INDIA
Flooding forces evacuations
Heavy flooding triggered by monsoon rains has forced more than 1 million people to flee their homes in the northeast state of Assam, authorities said yesterday, warning that the crisis was becoming more critical by the hour. The Brahmaputra River burst its banks in Assam over the weekend, inundating more than 2,000 villages, and it was still raining yesterday. Torrential rain hit at least 23 of Assam’s 33 districts and the federal water resources body said water levels in the Brahmaputra were expected to rise, with more rain forecast over the next three days. Paramilitary personnel have been deployed across the state for rescue operations. At least two people have died in the flooding.
PHILIPPINES
Sea search continuing
The coast guard yesterday continued its search for 14 people missing since a fishing boat and cargo vessel collided in choppy waters in the early hours of Sunday about 27km off Mamburao town in Mindoro Occidental province. The fishing boat was damaged and overturned, but the search for its occupants was being hampered by strong waves, officials said. The Hong Kong-flagged cargo vessel was being escorted by a coast guard vessel to Batangas province, the coast guard said.
CHINA
Sichuan floods kill 12
Authorities in Sichuan Province said at least 12 people have died and 10 are missing following heavy rains on Friday and Saturday, with flooding especially bad in Mianning County’s Yihai Township. Two vehicles plunged into a river along a flood-damaged highway, and 7,705 people were evacuated in the area. Nationally, flooding since the start of this month has affected nearly 14 million people in 26 provinces, with 744,000 evacuated, 78 people dead or missing, more than 100,000 homes destroyed or damaged and direct economic losses estimated at more than 25 billion yuan (US$3.5 billion), the Ministry of Emergency Management said on Sunday. Torrential rain is set to hit the eastern coastal regions this week, with some areas facing 30 to 50 millimeters of rain per hour by tomorrow, meteorologists said.
SINGAPORE
Election ‘not about family’
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) yesterday said the July 10 general election was not about him or a family dispute with his siblings after his estranged younger brother, Lee Hsien Yang (李顯揚), joined the opposition Progress Singapore Party. “He is within his rights as a citizen. This GE is not about me or any family disputes which may involve my brother and me,” the prime minister said when asked about his brother’s decision. “It’s about Singapore’s future at a very grave moment in our history when we are facing the most serious crisis we’ve seen since independence.” He added that “health, jobs and the future” should be the major focus.”
NEW ZEALAND
‘Wild West town’ for sale
Anyone who has ever wanted to play sheriff in a cowboy movie — and has NZ$11.6 million (US$7.46 million) to spare — now has the chance, as the Mellonsfolly Ranch on North Island’s Central Plateau is up for sale. Established in 2006, the 360-hectare property is a meticulous reproduction of an 1860s Wyoming frontier town, with a 10-building main street. The “town,” featuring a saloon, courthouse, billiards lounge, sheriff’s office, and accommodation for 22 people, is rented out for accommodation and events, and features a 450-hive manuka honey business.
UNITED KINGDOM
PM vows to boost spending
Prime Minister Boris Johnson yesterday promised a “Rooseveltian” boost to public spending to help the country’s economy recover from the COVID-19 shock and said a return to austerity would be a mistake. Johnson told Times Radio that he would double down on his plans to increase investment and said that his government — which has already announced emergency spending and tax measures worth an estimated ￡133 billion (US$164 billion) — would continue to help people and businesses. “This is the moment for a Rooseveltian approach to the UK,” he said. “I do think the investment will pay off, because this is a very, very dynamic, very productive economy.”
POLAND
President wins first round
President Andrzej Duda came top in the first round of the country’s presidential election, results showed yesterday, but fell short of the overall majority needed to avoid what looks set to be a tight run-off vote on July 12. Duda got 43.67 percent of the vote, according to results based on 99.78 percent of the total number of polling districts. Liberal Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, who is standing for the largest opposition party, the centrist Civic Platform, came second with 30.34 percent. Almost 7 percent of voters voted for far-right Confederation candidate Krzysztof Bosak.
RUSSIA
Nornickel owns up spill
A metallurgical company on Sunday said that it improperly pumped wastewater into the Arctic tundra and that it has suspended the responsible employees. The statement from Nornickel is the second time in a month the company has been connected to pollution in the region. The statement came hours after the independent Novaya Gazeta reported that water tainted with heavy metals from the tailings at a nickel-processing plant were being pumped into a river. Nornickel said the water was improperly pumped because of an overflowing sump.
CANADA
Detainee’s wife speaks out
The wife of one of two Canadians imprisoned in China on Sunday said that she is “disappointed” by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s refusal to consider a swap for detained chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou (孟晚舟), who is facing extradition to the US. Trudeau firmly rejected appeals that he intervene in the extradition proceedings against Meng to win the release of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor. Trudeau said such a decision would put other Canadians around the world at risk by showing that Ottawa can be influenced by “random arrests.” In an interview with the CTV network, Kovrig’s wife, Vina Nadjibulla, said that the government should try to gain her husband’s and Spavor’s release and protect other Canadians from arbitrary arrest. “We can do both,” she said.
MEXICO
Two nabbed over killing
Authorities have arrested two people in connection with the murder of a federal judge and his wife in the middle of this month, prosecutors said on Sunday, while in Mexico City 17 of the 19 suspects detained in a failed attack on Police Chief Omar Garcia Harfuch appeared before a judge. Both attacks have been attributed to the powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel, and are seen as major challenges to the government and the security strategy of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
Indonesia was to sign an agreement to repatriate two British nationals, including a grandmother languishing on death row for drug-related crimes, an Indonesian government source said yesterday. “The practical arrangement will be signed today. The transfer will be done immediately after the technical side of the transfer is agreed,” the source said, identifying Lindsay Sandiford and 35-year-old Shahab Shahabadi as the people being transferred. Sandiford, a grandmother, was sentenced to death on the island of Bali in 2013 after she was convicted of trafficking drugs. Customs officers found cocaine worth an estimated US$2.14 million hidden in a false bottom in Sandiford’s suitcase when
CAUSE UNKNOWN: Weather and runway conditions were suitable for flight operations at the time of the accident, and no distress signal was sent, authorities said A cargo aircraft skidded off the runway into the sea at Hong Kong International Airport early yesterday, killing two ground crew in a patrol car, in one of the worst accidents in the airport’s 27-year history. The incident occurred at about 3:50am, when the plane is suspected to have lost control upon landing, veering off the runway and crashing through a fence, the Airport Authority Hong Kong said. The jet hit a security patrol car on the perimeter road outside the runway zone, which then fell into the water, it said in a statement. The four crew members on the plane, which
Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its junior partner yesterday signed a coalition deal, paving the way for Sanae Takaichi to become the nation’s first female prime minister. The 11th-hour agreement with the Japan Innovation Party (JIP) came just a day before the lower house was due to vote on Takaichi’s appointment as the fifth prime minister in as many years. If she wins, she will take office the same day. “I’m very much looking forward to working with you on efforts to make Japan’s economy stronger, and to reshape Japan as a country that can be responsible for future generations,”
SEVEN-MINUTE HEIST: The masked thieves stole nine pieces of 19th-century jewelry, including a crown, which they dropped and damaged as they made their escape The hunt was on yesterday for the band of thieves who stole eight priceless royal pieces of jewelry from the Louvre Museum in the heart of Paris in broad daylight. Officials said a team of 60 investigators was working on the theory that the raid was planned and executed by an organized crime group. The heist reignited a row over a lack of security in France’s museums, with French Minister of Justice yesterday admitting to security flaws in protecting the Louvre. “What is certain is that we have failed, since people were able to park a furniture hoist in the middle of
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