AFP Asia

Heavy rain, severe flooding and landslides in Vietnam have killed at least 90 people in the last week, authorities said Sunday, leaving others stranded on rooftops and mountain roadways blocked.Relentless rain has lashed south-central Vietnam since late October and popular holiday destinations have been hit by several rounds of flooding, with economic losses estimated in the hundreds of millions of dollars.Whole sections of coastal Nha Trang city were inundated last week, while deadly landslides struck highland passes around the Da Lat tourist hub.In the hard-hit mountainous province of Dak Lak, 61-year-old farmer Mach Van Si said the floodwaters left him and his wife stranded on their sheet-metal rooftop for two nights.”Our neighborhood was completely destroyed. Nothing was left. Everything was covered in mud,” he told AFP on Sunday.By the time they climbed a ladder to their roof, Si said he was no longer scared.”I just thought we were going to die because there was no way out,” he said.More than 60 deaths, of the 90 recorded since November 16, were in Dak Lak, where tens of thousands of homes were inundated, the environment ministry said in a statement.- ‘Big soggy mess’ -At the Tuy Hoa market in the province, the floodwaters have receded but Vo Huu Du, 40, said some of the hats, bags and shoes she sells were still soaked or lying in mud.”My goods look like one big soggy mess,” she told AFP. “I don’t even know where to start.”She and other vendors once considered five centimetres (two inches) off the ground a safe level to raise their merchandise to avoid flood damage — but no more.”All these years, the highest water level back in 1993 only reached our ankles,” said Du. “But now the water has come in over one metre (three feet) high.””All the vendors are devastated, not just me,” she added.Ceramics seller Nguyen Van Thoai, 60, gestured to piles of damaged goods to be cleared from paths between vendor stalls, calling it “a real loss”.”I don’t even know where to put all this market stock,” he said. “We might need to clean it for a month and still won’t be done.”More than 80,000 hectares (200,000 acres) of rice and other crops across Dak Lak and four other provinces were damaged in the last week, with over 3.2 million livestock or poultry killed or washed away by floodwaters.Authorities have used helicopters to airdrop aid to communities cut off by flooding and landslides, with the government deploying tens of thousands of personnel to deliver clothing, water-purification tablets, instant noodles and other supplies to affected areas, state outlet Tuoi Tre News said.Several locations on national highways remained blocked on Sunday due to flooding or landslides, according to the environment ministry, and some railway sections were still suspended.The ministry estimated economic losses of $343 million across five provinces due to the floods.Natural disasters have left 279 people dead or missing in Vietnam and caused more than $2 billion in damage between January and October, according to the national statistics office.The Southeast Asian nation is prone to heavy rain between June and September, but scientists have identified a pattern of human-driven climate change making extreme weather more frequent and destructive.

Senuran Muthusamy’s gritty half-century anchored South Africa to 316-6 at the first break on day two of the second Test against India on Sunday.South Africa resumed on 247-6 and overnight batters Muthusamy, on 56, and Kyle Verreynne, on 38 were still there at the end of the first session in Guwahati having extended their unbroken seventh-wicket partnership to 70.Play in the north-eastern city is starting 30 minutes earlier than usual because of early sunsets, with the order of the session breaks reversed, meaning the shorter tea break comes before lunch.The tourists, who won the toss and elected to bat on Saturday, are in hunt for their first series victory in India in 25 years after they won the opener of the two-match series.Verreynne hit a boundary to raise South Africa’s 300 before the left-handed Muthusamy reached his fifty with a single off Ravindra Jadeja and looked in control.It was the first fifty of this innings after Tristan Stubbs fell on 49 and skipper Temba Bavuma made 41 as the pair put on 84 for the third wicket on day one.Muthusamy and Verreynne used their feet to tackle spinners in a sedate first hour of play when only 28 runs were scored, including two fours.Muthusamy had a reprieve on 48 when left-arm spinner Jadeja had him given out lbw but the batsman’s review showed the a muurmur when the ball passed his glove and the decision was overturned.

