There will be no fireworks north of the St. Lawrence River to mark National Day, while the government has scrapped the idea of ​​granting relaxations to certain cities less affected by wildfires.

• Also read: Forest fires and National Day: Fireworks banned north of the Saint Lawrence River

• Also read: Fireworks in Saint-Jean: No need to worry about Montreal air quality

The ban on open flames, which includes firecrackers, remains in effect throughout the north bank of the river, the office of Minister for Natural Resources and Forests Maïté Blanchette Vézina confirmed on Thursday.

On Tuesday, Ms. Blanchette Vézina urged the municipalities to “exercise extreme caution” when organizing the celebrations of Saint-Jean-Baptiste, to prevent the celebrations from contributing to aggravating the forest fire situation.

However, she had opened the door for flexibility in certain sectors, noting that SOPFEU is working on specific guidance for communities closer to the river, such as Quebec City, where the risk of fire is lower.

But the situation has not improved enough and the government is now ruling out exceptions to the rule.

Therefore, in most of the territory of Quebec, it will be a national holiday without fireworks. SOPFEU reminds you that in places where the ban applies, it is also not allowed to make campfires, light flying lanterns or use instruments that produce sparks.

However, it is possible to start fires in fireplaces that are fitted with a spark arrester and are on a dirt or gravel floor.

Presidential candidate Sandra Torres, the former first lady who transitioned from social democracy to conservatism, cites voting intention in the poll published this Thursday by the Prensa Libre newspaper, three days before the elections, that will determine whether Guatemala is on track to authoritarianism remains that was established during the government of President Alejandro Giammattei.

Torres, who is running for the National Unity of Hope (UNE) party, leads the poll with 21.3% of voters, followed by centre-right Cabal candidate Edmond Mulet, diplomat, nearly eight points behind . with 13.4% of preferences. Zury Ríos, daughter of dictator accused of genocide Efraín Ríos Montt and favorite candidate of the conservative right of the Valor-Uniónista coalition, is in third place with 9.1% of the vote, not much different from the figures of the previous poll.

According to the results of the national poll, Torres and Mulet have a high probability of competing for the presidency in a second round – which would take place on August 20 if no candidate receives an absolute majority, 50% of the vote plus one. although the difference that Ríos has is not that big. Since Guatemala’s transition to democracy in 1985, no candidate has achieved an absolute majority of valid votes, so the presidency has always been determined by a second vote.

Presidential candidate Edmond Mulet during a public appearance June 21 in Guatemala City. Esteban Biba (EFE)

This is the third attempt by Sandra Torres, who was first lady of the late President Álvaro Colom between 2008 and 2012, to achieve the Guatemalan presidency. On previous occasions, Torres has tasted the bitter taste of defeat in the second round. He lost to comedian Jimmy Morales in 2015 and to Alejandro Giammattei in 2019. The polls suggest that the UNE party candidate is the strongest opponent of the electorate, but also that she retains the loyalty of a broad segment of the population, particularly those in rural areas who have benefited from the social programs she promoted, for example during the presidency of Colom.

In her role as First Lady, Torres showed sympathy for Social Democracy, as did her husband, whom she divorced in order to run as a candidate. When asked about his ideological identity in a recent interview, Torres downplayed his phrases and ended by saying, “My ideology is Guatemala.”

Join EL PAÍS to follow all the news and read without restrictions.

subscribe to

The frontrunner served four months in jail in 2019 and was charged with illegal association and unreported $800,000 in campaign finance during the 2015 election campaign. In January 2022, a court closed criminal proceedings promoted during the tenure of the defunct International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG).

Justice in the service of politics

The survey data comes in an environment of apathy, ignorance about the 22 presidential candidates and questions about the differentiated and discretionary application of criteria for approving candidatures and the judicialization of the decisions that correspond to the electoral authority. “The current process is characterized by a permanent tension between legality and legitimacy, as the law is used for political purposes, such as preventing certain candidatures from giving way to others,” says a report by the Socio-Humanist Sciences Research Institute (ICESH ). . ) from Rafael Landívar University.

