News in Brief

Date: 10 January 2022 - 21:32

News ID: ۹۸۷۲۱

BERLIN (AP) — Damage wrought by Hurricane Ida in the U.S. state of Louisiana and the flash floods that hit Europe last summer helped make 2021 one of the most expensive years for natural disasters, reinsurance company Munich Re said Monday. The company’s annual report put the overall economic losses from natural disasters worldwide last year at $280 billion, making it the fourth-costliest after 2011, the year a massive earthquake and tsunami struck Japan. Insured losses in 2021 amounted to $120 billion, the second-highest after 2017, when hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria hit the Americas, according to Munich Re. More than a third of those insured losses last year were caused by Ida ($36 billion) and the floods in western Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands ($13 billion). The company warned that studies showed a link between global warming and natural disasters. “The images of natural disasters in 2021 are disturbing,” said Torsten Jeworrek, a member Munich Re’s board of management. “Climate research increasingly confirms that extreme weather has become more likely,” he said.

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LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -- Police in Los Angeles, California, pulled the pilot from a crash-landed Cessna seconds before the aircraft was hit by a train on Sunday, sending debris flying in all directions. Dramatic video showed several officers freeing the man from the downed plane, which had crashed shortly after takeoff in the Pacoima neighborhood, according to local media. The officers and pilot were just a few feet away from the tracks when the passing train destroys the plane. “The plane had a failed takeoff and landed on the train tracks at a popular intersection,” said Luis Jimenez, the 21-year-old music composer who filmed the video. “Just seconds before impact police officers saved the pilot, and a piece of debris almost hit me.” The pilot was treated for cuts and bruises and is in a stable condition, according to local media. No one on the train was injured, local media reported.

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BANGKOK (AP) — A court in Myanmar sentenced ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi to four more years in prison on Monday after finding her guilty of illegally importing and possessing walkie-talkies and violating coronavirus restrictions, a legal official said. Suu Kyi was convicted last month on two other charges and given a four-year prison sentence, which was then halved by the head of the military-installed government. The cases are among about a dozen brought against the 76-year-old woman since the army seized power last February, ousting her government and arresting top members of her National League for Democracy party. If found guilty of all the charges, she could be sentenced to more than 100 years in prison. Suu Kyi’s supporters and independent analysts say the charges against her are contrived to legitimize the military’s seizure of power and prevent her from returning to politics.

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BEIJING (Dispatches) — Beijing on Monday accused Washington of inciting Lithuania to “contain China” in a feud over the status of self-ruled Chinese Taiwan after U.S. officials expressed support for the European Union-member country. “The United States has instigated the Lithuanian authorities to undermine the ‘one-China principle’,” said a foreign ministry spokesman, Wang Wenbin. “It has supported, aided and abetted them in going further down the wrong path to achieve its political calculations to contain China.” Chinese Taiwan and China have been ruled separately since splitting amid civil war in 1949. The mainland’s ruling Communist Party never has controlled the island but claims it as part of Chinese territory and threatens to invade. Beijing retaliated for Lithuania’s move by expelling the Lithuanian ambassador. Lithuania has closed its embassy in Beijing.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Donald Trump’s lawyers on Monday was to try to persuade a federal judge to throw out a series of lawsuits by Democratic lawmakers and two police officers alleging that the former president incited the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol. The three lawsuits, by Democratic U.S. representatives including Eric Swalwell and Jerry Nadler, as well as two Capitol Police officers who battled rioters claim that Trump is liable for injuries to police and lawmakers. The Democratic lawmakers have invoked an 1871 law passed to fight the white supremacist Ku Klux Klan that prohibits political intimidation. The lawsuits charge that the worst attack on the U.S. Capitol since the War of 1812 was a direct consequence of Trump’s actions, including a fiery speech he gave shortly before thousands of his supporters stormed the building in an effort to overturn President Joe Biden’s election.

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KHARTOUM (Reuters) -- A second protester in Sudan has died after being hit in the head with a tear gas canister in anti-military rule protests, medics said on Monday. This brings the death toll from Sunday’s protest to two, and from protests since an October military coup to 63. The other protester died after being impacted by a tear gas canister in the neck, said the Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors which is aligned with the protest movement. Sudanese police said in a statement on Monday that they “dealt with security breaches with the appropriate amount of force” and that one death of a citizen had been recorded, and eight injuries. They also said that 22 policeman had been injured and that 86 suspects had been arrested. Security forces fired tear gas at protesters who were marching in solidarity with the city of Omdurman, which has seen the bulk of violence in recent days.