Tropical Storm Sara Kills Four in Honduras and Nicaragua

FILE - This GeoColor satellite image taken, Nov. 3, 2020, and provided by NOAA, shows Hurricane Eta in the Caribbean Sea, arriving at Nicaragua's northern shore. (NOAA via AP, File)
FILE - This GeoColor satellite image taken, Nov. 3, 2020, and provided by NOAA, shows Hurricane Eta in the Caribbean Sea, arriving at Nicaragua's northern shore. (NOAA via AP, File)
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Tropical Storm Sara Kills Four in Honduras and Nicaragua

FILE - This GeoColor satellite image taken, Nov. 3, 2020, and provided by NOAA, shows Hurricane Eta in the Caribbean Sea, arriving at Nicaragua's northern shore. (NOAA via AP, File)
FILE - This GeoColor satellite image taken, Nov. 3, 2020, and provided by NOAA, shows Hurricane Eta in the Caribbean Sea, arriving at Nicaragua's northern shore. (NOAA via AP, File)

Tropical storm Sara left at least four people dead in Honduras and Nicaragua over the weekend, while more than 120,000 were left homeless or suffered damages in floods across Central America, officials said Monday.
Sara weakened to a tropical depression as it passed through Belize on Sunday and was dissipating while moving over the western Yucatan Peninsula, according to the US National Hurricane Center.
One of the dead in hardest-hit Honduras was a three-year-old boy, washed away by a soaring river on Sunday, authorities said.
More than 200 houses in the Central American country were destroyed and some 3,200 damaged, while nearly 1,800 communities were left isolated by flooding, collapsed bridges and destroyed roads.
Farming crops were also severely damaged.
Two deaths were also reported in Nicaragua, with some 1,800 homes flooded and about 5,000 people affected, authorities said.
In Costa Rica, where at least six people died in flooding two weeks earlier, officials reported more than 50 landslides, and some 5,000 people needing emergency assistance.
Storm damage from Sara in Guatemala and El Salvador was not as severe.



Iran: Trump’s Victory Won’t Affect our Resolve to Retaliate against Israel

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei (Iranian Foreign Ministry)
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei (Iranian Foreign Ministry)
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Iran: Trump’s Victory Won’t Affect our Resolve to Retaliate against Israel

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei (Iranian Foreign Ministry)
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei (Iranian Foreign Ministry)

Iran has downplayed the effect of US President Donald Trump’s re-election on its decision to retaliate “decisively” against Israel's airstrike on Iranian military bases last month.
Meanwhile, diplomats have signaled Iran's interest in talks with the new US administration, without external pressure.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei rejected any change in Iran's stance after Trump’s return to office. At a weekly press conference on Monday, he said: “Iran will never ask for permission to defend its sovereignty, and any aggression will be met with a strong response.”
Asked about the possibility of an Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear sites, Baghaei replied, “We have taken necessary steps to protect our interests and nuclear program.”
He also referenced Resolution 533, which prohibits any threat or use of force against nuclear facilities under the oversight of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
“This document exists,” he said, adding that it stresses the UN Security Council’s responsibility to act against such threats. “A threat to nuclear facilities is a threat to international peace and security.”
On Oct. 26, Israeli warplanes attacked military sites in Iran after a large Iranian missile strike on Israel earlier that month.
Iran had launched 200 missiles at Israel on Oct. 1, in retaliation for the killing of Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah, an Iranian Revolutionary Guard commander, and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Israeli airstrikes.
The two nations exchanged direct strikes in April, but did not engage in full-scale war.
As tensions between Iran and Israel grow, there are fears of a direct conflict, after years of covert actions and indirect strikes in the region.
Since last month’s airstrikes, Israel has warned Iran against further retaliation.
However, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has promised a “severe response,” and other Iranian officials have threatened revenge.
In the days leading up to the US presidential election on Nov. 5, signs of further escalation emerged.
On Nov. 3, the US announced the deployment of new military assets to the Middle East, scheduled to arrive “in the coming months” to defend Israel and warn Iran, according to a Pentagon statement.
Iranian Army Commander Abdolrahim Mousavi said on Thursday that Iran will decide the timing and method of its response, and when the time is right, “We will not hesitate. Our response will be overwhelming.”
However, Iran’s verbal threats have toned down since Trump's election victory.