Conservative presidential candidate Zury Ríos Sosa during a campaign rally June 17, 2023 in San Miguel Dueñas. Esteban Biba (EFE)

Among the excluded candidatures, that of the provincial entrepreneur Carlos Pineda stands out, running for the presidency for the first time and taking himself to the top of the polls thanks to the fact that he managed to engage with the TikTok audience. At the beginning of May, Pineda had 23.1% of the valid votes, putting it in first place.

The leader of the Movement for the Liberation of Peoples, Thelma Cabrera, who came fourth in the 2019 presidential election, will not run in those elections after being expelled, nor will Roberto Arzú, the son of former conservative President Álvaro Arzú, come in in previous ones vote for fifth place.

The circumstances under which the three presidential candidates were barred from the elections reinforce the analysis of key figures in the political situation in Guatemala, such as former Foreign Minister Edgar Gutiérrez, who claims that all judicial and political control bodies respond to the interests of President Alejandro Giammattei and the former director of the government center, Miguel Martínez.

In this sense, the judicial and administrative decisions to exclude certain candidates were interpreted as measures favoring the candidatures of the official party and its allies such as Zury Ríos and the pro-government Manuel Conde. However, voter preference for both has remained unchanged, according to the Prensa Libre poll.

Representatives of the UNE party, led by Torres, have backed several of the initiatives promoted in Congress by the Giammattei government, known as the pro-government alliance. “The only alliance is with the people,” replied the candidate, who tops the polls and is about to have a third chance to run for Guatemala’s presidency.

Follow all international information on Facebook and Twitteror in our weekly newsletter.

The US Coast Guard today stressed it still hopes to find alive the five adventurers trapped in a missing Titanic submersible despite being predicted to have run out of oxygen – since the company’s co-founder, who made the trip organized, insisting rescuers “have longer than we think”.

The world is now praying for a “miracle” after rescuers estimated vital oxygen supplies would end at 12:08 GMT (7:08 am EST and 9:08 pm Sydney). At 30-minute intervals, popping noises were heard from the depths of the Atlantic – possibly from the men banging on the side of the submarine – but it has not yet been located.

US Coast Guard Rear Admiral John Mauger said the operation “remains an active search” and he “remains hopeful” thanks to “favorable” weather conditions. When asked about the popping noise, he replied that initial analysis indicated it was “ocean background noise,” but that’s still being investigated.

British billionaire Hamish Harding, OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, French naval veteran PH Nargeolet, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman, who is studying at Strathclyde University, are among those on board the submarine.

A deep-sea robotic submarine has reached the bottom of the Atlantic — and another is plunging 12,500 feet of ocean at high speed. “The Canadian vessel Horizon Arctic deployed an ROV that reached the seabed and began searching for the missing submarine,” a spokesman said.

And a French ship believed to be the best and last hope of finding the missing Titanic submarine has also deployed its remote-controlled submarine to help find five missing adventurers. L’Atalante arrived at the scene at 11.48 GMT (7.48 ET) and has deployed Victor 6000, which can reach depths of 20,000 feet and will arrive at the Titanic wreck in the next two hours.

Victor 6000 features arms that can cut cables – or free a trapped or stranded ship – and may be able to attach a cable to the submarine before it is snatched away by a giant winch with more than three miles of cable called A several Miles to the surface is Flyaway Deep Ocean Salvage System on Horizon Arctic.

Despite fears that their oxygen supplies are running low, there is still hope in the most desperate of situations. Experts believe the 96-hour oxygen supply is an inaccurate estimate and could be longer if passengers on board had taken steps to conserve the air they breathed, including lying still and even sleeping.

Guillermo Sohnlein co-founded OceanGate with Mr. Rush in 2009 and believes the window to finding them could be longer than the US Coast Guard forecasts. He said, “Today will be a critical day in this search and rescue mission as the submarine’s life support supplies are slowly running out.”

“I’m sure Stockton and the rest of the crew realized days ago that the best thing they can do to ensure their rescue is to push the limits of these supplies by moving as far as possible.” relax.” I firmly believe that the window of opportunity to rescue her is longer than most people think. I continue to have hope for my friend and the rest of the crew.”

