TR EMERITUS

A sudden flood at Russia's largest hydroelectric plant killed at least 12 people and left dozens missing after a surge in water pressure ruptured pipes, officials said Tuesday. The accident Monday caused serious power disruption in Siberia, cutting off electricity to smelters of major Russian metals manufacturers UC Rusal and Evraz Group. It happened when a sudden increase of water pressure in pipes feeding a power unit caused the rupture at the Sayano-Shushenskaya plant in the Khakassia region. According to the latest toll given Tuesday by Russia's Minister of Emergency Situations Sergei Shoigu, who was at the scene, 12 people were dead and 64 missing, Interfax news agency said. The plant's chief engineer, Andrei Mitrofanov, told Itar-Tass that "around 300 people" would have been on the ground at the time of the accident. The power station is one of the most powerful in the world with a capacity of 6.4 million kilowatts an hour. The components were undergoing repairs when the accident occurred, causing a large portion of the power unit to break off and puncture the ceiling and wall, allowing water to pour in and flood the chamber. In a statement, the Kremlin said the accident was due to an unspecified "hydraulic impact" at the plant which forced the shutdown of all 10 of the station's power units. President Dmitry Medvedev ordered Shoigu and Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko to fly to the scene and take personal control of the crisis, the Kremlin said. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin arrived Monday night at the headquarters of the national crisis management centre. Medvedev sent a message of condolences to employees of the plant. "We are going to look carefully into the causes of this catastrophe and provide all necessary assistance to the injured," Medvedev said, according to the Kremlin press office. The accident sparked panic among nearby residents who feared the massive dam at the facility might collapse, but Shoigu said there was no threat to people downstream. "Towns and villages located downstream are not in danger," Shoigu told reporters in Moscow. Andrei Klyuyev, an emergency situations ministry official at the site of the accident, 4,000 kilometres (2,500 miles) east of Moscow, said there were still dozens of people unaccounted for. Klyuyev said rescue divers had pulled out one person from a room underneath the plant's turbine hall where there was apparently a cave-in and flooding but said many more could still be trapped. Russian television broadcast pictures showing pieces of concrete, cables and twisted metal pylons beneath the 245-metre high dam wall and the main turbine hall flooded with water and debris. The accident disrupted power supply to key smelters in the region including those of UC Rusal, Russia's largest aluminium producer, and other enterprises. A Moscow-based spokeswoman for Rusal, which is controlled by billionaire businessman Oleg Deripaska, said however the operation of the smelters had not been seriously affected as power had been diverted from alternative sources. The company said in a statement later however that Deripaska had discussed with Shmatko the possibility of reducing output from UC Rusal to free up energy resources to ensure "stable functioning of the region". "The situation has become extremely difficult following the accident," the governor of the Tomsk region, Viktor Kress, told RIA Novosti. "It has left us down around 41 megawatts of power." Russia's financial regulators ordered the suspension of trading on both Moscow stock exchanges in shares of state-run RusHydro, the corporation that owns the affected hydroelectric station. Konstantin Reily, a utilities analyst at Finam, estimated that it might cost up to three billion dollars to replace the three damaged power units. "This is an extraordinary event. This is the first accident of such a scale at the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric plant," he added. Rebuilding the plant would take "four years or more", Vasily Zubakin, the acting chairman of RusHydro, told RIA Novosti. The mayor of the nearby town of Abakan, speaking to Echo of Moscow radio, said queues had begun forming outside bakeries and gas stations. The natural resources ministry said it was concerned by the environmental impact of the accident, saying an oil slick of more than 25 kilometres (15 miles) had spread along the Yenisei River. "According to preliminary data, transformer fluid has leaked from one of the hydroelectric station's damaged units," the ministry said in a statement. Source: AFP  Read More →

