Strong 5.2 magnitude earthquake in Puerto Rico cracks walls, downs power lines

YAUCO, Puerto Rico - A 5.2 magnitude earthquake cracked walls and brought down power lines in Puerto Rico on Friday as the Caribbean island was recovering from its worst quake in over a century on Tuesday.

The latest quake took place at 6:26 p.m. (5:26 p.m. EST), with its epicenter around 4 kilometers south of Indios on the southern coast, the US Geological Survey reported.

The quake was felt in the capital San Juan and to the west authorities closed a road bridge near Caguas that was in danger of collapsing after cracks appeared.

Shaken residents in the south said it was the strongest they had felt since Tuesday's 6.4 magnitude earthquake, which killed at least one person, destroyed or damaged about 300 homes and knocked out power across the island.

"Please no more," tweeted Nick Silva, showing a crack in his wall.

The island is in the process of restoring power to its nearly 3 million residents after Tuesday's earthquake severely damaged its largest generating plant, Costa Sur.

The lights stayed on in San Juan after Friday's quake, residents said, but there were reports on Twitter of new blackouts in the west of the island.

Puerto Rico Governor Wanda Vázquez and US Senator Rick Scott on Friday toured the Costa Sur plant in Guayanilla and spoke to US President Donald Trump by telephone.

They said Trump pledged his support for Puerto Rico after he earlier in the week approved an emergency declaration to mobilize resources for recovery efforts.

"I will work my tail off to make sure all the federal resources that can be available will be available," Scott told reporters.

In the aftermath of Tuesday's earthquake, only half of the Caribbean island had power. Scott said over 6,000 people were in emergency shelters, many of them fearful their own homes could collapse during another major earthquake.

Vázquez on Thursday said that, without another major earthquake, she expected power to be fully restored across the island by Monday.

Authorities have promised that the earthquake blackouts will not be a repeat of the lengthy power outages the island suffered following back-to-back hurricanes in 2017.

The earthquake has added to Puerto Rico's woes as it is still recovering from Hurricanes Maria and Irma in 2017 which killed around 3,000 people, and goes through a bankruptcy process.

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Puerto Rico allowing transgender people to fix birth certificates

MIAMI, United States- Transgender people in Puerto Rico can now modify their birth certificates to match their gender identity after activists won a lawsuit against the US territory's governor.

The change, which went into effect Monday, will comply with a ruling from the US District Court for Puerto Rico, which in April struck down the island's policy preventing transgender people living there from correcting gender on birth certificates.

"The right to identify our own existence lies at the heart of one's humanity," wrote US District Judge Carmen Consuelo Cerezo at the time. "And so, we must heed their voices: 'the woman that I am,' 'the man that I am.'"

The latest victory for the LGBT community leaves just three US states that prohibit amending the gender marker on the official identification documents: Kansas, Ohio, and Tennessee.

"It's a relief to finally have a birth certificate that truly reflects who I am," said one of the plaintiffs, Daniela Arroyo, in a statement released by Lambda Legal, an LGBT civil rights nonprofit.

Omar Gonzalez Pagan, a lawyer for Lambda Legal, said the group had already filed suit against Ohio's rule.

In its statement, the group said almost one-third of transgender people whose identity documents are at odds with the gender they appear to be have been denied benefits or services and faced harassment or assault.

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Google balloons to help restore Puerto Rico's cell networks

Google's parent company is set to launch balloons into the Caribbean skies in an attempt to restore telephone networks in hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico.

Alphabet Inc., which controls Google, obtained authorization from the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to deploy the devices -- developed from 2013 as part of a project known as "Loon."

It aims to temporarily re-establish Puerto Rico's cellular network -- where 83 per cent of cell sites were still out of service Friday, according to FCC figures.

"More than two weeks after Hurricane Maria struck, millions of Puerto Ricans are still without access to much-needed communications services," FCC chairman Ajit Pai said in a statement.

"That's why we need to take innovative approaches to help restore connectivity on the island," he added, urging wireless carriers to "cooperate with Project Loon to maximize this effort's chances of success."

Loon, part of a series of futuristic projects out of Alphabet's "X" laboratory, was originally created to provide internet coverage in under-developed rural areas.

A similar project using drones was closed down in 2016.

