Hello, Deadly typhoons and floods wreaked havoc on countries worldwide from China, Vietnam and Nigeria to the Czech Republic, Romania and Poland. Shanghai was brought to a standstill this week as residents sheltered at home to wait out the worst of Typhoon Bebinca, the strongest storm to strike Shanghai since Typhoon Gloria in 1949. Rain lashed the city and strong winds felled more than 10,000 trees across Shanghai as more than 400,000 people were evacuated from at-risk homes in Bebinca's path. More than 56,000 rescue workers were deployed and, by early afternoon, only one injury had been reported as a result of the storm, according to state media reports. By early Monday afternoon, the eye of the storm had crossed from Shanghai to the neighboring Jiangsu province, though rains were expected to continue in China's financial capital throughout the rest of the day. Meanwhile, Vietnam is preparing for more flooding with a tropical depression forecast to strengthen into a storm as it heads to its central coast, days after Typhoon Yagi set off floods and landslides that killed more than 290 people in the north. Also on my radar today: |
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A fallen tree is seen on the streets amid heavy rainfall, after Typhoon Bebinca made landfall in Shanghai, China. REUTERS/Xihao Jiang |
Floods in Nigeria lead to prisoner escape |
People in Nigeria's flood-hit northeastern Borno state are struggling to get medical care as overwhelmed aid agencies warn of an outbreak of waterborne disease following the worst floods to hit the region in three decades. More than 30 people have been killed by the floods, which authorities say affected about one million people, most of whom are housed in camps without food and clean water. The deluge threatens not only the health and safety of the displaced but puts a strain on aid agencies and government resources, exacerbating an already critical humanitarian crisis. Additionally, the devastating floods collapsed walls at a jail in Maiduguri in northeastern Nigeria early last week, allowing 281 prisoners to escape, prison authorities said. Seven of the escaped inmates have been recaptured in operations by security agencies, Umar Abubakar, spokesperson for the Nigeria Correctional Services said in a statement. |
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Rain batters central Europe |
The worst flooding central Europe has seen in at least two decades has killed at least 18 people, as authorities in some areas counted the cost of the trail of destruction left by the deluge while others prepared for the crisis to reach them. Tens of thousands of households were left without power in Romania and the Czech Republic, where more rainfall is forecast in the coming days. Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, southern Germany and parts of Austria are also expected to see more heavy rain. Rivers were still spilling banks in the Czech Republic, while the River Danube was rising in Slovakia and Hungary, and flooding has also affected Austria. The Czech-Polish border areas are among the worst-hit since the weekend, as gushing, debris-filled rivers devastated some towns, collapsing or damaging bridges and destroying houses. In Romania, flooding affected eight counties, the country's emergency unit said, and Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu visited hard-hit Galati county, where four people were found dead, about 5,000 homes were damaged and 25,000 were without power. A low-pressure system named Boris has triggered downpours from Austria to Romania, leading to some of the worst flooding in nearly three decades in hard-hit areas in the Czech Republic and Poland. |
Noah and his older sister visit a mural of Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old Black man who was killed during an encounter with police officers. Denver, Colorado, U.S.REUTERS/Kevin Mohatt |
- A Colorado judge has reduced the prison sentence of Peter Cichuniec, a paramedic who injected 23-year-old Elijah McClain, a Black man, with a powerful sedative. Cichuniec was convicted in connection with McClain's death, which occurred after police placed McClain in a chokehold, according to a court official. Cichuniec was sentenced to five years in prison in 2019, but this was reduced to four year's probation.
- The Students for Fair Admissions, a group founded by affirmative action foe Edward Blum is taking the U.S. Naval Academy to trial this week in an effort to end a carve-out that allows military academies to still employ affirmative action policies.
- Succession drama: A battle over control of Rupert Murdoch's global television and publishing empire began in a Reno, Nevada courtroom on Monday, where a judge considered the contentious matter of succession.
- An Italian appeals court overturned a 2021 ruling convicting 37 people and three firms for deadly pollution linked to the former Ilva steelworks and ordered a retrial, ANSA news agency said. The ex-Ilva site has been embroiled in legal proceedings for more than 10 years over allegations that its toxic emissions have caused a surge in cancer cases in the city of Taranto.
- A lawyer for TikTok and Chinese parent company ByteDance sought to convince a federal appeals court to block a U.S. law that would ban the short video app used by 170 million Americans as soon as Jan. 19, arguing that it violates free speech protections, but faced tough questions from the judges.
- Sports trial of the century: It has been a long wait, but the independent hearing into Manchester City's alleged 115 breaches of Premier League financial regulations will finally begin this week. A three-person commission will sift through reams of evidence for an estimated 10 weeks with a verdict expected some time before the end of the current season.
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A strike at Boeing "could go on for a while" as workers are confident they can get bigger wage increases and an improved pension, union leader Jon Holden said in an interview with National Public Radio (NPR). The planemaker and union leadership badly misjudged anger among union members who backed a strike with 96% support last week, stopping production of its 737 series just as Boeing was trying to speed up assembly lines. Now executives need to find a way to contain the work stoppage with a fresh offer in talks which resume on Tuesday. |
A two-month-old female pygmy hippo named "Moo Deng" bites her keeper Atthapon Nundee at Khao Kheow Open Zoo in Chonburi province, Thailand. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha |
Thailand's latest internet celebrity, baby hippo "Moo Deng", is challenging her keepers with the unexpectedly big crowds she is drawing to her zoo, two hours south of the capital Bangkok. Moo Deng, whose name means "bouncing pig" in Thai, has millions of fans on social media following her clumsily charming adventures, including trying to nibble her handler despite still lacking teeth. The zoo is now getting 3,000 to 4,000 people on weekdays, and welcomed 20,000 visitors over the weekend, said Narungwit Chodchoy, director of the Khao Kheow Open Zoo in Chonburi province - most of them lining up to see Moo Deng. |
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Sustainable Switch was edited by Alexandra Hudson. |
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