Latest news with #RyanPatrickJones
Zawya
4 days ago
- Business
- Zawya
Blackstone to invest $25bln in data centers and natural gas plants, COO says
Asset management firm Blackstone will announce on Tuesday a $25 billion investment in data centers and energy infrastructure in Pennsylvania, Chief Operating Officer Jon Gray said at a panel at the Energy and Innovation Summit in Pittsburgh. Gray said Blackstone had identified several sites to build large data centers and would also later be announcing with a Pennsylvania utility a plan to build a number of natural gas generation plants. (Reporting by Ryan Patrick Jones in Toronto)
Japan Today
05-07-2025
- Climate
- Japan Today
Death toll at 27 as flood waters recede in central Texas
By Rich McKay and Ryan Patrick Jones Some 27 people, including nine children, have been confirmed dead after flash floods in central Texas, authorities said on Saturday, as rescuers continued a frantic search for survivors including dozens still missing from a girls' summer camp. The sheriff's office in Kerr County, Texas said more than 800 people had been evacuated from the region as flood waters receded in the area around the Guadalupe River, about 85 miles (137 km) northwest of San Antonio. "We will not stop until every single person is found," Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha said at a news conference. At least 23 to 25 people from the Camp Mystic summer camp were missing, most of them reported to be young girls. The river waters rose 29 feet rapidly near the camp. The U.S. National Weather Service said that the flash flood emergency has largely ended for Kerr County, the epicenter of the flooding, following thunderstorms that dumped as much as 15 inches of rain -- half of the total the region sees in a typical year. A flood watch remained in effect until 7 p.m. for the broader region. Kerr County sits in the Texas Hill Country, a rural area known for its rugged terrain, historic towns and other tourist attractions. Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick said up to 500 rescue workers were searching for an unknown number of missing people, including some who had come to the area for an Independence Day celebration by the river. 'We don't know how many people were in tents on the side, in small trailers by the side, in rented homes by the side, because it was going to be the Fourth of July holiday," he said on Fox News Live. Camp Mystic had 700 girls in residence at the time of the flood, according to Patrick. Another girls' camp, Heart O' the Hills, said on its website that co-owner Jane Ragsdale had died in the flood but no campers had been present as it was between sessions. U.S. President Donald Trump said the federal government is working with state and local officials to respond to the flooding. "Melania and I are praying for all of the families impacted by this horrible tragedy. Our Brave First Responders are on site doing what they do best," he said on social media. Videos posted online showed bare concrete platforms where homes used to stand and piles of rubble along the banks of the river. Rescuers plucked residents from rooftops and trees, sometimes forming human chains to fetch people from the floodwater, local media reported. Dalton Rice, city manager for Kerrville, the county seat, told reporters on Friday that the extreme flooding struck before dawn with little or no warning, precluding authorities from issuing advance evacuation orders as the Guadalupe River swiftly rose above major flood stage in less than two hours. State emergency management officials had warned as early as Thursday that west and central Texas faced heavy rains and flash flood threats, citing National Weather Service forecasts ahead of the holiday weekend. The forecasts, however, "did not predict the amount of rain that we saw," W. Nim Kidd, director of the Texas Division of Emergency Management, told a news conference on Friday night. The weekend disaster echoes a catastrophic 1987 Guadalupe River flood in which 10 teenagers drowned when trying to leave a church camp, according to the National Weather Service. © Thomson Reuters 2025.
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
US issues security alerts for Iran, Iraq, Israel and Jordan, warns of missile attacks
By Ryan Patrick Jones and Doina Chiacu WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. State Department issued security alerts on Friday for several Middle Eastern countries, in some cases advising against travel and warning of possible missile attacks after Israel launched military strikes against Iran. It warned American citizens not to travel to Iran and said those there should leave. "U.S. citizens who are unable to depart Iran should shelter in place," the advisory read. The alerts warned of missiles, drones or rockets flying over Iraqi and Jordanian airspace. "In the event of such an incident seek overhead cover and shelter in place. Do not expose yourself to falling debris," the department said. Israel said on Friday it had targeted Iran's nuclear facilities, ballistic missile factories and military commanders at the start of what it warned would be a prolonged operation to prevent Tehran from building an atomic weapon. Iran promised a harsh response to the onslaught. Israel said about 100 drones had been launched towards Israeli territory in retaliation, although an Iranian source denied this. Airlines steered clear of much of the Middle East on Friday after the Israeli attacks forced carriers to cancel or divert thousands of flights in the latest upheaval to travel in the region. Late on Thursday, the State Department said it had directed all U.S. government employees and their family members in Israel to shelter in place until further notice.
