Forecasters are reporting the Typhoon Soudelor, which has weakened from earlier this week when it became the strongest storm of the year, could strike Taiwan head-on with the same level of force as 2005’s Hurricane Katrina.
“It is barreling down on Taiwan and winds will strengthen to around 130 mph by the time it hits at some point [Friday] afternoon U.S. time,” Weather Channel forecaster Michael Palmer told NBC. “There will undoubtedly be some significant damage, there will be some massive waves and flash flooding.”
The storm is tracking over the center of the country and about 7 million people in capital city Taipei’s metropolitan area could be impacted by the storm.
The storm has already killed one person. An 8-year-old girl was confirmed dead after being swept out to sea according to Taiwan’s National Fire Agency. Another child is missing and feared dead in the incident that was survived by a 38-year-old woman and another child.
Taiwanese authorities forced the evacuations of over 600 residents along coastal areas. Flights to the island have been cancelled and all schools and public offices and facilities will be closed.
The storm is drawing comparisons to 2009’s Typhoon Morakot that killed 700 people and caused over $3 billion in damage.
Chinese officials have started evacuations from the coastal province of Fujian where the storm is expected to hit after crossing over Taiwan.
New York City officials reported Wednesday another death from the current Legionnaires’ Disease outbreak that has now sickened almost 100 people.
“This is the largest outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease that we are aware of in New York City,” Health Commissioner Mary Bassett said.
Although officials with the city’s Department of Health and Mental Health would not say where the victim had lived, they did say that like the other deaths it was an older person with other medical issues.
In addition to the news about the death and the 11 new cases of the disease, New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio announced the city will be making a new law governing the cooling towers that have been confirmed to be the source of the latest outbreak.
“What we need and what the legislation will achieve is a complete registry of every single building that has (a cooling tower),” the mayor said. “That does not exist as a matter of law right now.”
Community residents were thankful the government was finally taking action but wondered why it took so long to happen.
“The health (commissioner) of the City of New York needs to step up her game,” said Alexander Freeman, 57, a cook at the East Side House Settlement, told the New York Daily News. “I’m still afraid that it might come down here.
“Everybody is nervous. How would you feel if this was your backyard?”
New York health officials held a public meeting Monday on the current Legionnaires’ Disease outbreak and admitted the death toll has reached seven.
In addition to the seven deaths, more than 80 others have been confirmed to have the deadly bacteria.
Health officials made a point to say those who died were older and had other health problems. They were also confident they found the source of the outbreak. Health officials are currently investigating five cooling towers in the South Bronx. All five towers tested positive for legionella bacteria, but health officials believe one of the towers is the source of the outbreak. Since the investigation, all five cooling towers have been cleaned and flushed to remove the bacteria.
“The five sites we have found, we’re confident based on scientific evidence we have identified only sites that are causing this outbreak,” New York Mayor Bill DeBlasio told reporters.
“This is the largest outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease that we are aware of in New York City,” Health Commissioner Mary Bassett told NBC. “Although we will continue to see cases, we expect the case rate to decline and the number of cases to fall over the coming weeks.”
One infectious disease expert said it’s surprising we don’t see more outbreaks.
“What surprises me more is that we don’t see it more often, it’s common in cooling towers or central air conditioning systems,” Dr. Stephen Morse, an infectious disease expert at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, said to ABC News. “You’re going to find it in a lot of places where there are no reports of people being sick.”
The wildfire known as the “Rocky Fire” in northern California has grown to over 60,000 acres in three counties and resulted in the destruction of over 50 buildings.
More than 12,000 residents have been forced to evacuate their homes because of the advancing flames. The fire was only 12% contained as of Monday morning.
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said the fire grew in an area with “little to no fire history” making it more difficult for the firefighters to predict the path of the flames.
The fire is threatening over 6,300 structures.
In all, over 134,000 acres are burning.
“There are pretty widespread evacuations,” Brad Alexander, chief spokesman for the governor’s emergency services office, told the LA Times. “The big issue is this is an area that hasn’t had burning in several decades.