The balloons are sent 20 kilometers above the Earth's surface, where they can remain autonomously for over 100 days. They are made from a polyethylene canvas the size of a tennis court.

Initially designed to drift, the balloons are now equipped with navigation systems, powered by solar panels, which keep them in a specific area.

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Hurricane Maria hammers Puerto Rico, causes wide destruction

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - Hurricane Maria rampaged across Puerto Rico on Wednesday as the strongest storm to hit the U.S. territory in nearly 90 years, causing major flooding, damaging homes and knocking out power to the whole island after killing at least nine people in the Caribbean.


Maria, the second major hurricane to roar through the Caribbean this month, was carrying winds of up to 155 miles per hour (250 kph), when it made landfall near Yabucoa, on the southeast of the island of 3.4 million people.

It ripped the roofs off buildings and turned low-lying streets into rushing rivers of debris knocked down by winds.

Its winds downed trees and damaged homes and buildings, including several hospitals, local media reported. News pictures showed whole blocks flooded in the Hato Rey neighborhood of the capital, San Juan.

Streets in San Juan's old town were left strewn with debris, from broken balconies and downed power lines to air conditioning units, shattered lamp posts, uprooted trees and dead birds.

"When we are able to go outside, we are going to find our island destroyed," Abner Gomez, the director of the island's emergency management agency, known by its Spanish language acronym AEMEAD, was quoted as saying by El Nuevo Dia newspaper. "It's a system that has destroyed everything in its path."

Maria was producing widespread and dangerous flooding across the island, the National Weather Service said

Electricity was believed to be out across the island, said Pedro Cerame, a spokesman for Governor Ricardo Rossello.

Authorities had not yet been able to assess the extent of the damage, he said.

Thousands of people had sought safety in shelters.

"God is with us; we are stronger than any hurricane," Rossello said on Twitter. "Together we will rise again."

By 2 p.m. ET (1800 GMT), Maria's center was heading away and it was located just north of the island, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. As expected when hurricanes move over hilly or mountainous ground, it had lost strength. But with top winds of 115 mph (185 kph), it was still a Category 3 on the five-point Saffir-Simpson scale, a major hurricane.

It was forecast to maintain strength as it passed the northeast coast of the Dominican Republic later on Wednesday.

At one point a rare Category 5 storm, Maria killed at least seven people on the island of Dominica, government officials said, and two people in the French territory of Guadeloupe as it barreled through the Caribbean. It also caused widespread damage on St. Croix, one of the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Hurricane Irma, which ranked as one of the most powerful Atlantic storms on record, also left a trail of destruction in several Caribbean islands and Florida this month, killing at least 84 people in the Caribbean and the U.S. mainland.

FRAGILE HOMES

Maria was expected to dump as much as 25 inches (66 cm) of rain on parts of Puerto Rico, the NHC said. Storm surges, when hurricanes push ocean water dangerously over normal levels, could be up to 9 feet (2.7 meters.)

Many homes and businesses across Puerto Rico have wooden or tin roofs, cheaper building materials that also keep homes cooler in the balmy Caribbean climate, but no match for storms of the intensity of Maria.

"This might be a new, permanent part of our lives," said Ramon Claudio Ortiz, 71, a retired lawyer. "We're going to have to revisit our building codes."

The Weather Undergound website said Maria, classified as a Category 4 hurricane when it landed, was the second strongest hurricane ever recorded to hit Puerto Rico, behind only the 1928 San Felipe Segundo hurricane, which killed more than 300 people.

Maria brought its destruction at a time when Puerto Rico is struggling financially, grappling with the largest municipal debt crisis in U.S. history, with both its government and the public utility having filed for bankruptcy protection amid disputes with creditors.

Even though Irma grazed north of Puerto Rico and did not hit the island directly, it knocked out power for 70 percent of the island, and killed at least three people.

DOMINICA 'IN A DAZE'

Before hitting Puerto Rico, Maria ripped off roofs and downed trees as it passed west of St. Croix, home to about half of the U.S. Virgin Islands' 103,000 residents.

Some 65 to 70 percent of the buildings on St. Croix were damaged by the storm, said Holland Redfield, who served six terms in the U.S. Virgin Islands senate.

