Category: NEWS

  • Storm death toll hits 15 in southern Argentina

    BUENOS AIRES, March 9 – The death toll from the intense storm that struck the southern Argentine port city of Bahia Blanca on Friday has risen to 15, local authorities said Sunday.

    Federico Susbielles, mayor of Bahia Blanca, said that the number of fatalities could be even higher due to the magnitude of the meteorological phenomenon that hit the city and surrounding towns.

    Activities have been suspended, and the locals have been asked to stay home, he added.

    According to an update from the municipality of Bahia Blanca, at least 1,450 people have been evacuated so far, while another 100 are missing.

    The government of Argentina arranged an assistance and evacuation operation involving the defense and security ministries as well as the government of the province of Buenos Aires.

    Friday’s rainstorm was the most intense one in the city’s history, breaking the rainfall record set in March 1933, according to official data.

    XINHUA

  • Rusia tawan semula 3 penempatan di wilayah Kursk: kementerian pertahanan

    MOSCOW – Tentera Rusia menguasai semula tiga penempatan di wilayah Kursk, kata Kementerian Pertahanan pada Ahad.

    “Hasil operasi tegas, unit Pasukan Sever (Utara) membebaskan Malaya Loknya, Cherkasskoye Porechnoye dan Kositsa di wilayah Kursk,” kata kementerian itu dalam satu kenyataan, sambil menambah bahawa tentera Rusia meneruskan operasi untuk mengalahkan angkatan bersenjata Ukraine di wilayah Kursk.

    Ketiga-tiga penempatan itu semuanya terletak di utara Sudzha yang dikuasai Ukraine, sebuah pekan penting yang mendapatkan bekalan untuk operasinya di Kursk.

    XINHUA

  • Wanita maut, suami dan dua anak cedera kemalangan

    KULAI – Seorang wanita maut, manakala suaminya dan dua anak mereka termasuk bayi berusia empat bulan cedera dalam kemalangan membabitkan dua kenderaan di Kilometer 39.9 Lebuhraya Utara Selatan (arah selatan), petang semalam.

    Ketua Polis Daerah Kulai, Asisten Komisioner Tan Seng Lee, berkata pihaknya menerima makluman dari Bilik Gerakan IPD Kulai berkaitan kemalangan membabitkan Perodua Myvi dan Proton Persona.

    Katanya, siasatan awal mendapati kemalangan dipercayai berlaku apabila Produa Myvi yang dipandu lelaki tempatan berumur 30 tahun bersama isteri, 29 tahun dan dua anak mereka berumur empat tahun dan empat bulan hilang kawalan ketika berada di lorong kiri.

    “Kenderaan tersebut kemudian melanggar sebuah Proton Persona yang dipandu lelaki tempatan berumur 32 tahun yang berada di lorong kanan.

    “Pelanggaran menyebabkan Perodua Myvi terbalik dan terbabas ke lorong kecemasan.

    “Kemalangan itu menyebabkan penumpang Perodua Myvi wanita berumur 29 tahun meninggal dunia di tempat kejadian,” katanya dalam satu kenyataan di sini hari ini.

    Menurut Seng Lee, pemandu dan dua anaknya dibawa ke Hospital Temenggung Seri Maharaja Tun Ibrahim untuk rawatan.

    Kes disiasat mengikut Seksyen 41 (1) Akta Pengangkutan Jalan 1987.

    BH ONLINE

  • Israel berkata ia putuskan bekalan elektriknya ke Gaza

    BAITULMAQDIS – Israel berkata ia akan memutuskan bekalan elektriknya ke Gaza. Kesan penuh daripada itu tidak serta-merta jelas, tetapi loji penyahgaraman wilayah menerima tenaga untuk menghasilkan air minuman.

    Pengumuman pada Ahad dibuat seminggu selepas Israel memotong semua bekalan barangan ke wilayah itu kepada lebih 2 juta orang. Ia telah berusaha untuk menekan Hamas untuk menerima lanjutan fasa pertama gencatan senjata mereka. Fasa itu berakhir hujung minggu lalu.

    Hamas telah mendesak untuk memulakan rundingan mengenai fasa kedua gencatan senjata yang lebih sukar.

    Gaza sebahagian besarnya telah musnah akibat perang, dan penjana serta panel solar digunakan untuk beberapa bekalan tenaga.

    AN-AP, 9 Mac 2025

  • Israel says it is cutting off its electricity supply to Gaza

    Palestinian children wait to receive food cooked by a charity kitchen, during Ramadan, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, March 9, 2025. (Reuters)

    JERUSALEM – Israel says it is cutting off its electricity supply to Gaza. The full effects of that are not immediately clear, but the territory’s desalination plants receive power for producing drinking water.

