BARCELONA, Spain: Several people were reported missing by Spanish authorities after flash floods swept cars through village streets and disrupted rail service in large areas of eastern and southern Spain on Tuesday.
Rushing mud-colored waters caused havoc in a huge arc of the European country, running from the provinces of Malaga in the south to Valencia in the east. Images shot by people with smartphones reproduced on Spain’s national broadcaster RTVE showed frighteningly swift waters carrying away cars and rising several feet into the lower level of homes.
A high-speed train with nearly 300 people on board derailed near Malaga, although rail authorities said no one was hurt. The high-speed train service between Valencia city and Madrid was interrupted as were several commuter lines.
The national government office for the Castilla La Mancha region told radio channel Cadena Ser that six people in the region were missing.
Spanish news agency EFE said that one truck driver was missing in L’Alcudia, a town in Valencia. Also in Valencia, the mayor of Utiel, Ricardo Gabaldón, told RTVE that several people were trapped in their homes.
Police and rescue services used helicopters to lift people from homes and cars which were in danger of drowning. An emergency rescue brigade of Spain’s army deployed to help rescue efforts.
Storms were forecast to continue through Thursday, according to Spain’s national weather service.
Spain has experienced similar autumn storms in recent years. The country has recovered somewhat from a severe drought this year thanks to rainfall. Scientists say that increased episodes of extreme weather are likely linked to climate change.
Flash floods in Spain sweep away cars, disrupt trains and leave several missing
https://arab.news/nyc9c
Flash floods in Spain sweep away cars, disrupt trains and leave several missing
- Rushing mud-colored waters caused havoc in a huge arc of the European country
In Georgia, some voters balanced EU hopes with the fear of war with Russia
- For many voters, avoiding war with Russia a priority
- Election result poses a challenge to EU ambitions
The opposition and foreign observers had cast the election as a watershed moment that would decide if Georgia moves closer to Europe or leans back toward Russia amid the war in Ukraine. The ruling party, which is seen as loyal to its billionaire founder Bidzina Ivanishvili, says it wants to one day join the EU but that it must also avoid confrontation with President Vladimir Putin’s Russia that could leave the South Caucasus republic devastated like Ukraine.
“We’ve had peace these 12 years in Georgia,” said Sergo, a resident of the capital Tbilisi who has voted for Georgian Dream in every election since the party rose to power in 2012. Georgian Dream clinched 54 percent of the vote on Saturday, the electoral commission said, while opposition parties and the president claimed the election had been stolen and the West called for investigations into reports of voting irregularities.
Observer groups, including the 57-nation Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), said alleged violations, including ballot-stuffing, bribery, voter intimidation and violence, could have affected the election’s outcome.
The EU and the United States said there was not a level playing field but stopped short of saying the result was stolen by Georgian Dream. Russia accused the West of meddling. Beyond the rhetoric, though, the result poses a challenge to Tbilisi’s ambitions to join the European Union, which polls show the overwhelming majority of Georgians support.
Brussels has effectively frozen Georgia’s EU accession application over concerns of democratic backsliding under Georgian Dream and what it casts is its pro-Russian rhetoric.
Georgian Dream backers say that while they want to join Europe, they don’t want to sacrifice Georgia’s traditional values of family and church.
EU ASPIRATIONS?
For them, Georgian Dream’s party slogan, “Only with peace, dignity, and prosperity to Europe,” appeals.
Official results, which the opposition says are fraudulent, showed the party securing huge margins of up to 90 percent in rural areas, even as it underperformed in Tbilisi and other cities.
Ghia Abashidze, a political analyst close to Georgian Dream, attributed the party’s showing to its emphasis on keeping the peace and preserving traditional values. The Georgian parliament passed a law this year curbing LGBT rights and Pride events have been attacked by violent mobs in years past. The topic remains sensitive in conservative Georgia, which is devoutly Orthodox Christian. Abashidze said that Georgian Dream was still committed to EU integration, but found more to like in some of the bloc’s Eastern European members such as Hungary, whose premier Viktor Orban flew to Tbilisi on Monday and hailed the election as free.