Five people are on board, including British billionaire adventurer Hamish Harding and Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman

French Navy veteran PH Nargeolet (left) is in the submarine with Stockton Rush (right), CEO of OceanGate Expedition

The Atalante – believed to be the last hope for the missing Titan submarine – has arrived at the search site. It drops a deep-sea robot named Victor 6000, which can be seen at the stern of its mothership

The Victor 6000 (pictured) can penetrate to the required depth and help free the Titan or attach a cable to it – if it can find it

Here’s how Titan could be rescued by the French ship if found

Titan’s mothership Polar Prince has been searching the area since Sunday, zigzagging through the area. At least ten ships are at sea above the Titanic

Titan lost communications on Sunday during a voyage to Titanic off the coast of Canada about 435 miles south of St. John’s, Newfoundland. The last “ping” from his target device was heard on Sunday afternoon – directly above the world’s most famous wreck.

Above Titanic is a fleet of at least ten ships, two robotic submarines and several aircraft, scanning the Atlantic for signs of Titan as sonar continues to pick up a popping sound from below.

Today Rear Admiral John Mauger confirmed the first reports that the noise heard from the sonar buoys was “ocean background noise”.

He told Sky News: “We have taken this information and we have shared it with leading experts in the US Navy and the Canadian Navy and they are working to analyze this information, they continue to work to analyze this information.”

“Initial reports indicated that many of the sounds produced were from background ocean noise, but they…continue to search there for any available information.”

“What is important to me, and as a unified command, is that we have continued to search the areas where noise was detected using the ROVs that we have as of the time of this discovery, so we are not awaiting that analysis. ” act.

“The analysis is really helpful for our overall search and rescue efforts, but we are not waiting for it, instead we have moved the remote-controlled vehicles that we had on site to the areas where noise was detected.”

Shipping experts Marine Traffic have shared an animation of ships charging into the search zone. Titan’s mothership Polar Prince has been searching the area since Sunday, zigzagging through the site in hopes of surfacing or making contact again after communications were lost more than 72 hours ago.

A Royal Navy submarine and equipment from a British company were sent to help search for Titan. Number 10 said Lieutenant Commander Richard Kantharia was “embedded to support the search and rescue effort”.

Rob Larter, a marine expert with the British Antarctic Survey, told a news conference on Thursday that he believes the Victor 6000 is the “best hope” for an underwater rescue.

Alistair Greig, a professor of marine engineering at University College London, said the robot’s two manipulator arms could potentially allow it to unravel the Titan or attach a device that could levitate it to the surface.

The Victor 6000 also has powerful lights that allow it to see something through the dark at such depths.

But experts warned that rescuers would need to know pretty well where to look for Titan, which doesn’t appear to be the case at this time.

Finding the submersible “could potentially require weeks of intensive investigation,” Larter warned.

And even if search parties find the sub, a rescue operation could still take valuable time.

In a normal situation, it would take an ROV like the Victor 6000 two hours to reach the required depth — and another two hours to surface again, Greig said.

The missing submersible was also reportedly bolted from the outside, which could take more time, he added.

Larter said it was a “desperate situation.”

“It’s kind of unimaginable when people are alive, trapped in a submersible and running out of oxygen.”

“An objective assessment of where things are at the moment: It’s not looking good,” Larter said, adding that it’s important to remain optimistic.

The Coast Guard has admitted they don’t know if it’s the five men banging on the side of their submarine or just the sound of the sea, perhaps including debris thrown up by the Titanic itself in 12,500 foot depth falling down.

But even if it is spotted, it will take many hours to rescue Titan – meaning it could run out of oxygen before they make it to the surface. Rescue efforts to find her continued overnight – and are becoming increasingly desperate.

Oisin Fanning has been aboard the Titan submarine twice. He told BBC Breakfast this morning: “There’s no noise down there.” There’s no noise on the Titanic – no pops, nothing. So there’s a good chance it’s someone typing every 30 minutes to indicate where they are.”

The oceanographer and water search expert Dr. David Gallo said today: “It will be almost impossible. We need a miracle – but miracles happen.”

But former Royal Navy officer Chris Parry said as midday approached: “I’m afraid time has run out – I don’t think there’s any prospect now of getting these people out alive.”

It’s a bleak picture for those trapped inside the stranded ship, but officials continue to insist the hunt is still “100 percent” a search and rescue mission.

Rescuers searching for the missing Titanic explorers were racing against time to find the source of the underwater “pops” discovered yesterday.

Canadian planes sonared the sounds – some of which are said to be heard at regular 30-minute intervals – just yesterday afternoon, near where the submersible Titan disappeared.

