CHINA
Bridge collapse kills 11
A stone arch bridge under illegal construction in a village in Guangdong Province collapsed, killing 11 people and injuring several others, state media and an official said yesterday. Rescuers pulled out 26 people, mostly construction workers, after the bridge came down on Saturday afternoon in Liangkengkou Village, according to an official at the information office of Maoming City Government. Five of them were confirmed dead at the scene. Eight others were seriously injured, six of whom died later in the hospital, said the man, who refused to give his name. One person managed to escape the bridge collapse, he said. He said that the village committee had arranged to build a new bridge over a waterless ditch, but failed to get permission. The local government ordered construction to stop several times, but villagers took advantage of the three-day May Day holiday from Thursday to Saturday to restart the work. The Maoming official said three people responsible for the project were in police custody.
JAPAN
Delegation leaves for China
A delegation of senior lawmakers left for Beijing yesterday on a mission to mend ties between the neighbors. The bipartisan delegation, led by Masahiko Komura, former foreign minister and vice president of the Liberal Democratic Party, departed from Tokyo’s Haneda airport yesterday on a three-day visit, officials said. The mission consisted of nine lawmakers belonging to the Japan-China Friendship Parliamentarians’ Union. The delegation members, including former foreign minister Katsuya Okada, hope to meet aides to Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in an effort to arrange a summit between Xi and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, NHK reported.
JAPAN
Official touts US pact
A top figure in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party says his nation’s security alliance with the US should be deepened to prevent conflicts from breaking out in the Asia-Pacific. Secretary-General Shigeru Ishiba’s comments come amid tensions with China over Tokyo’s wartime past and a territorial dispute. Ishiba struck a conciliatory tone on Friday, but also cautioned China against using “misguided nationalism” to direct domestic discontent away from the Chinese Communist Party and toward other countries. He said “adventurism” could have disastrous consequences. Ishiba described the security alliance with the US as a “public good” for the region to prevent conflicts and deter use of force. He said Tokyo should help share the security burden with the US by allowing a more active, defensive role for the nation’s military, under terms circumscribed by law.
INDIA
Fireworks factory fire fatal
A blaze in a fireworks factory in Madhya Pradesh state on Saturday killed 15 workers and seriously burned another four, police said. The workers were making firecrackers when the blaze started, police officer Kishore Gurjar said. The four workers who were injured suffered burns over 70 to 90 percent of their bodies and were battling for their lives in a hospital, Gurjar said. Gurjar said the cause of the fire was not immediately known and was being investigated. The factory is near Ujjain, a town about 775km southwest of New Delhi. India has a huge demand for firecrackers, which are used in religious festivals and weddings. Fires are common in the factories in the absence of proper safety standards.
INDIA
‘Human torch’ kills man
A politician hugged during a television election debate by a “human torch” has died of burn injuries, the family said Saturday. The politician died late on Friday while hospitalized, his family told reporters, after suffering burns to 75 percent of his body when a member of the audience doused himself in gasoline and grabbed him. The local leader of the Bahujan Samaj Party, Kamruzzama Fauji, and his attacker were engulfed in flames in front of the horrified audience as the television debate was being recorded for broadcast later. The media had described the attacker as looking like a “human torch.” The attack occurred as the state-owned national TV channel Doordarshan was recording a program in in Sultanpur, a town 160km from Uttar Pradesh’s state capital, Lucknow. Fauji’s attacker died shortly after the incident, police said. Police have not come up with a motive for the attack on the politician who was a father of nine children. Two other local politicians suffered minor burn injuries while trying to douse the flames engulfing the two other men.
INDIA
Derailment kills 13
Police say a passenger train has derailed in western India, killing at least 13 people and injuring more than 100 others. Police officer Ankush Shinde says the engine and four coaches jumped the tracks yesterday near Roha station, 110km south of Mumbai. Railway spokesman Anil Kumar Saxena says the rescue operation is underway as two of the derailed coaches tilted on one side. The cause of the accident was not immediately known. Railway accidents are common in the country, which has one of the world’s largest train networks and serves 20 million passengers a day.
