OFFICIAL PORTAL
PRIME MINISTER'S DEPARTMENT
NATIONAL DISASTER MANAGEMENT AGENCY
PRIME MINISTER'S DEPARTMENT
NATIONAL DISASTER MANAGEMENT AGENCY
KABUL, 16 April (Bernama-Xinhua) – Gempa bumi berukuran 5.6 magnitud melanda wilayah Nuristan di timur Afghanistan pada pagi Rabu, lapor Kajian Geologi Amerika Syarikat (USGS), menurut Xinhua.
Menurut USGS, gempa bumi melanda Parun City, ibu negeri wilayah Nuristan, pada 3:43 pagi waktu tempatan, dengan pusat gempa terletak pada kedudukan 35.95 darjah latitud utara dan 70.56 darjah longitud timur, dengan kedalaman 99 km.
Nuristan ialah wilayah terpencil dan bergunung-ganang yang bersempadan dengan Pakistan. Disebabkan akses terhad kepada Internet dan telekomunikasi, masih tiada laporan mengenai mangsa dan kerosakan akibat bencana itu.
– BERNAMA-XINHUA
BEIJING:
Forecast-beating growth in China’s first quarter may have offered Beijing’s economic planners some much-needed good news – but analysts warn they should strap in for tariff-induced woes further down the line.
The National Bureau of Statistics said today the world’s number-two economy expanded 5.4% on-year in January-March, helped by a surge in exports.
However, observers said the bulk of that came from “frontloading” as business rushed to ship goods out of the factory before Donald Trump’s trade blitz kicked in.
While state efforts to boost lagging consumption – for months a drag on growth – played a role in the growth boost, the outlook remained uncertain.
“It’s too early to interpret this strength as a sign of lasting market recovery,” Yue Su at the Economist Intelligence Unit told AFP.
“The strong performance has been driven by trade frontloading ahead of anticipated tariffs and a policy-driven rebound in consumption – particularly in electronics and home appliances,” she added.
Tit-for-tat exchanges have seen US levies imposed on China rise to 145%, and Beijing setting a retaliatory 125% toll on imports from America.
Trump has said the ball is in China’s court if it wants to find a way out and Beijing has, in turn, vowed to “fight to the end” in a trade war that shows few signs of letting up.
But Beijing’s gung-ho rhetoric belies deep concerns about the impact that Trump’s tariffs could have on the deeply export-dependent Chinese economy.
“The escalation happening in April is going to be felt in the second-quarter figures as the tariffs will send stateside firms looking to other suppliers, impeding Chinese exports and slamming the brakes on investment,” Heron Lim, an economist at Moody’s Analytics, told AFP.
“This will hit electronics makers and exporters the hardest, as their products dominate China’s US-bound exports,” he said.
Louise Loo at Oxford Economics warned that “the improvement in growth momentum is very likely to be short-circuited in the coming months by the incoming headwinds of punitive tariffs”.
More macro please
Today, China admitted that the global economy was becoming more “complex and severe” – and that tariffs were putting “pressure” on trade.
A top economic planner also stressed that more “proactive and effective macro policies” would be needed to boost growth.
Beijing last year announced a string of aggressive measures to reignite the economy, including interest rate cuts, cancelling restrictions on homebuying, hiking the debt ceiling for local governments and bolstering support for financial markets.
After a blistering market rally fuelled by hopes for a long-awaited “bazooka stimulus”, optimism waned as authorities refrained from providing a specific figure for the bailout or fleshing out any of the pledges.
But as a potentially crippling trade war looms, analysts agree that Beijing may finally feel pressed to do more to boost domestic spending and tariff-proof the economy.
A debt crisis in the property sector – long a major drag on broader consumer sentiment – remains a crucial handicap for the economy.
“Throwing the domestic economy a lifeline is more important than ever before,” Sarah Tan of Moody’s Analytics said.
“The cratering property market remains front and centre of households’ concerns,” she added.
“Combined with the shaky labour market, falling house prices are giving households good reason to prioritise saving over spending,” Tan said.
Insights into how that stimulus could work could emerge from an expected meeting of China’s Politburo, its ruling party Communist Party’s top decision-making body.
“We continue to anticipate a US$2 trillion stimulus package focused on consumption, infrastructure, urban renewal, and shantytown renovation,” said Su at the Economist Intelligence Unit.
“Challenges to China’s economy remain significant over the coming quarters,” Su said.
SHAH ALAM: Pintu kunci air akan dibina di beberapa lokasi yang sering dinaiki air sebagai langkah segera mengatasi masalah banjir di Selangor.
