The Star Online: World Updates
The Star Online: World Updates |
- Northeast cleans up from Superstorm Sandy, death toll rises
- Emirates A380 jet returns to Sydney after engine failure
- Japan PM eyes snap election after backing U.S-led trade pact
| Northeast cleans up from Superstorm Sandy, death toll rises Posted: 11 Nov 2012 08:06 PM PST NEW YORK (Reuters) - New Yorkers took to the streets on Sunday to reinforce recovery from Superstorm Sandy, volunteering to help clean up devastated neighbourhoods and using an annual Veterans Day parade to collect donations for victims still struggling without homes or electricity.
Police raised the storm-related fatality toll in New York City to 43, adding the death of a 77-year-old retired custodian who was found paralyzed last week at the bottom of the steps of his apartment building in Rockaway, Queens, with head injuries. He died at a hospital on Saturday, they said. At least 121 people have perished in the storm, which caused an estimated $50 billion in property damage and economic losses and ranks as one of the most destructive natural disasters to hit the U.S. Northeast. The Rockaways peninsula of the city's Queens borough was especially hard hit when Sandy barrelled into the East Coast on October 29, unleashing a record storm surge that flooded low-lying areas and fierce winds that toppled trees and power lines. Many residents said they felt exhausted. Priscilla Perez, 30, was climbing up 11 flights of stairs in the dark, carrying clothes, jugs of water supplies and her 1-year-old daughter to an apartment at the Bay Towers in Rockaway Park. Helping carry the load was her 10-year-old son, Elijah, who she said is struggling with the impact of the storm. "He doesn't want to eat. He's never been through anything like this," she said. "I tell him when we go to get food, 'Take a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, take a hot dog,' but he says no." Recovery workers, from volunteers to firefighters, National Park Service workers and thousands of National Guard members, helped clean up in Queens and the city's Staten Island borough, also badly damaged, clearing mounds of garbage, sand and debris. Medical teams went door to door to check on residents in high-rise buildings without power. U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano paid a visit on Sunday to hundreds of federal recovery workers crammed into the mess hall aboard the T.S. Kennedy, a merchant marine training ship docked on Staten Island to serve as a floating hotel for government employees taking part in the effort. "Thank you, and thank you, and thank you," she told the workers, adding, "I hope you take some pride in what you're doing." Throughout the Eastern seaboard, thousands of homes were destroyed or badly damaged, millions were left without power, and commerce was brought to a virtual standstill in the immediate aftermath of the storm. The misery was compounded by an unseasonably early winter storm, or "Nor'easter" that lashed the region on Wednesday with more heavy winds, along with rain, sleet and snow. As many as 8.6 million utility customers lost electricity at some point in the midst of the back-to-back storms. On Sunday, nearly two weeks after Hurricane Sandy first struck, thousands were still in temporary shelters, while the tally of power outages had dwindled to about 167,000, according to the U.S. Energy Department. New York accounted for most of the remaining outages, the bulk of them on Long Island. In what was likely to be a great relief to hundreds of thousands of commuters struggling to get to jobs without mass transit, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie announced that some PATH trains that connect New York and New Jersey would resume service on Monday morning. However, service at the Hoboken, Exchange Place and World Trade Center stations was still suspended due to severe flooding and will likely remain so for several weeks, they said. Officials also announced the limited reopening of the Governor Hugh L. Carey Tunnel, formerly known as the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel, for rush-hour bus service Monday morning. The tunnel, which connects Brooklyn with downtown Manhattan, flooded with an estimated 43 million gallons (162.8 million litres) of water that damaged electrical, lighting, communications, surveillance and ventilation systems, authorities said. In addition, Amtrak planned to reopen the so-called North Turbe rail tunnel under the Hudson for Amtrak passenger train and New Jersey Transit commuter service on Monday, according to a statement from U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey. He said the tunnel, which was shut down immediately following Sandy, was expected to operate at 63 percent of normal capacity as further work continued. COLLECTING COATS FOR THE DISPLACED Organizers of the Veterans Day parade, New York City's first major post-Sandy event since its annual marathon race was cancelled last weekend, asked spectators lining the parade route to bring winter coats to be donated to storm victims. The group