“They’ve got chaparral that is over 6 feet tall,” Alexander said. “When you have vegetation that big and dense in an area like that it is going to cause flames to race up and down canyon walls and hillsides. It can move as fast as the wind can carry it. …So when you have perfect conditions for an explosive fire, it is critical folks are listening.”
Officials confirmed the death of one firefighter in a fire in Modoc County south of the Oregon border. He was scouting ways to fight the fire when erratic winds suddenly caused the blaze to expand exponentially. David Ruhl was 38 and a married father of two.
Officials also said that a fire near Yosemite National Park that burned 200 acres was deliberately set and a woman is under arrest for starting the blaze.
An attack on two Palestinian homes in the West Bank that burned the homes and killed an 18-month-old boy is causing a major increase in the region’s tension.
The buildings were marked with graffiti that lead authorities to believe it was carried out by Jewish terrorists. A star of David was painted on one building along with the message “Long live the Messiah.”
The family of the murdered boy has been hospitalized in critical condition, including a 4-year-old-boy.
“I am shocked by the murder of Ali Dawabshe,” said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a statement released on Facebook. “This is a reprehensible and horrific act of terrorism in every respect. The State of Israel takes a strong line against terrorism regardless of who the perpetrators are. I have ordered the security forces to use all means at their disposal to apprehend the murderers and bring them to justice forthwith. The Government of Israel is united in its strong opposition to such deplorable and awful acts. On behalf of the citizens of Israel, I would like to share in the sorrow of the family of Ali Dawabshe and wish a quick recovery to the family members who were injured.”
The Palestinian Authority said they will take the Israeli government in front of the International Criminal Court and say that the action is a war crime by the Israeli government.
Other nations around the world condemned the attack but welcomed Israel’s position they will go after the terrorists and bring them to justice.
“[The U.S.] condemns in the strongest possible terms last night’s vicious terrorist attack in the Palestinian village of Duma. We convey our profound condolences to the Dawabsha family and extend our prayers for a full recovery to those injured,” US State Department spokesman Mark Toner said.
“We welcome Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu’s order to Israel’s security forces to use all means at their disposal to apprehend the murderers for what he called an act of terrorism and bring them to justice.”
Both Netanyahu and Israeli President Reuben Rivlin visited the family at the hospital and told them they would seek swift justice to whoever carried out the attack.
Palestinians have already begun to carry out acts of terrorism in response to the Thursday night action. Israelis across the nation are reporting various acts of arson by Palestinians. Israeli cars have been hit by gunfire and at least one policeman was wounded in an attack at the Temple Mount.
He may have died in 2013, but officials in Afghanistan are now confirming for the first time that the leader of the Taliban is dead.
Afghani President Ashraf Ghani released a statement Wednesday citing “credible information” that the one-eyed Omar died in a Karachi, Pakistan hospital in April 2013.
“The government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, based on credible information, confirms that Mullah Mohammad Omar, leader of the Taliban died in April 2013 in Pakistan,” the statement said. “The government of Afghanistan believes that grounds for the Afghan peace talks are more paved now than before, and thus calls on all armed opposition groups to seize the opportunity and join the peace process.”
Omar had been suffering from liver and kidney issues. Afghani Security Services spokesman Abdul Hassib Seddiqi told the BBC Omar died from health problems.
Several U.S. intelligence officials said they had long believed Omar to have died because of the fractured nature within the current Taliban.
“I’ve tended to believe the rumors that he was dead since the serious splits started in the Taliban,” one official told CNN. “If he were alive, he wouldn’t allow these rumors to continue to threaten the movement’s unity to this degree. He would risk some small exposure to invalidate the rumors, and he has not done that despite incredible internal demands that he do so.”
Analysts are now concerned the official announcement of Omar’s death will spur ISIS to try and gain a foothold among the Taliban supporters in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
A man police described as a “drifter” opened fire in a Lafayette, Louisiana movie theater on Thursday night, killing two and wounding nine before the gunman took his own life as police closed in on the situation.
