2 storms, Florence and Mangkhut, different as water and wind

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Resident Joseph Eudi looks at flood debris and storm damage from Hurricane Florence at a home on East Front Street in New Bern, North Carolina, Son Sept. 15, 2018. (Gray Whitley/Sun Journal via AP)
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Residents walk along destroyed stalls at a public market due to strong winds as Typhoon Mangkhut barreled across Tuguegrao city in Cagayan province, northeastern Philippines, on Sept. 15, 2018. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
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Motorists negotiate a flooded street in Manila, Philippines, before dawn on Sept. 15, 2018 following heavy rains and strong winds brought about by Typhoon Mangkhut which barreled into northeastern Philippines. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)
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Philippine police give out rice porridge to residents living along the coastal community of Baseco in Manila as they evacuate during the onslaught of Typhoon Mangkhut which barreled into northeastern Philippines before dawn on Sept. 15, 2018. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)
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Manila police distribute rice porridge to residents living along the coastal community of Baseco as they evacuate at the onslaught of Typhoon Mangkhut which barreled into northeastern Philippines before dawn Saturday, Sept. 15, 2018 in Manila, Philippines. Philippine officials were assessing damage and checking on possible casualties as Typhoon Mangkhut on Saturday pummeled the northern breadbasket with ferocious wind and rain that set off landslides, damaged an airport terminal and ripped off tin roofs. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)
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People wait in line to fill up their gas cans at a gas station that was damaged when Hurricane Florence hit the area on September 15, 2018 in Wilmington, North Carolina. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images/AFP)
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A car washed away by flood waters remains partially submerged as torrential rains continue after Hurricane Florence struck in Southport, North Carolina, US, on September 15, 2018. (REUTERS/Jonathan Drake)
Updated 16 September 2018
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2 storms, Florence and Mangkhut, different as water and wind

  • Storms in the western Pacific generally hit with much higher winds and the people who live in their way are often poorer and more vulnerable
  • But Florence’s watery insured damage total will eventually be higher, says Ernst Rauch, head of climate research for the world’s largest reinsurer Munich Re

WASHINGTON: Nature expresses its fury in sundry ways. Two deadly storms — Hurricane Florence and Typhoon Mangkhut — roared ashore on the same day, half a world apart, but the way they spread devastation was as different as water and wind.
Storms in the western Pacific generally hit with much higher winds and the people who live in their way are often poorer and more vulnerable, Princeton University hurricane and climate scientist Gabriel Vecchi said Saturday. That will likely determine the type of destruction.
Mangkhut made landfall Friday on the northeastern tip of Luzon island in the Philippines with top-of-the-scale Category 5 winds of 165 mph. Florence had weakened to a Category 1 storm with 90 mph winds by the time it arrived at North Carolina’s coast.
Yet a day after landfall the faster-moving Mangkhut was back out over open water — weakened, but headed across the South China Sea toward China. Florence, meanwhile, was still plodding across South Carolina at a pace slower than a normal person walks. By Saturday morning, it had already dumped more than 30 inches (76 centimeters) of rain, a record for North Carolina.
Experts say Mangkhut may well end up being the deadlier storm. As of Saturday afternoon, the death count in the Philippines was a bit higher, although still far below that of other storms that have hit the disaster-prone island nation. And with Mangkhut now headed toward the densely populated southeast coast of China, it is likely to cause more death and destruction. But Florence’s watery insured damage total will eventually be higher, Ernst Rauch, head of climate research for the world’s largest reinsurer Munich Re, told German media.