"There were a lot of homes that had lost their roofs. It was a sad sight," Redfield said in a phone interview, describing viewing the island. "I'm in a very densely populated area now and I see a tremendous amount of confusion. A lot of trees are down."

In Guadeloupe, at least two people were killed, according to France's minister for overseas territories. Many roads were blocked and 40 percent of the population was without power, the overseas territories ministry said in a statement.

The island of Dominica, with a population of about 73,000, was devastated by Maria earlier in the week. Hartley Henry, principal adviser to Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit, said in a Facebook post on Wednesday that "the country is in a daze."

Maria was expected to move near the Turks and Caicos Islands and southeastern Bahamas on Thursday night and Friday, the NHC said. So far, it looked unlikely to threaten the continental United States.

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Hurricane Irma leaves 11 dead as it tears through Caribbean

SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO — Hurricane Irma plowed past the Dominican Republic on Thursday after devastating a string of Caribbean islands and killing at least 11 people as one of the most powerful Atlantic storms in a century took aim at Florida.

With winds of around 290 kph, the storm lashed several small islands in the northeast Caribbean, including Barbuda, St. Martin and the British Virgin Islands, tearing down trees, flattening homes and causing widespread damage.

The eye of the hurricane passed north of Puerto Rico early Thursday, battering the US territory with high winds and heavy rains and leaving nearly 70% of the population without electricity, Governor Ricardo Rossello said.

The eye of Irma was moving west-northwest off the northern coast of the Dominican Republic on Thursday morning, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.

Irma's precise course remained uncertain but it was likely to be downgraded to a Category-4 storm by the time it makes landfall in Florida, according to the NHC.

Irma has become a little less organized over the past few hours but the threat of a direct hurricane impact in Florida over the weekend and early next week was increasing, the NHC said.

Authorities in the Dominican Republic ordered the evacuation of towns along the northern Atlantic coast, as the storm ground toward the port and tourist destination of Puerto Plata.

"There is a lot of wind and rain," Puerto Plata Assistant District Attorney Juan Carlos Castro Hernandez told Reuters by telephone. "We expect things to get worse."

At least 8 people were killed in the tiny French-Dutch island of Saint Martin, with 23 others injured, and the toll was likely to rise as emergency services reached isolated communities, officials said.

"ENORMOUS DISASTER"

"It is an enormous disaster. Ninety-five percent of the island is destroyed. I am in shock," Daniel Gibbs, chairman of a local council on Saint Martin, told Radio Caribbean International.

Television footage from the island showed a damaged marina with boats tossed into piles, submerged streets and flooded homes. French President Emmanuel Macron spoke with British Prime Minister Theresa May on Thursday to coordinate an emergency humanitarian response.

Amid criticism from many residents that the British government could have done more to help its territories, Foreign Office Minister Alan Duncan said a Royal Navy ship would reach the affected islands on Thursday with tents, vehicles and other relief equipment.

"Anguilla received the hurricane's full blast. The initial assessment is that the damage has been severe and in places critical," he told parliament.

One person was killed on the island and roads were blocked, with damage to the hospital and airport, power and phone service, Anguilla emergency service officials said.

In Puerto Rico, Rossello was due to fly to the worst effected areas of the island on Thursday but said it was to early to estimate the cost of the damage. The streets of the capital San Juan were littered with downed tree limbs and signs, with many street lights out.

Juan Pablo Aleman, a restaurant owner, said he had ridden out the storm in his 11th-floor apartment.

"The building moved, shook a few times. A lot of shingles came off and some windows broke," he told Reuters. "If it had gone a little more to the south, it would have been catastrophic."

Irma was the strongest hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic Ocean and one of the five most forceful storms to hit the Atlantic basin in 82 years, according to the NHC.

The hurricane was on track to reach Florida on Saturday or Sunday, and would become the second major hurricane to hit the US mainland in as many weeks after Hurricane Harvey.

Florida Governor Rick Scott said it was unclear whether Irma would hit the state's east or west coast but told residents to beware of the surge from the powerful winds.

"The storm surge can kill you," Scott said on the "CBS This Morning" program on Thursday. He urged people to heed local officials and be ready when the call came to leave their area, promising the government would provide transportation to those who need it.

