LogOn: Robots Hand Write Letters for Humans

Not long ago, people wrote letters by hand. But like many things eclipsed by modern technology, handwritten letters are less common than they used to be. Now, that technology has started writing those letters. VOA’s Julie Taboh introduces us to handwriting robots in this week’s episode of LogOn. …

US Sanctions Assad Supporters Over Drug Trafficking

Washington — The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned 11 people and companies on Tuesday it said were involved in illicit financial transfers and drug smuggling in support of the government of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.  Many of those sanctioned were involved in the trade of the highly addictive amphetamine captagon, which is illegally trafficked throughout the Middle East and Europe, the Treasury Department said in a statement.   Syria has become the world’s leading producer of the powerful drug, and its trade has helped bolster the Assad’s government’s coffers during the country’s long-running civil war.  “The revenue from the illicit Captagon trade has become a major source of income for the Assad regime, the Syrian armed forces, and Syrian paramilitary forces,” the Treasury Department said in a statement.   Those sanctioned include a Syrian national called Taher al-Kayali, who allegedly operates a company that purchased vessels to smuggle captagon and hashish.   Maya Exchange Company, another Syria-based firm, is alleged to have facilitated “millions” of dollars of illicit transactions to benefit the Syrian government.   “The Assad regime continues to employ a variety of schemes to evade sanctions and sustain its longstanding campaign of repression against its own citizens,” Treasury under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence Brian Nelson said in a statement.   This includes “trafficking in illegal drugs, exploiting currency exchanges, and leveraging seemingly legitimate businesses,” he continued.  “The United States remains committed to holding accountable those who seek to support this illicit financial activity at the expense of the Syrian people,” he added. …

West Reliant on Russian Nuclear Fuel Amid Decarbonization Push

London — A new report and research from a British defense research group has found that many Western nations are still reliant on Russian nuclear fuel to power their reactors, despite efforts to sever economic ties with the Kremlin following its February 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.  “Russia may be able to take advantage of incongruencies in sanctions or other restrictions, as well as persistent contractual dependencies and supply challenges, to maintain access to Western nuclear fuel supply chains and continue generating revenue through its enriched uranium exports,” the Royal United Services Institute, or RUSI, says in its report.   Rosatom  Of those supplying nuclear fuel, Rosatom, Russia’s State Atomic Energy Corporation, “is the biggest supplier of uranium enrichment to the global market” and has continued to export significant volumes of enriched uranium product since February 2022. The report estimates that Russia sold enriched uranium worth $2.7 billion in 2023.  Rosatom supplied some 30 percent of the enriched uranium purchased by European Union states in 2022, and 23 percent of that purchased by U.S. utility companies, according to the RUSI analysis of publicly available statistics. Not all countries publish their import or export figures for nuclear materials.  Western companies may be finding it difficult to change long-term contracts with Rosatom, said Darya Dolzikova, author of the RUSI report. “In the enriched uranium space in particular, there are historical dependencies, so there are contractual obligations that might be difficult for certain utilities to get out of,” she told VOA.  French dependency  France, which has 56 nuclear reactors generating around two-thirds of the country’s electricity, is one of Russia’s biggest customers for enriched uranium, despite growing political tensions between Paris and Moscow over the invasion of Ukraine.  “Imports into France of Russian enriched uranium have increased significantly since the start of 2022. So there was an increase of about 184 percent in volume,” Dolzikova said. French utility EDF is even planning a joint venture with Russia’s state-run Rosatom to process uranium at a site in Lingen, Germany.   The RUSI report also details Russian uranium exports to the United States, Germany and the Netherlands. “Russia is still the biggest exporter of enriched uranium and enrichment services globally. They account for about 44% total capacity of enrichment services,” Dolzikova added.  Decarbonization  Global enthusiasm for nuclear power fell after the 2011 Fukushima reactor meltdown in Japan.   However, as countries try to slash carbon emissions to combat climate … “West Reliant on Russian Nuclear Fuel Amid Decarbonization Push”

West Reliant on Russian Nuclear Fuel Amid Decarbonization Push

An analysis by Britain’s Royal United Services Institute has found that many Western nations still rely on Russian nuclear fuel to power their reactors, despite efforts to sever economic ties with the Kremlin following its 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Henry Ridgwell reports from London. …