EXCO Infrastruktur dan Pertanian negeri, Datuk Ir Izham Hashim, berkata antara lokasi yang dikenal pasti memerlukan pintu kunci air adalah Kampung Baru Hicom, Shah Alam; Padang Jawa, Klang serta Kampung Tengah dan Kampung Seri Aman di Puchong.
Katanya, Jabatan Pengairan dan Saliran (JPS) sudah diminta untuk meneliti beberapa lagi kawasan lain sekali gus mengelakkan banjir berulang lagi.
"Kita dapati ada pihak berkuasa tempatan (PBT) tiada pintu kunci air, hanya JPS yang ada (pintu kunci air).
JPS (akan) pam air keluar dan satu lagi (PBT) menolak air. Jadi kerja mengepam air jadi sia-sia.
"Justeru, langkah segera kita bina pintu kunci air. Kita akan mohon peruntukan negeri supaya kerja ini dapat dijalankan secepat mungkin," katanya hari ini.
Izham berkata, ketika ini lebih 90 projek tebatan banjir membabitkan peruntukan hampir RM4 bilion sedang dijalankan dan memerlukan masa beberapa tahun bagi memastikan ia berfungsi dengan baik.
"Tempoh masa diperlukan seawal proses pembinaan seperti reka bentuk selain beberapa aspek lain namun memberi jaminan masalah tidak lagi berlaku sekiranya projek siap.
"Seperti di Taman Mutiara, Klang, kita terima aduan dan kolam takungan (di kawasan itu) hampir siap dan sudah berfungsi," katanya.
Hujan lebat berterusan pada awal pagi Jumaat lalu menyebabkan lebih 1,000 penduduk sekitar Petaling dan Klang terjejas banjir dengan lebih 200 keluarga dilapor berpindah ke enam pusat pemindahan sementara (PPS).
Antara lokasi dinaiki air ialah Taman Sri Muda, Padang Jawa dan Meru, Klang.
Two Filipino tourists injured in Thailand's Khao Yai landslide, park section closed
- Admin UKK
- Berita
BANGKOK: Two tourists from the Philippines were injured on Wednesday (April 16) after days of heavy rain triggered a landslide on a trail in Khao Yai National Park.
Following the incident, the park’s Haew Narok Waterfall section was closed to visitors.
Chaiya Huayhongthong, Chief of Khao Yai National Park, said he had ordered the indefinite closure of the Haew Narok Waterfall area to allow for a thorough inspection and to ensure tourist safety before reopening.
According to Chaiya, the landslide occurred on the path leading to the waterfall, where the two tourists were walking at the time.
Both were injured when soil and debris slid down from the mountain.
Park officials promptly evacuated the injured tourists and transported them to a nearby hospital for treatment.
Chaiya added that he believed the landslide was caused by several consecutive days of rainfall, which saturated the mountainous soil, increasing the risk of slope failure.
Meanwhile, a Facebook page titled “Here is Khao Yai” clarified that some news outlets had incorrectly reported the incident as a collapse of the Haew Narok Cliff.
The page explained that it was, in fact, a landslide, and that the two injured tourists were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. - The Nation/ANN
PETALING JAYA – Jabatan Meteorologi Malaysia (MetMalaysia) memaklumkan, sembilan negeri akan mengalami hujan lebat serta ribut petir sehingga pukul 2 pagi nanti.
Menerusi perkongsian di laman Facebooknya, MetMalaysia berkata, antara negeri terlibat adalah Pahang, Selangor, Putrajaya, Kuala Lumpur, Negeri Sembilan, Melaka, Johor, Sarawak dan Sabah.
“Di Pahang ia melibatkan kawasan sekitar Bentong, Temerloh, Maran, Kuantan, Bera, Pekan dan Rompin.
“Untuk Johor pula ia melibatkan kawasan Tangkak, Segamat, Muar dan Batu Pahat,”katanya.
MetMalaysia menambah, hujan lebat dan ribut petir juga akan berlaku di seluruh negeri Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya, Negeri Sembilan dan Melaka.
“Untuk Sarawak pula, ia melibatkan kawasan Kuching, Serian, Samarahan, Betong, Sarikei, Sibu, Mukah (Tanjung Manis dan Daro), Kapit (Song dan Kapit), Bintulu (Tatau), Miri dan Limbang.
“Di Sabah ia melibatkan kawasan Pedalaman (Sipitang, Tenom dan Nabawan) dan Sandakan (Tongod),”ujarnya.-KOSMO! ONLINE