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2 mins ago
Hundreds of thousands of people evacuated in Vietnam due to the arrival of Typhoon Noru
By Kathleen Magramo, Taylor Ward, and Jan Camenzind Broomby
Typhoon Noru made landfall near the popular Vietnamese beach resort city of Da Nang on Wednesday morning, bringing strong winds and rain as hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated.
Noru hit Vietnam at 5 a.m. local time Wednesday, according to CNN Weather, less than 36 hours after leaving a trail of destruction in the Philippines, where he was known as Karding.
The typhoon weakened slightly before making landfall, but was still equivalent to a Category 2 hurricane with winds approaching 175 km/h.
Winds died down and the storm weakened to the equivalent of a Category 1 hurricane just before noon, according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center.
But Quang Nam province, home to the historic city of Hoi An and the tourist hotspot of Da Nang beach, suffered from flooding.
More than 100,000 households with 400,000 people had been evacuated as of Tuesday, according to Viet Nam News, the English-language newspaper run by Vietnam's state news agency.
About 11,000 foreign tourists and 7,000 national visitors stay in the city.
The government also said local authorities had instructed some 58,000 boats carrying 300,000 workers to move to safe havens.
Before Noru's arrival, the Vietnamese authorities had banned boats and asked the students to stay home.
It will continue to bring strong winds and storm surge along the coast near Da Nang and is expected to weaken as it moves inland over Southeast Asia.
Central Vietnam, southern Laos and northern Thailand face a risk of flooding over the next 48 hours.
9 mins ago
Family of Soldier Who Killed Himself in 2020 Files $25 Million Medical Malpractice Lawsuit Against US Army
By Rob Frehse and Isa Kaufman-Geballe
Two years after a Fort Hood soldier was found dead after committing suicide, his family filed a $25 million medical malpractice lawsuit against the US Army, alleging that Army medical personnel knew he had suicidal thoughts and failed to provide supervision or treatment to the soldier after he was discharged from an army medical facility.
Sergeant Elder Neves Fernandes was released, “with no meaningful plan for his support and was left on a street in Killeen, Texas, to fend for himself,” according to a notice of claim letter, which was filed in August. .
He was found dead, hanging from a tree in Texas, on August 25, 2020, eight days after he was released from the hospital.
The family is seeking $25 million to compensate for Fernandes' loss of life, pain, suffering, his lost earnings and potential earnings and more.
Fernandes allegedly sought support at Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center on Aug. 11, 2020, according to the claim letter, and was released less than a week later and told to return to his unit.
Darnall Medical Center did not provide any actual treatment or medication to Fernandes when he was at the center, according to an affidavit accompanying the claim letter.
At the time of his discharge, Darnall knew that Fernandes was experiencing suicidal thoughts, although his discharge papers stated that he denied having any plans or intent to harm himself.
Fernandes told doctors in Darnall that he suffered from anxiety and depression because "he had been sexually assaulted by another soldier" as well as being harassed by other soldiers after reporting the harassment, according to the affidavit.
According to the letter, he had been living on the streets and had been AWOL for three days before arriving at Darnall.
When he arrived at the center, he was allegedly assessed as a "high risk" patient for suicide attempts and self-harm," the letter says.
"Each suicide is one more tragedy," US Army spokesman Sgt. Anthony Hewitt said in an emailed statement.
"We continue to be saddened by the loss of Sergeant Elder Fernandes and his family."
The claim is being investigated, "but as a matter of policy, the Army does not release details of ongoing claim investigations," Hewitt said.
"It is with great sadness that we file this lawsuit," attorneys for the family said in the claim letter.
“There is nothing that can bring Elder back to his loved ones.
The hole that exists for all those who knew and loved him will always be there.
We hope that the death of Sergeant Fernandes is not in vain and that no other soldier suffers like him.
The United States owes much to his memory.
This great country can and will do better.”
See here the lines of attention and prevention of suicide in Latin America and Spain.
How to get help for someone who might commit suicide
16 mins ago
Singapore fighter jets respond to bomb threat on passenger plane
By CNN's Jake Kwon in Hong Kong
The Singapore Air Force escorted a Singapore Airlines flight to Changi airport on Wednesday after a passenger made a bomb threat, which turned out to be false, the country's Defense Ministry said.
Flight SQ33 flying from San Francisco to Singapore reported to Singapore police Wednesday morning that a 37-year-old passenger "allegedly claimed there was a bomb in a carry-on bag and assaulted the crew," the ministry said. Defense in a Facebook post.
The Air Force mobilized F-16 C/D fighter jets to escort the plane and the Singapore Army's Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Explosives Defense Group and Airport Police Division verified that the bomb threat was false, according to the report. ministry.
The man was arrested, the ministry said, adding that police are investigating the incident.
30 mins ago
Kamala Harris calls China's behavior "disturbing" and supports Taiwan in a speech aboard a US naval ship in Japan
By Colin McCullough
File photo.
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks on Friday, June 24, 2022.
US Vice President Kamala Harris said China is "undermining key elements of the rules-based international order" in a speech aboard the USS Howard naval ship at Yokosuka Naval Base.
“China is undermining key elements of the rules-based international order.
China has challenged the freedom of the seas.
China has used its military and economic power to coerce and intimidate its neighbors,” Harris said in the speech.
Harris called China's behavior in the East China Sea, South China Sea and Taiwan Strait "disturbing."
He added that the United States believes that peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is "an essential feature of a free and open Indo-Pacific."
“We will continue to fly, navigate and operate, undaunted and unafraid, wherever and whenever international law allows.”
President Biden said in a recent interview that US forces would defend Taiwan if China invaded.
The vice president echoed that sentiment in her speech.
“We will continue to oppose any unilateral change to the status quo.
And we will continue to support Taiwan's self-defense, in accordance with our long-standing policy.
Taiwan is a vibrant democracy that contributes to the global good, from technology to health and beyond, and the United States will continue to deepen our unofficial ties," Harris said.
Harris told troops assembled for the speech that the United States has a "deep interest in the future of this region" and that its presence in the Indo-Pacific "is in pursuit of peace and stability, and to support our allies and partners.
The Chinese Communist Party claims Taiwan, a democratically governed island, as its sovereign territory even though it has never controlled it.
In an escalation of hostilities in August, China sent warplanes across the Taiwan Strait and fired missiles at Taiwan.
Vice President Harris is in the region to lead a presidential delegation to the state funeral for former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday;
she will also meet with government officials from Japan, South Korea and Australia.
After Japan, Harris will travel to South Korea, where she is expected to visit the demilitarized zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea on Thursday.