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Cyclone Remal slams into Bangladesh coast as hundreds of thousands evacuate
Cyclone Remal has smashed into the low-lying coast of Bangladesh as authorities evacuated hundreds of thousands of people from their homes, officials said.
The storm started crossing the coast in the southern district of Khepupara in Bangladesh at around 8pm (14:00 GMT), meteorologist Shamim Ahsan told a news briefing in Dhaka on Sunday.
The cyclone, named Remal, was lashing the coast with wind speed up to 120 kilometres per hour (75mph), he said.
Authorities have raised the danger signal to 10, its highest level, and the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief’s Secretary Kamrul Hasan said people have been ordered to move from “unsafe and vulnerable” homes.
At least 800,000 people have fled their coastal homes and have been shifted to cyclone shelters, government ministers and disaster officials said.
But as people fled, Bangladeshi police said that a heavily laden ferry carrying more than 50 passengers – double its capacity – was swamped and sank near Mongla, a port in the expected path of the storm. “At least 13 people were injured and were taken to a hospital,” local police chief Mushfiqur Rahman Tushar told AFP.
Bangladesh has set up more than 7,000 cyclone shelters and mobilised 78,000 volunteers, State Minister for Disaster Management and Relief Mohibur Rahman told Reuters.
Cyclones have killed hundreds of thousands of people in Bangladesh in recent decades. In May last year, Cyclone Mocha became the most powerful storm to hit Bangladesh since Cyclone Sidr in November 2007. Sidr killed more than 3,000 people and caused billions of dollars in damage.
The number of superstorms hitting its densely populated coast has increased sharply, from one a year to as many as three, due to the impact of climate change.
India’s weather department said it was expecting the storm to make landfall in India overnight.
(Aljazeera)
Three Sri Lankan leopard cubs that were born at the Singapore Zoo on Jan 1 have now made their public debut at the facility.
The two males and one female, born to mother Yala and father Asanka, are the first of their species yo be born at the Singapore Zoo. The last successful birth in Singapore was recorded at the Night Safari three decades ago.
The triplets, which are the pair’s first litter, are among around 80 Sri Lankan leopards in zoos worldwide.
The species is listed as vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, with fewer than 800 individuals estimated to remain in the wild.
Visitors can now see the triplets at the Wild Africa exhibit, said the Mandai Wildlife Group in a statement on April 16.
The cubs can be found in the exhibit with their mother daily until mid-May and, subsequently, every Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday.
Yala with her cubs in their nest box, a month after their birth on Jan 1. (Straits Times)
A leopard cub investigating a piece of meat suspended from a tree – one of the several enrichment items in the Wild Africa exhibit designed to keep the cats mentally and physically stimulated. (Straits Times)
Mandai Wildlife Group curator Anand Kumar said it took nearly three years and close collaboration across continents to bring together a compatible pair of Sri Lankan leopards.
(Straits Times)
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/singapore-zoos-first-sri-lankan-leopard-cubs-make-their-public-debut?ref=top-stories
The Sri Lanka Navy has seized a local multi- day fishing trawler, it’s four man crew together with a consignment suspected to be narcotics off the Southern Coast of the island.
The vessel is presently being escorted to the Dikowita fisheries harbour for further investigations and legal proceedings.
US President Donald Trump has threatened to fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell if he does not step aside at the end of his term in May.
The two have been embroiled in a bitter spat over Powell’s reluctance to cut the central bank’s interest rate, despite Trump’s repeated calls.
Powell’s term expires on 15 May, but he is planning to remain in post until his successor, Kevin Warsh, is confirmed by the Senate.
“Then I’ll have to fire him,” Trump told Fox Business, when asked about Powell’s plans to stay on in the job.
“I’ve held back firing him. I’ve wanted to fire him, but I hate to be controversial,” Trump said.
Thom Tillis, an influential Republican senator on the committee which oversees nominations for the Federal Reserve chair, has threatened to block Warsh’s confirmation. If Warsh is not confirmed before Powell’s term expires, he plans to stay on temporarily in the post.
“That’s what the law calls for. That’s what we’ve done on several occasions,” Powell has said.
Tillis has warned Trump he will not let Warsh’s appointment go ahead unless a criminal investigation into Powell, linked to the renovation of the Federal Reserve building, is dropped.
[BBC]
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