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Fulbright board resigns citing interference by Trump administration
By Ryan Patrick Jones (Reuters) -All members of the board that oversees the U.S. State Department's Fulbright Program, which facilitates international educational exchanges, have voted to resign over alleged political interference from President Donald Trump's administration, the board said on Wednesday. The Trump administration had unlawfully "usurped the authority" of the board by denying awards to a "substantial number" of people who had already been selected for the 2025-2026 academic year through a yearlong, merit-based process, the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board said in a statement posted on the website Substack. The department is also putting another 1,200 Fulbright recipients through an "unauthorized review process" that could lead to more rejections, according to the statement. The board members chose to resign 'rather than endorse unprecedented actions that we believe are impermissible under the law, compromise U.S. national interests and integrity, and undermine the mission and mandates Congress established for the Fulbright program nearly 80 years ago," they said. The State Department didn't immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment.. The New York Times reported the board had approved the applications of around 200 American professors and researchers who were set to work at universities and research institutions in other countries this summer, and the State Department was meant to send acceptance letters to the applicants in April. Instead, board members learned the department's Office of Public Diplomacy had begun sending rejection letters to the scholars based on the topics of their research. "The bipartisan Fulbright Board was mandated by Congress to be a check on the executive and to ensure that students, researchers and educators are not subjected to the blatant political favoritism that this Administration is known for," Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a statement. "While I understand and respect the bipartisan Fulbright Board for resigning en masse rather than grant credibility to a politicized process, I'm painfully aware that today's move will change the quality of Fulbright programming and the independent research that has made our country a leader in so many fields," she added. The Fulbright program, which was established in 1946, sends U.S. graduate students, scholars, artists, teachers, and professionals abroad to study, conduct research or teach English in approximately 160 countries worldwide. The program awards approximately 8,000 competitive, merit-based grants each year in most academic disciplines and fields of study, according to its website. Since taking office for his second term in January, Trump's administration has undertaken a major overhaul of the State Department, enacted massive funding cuts for academic research, and curbed visas for foreign students.
Yahoo
05-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump administration ending protected status for Nepalese migrants
By Ryan Patrick Jones (Reuters) -The Trump administration has moved to end deportation protections the United States granted to thousands of Nepalese people after a 2015 earthquake devastated the country, according to a government notice posted on Thursday. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in the notice that the administration is terminating temporary protected status for Nepal after a review found the country has largely recovered from the disaster. "There are notable improvements in environmental disaster preparedness and response capacity, as well as substantial reconstruction from the earthquake's destruction such that there is no longer a disruption of living conditions and Nepal is able to handle adequately the return of its nationals," the notice said. The department estimates there are around 12,700 Nepalese with the status, which provides deportation relief and work permits to people already in the U.S. if their home countries experience a natural disaster, armed conflict or other extraordinary event. Of those, approximately 5,500 have lawful permanent residence in the U.S. The notice said the revocation will take effect 60 days from Friday, giving the approximately 7,000 Nepalese migrants with temporary protected status who aren't permanent residents until August 5, 2025, to leave the country or change their immigration status. After that date, they could face deportation. The Department of Homeland Security and the Nepalese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Donald Trump, who returned to the presidency in January, has pledged to deport record numbers of migrants in the United States illegally and has moved to strip certain migrants of temporary legal protections, expanding the pool of possible deportees. During his first term from 2017 to 2021, Trump's administration tried to end most enrollment in the temporary protected status program, but was stymied by federal courts. Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court let the Trump administration end temporary protected status that was granted to hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans in the U.S. by his predecessor Joe Biden. Trump has also sought to end the status for Haitians, Afghans and others.
