Thailand's state sector unions have called for a nationwide strike to support anti-government protesters who are demanding the resignation of Premier Samak Sundaravej. The 200,000-strong State Enterprises Workers' Relations Confederation has announced a walk-out on Wednesday to add pressure on the prime minister. Samak has rejected calls to resign and dissolve Parliament, saying he would not let protesters force his hand. The opposition People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) have already staged six days of protests and occupied government buildings in the capital Bangkok. The conservative PAD accuses Samak of being an illegitimate proxy of ex-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a military coup in 2006.
India steps up flood rescue efforts
Indian authorities are intensifying their efforts to rescue over 500,000 people marooned after two weeks of flooding in the eastern state of Bihar. Medical teams are trying to prevent outbreaks of diseases in the stricken areas and helicopters are air-dropping food. The military has provided soldiers, helicopters and boats to try to rescue those who are trapped by the flooding. An estimated 3.5 million people were affected or displaced when the monsoon-swollen Kosi River breached its banks and changed its course on India's border with Nepal. Indian officals said at least 80 people were killed, but the real toll is expected to be much higher with many victims simply washed away by the flooding.
Japanese PM Fukuda resigns
Japan's Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda has announced his resignation, less than a year after taking office. Fukuda told a press conference in Tokyo that a "new team" was needed to break a deadlock in parliament between his Liberal Democratic Party and the opposition. Surveys show that his coalition government's approval ratings have slumped to 29 percent, despite a cabinet reshuffle last month and an economic stimulus package unveiled last Friday. His fortunes were hurt recently by an unpopular medical reform plan that raises costs for Japan's elderly. To avoid a snap election, the LDP will need to pick a new leader and win a confidence vote in parliament. Elections are not due until September 2009.
Toll in China Quake Is Worse Than Feared
Li Fucui, 47, cries in front of the debris of her collapsed house, which buried her brother-in-law, in Huili County, Sichuan Province.
SHANGHAI — The devastation from an earthquake that struck southwestern China on Saturday is much worse than initially feared, state-run news media reported on Sunday, saying that the quake had damaged 258,000 homes and killed at least 32 people.
The earthquake, which was centered in Sichuan Province and had a magnitude of 6.1, damaged highways, reservoirs, bridges and hundreds of schools, and it forced the evacuation of more than 40,000 people in Sichuan and neighboring Yunnan Province, reported Xinhua, the state news agency. More than 230 people were reported injured.
Sichuan was devastated on May 12 by China’s worst natural disaster in over 30 years, a 7.9-magnitude earthquake that killed nearly 70,000 people and left millions homeless, so thoroughly damaging the region that recovery efforts were expected to take years, if not decades.
Since the quake hit at 4:30 p.m. Saturday, the region has suffered hundreds of aftershocks. The strongest was Sunday afternoon, when one with a preliminary magnitude of 5.1, was reported in Sichuan, but it was unclear whether there was any new damage, Chinese officials said.
Over the weekend, poor communication in the southern part of Sichuan was making it difficult for the government and news agencies to determine the scale of the damage or how many people had died.
The earthquake was centered near the city of Panzhihua, in the southern part of Sichuan, far south of the May 12 earthquake, according to the state-run news media. The China Earthquake Administration ordered an emergency response to the area after early reports of heavy damage in some places.
Sichuan is one of China’s largest provinces, and Sichuan and Yunnan are home to millions of people from ethnic minorities.
The government said that about 70,000 people in Panzhihua alone were affected by Saturday’s earthquake. And in one part of Sichuan, about 660 school buildings were destroyed.
The tremors were felt as far north as Chengdu, the provincial capital of Sichuan, and also in Kunming, the capital of Yunnan to the south.
沒有留言:
張貼留言