He said Orban’s Hungary, which has also been accused of democratic backsliding, shared the Georgian ruling party’s core values of “family, traditions, statehood, sovereignty, peace.”
In Isani, a working class Tbilisi neighborhood and one of the few in the capital where Georgian Dream received more votes than the four main opposition parties combined, Sergo, who did not want to give his last name, echoed the sentiment.
“We want to go to the European Union with our customs, our traditions, our mentality,” the 56-year-old said, passing freshly-baked bread to customers from his shop window. He said he believed LGBT people should receive medical treatment and go to church to become “normal people.”
RUSSIA OR EU?
By contrast, opposition supporters say the ruling party’s positions on foreign policy and social issues are incompatible with Europe’s, and keeping the peace with Russia depends on Georgia aligning with the West.
At a thousands-strong protest against the election results on Monday, Salome Gasviani said the opposition was fighting to preserve Georgia’s freedom and independence.
“We’re here to say out loud that Georgia is a very European country and our future is in the EU, in the West,” she said.
Russia, which ruled Georgia for about 200 years, won a brief war against the country in 2008, and memories of Russian tanks rolling toward Tbilisi are still fresh for many. During the campaign, Georgian Dream played on fears of war, with posters showing devastated Ukrainian cities beside picturesque Georgian ones to illustrate the threat.
“The main thing is that we don’t have a war,” 69-year-old Otar Shaverdashvili, another Isani resident, said before the vote. “I remember the last war very well. No one wants another one.”
Kornely Kakachia, head of Georgian Institute of Politics think tank, said the opposition had struggled to allay fears that a change of government could risk Georgia being sucked into the Ukraine war.
“If someone asks you to choose between war and the European Union and you have this kind of choice, then of course people will choose the status quo,” he said.
Taiwan expects Super Typhoon Kong-rey to make landfall on Thursday
- Packing gusts of nearly 300 kph, the storm has strengthened into a super typhoon and is expected to further intensify before hitting Taitung county
- Up to 1.2 meters of rainfall is expected in mountainous eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely to hit coastal areas on Thursday
TAIPEI: Taiwan expects Super Typhoon Kong-rey to make landfall on Thursday along its sparsely populated east coast, issuing a warning on Wednesday ahead of the powerful storm that will bring heavy rain and strong winds across a swath of the island.
Packing gusts of nearly 300 kph, the storm has strengthened into a super typhoon and is expected to further intensify before hitting Taitung county, according to US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center.
The storm is then forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration said, which labelled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful storm level for Taiwan.
Up to 1.2 meters (3.9 feet) of rainfall is expected in mountainous eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely to hit coastal areas on Thursday, according to the administration.
Taiwan President Lai Ching-te urged people to stay away from the mountains and coast.
“I would like to urge my friends in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert,” he wrote on his Facebook page.
Taiwan’s defense ministry said it had put about 36,000 troops on standby across the island.
Central Weather Administration forecaster Stan Chang said it was relatively rare for a strong typhoon to directly hit Taiwan this late in the year, pointing to the still favorable environment for typhoons, including warmer sea temperatures in the Pacific and later-than-normal cold fronts from the north.
“We must urge people to make preparations. It’s a strong typhoon with a large size,” Chang added.
Heavy rain is also expected in the north around the capital Taipei throughout the day on Thursday, the administration said.
The transport ministry said at least 26 ferry trips to outlying islands had been stopped for Wednesday, while Taiwan’s largest domestic carrier UNI Air said it had canceled all flights for Thursday.
Subtropical Taiwan is frequently hit by typhoons. The last one, Typhoon Krathon, killed four people earlier this month as it passed through the south of the island.
Vietnam jails six over deadly karaoke bar blaze
- The blaze in a province close to business hub Ho Chi Minh City shocked Vietnam and led to the closure of thousands of karaoke bars nationwide for failing to meet fire regulations
HANOI: A court in Vietnam on Wednesday jailed six people including four police officers over a fire that ripped through a karaoke bar two years ago, killing 32 people.