UK Court: Assange Can’t Be Extradited Until US Rules Out Death Penalty

LONDON — A British court ruled Tuesday that Julian Assange can’t be extradited to the United States on espionage charges unless U.S. authorities guarantee he won’t get the death penalty, giving the WikiLeaks founder a partial victory in his long legal battle over the site’s publication of classified American documents.  Two High Court judges said they would grant Assange a new appeal unless U.S. authorities give further assurances within three weeks about what will happen to him. The ruling means the legal saga, which has dragged on for more than a decade, will continue — and Assange will remain inside London’s high-security Belmarsh Prison, where he has spent the last five years.  Judges Victoria Sharp and Jeremy Johnson said the U.S. must guarantee that Assange, who is Australian, “is afforded the same First Amendment protections as a United States citizen, and that the death penalty is not imposed.”  The judges said that if the U.S. files new assurances, “we will give the parties an opportunity to make further submissions before we make a final decision on the application for leave to appeal.” The judges said a hearing will be held May 20 if the U.S. makes those submissions.  Assange’s supporters say he is a journalist protected by the First Amendment who exposed U.S. military wrongdoing in Iraq and Afghanistan that was in the public interest. They have argued that his prosecution is politically motivated and that he can’t get a fair trial in the U.S.  Assange’s wife, Stella Assange, said the WikiLeaks founder “is being persecuted because he exposed the true cost of war in human lives.”  “The Biden administration should not issue assurances. They should drop this shameful case, which should never have been brought,” she said outside the High Court in London.  The ruling follows a two-day hearing in the High Court in February, where Assange’s lawyer Edward Fitzgerald said American authorities were seeking to punish him for WikiLeaks’ “exposure of criminality on the part of the U.S. government on an unprecedented scale,” including torture and killings.  The U.S. government said Assange’s actions went beyond journalism by soliciting, stealing and indiscriminately publishing classified government documents that endangered innocent lives.  The judges rejected six of Assange’s nine grounds of appeal, including the allegation that his prosecution is political. They said that while Assange “acted out of political conviction … it does not follow however that the request for his extradition … “UK Court: Assange Can’t Be Extradited Until US Rules Out Death Penalty”

Russian Activists Warn Putin Will Use Terrorist Attack to Tighten His Grip on Power

Geneva — Russian activists are warning that Russian President Vladimir Putin will use the deadly terrorist attack on a concert hall outside Moscow to tighten his grip on power and further repress society. “It truly scares me how this regime uses terrorism,” said Evgenia Kara-Murza, a human rights activist and wife of political prisoner Vladimir Kara-Murza. Addressing reporters a press conference in Geneva, she warned that Putin would likely use Friday’s horrific event “to start new aggressions against our neighbors.” “And, of course, the fact that the terrorists were caught near the Ukrainian border raises many questions as to whether it is a provocation or whether the terrorist attack is being used as such,” she said. Though the militant Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack, which killed at least 137 people and injured some 182 others, the Kremlin has been trying, without any evidence, to link the attack to Ukraine. Kara-Murza said she doubts that Putin will even investigate the attack, noting that there were no investigations into previous attacks that occurred after the Chechen war in 1999 and the Beslan school massacre in 2004. In a report on the Beslan attack for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Leonid Velekhov, a former aide to Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, reported that the official investigation “ignored any question of responsibility on the part of federal authorities or the local command center for the high price paid for the liberation of Beslan’s surviving hostages.” Kara-Murza also said she was scared by calls by members of Putin’s regime to bring back the death penalty following Friday’s attack on the concert hall. “If the death penalty were reinstated, it would first be used against those people who were being accused of terrorism. “People accused of terrorism in today’s Russia include activists or just regular citizens who were trying to set conscription centers on fire,” she said, referring to 28 arson attempts on Russian military enlistment offices in Russia and Russian-occupied Crimea between July 29 and August 2. Kara-Murza said the lives of political prisoners are at risk, and that she fears for her husband, who is serving a 25-year sentence for treason, charges he denies. Sergei Davidis, head of the political prisoners support program at the Memorial human rights center, which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022, said that pictures of the four men accused of the concert hall terror attack showed signs … “Russian Activists Warn Putin Will Use Terrorist Attack to Tighten His Grip on Power”