"YOU'RE ON YOUR OWN"

Florida emergency management officials began evacuations in advance of Irma's arrival, ordering tourists to leave the Florida Keys.

Roman Gastesi, the administrator of Monroe County, which encompasses the Florida Keys, told CNN that streets were empty in Key West and 90 percent of businesses were closed. County officials, including police and emergency workers, would be leaving, he said.

"If you're going to stay, you're on your own," Gastesi said.

US President Donald Trump was monitoring Irma's progress. The president owns the waterfront Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida.

Trump approved emergency declarations for the state, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, mobilizing federal disaster relief efforts.

The island of Barbuda, one of the first hit by the storm, was a scene of "total carnage," said Gaston Browne, prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda, adding that the tiny two-island nation will seek international assistance.

Browne told the BBC that about half of Barbuda's population of some 1,800 were homeless while nine out of 10 buildings had suffered some damage and many were destroyed.

"We flew into Barbuda only to see total carnage. It was easily one of the most emotionally painful experiences that I have had," Browne said in an interview on BBC Radio Four, adding that it would take months or years to restore some level of normalcy to the island.

Browne said one person was killed on Barbuda. A surfer was also reported killed on Barbados.

Hurricane warnings were in effect for the Bahamas and the British overseas territory of the Turks and Caicos, the NHC said.

In Cuba, 145 kilometers south of the Florida Keys, a hurricane alert was issued for the central and eastern regions, as residents in Havana waited in lines to stock up on food, water and gasoline.

Two other hurricanes formed on Wednesday.

Katia in the Gulf of Mexico posed no threat to the United States, according to US forecasters. Hurricane Jose was about 1,310 kilometers east of the Caribbean's Lesser Antilles islands, and could eventually threaten the U.S. mainland.

The storm activity comes after Harvey claimed about 60 lives and caused property damage estimated to be as much as $180 billion in Texas and Louisiana.

(Reporting by Jorge Pinedo in Santo Domingo, Makini Brice in Port au Prince, Susan Heavey and Ian Simpson in Washington, Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee, Estelle Shirbon in London, Matthias Blamont and Jean-Baptiste Vey in Paris, Toby Sterling in Amsterdam; Writing by Daniel Flynn; Editing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg and Jeffrey Benkoe)

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Super hurricane Irma thrashes Caribbean island; Florida braces for landfall

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - Monster Hurricane Irma hammered the Caribbean island of St. Martin on Wednesday as it packed a potentially catastrophic mix of pounding winds and rain and surging surf that was expected to make landfall in Florida over the weekend.

Irma could become the second powerful storm to thrash the U.S. mainland in as many weeks, but its precise trajectory remained uncertain. Hurricane Harvey killed more than 60 people and caused as much as $180 billion in damage after hitting Texas late last month.

The eye of Irma, a Category 5 storm with winds of 185 miles per hour (295 km per hour), was bearing down on the Virgin Islands after passing over the half-French, half-Dutch island of St. Martin, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami said. Category 5 is its highest category.

Its trajectory indicated Irma, which the NHC said was the strongest Atlantic storm on record, would skirt most of the Caribbean as it moves west-northwest.

Karel van Oosterom, the Netherlands ambassador to the United Nations, said Irma hit the Dutch islands of Saba and Sint Eustasius before overrunning St. Martin.

"First information indicates that a lot of damage has been done, but communication is still extremely difficult," he said at a U.N. meeting.

Irma began lashing Puerto Rico with rain at mid-morning. Governor Ricardo Rossello told residents to stay inside as the storm bore down on the island. “There is no reason to be in the street,” Rossello told a midday press conference.

Many businesses in San Juan, the island's capital, were closed and many buildings were covered with storm shutters. Occasional shoppers were out making final purchases of water, ice and food to prepare for what could be several days without power.

ROOFS BLOWN OFF

After Irma battered the island nation of Antigua and Barbuda, emergency officials reported three injuries and minimal damage, with some roofs blown off. Prime Minister Gaston Browne said flights would resume from the airport Wednesday afternoon.

Much of the Leeward Islands were under a hurricane watch, as well as the U.S. and British Virgin Islands, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, the Turks and Caicos Islands and the southeastern Bahamas, the NHC said.

In Paris, the French government said it had delivered water and food to two overseas territories, St. Martin and St. Barthelemy, and that emergency response teams would be sent once the storm had passed.

