22 dead as two-thirds of Philippines turns into 'water world

[email protected] (Gulf News)
August 8, 2012

philippines

Manila, August 8: Twenty-two people, including seven missing, died as Tropical Storm Haikui, 300 northeast of Taiwan, triggered low pressure areas that drenched northern, central and southern Luzon, Metro Manila and central Philippines with endless rains, resulting in floods and mudflows, and turned two-thirds of the country into a virtual “water-world,” officials said.


Five members of the Baylon family, including Cecille, 40, Jessica, 20, Jinjin, 16, Jason, 7; and a three-week old baby died at the East Avenue Medical Centre where they were rushed after their bodies were recovered from a landslide that buried nine people and five houses in a slum area in Litex, Commonwealth Village, suburban Quezon City, said Undersecretary Benito Ramos, head of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC).


Four of those who were unearthed from the mudslide in Litex were found alive, Ramos said, adding that many shanties in slum areas were also damaged by the landslide.


Meanwhile, four drowned in northern suburban Bulacan; two also drowned in southern Luzon's Batangas; and one remained missing after being carried by a surging river in central Luzon's Bataan. The three provinces were hit by floods, Ramos said.

Metro Manila and nearby provinces were paralysed.


All rivers surrounding Metro Manila were swollen. There was high tide after lunch, helping floods to rise and damage more villages and major streets.

The Epifanio de los Santos (EDSA), a major thoroughfare that traverses northern and southern suburban areas was spared from floods and remained passable.


Houses in high-end Provident Villages in eastern suburban Marikina were flooded up to the second floor.


Several families called on TV and radio stations, saying they have been on their rooftops since early morning of Tuesday.


At night-time government agencies had not succeeded in rescuing all the people who were on their rooftops.


Policemen and military men used rubber boats to rescue residents and to give relief assistance.


“Some rubber boats were damaged. Those who gave assistance also fell from their rubber boats because of the rampaging floods,” said a radio report.


A stroke patient almost fell from a rubber boat when he was rescued from his house.


Patients at the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Hospital in Manila were transferred to the fifth floor when the ground floor of the hospital was flooded early morning of Tuesday. The entire university complex was also flooded until night of Tuesday.


Dams in all affected areas reached their critical level, prompting authorities to open several gates which also flooded several nearby areas. Small houses fell one by one in those areas, said a TV report.


Two days of endless rains affected 179,026 families or 808,697 people, said Ramos.


About 543,951 families or 250,200 people were in 85 hastily erected evacuation centres, said Ramos, adding that 49,911 families or 231,508 people have left their homes and stayed with relatives who live on safer grounds.


Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista kept knocking at private schools to open their gates and allow homeless people to stay.


The number of dead, missing, and affected families could rise further because the rains ermained unabated until night of Tuesday.


“We will not sleep tonight,” said a rescuer.


About 21 storms ravage the Philippines every year.



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News Network
June 2,2020

Jun 2: A new female billionaire has emerged from one of Asia's most-expensive breakups.

Du Weimin, the chairman of Shenzhen Kangtai Biological Products Co., transferred 161.3 million shares of the vaccine maker to his ex-wife, Yuan Liping, according to a May 29 filing, immediately catapulting her into the ranks of the world's richest.

The stock was worth $3.2 billion as of Monday's close.

Yuan, 49 this year, owns the shares directly, but signed an agreement delegating the voting rights to her ex-husband, the filing shows. The Canadian citizen, who resides in Shenzhen, served as a director of Kangtai between May 2011 and August 2018. She's now the vice general manager of subsidiary Beijing Minhai Biotechnology Co. Yuan holds a bachelor's degree in economics from Beijing's University of International Business and Economics.

Kangtai shares have more than doubled in the past year and have continued their ascent since February, when the company announced a plan to develop a vaccine to fight the coronavirus. They slipped for a second day Tuesday following news of the divorce terms, losing 3.1% as of 9:43 a.m. in Hong Kong and bringing the company's market value to $12.9 billion.

Du's net worth has now dropped to about $3.1 billion from $6.5 billion before the split, excluding his pledged shares.

The 56-year-old was born into a farming family in China's Jiangxi province. After studying chemistry in college, he began working in a clinic in 1987 and became a sales manager for a biotech company in 1995, according to the prospectus of Kangtai's 2017 initial public offering. In 2009, Kangtai acquired Minhai, the company Du founded in 2004, and he became the chairman of the combined entity.

China's rapidly growing economy has been an engine for the country's richest, and Du is not the only tycoon who's had to pay a steep price for a divorce. In 2012, Wu Yajun, at one point the nation's richest woman, transferred a stake worth about $2.3 billion to her ex-husband, Cai Kui, who co-founded developer Longfor Group Holdings Ltd. In 2016, tech billionaire Zhou Yahui gave $1.1 billion of shares in his online gaming company, Beijing Kunlun Tech Co., to ex-wife Li Qiong after a civil court settlement.

Sometimes, a goodbye can be time-consuming too. South Korean tycoon Chey Tae-won's wife filed a lawsuit in December asking for a 42.3% stake in SK Holdings Co. valued at $1.2 billion. That would make her the second-largest shareholder of the company should she win the case, which is still ongoing.

The most expensive divorce in history is that of Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos. The Amazon.com Inc. founder gave 4% of the online retailer to Mackenzie, who now has a $48 billion fortune and is the world's fourth-richest woman.

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News Network
February 4,2020

Kolkata, Feb 4: A Thailand national on Tuesday gave birth during a flight from Doha to Bangkok.

The unnamed woman passenger went into labour and delivered the baby with the help of a cabin crew of Qatar airways at around 3 am.

The aircraft made the emergency landing in Kolkata and the woman was admitted to a private hospital here. Both the mother and the baby are doing fine.

"An unscheduled flight from Doha to Bangkok QR-830 landed around 03:09 am at Kolkata airport in medical priority landing. The pilot of Qatar flight had asked SOS to ATC for medical priority landing. The flight landed safely, the airport team with the doctor was attending the concerned." Kolkata Airport official said while speaking to news agency.

More details in this regard are awaited.

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News Network
June 6,2020

Islamabad, Jun 6: Pakistan has reported a record 97 COVID-19 deaths in a single day, taking the total number of fatalities to 1,935, while the number of confirmed cases in the country approached 94,000 after over 4,700 infections were detected, the health ministry said on Saturday.

Punjab registered 35,308 COVID-19 cases, Sindh 34,889, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa 12,459, Balochistan 5,776 Islamabad 4,323, Gilgit-Baltistan 897 and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir 331 cases, the Ministry of National Health Services said.

The total number of COVID-19 cases reached 93,983 after 4,734 new infections were detected across the country, it said.

With a record 97 fatalities in one day, the death toll in the country has reached 1,935, while 32,581 people have recovered from the disease.

The ministry said that the total number of active COVID-19 cases in Pakistan are 59,467, out of which 1,265 patients are in critical condition.

More than 100 labs in the country have so far conducted 660,508 tests, including 22,185 in the last 24 hours.

There are 747 hospitals across the country with COVID-19 treatment facilities where 5,060 patients are being treated. Others have been asked to self-isolate at home.

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