UNITED STATES
Two die in Arkansas shooting
A gunman shot six people at an Arkansas home on Saturday, killing a man and a teenager and critically wounding two boys, before fatally shooting a worker at a nearby business, police said. The suspected gunman was later found dead of a gunshot wound in a car, Jonesboro Police Sergeant Doug Formon said at a news conference. It was not immediately clear if the gunshot was self-inflicted. Formon said a man and a 13-year-old girl were killed on Saturday afternoon inside the home, where it appeared a family was having some kind of gathering. Four other people were injured and taken to hospitals. Formon said the children, aged eight and 10, were taken away in critical condition. Police received a call about the shooting and later responded to a report of a second shooting at a business. Formon said someone later called to report a car parked in the middle of a county road. A deputy responded and found the suspected gunman inside. Forman said police did not know of a motive and are investigating.
UNITED STATES
GLAAD awards Netflix show
Orange is the New Black, the Netflix show set in a women’s prison, was named this year’s outstanding comedy series at the 25th annual GLAAD Media Awards ceremony in New York. Cast members — including Laverne Cox, who won an individual GLAAD honor at the organization’s Los Angeles ceremony last month — accepted the award on Saturday at the Waldorf Astoria hotel. George Takei received the Vito Russo award, presented to an openly gay media professional for promoting equality for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. Other winners included the films Concussion and Philomena, and Oprah Winfrey’s interview with basketball player Jason Collins. The GLAAD Media Awards recognize fair, accurate and inclusive representation in media of the LGBT community and issues affecting it.
UNITED STATES
Cabin dead had CO in blood
Pennsylvania State Police say two adults and three children found dead inside a cabin had “toxic levels” of carbon monoxide in their blood. Police say a propane heater was found inside the cabin, where according to the Williamsport Sun-Gazette, the five bodies were discovered by the cabin’s owner just before noon on Saturday. The owner said that a friendly gathering was held at the cabin on Friday night. State police say they do not consider the deaths suspicious, but that the investigation is ongoing. The two adults were identified as 23-year-old Jacqueline Stackhouse and 30-year-old Nathan Reece, but the names of the children — a three-year-old boy and two girls aged nine and four — were not immediately made public.
BRAZIL
Shelters fight over lion
A male lion named Rawell is at the center of an ownership dispute after it was abducted from his sanctuary. The 300kg cat was knocked out with a tranquilizer dart on Thursday last week and spirited away from the Monte Azul Paulista sanctuary in Sao Paulo State, media reported. On Saturday, the Folha de Sao Paulo and Globo dailies reported that Rawell was found at another shelter about 500km away in Maringa, Parana State, belonging to Rawell’s former owner, Ary Marcos Borges da Silva. Da Silva’s lawyer told Folha his client tried unsuccessfully to take the animal back and had now “tried to resolve the situation in his own way.” Oswaldo Garcia, who has cared for the nine-year-old cat for five years at Monte Azul, told Globo that Rawell is “like a son to me.”
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
IN PURSUIT: Israel’s defense minister said the revenge attacks by Israeli settlers would make it difficult for security forces to find those responsible for the 14-year-old’s death Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday condemned the “heinous murder” of an Israeli teenager in the occupied West Bank as attacks on Palestinian villages intensified following news of his death. After Benjamin Achimeir, 14, was reported missing near Ramallah on Friday, hundreds of Jewish settlers backed by Israeli forces raided nearby Palestinian villages, torching vehicles and homes, leaving at least one villager dead and dozens wounded. The attacks escalated in several villages on Saturday after Achimeir’s body was found near the Malachi Hashalom outpost. Agence France-Presse correspondents saw smoke rising from burned houses and fields. Mayor Amin Abu Alyah, of the