The poorly-regulated and notoriously corrupt multibillion-dollar industry in remote Kachin state is frequently hit by fatal disasters, and the victims often come from poor ethnic communities.

The latest disaster hit remote Set Mu sub-township early Tuesday following heavy rains in the area, burying at least 27 people, mostly from the impoverished ethnic Rawang group, local police officer Aung Zin Kyaw told AFP.

“We haven’t found any dead bodies yet. We will search again today with the Red Cross and fire brigade,” he said.

With only about 70,000 members, the mainly-Christian Rawang are one of Myanmar’s smallest ethnic groups and live predominantly in the mountainous north, with many employed in the informal mining sector.

With few regulations and little oversight in the hugely profitable sector — mostly fuelled by soaring Chinese demand — conditions are often dangerous, especially during the wet months.

“Before the rainy season, the people looking for jade were destroying the land. Now it is raining and the ground is not stable and very muddy,” local resident Shwe Thein told AFP Wednesday.

Dozens of people have been killed by landslides this year in the Hpakant region of Kachin state, where a major incident in November 2015 left more than 100 dead.

Watchdog Global Witness estimated that the jade industry was worth some $31 billion in 2014, a huge proportion of which did not reach state coffers.

Jade and other natural resources, including timber, gold and amber, help finance both sides in a decades-long conflict between ethnic Kachin rebels and the military as they battle to control the mines and the income they bring.

Since a 17-year ceasefire broke down in 2011, more than 100,000 people have been displaced due to the fighting, many multiple times.

Civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi said on coming to power in 2016 that ending the country’s myriad conflicts was her top priority but an ongoing peace process is yet to yield any significant results.

He said that about 2,851 victims had been reported rescued from yesterday until this morning from locations in Sanamxay district, Attapeu province.

More would require rescue from trees and the roofs of houses, district governor Mr Bounhom Phommasane told Vientiane Times via mobile phone.”A second step for us will to recover and identify the deceased, but for now we hurry to find those who are still alive in the area,” he explained.

Seven villages and dwellings home to about 1,300 families and over 6,000 people were under water and nearly half of the affected persons have yet to be rescued or otherwise accounted.

About 19 people have been found dead, and 49 believed missing from the incident, according to unofficial reports from Attapeu Administration office this morning.

There would be no opportunity to confirm these numbers officially until the rescue of survivors is complete, an official from the office said.

The flood accident occurred after a partial collapse of saddle dam D at the reservoir of the Xe-Pian Xe-Namnoy hydropower project on Monday evening.

The administration officials announced that the accident occurred Monday evening, causing waters to breach the damn wall and proceed down the XePian river basin to flood houses and lands in seven villages of the district.

Rescue teams from around the province, from the capital and around the nation have been joined by those of regional neighbours and other countries lending assistance.

To offer donations to flood victims in need urgent of assistance, please contact this information below:

The Attapeu provincial Administration Office is appealing to entrepreneurs and people from Laos and abroad to donate clothing, food, drinking water, medicines, cash and other necessary items to assist flood victims in Attapeu province.

When:  Public donation opens from now

Where: The fifth floor of Attapeu provincial office or Telephone; 020 55543255, 020 5553 6888, 020 9109 8888

http://vientianetimes.org.la

A wall of water was unleashed Monday after parts of the dam were washed away, sending floods surging downstream, sweeping away homes and leaving an unknown number of people missing.

“There are 17 bodies recovered so far, but we can not estimate the number of missing yet,” Chana Miencharoen, said, adding roof-level flood waters have submerged several villages near the Xe-Namnoy dam.

“All the dead are Laotian… more than 6,000 are affected from eight villages near the dam,” he said, from the relief centre in Attepeu province, where the disaster occurred on Monday.

The remote area is only accessible by helicopter and flat-bottomed boats, with roads badly damaged by the flash flooding or completely washed away.

Communist Laos is criss-crossed by a vast network of rivers and scores of dams are being built or planned in the impoverished and landlocked country, which exports most of its hydropower energy to neighbouring countries like Thailand.

The South Korean partner in the hydropower project said Wednesday it discovered the upper part of the structure had washed away 24 hours before it collapsed.

SK Engineering & Construction said it discovered the damage to an auxiliary dam at around 9:00 pm Sunday local time.

“We immediately alerted the authorities and began evacuating (nearby) villagers downstream,” it said in a statement.

The wall of water unleashed Monday by the failure of the dam in the country’s southeast surged downstream, sweeping away homes and leaving an unknown number of people feared dead.

