AFP

Monster Hurricane Ian walloped Florida on Wednesday, pounding the southern US state’s coast with extreme wind and rain, and causing “catastrophic” flooding from destructive storm surges.

Dramatic TV footage showed churning water submerging roads and sweeping away vehicles as the hurricane edged close to landfall near Fort Myers and Port Charlotte.

Ian, an “extremely dangerous” Category 4 storm, was destined to affect several million people across Florida and in southeastern states Georgia and South Carolina.

The storm was already “causing catastrophic storm surge, winds and flooding in the Florida peninsula,” the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said in its latest advisory. 

As hurricane conditions spread, forecasters warned of a looming once-in-a-generation calamity.

Ian could already have had deadly consequences off the coast as US Border Patrol said 23 migrants were missing after their boat sank. Four Cubans who survived swam to shore in the Florida Keys.

The NHC said Ian was bringing sustained winds of 155 miles (250 kilometers) per hour, just two mph shy of Category 5 intensity — the strongest on the Saffir-Simpson scale.

Some 2.5 million people were under mandatory evacuation orders in a dozen coastal Florida counties, with several dozen shelters set up, and voluntary evacuation recommended in others.

For those who decided to ride out the storm, authorities were stressing it was too late to flee and that residents should hunker down and stay indoors.

– ‘Major impacts’ –

Airports in Tampa and Orlando stopped all commercial flights, and some quarter million households were already without power.

But that was a “drop in the bucket” compared with the outages expected over the next 48 hours, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said.

“This is going to be a nasty, nasty day, two days,” he added.

“Clearly this is a very powerful major hurricane that’s going to have major impacts.”

With conditions rapidly deteriorating, some thrill-seekers nevertheless were seen walking in the mud flats of Tampa Bay and further south at Port Charlotte’s Charlotte Harbor, ahead of Ian’s arrival.

With up to two feet (61 centimeters) of rain expected to fall on parts of the so-called Sunshine State, and a storm surge that could reach devastating levels of 12 to 18 feet (3.6 to 5.5 meters) above ground, authorities were warning of dire emergency conditions.

“This is a life-threatening situation,” the NHC warned.

The storm was set to move across central Florida before emerging in the Atlantic Ocean by late Thursday.

– Widespread blackout –

Ian a day earlier had plunged all of Cuba into darkness after battering the country’s west as a Category 3 storm and downing the island’s power network.

Only the few people with gasoline-powered generators had electricity on the island of more than 11 million people.

“Desolation and destruction. These are terrifying hours. Nothing is left here,” a 70-year-old resident of the western city of Pinar del Rio was quoted as saying in a social media post by his journalist son, Lazaro Manuel Alonso.

At least two people died in Pinar del Rio province, Cuban state media reported.

– Rescue operation ready  –

In the United States, the Pentagon said 3,200 national guardsmen had been called up in Florida, with another 1,800 on the way.

DeSantis said state and federal responders were assigning thousands of personnel to address the storm response, noting there were 250 aircraft, 300 boats and 1,600 high-water vehicles on hand for rescues and other critical operations.

“There will be thousands of Floridians who will need help rebuilding,” he said.

National Weather Service director Ken Graham echoed concerns about what lay ahead, expressing certainty Ian will leave a trail of destruction.

“This is going to be a storm we talk about for many years to come,” he said. “It’s a historic event.”

As climate change warms the ocean’s surface, the number of powerful tropical storms, or cyclones, with stronger winds and more precipitation is likely to increase. 

The total number of cyclones, however, may not.

According to Gary Lackmann, a professor of atmospheric science at North Carolina State University, studies have also detected a “potential link” between climate change and rapid intensification — when a relatively weak tropical storm surges to a Category 3 hurricane or higher in a 24-hour period, as happened with Ian.

“There remains a consensus that there will be fewer storms, but that the strongest will get stronger,” Lackmann told AFP.

Kremlin-backed officials in Ukraine appealed to President Vladimir Putin Wednesday to annex the regions under their control, after the territories held votes denounced by Kyiv and the West as a “sham”.

Ukraine called on the EU to hit Russia with more sanctions and NATO to send more weapons to the frontline after the Kremlin-installed officials rolled out the alleged results late Tuesday.

The appeal came despite repeated warnings from Moscow that it could use its nuclear arsenal to defend the territories from a Ukrainian counter-offensive that has wrested back swathes of territory this month already.

The United States acceded to Ukraine’s request for arms by announcing a new package of weapons and supplies worth $1.1 billion, including missile systems, ammunition, armoured vehicles and radars.

The European Commission proposed fresh sanctions targeting Russian exports worth seven billion euros, an oil price cap, an expanded travel blacklist and asset freezes.

The EU slammed the “illegal” vote and said the results were “falsified”, while the White House and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said they would “never” recognise them.

British Prime Minister Liz Truss and her Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau vowed to disregard the votes and offer Kyiv further support.

