The coup here has been by the Cubans and the Russians who have sort of grafted themselves on to Venezuela. I think they're running it in some sense more than Maduro is.”

Opposition forces hope that fed-up Venezuelans will be so angered by broadcast images of armored vehicles plowing into protesters that they will continue to riot in the streets.

Bolton said he believes Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has a call scheduled on Wednesday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

“The main point to make here is that we're not going to see the Russians take over a country in the western hemisphere, not directly, not through their surrogates the Cubans and that’s why President Trump yesterday suggested that if the Cubans don't get off the body politic in Venezuela they’re going to face significant consequences on their own,” Bolton said.

VENEZUELA'S U.N. AMBASSADOR BLAMES TRUMP, OTHER 'FOREIGN POWERS' FOR TRYING TO DESTABILIZE REGIME

He said the United States “already started” exerting pressure on Cuba to get their hands out of Venezuela and listed several examples: “We’ve restricted travel to Cuba, we've done a number of steps to stop the transfer of oil from Venezuela to Cuba at subsidized prices. That will put an enormous squeeze on the Cuban economy. I think the point about sending 20 to 25,000 Cuban security forces back to Cuba will have a big impact.”

“In parts of the hemisphere they call Venezuela Cuba-zuela, that’s how much influence the Cubans have.”

He then referenced President Trump’s tweets on a possible embargo if the Cubans don’t stop the violence.

Trump tweeted on Tuesday night, “If Cuban Troops and Militia do not immediately CEASE military and other operations for the purpose of causing death and destruction to the Constitution of Venezuela, a full and complete....

"....embargo, together with highest-level sanctions, will be placed on the island of Cuba. Hopefully, all Cuban soldiers will promptly and peacefully return to their island!”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Bolton said, “There’s a lot at stake here for the people of Venezuela but for the hemisphere as a whole, which is why the organization of American states, the Lima group (a coalition that includes more than a dozen Latin American countries) and others have been very clear, they support Juan Guaidó and the opposition. This is not made in Washington by any stretch of the imagination.”

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2019-05-01 16:04:38Z
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Paris May Day protests: Police and demonstrators clash - BBC News

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French police have fired tear gas on masked protesters who joined large May Day demonstrations in Paris.

Traditionally a union-led day of action in the country, this year's event saw both the yellow vest movement and so-called "black blocks" of dark-clad and masked protesters.

Some smashed shop windows and threw projectiles at the police. Dozens of people have been arrested.

The clashes forced the head of the CGT union to temporarily flee the march.

Philippe Martinez told news outlet Franceinfo that "police charged the CGT", though other witnesses had said the "black blocks" had attacked the union march.

AFP news agency says Mr Martinez planned to return.

• May Day celebrated around the world

Police issued a statement saying the union was never targeted, but that police "have carried out their mission with determination against violent thugs".

French broadcaster BFMTV reports that the clashes forced the teachers' union FSU to leave the event.

Is this year's protest larger?

By early afternoon, France's interior ministry said more than 150,000 demonstrators had taken to the streets around the country, and at least 16,000 in the capital - a significant increase on last year's estimates.

Another estimate from media groups put the number far higher, at some 40,000 in Paris.

More than 200 arrests have been made in the capital.

Yet most demonstrators have been non-violent, and clashes with police have occurred in isolated pockets.

France's National Police tweeted a message saying it was guaranteeing the write to express opinions, and called on peaceful protesters to disassociate themselves from violent groups.

Elsewhere, one French journalist reported that while the riot police from France's CRS were subjected to insults, the firefighters of Paris were warmly applauded by passing demonstrators.

Many protesters have joined from the yellow vests movement, which has been protesting on the streets every weekend for months.

French President Emmanuel Macron has made a series of concessions to the movement which has been fuelled by the high the cost of living - most recently with a wave of tax cuts.

One demonstrator, Florence, said the concessions had not made a difference.

"We've been trying to fight, to make ourselves heard for six months and nobody cares," she told Reuters news agency.

"People don't understand the movement though it seems pretty simple: we just want to live normally."

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2019-05-01 15:32:39Z
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Venezuela's opposition leader Guaidó urges 'largest march' in history - NBC News

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May 1, 2019, 3:27 PM UTC

By Daniella Silva

Venezuela’s opposition leader Juan Guaidó called for the “largest march” in the country's history, as Venezuelans braced for a new round of dueling demonstrations on Wednesday.

Thousands took to the streets as demonstrators clashed with pro-government forces Tuesday, resulting in dozens of injuries, after Guaidó announced what he called the “definitive phase” of an operation to oust President Nicolás Maduro.

The opposition leader, who has declared himself interim president, appeared Tuesday in a dramatic video alongside formerly detained activist Leopoldo López and a small group of armed military personnel.

On Wednesday morning, Guaidó again urged Venezuelans to show their support in public protests.

"We go on with more strength than ever, Venezuela," he said in another post on Twitter.

Following the protests Tuesday, Guaidó released a statement calling for the “largest march” in Venezuela’s history.

“Maduro does not have the backing, nor the respect of the armed forces, much less of the Venezuelan people,” he said in the statement.

An opposition demonstrator walks near a bus in flames near La Carlota military base in Caracas on April 30.Federico Parra / AFP - Getty Images

In a video posted to social media Tuesday evening, he referred to Tuesday’s protests as a “historic day” for Venezuela.

“Tomorrow, all of Venezuela to the streets,” he said.

Meanwhile, a defiant Maduro in a television address Tuesday evening called the opposition puppets of the United States and downplayed the demonstrations as a "failed" coup attempt, calling for his supporters to also rally on Wednesday.

“Tomorrow, the first of May, we will have a large, millions-strong march of the working class,” Maduro said. “We have been confronting different types of aggression and attempted coups never before seen in our history.”

Guaidó has urged the military to turn against Maduro in support of the opposition's claim to the presidency. Despite the show of support for Guaidó from a few dozen groups of military personnel Tuesday morning, it remained unclear how much support he actually has. The military has largely remained loyal to Maduro throughout the political upheaval, and top security leaders appeared alongside Maduro during his address Tuesday.

Some of the clashes Tuesday were violent, with tear gas and rubber bullets used on protesters and local media showing video of what appeared to be a military vehicle running over demonstrators.

By Tuesday afternoon, 57 people had been injured by rubber bullets, and one woman was shot with a firearm twice in the stomach, according to a Venezuelan health official.

The Venezuelan defense minister said a pro-government colonel had been shot in the neck, although his condition was unclear. Venezuelan officials also said eight members of security forces were injured by "violent groups" involved in the "failed coup."

On Tuesday, some Venezuelans said they were unsure how everything was going to end but remained hopeful that change was coming.

"I hope this time it turns out, but I find it hard for me to think that today's movement is final," said César Mendoza, 31, of the El Cafetal neighborhood. "I see lack of credibility in the street, and people are tired. Right now, we have the favor of the international movement that did not exist before."

Carlos Morales, 62, of the neighborhood Los Rosales, said he believed people were "more determined to achieve a change.

"People were saying this is our last chance, and I believe it is," he said.

"Nobody knows if the majority of the military is with the opposition," he said. "We only see that they are joining in. It's the first time that I see armed military join."

Daniella Silva

Daniella Silva is a reporter for NBC News, specializing in immigration and inclusion issues.

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2019-05-01 15:27:00Z
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