But the Coast Guard admitted last night that extensive searches in the area 435 miles off Newfoundland have so far “returned negative results”.

Rescuers insisted “we always have hope” for the five passengers – including three Brits – on the missing 21-foot submersible that went missing on Sunday. Response coordinator Capt. Jamie Frederick of the First Coast Guard District said, “This is 100 percent a search and rescue mission.”

The deep sea explorer Dr. David Gallo believes it would take a “miracle” to save those trapped in Titan, but remains optimistic.

He told Good Morning Britain: “Two days ago maybe my hope was falling rapidly but then these noises came up and there seem to be very credible sources there, credible and repeatable.”

“We’ll see how that unfolds, but it’s all happening very quickly, so it’s a race against time.”

“Our hopes are high. “At this point we need a miracle, but miracles do happen, so I’m very optimistic.”

dr Gallo said it would take hours to rescue the submersible that was found.

Speaking to Good Morning Britain, he said: “In that case the noise repeats itself, I think, every half hour.”

“Three different planes heard them in their sensors at the same time and it lasted more than two days.”

“Apparently it’s still going on.” There’s hardly anything in nature that we can imagine happening every 30 minutes.

“At this point, we need to assume it’s the submarine and quickly go to that spot, locate it, and send robots there to verify where the submarine is.”

“You have to prepare yourself fully, like that’s the submarine, because to locate it and bring it to the surface takes a while, it takes hours.”

A door with the signage removed can be seen at Ocean Gate’s headquarters in the Waterfront Building in the Port of Everett complex in Everett, Washington

The Titan, a $250,000 tourist submersible that conducts tours of the doomed Titanic ship and operated by OceanGate Expeditions, has been underwater since 8am Sunday morning with five people on board

The pilot of a 14th Wing Royal Canadian Air Force CP-140 Aurora maritime patrol aircraft flies a search pattern for the missing OceanGate submersible

The sea area is teeming with boats and devices trying to find the missing submarine

Timeline (UK Summer Time) of the search for the Ocean Gate submersible. When Titan has lost its energy, the crew will be in complete darkness and exposed to temperatures of 3°C

The 21-foot submersible has up to 96 hours of oxygen supply – but some experts say it could be longer

At a news conference at the US Coast Guard in Boston, which is coordinating the search and rescue effort, Captain Jamie Frederick, the First District Response coordinator, said it was not certain the submarine could be rescued

Rescuers, including the USCG, British Navy, French and Canadian teams, had increased their pace as the rescue window narrowed.

Rescuers are not giving up hope, US Coast Guard Captain Jamie Frederick stressed Wednesday, even as people around the world are counting down the hours until the ship is expected to run out of oxygen.

“We have to remain optimistic and hopeful as we find ourselves in a search and rescue situation.” If we keep looking, we could possibly be there… And that’s a discussion we’ll be having with the families, long before I discuss it publicly here.”

According to OceanGate, Titan’s operator, the submarine has a 96-hour oxygen supply in case of emergencies. Search and rescue teams race against time as they search an area where sounds of the missing Titan submarine have been discovered. Experts say they continue to analyze the sounds in the sea.

The only possible lead of the ship, which remains under investigation, was underwater popping, which was discovered yesterday during a search for the missing Titanic submersible.

However, US Navy experts who analyzed the sounds said they could not yet conclude whether they came from the stranded vessel, and ROVs continued to return negative results from the water.

Private groups that had already offered to help the rescue mission on Monday were allegedly only given permission to help on Wednesday night, sources also told Web.

Rescuers are now making a final attempt to find the tiny ship in a vast expanse of water. The search area has been expanded to about 14,000 square miles – twice the size of the state of Connecticut.

The time pressure is compounded by the fact that the submersibles may be able to locate Titan heading for the Titanic wreck 12,500 feet below the surface, but the mammoth task of lifting it up will require additional specialized tools.

Hopes for a recovery were slightly boosted on Wednesday when a sonar-equipped Canadian P-3 plane picked up the intermittent “pop” sound.

The P-3 is one of several aircraft models that also assist in the search, scanning the sea surface and using sonar to detect signs of activity on the sea floor.

A number of military and merchant vessels are also on site, offering a mix of search capabilities, communications equipment and rescue gear should Titan be found.

