07-10-2021

ThursDAY, OCTOBer 7, 2021
7
A group of French senators arrived in Taiwan for a five-day visit Wednesday following a large
Chinese show of force with fighter jets amid the highest tensions in decades between China and
Taiwan.
Photo : AP
Argentine house fire
leaves 7 people dead
BUENOS AIRES : Seven
people, including four minors,
died in a house fire on Tuesday
in the Argentine city of Bahia
Blanca, some 635 km south of
Buenos Aires, police said,
reports UNB.
The fire started in the front
part of the house, located in the
Villa Ressia neighborhood of
the major port city.
"The victims sought refuge
in a back room, but could not
get out because the window
had a grille on it," a local
newspaper reported.
"We responded to a 911 call
about a fire," the head of the
Bahia Blanca Police
Department Gonzalo Bezos
said.
"The first police cars arrived
and immediately realized the
seriousness of the situation
because the kitchen, the dining
room and the bedroom were
all on fire, with people inside
asking for help," said Bezos.
The cause of the fire is still
unknown, and an investigation
is underway.
French senators arrive
in Taiwan amid
tensions with China
TAIPEI : A group of French senators
arrived in Taiwan for a five-day visit
Wednesday following a large Chinese show
of force with fighter jets amid the highest
tensions in decades between China and
Taiwan.
The group, led by Senator Alain Richard,
will meet with President Tsai Ing-wen,
Taiwanese economic and health officials
and the Mainland Affairs Council. Richard,
a former French defense minister,
previously visited Taiwan in 2015 and 2018,
according to Taiwan's semi-official Central
News Agency, and heads the Taiwan
Friendship group in the French senate.
China's ambassador to France Lu Shaye
sent a warning letter in February calling on
Richard to cancel the Taiwan visit,
according to local media reports.
The visit will likely provoke a rebuke from
China, which claims self-ruled Taiwan as its
own territory and therefore opposes any
international engagement with the island
such as visits by foreign government
officials. It also has aggressively poached
Taiwan's remaining diplomatic allies.
In its most recent display of sustained
military harassment, China flew fighter jets
149 times toward Taiwan over four days
from Friday to Monday. The White House
called the flights risky and destabilizing,
while China responded that the U.S. selling
weapons to Taiwan and its ships navigating
the Taiwan Strait were provocative.
Taiwan's defense minister Chiu Kuocheng
told legislators Wednesday that the
situation "is the most severe in the 40 years
since I've enlisted." Chiu was answering
questions as the legislature decides whether
to approve a special budget for air and
naval defense purchases.
China and Taiwan split amid civil war in
1949. Today they have extensive trade and
investment ties but no official relations, and
China has increasingly mobilized military,
diplomatic and economic pressure to
undermine Tsai's independence-leaning
administration.
As Lebanese got poorer, politicians
stowed wealth abroad
BEIRUT : A trove of leaked
documents confirmed that
for years, Lebanon's
politicians and bankers have
stowed wealth in offshore
tax havens and used it to buy
expensive properties - a
galling revelation for masses
of newly impoverished
Lebanese caught in one of
the world's worst economic
meltdowns in decades,
reports UNB.
Some of the newly outed
holders of offshore accounts
belong to the same ruling
elite that is being blamed for
the collapse and for derailing
the lives of ordinary
Lebanese who have lost
access to savings and now
struggle to get fuel,
electricity and medicine.
Bold-faced names in the
leaked documents include
the longtime central bank
governor, a pivotal figure in
the failed policies that
helped trigger the financial
crisis, as well as Prime
Minister Najib Mikati and
his predecessor.
The documents, named
the "Pandora Papers," were
examined by the
International Consortium of
Investigative Journalists,
with the first findings
released Sunday. The ICIJ
report exposes the offshore
secrets of wealthy elites from
more than 200 countries
and territories.
It was based on a review of
nearly 11.9 million records
obtained from 14 firms that
provide services in setting
up offshore firms and shell
companies. Clients of such
firms are often trying to hide
their wealth and financial
activities.
Setting up an offshore
company is not illegal, but
reinforces the perception
that the wealthy and
powerful play by different
rules - a particularly
upsetting notion for many
Lebanese.
The papers show how
members of the political
class were sending wealth
abroad for years, even as
they urged people to deposit
money in Lebanon's banks,
assuring them that it was
safe, said Alia Ibrahim, a
Lebanese journalist.
"We are not talking about
regular citizens," said
Ibrahim, a co-founder of
Daraj, a Beirut-based
independent digital media
platform, and one of scores
of journalists across the
world who worked with ICIJ
on the investigation into the
documents.