That’s because of a combination of geography, climatic conditions and human factors.
The western Pacific has two-and-a-half times more storms that reach the minimum hurricane strength of 74 mph. It has three-and-a-half times more storms that reach major hurricane strength of 111 mph, and three times more accumulated energy out of those hurricanes, an index that measures not just strength and number of storms but how long they last, according to more than 65 years of storm data .
So far this year there have been 23 named storms in the western Pacific and 10 in the Atlantic, both regions more than 30 percent busier than average years. Hurricanes and typhoons are the same type of storm; both are tropical cyclones, but those that occur in the Pacific west of the International Date Line are called typhoons.
The water in the western Pacific is warmer, and warm water fuels storms. There are also only a few pieces of land to get in the way and weaken them, said University of Miami hurricane researcher Brian McNoldy.
“If we are ever going to have a Category 6 (a speculated-on level that’s above current measurement tools), the western Pacific is where it’s going to be,” said meteorologist Ryan Maue of weathermodels.com.
The Philippines tends to get hit nearly every year, the Carolinas far less frequently though with lots of close calls, Maue said. That shows another big difference in the storms. Mangkhut formed further south and stayed south — over warmer water. Florence was out of the tropics when it hit land.
Because of that, Florence was weakened by the dry air and upper level winds of the higher latitudes. Not so the more southerly Mangkhut, which Maue said, “essentially had a perfect environment to intensify to a Category 5 and stay there.”
“Mangkhut and Florence are certainly different animals,” said Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach. Because Florence is moving so slowly, he said, it will dump more rain than Mangkhut, which is named for the Thai word for the mangosteen fruit.
Both storms have lasted a long time, especially Florence which formed all the way over near Africa 15 days before landfall, McNoldy said. Both storms cover a large area, but Mangkut still dwarfs Florence. Mangkhut’s tropical storm force winds stretched more than 325 miles from the center, while Florence’s spread about 195 miles, Klotzbach said.


Economics also play a role in a storm’s impact. As a developing country, the Philippines is much poorer than the southeastern United States, which means houses tend to be less sturdy and first responders less well equipped, among other factors. This is one reason why, when disaster does strike, the effects can be devastating. In 2013, one of the most powerful storms on record, Typhoon Haiyan , killed 7,300 people and displaced more than 5 million when it swept across the islands of the central Philippines.
Straddling the famous Pacific Ring of Fire, the Philippines is also bedeviled by volcanoes and earthquakes, and while there are considerable patches of poverty in North and South Carolina, it is not the same as the rural area where Mangkhut hit.
Munich Re’s Rauch said about 30 to 50 percent of storm damage is usually insured in the United States but often less than 10 percent in developing countries, meaning nine-tenths of the people hit will end up shouldering a bigger economic burden.
In the United States, “you can’t move houses, but people can move out of the way,” reflecting mounting damages from storms and often lower losses in life, Vecchi said.
As the world warms from the burning of fossil fuels, the globe will see both more extremely intense storms like Mangkhut and wetter storms like Florence, Vecchi said.


Sweden to send NATO troops to Latvia next year: PM

Updated 16 sec ago
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Sweden to send NATO troops to Latvia next year: PM

The Swedish troop contribution was the first to be announced since the Scandinavian country joined NATO in March
The battalion would be comprised of around 400 to 500 troops

STOCKHOLM: Sweden will next year contribute a reduced battalion to NATO forces in Latvia to help support the Baltic state following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said Thursday.
The Swedish troop contribution was the first to be announced since the Scandinavian country joined NATO in March.
Kristersson had in January announced that Sweden would likely send a battalion to take part in NATO’s permanent multinational mission in Latvia, dubbed the Enhanced Forward Presence, aimed at boosting defense capacity in the region.
“The government this morning gave Sweden’s armed forces the formal task of planning and preparing for the Swedish contribution of a reduced mechanized battalion to NATO’s forward land forces in Latvia,” Kristersson told reporters during a press conference with his Latvian counterpart Evika Silina.
He said the battalion, which will be in Latvia for six months, would be comprised of around 400 to 500 troops.
“Our aim is a force contribution, including CV 90s armored vehicles and Leopard 2 main battle tanks.”
“We’re planning for the deployment early next year after a parliament decision,” he said.

