Millions without power as outages hit Spain, Portugal and parts of France, Spanish officials say
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(LONDON) — Millions of people in Spain, Portugal and parts of France lost power on Monday due to an unknown grid issue, the Spanish government confirmed to ABC News.
The Spanish government said it called an emergency crisis meeting to fix the situation as soon as possible.
Authorities, meanwhile, asked people to stay at home and to avoid circulating, while emergency generators were also being put in place.
Red Eléctrica, the corporation that operates the national electricity grid in Spain, confirmed power outages across the country.
“Plans to restore the electricity supply have been activated in collaboration with companies in the sector following the zero that occurred in the peninsular system,” it wrote in a post to X. “The causes are being analyzed and all resources are being dedicated to solving it.”
A later post said power was recovered in some areas.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(ROME) — As Pope Francis begins his 23rd consecutive day in hospital, the Vatican says that his “overall condition remains stable within his complex medical situation and the prognosis remains reserved.”
“The pope had a quiet night,” the Vatican said Saturday morning. “The pope is resting.”
On Friday, the 88-year-old pontiff “spent about 20 minutes in prayer in his chapel on the 10th floor apartment and the rest of the day alternated between rest, physiotherapy, prayer and a bit of work,” the Vatican said.
He continues to use “high-flow oxygen therapy during the day and non-invasive mechanical ventilation at night as he has done these past days,” according to the Vatican.
“The doctors are still maintaining the prognosis as reserved,” the Vatican said.
Francis, who has led the Catholic Church since 2013, was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli Hospital on Feb. 14 and was diagnosed with bilateral pneumonia.
(TORONTO) — As investigators work to determine what caused Delta Flight 4819 to crash and overturn at Toronto Pearson International Airport on Monday, the Toronto Pearson president and CEO noted the “extreme conditions” at the airport in the days before the dramatic incident.
Toronto Pearson President and CEO Deborah Flint said that from Thursday to Sunday there were “extreme conditions” at the airport from two separate storms.
“On Thursday and Sunday, we got more than 20 inches, 50 centimeters of accumulated snow. That is actually not typical. In fact, it is more snow within that time window than we received in all of last winter,” Flint said at a news conference Tuesday. “There were many delays and cancelations across this part of Canada and the U.S. Northeast during this time, creating numerous flight delays and backlogs.”
“Monday was a clear day, though, and it was an operational recovery day for Toronto Pearson,” Flint said.
The plane, which departed from Minneapolis, crashed amid blowing snow and strong wind gusts in the Toronto area. Winds reached 40 mph on the ground and were even stronger several hundred feet in the air.
When asked if the weather could have contributed to the crash, Flint said, “This would not be a time for us to have theory or to speculate.”
Toronto Airport Fire Chief Todd Aitken said Monday that the runway was dry and there were no crosswind conditions at the time of the crash. When asked Tuesday if the runway had light snow or slush, he deferred the question to investigators.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada is leading the investigation and investigators from the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board are assisting. Investigators are expected to review the aircraft at its current position on the runway for the next two days, officials said Tuesday. They will also examine the runway.
Investigators have removed the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder — known as the black boxes — from the aircraft and sent them to a lab for further analysis, Transportation Safety Board of Canada’s Ken Webster said in a video update on Tuesday.
“At this point, it’s far too early to say what the cause of this accident might be. However, we will share more information once we’re able to,” Webster said.
The Delta regional jet — a CRJ 900 aircraft operated by Endeavor Air — touched down, set fire, flipped over and came to a stop upside-down. The 76 passengers and four crew evacuated.
Flint on Tuesday praised the flight crew, saying they “heroically led passengers to safety.”
She said she was grateful there was no loss of life or life-threatening injuries.
“I cannot commend enough the crew, the flight attendants, pilots and our emergency responders for their quick and effective response,” Flint said. “It’s really, really incredible, and when you see that aircraft, it just makes me really thankful.”
Twenty-one passengers were taken to hospitals, and as of Wednesday, 20 of them have been released, according to Delta.
Injuries range from minor to critical, but none are life-threatening, Flint said.
Injuries included “back sprains, head injuries, anxiety, some headaches, nausea and vomiting due to the fuel exposure,” said Cory Tkatch, commander of operations at Peel Regional Paramedic Services.
Three people suffered critical injuries: one child, a man in his 60s and a woman in her 40s, according to medical transport organization Ornge.
There were 22 Canadian citizens among the passengers, Flint said.