US Adds 12,000 Special Immigrant Visas for Afghans; Advocates Say More Needed

washington — U.S. lawmakers included in the $1.2 trillion package of spending bills an additional 12,000 Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs) for Afghans who supported the U.S. mission in Afghanistan and extended the program through the end of 2025. While advocates welcomed the news, they said it is still 20,000 short of what they requested. President Joe Biden signed the much-awaited spending bills into law Saturday, hours after Congress approved them, avoiding the possibility of a partial government shutdown. Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Global Refuge, a refugee resettlement agency, wrote in a statement that it is “encouraging” to see congressional bipartisanship. “But it’s still deeply concerning that it took the Biden administration and Congress being on the brink of a government shutdown to take action.” The SIV program is a congressionally authorized program with a limit of 38,500 SIVs available. It offers a path to permanent residence that can eventually lead to U.S. citizenship. The application process for SIVs, including decision-making and approval, takes an average of three years, while resettlement through the refugee program can take up to five years. Applications to either program begin outside the United States. Representative Michael McCaul, a Republican and chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the 12,000 extra SIVs is a “great response” to the promise of evacuating Afghans who worked for the U.S. government in Afghanistan. “Well, we promised them, we will get them out. The Afghan partners, the interpreters, we left them behind,” McCaul told the CBS news show “Face the Nation” in an interview broadcast Sunday. “And that’s the biggest sin of the Afghan evacuation. I think the 12,000 SIVs is a great response and a great start to that.” The Biden administration and Senate Republican lawmakers had asked for 20,000 SIVs. “These visas are essential to enable our wartime allies to receive the opportunity they earned to resettle in the United States, and will ensure the SIV program remains viable,” Shawn VanDiver, president of the U.S.-based NGO #AfghanEvac, wrote in a statement. The United States and its allies left Afghanistan in August 2021 after nearly 20 years of war, evacuating nearly 130,000 people in the chaotic last weeks in Kabul. Through Operation Allies Welcome, about 88,500 Afghan nationals arrived in the U.S. and resettled in communities across the country. VanDiver said there is still work to be done, including passing the remaining provisions in the Afghan … “US Adds 12,000 Special Immigrant Visas for Afghans; Advocates Say More Needed”

US High Court Again Confronts Abortion, This Time Over Access to Medication 

WASHINGTON — WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court will again wade into the fractious issue of abortion this week when it hears arguments about a medication used in the most common way to end a pregnancy. The case has profound implications for millions of women and, perhaps, for the race for the White House. Two years after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and cleared the way for bans or severe restrictions on abortion in many Republican-led states, abortion-rights opponents on Tuesday will ask the high court to ratify a ruling from a conservative federal appeals court that would limit access to the medication mifepristone, which was used in nearly two-thirds of all abortions in the United States last year. That decision to reverse Roe had immediate political consequences, with Democrats making the case that the court had taken away a right that women held for half a century, and party members won some elections as a result. Even conservative-leaning states like Kansas and Ohio voted against abortion restrictions. If the court were to uphold restrictions on medication abortions, it could roil the election landscape in races for Congress and the presidency. By rolling back Food and Drug Administration changes to the use of mifepristone, the ruling would cut off access to the drug through the mail and impose other restrictions, even in states where abortion remains legal. The restrictions would shorten the time when mifepristone can be used in pregnancy, to seven weeks from 10 currently. Belief in safety Most adults in the U.S., 55%, believe medication abortion pills are very or somewhat safe when taken as directed by a doctor, according to a KFF poll from May 2023. A decision should come by late June. But no matter the outcome, the Supreme Court has not seen its last abortion case. Legal battles are pending over state restrictions, and new federal limits are likely if former President Donald Trump, Republicans’ presumptive nominee for 2024, returns to the White House. Next month, the justices will hear arguments about whether a federal law on emergency treatment at hospitals must include abortions, even in states that have otherwise banned them. Mifepristone, made by New York-based Danco Laboratories, is one of two drugs, along with misoprostol, used in medication abortions. Their numbers have been rising for years, and they accounted for 63% of the more than 1 million abortions in the U.S. last … “US High Court Again Confronts Abortion, This Time Over Access to Medication “

