Lightning and rain kill 24 in western India

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Panoramic view of lightning over illuminated city against sky at night,Kolkata,West BengalGetty Images
By Mattea Bubalo
BBC News

At least 24 people have been killed in lightning strikes and rain in India during intense storms, officials said.

The rain damaged houses and killed livestock across western Gujarat state.

Storms are unusual in Gujarat during winter, meteorologists said, and the fierce downpour caught many off guard.

Flash floods and lightning strikes kill thousands of people in India each year. Scientists are warning that rising global temperatures are fuelling a surge in extreme weather events.

Rising land and sea surface temperatures warm the air above and make more energy available to drive thunderstorms from where lightning emanates.

Rain and hailstorms were expected to continue in western India on Monday.

At least 18 of the 24 deaths were attributed to the lightning strikes, officials said in a statement late on Sunday.

Gujarat state was hit by heavy rainfall accompanied by thunderstorms and hailstorms on Sunday and Monday, with some areas receiving up to 144mm (5.7 inches) of rain in 24 hours, Reuters news agency reported citing state government data.

India’s Home Minister Amit Shah said he was “deeply saddened” by the deaths, adding that local authorities were engaging in relief work.

In India, lightning strikes killed more than 100,000 people between 1967 and 2019, according to official data. This is more than a third of fatalities caused by natural hazards during this period.

The number of lightning strikes in the country is also rising – but reported fatalities have been decreasing in recent years as the authorities improve their management of lightning risk, including forecasting and early warning systems.

India recorded more than 18 million lightning strikes between April 2020 and March 2021, according to a study by the non-profit Climate Resilient Observing Systems Promotion Council. This was a 34% rise over a similar period during the previous year.

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CNA Explains: China’s pneumonia outbreak – should you be concerned?

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BEIJING: China is dealing with a surge in respiratory illnesses that is straining its healthcare system and sparking global concern over a possible new pandemic threat, four years after COVID-19 first emerged in the country.

What do we know about the outbreak?

A nationwide increase in respiratory diseases, mainly affecting children, was first reported by China’s National Health Commission on Nov 13, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Patients have reported symptoms such as fever, fatigue and cough. No deaths have been reported.

China reported 205 influenza/flu clusters for the week starting Nov 13, compared with 127 the week before that.

The rising caseload has led to long queues and gruelling waits at children’s hospitals in cities like Beijing, Tianjin and Liaoning.

The National Health Commission attributed the increase in infections to the circulation of known pathogens – primarily influenza, but also mycoplasma pneumonia, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), rhinoviruses, adenoviruses as well as COVID-19.

Another contributing factor cited was the arrival of winter and China’s first full cold season since it lifted its zero-COVID policy nearly a year ago.

An increase in respiratory illnesses in winter is not uncommon.

In the US, for instance, RSV cases were on a sharp upward trend in the middle of October, according to the Centers for Disease Control, with weekly infection numbers at their highest since the last winter.

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Rise in anti-Singapore sentiments online since outbreak of Israel-Hamas hostilities: Shanmugam

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During that parliamentary debate on Nov 6, Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong highlighted an uptick in anti-Singapore rhetoric and violent threats, an observation Mr Shanmugam echoed at Monday’s event. “There have also been calls online for Singapore to be targeted using rockets, bombs,” said Mr Shanmugam. “Global terrorist groups like AlContinue Reading

Thai, Malaysian PMs discuss trade, tourism at new border checkpoint

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PUBLISHED : 27 Nov 2023 at 18:49

Thai, Malaysian PMs discuss trade, tourism at new border checkpoint
Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, right, meets Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim at the Sadao Customs House at the new border crossing in Sadao district of Songkhla on Monday. (Photo: Government House)

The Thai and Malaysian prime ministers on Monday agreed to facilitate bilateral border trade and tourism through the new, bigger Sadao border checkpoint in the Thai province of Songkhla.

Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin and his Malaysian counterpart Anwar Ibrahim met at the customs office of the new Sadao border checkpoint on Monday.