UK police make fourth arrest after migrant deaths off France

Updated 33 min 23 sec ago
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UK police make fourth arrest after migrant deaths off France

  • NCA said it arrested an 18-year-old from Sudan late Wednesday on suspicion of facilitating illegal immigration and entering the UK illegally
  • The latest arrest took place at Manston in Kent, southeast England, and the suspect was taken into custody for questioning

LONDON: UK police said Thursday that they had arrested another man after five migrants, including a child, died this week trying to cross the Channel from France.
The National Crime Agency (NCA) said it arrested an 18-year-old from Sudan late Wednesday on suspicion of facilitating illegal immigration and entering the UK illegally.
The arrest came as part of an investigation into the Channel small boat crossing which resulted in the deaths of five people on a French beach on Tuesday.
The NCA detained two Sudanese nationals aged 19 and 22, and a South Sudan national, also 22, on Tuesday and Wednesday, also on suspicion of facilitating illegal immigration and entering the UK illegally.
The 19-year-old has been released without charge, and is now being dealt with by immigration authorities, said the NCA.
The latest arrest took place at Manston in Kent, southeast England, and the suspect was taken into custody for questioning.
Three men, a woman and a seven-year-old girl lost their lives in the early hours of Tuesday in the sea near the northern French town of Wimereux.
They had been in a packed boat that set off before dawn but whose engine stopped a few hundred meters from the beach.
Several people then fell into the water. About 50 people were rescued and brought ashore but emergency services were unable to resuscitate the five.
Fifteen people have died this year trying to cross the busy shipping lane from northern France to southern England, according to an AFP tally.
That is already more than the 12 who died in the whole of last year.


Belgium summons Israeli ambassador over aid worker’s death

Updated 4 min 11 sec ago
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Belgium summons Israeli ambassador over aid worker’s death

  • Abdallah Nabhan, 33, along with his seven-year-old son, 65-year-old father, 35-year-old brother and six-year-old niece, were killed in Israel strike
  • The airstrike hit the family home where 25 people were sheltering

BRUSSELS: Belgium said Thursday that it would summon Israel’s ambassador to explain the death in a Gaza airstrike of an aid worker with its Enabel development agency, as well as members of his family.
“Bombing civilian areas and populations is contrary to international law. I will summon the Israeli ambassador to condemn this unacceptable act and demand an explanation,” Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib said on X.
Enabel said in a statement that Abdallah Nabhan, 33, along with his seven-year-old son, 65-year-old father, 35-year-old brother and six-year-old niece, were killed “after an Israeli airstrike in the eastern part of the city of Rafah.”
The airstrike hit the family home where 25 people were sheltering, including people displaced by the Israeli military operation in Gaza, Enabel said.
It said that Nabhan, who had worked on a Belgian development project helping young people find jobs, and his family were on a list Israel had of people eligible to exit Gaza, but that they were killed before being granted permission to leave.
Enabel’s chief, Jean Van Wetter, called their deaths “yet another flagrant violation by Israel of international humanitarian law.”
The health ministry in Gaza, run by the Hamas militant group, says more than 34,000 people have died in the war being waged in the Palestinian territory, most of them women and children.
Israel is conducting airstrikes and ground operations there in retaliation for a Hamas attack on October 7 that killed around 1,170 people in Israel, according to an AFP tally of Israeli figures.
Belgium, which currently holds the EU presidency, is among the European countries most vocal in condemning Israel’s operation as disproportionately deadly for Palestinian civilians.


Ukraine, Russia exchange fire, at least seven dead

Updated 25 April 2024
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Ukraine, Russia exchange fire, at least seven dead

  • The uptick in civilian deaths came as Russian forces are pressing in hard in the eastern Donetsk region of Ukraine
  • A Ukrainian attack drone left two dead in Zaporizhzhia and two more were killed by Ukranian artillery fire in Kherson

MOSCOW: Ukrainian and Russian forces exchanged drone and artillery fire on Thursday, leaving at least seven dead, regional officials on both sides of the frontline announced.
The uptick in civilian deaths came as Russian forces are pressing in hard in the eastern Donetsk region of Ukraine, ahead of events in Moscow on May 9, hailing the Soviet Union's victory in World War II.
A Ukrainian attack drone left two dead in the southern region of Zaporizhzhia and two more were killed by Ukranian artillery fire in the southern Kherson region, officials said.
The Kremlin claimed to have annexed both regions in late 2022 even though Russian forces are still battling to gain full control over them.
"A man and a woman were killed as a result of a strike on a civilian car. Their four young children were orphaned," the Russian-installed head of Zaporizhzhia, Evgeny Balitsky, wrote on social media.
He said the children would be taken into care and provided with psychological assistance.
The Russian head of the Kherson region, Vladimir Saldo, said separately that two more people were killed by Ukrainian fire in the village of Dnipryany.
The two frontline regions saw intense bouts of fighting in 2022 and the summer of 2023, when Ukraine launched a counteroffensive that failed to meet expectations in Zaporizhzhia.
The brunt of the fighting has since moved to the eastern Donetsk region, which is also claimed by Moscow as Russian territory.
The Ukrainian head of the Donetsk region, Vadim Filashkin, said three people had been killed in separate bouts of shelling in the villages of Udachne, where two people were killed, and in Kurakhivka, where one person was killed.
"The final consequences of the shelling have yet to be determined," he said.