US and UK Announce Sanctions Over China-Linked Hacks on Election Watchdog and Lawmakers

london — The U.S. and British governments on Monday announced sanctions against a company and two people linked to the Chinese government over a string of malicious cyberactivity targeting the U.K.’s election watchdog and lawmakers in both countries. Officials said those sanctioned are responsible for a hack that may have gained access to information on tens of millions of U.K. voters held by the Electoral Commission, as well as for cyberespionage targeting lawmakers who have been outspoken about threats from China. The Foreign Office said the hack of the election registers “has not had an impact on electoral processes, has not affected the rights or access to the democratic process of any individual, nor has it affected electoral registration.” The Electoral Commission said in August that it identified a breach of its system in October 2022, though it added that “hostile actors” had first been able to access its servers in 2021. At the time, the watchdog said the data included the names and addresses of registered voters. But it said that much of the information was already in the public domain. In Washington, the Treasury Department said it sanctioned Wuhan Xiaoruizhi Science and Technology Company Ltd., which it calls a Chinese Ministry of State Security front company that has “served as cover for multiple malicious cyberoperations.” It named two Chinese nationals, Zhao Guangzong and Ni Gaobin, affiliated with the Wuhan company, for cyberoperations that targeted U.S. critical infrastructure sectors including defense, aerospace and energy. The U.S. Justice Department charged Zhao, Ni, and five other hackers with conspiracy to commit computer intrusions and wire fraud. It said they were part of a 14-year long cyber operation “targeting U.S. and foreign critics, businesses and political officials.” “Today’s announcements underscore the need to remain vigilant to cybersecurity threats and the potential for cyber-enabled foreign malign influence efforts, especially as we approach the 2024 election cycle,” Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen said. British authorities did not name the company or the two individuals. But they said the two sanctioned individuals were involved in the operations of the Chinese cyber group APT31 — an abbreviation for “advanced persistent threat.” The group is also known as Zirconium or Hurricane Panda. APT31 has previously been accused of targeting U.S. presidential campaigns and the information systems of Finland’s parliament, among others. British cybersecurity officials said that Chinese government-affiliated hackers “conducted reconnaissance activity” against British parliamentarians who were … “US and UK Announce Sanctions Over China-Linked Hacks on Election Watchdog and Lawmakers”

Italy Raises Security After IS-Claimed Russian Concert Hall Attack

BERLIN — Italy followed France on Monday in stepping up security following the attack on a suburban Moscow concert hall and the claim of responsibility by an affiliate of the Islamic State group.  The attack renewed attention in Europe on the risk from extremists, and particularly the Central Asian affiliate, as the continent gears up for big events such as the Paris Olympics and the European Championship in Germany.  France on Sunday increased its security alert posture to the highest level. In Italy, a national security council meeting Monday resulted in a decision to increase security around Holy Week observances leading up to Easter this weekend.  Both surveillance and checks will be increased, “paying the most attention to the places of greatest aggregation and transit of people, as well as sensitive targets,’’ the Italian Interior Ministry said in a statement. Pope Francis has a busy schedule of events in Rome and at the Vatican in the days leading up to Easter Sunday.  In Germany, Interior Ministry spokesperson Cornelius Funke said the threat from Islamic extremists “remains acute” but authorities’ risk assessment hasn’t changed so far as a result of the Moscow attack.  In Serbia, secret police officers with machine guns were seen patrolling the streets of Belgrade over the weekend. President Aleksandar Vucic said they and plainclothes police would monitor sports venues and shopping malls in the capital. The measure was criticized by Vucic’s opponents as unnecessary and designed to scare the population.  An affiliate of the Islamic State group variously as ISIS-K, IS-K or ISPK claimed responsibility for the Moscow attack, a claim that U.S. and other Western officials have confirmed. The affiliate has repeatedly carried out attacks in Afghanistan since the Taliban seized power in 2021.  It was behind the August 2021 suicide bombing at Kabul airport that left 13 American troops and about 170 Afghans dead during the chaotic U.S. withdrawal. It also claimed responsibility for a bomb attack in Kerman, Iran, in January that killed 95 people at a memorial procession.  But it also has been active and on authorities’ radar in Europe.  IS-K, which the German Interior Ministry’s Funke said “is to our knowledge the most aggressive IS affiliate at present,” has been linked by German authorities to three alleged plots since July.  Those include an alleged plan that prompted authorities to step up security at Cologne Cathedral over Christmas and, most recently, the arrest last … “Italy Raises Security After IS-Claimed Russian Concert Hall Attack”