The Toronto Airport temporarily stopped flights in the wake of the crash, with departures and arrivals resuming at 5 p.m. ET Monday, the airport said. Two runways remained closed, which Flint said may impact operations.
“Our most pressing priority remains taking care of all customers and Endeavor crew members who were involved,” Delta CEO Ed Bastian said. “We’ll do everything we can to support them and their families in the days ahead, and I know the hearts, thoughts and prayers of the entire Delta community are with them. We are grateful for all the first responders and medical teams who have been caring for them.”
Delta said Wednesday that it “will begin the process of reuniting customers with baggage and personal belongings as soon as possible after authorities have safely removed the items from the aircraft. Securing, identifying, sorting and cleaning all belongings left onboard could take a matter of weeks before all items can be safely returned.”
(WASHINGTON) — The Supreme Court on Tuesday appeared likely to block a historic $10 billion lawsuit against U.S. gun makers as both conservative and liberal justices raised concerns about allowing the government of Mexico to hold firearm manufacturers liable for cartel violence south of the border.
Federal law grants broad immunity to the gun industry, in part to protect companies from costly litigation that could drive them out of business. Mexico alleges the law creates an exception for “aiding and abetting” the illicit sale and trafficking of guns, which the companies deny.
Mexico has only one gun store but is awash in millions of American-made weapons, most funneled into the country by straw purchasers in the United States. The country claims the companies, including Smith & Wesson, Glock, Beretta and Colt, knowingly distribute and market their guns to be trafficked.
By one estimate, at least 200,000 guns flow south of the border each year. The country is seeking $10 billion in damages and court-mandated safety requirements around the marketing and distribution of guns.
“The laws broken here are designed to keep guns out of criminals’ hands. Those violations put guns in criminals’ hands and those criminals harmed Mexico,” Cate Stetson, Mexico’s attorney, told the Supreme Court.
“These acts were foreseeable,” she added. “This court need not vouch for Mexico’s allegations, but it must assume they are true. … Mexico should be given a chance to prove its case.”
Many of the justices seemed unconvinced by Mexico’s case should be allowed to move forward.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor suggested the alleged harms from cartel violence roiling Mexico are too far removed from the manufacturers’ decisions to distribute their products.
“We have repeatedly said mere knowledge is not enough [for liability],” Sotomayor said. “You have to aid and abet in some way. You have to intend and take affirmative action to … participate in what they’re doing.”
Justice Elena Kagan questioned what she perceived as a lack of specificity in Mexico’s allegations.
“There are lots of [gun] dealers. And you’re just saying [the gunmakers] know that some of them [engage in trafficking]. But which some of them? I mean, who are they aiding and abetting in this complaint?” Kagan said.
After Stetson alleged deliberate marketing of guns to cartels, Chief Justice John Roberts voiced skepticism of the claim.
“I mean, there are some people who want the experience of shooting a particular type of gun because they find it more enjoyable than using a BB gun,” he said. “And I just wonder exactly what the defendant, the manufacturer, is supposed to do in that situation. You say no, he shouldn’t be marketing a particular legal firearm because they’re going to go into Mexico at a higher percentage than others?”
Justice Brett Kavanaugh raised concern about the broader implications of a decision allowing Mexico’s suit to go forward.
“What do you do with the suggestion on the other side … that your theory of aiding and abetting liability would have destructive effects on the American economy in the sense that … lots of sellers and manufacturers of ordinary products know that they’re going to be misused by some subset of people?” he asked. “They know that to a certainty, that it’s going to be pharmaceuticals, cars, what — you can name lots of products. So that’s a real concern, I think.”
Stetson replied, “If you have a product manufacturer of a dangerous product that is alleged to have done all of the things knowing who they’re selling to and what is being done with that product, then and only then, I think, that product manufacturer … has a problem.”
More than 160,000 people in Mexico were killed by guns between 2015 and 2022, according to an analysis by Everytown for Gun Safety.
A large majority of guns involved in the shootings came from U.S. border states. More than 40% of illegal guns seized in Mexico over a five-year period came from Texas, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office report.
In 2023 alone, more than 2,600 firearms were seized going south into Mexico, up 65% from the year before, according to the Department of Homeland Security, and 115,000 rounds of ammunition were captured headed the same direction, up 19% from 2022.
A federal district court dismissed Mexico’s case in 2022 citing immunity under federal law. The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that decision in early 2024, saying Mexico had made a plausible case for liability under the law’s exception.
The Supreme Court is expected to decide by the end of June whether or not a liability case can move forward.