New York Cares was hoping to collect 50,000 coats by week's end, part of an annual drive that began two weeks early to help Sandy victims. "What's wonderful is that veterans came to us and felt in the spirit of service, that is so prevalent among folks in the armed forces, they wanted to make sure the veterans were not only being honoured today but also doing their bit to help," said Gary Bagley, the group's executive director. Lingering power outages tested the patience of many residents who had been living without lights, heat or water for extended periods. Sharp criticism was levelled in particular at the Long Island Power Authority, or LIPA, which was still trying to restore service to some 62,000 customers. Speaking on CNN, U.S. Representative Peter King, who represents the area, called the situation "a disgrace." "The LIPA has failed miserably. They are not doing a good job," he said. "It really has reached crisis proportions." Sunday also marked the third day of gas rationing in New York City, under a system in which cars with odd- and even-numbered license plates can fill up only on alternate days. President Barack Obama is to visit hard-hit areas of New York City on Thursday. Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in a radio address that the city has distributed almost 2 million meals, 500,000 litres of water and more than 100,000 blankets as well as space heaters, baby supplies and flashlight batteries. The city also was distributing underwear, winter hats, toilet paper, bleach, soap, toothbrushes, toothpaste and towels. Bloomberg said the city was sending in teams of contractors and inspectors to help hasten the process of restoring power to thousands of utility customers in Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island who cannot get electricity back until equipment is repaired and tested. In Staten Island, a fear of crime in the darkened neighbourhoods was evident in signs hanging on many houses that read "Beware of Dog" or "This home is Remington protected." In Queens, small cranes scooped up mounds of sand washed ashore by the storm, and firefighters used hoses to power-wash streets. "We're taking it one day at a time," said Jim Long, a firefighter whose home suffered water damage. "The water table is pretty high. You clean out some water and come back the next day and there's more water." (Additional reporting by Eileen Houlihan and Olivia Oran, Writing by Ellen Wulfhorst and Steve Gorman; Editing by Christopher Wilson and Eric Walsh) Copyright © 2012 Reuters | ||
| Emirates A380 jet returns to Sydney after engine failure Posted: 11 Nov 2012 07:45 PM PST CANBERRA (Reuters) - An A380 Emirates jet bound for Dubai was forced to return to Australia on Sunday night when one of its engines failed soon after take-off, with some passengers reporting flames trailing from the engine unit. The flight, with 380 passengers on board, was just 20 minutes into its flight from Sydney to Dubai and climbing at an altitude of 10,000 feet when it experienced a problem with one of its four engines. "Emirates flight EK413 from Sydney to Dubai on 11 November turned back shortly after take-off due to an engine fault. Passengers are being re-booked on alternative flights," the airline said in a statement on Monday. A mid-air engine blowout in November 2010 on an A380 using Rolls Royce Trent engines prompted Australia's Qantas Airlines to ground its entire fleet of Airbus superjumbos for nearly a month. Emirates, the world's biggest user of A380s, uses rival GP7200 engines built by Engine Alliance, a joint venture between engine manufacturers General Electric and Pratt & Whitney. Passengers on the giant double-deck aircraft, manufactured by Airbus parent EADS, said the superjumbo experienced a "judder" and then they saw flames shooting several metres out of one of the engines. "I saw a flash. I thought it could have been lightning, but then we saw flames come out of the engine. The whole interior of the A380 lit up," passenger John Fothergill, 49, from New Zealand told Australia's Daily Telegraph newspaper. Emirates later said there was no fire, although "passengers may have seen a flash." The Dubai-based carrier apologised for the inconvenience to its passengers and said their safety was "of the highest priority and will not be compromised." Superjumbos, worth $375 million apiece, typically carry around 525 passengers. A380 aircraft, manufactured in Toulouse from parts sourced across Europe, have also been affected by cracks in the wings of a small number of planes. There are eighteen airlines currently using the aircraft with total orders outstanding for 262. (Reporting by Rob Taylor; Editing by Ryan Woo) Copyright © 2012 Reuters | ||
| Japan PM eyes snap election after backing U.S-led trade pact Posted: 11 Nov 2012 07:43 PM PST TOKYO (Reuters) - Under growing opposition pressure to keep a promise to call an election "soon", Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda looks to be leaning toward calling a vote as early as next month, after pledging backing for a controversial U.S.-led free trade pact.