Turkey Warns of Offensive Against Kurdish Rebels in Iraq

Turkey says it is preparing to launch a major military operation into Iraq against Kurdish rebels operating from there. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vows to end what he says is the threat posed by the Kurdish rebel group, PKK, which has been fighting Turkey for decades. As Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul, Ankara is looking to Baghdad and Tehran for support. …

New Zealand and EU Trade Agreement to Take Effect on May 1

sydney — New Zealand said Monday a free trade agreement with the European Union would come into effect on May 1, after the country’s parliament ratified the deal. New Zealand notified the European Union it ratified the agreement earlier on Monday, Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay said in a statement. Wellington and Brussels signed the deal in July 2023, with the European Parliament ratifying its side of the agreement in November. New Zealand expects the deal to benefit its beef, lamb, butter and cheese industries, as well as removing tariffs on other exports like its iconic kiwi fruit. The EU will see tariffs lifted on its exports including clothing, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and cars, as well as wine and confections. The EU is New Zealand’s fourth-largest trade partner, according to government data, with two-way goods and services trade worth $12.10 billion in 2022. …

TikTok Bill Faces Uncertain Fate in Senate

WASHINGTON — The young voices in the messages left for North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis were laughing, but the words were ominous. “OK, listen, if you ban TikTok I will find you and shoot you,” one said, giggling and talking over other young voices in the background. “I’ll shoot you and find you and cut you into pieces.” Another threatened to kill Tillis, and then take their own life. Tillis’s office says it has received around 1,000 calls about TikTok since the House passed legislation this month that would ban the popular app if its China-based owner doesn’t sell its stake. TikTok has been urging its users — many of whom are young — to call their representatives, even providing an easy link to the phone numbers. “The government will take away the community that you and millions of other Americans love,” read one pop-up message from the company when users opened the app. Tillis, who supports the House bill, reported the call to the police. “What I hated about that was it demonstrates the enormous influence social media platforms have on young people,” he said in an interview. While more aggressive than most, TikTok’s extensive lobbying campaign is the latest attempt by the tech industry to head off any new legislation — and it’s a fight the industry usually wins. For years Congress has failed to act on bills that would protect users’ privacy, protect children from online threats, make companies more liable for their content and put loose guardrails around artificial intelligence, among other things. “I mean, it’s almost embarrassing,” says Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., a former tech executive who is also supporting the TikTok bill and has long tried to push his colleagues to regulate the industry. “I would hate for us to maintain our perfect zero batting average on tech legislation.” Some see the TikTok bill as the best chance for now to regulate the tech industry and set a precedent, if a narrow one focused on just one company. President Joe Biden has said he would sign the House bill, which overwhelmingly passed 362-65 this month after a rare 50-0 committee vote moving it to the floor. But it’s already running into roadblocks in the Senate, where there is little unanimity on the best approach to ensure that China doesn’t access private data from the app’s 170 million U.S. users or influence them … “TikTok Bill Faces Uncertain Fate in Senate”

France Raises Security Readiness to Highest Level After Attack in Russia

PARIS — France’s government increased its security alert posture to the highest level Sunday after the deadly attack at a Russian concert hall and the Islamic State’s claim of responsibility. French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal announced the decision in a post on X, formerly Twitter, saying authorities were “taking into account the Islamic State’s claim of responsibility for the (Moscow) attack and the threats weighing on our country.” The announcement came after President Emmanuel Macron held an emergency security meeting prompted by Friday’s attack in a Moscow suburb that killed more than 130 people. The attack was claimed by an affiliate of the Islamic State group. France has repeatedly been hit by deadly Islamic State attacks, including the Bataclan theater massacre in 2015 in which extremists opened fire on concertgoers and held hostages for hours. French troops have also fought against Islamic extremists in the Middle East and Africa. France was already on high security alert ahead of the Paris Olympics and Paralympics this year, which are expected to draw millions of visitors to the country. Security concerns are notably high for the exceptional opening ceremony July 26, which will involve boats riding along the Seine River and huge crowds watching from the embankments. …

