THREAT BUILDS WITH TROPICAL STORM WATCH
A tropical storm watch has been set for parts of Florida as a system that followed Dorian into the Bahamas, dumping as much as 6 inches of rain on those hurricane-devastated islands, targets the East Coast.
Maximum sustained winds are near 30 mph with higher gusts, and the storm is traveling about 6 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center. It is expected to strengthen in the next 48 hours, and a storm watch is in place from the Jupiter Inlet in Florida to the state’s Flagler-Volusia county line.
It likely will skirt the Florida coast over the weekend, reaching Georgia by late Sunday.
Fire at hospital in Brazil kills 11 people, many elderly.
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JANEIRO» A fire raced through a hospital, forcing the staff to wheel patients into the streets on stretchers or in wheelchairs and killing at least 11 people, many of them elderly.
Four firefighters were hospitalized after battling the overnight blaze at Badim Hospital, and about 90 patients were transferred to other hospitals, the fire department said. A rope made from bedsheets and used in an attempt to escape the fire still hung from an upper-floor window of the hospital Friday.
Most victims died of asphyxiation as smoke filled the wards.
Taliban visits Moscow days after Trump says talks “dead.”
MOSCOW» A negotiating team from the Taliban arrived Friday in Russia, a representative said, just days after U.S. President Donald Trump declared “dead” a deal with the insurgent group in Afghanistan.
Russian state news agency Tass said the delegation held consultations with Zamir Kabulov, President Vladimir Putin’s envoy for Afghanistan.
“This is a notable development, as it suggests the Taliban wants to underscore its continued interest in dialogue, even after President Trump pulled the plug on the U.S.-Taliban talks,” said Michael Kugelman, deputy director of the Asia Program at the Washington-based Wilson Center. “And how striking that the insurgents have chosen to telegraph a message of conciliation by engaging with Moscow, a key U.S. rival.”
Over 30 Indian worshippers drown during Hindu rituals.
DELHI» More NEW than 30 Hindu worshippers have drowned in swollen rivers and in a lake in India as thousands participated in religious ceremonies in which figures of a Hindu god are immersed in water, officials and news reports said Friday.
At least 11 people drowned when their boat capsized early Friday on a lake in central India, rescuers said.
Six people were able to swim ashore in the lake in Bhopal, and a search was on for one missing person.
Singer Eddie Money dies at 70.
Eddie Money, who left behind a career as a New York police officer to become one of the topselling rock stars of the 1970s and ’80s, with hits such as “Two Tickets to Paradise” and “Take Me Home Tonight,” has died. Hewas70.
Money had recently announced that he had advanced cancer.
In 1987, the huskyvoiced, blue collar performer received a best rock vocal Grammy nomination for “Take Me Home Tonight,” which featured a cameo from Ronnie Spector. He announced his cancer diagnosis via a video last month from his AXSTV reality series “Real Money.”
— Denver Post wire services
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