CP World Report: Superstorm Sandy, Syria Conflict, Coptic Pope, Apple
After taking 41 lives in the Caribbean, superstorm Sandy's devastation continued to rip through the U.S. East Coast yesterday causing the American death toll to climb to 50. Sandy cut power to more than 8.2 million households and put the presidential campaign on hold just a week before Election Day.
New York was among the hardest hit. Wall Street closed for two days and the city's subway system had the worst damage in its 108-year history. The storm sent a 14-foot surge of seawater over Lower Manhattan.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg updated the dire situation during a news conference, saying the biggest challenges the city faces are: restoring power and mass transit.
And ……A huge fire erupted in one of New York City's most remote neighborhoods. It destroyed dozens of homes. Some are calling it a miracle that no one was hurt. Cause of that fire is believed to be electrical .
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In New Jersey, Sandy has left thousands of homes under water and knocked others off their foundations along the Shore. Touring the devastation , Governor Chris Christie called it "unthinkable."
Sandy also caused a huge blizzard in West Virginia leaving 300-thousand without power. North Carolina and Tennesee were also affected. In total, Sandy's fury is estimated to have cost 50 billion dollars.
In Canada…Sandy brought strong winds and heavy rain to southern Ontario, Quebec and parts of the Maritimes. 150,000 customers were without power in Ontario. 50 thousand in Quebec and 14-thousand in Nova Scotia. One woman was killed in Toronto by a falling store sign in a parking lot.
While preparing to help the victims of Hurricane Sandy on Monday, World Vision workers in New York City were forced to evacuate their own facilities and leave their relief supplies behind. Unfortunately, without access to those supplies, the organization had to wait before beginning to distribute relief items. In 2005, World Vision provided $8.2 million in goods to over 318,000 survivors of Hurricane Katrina. Other organizations with emergency response teams, include The Salvation Army.
A senior Syrian air force general has been killed in a Damascus suburb. Abdullah Mahmoud al-Khalidi was shot dead in an attack that appeared to be the latest in a string of rebel attacks on high-level figures from President Bashar al-Assad's administration.
Meantime….. Syrian warplanes have launched 60 airstrikes against rebel targets around the country; the most intense air raids since the uprising began 19 months ago, and also….during the holiday of Eid al Adha where a ceasefire was supposed to be in effect. At least 500 people were killed over a four-day period alone.
And…local media and government reported that terrorists detonated a car bomb that killed 10 people on the outskirts of Damascus in an area dominated by Christians and Druze. Another car bomb exploded in a Damascus neighborhood where rebels are active.
Two coalition troops have been killed in another reported insider attack in Afghanistan. Insider attacks by Afghan soldiers and police officers have been on the rise for months. More than 50 people have been killed in Afghanistan in similar attacks this year. The Afghan government calls the killings acts of terrorism.
In this age of convenience, we've got drive-thru restaurants... drive-thru A-T-Ms... even drive-thru dry cleaners. But how about a church holding a drive-thru prayer service ? Caitlin Alexander reports on one woman's unique efforts to make a difference in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
More than 2,400 clergy and community leaders gathered in Cairo, Egypt for the first time in nearly forty years to elect a new Coptic Christian Pope. Pope Shenouda III died at 88 earlier this year. He had been an important part of the lives of the 8 million-plus Christians in Egypt, who faced persecution from the majority Muslim population . Now with the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Coptics say a new pope is needed to bring stability and a sense of authority for Christians, concerned about the future. The final vote on a new pope takes place Sunday. Currently, three monks and two bishops are still in the running.
A management shakeup at Apple has lead to the replacement of two top executives.
One was Scott Forstall who was in charge of the iOS software running iPhones and iPads, and was often considered an heir-in-waiting to C-E-O Tim Cook. Forstall was also behind the Apple's Maps software—described as a debacle that was widely mocked on social media. Apple also sent away its retail store chief, John Browett, after just nine months on the job.