Comedian Kevin Hart Honored With Mark Twain Prize for American Humor

WASHINGTON — Kevin Hart, who rose from the open mics and comedy clubs of his native Philadelphia to become one of the country’s most recognizable performers, will receive the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor at a gala performance Sunday at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Hart, 44, has honed a signature style that combines his diminutive height, expressive face and motor-mouth delivery into a successful stand-up act. In Hollywood, Hart made his movie debut in the 2002 film “Paper Soldiers” and came to mainstream fame through a string of scene-stealing cameos in hits such as 2005’s “The 40-Year-Old-Virgin.” Hart’s films have grossed more than $4.23 billion globally. Now in its 25th year, the Mark Twain Prize annually honors performers who have made a lasting impact on humor and culture. Honorees receive a bronze bust of Twain, the iconic American writer and satirist whose real name was Samuel Clemens. Mark Twain recipients are honored with a night of testimonials and video tributes, often featuring previous award winners. Other comedians receiving the lifetime achievement award include George Carlin, Whoopi Goldberg, Bob Newhart, Carol Burnett and Dave Chapelle. Bill Cosby, the 2009 recipient, had his Mark Twain Prize rescinded in 2019 amid allegations of sexual assault. …

Geomagnetic Storm From Solar Flare Could Disrupt Radio Communications

BOULDER, Colo. — Space weather forecasters have issued a geomagnetic storm watch through Monday, saying an outburst of plasma from a solar flare could interfere with radio transmissions on Earth. It could also make for great aurora viewing. There’s no reason for the public to be concerned, according to the alert issued Saturday by NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colorado. The storm could interrupt high-frequency radio transmissions, such as by aircraft trying to communicate with distant traffic control towers. Most commercial aircraft can use satellite transmission as backup, said Jonathan Lash, a forecaster at the center. Satellite operators might have trouble tracking their spacecraft, and power grids could also see some “induced current” in their lines, though nothing they can’t handle, he said. “For the general public, if you have clear skies at night and you are at higher latitudes, this would be a great opportunity to see the skies light up,” Lash said. Every 11 years, the sun’s magnetic field flips, meaning its north and south poles switch positions. Solar activity changes during that cycle, and it’s now near its most active, called the solar maximum. During such times, geomagnetic storms of the type that arrived Sunday can hit Earth a few times a year, Lash said. During solar minimum, a few years may pass between storms. In December, the biggest solar flare in years disrupted radio communications. …

New England Shovels Out After Major Snowstorm 

BOSTON — Hardy souls across New England were spending their Sunday shoveling out after a major storm dumped more than 60 centimeters of snow in some areas, causing multiple road accidents, downing power lines and leaving hundreds of thousands across the Northeast without electricity.  Road conditions were dangerous Saturday night for crews seeking to restore power, according to Central Maine Power, the state’s largest utility, which said the company’s focus overnight was responding to emergency calls and making downed power lines safe.  As of daylight Sunday, crews began assessing and clearing damage to begin widespread power restoration efforts. The company said it expected a multiday effort in areas hardest hit by the storm.  “Damage to trees, poles and wires was significant overnight on Saturday, and our assessors are taking stock of the damage today so we can begin restoring power to our customers as quickly and as safely as possible,” said Jon Breed of Central Maine Power.  Police across the Northeast reported hundreds of traffic accidents as cars spun out and drivers grappled with icy road conditions.  As the storm was winding down, about 200,000 customers were without power in Maine and another 80,000 or so without power in New Hampshire.  Breed said that ahead of the storm, the company pre-staged 150 crews across its service area and another 200 crews were arriving Sunday.  Versant, Maine’s second-largest utility, reported about 15,000 outages Sunday morning, compared with 188,000 reported by Central Maine.  Zack Taylor, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service, said heavy snowfall from the storm stretched across the region, including upstate and northern New York through Vermont, New Hampshire, and most of Maine.  Many areas saw totals of 20 to 30 centimeters of snow, but there was a localized area that saw more than 60 centimeters.  Some of the highest totals exceeded 76 centimeters in south central Vermont.  “So overall, it was a pretty significant winter storm and for some areas that was some of the most snow they’ve seen all winter with a single storm,” Taylor said.  Major cities from Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, to Philadelphia, New York and Boston saw heavy rain and flooding.  In New York, more than 90,000 customers were without power Sunday morning. Areas north of New York City were among the hardest hit, according to online maps from National Grid and PowerOutage.us, a power outage tracking website.  The combination of sleet, freezing rain and … “New England Shovels Out After Major Snowstorm “