Taiwan’s top military officer was among eight people killed Thursday when their helicopter crashed in a mountainous area outside the capital, Taipei.The defense ministry says the Blackhawk helicopter carrying Air Force General Shen Yi-ming, the chief of Taipei’s general staff, and 12 others took off from an air base in Taipei early Thursday on a flight to visit soldiers at a base in northeast Yilan county.  The helicopter disappeared from radar screens just minutes later. Three major generals were also among those killed in the crash, while five others survived.  Wednesday’s  crash happened just nine days before Taiwan’s presidential and parliamentary elections.  A spokesperson for President Tsi Ing-wen said she will suspend her re-election campaign until Saturday. Taiwan has purchased Blackhawk military helicopters from the United States for decades, including a 60 Blackhawks in 2010.  Six people were killed in 2018 when a Blackhawk helicopter crashed off Taiwan’s east coast.  
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Tens of thousands of holidaymakers raced to evacuate popular seaside towns on Australia’s east coast Thursday, fleeing ahead of advancing bushfires, as military ships and helicopters began rescuing thousands more trapped by the blazes.Fueled by searing temperatures and high winds, more than 200 fires are now burning across the southeastern states of New South Wales and Victoria, threatening several towns.Long lines formed outside supermarkets and gas stations near high-danger areas, and shelves were emptied of staples like bread and milk, as residents and tourists sought supplies to either bunker down or escape.More than 50,000 people were without power and some towns had no access to drinking water, after catastrophic fires ripped through the region over the past few days, sending the sky blood red and destroying towns.Cars line up to leave the town of Batemans Bay in New South Wales to head north, Jan. 2, 2020. A major operation to move people stranded in fire-ravaged seaside towns was under way in Australia after deadly bushfires ripped through tourist spots.Mass exodus urgedAuthorities urged a mass exodus from several towns on Australia’s southeast coast, an area hugely popular in the current summer peak holiday season, warning that extreme heat forecast for the weekend will further stoke raging fires.“The priority today is fighting fires and evacuating, getting people to safety,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison told reporters in Sydney. “There are parts of both Victoria and New South Wales which have been completely devastated, with a loss of power and communications.”Death toll rises, Navy arrivesEight people have been killed by wildfires in the eastern states of New South Wales and Victoria since Monday, and 18 are still missing, officials said Thursday.A naval ship arrived Thursday at the southeastern coastal town of Mallacoota, where 4,000 residents and visitors have been stranded on the beach since Monday night. Naval officials said they would open registration for evacuation Thursday afternoon, with the HMAS Choules able to carry up to 1,000 people on the first trip. The ship is expected to make two or three voyages over coming days, state authorities said.“It’s 16-17 hours to the closest boat port, then we’ve got to come back,” HMAS Choules Commander Scott Houlihan said at an information session Thursday afternoon. He said that leaving by boat was the only way out of the town.Thousands of people had already been evacuated from the greater adjoining region of East Gippsland in Victoria, one of the largest evacuations in the country since the northern city of Darwin evacuated more than 35,000 people in the aftermath of cyclone Tracy in 1974.The HMAS Choules appears as a ghostly figure through smoke haze off the coast of Mallacoota, Australia, Jan. 2, 2020. The Australian Defense Force is moving naval assets to Mallacoota on a supply mission. (Australian Defense Force/Reuters)‘It is hell on earth’“It is hell on earth. It is the worst anybody’s ever seen,” Michelle Roberts told Reuters by telephone from the Croajingolong Cafe she owns in Mallacoota. Roberts hoped to get her 18-year-old daughter out on the ship to get away from the spotfires and thick smoke that continue to engulf the town.Five military helicopters were en route to the south coast to back up firefighters and bring in supplies like water and diesel, the Australian Defense Force said Thursday. The aircraft will also be used to evacuate injured, elderly and young people.A contingent of 39 firefighters from North America landed in Melbourne on Friday, bringing the number of U.S. and Canadian experts who have flown in to help deal with the crisis to almost 100.Traffic on the main highway out of Batemans Bay on the NSW coast was bumper to bumper after authorities called for the town to be evacuated. Residents of the town reported was no fuel, power or phone service, while supermarket shelves were stripped bare of staples. “Everyone’s just on edge,” local resident Shane Flanagan told Reuters.State of emergencyThe New South Wales state government declared a state of emergency, beginning Friday, giving authorities the power to forcibly evacuate people and take