Vietnam village starts over with climate defenses after landslide

Vietnam village starts over with climate defenses after landslide
Above, the new site of Lang Nu village in mountainous Lao Cai province after the old one was devastated by Typhoon Yagi last year. (AFP)
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Updated 23 April 2025

Vietnam village starts over with climate defenses after landslide

Vietnam village starts over with climate defenses after landslide
  • Last year, Typhoon Yagi’s rains unleashed a landslide that engulfed much of Lang Nu village in mountainous Lao Cai province

LAO CAI, Vietnam: Nguyen Thi Kim’s small verdant community in northern Vietnam no longer exists, wiped away in a landslide triggered by Typhoon Yagi’s devastating heavy rains last year.
She and dozens of survivors have been relocated to a site that authorities hope will withstand future climate change-linked disasters, with stronger homes, drainage canals and a gentler topography that lessens landslide risks.
It is an example of the challenges communities around the world face in adapting to climate change, including more intense rains and flash floods like those Typhoon Yagi brought last September.
Kim lost 14 relatives and her traditional timber stilt home when Yagi’s rains unleashed a landslide that engulfed much of Lang Nu village in mountainous Lao Cai province.
The storm was the strongest to hit Vietnam in decades, killing at least 320 people in the country and causing an estimated $1.6 billion in economic losses.
It is unlikely to be an outlier though, with research last year showing climate change is causing typhoons in the region to intensify faster and last longer over land.
Climate change, caused largely by burning fossil fuels, impacts typhoons in multiple ways: a warmer atmosphere holds more water, making for heavier rains, and warmer oceans also help fuel tropical storms.
Kim remains traumatized by the landslide.
She says everything is painful, especially the memory of the moment a torrent of mud swept away her and her two-year-old daughter.
“This disaster was too big for us all,” she said recalling the moment the pair were pulled from the mud hours later.
“I still cannot talk about it without crying. I can’t forget,” the 28-year-old said.
Yagi hit Vietnam with winds in excess of 149 kilometers (92 miles) per hour and brought a deluge of rain that caused destructive flooding in parts of Laos, Thailand and Myanmar.
In Lang Nu, 67 residents were killed, and authorities vowed to rebuild the homes of survivors in a safe spot.
By December, 40 new houses were ready at a site around two kilometers away.
It was chosen for its elevation, which should be less impacted by adjacent streams, and its relatively gentle slope gradient.
“Predicting absolute safety in geology is actually very difficult,” said Tran Thanh Hai, rector of Hanoi University of Geology and Mining, who was involved in choosing a new site.
But the site is secure, “to the best of our knowledge and understanding.”
Lao Cai is one of Vietnam’s poorest areas, with little money for expensive warning systems.
However, a simple drainage system runs through the new community, diverting water away from the slope.
This should reduce soil saturation and the chances of another landslide, scientists who worked on the site said.
The village’s new homes are all built of sturdier concrete, rather than traditional wood.
“We want to follow our traditions, but if it’s not safe any longer, we need to change,” Kim said, staring out at the expanse of mud and rock where her old village once stood.
Months later it remains frozen in time, strewn with children’s toys, kitchen pans and motorcycle helmets caught up in the landslide.
Like Kim, 41-year-old Hoang Thi Bay now lives in the new village in a modern stilt house with steel structural beams.
Her roof, once made of palm leaves, is now corrugated iron and her doors are aluminum glass.
She survived the landslide by clinging desperately to the single concrete pillar in her old home as a wall of mud and rocks swept her neighborhood away.
“I still wake up in the night obsessing over what happened,” she said.
“Our old house was bigger and nicer, with gardens and fields. But I sleep here in the new house and I feel much safer,” she said.
Even at the new site, home to around 70 people, there are risks, warned Hai.
Development that changes the slope’s gradient, or construction of dams or reservoirs in the area could make the region more landslide-prone, he said.
Building more houses or new roads in the immediate area, or losing protective forest cover that holds earth in place, could also make the site unsafe, added Do Minh Duc, a professor at the Institute of Geotechnics and Environment at the Vietnam National University in Hanoi.
Yagi wiped out large areas of mature natural forest in Lao Cai and while private companies have donated trees for planting, it is unclear whether they can provide much protection.
“In terms of landslide prevention, the only forest that can have good (protective) effects is rainforest with a very high density of trees, so-called primary forest,” explained Duc, an expert on disaster risk maps who also helped choose the new site.
Leaving the old community was hard for Kim, whose family had lived and farmed there for nearly half a century.
But she is grateful that she and other survivors have a second chance.
“I believe this is the safest ground for us.”