SK Engineering & Construction, a South Korean builder that is one of the partners in the project, said it discovered the damage to an auxiliary dam at around 9:00 pm Sunday local time.

“We immediately alerted the authorities and began evacuating (nearby) villagers downstream,” it said in a statement.

Repair work was hampered by heavy rain which had damaged roads, it said, and early on Monday water was discharged from the Xe-Namnoy dam — one of the two main dams in the project — to try to relieve pressure on the auxiliary structure.

The government was warned about further damage to the dam at around noon, prompting an official evacuation order for villagers downstream, and the structure collapsed a few hours later, it said.

By Tuesday morning, seven out of 12 villages located downstream were flooded, it said. Aerial pictures showed a vast brown inundation swamping houses and jungle alike over a huge area.

Another video showed families waiting for rescue on the rooftop of their house, with a nearby Buddhist temple partially submerged.

The South Korean firm said it had sent a crisis team to the site, dispatching helicopters, boats and rescue workers.

“Currently, SK E&C is actively working on personnel recovery and damage relief with the Laotian government,” it said.

Communist Laos is traversed by a vast network of rivers and several dams are being built or planned in the impoverished and landlocked country, which exports most of its hydropower energy to neighbouring countries such as Thailand.

The $1.2 billion dam located near the border with Cambodia is part of a project by Vientiane-based Xe Pian Xe Namnoy Power Company, or PNPC, a joint venture formed in 2012 between a Laotian, a Thai and two South Korean companies, according to the project’s website.

The 410 megawatt capacity plant was supposed to start commercial operations by 2019, according to the venture’s website.

The project consists of a series of dams over the Houay Makchanh, the Xe-Namnoy and the Xe-Pian rivers in Champasak province.

It planned to export 90 percent of its electricity to energy-hungry Thailand and the remainder was to be offered up on the local grid.

Under the terms of construction, PNPC said it would operate and manage the power project for 27 years after commercial operations began.

However, the research organisation concluded that the 12 per cent undecided voters may tilt the balance of the election in Punjab, the country’s largest province, thus ultimately determining the fate of the next federal government.

Examine: Herald survey shows elections too close to call

Also adding to the uncertainty are allegations that not all political parties are being provided with a level playing field ahead of the polls.

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“There is [a] considerable display of judicial and para-judicial activity culminating in arrests, disqualifications and judgments which cause concern among all key contestants, except the front-runner of the polling data, PTI,” Gallup Pakistan observed.

The “poll of polls” released a day ahead of countrywide general elections constitutes the average of poll findings by five different polling organisations and publishers: Gallup Pakistan, Institute for Public Opinion Research, Sustainable Development Policy Institute/Herald, Pulse Consultants and Roshan Pakistan.

“The conclusion shared by nearly all pollsters is that it is an unpredictable election,” Gallup Pakistan wrote in its report.

Following are the key findings of the survey of polls conducted between May 1 and July 11 ahead of the 2018 elections and collectively surveying nearly 22,000 respondents:

A neck-and-neck fight has been observed between the PML-N and PTI, with 12pc of still undecided voters contributing to uncertainty

With a lead in the national vote bank, PTI is expected to emerge as the largest party on the federal level, following closely by the PML-N in terms of vote

PML-N will likely lead in terms of vote, but with a single-digit margin with PTI

PML-N will likely emerge victorious in central and western Punjab; however, PTI will probably lead in South Punjab on account of anti-PML-N votes. A tough contest between the two parties is likely in North Punjab, but PTI is likely to be ahead in votes

PPP will continue to dominate Sindh

PTI is forecast to continue its lead in KP

A coalition of parties is likely to form a government in Balochistan

Other observations from the poll

The poll of polls indicates a dramatic rise in PTI’s vote bank at both national and provincial, with the increase attributable to voters won over from PML-N and other parties

The five polls show that PML-N’s vote bank from the 2013 elections has declined nationally by 3-6pc, but it is still forecasted to be the second largest party nationally. PTI’s vote bank, meanwhile, has nearly doubled from 17pc in 2013 to 32pc presently

In Gallup’s own poll findings, the figure of the undecided voters dropped from 21pc two months ago to 13pc in the final week of the elections. Nearly 6pc of them switched to PTI

Analysis suggests the profile of the undecided voters is close to the profile of PML-N voters. If these undecided PML-N voters decide to join the PTI fold or go back to PML-N in large numbers the situation may change drastically. Therefore, the swing vote in Punjab may ultimately determine the fate of the next federal government

The national average of expected votes computed by Gallup Pakistan ranges between 30-32pc for PTI; 27-30pc for PML-N; and 17-20pc for the PPP

A total of 105.95 million voters will head to polls across the country on Wednesday to elect their representatives to the National Assembly and the four provincial legislatures.