According to Government House, both sides agreed to speed up their road access to the new Sadao checkpoint on the Thai side of the border to increase cross-border trade and travel. The old Sadao checkpoint is small and cannot be expanded. 

On the Malaysian side, the new Sadao checkpoint will be connected by road to the Bukit Kayu Hitam checkpoint in Malaysia’s Kedah state.

Both sides also agreed to form joint task forces to coordinate border trade, tourism, and agricultural and security affairs.

Mr Srettha asked Malaysia to host a Joint Trade Commission meeting for their commerce ministers to discuss solutions to bilateral trade obstacles. He also asked the neighbouring country’s government to quickly work out a memorandum of understanding on cross-border transport of goods to facilitate the operation of the new Sadao checkpoint.

Mr Settha then asked Mr Anwar to support cooperation between the Thai and Malaysian chambers of commerce near the border so that they can jointly promote trade, tourism and development in border areas.

The Thai side pointed out that Thai visitors to Malaysia still lacked adequate access to public transport on the Malaysian side of the border.

Mr Srettha also asked Malaysia to support his government’s plan to establish a Halal department.

On security, both sides agreed to coordinate efforts to tackle wildlife trafficking along their border.

The Thai and Malaysian prime ministers also promised to speed up their sections of the second Sungai Kolok bridge planned to link Sungai Kolok district of Narathiwat and the Malaysian town of Rantau Panjang.

After their meeting, Mr Srettha said he intended to promote border trade with Malaysia, with a targeted value of bilateral trade reaching US$30 million a year in 2025. He hoped that Thai and Malaysian road access to the new Sadao border checkpoint would be completed in 2025.

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Critically endangered Sumatran rhino born in Indonesia

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The new addition to the Sumatran rhino herd at Way Kambas, which numbers 10, comes after another baby Sumatran rhino was born there in September. “This birth is the second birth of the Sumatran Rhino in 2023. This further strengthens the government’s commitment to Rhino conservation in Indonesia,” she said.Continue Reading

Car-sharing is here to stay amid rise in membership sign-ups, say observers

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GOING CAR-LITE

The move away from owning a car is a reflection of Singapore’s shift towards going car-lite, said analysts.

“We have to realise that Singapore cannot sustain a lot of cars on our small island because of our limited space,” said Associate Professor Raymond Ong of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the National University of Singapore (NUS), adding that the country also needs space for other needs.

He believes that there could be a slight dip in users if car-sharing companies raise prices due to the higher costs of buying a car. 

Yet he expects car-sharing behaviour to stay as commuters, particularly younger people, grow more environmentally conscious.

They believe “in a much more sustainable transportation, rather than owning an asset that they will only use on specific times of the day”, Dr Ong said. 

“They will rather go for sharing services, whereby it is on a as-need basis.”

For instance, younger people make up the bulk of TribeCar’s users. This year alone, almost 70 per cent of those who signed up with it were aged 18 to 35.

To support Singapore’s car-lite aspirations, public transport, walking and cycling infrastructures are being ramped up to help commuters travel seamlessly, said Dr Ong. 

“There is a general trend for younger segments of the population to be less likely to own a car or to be less likely to even have a licence to drive.”

He believes more people will walk and cycle, or use public transport for daily commutes in future, and use car sharing or ride sharing occasionally.

“We may actually see that we have multiple users using one car, and this means that there’s a more efficient use of a vehicle. We may have less vehicles on the road,” said Dr Ong. 

“Basically, if there are less cars on the roads and a more efficient use of transport modes, there will be a lower carbon emission from the land transport sector.”

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Police guarantee Paeng Nanod’s safety, if he surrenders

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No guarantee if he resists arrest

Police guarantee Paeng Nanod's safety, if he surrenders
A TV screen capture of fugitive prison escapee Chaowalit Thongduang, alias Sia Paeng Nanode, from one of the videos he sent to police saying he escaped because he had been treated unfairly by police, prosecutors and the justice system.

The national police chief has called on fugitive Chawalit Thongduang, alias Sia Paeng Nanode, to surrender and has guaranteed his safety, as the huge manhunt for the prison escapee continues in thick forest near the southern border.