control of services. The state’s Kosciuszko National Park, home to the Snowy Mountains, was closed with visitors ordered to leave because of extreme fire danger.Prime Minister Scott Morrison urged those waiting for help and those stuck in traffic jams “to be patient … help will arrive.”Dairies in New South Wales that had lost power were being forced to dump milk. “That is the tragedy of what is occurring as a result of these disasters,” Morrison said.Temperatures are forecast to soar above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) along the south coast Saturday, bringing the prospect of renewed firefronts to add to the around 200 current blazes. “It is going to be a very dangerous day. It’s going to be a very difficult day,” NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said.Morrison visited volunteer firefighters in the NSW town on Bega as they prepared to head out to the firefront Friday. The leader plans to tour stricken regions in Victoria next week.Morrison said the fires will burn for “many, many months … unlike a flood, where the water will recede, in a fire like this, it goes on and it will continue to go on … until we can get some decent rain.”Morrison, forced to defend his government’s limited action on climate change, blamed a three-year drought and lack of hazard reduction for the unprecedented extent and duration of this year’s bushfires.Bushfires so far this season have razed more than 4 million hectares (10 million acres) of bushland and destroyed more than 1,000 homes, including 381 homes destroyed on the south coast just this week.
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Taiwan’s top military official was among eight people killed Thursday after the helicopter carrying them made a forced landing in a mountainous area near the capital Taipei, the defense ministry said.The main portion of the helicopter lay in a northern forest wreathed in mist, with its blades shattered into pieces, as dozens of rescuers combed the wreckage for survivors, pictures released by emergency authorities showed.The chief of general staff, Air Force General Shen Yi-ming, died in the incident, while five of the 13 people aboard survived, the military said in a statement.“Eight of our colleagues were killed,” a military spokesman told a news conference broadcast live on television.Rescuers on siteThe defense ministry said it had dispatched a rescue team following the Black Hawk helicopter’s forced landing in New Taipei City, after aviation authorities lost contact with the craft at 8:22 a.m.The helicopter had left Taipei on a mission to visit soldiers in the northeast county of Yilan ahead of Lunar New Year at month’s end.The incident comes a week before democratic Taiwan holds presidential and parliamentary elections Jan. 11.President Tsai Ing-wen, who is seeking re-election, canceled all campaign activities until Saturday, and urged authorities to make every effort at rescue.Shen well-likedShen, 63, had taken over as chief of the general staff in July after serving as commander of Taiwan’s air force, which is undergoing a substantial upgrade with the arrival of the most advanced version of the U.S. F-16V fighter.Alexander Huang, a strategic studies professor at Tamkang University in Taiwan who had known Shen for a decade, said he had stood out as a pilot and an officer. “He was very calm and very stable and unlike other army guys he was always smiling, so he got a specific leadership style that also made him a popular leader in the entire military,” Huang said.It will likely be months before the cause of the crash is known, but the pilots, both of whom were killed, appeared to have been highly experienced.Other accidentsThe incident was the latest in a series of aviation accidents in Taiwan, after the 2018 crash of a Black Hawk helicopter off its east coast killed six people aboard and the crash of an F-16 fighter jet killed a pilot the same year.In 2016, the navy fired a supersonic missile in error, hitting a fishing boat in waters that separate Taiwan from diplomatic rival China.China, which claims Taiwan as its territory to be brought under Beijing’s control by force if necessary, regularly calls the island the most sensitive issue in its ties with the United States.Taiwan says it is an independent country called the Republic of China, its official name.The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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Severe flooding in Indonesia’s capital as residents celebrated the new year has killed at least 16 people, displaced tens of thousands and forced an airport to close, the country’s disaster management agency said Thursday.Monsoon rains and rising rivers submerged at least 169 neighborhoods and caused landslides in the Bogor and Depok districts on Jakarta’s outskirts, National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Agus Wibowo said.Video and photos released by the agency showed cars floating in muddy waters while soldiers and rescuers in rubber boats helped children and elders forced onto the roofs of flooded homes.The floods inundated thousands of homes and buildings in poor and wealthy districts alike, have forced authorities to cut off electricity and water and paralyzed transport