UNITED STATES
Obama declares emergency
President Barack Obama on Sunday issued a disaster declaration for flood-devastated Louisiana, where emergency workers have rescued more than 7,000 residents stranded in homes and cars, the White House said. The action makes emergency federal funding available to support rescue crews working non-stop as deadly flooding ravages the state, disastrous weather that has left at least three dead and one missing, officials said. The flooding submerged large parts of the region on Sunday, three days after water-swelled streams and rivers began rising. The Louisiana National Guard said it had rescued about 500 people and 61 pets, including 15 rescues by air. Most of the flooding has been around the capital, Baton Rouge.
UNITED STATES
Woman says killed children
Two children were on Sunday found dead under a neighbor’s house in Houston, Texas, after their mother matter-of-factly told someone helping her move that she had drowned them in a bathtub, authorities said. The 30-year-old mother was in custody and not yet charged, but “all indications are she is the one who acted alone” in the deaths of her seven-year-old son and five-year-old daughter, Houston police spokesman Kese Smith said. The woman was turned in to police by the acquaintance, who came upon her throwing away trash in a field, where she allegedly told him she needed help moving right away. When the man asked about her children, she calmly said she had killed them, Smith said. She said the man eventually realized something was wrong when he asked again and got the same answer. He then drove the woman toward a nearby police precinct and flagged down an officer, Smith said.
UNITED STATES
JFK terminals evacuated
Panicked travelers on Sunday night stampeded through John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York after unconfirmed reports of gunfire, leading the police to evacuate two terminals and close part of a major highway that runs near the airport, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said. The authority said in a statement that its preliminary investigation “does not indicate shots were fired” at the airport, but that the terminals were evacuated “to be cautious.”
? UNITED STATES
Thousands flee wildfire
A wildfire destroyed at least 10 homes and forced about 4,000 people to flee their homes as flames jumped a road and moved into a northern California town located kilometers away from a devastating wildfire about a year ago. The fire on Sunday reached Main Street in Lower Lake, a town of about 1,200 people about 145km north of San Francisco, and burned the post office, a winery, a Habitat for Humanity office and several businesses as thick, black smoke loomed over the small downtown strip. Staff at a hospital in Clearlake, a neighboring town of about 15,000 people, rushed to transfer 16 patients to another hospital while firefighters carried goats and other animals to safety as homes burned around them. The blaze was one of 11 large wildfires burning in California, where high temperatures combined with parched conditions brought on by a five-year drought raised the fire danger. In central California, a day-old wildfire burned 20 structures and threatened 150 homes. Officials confirmed 10 homes around Lower Lake were burned, although witnesses said they could see more.
SOUTH AFRICA
ANC to seek budget revamp
The African National Congress (ANC) wants the national budget “re-prioritized” to focus on tackling poverty, unemployment and inequality following local election defeats this month, the party said on Sunday. The ANC will take bold action to address its shortcomings, Secretary-General Gwede Mantashe told reporters after a four-day meeting of the party’s leadership in the National Executive Council. He said the ANC wanted the Cabinet to discuss changes to the budget at its next meeting. Mantashe also said the ANC took collective responsibility for the election results and would not lay the blame on President Jacob Zuma.
DR CONGO
Mourning after massacre
The nation yesterday began three days of mourning after at least 42 civilians were massacred on Saturday in the eastern part of the nation. The government said the killings were in revenge for military operations in the area. Army spokesman Mak Hazukay said the attack was carried out by the Allied Democratic Forces, a partly Muslim armed group of Ugandan origin. Hazukay said the rebels had “bypassed” army positions “to come and massacre the population in revenge” for military operations in the area. The killings came three days after President Joseph Kabila visited the region, promising to do everything in his power to bring peace and security.
NEW ZEALAND
Tap water sickens hundreds
Tainted tap water has sickened hundreds of people in a small town on North Island and forced schools to close. Health officials yesterday said that 21 people in Havelock North have been hospitalized, including two in critical condition, after testing positive for campylobacter bacteria, which are typically spread from animal feces. Officials say they do not know how the underground water aquifers that supply the town became contaminated. Officials said they have been treating the water with chlorine since Friday and are urging residents to boil tap water. Five schools decided to close for the next two days, saying about half the children were sick as well as many teachers.
INDONESIA
Apologies for airport mess
The operator of Jakarta’s main airport has apologized to passengers for flooding at its new terminal after rains overcame drainage pipes and inundated the arrivals area on Sunday. The US$560 million terminal opened last week to domestic flights by national carrier Garuda, but has been plagued by complaints about its lack of readiness. PT Angkasa Pura II and the government hope the new terminal, and a third runway that is under development, will relieve over-crowding at Soekarno-Hatta airport. It said it brought the flooding under control within an hour and is investigating the cause.
JAPAN
Cabbie calls cops over fare
A man was arrested for allegedly stiffing a taxi driver after having promised to pay when embarking on an 850km journey, police said yesterday. Takafumi Arima, 26 and jobless, climbed into the cab in Yokohama late on Saturday and told the driver to go to Matsuyama on the island of Shikoku in the southwest, a Matsuyama police officer said. Arima had allegedly said he would pay the fare upon arrival and the driver believed him, the officer said. However, after driving overnight for more than nine hours, the fare meter came to ¥270,000 (US$2,600) and Arima said that he had no money, the officer said. The driver then called police, which led to Arima’s arrest.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese