The Star Online: Metro: Sunday Metro
The Star Online: Metro: Sunday Metro |
- Laos air force plane crash kills defence minister, 21 others
- Bangladesh ferry death toll rises to 45
- Taiwan approves 'rich man's tax'
| Laos air force plane crash kills defence minister, 21 others Posted: 16 May 2014 11:11 PM PDT VIENTIANE: At least 22 people including the defence minister were killed when a Laos air force plane crashed Saturday, officials said. The victims included three members of the ruling Communist Party's central committee. Three people reportedly survived the crash. The plane crashed at about 8am in the north-eastern province of Xiangkhuang, killing Defence Minister Duangchay Phichit, who was also a deputy prime minister and member of the party's politburo, a source close to him said. Also killed were Public Security Minister Thongban Saengaphon, Vientiane Mayor Soukan Mahalat and party propaganda chief Chuang Sombounkhan, sources confirmed. The group was en route to a ceremony marking the 55th anniversary of the 2nd Battalion's victory over royalist forces. Laos has been under communist rule since 1975. – The Nation/ANN |
| Bangladesh ferry death toll rises to 45 Posted: 16 May 2014 10:18 PM PDT Gajaria (Bangladesh) (AFP) - Navy divers have recovered 16 more bodies from the wreckage of a Bangladesh ferry as the death toll from the disaster rose to 45 with scores more feared drowned, officials said Saturday. Two salvage vessels managed to float the sunken ship and brought it closer to the shore, allowing the divers to search inside of the 90-feet (30 metre) long boat three days after it sank following a storm. "We've concluded our search inside the vessel. Navy divers have scoured every nook and cranny after we lifted the vessel out of water," Bangladesh inland water transport authority chief Shamsuddoha Khandaker told AFP. "The death toll is now 45. We've searched the vessel and there are fewer chances that any more bodies could be found there," government administrator of the region Saiful Hasan told AFP. Local police chief Ferdous Ahmed confirmed the figure. Hasan said the search for bodies in the Meghna river, one of the world's widest, would continue as they feared that some bodies could have been washed downstream by strong currents. Hundreds of distraught relatives gathered by the side of the river for a third day as bodies were brought and laid out for identification. Many have relatives still unaccounted for.  Map locating Munshiganj district in Bangladesh where a ferry capsized leaving hundreds feared dead. - AFP The exact number of passengers was not immediately known as Bangladeshi ferries do not maintain passenger logbooks. Authorities have initially said the ship was carrying up to 350 people when it embarked for a trip to southern Bangladesh, but later cut it down to 150-200. Some 40 people have managed to swim ashore. Survivors blamed the ship's captain for refusing to take shelter from a gathering storm. An investigation has been launched into whether it had been carrying too many passengers. "We'll take action against the ship's driver and the owner as we have got evidences that the driver defied warnings to continue the journey despite the storm," Khandaker said. Survivors and officials told AFP the ship capsized after it was swamped by giant waves.  Bangladeshi relatives mourn the victims of a ferry capsize on the river Meghna in Munshiganj district, some 50 kilometres (30 miles) south of Dhaka, on May 16, 2014. - AFP Ferry accidents are common in Bangladesh, one of Asia's poorest nations which is criss-crossed by more than 230 rivers. Experts blame poorly maintained vessels, flaws in design and overcrowding for most of the tragedies. |
| Taiwan approves 'rich man's tax' Posted: 16 May 2014 10:15 PM PDT Taipei (AFP) - Taiwan's parliament has approved a so-called "rich man's tax" on nearly 10,000 of the island's wealthiest people in a bid to narrow the widening income gap. Starting next year, those with annual net income of over Tw$10 million ($333,000), or the richest 1.5 percent of individuals or families, will be subject to a 45 percent income tax rate, up from the current 40 percent, said the finance ministry. The revised income tax law passed by parliament Friday also includes business tax hikes on banks and insurers as well as more tax deductions for low-income families, salarymen and the disabled, the ministry said. It is expected to generate an extra Tw$65 billion more a year in revenue for the government, including Tw$9.9 billion from the richest people as well as around Tw$20 billion from the banking and insurance sectors. Finance minister Chang Sheng-ford has said that the taxation reform was aimed at improving income distribution and was backed by tycoons such as Foxconn Group founder Terry Gou. Taiwan's income gap reached a record level in 2011, as the wealthiest families earned 96 times more than the poorest, according to the latest official data. The bottom five percent of families reported an average annual income of Tw$48,000, compared with Tw$4.63 million earned by the top five percent in 2011, based on their income tax filings. Observers have blamed the rapidly widening gap between the rich and the poor as one of the reasons behind a recent string of anti-government protests. |
| You are subscribed to email updates from Regional Feed To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
0 ulasan:
Catat Ulasan