networks, Wibowo said.More than 31,000 people were in temporary shelters after floodwaters reached up to 2.5 meters (8 feet) in places, Wibowo said.As much as 37 centimeters (14.5 inches) of rainfall was recorded in Jakarta and West Java’s hilly areas on New Year’s Eve, causing the Ciliwung and Cisadane rivers to overflow, Jakarta Gov. Anies Baswedan told reporters after conducting an aerial survey over the flooded city.He said 120,000 rescuers were helping people evacuate and installing mobile water pumps as more downpours were forecast. He vowed his city administration would complete flood-mitigation projects on the two rivers.Indonesian people wade through floodwaters in Jatibening on the outskirt of Jakarta, Indonesia, Jan. 1, 2020.Director General of Civil Aviation Polana Pramesti said the floods submerged the runway at Jakarta’s Halim Perdanakusumah domestic airport, forcing it to close and stranding some 19,000 passengers.Flooding was possible until April, when the rainy season ends. Flooding also highlights Indonesia’s infrastructure problems as it tries to attract foreign investment.Jakarta is home to 10 million people and 30 million live in its greater metropolitan area. It is prone to earthquakes and flooding and is rapidly sinking due to uncontrolled extraction of groundwater. Congestion is also estimated to cost the economy $6.5 billion a year.President Joko Widodo announced in August that the capital will move to a site in sparsely populated East Kalimantan province on Borneo island, known for rainforests and orangutans.
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Expressing deep frustration over stalled nuclear talks, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un warned of unspecified “shocking” action and that his country will soon reveal a new “strategic weapon” to the world as it bolsters its nuclear deterrent in face of “gangster-like” U.S. pressure.Kim also said North Korea was no longer obligated to maintain a self-imposed suspension on the testing of nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles, which President Donald Trump has touted as a major diplomatic accomplishment. But Kim gave no clear indication that a resumption of such tests was impending and appeared to leave the door open for eventual negotiations.Kim has used the diplomatic stalemate to expand his military capabilities by intensifying tests of shorter-range weapons. His arsenal is now estimated to include 40-50 nuclear bombs and various delivery systems, including solid-fuel missiles designed to beat missile-defense systems and developmental ICBMs potentially capable of reaching the U.S. mainland.A man watches a TV screen showing a file image of North Korea’s missile launch during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Jan. 1, 2020.Kim has also strengthened his negotiating position, moving the diplomacy closer to an arms reduction negotiation between nuclear states rather than talks that would culminate in a unilateral surrender of the weapons he sees as his strongest guarantee of survival.Lee Sang-min, spokesman for South Korea’s Unification Ministry, said North Korea carrying out its threat to showcase a new strategic weapon would be unhelpful for diplomacy.Strategic weapons usually refer to nuclear-capable delivery systems such as ICBMs, but North Korea otherwise has been vague about what new arms it would display. It announced in December that it performed two “crucial” tests at its long-range rocket launch site that would further strengthen its nuclear deterrent.Serious negotiationsKim’s comments published in state media Wednesday were made at a key, four-day meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party’s Central Committee as talks between Washington and Pyongyang have faltered over disagreements on disarmament steps and the removal of sanctions.Some experts say North Korea, which has always been sensitive about electoral changes in U.S. government, will avoid serious negotiations in the coming months as it watches how Trump’s impending impeachment trial over his dealings with Ukraine affects U.S. presidential elections in November.Kim may instead seek to strengthen his leverage by promoting a united front with Beijing and Moscow, Pyongyang’s traditional supporters, which seek to establish themselves as major stakeholders in North Korean diplomacy. Both have called for the U.N. Security Council to consider easing sanctions on the North to spur progress in nuclear negotiations.U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “very much hopes that the tests will not resume,” citing existing Security Council resolutions. “Non-proliferation remains a fundamental pillar of global nuclear security and must be preserved,” the spokesman said.Dujarric said the secretary general repeated his support for “the resumption of a dialogue that will lead to complete and verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. Diplomatic engagement is the only pathway to sustainable peace.”FILE – North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un, right, walks with U.S. President Donald Trump at the Capella Hotel on Sentosa island in Singapore, in this picture taken June 12, 2018, and released from North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency.’New way’ for North KoreaKim last year had said the North would pursue a “new way” if the Trump administration doesn’t make concessions to salvage the negotiations by the end of December. Kim’s defiant words entering 2020 indicate his “new way” could look very much like the old one — a patient determination to wait out sanctions and pressure, which will possibly weaken over time, while cementing the country’s status as a nuclear state.Kim at the party meeting declared the North will never give up its security for economic benefits in the face of what he described as increasing U.S. hostility and nuclear threats, the Korean Central News Agency said.