141 feared buried in landslide in Sichuan's Maoxian

Agencies
June 24, 2017

China, Jun 24: More than 140 people are feared buried alive after torrential rain touched off a landslide in southwestern China, according to news agency reports.

chinalandslide

The landslide hit the village of Xinmo, in Maoxin county of Sichuan province, at about 6am local time (22:00 GMT Friday), the Xinhua report said.

A couple and a baby were rescued and taken to hospital after 46 homes in Xinmo were destroyed by boulders when the side of a mountain collapsed, according to the Maoxin county government.

Maoxian county is home to about 110,000 people, according to the government's website.

The landslide also blocked a 2km-section of a river. Wang Yongbo, a local rescue official, told state broadcaster CCTV that an estimated three million cubic metres of earth and rock had slid down the mountain.

Xinmo is known locally for tourism and Chinese reports said it was unclear if tourists were among the people buried by the landslide.

'Geological disaster'

An emergency response "to the first-class catastrophic geological disaster" is under way, the statement said, adding that the full extent of the landslide is at yet unclear.

Search and rescue efforts are under way involving about 500 rescuers, including police.

Rescuers are using ropes to move a massive chunk of rock while dozens of others are searching the rubble for survivors, according to videos posted by the Maoxian government on its Weibo social media account.

Bulldozers and heavy diggers have been deployed to remove boulders, the images showed. Medics were seen treating a woman on a road.

"It's the biggest landslide in this area since the Wenchuan earthquake," Wang Yongbo, one of the local officials in charge of rescue efforts, said, referring to the disaster that killed 87,000 people in 2008 in a town in Sichuan.

Al Jazeera's Florence Looi, reporting from Beijing on Saturday, said the landslide "was reportedly triggered by heavy rain - the Chinese weather department had issued a warning of heavy rain a couple of days ago".

It was not immediately clear if Sichuan was included in the alert or not.

China has been experiencing weeks of heavy summer rains that often cause flooding and cause landslides in rural and mountainous regions.

At least 12 people were killed in January when a landslide struck a hotel in central province of Hubei.

In October landslides struck eastern China in the wake of torrential rains brought by Typhoon Megi, causing widespread damage and killing at least eight.

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News Network
May 21,2020

London, May 21: Working mothers in Europe and the United States are taking on most of the extra housework and childcare created by lockdown - and many are struggling to cope, a survey showed on Thursday.

Women with children now spend an average 65 hours a week on the unpaid chores - nearly a third more than fathers - according to the Boston Consulting Group, which questioned parents in five countries.

"Women have been doing too much household work for too long, and this crisis is pushing them to a point that's simply unsustainable," Rachel Thomas, of U.S.-based women's rights group LeanIn.Org, said in response to the data.

"We need a major culture shift in our homes and in our companies ... We should use this moment to build a better way to work and live – one that's fair for everybody."

Researchers say fallout from the pandemic weighs on women in a host of ways, be it in rising domestic violence or in lower wages, as some women cut paid work to take on the new duties.

With lockdowns shutting schools and keeping citizens at home, creating a mountain of domestic work, public campaigns from Georgia to Mexico have urged men to do their fair share.

But women, who on average already do more at home than men, are now shouldering most of the new coronavirus burden, too, said the survey of more than 3,000 working parents in the United States, Britain, Italy, Germany and France.

Women's unpaid hours at home have nearly doubled to 65 hours a week, said the survey, against 50 logged by an average father.

British women are more likely to support others in the COVID-19 pandemic and are finding it harder to stay positive, according to separate analysis released this week by polling firm Ipsos MORI and feminist organisation The Fawcett Society.

It is "no surprise" to see women do more childcare and housekeeping on top of their day jobs, Jacqui Hunt of women's rights group Equality Now, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

However, there are "hopeful signs" that men in West Africa are sharing more childcare during the pandemic in a shift in social norms, found a small rapid analysis by humanitarian organisation CARE International released on Wednesday.

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News Network
February 10,2020

New Delhi, Feb 10: Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah's sister on Monday moved the Supreme Court to challenge his detention under the Public Safety Act.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the petitioner, mentioned the matter for urgent listing before a bench headed by Justice N V Ramana.

Sibal told the bench that they have filed a habeas corpus petition challenging the detention of Abdullah under the PSA and the matter should be heard this week.

The bench agreed for urgent listing of the matter.

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News Network
June 29,2020

Karachi, Jun 29: Four heavily-armed militants attacked the busy Pakistan Stock Exchange on Monday morning, killing four security guards and a police sub-inspector before being shot dead in an exchange of fire, media reports said.

The unidentified militants opened indiscriminate fire and lobbed hand grenades at the main gate of the building as they tried to storm it, Geo News reported.

Police said that all the terrorists have been killed while five persons injured in the attack.

Four security guards and a police sub-inspector were also killed in the attack.

"An unfortunate incident took place at the Pakistan Stock Exchange. They made their way from our parking area and opened fire on everyone," said Abid Ali Habib, Director of Pakistan Stock Exchange.

The firing by militants caused panic among the people in the building.

Sindh province Governor Imran Ismail condemned the incident.

"Strongly condemn the attack on PSX aimed at tarnishing our relentless war on terror. Have instructed the IG & security agencies to ensure that the perpetrators are caught alive & their handlers are accorded exemplary punishments. We shall protect Sindh at all costs," he said on Twitter.

Police and rangers have arrived on the spot and surrounded the area.

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