The death toll from major flooding in Vietnam has risen to 90, with 12 people still missing, the environment ministry said Sunday, after days of heavy rain and landslides.Relentless rain has lashed south-central Vietnam since late October and popular holiday destinations have been hit by several rounds of flooding.Whole sections of coastal Nha Trang city were inundated last week, while deadly landslides struck highland passes around the Da Lat tourist hub.In the hard-hit mountainous province of Dak Lak, 61-year-old farmer Mach Van Si said the floodwaters left him and his wife stranded on their sheet-metal rooftop for two nights.”Our neighborhood was completely destroyed. Nothing was left. Everything was covered in mud,” he told AFP on Sunday.By the time they climbed a ladder to their roof, Si said he was no longer scared.”I just thought we were going to die because there was no way out,” he said.More than 60 deaths recorded since November 16 were in Dak Lak, where tens of thousands of homes were inundated, the environment ministry said in a statement.Four communes in Dak Lak were still flooded on Sunday, the ministry said.More than 80,000 hectares of rice and other crops across Dak Lak and four other provinces were damaged in the last week, with over 3.2 million livestock or poultry dead or washed away by floodwaters.Authorities have used helicopters to airdrop aid to communities cut off by flooding and landslides, with the government deploying tens of thousands of personnel to deliver clothing, water-purification tablets, instant noodles and other supplies to affected areas, state outlet Tuoi Tre News said.Severe flooding in southern coastal Khanh Hoa province washed away two suspension bridges last week, leaving many households isolated, the outlet said, citing officials.Several locations on national highways remained blocked on Sunday due to flooding or landslides, according to the environment ministry, and some railway sections were still suspended.More than 129,000 customers remained without electricity, after more than a million were without power last week.The environment ministry on Sunday estimated economic losses of $343 million across five provinces due to the floods.Natural disasters have left 279 people dead or missing in Vietnam and caused more than $2 billion in damage between January and October, according to the national statistics office.The Southeast Asian nation is prone to heavy rain between June and September, but scientists have identified a pattern of human-driven climate change making extreme weather more frequent and destructive.

Two minor tremors hit Bangladesh on Saturday, a day after a powerful earthquake struck outside the capital Dhaka and killed at least 10 people.A 3.3-magnitude jolt was recorded in Narshingdi district, east of Dhaka, in the morning, followed by a 4.3-magnitude quake that struck the capital around 6:00 pm (1200 GMT), according to the Bangladesh Meteorological Department.Dhaka resident Tasnuba Sharmin Sharna, 32, said her children started screaming as the furniture in their apartment began shaking.”We are praying to God for mercy,” Sharna told AFP.Friday’s deadly earthquake was felt in Dhaka and neighbouring districts, causing widespread destruction.Updating earlier tolls from the 5.5-magnitude quake, disaster management official Ishtiaqe Ahmed told AFP that “the number of casualties has reached 10, while a few hundreds were injured”.There were no immediate reports of casualties on Saturday, but the aftershocks — which are common after major earthquakes — have added to fears of an even greater disaster.”I don’t feel safe yet, as there was another jolt this morning… Maybe we are next,” said Shahnaj Parvin, 44, who lives near the epicentre of Friday’s earthquake and told AFP she had never experienced such a tremor.Cracks have developed in dozens of houses in her area, she said.”I was hanging my children’s clothes on the washing line when the tremor struck,” added Parvin.”I held onto a mahogany tree, and when I returned home, I found my glassware broken.”The government has activated Bangladesh’s emergency operation centre to assess the scale of the damage and to coordinate relief and rescue operations.Rubayet Kabir of the Meteorological Department’s Earthquake Observation and Research Center said Bangladesh’s geography makes the country of 170 million people prone to quakes.”That’s why we experience earthquakes quite frequently, though they are not as strong as the one” on Friday, he told AFP.”Some small tremors are expected after any major earthquake,” Kabir said.”There has been no massive earthquake in the last 100 years or more, but Bangladesh has been vulnerable for quite some time.”