However, he said, he could not guarantee his safety if he remained a hunted fugitive.

Chaowalit, 37 escaped from his Nakhon Si Thammarat hospital bed on Oct 22 after being taken there from the provincial prison for dental treatment, and has since run rings around his pursuers.

He was serving time at Nakhon Si Thammarat Prison. He was sentenced to 20 years and six months in jail last year by Phatthalung Court for attempted murders in connection with an armed attack on police during an attempted abduction on Sept 2, 2019 in Phatthalung province.

He was tracked heading south and a massive manhunt mounted for his capture.  Authorities believe Chaowalit is hiding in the heavily forested Banthad mountain range in Phatthalung province, discounting speculation he had crossed into Malaysia.

Pol Gen Torsak Sukvimol, he police chief, said on Monday he had information that Chaowalit had come down from the mountain – the date and time and the people who helped him.

Chaowalit has posted videos addressing the police. From the background seen in the clips, including a barbed wire fence, the police chief said the escapee might be hiding somewhere along the border.

In the videos, Chaowalit made allegations against police officers and public prosecutors, saying he was treated unfairly.

Pol Gen Torsak said he had ordered the police inspector-general’s office to investigate. If the allegations were found to have grounds, those officials would face both disciplinary and criminal action.

He said the escapee himself had not contacted police offering to surrender, as some reports suggested.  Only his relatives had done that.

If Chaowalit did surrender peacefully, he, as the police chief, would guarantee his safety and there would not be an extrajudicial killing. However, if there was fighting while police were trying to recapture him, police at the scene would act at their discretion, Pol Gen Torsak said.

Directing his remarks directly at Chaowalit, Pol Gen Torsak said if he chose to remain a fugitive, he would be running for the rest of his life. He should surrender and tell the authorities about the injustice he claimed to have suffered, he added.

Pol Lt Gen Ithipol Atchariyapradit, an assistant national police chief, said he believed Chaowalit was still inside the country. It was not possible that he had fled by boat to Indonesia, and if Chaowalit fled to Malaysia he would not be able to stay there since he is not a Muslim, he said.

“I believe he is still hiding on a mountain inside the country, with help from some people. No matter what, police will continue their efforts for his recapture,” he said.

Pol Maj Suriya Singhakamol, director-general of the Department of Special Investigation (DSI), said Justice Minister Tawee Sodsong had ordered a fact-finding investigation into the allegations Chaowalit made in the videos.

The fugtive claimed he was denied justice, saying the only person given a prison sentence even though there were many other suspects in the case.

If Chaowalit’s allegations were found to have grounds, the DSI might be assigned to take up the case for re-investigation, he said.

Attorney-general’s spokesman Prayuth Phetkhun said Chaowalit had mentioned two prosecutors in his videos as having treated him unjustly. Attorney-general Amnat Jetcharoenrat ordered Sirisak Pojanasit, director-general of the Region 9 Prosecution Office, to investigate.

Mr Sirisak initially reported back that “Lersak”, one of the prosecutors mentioned by Chaowalit, was not involved as the crime occurred in Phatthalung province in 2019. At that time, Mr Lersak was working in Bangkok’s Min Buri district. He also denied knowing either the other prosecutor or Chaowalit.

On Chaowalit’s claim that of the suspects in the case, only he was indicted by prosecutors while six others were not, Mr Prayuth said the Office of the Attorney General had ordered an investigation to establish whether the indictment decision was correct or not, and whether there were grounds for the indictment to be reconsidered.

The investigation result was expected next week, he said.

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Doctor suspended for 12 months after examining underage patients without chaperone present

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CLAIMED OF A “MOMENTARY LAPSE”

During the disciplinary inquiry, Dr Liang claimed the patient’s subjective feelings of discomfort were crucial, saying there was no need to call a chaperone if the patient felt comfortable during the consultation.

The SMC’s benchmark standard, meanwhile, was that a male doctor is required to call a female chaperone when he physically examines a female patient in certain situations.

This includes when the doctor is examining a part of the body considered to be private or sensitive; if the patient is young or underaged and alone; or if the female patient needs to be lying down or in a vulnerable position.

