Puerto Rico Loses Power

Yesterday Puerto Rico experienced an island-wide blackout seven months after Hurricane Maria hit the island and devastated much of its infrastructure. Every single power customer on the U.S. territory is without power. More than 3 million people are affected. It occurred after a crew removing a fallen tower got too close to an energized line, causing it to fail and, in the process, knock out power across the grid. It's the first total blackout since Hurricane Maria last Fall. Power has been an ongoing problem since that hurricane. In February, an explosion at a power substation plunged San Juan back into darkness. Earlier this month, a tree fell on a transmission line and cut power to more than half the island's population. The island is struggling with an "outdated, aboveground power grid" that has lagged behind infrastructure improvements in the rest of America, which has made restoring power an issue. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers‘ Linemen have been helping but the work has been far more complicated than similar work in the U.S., because of the terrain — and because six months' worth of vines have been growing over the fallen lines.

In Other News Chemical weapons experts still haven't been able to get into Douma, the site of a suspected gas attack on civilians. The latest delay was caused by gunfire on a UN security team. It's not clear now when the team of experts from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons will be allowed into the city. And that's concerning because there's fear all the physical evidence of an attack might be gone by the time a team gets in. About 75 people were killed in the attack, for which Syria and Russia were blamed. The US, UK and France retaliated last week with missile strikes. Cuban First Vice President Miguel Diaz-Canel was nominated by the country's National Assembly to replace Raul Castro as the island nation's leader. Saudi Arabia has ended a ban on movie theaters with a screening of "Black Panther.“ America's biggest movie theater company, AMC, played the Hollywood blockbuster on Wednesday at its new single-screen cinema in the financial district of the capital Riyadh. The gala opening was limited to about 500 invited guests, executives and officials, but public screenings of the movie will begin soon. AMC said men and women would be able to sit together at the gala screening. The Saudi official said there would also be no segregation when theaters open to the public -- moviegoers would be able to choose between mixed, male-only and female-only screenings. Saudi men and women are customarily separated in public places. But that restriction is being relaxed. Men and women were able to sit together at several music concerts and events in 2017. The government hopes that opening movie theaters will act as a catalyst for economic growth and diversification, creating new employment opportunities and providing Saudis with a greater range of entertainment options. The goal over the coming years is to reduce Saudi's economic reliance on oil. Saudi Arabia said last year that movies "will be subject to censorship according to media policy standards of the Kingdom," to ensure they comply with Saudi values and principles and do not contradict Sharia, or Islamic, law.