
Hundreds evacuated as Guatemalan volcano erupts
Published on: Fri, Jun 06, 2025
By: AFP Text Size: Residents were moved to shelters from communities near the Fuego volcano, located 35 kilometers (22 miles) from the capital Guatemala City. - AFP pic ESCUINTLA: Guatemalan authorities said Thursday they were evacuating more than 500 people after Central America's most active volcano spewed gas and ash. Residents were moved to shelters from communities near the Fuego volcano, located 35 kilometers (22 miles) from the capital Guatemala City.
Advertisement 'We prefer to leave rather than mourn the death of everyone in the village later,' Celsa Perez, 25, told AFP. The government suspended local school activities and closed a road linking the south of the country to the colonial city of Antigua, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, disaster coordination agency Conred reported. There have been several such mass evacuations in recent years because Fuego erupted, including in March of this year. In 2018, 215 people were killed and a similar number left missing when rivers of lava poured down the volcano's slopes, devastating a village. * Follow us on our official WhatsApp channel and Telegram for breaking news alerts and key updates! * Do you have access to the Daily Express e-paper and online exclusive news? Check out subscription plans available.
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The Star
12 hours ago
- The Star
'Nobody else knew': Allied prisoners of war held in Taiwan
JINGUASHI, Taiwan: In a small urban park in Taiwan, more than 4,000 names are etched into a granite wall - most of them British and American servicemen held by the Japanese during World War II. The sombre memorial sits on the site of Kinkaseki, a brutal prisoner of war camp near Taipei and one of more than a dozen run by Japan on the island it ruled from 1895 until its defeat in 1945. For decades, little was known of the PoW camps, said Michael Hurst, a Canadian amateur military historian in Taipei, who has spent years researching them. Many survivors had refused to talk about their experiences, while PoWs held elsewhere in Asia had been unaware of "the horrors" in Taiwan, and museums and academics had glossed over them, Hurst told AFP. After learning of Kinkaseki in 1996, Hurst spearheaded efforts to locate other camps in Taiwan, build memorials for the veterans, and raise public awareness about their bravery and suffering. Starting in 1942, more than 4,300 Allied servicemen captured on battlefields across South-East Asia were sent to Taiwan in Japanese "hell ships". Most of the PoWs were British or American, but Australian, Dutch, Canadian and some New Zealand servicemen were also among them. By the time the war ended, 430 men had died from malnutrition, disease, overwork and torture. The harsh conditions of Taiwan's camps were long overshadowed by Japan's notorious "Death Railway" between Myanmar and Thailand, Hurst said. More than 60,000 Allied PoWs worked as slave labourers on the line, with about 13,000 dying during construction, along with up to 100,000 civilians, mostly forced labour from the region. Their experiences were later captured in the 1950s war movie "The Bridge on the River Kwai". But as stories of Kinkaseki slowly emerged, it became "known as one of the worst PoW camps in all of Asia", Hurst said. Canadian filmmaker Anne Wheeler's physician father was among the more than 1,100 prisoners of war held in Kinkaseki. Wheeler said she and her three older brothers "grew up knowing nothing" about their father's ordeal in the camp, where the men were forced to toil in a copper mine. After her father's death in 1963, Wheeler discovered his diaries recording his experience as a doctor during the war, including Taiwan, and turned them into a documentary. "A War Story" recounts Ben Wheeler's harrowing journey from Japan-occupied Singapore to Taiwan in 1942. By the time her father arrived in Kinkaseki, Wheeler said the men there "were already starving and being overworked and were having a lot of mining injuries". They were also falling ill with "beriberi, malaria, dysentery, and the death count was going up quickly," Wheeler, 78, told AFP in a Zoom interview. Trained in tropical medicine, the doctor had to be "inventive" with the rudimentary resources at hand to treat his fellow PoWs, who affectionately called him "the man sent from God", she said. Inflamed appendices and tonsils, for example, had to be removed without anesthesia using a razor blade because "that was all he had", she said. Taiwan was a key staging ground for Japan's operations during the war. Many Taiwanese fought for Japan, while people on the island endured deadly US aerial bombings and food shortages. Eighty years after Japan's surrender, the former PoWs held in Taiwan are all dead and little physical evidence remains of the camps. At 77, Hurst is still trying to keep their stories alive through the Taiwan POW Camps Memorial Society and private tours. His book "Never Forgotten" is based on interviews with more than 500 veterans, diaries kept by PoWs and correspondence. A gate post and section of wall are all that remain of Kinkaseki, set in a residential neighbourhood of Jinguashi town, surrounded by lush, rolling hills. On the day AFP visited, a Taiwanese woman taking a tour with Hurst said she had "never" studied this part of World War II history at school. "It's very important because it's one of Taiwan's stories," the 40-year-old said. Hurst said he still receives several emails a week from families of PoWs wanting to know what happened to their loved ones in Taiwan. "For all these years, maybe 50 years, they just kept it to themselves," Hurst said. "They knew what they'd suffered, and they knew that nobody else knew." - AFP


Daily Express
17 hours ago
- Daily Express
15,000ha in Sipitang approved for village settlements
