At least 27 people were killed and dozens more injured Saturday when tornadoes and violent storms raked across the central United States, officials said.Local news showed roofs torn off homes and large trucks overturned, as forecasters warned of more tornadoes to come this weekend.Eight people died in Kansas in a crash involving more than 50 vehicles, caused by low visibility during a “severe dust storm,” local police said.Missouri State Highway Patrol confirmed 12 storm-related fatalities and shared images of boats piled on top of one another at a marina destroyed by the weather. The state police reported downed trees and power lines, as well as damage to buildings, with some areas severely impacted by “tornadoes, thunderstorms and large hail.””It was the scariest thing I’ve ever been through, it was so fast, our ears were all about to burst,” Alicia Wilson, who was evacuated from her home in Missouri, told TV station KSDK.Six fatalities were reported in Missouri’s Wayne County, three in Ozark County — where multiple injuries were also reported — and one each in Butler, Jefferson and St Louis counties, police said.Further south in Texas, local authorities told AFP that four people had died in vehicle accidents linked to dust storms and fires that reduced visibility on the roads.In the neighboring state of Arkansas, officials said three people had died and 29 had been injured in the storm.Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders declared a state of emergency in response and said she had spoken with President Donald Trump.”He said to tell the people of Arkansas he loves them and he and his administration are here to help with whatever we need following last night’s tornadoes,” Sanders wrote on X.At least 200,000 homes and businesses across the central United States were without power by Saturday evening, according to tracking site poweroutage.us.More tornadoes were forecast Saturday in the central Gulf Coast states including Mississippi and Tennessee.”Numerous significant tornadoes, some of which may be long-track and potentially violent, should continue into this evening,” the National Weather Service said.Tornadoes are spinning columns of air that touch the ground from massive cumulonimbus thunderstorm clouds.The central and southern American states of Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas get the most violent ones due to unique geographical and meteorological conditions.Dubbed “Tornado Alley,” this is where winds of widely varying temperatures meet in volatile, potent storm clouds, with most storms occurring from May to June.In 2024, 54 people died in tornado-related incidents in the United States, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The first US strikes against Yemen’s Huthis since President Donald Trump took office in January killed at least 20 people, the rebels said Sunday, as Washington warned Iran to stop backing the group.The Huthis, who have attacked Israel and Red Sea shipping throughout the Gaza war, said children were among those killed by the intense barrage of strikes.An AFP photographer in the rebel-held capital Sanaa heard three explosions and saw plumes of smoke rising from a residential district, and strikes were also reported in Yemen’s northern Saada region, a Huthi stronghold.”Nine civilians were killed and nine others were injured, most of them seriously,” the Huthis’ health and environment ministry said in a statement on their Saba news agency, reporting the strikes on Sanaa.A strike in the Saada region killed at least 10 people and wounded others, according to the Huthi Ansarollah website, condemning what it called “US-British aggression” and Washington’s “criminal brutality”.The US Central Command (CENTCOM), which posted images of fighters taking off from an aircraft carrier and a bomb demolishing a building compound, said “precision strikes” were launched to “defend American interests, deter enemies, and restore freedom of navigation”.There was no immediate comment from British authorities.Trump, in a post on social media, vowed to “use overwhelming lethal force until we have achieved our objective”, citing the Huthis’ threats against Red Sea shipping.- ‘Escalation with escalation’ -The Huthis vowed that the strikes “will not pass without response”.”Our Yemeni armed forces are fully prepared to confront escalation with escalation,” the rebels’ political bureau said in a statement on the rebel Al-Masirah TV station.Trump also warned Iran that it must “immediately” cut support to the Huthis. The rebels, who have controlled much of Yemen for more than a decade, are part of the “axis of resistance” of pro-Iran groups staunchly opposed to Israel and the United States.They have launched scores of drone and missile attacks at ships passing Yemen in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden during the Gaza war, claiming solidarity with the Palestinians.The campaign crippled the vital route, which normally carries about 12 percent of world shipping traffic, forcing many companies into a costly detour around southern Africa.The Palestinian group Hamas, grateful for the Huthi support, hit out Saturday at the US strikes, branding them “a stark violation of international law and an assault on the country’s sovereignty and stability”.