"These are politicians who
served in public office for
years, and they are partly
responsible for the current
crisis Lebanon is going
through," she said.
Lebanon is in the midst of
what the World Bank says is
one of the world's worst
economic meltdowns in the
past 150 years. More than
70% of the population has
been thrown into poverty,
their savings nearly wiped
out in the crisis that began in
late 2019 and was in part
caused by decades of
corruption
and
mismanagement by the
political class. Hundreds of
thousands of people staged
nationwide protests against
corruption starting in late
2019. Yet two years later the
same politicians still run the
country in the same way,
protected by the sectarianbased
system. One of the
protesters, Samir Skaff, said
that the Lebanese are not
surprised to be told that the
political class "is made up of
a bunch of thieves."
"We have been saying that
for years," he said.
Offshore companies,
though not illegal, can be
used to elude taxes or hide
illicitly gained money. The
leaks only add further
confirmation to what
Lebanese have long said
about their ruling class -
though repeated reports of
graft or illicit activity in the
past have failed to bring
change. One of the 14 firms
listed by ICIJ as providing
offshore services is Trident
Trust, with 346 Lebanese
clients making up the largest
group, more than double the
second-place country,
Britain. One focus of the
revelations is Riad Salameh,
who has been Lebanon's
central bank governor for
nearly 30 years.
Daraj reported that the
documents showed Salameh
founded a company called
AMANIOR, based in the
British Virgin Islands, in
2007. He is listed as its full
owner and sole director,
which Daraj said appeared
to violate Lebanese laws
forbidding the central
bank governor from
activity in any enterprise.
A trove of leaked documents confirmed that for years, Lebanon's politicians
and bankers have stowed wealth in offshore tax havens and used it to
buy expensive properties - a galling revelation for masses of newly impoverished
Lebanese caught in one of the world's worst economic meltdowns
in decades.
Photo : AP
5.5-magnitude quake
strikes off Japan's
Miyazaki, no tsunami
warning issued
TOKYO : An earthquake
with a magnitude of 5.5 on
Wednesday struck off
Japan's Miyazaki
Prefecture, according to the
Japan Meteorological
Agency (JMA).
The temblor occurred at
around 5:13 p.m. local time
(0813 GMT), with its
epicenter being at a latitude
of 31.3 degrees north and a
longitude of 131.5 degrees
east, and at depth of 40 km.
The quake logged 4 in
some parts of Miyazaki
Prefecture on the Japanese
seismic intensity scale which
peaks at 7. So far no tsunami
warning has been issued.
Zimbabwe tightens
crackdown on
illegal foreign
currency dealers
HARARE : Zimbabwe's
central bank on Tuesday
blacklisted 47 more
individuals for allegedly
advertising and facilitating
illegal foreign exchange
transactions and money
laundering through social
media.
This came after 30
individuals were "blacklisted
and barred from accessing
financial and mobile
telecommunication services
for the same reasons" on
Sept. 28, said John
Mangudya, governor of the
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
(RBZ).
The governor thanked the
public for their information
that is helping the RBZ's
Financial Intelligence Unit
(FIU) to identify and take
action against the culprits,
reports UNB.
When the RBZ blacklisted
the 30 individuals, the FIU
instructed banks, mobile
money operators and other
financial service providers to
identify and freeze any
accounts operated by the
identified individuals and
bar them from accessing
financial services for a
period of two years,
Mangudya said.
The FIU had also
requested the Postal and
T e l e c o m m u n i c a t i o n s
Regulatory Authority of
Zimbabwe to bar them from
operating mobile
businesses.
Since then, 14 suspected
illegal foreign currency
dealers have been arrested,
including four company
directors, on charges of
money laundering.
It is reported that the
current rates in Zimbabwe's
black market are more
lucrative than those in the
official banking system.
TAZACORTE : Fleeing their
home after the La Palma
volcano erupted on
September 19, one couple
married nearly 60 years
decided to seek safe haven
aboard their tiny boat until
the storm passed.
When the evacuation
order came, neither
Margaretha Straates, 80,
nor her 90-year-old
husband Luis Rodriguez
Diaz fancied the idea of
staying in temporary
accommodation, reports
UNB.
"It suddenly came to me,
why don't we try the boat?
It's only an old boat, but we
could take a few things and
settle in," Rodriguez Diaz, a
retired gastrointestinal
surgeon, told AFP.
