COLD BITES POWERLESS, WATERLESS TEXAS
India has historically insisted on non-alignment in its foreign policy but tensions have soared since last year when a pitched battle in the Himalayas left at least 20 Indian troops dead as well as an unknown number of Chinese casualties
HOUSTON, Texas (AFP) — Millions of people were still without power on Wednesday in Texas, the oil and gas capital of the United States, and facing water shortages as an unusual winter storm pummeled the southeastern part of country.
The National Weather Service (NWS) issued a winter storm warning for a swathe of the country ranging from east Texas to the East Coast state of Maryland.
The NWS said the storm would bring ice, sleet and heavy snow to parts of Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississippi as it tracks to the northeast, causing power outages, tree damage and making driving hazardous.
It said an Arctic air mass was beginning to lose its grip on an area of the country not used to such extreme cold but the frigid temperatures were expected to continue.
“Temperatures will still remain 20 to 35 degrees (Fahrenheit) below normal throughout the Plains, Mississippi Valley, and lower Great Lakes,” the NWS said.
More than 20 storm-related deaths have been reported in the United States since the cold weather arrived last week, most them in traffic accidents.
Hundreds of thousands of residents of the Texas metropolis of Houston are suffering from both power outages and a loss of water pressure.
“Water pressure is very low,” Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner tweeted. “Please do not run water to keep pipes from bursting.”
Several Texas cities advised residents to boil their water before drinking it or using it for cooking.
David Hernandez, 38, spent the night at a Houston church with other people who have fled their homes.
“My car got stranded and I was trying to sleep in the car but it was just too cold,” Hernandez said. “Liquids in my car were actually turning to ice so it was like sleeping in an ice box.
“I had to come here,” he said. “There’s no choice.”
Derrick Maxwell came to the church with his partner Ariel Edward, their baby and other relatives.
“It was too cold to be home with no food, no water,” Maxwell said. “We couldn’t cook so that’s why we came up here.”
Power companies in Texas have implemented rolling blackouts to avoid grids being overloaded as residents crank up the heat.
According to PowerOutage.US, more than 2.7 million customers were without power on Wednesday in Texas, the only one of the US’ 48 continental states to have its own independent power grid.
Beto O’Rourke, a former Democratic presidential candidate from Texas, told MSNBC television the situation in the “Lone Star State” was “worse than you are hearing.”
An Arctic air mass was beginning to lose its grip on an area of the country not used to such extreme cold but the frigid temperatures were expected to continue.
— WASHINGTON, D.C. (AFP) — The United States announced talks for Thursday with Australia, India and Japan, with President Joe Biden renewing the alliance of the so-called “Quad” in defiance of warnings from China.
The State Department said that Secretary of State Antony Blinken will speak virtually with the foreign ministers of the three nations, with the Covid-19 pandemic and climate change on the agenda.
“These discussions with the Quad foreign ministers are critical to advancing our shared goals of a free and open Indo-Pacific and rising to the defining challenges of our times,” State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters Wednesday.
Launched in 2007, the Quad was an idea of Japan’s then prime minister Shinzo Abe, a hawk who was eager to find partners to balance a rising China.
While Australia and India had initially been cautious about antagonizing China, the Quad format has expanded in recent years as both nations’ relationships deteriorate with Beijing.
The Quad nations in November held four-way naval exercises in the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea, with Australia participating for the first time in more than a decade, weeks after their foreign ministers including Blinken’s predecessor Mike Pompeo met in Tokyo.
China’s state-run Global Times earlier this month warned Biden that renewing the Quad would be a “serious strategic blunder,” saying he may trigger “a severe strategic confrontation” with Beijing by trying to prevent its dominance.
The newspaper in an expert’s commentary put particular pressure on India, suggesting it had the power to end the Quad format and advising that it not “completely tie itself to the US’ anti-China chariot.”
These discussions with the Quad foreign ministers are critical to advancing our shared goals of a free and open Indo-Pacific and rising to the defining challenges of our times.
India has historically insisted on non-alignment in its foreign policy but tensions have soared since last year when a pitched battle in the Himalayas left at least 20 Indian troops dead as well as an unknown number of Chinese casualties.
Raising speculation on the Quad’s future, India did not use the term in its statement on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first call with Biden since his inauguration, speaking more generally of the importance of “working with like-minded countries.”
India called for a “free, open and inclusive IndoPacific,” adding an additional nuance to the White House’s description of only “a free and open Indo-Pacific” built in part through the Quad.