Spinner Kuldeep Yadav took three wickets as India rattled South Africa with late strikes to leave the tourists 247-6 at stumps on the first day of the second Test on Saturday.Tristan Stubbs, who made 49, and skipper Temba Bavuma (41) put on 84 runs for the third wicket after South Africa elected to bat in their bid for a first Test series win in India in 25 years.The World Test champions won the first Test of the two-match series by 30 runs at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens.Ravindra Jadeja sent back Bavuma with his left-arm spin in the final session before Kuldeep denied Stubbs his fifty to raise the noise of a large weekend crowd in Guwahati.Left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep (3-48) dismissed Wiaan Mulder for 13 and pace bowler Mohammed Siraj ended Tony de Zorzi’s defiance on 28 with the second new ball to further dent South Africa.”I think it was just good old-fashioned attritional Test cricket,” India’s assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate told reporters.”And I thought both sides accounted for themselves very well. I thought we stuck at it brilliantly. Just when the game was slipping away, a couple of times we managed to get a foothold back into the game.”Ten Doeschate said it was an “even day”.Left-hander Senuran Muthusamy, on 25, and wicketkeeper-batter Kyle Verreynne, on one, were batting when bad light forced stumps with only 81.5 overs possible, fewer than the usual 90 overs in a day.Aiden Markram, who scored 38, and Ryan Rickelton (35) fell either side of the first break to Jasprit Bumrah and Kuldeep after an opening partnership of 82.- The grind -Bavuma and Stubbs, promoted to number three in the batting order, then got to the grind and slowly took the attack to the hosts with regular boundaries as the pair used their feet against the Indian spinners.Jadeja broke through with his left-arm spin to dismiss in-form Bavuma, who scored the only fifty in the opener in Kolkata, after the batter chipped to mid-off.Stubbs attempted to keep up the tempo as he hit Jadeja for a six but soon Kuldeep had him caught at slip.”I definitely think it’s better wicket for batting,” said Stubbs.”I do think they bowl quite well, the seamers especially, just kept bowling straight lines. But all of us (batters) had opportunities, and if you look in it, no one kicked on, so we can take that on ourselves.”Play started 30 minutes earlier than usual, with the order of the session breaks reversed, meaning tea came before lunch at India’s newest Test venue, which attracted an opening-day crowd of more than 15,000 fans.Bumrah had Markram bowled at the stroke of tea when the batsman inside-edged a delivery on to his stumps.Kuldeep struck on the third ball after the break to cut short Rickelton’s 82-ball stay.The openers had started cautiously and Markram got off the mark on his 17th ball with a crunching cover drive for four off Bumrah.Bumrah nearly had his revenge next ball only for KL Rahul to drop a regulation chance at second slip. The bowler covered his face in dismay.South Africa, who recently drew 1-1 in Pakistan, are chasing a first series win in India since Hansie Cronje’s team triumphed there in 2000.

A low-magnitude tremor hit Bangladesh on Saturday, the national meterological service said, a day after a powerful earthquake struck outside the capital Dhaka and killed at least 10 people.Updating earlier tolls from Friday’s 5.5-magnitude quake, disaster management official Ishtiaqe Ahmed told AFP that “the number of casualties has reached 10, while a few hundreds were injured”.The first earthquake was felt in Dhaka and neighbouring districts, causing widespread destruction.Toriful Newaz Kabir of the Bangladesh Meterological Department said Saturday’s 3.3 magnitude jolt was recorded in the town of Palash, Narsingdi district, 29 kilometres (18 miles) from Dhaka.The met office had earlier said its epicentre was in Ashulia, just north of the capital.”There was a mistake while analysing the data,” Kabir told AFP, adding they had revised the epicentre location.Aftershocks are common after major earthquakes, but for some in Bangladesh it has added to fears of an even greater disaster.”I don’t feel safe yet, as there was another jolt this morning in Ashulia. Maybe we are next,” said Shahnaj Parvin.The 44-year-old, who lives near the epicentre of Friday’s earthquake, told AFP she had never experienced such a tremor.Cracks have developed in dozens of houses in her area, she said.”I was hanging my children’s clothes on the washing line when the tremor struck,” added Parvin.”I held onto a mahogany tree, and when I returned home, I found my glassware broken.”The government has activated Bangladesh’s emergency operation centre to assess the scale of the damage and to coordinate relief and rescue operations.Rubayet Kabir of the Meteorological Department’s Earthquake Observation and Research Center said Bangladesh’s geography makes the country of 170 million people prone to quakes.”That’s why we experience earthquakes quite frequently, though they are not as strong as the one” on Friday, he told AFP.”Some small tremors are expected after any major earthquake,” Kabir said.”There has been no massive earthquake in the last 100 years or more, but Bangladesh has been vulnerable for quite some time.”

