Strong quake knocks out power, sends residents fleeing homes in southern Philippines

Strong quake knocks out power, sends residents fleeing homes in southern Philippines
A strong earthquake in the southern Philippines on Feb. 1, 2023, stoked fear of a 2019 temblor that damaged many buildings in Davao region. (AFP file)
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Updated 01 February 2023

Strong quake knocks out power, sends residents fleeing homes in southern Philippines

Strong quake knocks out power, sends residents fleeing homes in southern Philippines
  • The quake was so strong in Montevista town of Davao de Oro province an and a witness said her house would collapse.

GENERAL SANTOS CITY, Philippines: A 6.0-magnitude earthquake rocked the southern Philippines on Wednesday, the US Geological Survey said, with local authorities warning of aftershocks and possible damage.
The shallow quake struck at 6:44 p.m. (1044 GMT), near Monkayo municipality in Davao de Oro province on Mindanao island.
Shallow earthquakes tend to cause more damage than deeper ones, but there were no immediate reports of major damage in the remote and mountainous gold mining region.
Monkayo police Staff Sergeant Harvey Asayas told AFP the quake was strong in the beginning but gradually weakened and stopped after 40 seconds.
“The authorities are now conducting patrols around to assess damage including the fire personnel and disaster officers,” Asayas said.
Police Corporal Edwin Mangigo, who is stationed at an outpost near Mount Diwata in Monkayo, said there had been no reports of casualties at local mining sites.
“We thought there was a landslide because our roof was shaking, we thought it was going to break,” Mangigo said.

Police Corporal Lucita Ambrocio, who is based in the nearby municipality of New Bataan, described the quake as “quick.”
“After 10 minutes, our colleagues went back to the building,” said Ambrocio, who raced outside with her colleagues when the police station started shaking.
“I checked the premises and I saw a small crack in the barracks.”
But in nearby Montevista municipality, Maricar Melgar said the quake was so strong she feared the building she was in would collapse.
“This was probably the strongest earthquake I experienced. My body is still shaking,” the 51-year-old told AFP.

In Tagum city, in Davao del Norte province, about 40 kilometers south west of the epicenter, residents also fled their homes and power was knocked out by the force of the quake.
“We were eating when (the house) began to shake — it was strong,” said Grace Jao, 40.
“We ran outside — we had to take safety measures. We did not see any damage inside the house when we got back.”
Quakes are a daily occurrence in the Philippines, which sits along the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” an arc of intense seismic as well as volcanic activity that stretches from Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.
Most are too weak to be felt by humans, but strong and destructive ones come at random with no technology available to predict when and where it will happen.
The nation’s civil defense office regularly holds drills simulating earthquake scenarios along active fault lines.
The last major quake was in October in the northern Philippines.
The 6.4-magnitude earthquake hit the mountain town of Dolores in Abra province, injuring several people, damaging buildings and cutting power to most of the region.
A 7.0-magnitude quake in mountainous Abra last July triggered landslides and ground fissures, killing 11 people and injuring several hundred.


British son harmed himself over false sex claims made against his father

British son harmed himself over false sex claims made against his father
Updated 22 March 2023

British son harmed himself over false sex claims made against his father

British son harmed himself over false sex claims made against his father
  • Father reveals in a TV interview how he walked in on his son slicing his arms

DUBAI: A British son reportedly self-harmed over false sex abuse allegations that a 22-year-old woman made against his father.

Eleanor Williams was earlier sentenced to eight and a half years’ jail when a British court convicted her of perverting justice after she falsely accused businessman Mohammed Ramzan, from Cumbria, of leading an Asian grooming gang.

Ramzan and other men were victims of false allegations and rape and abuse claims made against them by the 22-year-old via a Facebook post. The social media post included graphic images of injuries she alleged that she had sustained.

On Tuesday, the Daily Mail reported that Ramzan and Jordan Trengove, another innocent man who was a victim of the woman’s allegations, had been pushed to the brink of suicide.

In an interview with 5 News, Ramzan, a father of four, shared the agonies that his family has been through due to the false allegations. He said that he almost took his own life and revealed how he walked in on his son self-harming one evening.