Keralites in Gulf take ‘vote flights’ to join India’s mammoth polls

Updated 25 April 2024
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Keralites in Gulf take ‘vote flights’ to join India’s mammoth polls

  • ‘Vote flights’ are special chartered flights bringing Keralites home to cast ballots
  • Kerala is the single main place of origin of Indian expats living in Gulf countries

NEW DELHI: Tens of thousands of Keralites working in Gulf countries are flying home to cast their ballots as the southern Indian state opens for voting on Friday in the world’s biggest general election.

India’s seven-phase polls started on April 19 and take place over the next six weeks, with more than 968 million people registered to vote.

Some states are completing the process in a day, and others have it spread out in several phases. Kerala is joining other 12 states, which according to the schedule go to the polls on April 26.

Indian nationals living overseas have been allowed to vote since 2011 and have to register with both the Election Commission of India and Indian embassies in their countries of residence. Their names will then appear on the voters’ list, but to cast their ballots, they still need to be physically present in their constituencies.

India has one of the world’s largest diasporas, especially in GCC countries, where at least 9 million Indian expats live and work. The southwestern coastal state of Kerala is the single main place of their origin. Some 3.5 million Keralites reside in Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and the UAE.

“I think about 30,000 people have come from Saudi Arabia alone to vote. Not all of them have come on ‘vote viman’ (vote flights). Some have also come by regular flights,” said Iqbal Cheri, a marketing professional working in Dammam, who reached Kerala on Thursday.

Cheri referred to the flights that have been bringing citizens home to participate in Friday’s polls.

“They bring voters only and they are mostly chartered flights,” he said. “We have come here to vote and save our democracy and secularism. It’s an important election and we all need to vote to save the nation.”

His compatriot, Shareef Chola Paramdil, who works as a marketing head of a hospital in Dammam, said these election flights have been bringing Saudi Arabia-based Kerala voters home for the past few days.

“Last week, also three chartered flights came from Saudi Arabia,” he said.

“People who come on the chartered flights pay less compared to the regular flights, as group booking brings down the fare. Besides, these people don’t get more than a few days of leave. So, they come and cast their votes and leave the next day.”

There are 543 contested seats in the lower house of parliament. The party or coalition that wins at least 272 is going to form the government. The state of Kerala will contribute 20.

For Paramdil, the election is particularly important as a Muslim because incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his ruling Bharatiya Janata Party have been accused by the opposition and minority groups of marshaling majoritarian Hindu sentiment.

Critics say that India’s tradition of diversity and secularism has been under attack since Modi took power a decade ago and that his party has been fostering religious intolerance and discrimination.

“We want a government that does not discriminate in the name of religion, and we have been troubled by the politics of division that the government in Delhi has been practicing ever since it came to power in 2014,” Paramdil said.

Both Keralite Muslims and Hindus — like Gokul Padnabhan, a Kuwait-based professional in the oil and gas industry — see the election as an important exercise of their democratic rights.

“It’s very important to be here this time. That’s why I came for the vote,” Padnabhan said. “The vote will help us find the right person to rule us for the next five years.”

One of the organizations helping expat voters charter flights in Gulf countries is the Kerala Muslim Cultural Centre, an overseas wing of the Indian Union Muslim League.

“I feel around 100,000 people have come from the Gulf region to vote in this election,” said Ahamed Saju, head of the IUML’s student federation.

“Why they came is because this is a very crucial election this time ... Each and every vote is important. So, they thought that this time to protect our democracy, protect our constitution, protect our values and protect our secular credentials and the secular fabric of the country.”