27/02/2025

THURSDAY | FEB 27, 2025

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State of emergency after Chile blackout

o Power outage causes transport chaos, thousands evacuated from metro

Speaking earlier in the day, Interior Minister Carolina Toha ruled out sabotage as the reason for the power loss, which began at 3:16pm in the middle of the southern hemisphere summer. “There is no reason to assume that this is an attack,” she said, adding that it was more likely “a failure in the system’s operation” and the grid should be back up and running “in the coming hours”. The metro company, which transports 2.3 million passengers every day, said workers were deployed to all stations “to support safe evacuations”. Out-of-service traffic lights caused major gridlocks, with some individuals having to walk for hours

in hot weather to reach their homes. “They let us leave work because of the power cut but now I do not know how we will get home because all the buses are full,” worker Maria Angelica Roman, 45, told AFP in Santiago. “At the bank where I work, all operations had to stop,“ said clerk Jonathan Macalupu. The Chilevision broadcaster showed a video of people trapped on a mechanical ride several meters high at an amusement park in Santiago before being rescued. An AFP photographer saw firefighters rescue a distraught elderly woman, who had been trapped inside an elevator. The country’s hospital system and prisons were operating on

emergency generators. In the coastal city of Valparaiso, witnesses reported shops and businesses closing early and traffic chaos. Unlike Cuba, which has suffered several nationwide power outages in the past six months, Chile boasts one of the best power networks in South America and has not had a blackout this big in about 15 years. In 2010, damage to a power plant in southern Chile plunged hundreds of thousands of individuals into darkness for several hours. That outage happened a month after a massive 8.8-magnitude earthquake killed more than 500 individuals and rocked the national power grid.

SANTIAGO: Chile on Tuesday declared a state of emergency and curfew across much of the country, including the capital Santiago, following a massive blackout that left millions without power. The worst blackout in the country in well over a decade caused transport chaos in Santiago, where thousands were evacuated from the metro and people jostled to board overflowing buses. In an address to the nation on Tuesday, President Gabriel Boric said

he was activating “a state of emergency due to a catastrophe” to guarantee national security. He also announced a curfew from 10pm on Tuesday until 6am on Wednesday. The outage affected an area stretching from Arica in the long, narrow South American country’s north to Los Lagos in the south, according to the Senapred disaster response agency. The affected area is home to over 90% of Chile’s population of 20 million.

Criticism on UK aid budget cuts to fund defence LONDON: Humanitarian charities said they were “stunned” and “appalled” by Britain’s decision to cut its international aid budget to boost defence spending, warning it would damage UK influence and have a devastating impact on those they support. development leader”. This week, Starmer will meet US President Donald Trump, whose advisor Elon Musk has boasted of gutting Washington’s own foreign aid agency by “feeding the United States Agency for International Development into the wood chipper”. Starmer’s government had pledged to restore the aid budget to 0.7%, before it sharply changed course. government to 0.5% in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

White House seizes press access to Trump WASHINGTON: The White House on Tuesday announced that it would take control of the selection of news agencies to be picked for the press pools covering US President Donald Trump, a decision that has been in the hands of an independent association since 1914, reported German news agency dpa. The White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) has had sovereignty over the press pool and has been determining which reporters would report on behalf of all accredited journalists for occasions when there are limited places available. White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said for decades, the WHCA has “dictated which journalists get to ask questions of the president of the United States in these most intimate spaces. Not anymore”. The WHCA said “this move tears at the independence of a free press“ in the country. “It suggests the government will choose the journalists who cover the president. In a free country, leaders must not be able to choose their own press corps.” The move comes amid a dispute between the White House and the Associated Press news agency. – Bernama-dpa U.S. GOLD CARD VISA PLAN WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced plans for a new visa programme that would grant permanent residency rights in the United States for a fee of US$5 million (RM22 million), the German Press Agency (dpa) reported. He said the “gold card” would attract wealthy people who could contribute to the economy. When asked whether Russian oligarchs could also apply, Trump said: “It is possible.“ He said the programme is set to begin in about two weeks. – Bernama-dpa SERBIA PROBES USAID FUND MISUSE BELGRADE: Serbia’s special anti-corruption department has initiated an investigation into allegations of financial misconduct involving the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funds in the country, the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office announced on Tuesday. The probe followed accusations made by US President Donald Trump and Elon Musk, who is leading the US Department of Government Efficiency. The allegations suggested misuse of taxpayer funds, money laundering and misallocation of aid. The preliminary investigation focused on suspected abuse of office and money laundering, involving unidentified individuals. – Bernama-Xinhua

“Slashing the already diminished UK aid budget to fund an uplift in defence is a reckless decision,“ said London-based network for humanitarian organisations Bond CEO Romilly Greenhill. International NGO ActionAid described it as a political choice that could have devastating consequences for individuals affected by humanitarian crises. Labour lawmaker and International Development Select Committee chair Sarah Champion was a rare voice opposing the move in the House of Commons, saying aid spending could prevent wars. – Reuters

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Tuesday he would increase Britain’s annual defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027, with a target to hit 3% at a later date. He said the move was needed to provide Ukraine and Europe with support. To fund this, Britain will cut its aid budget from 0.5% of gross national income to 0.3%. David Miliband, former foreign secretary from the governing Labour Party and now International Rescue Committee charity head, said the move was “a blow to Britain’s proud reputation as a global humanitarian and

“To appease Trump, he will cut aid to its lowest level in a generation. It is a day of shame for Britain,“ said campaign group Global Justice Now director Nick Dearden. United Nations children’s agency Unicef said the aid cut would “undoubtedly risk lives”. British-founded confederation of independent NGOs Oxfam accused Starmer of “bending to populist pressures”. Britain used to devote 0.7% of its gross national income to overseas development before it was cut by the previous Conservative

250,000 sign petition to strip Musk of Canadian citizenship OTTAWA: The number of individuals who have signed a petition calling for Elon Musk to lose his Canadian citizenship over his alleged efforts to “erase” the nation’s sovereignty hit 250,000 on Tuesday.

The tech billionaire was born to an affluent South African family in Pretoria before immigrating to Canada and acquiring Canadian citizenship via his mother Maye Musk, who is originally from the province of Saskatchewan. The petition that opened for signatures on Feb 20 says Musk“has engaged in activities that go against the national interest of Canada”. It says Musk, who is a US citizen and top advisor to President Donald Trump, has become “a member of a foreign government that is attempting to erase Canadian sovereignty”. In a now-deleted post on Monday on X, Musk mocked the petition, claiming “Canada is not a real country“. He has strongly supported Trump, who has repeatedly questioned Canadian sovereignty, ridiculed Canada’s political leaders and argued that Canada should become a US state. Canadian federal lawmaker Charlie Angus, who sponsored the petition, said the effort “gives an opportunity for people to express their justifiable anger at the growing power of oligarchs and extremists”. Petitions presented to Canada’s parliament cannot mandate action but may receive an official response from the government. Parliament is currently suspended and is not due to resume until March 24, AFP reported. Canadian citizenship may be revoked if an individual has committed fraud or lied on an immigration application, or served in a foreign army in an armed conflict against Canada.

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Angus said the effort ‘gives an opportunity for people to express their justifiable anger at the growing power of oligarchs and extremists’. – REUTERSPIC