Media reports cited Ramzan telling TV journalist Dan Walker how he found his son slicing his arms.

“I have gone to use the loo, his room’s next door, there’s lights on and I walked in, and you see your son and ... because we were all keeping each other strong, but we weren’t exposing anything how it was affecting.”

The 43-year-old businessman was falsely accused by Williams of grooming her from the age of 12, putting her to work in brothels in Amsterdam and trying to sell her.

“And there was a point of where everybody, my sons wanting to move out, and I was like, ‘No, we’re not,’” the father was quoted as saying.  

“And my son he turned around and goes, ‘You know, you Dad, you’re known as a paedo. Everyone claims, everywhere on social media, my friends, this is a horrible town, why have you moved us here?’”

Ramzan went on to say that he once smashed a bottle and tried to slice his neck in front of his family and a friend, who grabbed his hand and stopped him.

The accused had also given the police an account of being taken to Blackpool, where she alleged Ramzan threatened her and where she was taken to different addresses and forced to have sex with men. 

Ramzan said that his family would remain in Barrow but admitted he was concerned that far-right supporters on social media were still saying that Williams’ claims were true. 

The family have decided to start a campaign to change the UK’s social media laws, and are looking at setting up a foundation as they work to “move forward.” 

Ramzan also plans to sue police and the Home Office over the torment that the investigation caused him.


Putin says Chinese proposal could be basis for peace in Ukraine

Putin says Chinese proposal could be basis for peace in Ukraine
Updated 22 March 2023

Putin says Chinese proposal could be basis for peace in Ukraine

Putin says Chinese proposal could be basis for peace in Ukraine
  • Xi’s state visit is a major boost to Putin as he squares off against what he sees as a hostile West bent on inflicting a “strategic defeat” on Russia

MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin said after talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Tuesday that Chinese proposals could be used as the basis of a peace settlement in Ukraine, but that the West and Kyiv were not yet ready.
In a joint statement at the end of Xi’s state visit to Moscow, the two men cautioned against any steps that might push the Ukraine conflict into an “uncontrollable phase,” adding pointedly that there could be no winners in a nuclear war.
Putin accused Western powers of fighting “to the last Ukrainian,” while Xi reiterated China’s “neutral position” on Ukraine and called for dialogue.
“We believe that many of the provisions of the peace plan put forward by China are consonant with Russian approaches and can be taken as the basis for a peaceful settlement when they are ready for that in the West and in Kyiv. However, so far we see no such readiness from their side,” Putin said.
China’s proposal — a 12-point paper calling for a de-escalation and eventual cease-fire in Ukraine — lacks details on how to end the war.
The United States has been dismissive of the Chinese proposal, given Beijing’s refusal to condemn Russia over Ukraine, and says a cease-fire now would lock in Russian territorial gains and give Putin’s army more time to regroup.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Putin calls China Russia’s most important economic partner

• Xi is on a state visit to Moscow

• Putin says the West is not ready for peace in Ukraine

Ukraine has welcomed China’s diplomatic involvement but says Russia must pull out its troops and underlines the importance of Ukraine’s territorial integrity.

BURGEONING TIES
The Kremlin talks were intended to cement the “no limits” partnership the two leaders announced last February, less than three weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine.
They signed a series of documents on a “strategic cooperation” after what Putin described as “successful and constructive” talks showing China was clearly now Russia’s most important economic partner.
“I am convinced that our multi-faceted cooperation will continue to develop for the good of the peoples of our countries,” Putin said in televised remarks.
Xi’s state visit is a major boost to Putin as he squares off against what he sees as a hostile West bent on inflicting a “strategic defeat” on Russia.
The Chinese leader visited Moscow days after an international court issued an arrest warrant for Putin over Russia’s actions in Ukraine, where Russian forces have made little progress in recent months despite suffering heavy losses.
In their joint statement, Xi and Putin also called on the United States to stop “undermining global strategic security” and to cease developing a global missile defense system.
While pledging more regular joint military drills, however, the two leaders said the closer relationship between the two countries was not directed against any third nation and that it did not constitute a “military-political alliance.”