Police officials say that some of the wounded are in “very critical” condition with “life-threatening” injuries.
According to witnesses, the gunman, 58-year-old John Russell Houser, sat in the back of a showing of the film “Trainwreck.” About 100 people were in the theater when he stood up shortly after the film started and began to open fire with a handgun.
“The information we have at this time indicates that he was by himself, he sat by himself and the first two people he shot were sitting right in front of him … When he stood up and started firing, people started rushing out. It looks like he spotted the officers coming in and he turned around, went against the crowd and fired a single gunshot,” Lafayette Police Chief Jim Craft told reporters.
Witnesses told NBC that the shooter said nothing as he carried out his rampage.
Governor Bobby Jindal praised two teachers who were inside the theater for their bravery. One took a bullet that was heading for the second teacher’s head, the second pulled an alarm.
“Both teachers ended up shot. The second one, the one whose life was saved, even though she was shot in the leg, she had the presence of mind to pull the fire alarm to help save other lives,” he said.
One of the dead has been identified as 21-year-old Mayci Breaux, a pro-life activist who is being remembered as an “amazing young woman.”
A Navy petty officer wounded in the terror attack on two military recruiting centers in Chattanooga, Tennessee has died from his wounds.
The fallen soldier is Navy Petty Officer Randall Smith. He leaves behind a wife and three young daughters.
Smith’s mother Paula Proxmire went to the memorial site for those slain by Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez and placed an American flag and baseball mitt in honor of her son. She said that America and baseball were her son’s passions.
“My son is a hero. He died doing what he loved. He would have had it no other way,” Proxmire, from Kansas, told NBC News. “He’s been my hero since the day I gave birth to him.”
Meanwhile, the family of Abdulazeez reportedly told investigators that their son suffered from depression and was a drug addict, so they sent him to Jordan to try and get him away from Chattanooga friends who were a “bad influence.” However, relatives and friends admitted they saw changes in his behavior after his return from seven months in Jordan.
Investigators say Abdulazeez sent a text message to a friend before the attacks that included the Islamic verse “Whoever shows enmity to a friend of mine, then I have declared war against him.”
The FBI reports there is nothing to connect the gunman to ISIS or any other international terrorism group.
Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram is believed to have continued to follow the call of ISIS leadership to conduct attacks during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan by killing 64 people in multiple bomb attacks.
Two female suicide bombers killed 12 people at two prayer grounds in Damaturu. People were in the area preparing for the end of Ramadan at the site of the attack.
Nigerian Army Col. Sani Usman said one of the bombers was a 10-year-old girl.
“The first blast went off around 07:15 local time (06:15 GMT) while security volunteers who had come earlier than worshippers were waiting for the worshippers so they could assist in crowd control,” added eye witness Ahmad Adamu, a security volunteer.
A few hours earlier two other bombers killed 50 people who were buying groceries for the end of the holiday at a market in Gombe.
Officials confirmed at least other 75 people were wounded and were in two separate hospitals for treatment.
The group has killed over 300 people this month.
A gunman opened fire on two military recruitment centers in Chattanooga, Tennessee on Thursday, leaving soldiers dead and wounded.
Officials in the Chattanooga area say the gunman has been shot and killed and that they believe he is the only one involved in the attacks.
Fox News reported that four Marines were killed at one of the two centers. FBI officials confirmed others were injured and are being treated at local hospitals but there was no information on their condition.
The U.S. Prosecutor for the region said at a press conference the investigation is being conducted “as a case of domestic terrorism.” He added there is a joint federal, state and local investigation which is why much of the information about the shooting is being withheld from the media and public.
The FBI, ATF and the Department of Homeland Security were on the scene within hours and leading the investigation.
Ed Reinhold, special agent in charge of the FBI at the same news conference praised the local police department for the response and for “neutralizing the threat to the community.”
The FBI confirmed the suspect carried “multiple weapons” but would not describe the weapons. They believe that the gunman was residing in the area before the attack. Reinhold also said that while it’s being investigated as domestic terrorism, it’s possible the attack was not related to terrorism and just an act of violence.
