News Briefs (August - September 2007)

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Four Die in Flash Floods in N Thailand

Flash floods have swept over mountainous areas in Thailand's northern provinces, killing four people and injuring 12, the country's disaster prevention agency said Tuesday. Heavy rainfall for the past few days caused flash floods in 22 mountainous villages in the northern provinces of Phitsanulok, Phetchabun, and northeastern province of Loei, affecting more than 4,600 people, said a statement from Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Center. Four villagers, including two children, were killed, 12 injured and two were missing, it said. Conditions in the two provinces were returning to normal Tuesday, it said, though farmland in two districts in Phisanulok remained flooded. (AP)

Self-professed 'Princesses' from Ancient Indonesian Monarchy Face Malaysia Court

Two women claiming to be princesses from an ancient Indonesian empire were charged in a Malaysian court Wednesday with entering the country illegally, their lawyer said.
Malaysian immigration authorities arrested Puteri Lamia Roro Wiranata, 21, and Puteri Fathia Reza, 23, in a buffer zone between the sultanate of Brunei and Malaysia's Sarawak state on July 16, their attorney Shankar Ram Asnani said. The women claimed they had been living "in exile" in Switzerland and Germany and that they were visiting Southeast Asia using passports "issued by the Sunda Democratic Empire," Shankar said. The "empire" refers to the former monarchies of the Sundanese people in Indonesia dating back centuries—no longer recognized by Indonesia and other countries in the region.

The women managed to enter Brunei in July, but they claimed they had been forced into the buffer zone—considered by both countries to be under Malaysian jurisdiction—because they were eventually expelled by Brunei authorities, Shankar said. State prosecutors charged them Wednesday in Sarawak's High Court with entering Malaysia illegally and representing themselves with false travel documents, Shankar said. They face unspecified prison sentences and fines if convicted, he said. Immigration officials familiar with the case could not immediately be contacted. Court hearings for the case would proceed this week, and the women were in custody in a police lockup, Shankar said. (AP)

Iraqi, South Korean Lead for AFC Player of the Year

Iraq captain Younis Mahmoud and South Korean World Cup veteran Lee Woon-jae are among 33 players in the running for the Asian Football Confederation's Player of the Year award. Contenders include five players from Asian Cup champion Iraq, four from Japan, three from Saudi Arabia, two each from Iran, South Korea, Thailand, Kuwait, Vietnam, Oman and Syria, and one each from the United Arab Emirates, Australia, Bahrain, Uzbekistan, North Korea, Tajikistan and China, the AFC said in a statement Wednesday. The AFC Annual Awards ceremony is scheduled for November 28 in Sydney, Australia. (AP)

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

2 Dead, 5 Missing in Vietnam Flash Flood

Flash flooding triggered by torrential rain killed two people and swept five others away in northern Vietnam, a government official said Tuesday. The floodwaters engulfed seven workers as they slept at Suoi Ngoi Duong hydroelectric plant in Lao Cai province, said Thao A Tua, a provincial disaster official. Lao Cai is 320 kilometers (200 miles) northwest of Hanoi. Last year, natural disasters in Vietnam killed at least 500 people, injured nearly 3,000, and caused nearly US$1.17 billion in damage. (AP)

Vietnam Seizes Chickens Smuggled from China

Authorities in northern Vietnam confiscated 2,500 chickens smuggled in from neighboring China, highlighting the challenges of stopping bird flu, officials said Tuesday. Authorities confiscated 1.3 tons of chickens found in a truck early Tuesday morning, said Nguyen Thang Loi, director of Lang Son provincial market control department. The chickens will be destroyed, he added. In neighboring Quang Ninh province, authorities on Sunday confiscated 4.3 tons of chickens smuggled in from China in two separate cases, said provincial chief market inspector Nguyen Dang Truong. Loi said his staff have confiscated some 50 tons of chickens smuggled in from China so far this year, while authorities in Quang Ninh have confiscated and destroyed more than 60 tons of the birds in the same period.