The unpopular Noda may be hoping to emulate charismatic leader Junichiro Koizumi's bold election gamble in 2005 and use a call for a major economic reform to ease the bashing his Democratic Party is expected to suffer at the hands of disappointed voters. The maverick Koizumi's pledge to privatise the giant postal system as a symbol of vital reforms, despite opposition from lawmakers in his own party, helped him lead the then-ruling Liberal Democrats to a stunning election victory. Now Noda, with voter support for his cabinet below 20 percent, wants to enshrine backing for the U.S.-led Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade pact in his Democratic Party of Japan's (DPJ) new campaign platform. "We will simultaneously pursue the TPP and the free trade agreement between Japan, China and South Korea and this stance will be included in our manifesto," Noda told reporters over the weekend. But Noda faces opposition from his ruling party MPs who fear a backlash from Japan's politically powerful farmers. Japan's farmers say a flood of cheap agricultural imports will devastate their heavily protected, small-scale operations. The main opposition Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) opposes joining the TPP negotiations if the end result is the elimination of all tariffs. The TPP aims to tear down traditional barriers to trade. "I think an election is close," Motohisa Furukawa, a former National Strategy Minister, told Reuters last week, adding that a December 16 vote was possible. "I don't think the situation will improve if we put it off." DEFEAT LOOMS FOR NODA Political analysts are not convinced Noda can steal victory at the ballot box like Koizumi, but how badly the Democrats will lose is unclear given lukewarm voter support for the LDP and the wild card of new parties such as one led by populist Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto. "It wasn't that the public liked postal reform. The public liked Koizumi," said Gerry Curtis, a Columbia University political science professor. "The problem is, the public doesn't particularly like Noda. I think what he may be after is to go down in history as the one who got the consumption tax increase and TPP." In August, Noda persuaded the LDP and its smaller partner, the New Komeito, to back a bill to double the sales tax to 10 percent by 2015 in order to curb bulging public debt. In return for their help in passing the bill in the opposition-controlled upper house, he promised to call a general election "soon". Japanese business executives are pushing strongly for Tokyo to join the U.S.-led trade deal, arguing Japan will fall further behind regional rivals China and South Korea if it stays out of the pact, which so far includes the United States Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Chile and Peru. POLITICAL DEADLOCK Noda is Japan's sixth prime minister since 2006, when Koizumi ended a rare five-year term, and the third since the Democrats won a landslide victory in 2009, ending more than half a century of nearly non-stop LDP rule. Since gaining office three years ago, the Democrats have fallen into policy confusion and political deadlock. Pressure is mounting on Noda to call an election for parliament's lower house before year-end, although some in his party would prefer to delay the day of reckoning. Lower house members' four-year terms run through August 2013 but scenting victory, the LDP and the New Komeito want Noda to keep his pledge to call a poll now. Hoping to force his hand, they are poised to help pass key bills Noda has set as conditions for calling an election. A law to allow the government to issue bonds to help finance the budget now looks set to pass, as does legislation to reduce vote disparities between urban and rural election districts that the Supreme Court has ruled unconstitutional. But Noda could still decide to wait until next year to face Japanese voters, perhaps dissolving the lower chamber soon after the start of a regular session expected to begin in January. "Noda's job is to minimize the damage to the party," said Tsuneo Watanabe, a senior fellow at the Tokyo Foundation think-tank. "If he wants to avoid a total bashing, the election should not be this year." (Editing by Tomasz Janowski and Michael Perry) Copyright © 2012 Reuters |
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