Lugansk was the first Russian-controlled region of Ukraine to appeal to Putin to intervene, with the recently captured southern regions of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson following shortly after.

“Our residents made a historic choice and have decided to become part of the multinational population of the Russian Federation,” the Kremlin-installed leader in Kherson, Vladimir Saldo, said in a statement published on social media.

The Russian foreign ministry in a statement on Wednesday said the regions made a “conscious and free choice” in favour of annexation.

Only Donetsk — which along with Lugansk makes up the industrial Donbas region partially controlled by pro-Kremlin separatists since 2014 — had yet to formally ask Putin for annexation.

The appeal to Putin represents a turning point in the seven-month invasion as Russian officials in Moscow suggest they could use nuclear weapons in Ukraine and Putin calls up thousands of reservists to cement the Kremlin’s authority in the territories.

– ‘What have we ended up with?’ –

The four territories — Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in the south; Donetsk and Lugansk in the east — create a crucial land corridor between Russia and the Crimean peninsula, annexed by Moscow in 2014. 

Together, all five make up around 20 percent of Ukraine, whose forces in recent weeks have been clawing back ground.

Despite those gains — particularly in the northeast — Russian forces have battered the second-largest city of Kharkiv and overnight a salvo of missiles hit a railway yard, knocking out power to more than 18,000 households.

Iryna Mayor, 51, a machine operator in the rail wagon workshop, paused from shifting rubble and laying damp and torn record books out to dry, to angrily mock the invasion.

“We’re Russian-speaking people, and what have we ended up with? Have we got peace, brotherhood? No, you can see what we got,” she declared, pointing at the twisted debris surrounding the missile craters.

Lawmakers are expected to vote hastily to annex the territories now that the results have been announced, and Russian news agencies have said Putin could sign legislation formalising the land grab this week.

– ‘I’m in shock’ –

Putin’s threat to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine coincided with his decision to call up hundreds of thousands of reservists to back up Russia’s struggling forces in eastern Ukraine.

The move has sparked panic, protests and an exodus among military-aged Russian men for neighbouring countries like Georgia and Kazakhstan.

Moscow announced Wednesday it would no longer issue passports to Russian men called up to serve and a region bordering Russia closed to passenger cars, with both moves fuelling fears the borders could close entirely.

But at a military recruitment office in Saint Petersburg there was confusion and resignation, as draftees and their families bid each other goodbye.

Nikita, a 25-year-old reservist, had tears in his eyes as he held hands with his 22-year-old fiancee as he said goodbye.

“If you have to go, you have to,” he said. 

“I don’t know what to say. I am in shock,” Alina said, her gaze locked on Nikita.

Along the frontline of Ukraine, six people were injured in the Kharkiv region by Russian strikes, officials in Kyiv said, while five civilians were killed and 10 more wounded by Moscow’s forces. 

The White House announced Wednesday billions of dollars in pledges from major corporations — including the likes of fast food behemoth Burger King — to craft a national strategy on ending the twin US challenges of hunger and obesity.

The private sector pledges were unveiled as President Joe Biden hosted what the administration touted as the first big White House summit on food and diet since Richard Nixon was in office more than half a century ago.

Nearly 42 percent of American adults are technically obese and about 10 percent of US households suffer food insecurity, according to the latest government statistics.

Biden told the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health that government, Congress, private companies and society must work together to end hunger and reduce diet-related diseases in the United States by 2030.

“If you can’t feed your child, what the hell else matters?” he asked the audience of Congress members, activists, health experts and food industry representatives including top chef and humanitarian Jose Andres. “In America, no child should go to bed hungry. No parent should die of disease that can be prevented.”

Because Congress is unlikely to fund major federal dietary programs, Biden finds his hands largely tied. However, officials said he was using the power of the presidency to get major companies involved and that the response has been strong.

“We know that we can only achieve the goals… if we rally a whole of society response,” a senior official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Officials briefing reporters said that $8 billion in public and private sector commitments already made include pledges from more than 100 organizations, ranging from hospitals to tech companies and food industry players.

“All have committed to bold and in some cases, paradigm shifting commitments that will meaningfully improve nutrition, promote physical activity, and reduce hunger and diet related disease over the next seven years,” an official said.

– What’s ‘healthy’? –

The White House says that poor diets are behind ever-rising cases of diseases like type 2 diabetes, obesity, hypertension, and certain cancers, warning that “there is no silver bullet to address these complex issues, and there is no overnight fix.”

One idea being pushed by the administration is to regulate the use of the term “healthy” on food packaging.

“More than 80 percent of people in the US aren’t eating enough vegetables, fruit and dairy. And most people consume too much added sugars, saturated fat and sodium,” the US Food and Drug Administration said.

For now, the quickest response is coming from the private sector.

GE, the multinational energy, aerospace and health care company, and food industry innovation specialists Food Systems for the Future are set to launch a $2.5 billion private investor coalition over the next three years.

