CHINA
Tianjin building fire kills 10
Ten people were killed yesterday morning in a fire that broke out in a residential building in northern Tianjin, local authorities said. Flames tore through the 38th floor of the apartment building, leaving 10 people dead and five people hospitalized with minor injuries, the city government said in a statement on social media. An unknown number of “responsible personnel” are in custody while the cause of the fire is being investigated, the statement said. A “rigorous probe” is to be conducted to find “hidden dangers” that could cause fires, it added. An area of about 300m2 was damaged, Xinhua news agency reported, citing the local fire department.
CHINA
Man repaints lines on road
A man fed up with sitting in traffic during his daily bus commute came up with a brazen way of solving the problem — repainting the lines on the road. The man, identified only by his surname, Cai (蔡), was seen in surveillance footage painting his own arrows at a junction in eastern Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province, to redirect the traffic as cars maneuver past him, regional newspaper Modern Express said. Police fined the 28-year-old 1,000 yuan (US$151.42) after he was spotted crouching in the middle of the busy road with a can of white paint, the newspaper said. “I take the bus to go home after work every day, passing by that place,” Cai said in what appears to be a police video obtained and published by the newspaper. “The traffic jam there is always pretty bad, but I saw there are only a few cars in the lane that turns left, so I just want to expand one driving lane by adding one straight arrow.” Authorities later ordered maintenance workers to remove Cai’s handiwork from the road, but police released him after fining him.
JAPAN
Explosion kills at least one
At least one worker was killed and 11 injured in an explosion and fire that broke out yesterday at a chemical factory just a few kilometers from Mount Fuji. Residents living within 100m of the factory were ordered to evacuate as 17 fire engines and nearly 60 firefighters battled the blaze. Plumes of thick black smoke billowed into the sky from the factory belonging to Arakawa Chemical Industries, which manufactures chemicals for the paper industry. “A 64-year-old worker, who had earlier been missing, was found dead,” Fuji fire service official Takahiro Suzuki told reporters. Eleven other workers were hurt, three seriously, he said, updating an earlier announcement that 14 people had been injured. The casualties were all male and aged in their 20s to 60s. Officials said it was not immediately clear exactly what was burning, but the factory operator denied risks of potential contamination or pollution.
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
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number