The blaze in a province close to business hub Ho Chi Minh City shocked Vietnam and led to the closure of thousands of karaoke bars nationwide for failing to meet fire regulations.
The court in southern Binh Duong province convicted the bar owner, a contractor involved in its construction and four police officers on charges of breaching fire regulations and negligence.
Bar owner Le Anh Xuan was given eight years in jail, while the bar’s fire prevention system contractor was sentenced to five years.
Four police officers were jailed for between four and seven and half years.
In his final words before court last week, bar owner Le Anh Xuan apologized to victims and their families, saying “my mistakes had caused huge losses.”
Flames engulfed the second floor of the 30-room An Phu karaoke building in Binh Duong in September 2022, trapping customers and staff as dense smoke filled the staircase and blocked the emergency exit.
Many crowded onto a balcony to escape the flames, which spread quickly through the wooden interior, while others were forced to jump from the building.
A total of 32 people died in the inferno, 17 men and 15 women.
The police officers were charged for their involvement in designing and approving the fire prevention system at the bar.
Vietnam regularly experiences deadly fires — 56 people were killed in a Hanoi apartment disaster last year — and the Binh Duong blaze prompted a nationwide crackdown on karaoke bars that failed to comply with fire regulations.
More than two-thirds of the country’s approximately 15,000 karaoke bars were forced to close, according to state media, citing police sources.
China’s new crew has arrived at space station in sign of growing influence in space field
- The team of two men and one woman will replace the astronauts who have lived on the Tiangong space station for the last six months
- China built its own space station after being excluded from the International Space Station, mainly because of US concerns
JIUQUAN, China: A Chinese spaceship carrying a three-person crew docked with its orbiting space station Tuesday as the country seeks to expand its exploration of outer space in competition with the United States, even as it looks for cooperation from other nations.
The team of two men and one woman will replace the astronauts who have lived on the Tiangong space station for the last six months, conducting a variety of experiments and maintaining the structure.
They are expected to stay until April or May of next year. The new mission commander, Cai Xuzhe, went to space in the Shenzhou-14 mission in 2022, while the other two, Song Lingdong and Wang Haoze, are first-time space travelers. Song and Wang were born in the 1990s and are graduates of the third wave of Chinese astronaut recruitment, having undergone a rigorous testing and training process taking years.
Early Wednesday morning, China declared the launch and entry into outer space a “complete success.”
The Shenzhou-19 spaceship carrying the trio blasted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China at 4:27 a.m. local time atop a Long March-2F rocket, the backbone of China’s crewed space missions.
“The crew condition is good and the launch has been successful,” the state broadcaster China Central Television announced.
China built its own space station after being excluded from the International Space Station, mainly because of US concerns over the People’s Liberation Army, the Chinese Communist Party’s military arm’s overall control over the space program. China’s moon program is part of a growing rivalry with the US and others, including Japan and India.
The new team will replace the astronauts who have lived on the Tiangong space station for the last six months and will overlap with them for a couple of days or more. They are expected to stay until April or May of next year.
The new mission commander, Cai Xuzhe, went to space in the Shenzhou-14 mission in 2022, while the other two, Song Lingdong and Wang Haoze, are first-time space travelers, born in the 1990s.
Song was an air force pilot and Wang an engineer with the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation. Wang will be the crew’s payload specialist and the third Chinese woman aboard a crewed mission.
Besides putting a space station into orbit, the Chinese space agency has landed an explorer on Mars. It aims to put a person on the moon before 2030, which would make China the second nation after the United States to do so. It also plans to build a research station on the moon and has already transferred rock and soil samples from the moon in a first for any nation in decades, and placed a rover on the little-explored far side of the moon in a global first.
The US still leads in space exploration and plans to land astronauts on the moon for the first time in more than 50 years, though NASA pushed the target date back to 2026 earlier this year.
The new Chinese crew will perform spacewalks and install new equipment to protect the station from space debris, some of which was created by China.