Just 6.4 metres (20 feet)
long, the "Hamurabi" is a
tough little boat that has
only needed one engine
change in 35 years, he says.
But it is big enough for
him and his Dutch wife who
sit with their backs to the
volcano, which keeps up its
endlessly explosive activity.
Together, they pass the
time on the boat's tiny deck
with a radio, her computer
with Wi-Fi, a small fridge
In California, some buy machines
that make water out of air
BENICIA :The machine Ted Bowman
helped design can make water out of the air,
and in parched California, some
homeowners are already buying the pricey
devices, reports UNB.
The air-to-water systems work like air
conditioners by using coils to chill air, then
collect water drops in a basin.
"Our motto is, water from air isn't magic,
it's science, and that's really what we're doing
with these machines," said Ted Bowman,
design engineer at Washington state-based
Tsunami Products. The system is one of
several that have been developed in recent
years to extract water from humidity in the
air. Other inventions include mesh nets,
solar panels and shipping containers that
harvest moisture from the air.
Bowman said his company's machines -
made for use at homes, offices, ranches and
elsewhere - dehumidify the air and in doing
so create water that's filtered to make it
drinkable. The technology works especially
well in foggy areas and depending on the size
On a boat, elderly couple find safe
haven from Canaries volcano
Austria prosecutors raid
offices of ruling party
VIENNA : Austria's ruling People's Party
(OeVP) said it had been targeted by raids
from prosecutors on Wednesday morning,
with local media reporting that offices in the
chancellery were among those searched.
Deputy OeVP general secretary Gaby
Schwarz confirmed the prosecutors' actions
but did not confirm who was being
investigated, saying only that raids were "for
show" and that "accusations were
constructed over events that date back as far
as five years".
According to Die Presse newspaper, raids
also took place in the chancellery and
targeted several employees of OeVP
Chancellor Sebastian Kurz. The newspaper
reported that the raids related to possible
corruption offences in the publication of
adverts and opinion polls in the Oesterreich
daily.
Kurz himself is suspected of being an
can produce between 200 gallons (900
liters) and 1,900 gallons (8,600 liters) of
water a day. The machines also operate
efficiently in any area with high humidity,
including California's coastline, he said.
The machines are not cheap, with prices
ranging from $30,000 to $200,000. Still, in
California, where residents have been asked
to conserve water because one of the worst
droughts in recent history has depleted
reservoirs, some homeowners are buying
them to meet their water needs.
Don Johnson, of Benicia, California, said
he bought the smallest machine, which looks
like a towering AC unit, hoping it would
generate sufficient water to sustain his
garden. But he found it puts out more than
enough for his garden and his household.
"This machine will produce water for a lot
less than you can buy bottled water at Costco
for, and I believe, as time goes on and the
price of freshwater through our utilities
goes up, I think it's going to more than
pay for itself," he said.
The machine Ted Bowman helped design can make water out of the air,
and in parched California, some homeowners are already buying the
pricey devices.
Photo : AP
and an adopted cat they
picked up while fleeing, and
who bolts into the cabin
when visitors arrive.
The space is small and
requires careful navigation,
with Straates often
forgetting to duck her head
to enter the cabin.
"I've banged my head
three times," she says.
The pair are residents of
Todoque, a village almost
totally wiped off the map by
the lava.
When the order came,
they had to leave very
quickly.
"The Guardia Civil police
came and told us: 'You need
to evacuate right now, very
quickly' so we left in what we
were wearing," says
Rodriguez Diaz.
They never thought the
eruption would be so violent
and destructive, lulled into a
false sense of security by the
eruption of La Palma's
Teneguia volcano 50 years
ago "which was a friendly
volcano that didn't do
much damage", says
Straates. Over the past 16
days, the erupting volcano
has destroyed more than
1,000 properties, many of
them homes.
accessory to the offences, it added.
Kurz began his second term as chancellor
in January 2020 at the head of a coalition
with the Green party.
His previous government, a coalition with
the far-right Freedom Party (FPOe), fell
apart spectactularly in May 2019 over the socalled
"Ibiza-gate" corruption scandal.
After ex-FPOe chief Heinz-Christian
Strache was caught on camera appearing to
offer public contracts in exchange for
campaign help for the FPOe, investigators
launched several sprawling investigations
into alleged corruption in Austrian politics.
Some of these have targeted high-ranking
OeVP politicians, such as Finance Minister
Gernot Bluemel.
Kurz himself is under investigation on
suspicion of making false statements to a
parliamentary committee on corruption,
though he has not been charged.