Power was knocked out on both islands, according to prefecture officials on Guadeloupe. At least four buildings were damaged and low-lying regions had been flooded, French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said.

The U.N. World Food Program prepared to provide emergency aid to Haiti if it was hit by Irma. The country was ravaged by a 2010 earthquake and Hurricane Matthew last year.

U.S. President Donald Trump said he and aides were monitoring Irma's progress. "But it looks like it could be something that will be not good. Believe me, not good," he told reporters in the White House.

Florida Governor Rick Scott said Irma could be more devastating than Hurricane Andrew, which struck the state in 1992, especially with a storm surge that could reach 10 feet (3 m).

Residents of the Florida Keys, a resort archipelago at the state's southern tip, were ordered to leave by Wednesday evening. Residents of low-lying areas in densely populated Miami-Dade County were urged to move to higher ground.

"We can expect additional evacuations as this storm continues to come near our state," Scott said at a news conference in the Keys.

He said 7,000 National Guard troops would report for duty on Friday, ahead of the storm's expected arrival.

Irma ranked as one of the five most powerful Atlantic hurricanes in the last 80 years and the strongest Atlantic storm recorded by the NHC outside the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico.

Trump approved emergency declarations for Florida, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, mobilizing federal disaster relief efforts.

With Irma's looming arrival, the Miami Dolphins' home game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, scheduled for Sunday, was postponed until Nov. 19, the National Football League said.

(Additional reporting by Bernie Woodall in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., Michelle Nichols at the United Nations, Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee, Jeff Mason, Ian Simpson and Susan Heavey in Washington, Tom Miles in Geneva and Richard Lough in Paris; Writing by Ian Simpson; Editing by Catherine Evans and Jeffrey Benkoe)

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Hurricane Irma approaches Carribean

Hurricane Irma, a record Category 5 storm, churns across the Atlantic Ocean on a collision course with Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, is shown in this NASA GOES satellite image taken at 1715 EDT (2215 GMT) on Tuesday. Irma is predicted to hit islands in the northern Caribbean with damaging winds, heavy rainfall and 20-foot-high storm surge.

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Puerto Rico files for bankruptcy

Puerto Rico announced a historic restructuring of its public debt on Wednesday, touching off what may be the biggest bankruptcy ever in the $3.8 trillion U.S. municipal bond market.

While it was not immediately clear just how much of Puerto Rico's $70 billion of debt would be included in the bankruptcy filing, the case is sure to dwarf Detroit's insolvency in 2013.

The move comes a day after several major creditors sued Puerto Rico over defaults its bonds.

Bankruptcy may not immediately change the day-to-day lives of Puerto Rico's people, 45 percent of whom live in poverty, but it may lead to future cuts in pensions and worker benefits, and possibly a reduction in health and education services.

The island's economy has been in recession for nearly 10 years, with an unemployment rate of about 11.0 percent, and the population has fallen by about 10 percent in the past decade.

The bankruptcy process will also give Puerto Rico the legal ability to impose drastic discounts on creditor recoveries, but could also spook investors and prolong the island's lack of access to debt markets.

BANKRUPTCY UNDER PROMESA LAW

The debt restructuring petition was filed by Puerto Rico's financial oversight board in the U.S. District Court in Puerto Rico on Wednesday, and was made under Title III of last year's U.S. Congressional rescue law known as PROMESA.

The Title III provision allows for a court debt restructuring process akin to U.S. bankruptcy protection. Puerto Rico is barred from a traditional municipal bankruptcy protection under Chapter 9 of the U.S. code.

The filing includes only Puerto Rico's central government, which owes some $18 billion in debt backed by the island's constitution.

On paper, it does not include $17 billion of sales tax-backed debt, known as COFINA debt, or debt from other agencies.

But those debts are likely to be pulled into the bankruptcy, or included in separate bankruptcy proceedings in coming days, Elias Sanchez, an adviser to Governor Ricardo Rossello, told Reuters on Wednesday.

Puerto Rico's massive pension debts will also likely get restructured in the bankruptcy.

"Title III was especially compelled by the commonwealth’s need to restructure $49 billion of pension liabilities," the oversight board said in Wednesday's filing.