According to NASA, large pieces of debris have been created by “satellite explosions and collisions.” China’s firing of a rocket to destroy a redundant weather satellite in 2007 and the “accidental collision of American and Russian communications satellites in 2009 greatly increased the amount of large debris in orbit,” it said.
China’s space authorities say they have measures in place in case their astronauts have to return to Earth earlier.
China launched its first crewed mission in 2003, becoming only the third nation to do so after the former Soviet Union and the United States. The space program is a source of enormous national pride and a hallmark of China’s technological advances over the past two decades.
UN envoy warns Myanmar is in crisis, with conflict escalating and criminal networks ‘out of control’
UN envoy warns Myanmar is in crisis, with conflict escalating and criminal networks ‘out of control’
- UN special envoy for Myanmar Julie Bishop: ‘Myanmar actors must move beyond the current zero-sum mentality’
- Three powerful ethnic armed militias have gained territory, keeping the government’s ruling military increasingly on the back foot
UNITED NATIONS: The UN special envoy for Myanmar warned that the Southeast Asian nation is in crisis, with conflict escalating, criminal networks “out of control” and human suffering at unprecedented levels.
Julie Bishop told the UN General Assembly’s human rights committee on Tuesday in her first report since being appointed by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres last April that “Myanmar actors must move beyond the current zero-sum mentality.”
The army in Myanmar ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021 and suppressed widespread nonviolent protests that sought a return to democratic rule, leading to increasing violence and a humanitarian crisis.
In the past year, three powerful ethnic armed militias have gained territory, keeping the government’s ruling military increasingly on the back foot in fighting that has forced hundreds of thousands of civilians to flee their homes. According to the UN, 3 million people are displaced across Myanmar and some 18.6 million need humanitarian assistance.
Bishop called for an end to the violence, stressing that “There can be little progress on addressing the needs of the people while armed conflict continues across the country.”
The former Australian foreign minister said she has engaged with the government, including Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing in Myanmar’s capital, Naypyidaw, as well as opposition representatives, ethnic armed organizations, women’s groups, human rights defenders and numerous countries. She gave no details about the meetings.
She said she has engaged with the current, previous and incoming ASEAN chairs in Vientiane, Laos; Jakarta, Indonesia; and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The UN envoy said she has also visited Myanmar’s neighbors China and Thailand and will soon visit India and Bangladesh, “continuing to urge neighboring countries to leverage their influence.” She said she will also return to Naypyidaw but gave no time frame. She gave no details about any of the meetings.
At the recent summit between the United Nations and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, known as ASEAN, Bishop said Secretary-General Guterres backed strengthened cooperation between the UN envoy and the ASEAN chair “on innovative ways to promote a Myanmar-led process.”
This includes “effective implementation” of a five-point ASEAN plan Myanmar’s rulers agreed to in April 2021 but have done little to fulfill. It calls for the immediate cessation of violence, a dialogue among all concerned parties mediated by an ASEAN special envoy, provision of humanitarian aid and a visit to Myanmar by the association’s special envoy to meet all concerned parties.
“Any pathway to reconciliation requires an end to violence, accountability and unfettered access for the UN and its partners to address vulnerabilities among the marginalized, including Rohingya, ethnic communities and particularly women and youth,” Bishop said.
But instead she pointed to rising civilian casualties and the rule of law “so severely undermined that transnational crime emanating from Myanmar is proliferating.”
“The sheer scale of arms productions and trade, human trafficking, drug manufacture and trafficking, and scam centers means Myanmar now ranks highest among all member states for organized crime,” she said. “The criminal networks are out of control.”
Bishop backed Guterres who stressed the urgency of forging a path toward a democratic transition and return to civilian rule.
“I share his concern regarding the military’s stated intention to hold elections amid intensifying conflict and human rights violations,” she said.
Bishop warned that “the Myanmar conflict risks becoming a forgotten crisis.”
“The regional implications of this crisis are evident, but the global impact can no longer be ignored,” she said.