Published on: Wednesday, August 13, 2025 Published on: Wed, Aug 13, 2025 By: Ahmad Apong Text Size: Dr Yusoff said this is the Chief Minister's intention to listen to and fulfil the wishes of rural residents in need of land. SIPITANG: A total of 15,000 hectares within a forest reserve area in Sipitang have been approved by the State Government for village settlements. Qhazanah Bhd Chairman and Sindumin Assemblyman Datuk Dr Yusoff Yaccob said this during a meeting with the Sabah Forestry Department on Thursday, adding that the land was recently approved by the State Legislative Assembly. The land comprises a Class Two Forest Reserve, which was formerly under the concession of Sabah Forest Industries. The meeting was aimed at organising, coordinating and standardising matters related to villages already inhabited by local residents. 'This is good news for the people. The Forestry Department has agreed to release the land for the settlers, particularly for residents who have already opened and cultivated the land,' he said. The meeting also discussed gazetting areas from Long Pasia, Long Mio, Meligan, Iburu, Mendulong, Sulub, Pakiak, Kampung Klias Baru and several other locations deemed suitable for opening. Residents hope this decision will become a reality, ensuring that those who have already opened the land will no longer feel threatened or fear eviction. Dr Yusoff said this is the Chief Minister's intention to listen to and fulfil the wishes of rural residents in need of land. Also present were Forest Resource Management Division Chief Azman Said, Sipitang District Forestry Officer Andrew Monis, Kota Kinabalu Regional Forestry Officer Mohd Nasir Ag Suman, Community Development Leader Unit representative Wendy Agung Baruh and District Chief OKK Daut Kassim. * Follow us on our official WhatsApp channel and Telegram for breaking news alerts and key updates! * Do you have access to the Daily Express e-paper and online exclusive news? Check out subscription plans available. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express's Telegram channel. Daily Express Malaysia


Borneo Post
19 hours ago
- Borneo Post
Global volunteers join hands to help preserve China's heritage
Global volunteers help with restoring ancient buildings in Pingyao County, north China's Shanxi Province, Aug. 4, 2025. (Xinhua/Chen Zhihao) TAIYUAN (Aug 13): Amid the scorching summer heat of north China, 17 Chinese and international volunteers huddle beside the gatehouse of an ancient residence in the historic Pingyao County in Shanxi Province, carefully restoring bricks under the watchful guidance of seasoned professionals. From Aug. 1 to 13, the Shanghai Ruan Yisan Heritage Foundation, together with Pingyao County, is hosting a volunteer camp focused on architectural heritage conservation in Dongquan Village, a traditional settlement in northern China. Over two weeks, the volunteers will help restore the gatehouse and surrounding walls of the centuries-old residence under the guidance of master craftsmen. They will visit the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Pingyao Ancient City, along with historic sites like Shuanglin Temple and Zhenguo Temple. The itinerary also includes meeting inheritors of local intangible cultural heritage, from traditional puppet performers to artisans of Pingyao's famed lacquerware craft. Among the 17 participants, six are from France. Leading the French group is 26-year-old Aurore Franche, a model with a deep passion for cultural heritage preservation. She sees it as a tangible link to the past, and joined the program to gain firsthand experience with traditional Chinese craftsmanship. 'Chinese architecture is so beautiful, especially the incredible mortise and tenon structure,' she said. 'It's amazing how the pieces can fit together so securely without glue or nails. That reflects the wisdom of ancient Chinese builders.' Sara Zuniga, a university student from Mexico with a long-standing fascination for history, said her studies are fueled by a desire to understand the brilliance of past civilizations. 'Unfortunately, many of Mexico's historical sites have been damaged over time as development progressed. This makes me feel regretful and motivates me even more to protect what remains,' she added. For Zuniga, China — halfway across the globe — had always felt like a mysterious and captivating place. 'Before coming here, my impression of China was limited to what I had seen in films and reports from Western media. I wanted to see this ancient country for myself.' At the restoration site, a young man fluent in Chinese quickly caught the attention of fellow volunteers. Herwann Rocrou, 23, is an archaeology student in France and a passionate enthusiast of Sinology. In his spare time, Rocrou studies Chinese and has traveled to cities like Shanghai and Suzhou. He's also explored ancient Chinese cultures, including the Yangshao culture and Shang and Zhou culture. He said that he joined the Pingyao volunteer program to deepen his understanding of how traditional Chinese architecture is preserved and restored. 'I love Chinese history and culture, and it's my dream to one day live in China with my girlfriend.' During the volunteer program, international volunteers teamed up with skilled masons in Dongquan Village, a nationally recognized historic site. They also visited ancient structures and relics in Liangcun Village and explored Pingyao at night, one of China's best-preserved and inhabited ancient walled cities. According to Ding Feng, secretary general of the Ruan Yisan Heritage Foundation, the foundation has organized 48 volunteer camps across Shanxi, Guizhou, Fujian, Yunnan and other provinces since 2010. More than half of these activities have taken place in Shanxi, a province famous for its ancient architecture and home to over 28,000 historic structures, with nearly 1,000 international volunteers taking part over the past 15 years. 'Our goal is to give the public, especially young people, more opportunities to get directly involved in heritage protection,' Ding said. 'By working with their hands, they form a physical connection to traditional architecture, which deepens their emotional ties and sparks greater enthusiasm, initiative and awareness for preserving cultural heritage.' – Xinhua architectural China cultural heritage volunteers