POWER OF SIBERIA DETAILS UNFINISHED
Putin said that Russia, China and Mongolia had completed “all agreements” on finishing Russia’s coveted pipeline to ship Russian gas to China, and that Moscow was ready to increase oil exports to Beijing.
But a joint statement after the talks said only that the parties involved in the pipeline — which Putin has called just before Xi’s visit as “the deal of the century” — “will make efforts to advance work on the study and approval” of the pipeline.
The English versions of Xi’s two statements issued after the meetings do not mention the pipeline.
Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak told reporters that there are still details that need to be worked out.
“Instructions were given to companies to work out the details of the project in detail and to sign it as soon as possible,” Russia’s state RIA news agency cited Novak as saying.
“Orders have been given to ensure the agreement’s conditions. We hope that it will be this year.”
The planned Power of Siberia 2 pipeline would deliver 50 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas per year from Russia to China via Mongolia. Moscow put forward the idea many years ago, but it has gained urgency as Russia turns to China to replace Europe as its major gas customer.
Russia’s Gazprom already supplies gas to China through an existing Power of Siberia pipeline under a 30-year, $400 billion deal launched at the end of 2019. That pipeline spans some 3,000 km (1,865 miles).
Russia’s gas exports to China are still a small fraction of the record 177 bcm it delivered to Europe in 2018-19.
Putin said on Tuesday Russia would deliver at least 98 bcm of gas to China by 2030.

 


US dismisses China mediation on Ukraine as not ‘impartial’

US dismisses China mediation on Ukraine as not ‘impartial’
Updated 21 March 2023

US dismisses China mediation on Ukraine as not ‘impartial’

US dismisses China mediation on Ukraine as not ‘impartial’
  • White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby: ‘I don’t think you can reasonably look at China as impartial in any way’
  • China has presented a 12-point position paper on the war which includes a call for dialogue and respect for all countries’ territorial sovereignty

WASHINGTON: The United States said Tuesday it does not see China as capable of being an impartial mediator between Moscow and Kyiv over the war in Ukraine.
It was the most direct US criticism yet of China’s aim to be a middleman in efforts to end the war.
“I don’t think you can reasonably look at China as impartial in any way,” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters.
He noted that China has refrained from criticizing the Russian invasion of Ukraine and has continued to buy Russian oil even as the West piles sanctions on Moscow’s energy industry to starve the Kremlin of money to pay for the war.
China, Kirby added, also “keeps parroting the Russian propaganda” to the effect that the US and other countries in the West are to blame for the war for giving such strong support to pro-western Ukraine over the years that Russia felt threatened and justified in invading.
In a summit rich with red carpet pomp, Chinese President Xi Jingping was visiting Russia Tuesday and met with President Vladimir Putin, with the war in Ukraine high on their agenda.
After talks Tuesday they hailed what they called a “new era” in Russian-Chinese relations.
Kirby said the two were linked not so much by an alliance but rather “a marriage of convenience, because that’s what I think it is.”
China has presented a 12-point position paper on the war which includes a call for dialogue and respect for all countries’ territorial sovereignty.
Putin said he was open to talks on Ukraine and praised Beijing’s position paper.
Kirby said Russia and China “want to change the rules of that game,” meaning the rules based international order.
Still, the United States wants to maintain channels of communication with China, he said.
Kirby added that he is not aware of China having provided military assistance to Russia. The United States has said China is considering this big step, but China denies it.


9 killed as strong earthquake rattles Pakistan, Afghanistan

Rescue worker unload earthquake victims from an ambulance at a hospital in Saidu Sharif, a town Pakistan's Swat valley, Tuesday,
Rescue worker unload earthquake victims from an ambulance at a hospital in Saidu Sharif, a town Pakistan's Swat valley, Tuesday,
Updated 22 March 2023

9 killed as strong earthquake rattles Pakistan, Afghanistan

Rescue worker unload earthquake victims from an ambulance at a hospital in Saidu Sharif, a town Pakistan's Swat valley, Tuesday,
  • Taimoor Khan, a spokesman for the provincial disaster management authority in the northwest, said at least 19 mudbrick homes collapsed in remote areas