    Sunday’s announcement comes a week after Israel cut off all supplies of goods to the territory to over 2 million people. It has sought to press Hamas to accept an extension of the first phase of their ceasefire. That phase ended last weekend.

    Hamas has pressed to start negotiations on the ceasefire’s more difficult second phase instead.

    Gaza has been largely devastated by the war, and generators and solar panels are used for some of the power supply.

    AN-AP, 9 March 2025

  • US Secret Service shoots armed man near White House: spokesman

    WASHINGTON – US Secret Service agents shot an armed man near the White House during the night, an agency spokesman said early Sunday, while President Donald Trump was spending the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida.

    The man had been hospitalized and his condition was “unknown,” the spokesman said in a statement that did not specify whether the White House or Trump may have been the intended target.

    No injuries to Secret Service agents were reported, according to the statement posted by spokesman Anthony Guglielmi on social media platform X.

    The agents had been warned by local police of a “suicidal” man traveling to Washington from Indiana and around midnight found his parked vehicle near 17th and F Streets, the statement said — very near the White House.

    They then spotted an individual nearby who matched the description they had been given, the statement said.

    “As officers approached, the individual brandished a firearm and an armed confrontation ensued, during which shots were fired by our personnel,” the statement said.

    “The suspect was transported to an area hospital and his condition is unknown,” it said, adding that Washington police were investigating.

    AN-AFP

  • Perkhidmatan Rahsia AS tembak lelaki bersenjata dekat Rumah Putih: jurucakap

    WASHINGTON – Ejen Perkhidmatan Rahsia Amerika Syarikat (AS) menembak seorang lelaki bersenjata berdekatan Rumah Putih pada waktu malam, kata jurucakap agensi awal Ahad, ketika Presiden Donald Trump menghabiskan hujung minggu di kediamannya di Mar-a-Lago di Florida.

    Lelaki itu telah dimasukkan ke hospital dan keadaannya “tidak diketahui”, kata jurucakap itu dalam satu kenyataan yang tidak menyatakan sama ada Rumah Putih atau Trump mungkin menjadi sasaran yang dimaksudkan.

    Tiada kecederaan kepada ejen Perkhidmatan Rahsia dilaporkan, menurut kenyataan yang disiarkan oleh jurucakap Anthony Guglielmi di platform media sosial X.

    Ejen-ejen itu telah diberi amaran oleh polis tempatan mengenai seorang lelaki “ingin bunuh diri” dalam perjalanan ke Washington dari Indiana dan sekitar tengah malam menemui kenderaannya yang diletakkan berdekatan 17th dan F Streets, kata kenyataan itu – sangat dekat dengan Rumah Putih.

    Mereka kemudian melihat individu berdekatan yang sepadan dengan penerangan diberikan kepada mereka, kata kenyataan itu.

    “Ketika pegawai menghampiri, individu itu mengacukan senjata api dan konfrontasi bersenjata berlaku, di mana tembakan dilepaskan oleh anggota kami,” kata kenyataan itu.

    “Suspek telah dihantar ke hospital kawasan dan keadaannya tidak diketahui,” katanya, sambil menambah bahawa polis Washington sedang menyiasat.

    AN-AFP

  • Beribu-ribu rakyat Australia tanpa bekalan elektrik apabila ribut Alfred melanda Queensland

    Beratus-ratus ribu orang di negeri Queensland Australia terputus bekalan elektrik pada Ahad selepas Alfred, taufan tropika, membawa angin dan hujan lebat yang merosakkan, mencetuskan amaran banjir.

    Kira-kira 316,540 orang terputus bekalan elektrik di tenggara Queensland, di mana bandar Gold Coast merupakan kawasan paling teruk terjejas dengan lebih 112,000 orang terputus bekalan elektrik akibat sistem ribut, kata pengedar tenaga Energex dalam satu kenyataan.

    Ribut melanda pantai Queensland pada Sabtu sebagai “rendah tropika” selepas 16 hari sebagai taufan, mendorong persiapan oleh berjuta-juta penduduk. Ibu negeri Brisbane terhindar daripada ribut yang turut dirasai di jiran selatan New South Wales.

    Perdana Menteri Anthony Albanese berkata pada Ahad “keadaan di Queensland dan utara New South Wales kekal sangat serius akibat banjir kilat dan angin kencang”.

    “Hujan lebat, tiupan angin yang merosakkan, dan kesan ombak pantai dijangka berterusan dalam beberapa hari akan datang,” kata Albanese di Canberra, dalam kenyataan disiarkan oleh Australian Broadcasting Corp.