Putin admits Russian role in 2024 crash of Azerbaijani jet

Putin admits Russian role in 2024 crash of Azerbaijani jet
Updated 13 sec ago

Putin admits Russian role in 2024 crash of Azerbaijani jet

Putin admits Russian role in 2024 crash of Azerbaijani jet
  • Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday admitted for the first time his country played a role in the 2024 crash of an Azerbaijani passenger plane, describing it as a “tragedy“
MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday admitted for the first time his country played a role in the 2024 crash of an Azerbaijani passenger plane, describing it as a “tragedy.”
In a meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Putin said Russia had deployed missiles to destroy Ukrainian drones on the night of the incident, and that they exploded “a few meters away” from the aircraft.
“Russia will do everything necessary in such tragic cases to provide compensation, and the actions of all officials will be legally assessed,” he said.

The US sanctions Serbia’s main oil supplier, which is controlled by Russia

The US sanctions Serbia’s main oil supplier, which is controlled by Russia
Updated 12 min 30 sec ago

The US sanctions Serbia’s main oil supplier, which is controlled by Russia

The US sanctions Serbia’s main oil supplier, which is controlled by Russia
  • Serbia depends almost entirely on Russian gas and oil supplies
  • The sanctions could deprive Serbia of gasoline and heating oil ahead of the winter months

BELGRADE: The United States has introduced sanctions against Serbia’s main oil supplier, which is controlled by Russia, the company said on Thursday. Serbia’s president said this could have “unforeseeable” consequences for the Balkan country.
Serbia depends almost entirely on Russian gas and oil supplies, which it receives mainly through pipelines in Croatia and other neighboring states. The gas is then distributed by Petroleum Industry of Serbia (NIS), which is majority-owned by Russia’s state oil monopoly Gazprom Neft.
The sanctions could deprive Serbia of gasoline and heating oil ahead of the winter months. Populist President Aleksandar Vucic is already under pressure at home from 11 months of anti-government protests.
He said the sanctions will have “extremely dire consequences” in many aspects: “This is something that will affect every citizen.”
Vucic said Serbia will continue talks with both American and Russian officials, adding that people shouldn’t panic and the government is prepared for the situation.
“Trust your state. We will go through this together,” he said.
Gazprom Neft also owns Serbia’s only oil refinery.
NIS said Thursday it had failed to secure another postponement of the US sanctions, which could jeopardize its efforts to secure oil and gas deliveries in a longer term.
“The special license from the US Department of the Treasury, which enables unhindered operational business, has not yet been extended,” NIS said in a statement. It added that it has stored enough supplies to keep the operation moving for customers for a longer while.
It also said problems could occur at NIS gasoline stations with payments made by foreign bank cards but added that cash payments would be accepted.
The US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control originally placed sanctions on Russia’s oil sector on Jan. 10 and gave Gazprom Neft a deadline to exit ownership of NIS, which it didn’t do.
US officials have not commented.
Although formally seeking European Union membership, Serbia has refused to join Western sanctions against Russia over its invasion in Ukraine, in part because of the crucial Russian gas deliveries.
The pro-Russian President Vucic is facing one of the biggest threats to more than a decade of his increasingly autocratic rule. Protests have been held by university students and others following the collapse almost a year ago of a concrete canopy at a railway station in the country’s north that killed 16 people.
Many in Serbia believe rampant corruption and nepotism among state officials led to sloppy work on the building reconstruction, which was part of a wider railroad project with Chinese state companies.


Starmer meets Modi to promote tech, jobs after UK-India trade pact

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi receives UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer at the Raj Bhavan in Mumbai on Oct. 9, 2025. (AFP)
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi receives UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer at the Raj Bhavan in Mumbai on Oct. 9, 2025. (AFP)
Updated 22 min 13 sec ago

Starmer meets Modi to promote tech, jobs after UK-India trade pact

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi receives UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer at the Raj Bhavan in Mumbai on Oct. 9, 2025. (AFP)
  • Keir Starmer arrived in India’s financial capital with the largest-ever British trade mission
  • India and UK announce joint center for AI, opening of British campuses in Bengaluru, GIFT

NEW DELHI: UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer met his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, in Mumbai on Thursday, as he brought the largest-ever British business delegation to expand ties under a recently signed free trade agreement.

Starmer arrived in India’s financial capital on Wednesday. It is his first visit since taking office, and he is accompanied by Business and Trade Secretary Peter Kyle, Scotland Secretary Douglas Alexander, Investment Minister Jason Stockwood, and 125 CEOs, entrepreneurs, university vice chancellors and cultural leaders.