Ultimately, it’s up to the submersibles to see Titan if it remains on the seabed – or trapped in the wreckage of the Titanic.

Sean Leet, co-founder of Horizon Maritime Services, the company that owns the Titan mothership Polar Prince, said Wednesday he had never seen “augmented search equipment of this type move so quickly.”

The family of missing Titan submarine tourists, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman, gathered on Wednesday over the water where the ship was last seen.

A family source in Karachi, Pakistan, where Mr Dawood is from, posted a new picture of the father and son to Web and said: “I can tell you that Ms Dawood and her daughter are currently in the search area and will be.” stay there as long as possible.

Sulaiman Dawood, 19, who went missing aboard the submarine, is pictured with his mother Christine

Among the expedition’s participants is billionaire Hamish Harding (pictured), CEO of Action Aviation in Dubai. He excitedly posted on social media that he was there on Sunday

“Obviously this is a very difficult time for the family and they are not coping well with the situation at all, they draw strength from each other and hope and pray for the best.”

“They are also encouraged by the messages of support they are receiving from around the world and are grateful for everyone’s kind thoughts and wishes.”

“It is not clear what prompted Mr. Dawood to visit Titanic with his son, but he is driven by a passion for exploration and I understand this was something that had been planned for some time.”

The Dawoods belong to one of the most prominent families in Pakistan. Her eponymous company invests nationwide in agriculture, industry and the healthcare sector.

Her family, including Shahzada’s wife Christine and daughter Alina, are awaiting news about the couple.

Passengers aboard Titan include British billionaire adventurer Hamish Harding and OceanGate CEO and founder Stockton Rush.

Jannicke Mikkelsen, a close friend of Mr Harding, warned in a heartbreaking plea: “We’re wasting time.”

The panicked friend told BBC Radio 4’s Today program yesterday: “I’m nervous.” I’m sick with nervousness. I’m scared, I’m worried. I’m not sleeping at the moment. I’m just hoping for good news. “Every single second, every single minute feels like hours.”

Comment on this storyComment

KIEV, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned Thursday that Russian forces were preparing a “terrorist attack” at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, officials in Moscow announced the head of the UN nuclear regulator, Rafael Grossi, was traveling on Friday to Russia to meet with the nuclear authorities.

Ukraine’s “Intelligence Service has received information that Russia is considering the scenario of a terrorist attack at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant – a terrorist attack with the release of radiation,” Zelenskyy said in a video address posted on social media Thursday morning. “They have prepared everything for it.”

Zelenskyy did not give any further details, but said Ukraine will share “all the evidence” with Kiev’s international partners – “everyone”. He also warned that “radiation knows no bounds” and “who it hits” depends on the “direction of the wind.”

Russia rejected Zelenskyy’s allegations. “Zelensky’s words that Russia is allegedly preparing a terrorist attack at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant are another lie,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said shortly after the Ukrainian leader’s video was released.

Ukraine dreams of reconstruction, but Russia’s destruction continues

Zelenskyi’s warning was issued amid mounting concerns about the safety of the Zaporizhia plant.

Fighting in the region has intensified after Kiev launched a counter-offensive against invading Russian forces, while the destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station in southern Ukraine has raised concerns about water levels in the nuclear power plant’s cooling pool.

On Thursday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, will meet with the head of Russia’s state-owned nuclear company Alexei Likhachev on Sept. 17 in the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad on Friday.

As fighting continued in eastern and southern Ukraine, Russian officials accused Kiev of carrying out a missile attack on a bridge linking southern Ukraine’s Kherson region with Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014. Russian news agencies reported no casualties.

Vladimir Saldo, the Kremlin-appointed governor of the Russian-held part of the Kherson region, said on social media that Kiev’s forces hit the bridge near the settlement of Chongar with British-made storm shadow missiles. Ukrainian officials commented on the allegations.

“The missile damage to the bridges connecting Crimea and the Kherson region is another completely senseless action by the Kiev regime on orders from London,” Saldo said in a Telegram post, sharing pictures and a video of the damaged bridge.

“This will in no way affect the course of the special operation – there are other land routes to Crimea,” Saldo said, using the Russian euphemism for the large-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Understanding the Russia-Ukraine conflict

Check out 3 more stories