From left to right: Imran Khan, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Shahbaz Sharif

The battle is set to come down to three parties: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI).

Voting begins at 8am, with a total of 371,388 army personnel deployed at 85,000 polling stations as a precautionary security measure.

Election 101: Everything you need to know about casting your vote

Polling ends at 6pm, after which polling staff will begin the vote count. The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has requested the media not to air unofficial results before 7pm (PST).

The government has declared July 25 a public holiday in an effort to encourage maximum voter participation.

• QUICK LINKS
• Follow all live updates on Dawn’s election blog
• Check NA details and results on the interactive map
• Visit the election site
• Watch table of live results after 7pm (PST)

Final arrangements

Apparatus handed over to polling staff

A day earlier, presiding officers collected polling apparatus — including ballot boxes and other voting material — from ECP’s distribution centres across Pakistan in the presence of police and army personnel.

Election officials wait outside a distribution centre to collect ballot boxes and voting materials in Karachi. — AFP

The material was then transported to polling stations amid strict security.

Voters lists were put up at polling stations as well as the code of conduct for election day.

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, police have arranged surveillance vehicles equipped with live video streaming cameras.

The specially prepared surveillance vehicles will have four cameras each installed on them which will be able to detect a human body from a mile’s distance.

Curtain falls on campaigns

PTI, PML-N confident of victory

Election campaigns came to a close on Monday night — as directed by the ECP — with PML-N and PTI leadership rounding off their campaigns by predicting victory for themselves.

(TOP left) PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto addressing a public gathering at Ratodero. (Bottom left) PML-N president Shahbaz Sharif gestures during an election gathering in DG Khan. (Right) PTI chief Imran Khan waves to supporters at a rally in Lahore.—APP / White Star / AP

On the last day of canvassing, PTI chief Imran Khan addressed four meetings in Lahore, PML-N president Shahbaz Sharif concluded his party’s election campaign by holding a public meeting in Dera Ghazi Khan. PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari addressed people in Shahdatkot, Garhi Khairi, Jacobabad, Shikarpur and Garhi Yasin before going to the graves of former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

“Despite all odds PML-N is winning the July 25 polls. We will form the government at the Centre and in Punjab as our victory is certain,” said Sharif addressing the crowd in D.G. Khan. He urged the people to vote for his party to “free Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz from jail”.

Khan addressed rallies at strategic points in Lahore to prop up his party’s chances. One of his rallies was organised in the constituency from where he himself is a contestant, facing a big challenge from tough-talking PML-N’s Khawaja Saad Rafique. “This is the time to change your destiny. You must come out to vote on July 25. You must bring others out to vote on the day,” he thundered.

Controversial polls

Questions raised about ‘free and fair’ elections

The general election has been criticised by some quarters for not being “free and fair”.

A soldier stands guard as an election official carries election materials at a distribution centre in Islamabad. ─AFP

Questions have been raised over the role of the armed forces in the polling process; restrictions being placed on the media; participation of banned groups; NAB pressure on election candidates as well as the detention of political workers in the run-up to the polls.

Read more: ‘Dark clouds looming over elections’: PML-N senators express reservations ahead of polls

Days ahead of the polls, former Senate chairman and PPP stalwart Raza Rabbani hit out at the ECP’s “criminal silence” over perceived irregularities in the run-up to the polls, warning of “dire consequences” for the government if the elections are “engineered”.

Survey findings

A public opinion survey conducted by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) and the Herald magazine shows that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) enjoys a slim lead at the national level over the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

Polling official carries election material as a soldier escorts her in Lahore. —AFP

This lead of 4 percentage points is outside the survey’s national margin of error – + 1.3 percentage points.

The Herald-SDPI survey finds that 14 per cent of the respondents in Punjab remain undecided. It is this group of voters that will clearly determine the final result of the 2018 election.

This finding is consistent with the polls conducted by Gallup and Pulse Consultants during May 2018 which also show that undecided voters hold the election in Punjab in the balance.