The trip follows the signing of the multibillion-dollar UK-India Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement during Modi’s visit to London two months ago.

“India and the UK are natural partners,” the Indian PM said in a joint press briefing at the Raj Bhavan in Mumbai, the official residence of the governor of the state of Maharashtra, where he received Starmer.

“There are immense possibilities in the technology partnership between India and the UK. We are working to connect the UK’s industrial expertise and R&D with India’s talent and scale.”

In a joint statement, India and the UK announced a dozen of tech, innovation, education and trade initiatives and planned investments, including the establishment of an India-UK connectivity and innovation center and a joint center for AI, and a critical minerals guild to strengthen supply chains.

Lancaster University is set to open its campus in Bengaluru, and the University of Surrey in Gujarat’s GIFT City.

“The UK and India stand side by side as global leaders in tech and innovation. And so we’ve also taken the opportunity to deepen our cooperation through our Technology Security initiative with new commitments on AI, advanced communication, defense technologies, and much, much more,” Starmer said.

“More British universities will be setting up campuses right here in India, making Britain, India’s leading international provider of higher education.”

While the UK-India free trade deal is expected to take effect next year, as it is yet to be ratified by both governments in a process that usually takes about 12 months, the British prime minister sought to build on its potential with the Mumbai visit.

“When we leave India later on tonight, I expect that we will have secured major new investments, creating thousands of high-skilled jobs in the sectors of the future for both of our nations,” he said.

Under the new pact, about 99 percent of Indian goods will get duty-free access to the UK market.

It will also halve import duties on UK-produced whiskey and gin from 150 percent, followed by a further decrease to 40 percent in a decade. Tariffs on automobiles will be reduced from 100 percent to 10 percent.

The FTA has been widely estimated to increase bilateral trade by 60 percent. Currently, it stands at about $54 billion, according to UK Department for Business and Trade data, with UK exports to India estimated at $21.7 billion and imports at $32.4 billion.


Hungarian writer László Krasznahorkai wins the Nobel Prize in literature

Hungarian writer László Krasznahorkai wins the Nobel Prize in literature
Updated 18 min 33 sec ago

Hungarian writer László Krasznahorkai wins the Nobel Prize in literature

Hungarian writer László Krasznahorkai wins the Nobel Prize in literature
  • Several works including his debut, “Satantango” and “The Melancholy of Resistance,” were turned into films by Hungarian director Béla Tarr
  • Krasznahorkai has been a vocal critic of autocratic Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán

STOCKHOLM: Hungarian writer László Krasznahorkai, whose philosophical, bleakly funny novels often unfold in single sentences, won the Nobel Prize in literature Thursday for his “compelling and visionary oeuvre that, in the midst of apocalyptic terror, reaffirms the power of art.”
Several works including his debut, “Satantango” and “The Melancholy of Resistance,” were turned into films by Hungarian director Béla Tarr.
The Nobel judges praised his “artistic gaze which is entirely free of illusion, and which sees through the fragility of the social order combined with his unwavering belief in the power of art,” Steve Sem-Sandberg of the Nobel committee said at the announcement.
“László Krasznahorkai is a great epic writer in the Central European tradition that extends through (Franz) Kafka to Thomas Bernhard, and is characterized by absurdism and grotesque excess,” the Nobel judges said.
Krasznahorkai, 71, could not immediately be reached for his reaction. He did not speak at the announcement.
He was born in the southeastern Hungarian city of Gyula, near the border with Romania. Throughout the 1970s, he studied law at universities in Szeged and Budapest before shifting his focus to literature. According to the biography section of his website, he has traveled widely throughout Europe, Asia and the Americas, and has lived in many different countries.
Krasznahorkai has been a vocal critic of autocratic Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, especially his government’s lack of support for Ukraine after the Russian invasion. He said in an interview for the Yale Review this year: “How can a country be neutral when the Russians invade a neighboring country?”
But in a post on Facebook, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán was quick to congratulate the writer, saying: “The pride of Hungary, the first Nobel Prize winner from Gyula, László Krasznahorkai. Congratulations!”
Krasznahorkai has received many awards including the 2015 Man Booker International Prize. The Booker judges praised his “extraordinary sentences, sentences of incredible length that go to incredible lengths, their tone switching from solemn to madcap to quizzical to desolate as they go their wayward way.”
He also won the National Book Award for Translated Literature in the US in 2019 for “Baron Wenckheim’s Homecoming.”
The American writer and critic Susan Sontag has described Krasznahorkai as the “contemporary master of the Apocalypse.” He was also friends with American poet and writer Allen Ginsberg and would regularly stay in Ginsberg’s apartment while visiting New York City.
He is the first winner from Hungary since Imre Kertesz in 2002. He joins an illustrious list of laureates that includes Ernest Hemingway, Toni Morrison and Kazuo Ishiguro.
The literature prize has been awarded by the Nobel committee of the Swedish Academy 117 times to a total of 121 winners. Last year’s prize was won by South Korean author Han Kang for her body of work that the committee said “confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life.”
The literature prize is the fourth to be announced this week, following the 2025 Nobels in medicine, physics and chemistry.
The winner of the Nobel Peace Prize will be announced on Friday.
The final Nobel, the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, is to be announced on Monday.
Nobel Prize award ceremonies are held on Dec. 10, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death in 1896. Nobel was a wealthy Swedish industrialist and the inventor of dynamite who founded the prizes.
Each prize carries an award of 11 million Swedish kronor (nearly $1.2 million), and the winners also receive an 18-carat gold medal and a diploma.


