UNITED KINGDOM
Blaze halts central London
An underground blaze in central London on Wednesday caused mass evacuations and forced several West End shows to cancel performances as firefighters tackled the blaze which sent out a pall of thick smoke. More than 2,000 people were forced to leave nearby buildings, including the Royal Courts of Justice, after thick black smoke began emerging from the pavement on Kingsway, a major thoroughfare. As flames erupted from a manhole cover, the London Fire Brigade sent 10 engines and 70 crew to the scene, shutting Holborn underground station and closing off streets close by. Several performances in the West End theater district were cancelled due to the blaze, including The Lion King, Mamma Mia!, Beautiful and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Firefighters said they believed the blaze was caused by an electrical fault among cables underground. After about eight hours, the brigade said the fire was “under control”.
UNITED STATES
Mother charged with murder
A Detroit mother has been charged with torturing and murdering two of her children, who were found last week in a freezer in her apartment, prosecutors said on Wednesday. Mitchelle Blair, 35, faces a mandatory life term in prison without parole if convicted of the felony murders of Stoni Blair, 13, and Stephen Berry, nine, whose frozen bodies were found on Tuesday last week, the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office said. Mitchelle Blair has also been charged with two counts of premeditated murder, two counts of torture, four counts of child abuse and one count of committing child abuse first degree in the presence of another child. The Wayne County medical examiner has said that Stoni Blair died from multiple blunt trauma and Berry from multiple blunt trauma and thermal injuries, declaring their deaths homicides.
MEXICO
Oil rig fire kills four
At least four people died after a fire broke out on a Pemex oil processing platform in the Gulf of Mexico early on Wednesday, leading to the evacuation of 302 workers, the state-run oil company said. The fire, which burned throughout the day, erupted overnight on the Abkatun Permanente platform in the oil-rich Bay of Campeche. Forty-five people were treated for injuries and 16 of them were hospitalized, two with serious injuries, Pemex said. At 8pm on Wednesday, the firm said in a message on Twitter that the fire had been put out. Eight firefighting boats had been brought in to battle the flames, Pemex said, adding that one of the fatalities was from the state-run giant and another was a contractor for oil services firm Cotemar. Two others have yet to be identified. Videos posted on Twitter showed the offshore platform engulfed in flames, lighting up the night sky. The fire broke out in the dehydration and pumping area of the platform, and it was not yet clear what caused it, Pemex said.
NIGERIA
Soldiers killed in operation
Nine Chadian soldiers were killed during a follow-up operation after soldiers from Chad and Niger reclaimed the Nigerian border town of Malam Fatori from Muslim militants, the army said. A further 16 troops were wounded in the incident that occurred on Wednesday about 10km from Malam Fatori in the northeast of Nigeria, Chadian military spokesman Azem Bermandoa said in a statement. “Hundreds of Boko Haram fighters were killed and a large batch of material destroyed by the Chadian army,” Bermandoa said.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was