Spinner Kuldeep Yadav took three wickets as India rattled South Africa with late strikes to leave the tourists 247-6 at stumps on the first day of the second Test on Saturday.Tristan Stubbs, who made 49, and skipper Temba Bavuma (41) put on 84 runs for the third wicket after South Africa elected to bat in their bid for a first Test series win in India in 25 years.The World Test champions won the first Test of the two-match series by 30 runs at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens.Ravindra Jadeja sent back Bavuma with his left-arm spin in the final session before Kuldeep denied Stubbs his fifty to raise the noise of a large weekend crowd in Guwahati.Left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep (3-48) dismissed Wiaan Mulder for 13 and pace bowler Mohammed Siraj ended Tony de Zorzi’s defiance on 28 with the second new ball to further dent South Africa.Left-hander Senuran Muthusamy, on 25, and wicketkeeper-batter Kyle Verreynne, on one, were batting when bad light forced stumps with only 81.5 overs possible, fewer than the usual 90 overs in a day.Aiden Markram, who scored 38, and Ryan Rickelton (35) fell either side of the first break to Jasprit Bumrah and Kuldeep after an opening partnership of 82.Bavuma and Stubbs, promoted to number three in the batting order, then got to the grind and slowly took the attack to the hosts with regular boundaries as the pair used their feet against the Indian spinners.Jadeja broke through with his left-arm spin to dismiss in-form Bavuma, who scored the only fifty in the opener in Kolkata, after the batter chipped to mid-off.Stubbs attempted to keep up the tempo as he hit Jadeja for a six but soon Kuldeep had him caught at slip.Play started 30 minutes earlier than usual, with the order of the session breaks reversed, meaning tea came before lunch at India’s newest Test venue, which attracted an opening-day crowd of over 15,000 fans.Bumrah had Markram bowled at the stroke of tea when the batsman inside-edged a delivery on to his stumps.Kuldeep struck on the third ball after the break to cut short Rickelton’s 82-ball stay.The openers had started cautiously and Markram got off the mark on his 17th ball with a crunching cover drive for four off Bumrah.Bumrah nearly had his revenge next ball only for KL Rahul to drop a regulation chance at second slip. The bowler covered his face in dismay.South Africa, who recently drew 1-1 in Pakistan, are chasing a first series win in India since Hansie Cronje’s team triumphed there in 2000.

Aiden Markram fell bowled to Jasprit Bumrah after a strong start as South Africa reached 82-1 at the first break of the second Test against India on Saturday in Guwahati.World Test champions South Africa chose to bat in their bid to clinch their first series on Indian soil in 25 years.After an earlier scare, Markram dragged a fuller delivery from pace spearhead Bumrah on to his stumps at the stroke of the interval. He made 38.Left-handed Ryan Rickelton was batting on 35.Play started 30 minutes earlier than usual because of early sunsets, with the order of the session breaks reversed, meaning tea before lunch.The openers started cautiously and Markram got off the mark on his 17th ball with a crunching cover drive for four off Bumrah.The bowler nearly had his revenge next ball only for KL Rahul to drop a chance at second slip.Bumrah covered his face in dismay with Rahul spilling a regulation catch on a pitch which looks good to bat on.Spin was introduced in the 14th over with Washington Sundar given the ball as India rotated their bowlers in search of a wicket.India are led by wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant after regular skipper Shubman Gill was forced out with the neck injury he suffered in the first Test.South Africa, who recently drew 1-1 in Pakistan, are chasing a first series win in India since Hansie Cronje’s team triumphed there in 2000.They won the first Test by 30 runs at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens.

On a lush cricket ground outside Colombo the sharp jingling of a ball cuts through the afternoon air. Every rattle is a pushback against the stigma of disability.Sri Lanka and India are co-hosting the first T20 World Cup for visually impaired women.The semi-finals are on Saturday between India and Australia and Pakistan and Nepal, followed by the final on Sunday.India manager Shika Shetty told AFP that the sport has transformed lives and helped change attitudes.”I think this (world cup) is one of the biggest opportunities for our visually impaired girls,” said Shetty, who is not blind.India captain T.C. Deepika recalled the disbelief she faced when she first picked up the bat.”People were saying, ‘How do they do it? They must be lying,'” she said in a video posted by the Cricket Association for the Blind in India.”(Later) they realised I can do something. People began to see that I have ability,” Deepika added.- Playing by the ear -While able-bodied cricket requires players to keep an eye on the ball at all times, blind players must have sharp ears. The white plastic ball, the size of a tennis ball, is packed with ball bearings that rattle as it rolls.The bowler must ask the striker if he or she is ready and then yell “play” as the jingling ball is delivered underarm with at least one bounce.Like a regular cricket match, each side has 11 players, but at least four must be totally blind. They are required to wear blindfolds for fairness.Fielders clap once to reveal their positions.Others are partially sighted, classified by how far they can see — two metres for B2 players, six for B3. Each team can have up to eight B1, or totally blind, players. Any run scored by a B1 player is counted as two.- ‘Liberating’ -Chaminda Karunaratne says cricket has been both a refuge and a way to prove that blindness cannot impede his sporting ambitions.The blind 40-year-old Sri Lankan school teacher has represented his country in international tournaments and now wants women to share that space.”Cricket has done wonders, especially for my mental health,” Karunaratne said as the Indian and Pakistan women’s teams battled it out on the ground.”When you get into a sport like this it boosts your self-confidence, you can move more freely and you tend to take part in community activities,” he said. “That is liberating.”Karunaratne, a key member of the Sri Lanka Cricket Association for the Visually Handicapped, added: “I appeal to parents to send their blind girls to take up cricket. It is an opportunity to interact with others.””You can show that you are not helpless, not dependent,” he said.Association president Sudesh Tharanga admitted forming a women’s team had been a challenge, although nearly a million Sri Lankans are estimated to have some form of visual impediment.”We started assembling a team only after we were asked in September if we could co-host the T20 tournament in November,” Tharanga told AFP.Despite limited preparations Sri Lanka managed to field one of the tournament’s youngest squads.

