Evacuations ordered as typhoon hits China
Taipei, Oct 9:People have been moved to shelters and nearly 2,000 boats recalled to port as the remnants of Typhoon Koinu slammed into southern China on Monday after leaving one dead and over 300 injured in Taiwan. The storm bore down on the southern Chinese island province of Hainan on Monday, just south of the financial center of Hong Kong and the key manufacturing regions in the surrounding area on mainland China. The Hong Kong Observatory said on its website that Koinu was weakening from a typhoon into a tropical depression as it moved southwest along the coast of China’s Guangdong province. Air and rail services have been suspended as Koinu, meaning puppy in Japanese, rolled into the region. Koinu arrived a month after southern China and Hong Kong were lashed by Typhoon Saola, which triggered Hong Kong’s highest storm signal on a scale of 11. A week later, Guangdong province and Hong Kong were hit with the heaviest rains in almost 140 years. The storm also broke a windspeed record off Taiwan’s east coast. (AP)
Flights in Hamburg Airport suspended
Berlin, Oct 9: Flights to and from Hamburg Airport were suspended for about 1 1/2 hours on Monday after authorities received a threat to a plane that arrived from Iran, officials said. Takeoffs and landings at the airport in northern Germany were stopped at 12.40 pm (1040 GMT) and some arriving flights were diverted to Hannover among other places, German news agency dpa reported. Operations resumed later, though the airport warned on its website that delays were still possible. Federal police said they received an emailed threat on Monday morning of an attack on the Tehran-Hamburg flight and were taking it seriously, though they didn’t give details. The plane landed in Hamburg at about 12:20 pm. The 198 passengers and 16 crew members underwent a security check, and the aircraft and luggage on board were searched. There was no immediate update on the outcome of those checks. The German air force said its planes were scrambled to accompany the aircraft from where it entered German airspace, east of Berlin, to Hamburg. (AP)
Trudeau reignites diplomatic row with India
New Delhi, Oct 9: In a fresh provocation, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau posted on X that he has discussed India “and the importance of upholding – and respecting – the rule of law” with Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed, the President of the United Arab Emirates. In a post on Sunday, he said: “On the phone today, His Highness Mohammed Bin Zayed and I spoke about the current situation in Israel. We expressed our deep concern and discussed the need to protect civilian life. We also spoke about India and the importance of upholding – and respecting – the rule of law.” His comment comes amid a raging diplomatic fracas with India following Canada’s allegation that Indian officials are involved in the murder of a Canadian citizen. (IANS)