25/09/2025

THURSDAY | SEPT 25, 2025

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Taiwan lake burst kills 14

South Korean Dior bag’ scandal widens SEOUL: Kim Keon Hee (pic) , the wife of South Korea’s ousted former president Yoon Suk Yeol, appeared in court yesterday at the start of her corruption trial. Kim, who faces charges

o Typhoon Ragasa wreaks havoc across the region

Authorities across mainland China ordered businesses and schools to shut down in at least 10 cities across the nation’s south, affecting tens of millions of people. Many districts in Hong Kong saw instances of flooding, according to images circulated on social media and verified by AFP. At the Fullerton Ocean Park Hotel, next to a theme park, a man was seen losing his balance after storm surge shattered the glass front doors and swept into its lobby, one of the videos showed. “We are doing all we can to mitigate the impact brought about by the super typhoon,” said a spokesperson for the hotel. Floodwaters rushed into the seaside Heng Fa Chuen residential estate and covered its interior courtyards, another video clip showed. Strong winds ripped off the top of a pedestrian footbridge, while many of the city’s tall buildings swayed and rattled in the harsh winds. A five-year-old boy and his mother fell into the sea on Tuesday afternoon while they were watching the waves in the Chai Wan district, according to police. Both were in critical condition after they were rushed to hospital. The boy’s 40-year-old father, who reportedly jumped into the water to save his family, was also hospitalised. – AFP

barrier burst in the eastern Hualien county after Ragasa pounded the island, according to regional officials. The lake in eastern Hualien county, formed by series of landslides that created a natural dam wall, burst on Tuesday, washing away a bridge and sweeping into a town with a trail of thick sludge and mud. “It was like a volcano erupting .... the muddy floodwaters came roaring straight into the first floor of my house,” said Hsu Cheng hsiung, 55, a neighbourhood leader of Kuang Fu township. Lee Kuan-ting, a Hualien County Government press official, said 14 people were killed and 18 injured. Premier Cho Jung-tai visited the area yesterday, pledging to provide assistance to those affected. “As for the 14 people who lost their lives, we must find out why evacuation orders were not carried out in the affected area, leading to such a tragedy,” he said. “We still have 17 more people missing and this is our greatest concern right now.” The super typhoon killed at least two people while ripping through the northern Philippines. China’s Ministry of Emergency Management said the typhoon is expected to make landfall along Guangdong’s coast between Zhuhai and Zhanjiang.

including bribery and stock manipulation, arrived at the Seoul Central District Court in southern Seoul wearing a black suit, making her first public appearance since her arrest last month. In brief remarks to the

HONG KONG: Fierce winds, pounding rain and high seas battered Hong Kong yesterday as Super Typhoon Ragasa headed into southern China after causing a lake burst that killed at least 14 people in Taiwan. The Chinese finance hub saw scores of fallen trees and flooding in many neighbourhoods, with the storm surge smashing the glass doors of an upscale hotel and flooding its lobby, according to footage circulated online. Ragasa was churning away from Hong Kong around noon but the city will still be lashed by hurricane-force winds, according to the Hong Kong Observatory, which issued the highest level of typhoon warning overnight. Ragasa has brought “significant storm surge”, with waters at coastal areas rising more than 3m above the reference level, the observatory said. The nearby casino hub of Macau, which also saw widespread flooding, has suspended power supply to some low-lying areas, according to utility company CEM. In Taiwan, at least 14 people were killed and 18 injured when a decades-old lake

court she confirmed her personal information and asked for a trial by judge, rather than a jury, but did not address any of the charges. A prosecutor outlined the charges, which included allegations of stock manipulation, violating political fundraising laws by asking a power broker to carry out free opinion polling and accepting bribes from a church. Kim’s lawyers denied all the charges and said the prosecutors had not shared details of the evidence they had obtained. If convicted on any of the charges, Kim faces penalties ranging from fines to up to five years in prison. A scandal over a Dior bag she was seen accepting from a pastor, which was filmed on a hidden video camera, came to overshadow her husband’s presidency until his shock martial law declaration in December led to his removal from office. Yoon is on trial separately for insurrection and has been held in custody since July. On Tuesday, Han Hak-ja, the leader of South Korea’s Unification Church, was jailed on allegations that she directed her organisation to bribe Kim for political favours. Prosecutors said the church gave Kim two Chanel bags, a Graff necklace, and a Korean ginseng gift set, which were estimated to be worth about 80 million won (RM240,619). Kim’s lawyer said the former first lady did not receive any of those gifts. Han has denied the allegations, calling them “false information”. – Reuters Polluting ship’s agent pays token damages COLOMBO: A Singapore-registered ship’s Sri Lanka agent paid US$1 million (RM4.21 million) out of US$1 billion damages awarded for causing the island’s worst pollution, a litigant told AFP yesterday. The Sea Consortium (Private) Limited made the token payment in “good faith” as it did not have the financial capacity to fully cover the damages. A petitioner who brought action against the MV X-Press Pearl , which sank off Colombo Port in June 2021, said he had been officially informed. “I was given a copy of the affidavit of Sea Consortium after it paid 300 million rupees (RM4.21 million) to the Treasury,” said environmental activist Hemantha Withanage. “They have done this because the court held them responsible for any non-compliance by the Singapore owners.” The move came as the owners of the X-Press Pearl told AFP in Singapore that they would refuse to pay the massive damages. In an exclusive interview, X-Press Feeders chief executive Shmuel Yoskovitz said he believed any such payment would have wide ranging implications for global shipping and “set a dangerous precedent”. The company had been ordered to pay the first instalment of US$250 million by Tuesday and warned that further payments could follow at the court’s direction. Yoskovitz rejected the open-ended nature of the penalty. “We are not paying because the whole basis of maritime trade rests on the limitation of liability. This judgment undermines that principle,” he said. – AFP

Cars damaged following a dam burst lie in Hualien, Taiwan, yesterday. – REUTERSPIC

Massive sinkhole shocks Bangkok BANGKOK: Thai authorities rushed to contain a massive sinkhole near a hospital in central Bangkok that disrupted utilities and traffic. The 50m sinkhole extended about 900 sq m in front of the Vajira Hospital, halting traffic. Footage on social media showed the road slowly sinking as water poured out from a drainage pipe, dragging down electricity poles. The hospital announced that it would not take on patients during the incident. Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt said a pipe had burst so water and power lines have also been cut. “The hospital has no problems, but we are worried about the police station: that’s still dangerous and the public has been evacuated,” he said. By noon, authorities said they had halted further ground movement and were monitoring the site closely.

Senior police officer Sayam Boonsom said he had ordered the evacuation of nearby apartment blocks. A video posted on social media shows several people running from a construction area on Samsen Road as the street cracks open and collapses, revealing a water-filled hole. Noppadech Pitpeng, a 27-year-old hospital staffer who lives nearby, said he was frightened by a rumbling sound yesterday morning that woke him up. “The sound was like an electricity pole collapsing and my whole flat shook,” he said. – Reuters/AFP

Suriyachai Rawiwan, director of Bangkok’s disaster prevention department, said the collapse was likely linked to heavy rain and a leaky pipe.

“Dirt from an underground train construction was sliding in,” Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul told reporters. “Luckily there are no deaths or injuries.”