The tribunal noted that SMC’s position was the more preferable and acceptable standard by the profession in Singapore. An expert further confirmed that doctors in Singapore are taught to use a chaperone in these situations.

Dr Liang also later acknowledged that he knew it was the “best practice” to have a chaperone present when physically examining a female patient. He had practised medicine for more than seven years at that point.

The tribunal questioned if Dr Liang was in the right frame of mind to sense any discomfort while examining Ms P, since he admitted he was not observant of that then.

Dr Liang had been diagnosed with major depressive disorder after he saw a psychiatrist one week after the incidents. This would have caused reduced or poor judgment as well as increased impulsivity when he examined Ms P, but he was of sound mind and culpable for his actions, the tribunal noted from the psychiatrist’s findings.

Dr Liang told the psychiatrist that he did not call for a chaperone because he was “in a rush” and “going through the motions” when he examined Ms P and the other two underage patients.

He also claimed to be preoccupied with exams for his master’s degree in family medicine, and that his parents had scolded him for being involved in a motor accident.

An expert who testified on his behalf indicated a possible “momentary lapse” that led to his failing to call a chaperone. The tribunal said they found it difficult to accept this.

“Rather, we think that (Dr Liang) deliberately intended not to call a chaperone or acted in a cavalier manner, ignoring and disregarding any discomfort of the patients.”

The tribunal noted that Dr Liang appeared “very considered” on how to examine Ms P, going so far as to make a mental note to avoid touching her breast area.

When Dr Liang saw his psychiatrist on Dec 1, 2016, he also admitted that he could have examined the other two underage patients without exposing their tops.

“Yet he proceeded to do so, further illustrating (his) display of a pattern of wilfully turning a blind eye and making intentional and deliberate choices,” the tribunal said.

TEXT MESSAGE WAS FOR SOCIAL REASONS

As for Dr Liang’s text message to Ms P, the tribunal disagreed with his expert that a doctor was entitled to full access to any patient’s contact information at any time under the concept of presumed consent.

Instead, the tribunal accepted SMC’s position that a patient does not consent to a doctor obtaining his or her personal contact information, simply by virtue of a medical consultation.

Dr Liang’s lawyers argued that he intended to send an “introductory” text message before giving information on smoking cessation and sleep hygiene.

However, the tribunal said the tone of the message was clearly personal and friendly, and questioned why Dr Liang needed to know where Ms P worked as a barista.

“We find that (Dr Liang) had exploited his position to gain access to the patient’s contact information from the patient database after the consultation, made use of the patient’s contact information to send a text message with no clinical relevance (more for social reasons), and to make a telephone call to the patient who is a minor,” the tribunal wrote.

This “final wrongful act … sealed the violation of the patient’s right to privacy and dignity”, the tribunal added.

LACK OF INTEGRITY AND INSIGHT

In terms of the appropriate punishment, Dr Liang sought a year-long suspension while SMC asked for 18 months.

The tribunal agreed with the SMC that Dr Liang’s excuses and attempts during the disciplinary inquiry to justify his behaviour showed a “lack of integrity and insight into his misconduct”.

The requirement for a female chaperone to be present when a male doctor examines a female patient, as well as not accessing a patient’s contact information and contacting the patient without any urgent medical need, are “rudimentary principles that must be abided by”, said the tribunal.

While the tribunal intended to suspend Dr Liang for 16 months, it agreed with Dr Liang that there was some inordinate delay on SMC’s part in prosecuting him. It gave a four-month discount because of that.

The tribunal considered that any reasonable person would have suffered “significant anxiety and distress” from the matter hanging over their head for close to seven years.

Apart from the suspension, the tribunal ordered that Dr Liang be censured, provide a written undertaking to the SMC not to repeat the misconduct, and pay costs to SMC.

“We will wish to attribute part of (Dr Liang’s) misconduct to his tender age at the material time and hope that with that episode as well as the treatment that he has received after the episode which has shown a favourable prognosis, that (he) will not re-offend,” the tribunal added.

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