MALAYSIA
Flooding kills two
Flooding in the south has killed two people and more than 50,000 have fled to relief shelters as rains are still falling. A relief coordinator in Johor state, the worst hit, said two women drowned when their cars were swept away by floodwaters over the weekend. More than 47,800 people were staying in 265 shelters yesterday. The relief official declined to be named citing protocol. Evacuations also took place in Malacca, Negri Sembilan and Pahang states, as well as Sabah state on Borneo because of flooding.
JAPAN
Volcano shoots ash 2km up
A volcano in the south shot ash and rocks up to 2,000m into the air, with the blast shattering windows kilometers away in a huge explosion, officials said. Authorities widened the danger zone around the 1,421m Shinmoedake volcano in the Kirishima range, which has been belching smoke and ash since Wednesday last week. The latest blast came shortly before 8am yesterday. Flying shards from broken hospital windows left a 92-year-old woman with hand and facial injuries, a Kirishima city official said, adding that almost 200 windows were smashed at schools and public halls.
SOUTH KOREA
Exodus gets under way
Millions began traveling to their hometowns yesterday as the Lunar New Year exodus got under way. More than 31 million people, 62 percent of the population, were to be on the move between yesterday and Sunday, up 3.2 percent from a year earlier, the transport ministry predicted. Highways were jammed on the eve of the holiday, but travel to and from hometowns was expected to cause fewer headaches this year because of the long break. About 2.6 million cars have already left the capital or were to leave later yesterday, the Korea Expressway Corp said. Railway authorities said tickets for trains departing Seoul yesterday had already sold out, with 414,000 passengers set to travel by rail during the day.
PHILIPPINES
Ampatuan Sr to stand trial
The patriarch of a political clan must stand trial for the murder of 57 people in November 2009 after his petition to have the charges dropped was thrown out, a lawyer said yesterday. The Court of Appeal dismissed Andal Ampatuan Sr’s claims of abuse of discretion and failure to observe due process in filing murder charges against him and his sons. Ampatuan and one of his sons, Andal Jr, both face the murder charges, said Prima Jesusa Quinsayas, a lawyer for the families of some of those killed. “There are no more obstacles for his trial and we hope it will start within the month,” she added.
FRANCE
Chirac wife denies claims
The wife of former president Jacques Chirac has denied he is suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and is too frail to face corruption charges. Bernadette Chirac said she was “scandalized” by the reports, calling them an attack on her husband’s privacy. The former first lady’s outburst came after the Journal du Dimanche said Chirac, 78, suffered from memory lapses, and quoted unnamed friends as saying his wife feared he had Alzheimer’s. She told radio station Europe 1 the reports were “a lie” and that although he had some health problems, he could also be “dazzling.” “Doctors have said he doesn’t have Alzheimer’s and I believe them ... if my husband was suffering from this illness I would not hesitate to say so,” she said.
UNITED STATES
Envoy quits Beijing post
US ambassador to China Jon Huntsman Jr delivered a letter of resignation on Monday to President Barack Obama and intends to leave his position on April 30, a White House official said, clearing the way for him to explore a potential 2012 Republican presidential bid. Huntsman has not decided whether to move forward with a candidacy, associates said, but he has had several conversations with a circle of political advisers who are waiting in the wings if he decides to run.
CUBA
Hospital workers jailed
Lengthy prison terms were on Monday handed to 13 workers at a mental hospital where 26 patients died in a cold snap a year ago. The Havana Provincial Court slapped the longest sentence, 15 years, on the director of the hospital, Wilfredo Castillo, for “misappropriation” and “dereliction of duty,” an official statement read out on the state news broadcast said. The other sentences ranged from five to 15 years. According to the official account, 26 patients died when temperatures plunged to 3.9°C in January last year.
HAITI
Aristide eligible for passport
Former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide is eligible for a passport but has not applied for one, officials said on Monday. That followed a letter from the ousted leader’s US lawyer, Ira Kurzban, telling officials at Haiti’s foreign affairs and interior ministries that he understood they had agreed to issue Aristide a diplomatic passport. However, Haitian Interior Minister Paul-Antoine Bien-Aime said in an official letter, sent later on Monday, that no passport had been requested.
Canada
Dogs victims of ‘bloodbath’
An organization that fights animal abuse is calling the slaughter of 100 sled dogs by an outdoor adventure company in British Columbia a bloodbath and police are investigating. The British Columbia SPCA’s manager of animal cruelty investigations said on Monday an Outdoor Adventures Whistler employee was told to cull the dogs. Vancouver radio station CKNW radio is reporting that the company expected more sledding business in an anticipated post-Olympics tourism boom that never materialized and the sled dogs were killed.
Mexico
Shark attacks tourist
A Canadian woman lost an arm and suffered serious injuries to a leg after being attacked by a shark while swimming just off the resort of Cancun, local media reported. Nicole Ruth, 38, was hospitalized and had “her left arm and thigh detached,” the El Diario del Yucatan newspaper said. Apparently the shark was near the shore to give birth and the woman got too close, the paper said.
PARLIAMENT CHAOS: Police forcibly removed Brazilian Deputy Glauber Braga after he called the legislation part of a ‘coup offensive’ and occupied the speaker’s chair Brazil’s lower house of Congress early yesterday approved a bill that could slash former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro’s prison sentence for plotting a coup, after efforts by a lawmaker to disrupt the proceedings sparked chaos in parliament. Bolsonaro has been serving a 27-year term since last month after his conviction for a scheme to stop Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from taking office after the 2022 election. Lawmakers had been discussing a bill that would significantly reduce sentences for several crimes, including attempting a coup d’etat — opening up the prospect that Bolsonaro, 70, could have his sentence cut to
A plan by Switzerland’s right-wing People’s Party to cap the population at 10 million has the backing of almost half the country, according to a poll before an expected vote next year. The party, which has long campaigned against immigration, argues that too-fast population growth is overwhelming housing, transport and public services. The level of support comes despite the government urging voters to reject it, warning that strict curbs would damage the economy and prosperity, as Swiss companies depend on foreign workers. The poll by newspaper group Tamedia/20 Minuten and released yesterday showed that 48 percent of the population plan to vote
A powerful magnitude 7.6 earthquake shook Japan’s northeast region late on Monday, prompting tsunami warnings and orders for residents to evacuate. A tsunami as high as three metres (10 feet) could hit Japan’s northeastern coast after an earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 7.6 occurred offshore at 11:15 p.m. (1415 GMT), the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said. Tsunami warnings were issued for the prefectures of Hokkaido, Aomori and Iwate, and a tsunami of 40cm had been observed at Aomori’s Mutsu Ogawara and Hokkaido’s Urakawa ports before midnight, JMA said. The epicentre of the quake was 80 km (50 miles) off the coast of
RELAXED: After talks on Ukraine and trade, the French president met with students while his wife visited pandas, after the pair parted ways with their Chinese counterparts French President Emmanuel Macron concluded his fourth state visit to China yesterday in Chengdu, striking a more relaxed note after tough discussions on Ukraine and trade with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) a day earlier. Far from the imposing Great Hall of the People in Beijing where the two leaders held talks, Xi and China’s first lady, Peng Liyuan (彭麗媛), showed Macron and his wife Brigitte around the centuries-old Dujiangyan Dam, a World Heritage Site set against the mountainous landscape of Sichuan Province. Macron was told through an interpreter about the ancient irrigation system, which dates back to the third century
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