MYANMAR
Flood strands thousands
Flooding in the country’s north has trapped thousands of people in their homes and cut electricity and phone lines, residents and local media said yesterday, with the state weather office warning of more heavy rain. After days of heavy rain in Myitkyina, a city in northern Kachin State, the Ayeyarwady River had risen above its “danger level,” state media said. Images on local media showed inundated buildings and people wading through neck-high water carrying their belongings over their heads.
SOUTH KOREA
Car hits pedestrians, 9 dead
A driver whose car struck pedestrians waiting at a crowded intersection in Seoul, killing nine people, would be investigated for accidental homicide, police said yesterday. South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported that a 68-year-old driver crashed into people who were waiting at a traffic signal in central Seoul on Monday night. He was driving in the wrong direction and hit two other vehicles before hitting the pedestrians, Yonhap said. Six people were injured, including the driver who was detained. He told investigators that his car accelerated abruptly and unintentionally. Tests showed that the driver was not under the influence of alcohol or drugs, police said.
STANDING HEAD
Xi arrives for summit
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday arrived in the country for a state visit, during which he is to attend a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in Astana. The group’s permanent members are Kazakhstan, India, China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and, as of last year, Iran. Belarus is expected to join this year.
A beauty queen who pulled out of the Miss South Africa competition when her nationality was questioned has said she wants to relocate to Nigeria, after coming second in the Miss Universe pageant while representing the West African country. Chidimma Adetshina, whose father is Nigerian, was crowned Miss Universe Africa and Oceania and was runner-up to Denmark’s Victoria Kjar Theilvig in Mexico on Saturday night. The 23-year-old law student withdrew from the Miss South Africa competition in August, saying that she needed to protect herself and her family after the government alleged that her mother had stolen the identity of a South
BELT-TIGHTENING: Chinese investments in Cambodia are projected to drop to US$35 million in 2026 from more than US$420 million in 2021 At a ceremony in August, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet knelt to receive blessings from saffron-robed monks as fireworks and balloons heralded the breaking of ground for a canal he hoped would transform his country’s economic fortunes. Addressing hundreds of people waving the Cambodian flag, Hun Manet said China would contribute 49 percent to the funding of the Funan Techo Canal that would link the Mekong River to the Gulf of Thailand and reduce Cambodia’s shipping reliance on Vietnam. Cambodia’s government estimates the strategic, if contentious, infrastructure project would cost US$1.7 billion, nearly 4 percent of the nation’s annual GDP. However, months later,
Texas’ education board on Friday voted to allow Bible-infused teachings in elementary schools, joining other Republican-led US states that pushed this year to give religion a larger presence in public classrooms. The curriculum adopted by the Texas State Board of Education, which is controlled by elected Republicans, is optional for schools to adopt, but they would receive additional funding if they do so. The materials could appear in classrooms as early as next school year. Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott has voiced support for the lesson plans, which were provided by the state’s education agency that oversees the more than
Ireland, the UK and France faced travel chaos on Saturday and one person died as a winter storm battered northwest Europe with strong winds, heavy rain, snow and ice. Hampshire Police in southern England said a man died after a tree fell onto a car on a major road near Winchester early in the day. Police in West Yorkshire said they were probing whether a second death from a traffic incident was linked to the storm. It is understood the road was not icy at the time of the incident. Storm Bert left at least 60,000 properties in Ireland without power, and closed
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