“(Kim) said that we will never allow the impudent U.S. to abuse the DPRK-U.S. dialogue for meeting its sordid aim but will shift to a shocking actual action to make it pay for the pains sustained by our people so far and for the development so far restrained,” the agency said, referring to the North by its formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.Kim added that “if the U.S. persists in its hostile policy toward the DPRK, there will never be the denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula and the DPRK will steadily develop necessary and prerequisite strategic weapons for the security of the state until the U.S. rolls back its hostile policy,” KCNA said.“(Kim) confirmed that the world will witness a new strategic weapon to be possessed by the DPRK in the near future, declaring that we cannot give up the security of our future just for the visible economic results … now that hostile acts and nuclear threat against us are increasing,” it said.’A man of his word’Trump late Tuesday urged Kim to stick to his alleged commitment to denuclearize. The leaders after their first summit in Singapore in June 2018 issued a vague statement on a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula without when and how it would occur.President Donald Trump stands in front of the media while talking about the situation at the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, from his Mar-a-Lago property, Dec. 31, 2019, in Palm Beach, Fla. “Look, he likes me, I like him, we get along,” Trump said as he walked into a New Year’s party at Mar-a-Lago. “But he did sign a contract, he did sign an agreement talking about denuclearization … I think he’s a man of his word so we’re going to find out, but I think he’s a man of his word.”North Korea has held to its self-imposed moratorium on nuclear and ICBM testing since 2018, though last year it ended a 17-month pause in ballistic activity by testing a slew of solid-fuel weapons that potentially expanded its capabilities to strike targets in South Korea and Japan, including U.S. military bases there.While Kim gave no clear indication he was abandoning negotiations entirely or restarting the suspended tests, he said North Korea’s efforts to bolster its deterrent will be “properly coordinated” depending on future U.S. attitudes.Koh Yu-hwan, a North Korean expert at Seoul’s Dongguk University, said it would be irrational for Pyongyang to risk shattering its negotiations with Washington by resuming ICBM tests when Beijing and Moscow are campaigning for eased sanctions.“When you are developing an unfinished nuclear program, you conduct test after test in efforts to manufacture a crisis that would force your rival into negotiating, which was North Korea’s previous pattern of behavior,” said Koh, an adviser to South Korean President Moon Jae-in.“But once you reached a strategic (nuclear) status and need to consolidate it, you do it quietly while holding back provocative tests, like the way India and Pakistan did it,” Koh said.Kim did warn there were no longer grounds for the North to be “unilaterally bound” to its moratorium, criticizing the United States for expanding sanctions, continuing military exercises with South Korea and providing the South with advanced weaponry.F-35 fighter jetsThe allies have scaled down their major military exercises since 2018 to create space for diplomacy, but North Korea considers such drills to be rehearsals for an invasion and insists even the smaller drills violate agreements between the leaders. The North has also criticized the allies over South Korea’s recent acquisition of advanced U.S. F-35 fighter jets.The extensive KCNA report from the party meeting may have replaced a New Year’s speech like Kim has given in past years announcing major changes in security and economic policies. No speech was broadcast as of Wednesday afternoon, though Koh said a broadcast or statement could come later.Kim touched on economic issues in his remarks to the party meeting, saying his nation was prepared for a “long confrontation” with the United States and vowing to build “internal strength” to withstand sanctions.Kim called for his people to stay resilient in a struggle for “self-reliance” and lamented unmet goals in economic objectives laid out in 2019, calling for significant improvements in agricultural production and removal of unspecified “evil practices and stagnation” across industries including coal mining, electricity production, machinery and railway transport.
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