Hanoi, July 31 (IANS) Six people have been killed due to torrential rain and landslides in Vietnam’s northern region, the country’s National Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control reported on Wednesday.

Downpour-triggered landslides and floods killed two people in Ha Giang province, two in Dien Bien province, one in Thai Nguyen and another in Bac Giang in the past week, Xinhua news agency reported.

Two others were injured in Bac Kan province while one was still missing in Son La province.

Meanwhile, 82 houses in the region collapsed or were flooded, over 71 ha of rice was damaged, and 51 locations with 5,308 cubic meters of soil and rocks were eroded, said the committee.

The National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting predicted that heavy rains will continue in the northern region in the next few days.

–IANS

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Canberra, July 31 (IANS) Australian banks will be forced to compensate customers who lose money to scams under new laws flagged by the government.

In a speech to the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday, Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones said current laws do too little to help scam victims get their money back, Xinhua news agency reported.

He said in many cases, Australians cannot be compensated for scam losses because they are being tricked into transferring money through authorised transactions, meaning they are not unlawful under the current laws.

“We will address this to ensure victims can receive compensation in the right circumstances,” Jones said.

The government, in July 2023, established the National Anti-Scam Center to lead a crackdown on scammers.

Jones said on Wednesday that the crackdown is having some success but that banks, telecommunications companies and digital platforms must take more preventative action.

Under the second stage of the government’s crackdown, banks, digital platforms, and telecommunications companies will face penalties if they do not conduct preventative checks under new mandatory codes to prevent scam losses.

“If there is a breach of the code, the bank, telco or digital platform will be held to account,” Jones said.

According to data published by the National Anti-Scam Centre in April, Australians lost a combined 2.74 billion Australian dollars ($1.79) to scams in 2023 — down 13.1 per cent from 2022.

People aged 65 and over were the only age group to lose more money to scams in 2023 than in 2022.

Investment scams caused the most financial damage, accounting for 47.4 per cent of all losses, followed by remote access scams and romance scams.

–IANS

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Beijing, July 31 (IANS) Heavy rainfall has affected 1.15 million people in China’s Hunan Province, leading to direct economic losses of around 6.13 billion yuan (about $859.75 million), local authorities said on Wednesday.

Heavy rainstorms from Typhoon Gaemi forced the evacuation of 95,000 people in the province, with 49,800 requiring emergency relief, according to preliminary statistics from the provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters, Xinhua news agency reported.

Additionally, torrential rains have battered 107,500 hectares of crops, with 17,100 hectares completely lost.

The Hunan province is currently maintaining a Level II emergency response for flood, the second-highest level in the four-tier warning system.

A total of 78 county-level areas in the province have maintained different levels of emergency response, among which Zixing and Huarong have activated a Level I emergency response for flood.

The provincial meteorological department forecast heavy rains in northwestern Hunan for the next one to two days, advising preventive measures.

–IANS

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Baghdad, July 31 (IANS) Up to five Iraqi paramilitary Hashd Shaabi members were killed and six others wounded in an unknown drone attack on a military base in Iraq’s Babil province, an Interior Ministry source said.

Unknown drones bombed a military base of the Hashd Shaabi forces, also known as Popular Mobilization Forces, in the Jurf al-Nasr area in the northern part of Babil province, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity, the source told Xinhua.

Before dawn on Wednesday, the media office of the Hashd Shaabi Forces said in a brief statement on its official Telegram page that the attack occurred at 9.30 p.m. local time when unknown drones fired missiles on two patrols belonging to the 47th Brigade of the Hashd Shaabi in the Jurf al-Nasr area, Xinhua news agency reported.

Also known as Popular Mobilization Forces, the Hashd Shaabi forces are a state-sponsored paramilitary network composed of mostly Shia Muslim groups.

–IANS

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Ulaanbaatar, July 31 (IANS) A laboratory test for a suspected case of bubonic plague in the western Mongolian province of Govi-Altai has returned negative results, local media reported on Wednesday.

The tests were conducted on samples taken from a resident of the province’s Taishir soum (administrative subdivision), who had recently been hospitalised after consuming marmot meat.

Despite the ban on hunting marmots in Mongolia, the rodent is still considered a delicacy by many, leading some to ignore the law, Xinhua news agency reported.

Seventeen out of Mongolia’s 21 provinces are at risk of bubonic plague infection, the country’s National Center for Zoonotic Diseases said, urging the public to refrain from hunting marmots and consuming their meat to mitigate the risk of infection.

Bubonic plague, a bacterial disease transmitted by fleas that live on wild rodents like marmots, can be fatal within 24 hours if not promptly treated, according to the World Health Organization.

–IANS

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