Miss Mexico was crowned Miss Universe in Thailand on Friday, strutting to victory after several dramatic missteps before the final round, including staging a walkout when an organiser of the beauty pageant chastised her.Contestants from Ivory Coast, the Philippines, Thailand and Venezuela also made it to the final stage, selected from more than 120 women vying for the title in a contest considered one of the “big four” of global beauty pageants.However, chaos reigned before Miss Mexico Fatima Bosch was crowned, from allegations of an insult to her intelligence to judges quitting and participants falling on and off the stage.Bosch staged a dramatic walkout this month from a meeting where she was lambasted by Miss Universe Thailand director Nawat Itsaragrisil.Nawat appeared in a livestream of the event to single her out during a dispute over her apparent failure to post promotional content on her social media accounts.Bosch, flanked by Miss Iraq, walked out of the room after Nawat called for security to intervene.Others appeared to rise in solidarity with Bosch, before freezing as Nawat warned that those still wanting to participate should “sit down”.”What your director did is not respectful: he called me dumb,” Bosch told reporters at the time. “The world needs to see this because we are empowered women and this is a platform for our voice.”The newly crowned winner told a press conference on Friday that she would like to be remembered as “a Miss Universe that wasn’t afraid to be herself” and “a person that changed, a little bit, the prototype of what is a Miss Universe”.Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum had called Bosch an “example of how we women should speak out” in the face of aggression after the incident with Nawat.”In public events, I say women look prettier when we speak out,” Sheinbaum said.Nawat later apologised.He initially declined to comment when asked about Bosch on Friday, telling reporters he’d “rather not talk about her”.”It’s better to let pageant fans discuss it. I respect the result anyway,” he said.Nawat then congratulated her later in the same news conference.”I do support, and congratulations again to Mexico’s fans,” he said.- ‘Secret’ vote -Mexican media and social networks were awash with coverage of Bosch after the incident, heightening anticipation.In Villahermosa, Bosch’s hometown, thousands of people gathered at a baseball stadium to watch the pageant live.”Mexico, Mexico!” chanted the crowd, which erupted in cheers and applause when she was crowned, while fireworks lit up the sky, according to Mexican media reports.Other drama in the run-up to the final round included two judges quitting this week, one alleging that the contest was rigged by a “secret and illegitimate vote” held without the official jury.”This vote was conducted by individuals who are not recognised members of the official judging panel,” French composer Omar Harfouch wrote in a statement posted on Instagram.The Miss Universe Organization has denied Harfouch’s claim, saying that “no impromptu jury has been created”.Former professional footballer Claude Makelele also withdrew as a judge, citing “unforeseen personal reasons” in a statement on social media.Miss Britain Danielle Latimer tripped and fell flat on the stage during the costume round on Wednesday while wearing an outfit inspired by the Cockney character Eliza Doolittle.And Miss Jamaica Gabrielle Henry was hospitalised after she fell off the main stage during an evening gown showcase, president of the Miss Universe Organization Raul Rocha said in a statement.Miss Universe Jamaica public relations director Shannon-Dale Reid told AFP on Wednesday that Henry was “resting under medical observation” and had not suffered serious injuries.burs-sco/ami