BIGGER BANKRUPTCY THAN DETROIT

The previous largest U.S. public bankruptcy, Detroit's in 2013, covered some $18 billion in debt. The city was able to reach an agreed debt restructuring with stakeholders, in part by soliciting huge contributions from philanthropic foundations so it did not need to sell the city's art collection.

But "unlike Detroit, there isn’t billions of unencumbered artwork to fund a restructuring" in Puerto Rico, said David Tawil, whose fund, Maglan Capital, held Puerto Rico general obligation debt but has since sold it.

The legal proceeding does not mean negotiations toward a compromise must stop, Governor Rossello said in a statement on Wednesday.

"It is my hope that the Government’s Title III proceedings will accelerate the negotiation process," the governor said in the statement.

Rossello's fiscal plan for the island, approved by the oversight board in March, forecasts Puerto Rico having only $800 million a year to pay debt, less than a quarter of what it owes. The low figure alienated creditors and negotiations toward an out-of-court restructuring foundered.

Andrew Rosenberg, a lawyer for the general obligation bondholders, criticized the Title III filing, saying in a statement a consensual deal could have been reached.

"Just as a deal was within reach [on Tuesday], we understand that the oversight board intervened to block it," Rosenberg said in a statement. "For months, the oversight board has made every effort to sabotage consensual negotiations."

Francisco Cimadevilla, a spokesman for the board, denied the allegation, saying in an interview, "I can understand that might be a narrative on the other side, but it's just not the case."

Conversely, Susheel Kirpalani, a lawyer for COFINA bondholders, called bankruptcy "sound public policy," saying in a statement it "enables Puerto Rico to freeze numerous lawsuits" and "maintain essential services."

Analysts and experts agreed the case is likely to take time.

"It will be an orderly process that should be better for creditors in the aggregate than a chaotic and uncertain period involving proliferating lawsuits," said Moody's Investor Services analyst Ted Hampton.

Some expect creditors to challenge the filing, arguing the board did not meet requirements under PROMESA to conduct good faith negotiations out of court.

"We would agree there is a case to be made here," said Keefe Bruyette & Woods analyst Chas Tyson, who follows Puerto Rico.

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US declares Zika public health emergency in Puerto Rico

CHICAGO - The Obama administration on Friday declared a public health emergency in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, saying the rapid and widespread transmission of the Zika virus threatens the health of infected pregnant women and their babies.

The Caribbean island of about 3.5 million people has recorded 10,690 laboratory-confirmed cases of Zika, including 1,035 pregnant women, but the actual number of infections with the mosquito-borne virus is likely higher, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement.

Among U.S. states and territories, Puerto Rico is expected to see the worst of the Zika outbreak due to its tropical climate and a lack of infrastructure for mosquito control. The only local transmission of the virus so far reported in the continental United States has been in South Florida.

The virus can cause microcephaly, a birth defect marked by abnormally small head size and developmental problems in babies. It also can also be spread by sex, prompting public health officials to advise that people who have been infected refrain from unprotected sex for several months.

"This administration is committed to meeting the Zika outbreak in Puerto Rico with the necessary urgency," HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell said in a statement.

The public health emergency declaration is a tool for the federal government to provide fresh support to Puerto Rico's government to tackle the outbreak and grants access to certain federal funds.

The last time HHS declared such an emergency was in 2012 in the wake of Superstorm Sandy, which slammed into the New Jersey shore and flooded parts of New York City.

It was the second important step to fight Zika that the federal government has taken in as many days. The administration said on Thursday it had shifted $81 million in funds from other projects to continue work on developing vaccines to fight Zika in the absence of any funding from U.S. lawmakers.

REQUEST FROM THE GOVERNOR

HHS made the declaration at the request of Puerto Rico Governor Alejandro García Padilla. It allows Puerto Rico to apply for funding to hire and train unemployed workers to assist in mosquito control efforts, as well as for outreach and education efforts.

It also allows Puerto Rico to temporarily reassign public health workers to assist in the Zika response.

"The declaration will allow access to more funds, the waiving of certain regulatory procedures to speed response, reassign key personnel, allow temporary personnel appointments, and provide the authority to take necessary actions to combat the outbreak," said Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease expert and senior associate at the UPMC Center for Health Security in Baltimore.