Former President Kim Dae-jung, a giant in South Korea's shift to democracy who won the 2000 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to forge a reconciliation with the prickly communist North, died on Tuesday at the age of 85. Kim, popularly known by his initials "DJ," died of cardiac arrest brought on by massive organ failure. Staff at Yonsei Severance Hospital that has treated him since July 13, when he was admitted for pneumonia, did not attempt cardiopulmonary resuscitation to revive him. "We chose to let the deceased go in peace," Yonsei hospital chief Park Chang-il told a news conference. News of his death brought an outpouring of condolences, including from those who disagreed with the liberal leader on how to deal with reclusive North Korea, which has for decades been a destabilizing factor for Asia's fourth largest economy. "We lost a great political leader today. His accomplishments and aspirations to achieve democratization and inter-Korean reconciliation will long be remembered by the people," conservative President Lee Myung-bak said in comments released by his office. The former political prisoner, once sentenced to death under one of the country's early military rulers whom he relentlessly opposed, was elected South Korea's president in December 1997 on his fourth attempt. It was the first time in the country that power had shifted from a ruling party president to one from the opposition and firmly established democracy in a country that had spent its early years under a succession of autocratic rulers. Kim was the architect of the "Sunshine Policy" of engaging communist North Korea which led to an unprecedented warming of ties between the foes. In the culmination of his efforts to improve relations with the North, Kim flew to Pyongyang in June 2000 for a historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. The meeting and his idea of prodding the North forward with the promise of incentives and reducing the strain of eventual unification through economic integration won Kim the Nobel prize. LIBERAL POLITICS His liberal politics and policy of rapprochement with the North was taken on by his successor Roh Moo-hyun who held a second summit with the North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in 2007. But in his final year, he watched as voters turned against a decade of liberal policies he had inaugurated by electing the conservative Lee, whose hard line toward the North saw relations plunge back into the freezer. And in May, Kim's successor as president, Roh, committed suicide amid a graft probe. "This year has been especially hard for us as we have lost earlier in the year yet another political leader, former President Roh Moo-hyun. We feel as if we have lost both root and spirit of our democracy," the opposition Democratic Party said. Analysts said Kim's death may help bring the rival Korea's back to dialogue, especially following conciliatory moves by the North in recent days that included a promise to reopen its border with the South, suggesting to some that tension may be subsiding. "DJ meant something to them and North Korea is likely to react and move in light of this news," Koh Yu-hwan of Dongguk University in Seoul said. Yang Moo-jin of University of North Korean Studies said Pyongyang will likely send a delegation that could "turn around recent hardened conditions between North and South Korea." At home, it was Kim's life-long struggle against repressive authoritarian leaders that defined him and made his name a household word and inspiration for generations. A devout Catholic and an inspiring speaker in both Korean and English, he shuffled when he walked due to injuries suffered to his legs in an assassination attempt in the 1970s when a truck rammed his car off a road. Even as skepticism grew of Pyongyang's intentions when it defied warnings and conducted its second nuclear test and a series of rocket launches, Kim told Reuters in one of his last interviews he was optimistic the North would eventually disarm. "Some people say North Korea has no intention of giving up its nuclear weapons, but that is not true," he said on June 23. Source: Reuters  Read More →

From our Correspondent The equal chance granted to PRs in the Primary 1 admission exercise has become a contentious issue for Singaporeans again. It was sparked by a letter written by a Mr Eduard Tay to the Straits Times last Thursday about his son's unsuccessful application for a place in a neighborhood school though he acknowledged that "his chances were poor, having to vie with children registered under Phase 1A, 2A1, 2A2, 2B and first-generation permanent residents' (PRs) children under Phase 2C." (read letter here) Mr Tay, who has completed his National Service, asked why these Phase 2C children are given an equal chance in Primary 1 registration. when first-generation PRs can choose not to do NS when they reach 18 by returning to their own country. His letter brought a swift rebuttal from a PR the very next day. Mrs Sweta Agarwal justified the equal chance given to PRs because they "pay taxes and abide by Singapore's laws".  She also issued a veiled threat that PRs may consider leaving Singapore if their children cannot get into the schools of their choice. Mrs Agarwal's insensitive letter triggered a massive furore among Singaporeans. Mr Jimmy Loke replied a day letter castigating Mrs Agarwal for not taking up citizenship after a lengthy six years as a PR. "Mrs Agarwal has the option of returning to her country to find a good school for her daughter. Mr Tay’s child does not enjoy that luxury. As a Singaporean, Mr Tay served national service for 21/2 years and spent 13 more years as a reservist. Should any government not take care of its citizens first?", he added. Mr Chia Kok Leong felt disappointed by her rationale. He wrote: "Paying taxes and working here for six years are commendable but instead of telling us what other value-added contributions she or her family would offer." Ms Violet Koh asked the Education Ministry to give citzens priority in Primary 1 registration. "Why are Singaporeans and PRs in the same category when it comes to the Primary 1 registration process? When top schools are overwhelmed with applicants and places have to be decided by balloting, Singaporeans are not given priority.", she asked. (read letter here) Mr Edwin Han mooted the suggestion of requiring long-term PRs to take up citizenship: "To the question asked by Mr Loke on why Mrs Agarwal has not taken up citizenship, I have this suggestion: Require all permanent residents (PRs) who have lived here for 10 years or more to apply for citizenship, and remove some or all privileges accorded to them should they fail to do so. This forces PRs to think carefully about whether they feel they belong in Singapore." (read letter here) The rising number of foreigners in Singapore has become an important issue for many Singaporeans. MM Lee said recently defended the government's pro-foreigner policy on the grounds that foreigners are "vital" to the economy. Despite widespread concerns, the fault line between foreigners and citizens was hardly mentioned by the Prime Minister during his National Day Rally. To add salt to the wound, citizens are asked to make foreigners "welcome". The government even goes out of its way to organize events for foreigners, including a recent "amazing race". All Singapore men have to serve two years of National Service and 13 years of reservist. They have to contribute 20% of their monthly income to CPF. PRs, on the other hand, do not have these burdens and they can always return to their homelands at anytime. Perhaps Ms Agarwal has been doing her calculations all along: that after her daughter completes secondary education here, she will go on to pursue her tertiary education elsewhere and the entire family will relocate. The government's extreme "friendliness" towards foreigners is almost unheard of anywhere in the world. No wonder some Singaporeans are beginning to wonder if it would be better to be PR than a citizen.   Related articles: >> MM Lee defends need for foreign talent >> PRC student supports government's plan for more foreign scholars >> PAP organizes 'amazing race' for PRs   EDITORS' NOTE: Do you share the same frustration as Mr Eduard Tay? Should PRs be given equal chance as Singapore citizens in Primary 1 registration? Should PRs living in Singapore for more than 5 years be compelled to take up citizenship? Send us your views: [email protected]  Read More →