    Biro Meteorologi negara berkata hujan lebat yang boleh mencetuskan banjir kilat sedang berkembang pada Ahad dan boleh memberi kesan kepada Brisbane serta pusat wilayah Queensland Ipswich, Sunshine Coast dan Gympie, katanya.

    Angin yang merosakkan dengan tiupan sekitar 90 kph (60 mph) juga mungkin berlaku di negeri ini, kata biro itu di laman webnya.

    “Ia kini hanya paras rendah yang lemah kerana ia terus bergerak lebih jauh ke pedalaman melalui tenggara Queensland, membawa banyak hujan,” kata pakar meteorologi biro Dean Narramore.

    Lapangan Terbang Brisbane dibuka semula pada Ahad tetapi menyiarkan di X bahawa “cuaca berterusan mungkin menjejaskan jadual”.

    Queensland akan memutuskan pada Ahad sama ada kira-kira 1,000 sekolah negeri, ditutup kerana cuaca buruk, akan dibuka semula pada Isnin, kata Premier David Crisafulli.

    “Di mana ia selamat untuk berbuat demikian, sekolah akan dibuka semula dengan pengecualian Gold Coast, di mana masih terdapat beberapa kerosakan yang ketara. Kehilangan kuasa dan masalah dengan pengangkutan,” kata Crisafulli dalam komen televisyen dari Brisbane.

    “Satu perkara kekal konsisten, iaitu semangat kemasyarakatan dan keazaman,” katanya.

    Pada Sabtu, seorang lelaki maut dalam air banjir di utara New South Wales, manakala dua kenderaan pasukan pertahanan Australia dalam perjalanan untuk membantu penduduk di bandar Lismore terlibat dalam perlanggaran jalan raya yang mencederakan beberapa pegawai, kata pegawai.

    REUTERS

  • Thousands of Australians without power as storm Alfred lashes Queensland

    Hundreds of thousands of people in Australia’s Queensland state were without power on Sunday after Alfred, a downgraded tropical cyclone, brought damaging winds and heavy rains, sparking flood warnings.

    Some 316,540 people were without power in Queensland’s southeast, where the Gold Coast city was the worst-hit area with more than 112,000 without power due to the storm system, energy distributor Energex said in a statement.

    The storm reached the Queensland coast on Saturday as a “tropical low” after 16 days as a cyclone, prompting preparations by millions of residents. The state capital Brisbane was spared the brunt of the storm, which was also felt in southern neighbour New South Wales.

    Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Sunday that the “situation in Queensland and northern New South Wales remains very serious due to flash-flooding and heavy winds”.

    “Heavy rainfall, damaging wind gusts, and coastal surf impacts are expected to continue over coming days,” Albanese said in Canberra, in remarks televised by the Australian Broadcasting Corp.

    The nation’s Bureau of Meteorology said heavy rainfall that could spark flash flooding was developing on Sunday and could impact Brisbane as well as the Queensland regional centres of Ipswich, Sunshine Coast and Gympie, it said.

    Damaging winds with gusts of around 90 kph (60 mph) were also possible in the state, the bureau said on its website.

    “It is now just a weak low as it continues moving further inland through southeast Queensland, bringing lots of rain,” said bureau meteorologist Dean Narramore.

    Brisbane Airport reopened on Sunday but posted on X that “ongoing weather may affect the schedule”.

    Queensland will decide on Sunday on whether around 1,000 state schools, closed due to the bad weather, will reopen on Monday, said state Premier David Crisafulli.

    “Where it’s safe to do so, schools will reopen with the exception of the Gold Coast, where there remains some significant damage. Power loss and issues with transport,” Crisafulli said in televised comments from Brisbane.

    “One thing’s remained consistent, and that is the community spirit and the resolve,” he said.

    On Saturday, one man died in floodwater in northern New South Wales, while two Australian defence force vehicles en route to help residents in the city of Lismore were involved in a road collision that injured several officers, officials said.

    REUTERS

  • 3 maut dalam kebakaran kediaman di tengah Filipina

    MANILA, 8 Mac – Sepasang suami isteri dan anak perempuan mereka berusia tujuh tahun maut apabila kebakaran melanda sekurang-kurangnya tiga rumah di Iloilo City di tengah Filipina pada pagi Sabtu, kata pihak berkuasa.

    Biro Perlindungan Kebakaran berkata, kebakaran yang bermula sekitar 4.30 pagi waktu tempatan itu memusnahkan rumah mangsa dan dua rumah berjiran.

    Biro itu berkata mayat ketiga-tiga mangsa ditemui di tingkat dua, sambil menambah ia masih menyiasat punca kebakaran.

    XINHUA