ISLAMABAD: A magnitude 6.5 earthquake rattled much of Pakistan and Afghanistan on Tuesday, sending panicked residents fleeing from homes and offices and frightening people even in remote villages. At least nine people died.
More than 100 people were brought to hospitals in the Swat valley region of Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in a state of shock, Bilal Faizi, a spokesman for Pakistan’s emergency services told The Associated Press.
“These terrified people collapsed, and some of them collapsed because of the shock of the earthquake,” he said. Faizi said most were later discharged from the hospital.
Faizi and other officials said nine people were killed when roofs collapsed in various parts of northwestern Pakistan. Dozens of others were injured in the quake, which was centered in Afghanistan and also felt in bordering Tajikistan. The earthquake triggered landslides in some of the mountainous areas, disrupting traffic.
Taimoor Khan, a spokesman for the provincial disaster management authority in the northwest, said at least 19 mudbrick homes collapsed in remote areas. “We are still collecting data about the damages,” he said.
The powerful tremors sent many people fleeing their homes and offices in Pakistan’s capital of Islamabad, some reciting verses from the Qur’an, Islam’s holy book. Media reports suggested cracks had appeared in some apartment buildings in the city.
The scene was repeated in Kabul and other parts of Afghanistan.
“The quake was so strong and terrifying, we thought houses are collapsing on us, people were all shouting and were shocked,” said Shafiullah Azimi, a Kabul resident.
The US Geological Survey said the center of the magnitude 6.5 quake was located 40 kilometers (25 miles) south-southeast of Jurm in Afghanistan’s mountainous Hindukush region, bordering Pakistan and Tajikistan. It said the depth of the earthquake was 187.6 kilometers (116 miles).
Rakhshinda Tauseed, a physician, said she was at her hospital in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore when the earthquake hit. “I quickly asked patients to go move to a safer place,” she said.
Khurram Shahzad, a resident in Pakistan’s garrison city of Rawalpindi, said he was having dinner with his family at a restaurant when the walls started swaying.
“I quickly thought that it is a big one, and we left the restaurant and came out,” he told The Associated Press by phone. He said he saw hundreds of people standing on the streets.
The situation was similar in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on the border with Afghanistan, where people were seen standing outside their homes and offices.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif in a statement said he asked disaster management officials to remain vigilant to handle any situation.
Zabihullah Mujahid, the main spokesman for the Taliban government in Afghanistan, tweeted that the Ministry of Public Health had ordered all health centers to be on standby.
The region is prone to violent seismic upheavals. A magnitude 7.6 quake in 2005 killed thousands of people in Pakistan and Kashmir.
Last year in southeastern Afghanistan, a 6.1 magnitude quake struck a rugged, mountainous region, flattening stone and mud-brick homes. Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers put the total death toll from the quake at 1,150, with hundreds more injured, while the UN has offered a lower estimate of 770.
 

 


UK counter-terror police involved in ‘mosque attack’ probe

UK counter-terror police involved in ‘mosque attack’ probe
Updated 21 March 2023

UK counter-terror police involved in ‘mosque attack’ probe

UK counter-terror police involved in ‘mosque attack’ probe
  • One man was arrested after the attack in Birmingham, central England on Monday evening
  • It came after an 82-year-old man was set on fire outside a mosque in the Ealing area of west London on the evening of Feb. 27

LONDON: Counter-terrorism officers are involved in an investigation into the attempted murder of a man who was set alight after leaving a mosque, UK police said on Tuesday.
One man was arrested after the attack in the Edgbaston area of Birmingham, central England, just after 7:00 p.m. (1900 GMT) on Monday.
It came after an 82-year-old man was set on fire outside a mosque in the Ealing area of west London on the evening of February 27.
The Birmingham force said it was aware of the previous attack.
“We are working with the Metropolitan Police Service to see whether they are linked,” a spokesman said.
West Midlands Police chief superintendent Richard North said counter-terrorism police were supporting the investigation.
They had “access to specialist capabilities to help establish the full circumstances,” he added.
In the latest attack, it is thought the victim, who was walking home from a nearby mosque, was sprayed with an unknown substance then had his jacket set on fire.
He suffered burns to his face and was taken to hospital with serious but not life-threatening injuries.