Thu, Apr 14, 2022 page7

• World News Quick Take

  • Agencies
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  PHILIPPINES

  Storm death toll climbs to 59

  The death toll from landslides and floods rose to 59 yesterday, official figures showed, as rescuers dug up more bodies with bare hands and backhoes in villages crushed by rain-induced avalanches. Most of the deaths from Tropical Storm Megi — the strongest to hit the island nation this year — were in the central province of Leyte, where a series of landslides devastated communities. Rescuers used boats to reach survivors in Pilar, a village of about 400 people in Abuyog municipality, where a torrent of mud and earth on Tuesday pushed houses into the sea, and police reported five deaths. A rumbling sound like “a helicopter” alerted Ara Mae Canuto, 22, to the landslide hurtling toward her family’s home, she said. She tried to outrun it, but was swept into the water and nearly drowned. “I swallowed dirt, and my ears and nose are full of mud,” Canuto told reporters by telephone from her hospital bed where she is being treated for cuts and bruises. Her father died and her mother has not been found.

  UNITED STATES

  Unlit vehicle stirs hubbub

  San Francisco police faced an unprecedented problem when an officer stopped a vehicle that was driving at night with no headlights on, only to discover that there was no one inside. The vehicle, it turned out, was self-driving, and the police officer’s encounter was captured on film by a passerby, who posted the footage on social media. The clip, showing bemused officers circling the vehicle and peering through its window for several minutes, has been shared so widely that Cruise, the company that owns the vehicle, reacted on Twitter to explain what had happened. It said the self-driving vehicle “yielded to the police vehicle, then pulled over to the nearest safe location for the traffic stop, as intended. An officer contacted Cruise personnel and no citation was issued.” In the footage, as the police are inspecting the parked vehicle, someone can be heard exclaiming: “There’s no one in it, it’s crazy.” A police spokesperson said that after the officers had stopped the vehicle, a maintenance team had taken control of it. Cruise said the headlights were turned off due to human error.

  BRAZIL

  Official alleges implant deal

  After revelations that the military had bought Viagra pills for its troops, a lawmaker on Tuesday said it had also acquired 60 penile implants — for reasons that were not divulged. Lawmaker Eliaz Vaz, who also exposed the Viagra spending, said the Ministry of Defense had “approved the purchase of 60 penile prostheses.” The ministry did not respond to an Agence France-Presse (AFP) request for comment. “The question we ask is: Why is the [President Jair] Bolsonaro government spending public money to pay for these prostheses?” Vaz said in a note sent to AFP. “The Brazilian people struggle to get medicines... and yet a group [of people] is treated with expensive prostheses.” Vaz said the ministry had bought 60 “inflatable silicone penile” implants at a cost of between 50,000 and 60,000 reais (about US$10,696 to US$12,835) each, for three different military hospitals. The total cost was more than US$700,000. He said he had obtained the information via the government’s so-called “transparency portal,” which allows access to details on public spending. The lawmaker said he would report the matter to federal prosecutors for investigation.
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