United Nations to cut 25 percent of its global peacekeeping force in response to US funding strains

United Nations to cut 25 percent of its global peacekeeping force in response to US funding strains
Updated 09 October 2025

United Nations to cut 25 percent of its global peacekeeping force in response to US funding strains

United Nations to cut 25 percent of its global peacekeeping force in response to US funding strains
  • Trump administration officials have argued that the UN’s budget and agencies are bloated and redundant, pledging not to make any further contributions until the State Department has assessed the effectiveness of every single UN agency or program
  • Roughly 13,000 to 14,000 military and police personnel out of more than 50,000 peacekeepers deployed across nine global missions will be sent back to their home countries

The United Nations will begin slashing its peacekeeping force and operations, forcing thousands of soldiers in the next several months to evacuate far-flung global hotspots as a result of the latest US funding cuts to the world body, a senior UN official said.
The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a private meeting, briefed reporters Wednesday on the 25 percent reduction in peacekeepers worldwide as the United States, the largest UN donor, makes changes to align with President Donald Trump’s “America First” vision.
Roughly 13,000 to 14,000 military and police personnel out of more than 50,000 peacekeepers deployed across nine global missions will be sent back to their home countries. The UN support office in Somalia will also be affected. The UN plans to reduce the peacekeeping force’s budget by approximately 15 percent for this year.
The countries where the UN has peacekeeping missions include Congo, the Central African Republic, South Sudan, Lebanon, Cyprus and Kosovo.
Each of the UN’s 193 member countries is legally obliged to pay its share toward peacekeeping. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has argued that with a budget “representing a tiny fraction of global military spending — around one half of one percent — UN peacekeeping remains one of the most effective and cost-effective tools to build international peace and security.”
The decision to institute a major overhaul of the peacekeeping force — known globally for their distinctive blue berets or helmets — followed a meeting Tuesday between Guterres and representatives from major donor countries, including Mike Waltz, the new US ambassador to the United Nations.
Waltz and other Trump administration officials have argued that the UN’s budget and agencies are bloated and redundant, pledging not to make any further contributions until the State Department has assessed the effectiveness of every single UN agency or program. Upon entering his second term in January, Trump ordered a review of the UN and other multilateral institutions, which has already resulted in cutting US ties from the UN cultural agency UNESCO, the World Health Organization and the top UN human rights body, while reassessing its funding for others.
At the UN, more than 60 offices, agencies and operations are facing 20 percent job cuts, part of Guterres’ reform effort and reaction to already announced Trump funding cuts.
In a television interview last week, Waltz said the US is focused on getting “the UN back to basics of promoting peace, enforcing peace, preventing wars.”
He added, “We have to cut out all of this other nonsense.”
UN peacekeeping operations have grown dramatically. At the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s, there were 11,000 UN peacekeepers. By 2014, there were 130,000 in 16 peacekeeping operations. Today, around 52,000 men and women serve in 11 conflict areas in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East.
The US outlined that it would commit $680 million to nine of those peacekeeping efforts, a significant reduction from the $1 billion payment the US had made this time last year, the UN official said. That funding will be accessible for all active missions, especially those the US has taken special interest in, such as peacekeepers in Lebanon and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Contributions from the US and China make up half of the UN’s peacekeeping budget. Another senior UN official, who also requested anonymity to discuss private talks, said China has indicated it will be paying its full contribution by the end of the year.