INDIA
Floods kill 113 people
Heavy rains have killed at least 113 people in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar states over the past three days, officials said yesterday, as flood waters swamped a major city, inundated hospital wards and forced the evacuation of inmates from a jail. An official said that at least 93 people had died in Uttar Pradesh since Friday after its eastern areas were lashed by intense monsoon showers. Rising water levels forced authorities to shift 900 inmates from a prison in eastern Ballia District, police officer Santosh Verma said. In Bihar, the death toll from the latest bout of rain had reached 20 as of yesterday, a state government official said. State capital Patna has been badly hit, with waist-deep flood waters across many streets, and entering homes, shops, and even the wards of a major hospital. The Meteorological Department yesterday said it expected the intensity of rainfall over Bihar to drop and showers over Uttah Pradesh to abate this week.
UNITED KINGDOM
Johnson denies groping
Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s office has denied allegations he made unwanted sexual advances toward two women 20 years ago. Journalist Charlotte Edwardes wrote in a column for the Sunday Times that Johnson put his hand on her thigh at a dinner party thrown by the magazine he was editing at the time. She said a woman she spoke with after the dinner who was sitting on Johnson’s other side said the same thing happened to her. Johnson’s office issued a brief statement late on Sunday stating: “The allegation is untrue.” Edwardes responded via Twitter: “If the prime minister doesn’t recollect the incident then clearly I have a better memory than he does.”
AUSTRALIA
Car mows down kangaroos
Police are calling for witnesses to come forward after 20 kangaroos were killed by a vehicle in “acts of animal cruelty” in the New South Wales town of Merimbula. Authorities believe one vehicle drove through the suburb of Tura Beach between 10:30pm and 11:30pm on Saturday night, targeting and killing the animals. Twenty kangaroos, including joeys, were killed and three remaining joeys are in veterinary care, said Janine Green, a volunteer with Wildlife Information, Rescue and Education Service, who discovered the kangaroos. Green alleged the culprit drove a white ute with a spotlight to intentionally run over the animals. “They were driving around and around and had a spotlight. So the kangaroos were just startled and standing there,” she said. “They were driving up on the footpaths… It was football final night so a lot of people would have been drinking. So lucky nobody was walking home. Detectives from the south coast police district are investigating.
NEW ZEALAND
Asics shop broadcasts porn
Pornography played on giant television screens at an Asics sports store in Auckland’s Queen Street for hours over the weekend after hackers took over the shop’s computer systems. It only stopped after employees arrived to open the store on Sunday morning. The Japanese company has apologized to anyone who was inadvertently subjected to the material and said it was working with its software and online security suppliers to make sure it did not happen again. Police and Internet body Netsafe has also been alerted to the hacking, the company said. Witnesses said the pornography played from 1am to 10am on Sunday. The store manager told the New Zealand Herald he was “100 percent sure” that his staff members were not responsible for the incident.
The pledge by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to “work, work, work, work and work” for her country has been named the catchphrase of the year, recognizing the effort Japan’s first female leader had to make to reach the top. Takaichi uttered the phrase in October when she was elected as head of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). Many were initially as worried about her work ethic as supportive of her enthusiasm. In a country notorious for long working hours, especially for working women who are also burdened with homemaking and caregiving, overwork is a sensitive topic. The recognition triggered a
Tropical Storm Koto killed three people and left another missing as it approached Vietnam, authorities said yesterday, as strong winds and high seas buffeted vessels off the country’s flood-hit central coast. Heavy rains have lashed Vietnam’s middle belt in recent weeks, flooding historic sites and popular holiday destinations, and causing hundreds of millions of dollars in damage. Authorities ordered boats to shore and diverted dozens of flights as Koto whipped up huge waves and dangerous winds, state media reported. Two vessels sank in the rough seas, a fishing boat in Khanh Hoa province and a smaller raft in Lam Dong, according to the
‘HEART IS ACHING’: Lee appeared to baffle many when he said he had never heard of six South Koreans being held in North Korea, drawing criticism from the families South Korean President Lee Jae-myung yesterday said he was weighing a possible apology to North Korea over suspicions that his ousted conservative predecessor intentionally sought to raise military tensions between the war-divided rivals in the buildup to his brief martial law declaration in December last year. Speaking to reporters on the first anniversary of imprisoned former South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol’s ill-fated power grab, Lee — a liberal who won a snap presidential election following Yoon’s removal from office in April — stressed his desire to repair ties with Pyongyang. A special prosecutor last month indicted Yoon and two of his top
The Philippines deferred the awarding of a project that is part of a plan to build one of the world’s longest marine bridges after local opposition over the potential involvement of a Chinese company due to national security fears. The proposals are “undergoing thorough review” by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), which acts as a lender and an overseer of the project to ensure it meets international environmental and governance standards, the Philippine Department of Public Works and Highways said in a statement on Monday in response to queries from Bloomberg. The agency said it would announce the winning bidder once ADB
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