The National Restaurant Association will expand a project aimed at getting children to eat healthier food at 45,000 more outlets, including at chains like Burger King.

IT and communications giant Cisco will contribute $500 million over five years for healthier meals and food production in areas where it does business.

Officials acknowledged that there is no enforcement mechanism for the spending programs but “we will continue to certainly work closely with these partners to ensure they execute on the actions committed to.”

A legendary US Nazi hunter tapped by the Justice Department to investigate Russian war crimes in Ukraine said Wednesday that federal laws hamper efforts to bring abusers worldwide to justice.

Eli Rosenbaum, a 36-year veteran of the department, heads its new War Crimes Accountability Team, announced by Attorney General Merrick Garland during a trip to Ukraine in June.

The prosecutor, who has spent much of his career deporting Nazi war criminals, told a hearing in the US Senate the federal criminal code was not up to the task of pursuing war criminals living in the United States.

“Given the shocking crimes being perpetrated by Russia during its unprovoked war against Ukraine, this hearing could not possibly be held at a more appropriate, urgent, or, frankly, terrifying time,” Rosenbaum told the Senate Judiciary Committee.

But Rosenbaum said federal law does not cover the “vast majority” of war criminals who have come to the United States — unless the victim or perpetrator are American.

He added that federal statutes don’t help American victims of torture abroad unless the torturer is an American or living in the United States. 

There is also no law covering crimes against humanity often committed outside of war, such as enslavement, he said.

Rosenbaum worked on 100 cases that led to deportations of accused Nazis and other sanctions.

– ‘Deep frustration’ –

His targets included a former concentration camp guard in Tennessee, who was kicked out of the United States last year — 75 years after his crimes were committed.

Rosenbaum has also prosecuted war criminals over atrocities committed in Bosnia, Guatemala and Rwanda.

“Having prosecuted World War II Nazi cases for nearly four decades, I can attest to the deep frustration we experienced because statutory limitations… made it impossible to criminally prosecute any of the many Nazi criminals we found here,” he said.

“Instead, we could bring only civil actions against them. Russian and other war criminals who come here should not be able similarly to escape criminal justice or even find safe haven here.”

Rosenbaum told senators the federal departments primarily responsible for addressing war crimes — defense, homeland security, state and justice — had already agreed on “technical solutions” to close the gaps in legislation.

United Nations investigators accused Russia last week of committing war crimes on a massive scale in Ukraine, listing bombings, executions, torture and sexual violence, although they said it was too soon to prove crimes against humanity.

Speaking before the UN Human Rights Council, the head of a high-level investigative team listed numerous serious violations committed since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine seven months ago. 

Italy’s Samantha Cristoforetti on Wednesday became the first European woman to take over command of the International Space Station during a ceremony broadcast live from space.

The outgoing commander, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev, used the occasion to seemingly make a rare space-bound reference to the war in Ukraine, saying that “despite the storms on Earth, our international cooperation continues”.

During a relaxed ceremony, Artemyev handed Cristoforetti a golden key, symbolising that she is the new commander of the space station until she returns to Earth on October 10.

Cristoforetti, a 45-year-old European Space Agency astronaut and former Italian air force pilot, arrived for her second tour on the ISS in April.

She holds the record for the longest stay in space by a woman after spending 199 days in orbit in 2014 and 2015.

She is fifth woman — and the first non-US woman — to become commander since the role was created in 2000.

The space station, long a symbol of closer post-Cold War ties between Russia and the United States, has been in a difficult position since Moscow invaded Ukraine in February.

Moscow responded with outrage at unprecedented sanctions over the war and the ISS has been one of the last remaining areas of cooperation between Russia and the West.

– War’s echoes in space –

Artemyev praised the work of all 10 people onboard the space station — four Americans, five Russians and Cristoforetti.

He said he viewed the ISS as “a continuation of the Apollo–Soyuz programme,” the first crewed international space mission carried out jointly by the United States and Soviet Union in 1975 in the midst of the Cold War.

That was a time “when the relationship between the countries was also not simple, when there were people who found the way which leads to peace, and the way that war ends everywhere,” Artemyev said, not mentioning Ukraine by name.

For her part, Cristoforetti praised the work of her fellow crew, saying they all form “a tiny part of the gigantic team on the ground” which manages the operations of the space station.

The commander is responsible for all tasks performed by the crew members onboard the space station, which orbits more than 400 kilometres (248 miles) above Earth.

During an emergency, the commander has the authority to take decisions without waiting for instructions from ground control. 

In the event of a fire, depressurisation or the detection of toxic atmosphere — the three defined emergency scenarios — it is up to the commander to ensure that the lives of the crew are saved first.

French astronaut Thomas Pesquet, who has served as ISS commander, said last year that it is “like being on a boat — there is only master onboard after God”.

The decision of who becomes commander is made jointly by the five space agencies involved in the station: NASA, Russia’s Roscosmos, Europe’s ESA, Canada’s CSA and Japan’s JAXA.