Read: Herald survey says election is too close to call

Polling day dos and don’ts

Your checklist for the day

• Text your CNIC number (without spaces or dashes) to 8300 to find your polling station
• Do NOT forget to carry your original CNIC
• Be mindful that your vote will be deemed invalid and your visit to the polling station would be a waste, if your ballot paper is:
  1. missing the official code mark or assistant presiding officer’s signature
  2. missing the ECP’s watermark
  3. missing the official nine-matrix seal
  4. has a paper or anything else attached to it
  5. has stamps on more than one candidate’s election symbols
  6. appears equally in more than one candidates’ boxes
• Once you’ve stamped your ballot papers, make sure the ink is dry before folding the ballot paper correctly. You will be told how to fold the ballot paper.

Clare Bronfman, 39, a philanthropist and former equestrian show jumper, is the daughter of Edgar Bronfman, the late Canadian chairman of liquor giant Seagram whose net worth was estimated at $2.6 billion.

Bronfman appeared before a judge in Brooklyn, New York and was released with an ankle bracelet after prosecutors argued she was a flight risk.

She was a member of the executive board of Nxivm, a purported self-help group accused of presiding over a secretive society of women sex slaves that shot to notoriety for its initiation rites branding them with the founder’s initials.

She is accused of using her wealth to fund Nxivm, and is charged with racketeering conspiracy, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years, and identity theft with a statutory maximum sentence of 15 years.

Her lawyer, Susan Necheles, said her client “did nothing wrong.”

“Nxivm was not a criminal enterprise but instead was an organization that helped thousands of people,” she added in a statement.

Three other women, also from Clifton Park, New York were arrested and charged, and similarly entered not guilty pleas, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors also unveiled further charges against Keith Raniere, 57, the Nxivm founder already charged with sex trafficking and forced labor conspiracy.

Raniere, who was arrested in Mexico in March, is accused of creating a secret society called “DOS” — a pyramid scheme of women “slaves” and “masters” with him — the sole man — at the top.

Prosecutors had branded Bronfman an “extraordinarily high” flight risk owing to her vast wealth, access to a private jet, ownership stake in a private island in Fiji, and because her mother and sister live overseas.

Allison Mack, a television actress, was also arrested in April on sex trafficking charges for allegedly recruiting women to the purported mentorship group, whom US prosecutors say were forced to have sex with its leader.

Members were allegedly treated as slaves — branded with Raniere’s initials while being pinned down naked and filmed at initiation ceremonies.

Some were forced onto low-calorie diets as Raniere preferred exceptionally thin women, and none were allowed to sleep with anyone but him, prosecutors said.

    On the second day of a major international AIDS conference in Amsterdam, the two lent their mega-wattage star power to calls for action to end the lingering stigma around the virus and protect generations to come.

“Young people are the only age group where HIV infections are rising, not falling,” warned rock star and veteran AIDS campaigner Elton John as he announced the launch of the MenStar Coalition.

“We have to do much, much more to bring men, especially younger men more fully into the fold,” he insisted.

The coalition brings together different partners, including the UN’s Unitaid and the US fund PEPFAR, as John warned that 24- to 35-year-old men were accessing HIV testing and treatment at “unacceptably low rates”.

Much work has been done to protect women and girls but “we can’t solve the whole problem if we are only addressing half the situation,” John said.

“If we want to win this fight, if we want to end AIDS once and for all, we must make men part of the solution” and teach them to protect themselves, “not only their wives and girlfriends, their sisters, and daughters, but also critically their brothers and their sons.”

– ‘Dangerous complacency’ –

Some 15,000 delegates — researchers, campaigners, activists and people living with the HIV virus which causes AIDS — have gathered for the five-day war council, amid dire warnings the AIDS epidemic could yet spiral out of control.

“The progress we have fought so hard for is at risk from a dangerous complacency,” Prince Harry told conference delegates.

“Too many around the world are still ignoring the damaging knock-on effects on education and other community services for not prioritising HIV prevention and treatment.”

The new initiative was focused on “the tough but essential work of truly changing mindsets,” the Duke of Sussex said.

“Inspired by the growing alarm of the rate of new HIV infections among young women, this campaign is bravely tackling the root of this problem — the lack of awareness of HIV prevention amongst hard-to-reach young men.”

He urged people to unite around the “smashing of a deadly stigma” surrounding HIV, “and calling out the prejudice that is still there”.

South African actress Charlize Theron agreed as she addressed the day’s opening plenary session entitled: “Breaking the barriers of inequity”.

“We have come a long way as a global community from that moral panic that defined early stages of this epidemic,” she told the audience.

But she warned that “most of us now know and understand that HIV is not just about sex or sexuality… We know it is linked to the second-class status of women and girls worldwide.”//AFP