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TOKYO, April 17, 2024 (AFP) – Even small delays in Japan’s much-vaunted bullet trains are rare, and more unusual still are snakes on board holding up the speedy “shinkansen” services. On Tuesday evening, a passenger alerted security to a 40-centimetre (nearly 16-inch) serpent lurking on a train between Nagoya and Tokyo, resulting in a 17-minute hold-up. It was unclear whether the cold-blooded commuter was venomous or how it ended up on the train, and there […]
By Kaneez FATIMA LAHORE, Pakistan, April 15, 2024 (AFP) – At least 41 people have died in storm-related incidents across Pakistan since Friday, including 28 killed by lightning, officials said on Monday. Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has warned of landslides and flash floods because more rain is expected in coming days. Punjab, Pakistan’s largest and most populous province, witnessed the highest death toll, with 21 people killed by lightning between Friday and Sunday. […]
KABUL (AFP) – At least 33 people have been killed over three days of heavy rains and flash flooding in Afghanistan, the government’s disaster management department said Sunday. “From Friday onward, because of the rains there were flash floods which caused high human and financial losses,” department spokesman Janan Sayeq said. “The primary information shows that, unfortunately, in the floods, 33 people were martyred and 27 people got injured.” Most casualties were from roof collapses […]
JAKARTA, April 14, 2024 (AFP) – At least 19 people have been found dead and two more are missing after a landslide in central Indonesia, local authorities said on Sunday. The dead and two survivors were evacuated from two landslide-hit villages in Tana Toraja regency, South Sulawesi province on Saturday evening, said local disaster agency head Sulaiman Malia. “There have been 19 fatalities, with 4 deaths in South Makale and 15 others in Makale villages,” […]
KUALA LUMPUR, April 14, 2024 (AFP) – A man attempting to shoot his wife at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport on Sunday instead left her personal bodyguard in critical condition, Malaysian authorities said. Police were investigating the rare shooting in connection to a domestic dispute and said it was not related to terrorism. The shooter, who was thought to be targeting his wife in the arrivals hall, hit her bodyguard and then fled the scene, […]
SEOUL, April 13, 2024 (AFP) – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and China’s top legislator hailed a “new chapter” of Beijing-Pyongyang relations on Saturday, in one of the most high-level meetings between the allies in years. Beijing’s third highest-ranking official Zhao Leji — a member of the powerful Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party’s Politburo — made a goodwill visit to the nuclear-armed North this week as the two countries mark 75 years […]
TOKYO, April 12, 2024 (AFP) – One in five Japanese households by 2050 will be elderly people living alone, a new study said Friday, as Japan scrambles to find how to effectively care for its greying population. By 2050, 10.8 million elderly people will be living alone, making up 20.6 percent of all households, the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research said in a projection that it issues every five years. It marks […]
HANOI, April 6, 2024 (AFP) – Thousands of people in Vietnam are suffering a “severe” shortage of fresh water because of drought and salinisation, prompting authorities to declare a state of emergency on Saturday. A weeks-long heatwave has brought drought and saline intrusion to an area of Tien Giang province, 60 kilometres (37 miles) south of business hub Ho Chi Minh City. The province’s Tan Phu Dong area — with 12 kilometers of coastline along […]
BANGKOK, April 11, 2024 (AFP) – Massive heatwaves across East Asia and the Pacific could place millions of children at risk, the UN warned Thursday, calling for action to protect vulnerable people from the soaring temperatures. Global monitors have warned that 2024 is shaping up to be the hottest year on record, marked by climate extremes and rising greenhouse gas emissions. The UNICEF data showed over 243 million children across the Pacific and East Asia […]
HO CHI MINH CITY, April 11, 2024 (AFP) – A top Vietnamese property tycoon was sentenced to death on Thursday in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated $27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defence arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. […]
By Matthew WALSH BEIJING, April 10, 2024 (AFP) – Chinese President Xi Jinping said Wednesday that “external interference” would not stop Beijing from unifying with Taiwan, as he met the self-ruled island’s former leader in a rare display of cross-strait dialogue. Taiwan’s former president Ma Ying-jeou is in China as part of what he has called a “journey of peace” to calm tensions with Beijing, which claims the island as its own territory and has […]
TAIPEI, April 10, 2024 (AFP) – The toll from a massive earthquake that struck Taiwan last week rose to 16 on Wednesday after three more bodies were found on a hiking trail, officials said. The magnitude 7.4 quake that hit the island on April 3 also left more than 1,100 people injured, with strict building codes and widespread disaster readiness credited with averting an even bigger catastrophe. Authorities discovered the three victims Wednesday as they […]