Also on Friday, Florida said three more people had become infected with Zika by local mosquitoes, bringing the total to 28.

Zika was first detected last year in Brazil, where it has taken its heaviest toll so far, and has spread rapidly through Latin America and the Caribbean.

"The threat of Zika to future generations of Puerto Ricans is evident, and I feel a responsibility to do everything that is within my reach to make sure we fight the spread of the virus," Garcia Padilla said in a statement.

The Obama administration in February requested $1.9 billion to fight Zika, but the Republican-led Congress has approved no money.

A bill providing $1.1 billion was blocked by Democrats after Republicans attached language to stop abortion-provider Planned Parenthood from using that government funding for healthcare services, mainly in U.S. territories like Puerto Rico.

The Republican legislation also would siphon off unused money under Obama's signature 2010 healthcare law to combat Zika.

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Winning tickets in $564M jackpot bought at food mart, gas station

DALLAS - A food mart in a small city north of Dallas, Texas, and a gas station in southern Puerto Rico were two of three places where winning tickets were sold in the estimated $564.1 million U.S. Powerball lottery, officials said on Thursday.

Winning tickets were sold in Princeton, Texas, Ponce, Puerto Rico and North Carolina for the jackpot drawing Wednesday night, which was the third-largest in the game's history and one of the largest lottery jackpots ever in the United States.

It is the first time Puerto Rico has a Powerball winner, but the ticket buyer has not come forward yet.

"We've only been selling Powerball here for four months, and we've already been surprised with a good prize," said Enid Rodriguez, a lottery spokeswoman in Puerto Rico.

Laisa Rodriguez, manager at the Shell station that sold the winning ticket, said she hopes more people will buy lottery tickets there in the future, thinking "that it's the lucky spot."

"We're super excited," she said.

The Texas ticket was bought with the cash option, meaning the winner or winners will receive about $127 million before taxes, the Texas Lottery said. The holder of that winning ticket has yet to come forward, a lottery spokeswoman said.

The Appletree Food Mart in Princeton where the ticket was sold will receive a $1 million retailer bonus, the Texas Lottery said. The business, a Valero gas station, is owned by husband and wife Chandra Siwakoti and Smriti Acharya.

"You never think of something like this happening so when it did, we couldn't imagine it," Acharya said in a telephone interview.

The Powerball rolled over for nearly three months, pushing the jackpot beyond the half-billion mark until three tickets matched the numbers 11, 13, 25, 39 and 54, lottery officials said. The Powerball number was 19.

Winners can select a lump-sum cash payout or opt to take annuity payments over 29 years, before taxes. Before Wednesday, the last Powerball jackpot was won in late November at $90 million.

The jackpot has reverted to its starting point at $40 million. Drawings are made on Wednesday and Saturday nights and tickets cost $2 each. The odds of winning the Powerball jackpot are one in 175 million.

The biggest Powerball jackpot awarded by the Multi-State Lottery Association was $590.5 million in May 2013 to the holder of a single winning ticket. The association's Mega Millions lottery awarded a top prize of $656 million three years ago.

Powerball tickets are sold in 44 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

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Puerto Rico bet wins Miss International 2014

MANILA – Valerie Hernandez Matias of Puerto Rico won the Miss International 2014 pageant held in Tokyo, Japan on Tuesday.

Matias became emotional as the Miss International crown and cape were passed to her by last year’s winner, the Philippines’ Bea Rose Santiago.

“I feel great, this is an honor for me. This is the second crown for Puerto Rico. [This is] One of the most beautiful experiences I ever had in my life,” she said.

“I appreciate every person in this stage, the other delegates… Oh my god… It’s an amazing experience, I can't even… I’m sorry,” she added, crying tears of joy.

Miss Colombia won second runner-up in the pageant, followed by Miss Thailand, Miss United Kingdom and Miss Finland.

Special awards were given to Miss Colombia (Miss Friendship and Miss Best Dresser), Miss India (Miss Internet Beauty), Miss Indonesia (Miss National Costume) and Miss France (Miss Perfect Body).

The country’s representative, Bianca Guidotti, ended her Miss International journey after failing to make it to the pageant’s semi-final round.

The Philippines currently has five Miss International winners.

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