- ‘Hell will rain down’ – The US has launched several rounds of strikes on Huthi targets, some with British support. After halting their attacks when Gaza’s ceasefire took effect in January, the Huthis announced on Tuesday that they would resume them until Israel lifts its blockade of aid to the shattered Palestinian territory.Trump’s statement did not reference the dispute over Israel, but focused on previous Huthi attacks on merchant shipping.”To all Huthi terrorists, YOUR TIME IS UP, AND YOUR ATTACKS MUST STOP, STARTING TODAY. IF THEY DON’T, HELL WILL RAIN DOWN UPON YOU LIKE NOTHING YOU HAVE EVER SEEN BEFORE!” he said.”Do NOT threaten the American People, their President… or Worldwide shipping lanes. If you do, BEWARE, because America will hold you fully accountable and, we won’t be nice about it!”Earlier this month, the United States reclassified the Huthi movement as a “foreign terrorist organisation”, banning any US interaction with it.Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the Huthis had “attacked US warships 174 times and commercial vessels 145 times since 2023”.The Huthis captured Sanaa in 2014 and were poised to overrun most of the rest of the country before a Saudi-led coalition intervened.The war has largely been on hold since a 2022 ceasefire, but the promised peace process has stalled in the face of the Huthi attacks on Israel and Israel-linked shipping.burs-pjm/fox

Disney’s live-action remakes of animated classics are usually safe bets. But a new version of the oldest of them all, “Snow White,” has become mired in controversies, receiving an unusually low-key premiere in Hollywood on Saturday.The studio kept its outspoken stars Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot away from reporters at the afternoon event, with no red carpet interviews — and has avoided questions about the film’s divisive depictions of the Seven Dwarfs.It follows a similarly pared-down European premiere on Wednesday at a remote castle in Segovia, Spain, where few media outlets were invited.The negativity began way back in 2021, with the casting of Zegler, who is Latina, as Snow White — a character from a German fairy tale who was famously “the fairest of them all.” This was predictably slammed as “woke” by some fans and conservative commentators.”yes i am snow white no i am not bleaching my skin for the role” wrote Zegler, a US actress of Colombian and Polish descent, in a since-deleted tweet.But criticism spread more broadly across Disney’s loyal fan base when Zegler appeared to repeatedly denigrate the 1937 “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” Walt Disney’s first feature-length animation.Zegler described the beloved original as “weird” because Snow White’s love interest is “a guy who literally stalks her.”This time “she’s not going to be saved by the prince, and she’s not going to be dreaming about true love,” Zegler said in one interview that was blasted on Disney forums by fans longing for exactly those traditional tropes.Zegler is unusually outspoken by Hollywood standards. She publicly complained about not being invited to the 2022 Oscars gala, despite being the star of best picture nominee “West Side Story.” She eventually bagged an invitation — and some disapproving tuts. “Zegler isn’t necessarily the most decorous celebrity when it comes to the media or the internet,” Slate journalist Nadira Goffe wrote in a 2023 column.”She has a demeanor that can come across as charmingly awkward to some, and a tad glib and grating to others.”Compounding Disney’s headaches, Zegler has signed off social media posts with “Free Palestine,” while Gadot — who plays the Evil Queen — has expressed public support for her native Israel.Disney did not respond to AFP request for comment.- ‘Backward story’ -And then there is the issue of the Seven Dwarfs, who have been conspicuously dropped from the new film’s title, “Disney’s Snow White.”Peter Dinklage, perhaps Hollywood’s most famous actor with dwarfism, slammed Disney’s “hypocrisy” for making a new “Snow White” film at all.In a 2022 interview with podcaster Marc Maron, the “Game of Thrones” actor questioned how Disney could be “proud to cast a Latina actress as Snow White,” and yet think a remake of a “backward story of seven dwarfs living in a cave” made sense.Disney quickly issued a statement promising to take “a different approach” that would “avoid reinforcing stereotypes from the original animated film.” In the new movie, the dwarfs are cartoonishly gnome-like magical creatures, created by computer-generated visual effects rather than human actors.This has itself provoked backlash. Some actors with dwarfism have blamed Dinklage.”There aren’t many roles for dwarfs in Hollywood so him saying that cancelled these roles… it hurt the dwarf acting community,” professional wrestler Dylan Mark Postl told the Guardian.- ‘Passion’ -Altogether, Disney’s latest live-action film has proven vastly more contentious than billion-dollar-grossing remakes like “The Lion King” and “Beauty and the Beast.”Requiring extensive reshoots, and hit by delays from the pandemic and Hollywood strikes, “Disney’s Snow White” cost well over $200 million to make, according to Forbes.Disney will be hoping that all publicity proves to be good publicity when it hits theaters next weekend.”I interpret people’s feelings about this film as a passion for it,” Zegler told Vogue Mexico.”What an honor to be part of something that people feel so passionate about.”