CHINA
Explosion kills 15 miners
A gas explosion inside a coal mine in Shanxi Province has killed 15 miners and left another nine injured, authorities said yesterday. The blast occurred on Monday afternoon at a mine operated by Shanxi Pingyao Fengyan Coal and Coke Group in Pingyao County. Rescue work was halted early yesterday morning after everyone was accounted for. The Shanxi provincial work safety administration said that 11 miners had escaped without injury and the cause of the explosion was being investigated.
SOUTH KOREA
Fishing boat catches fire
A fishing boat caught fire in southern waters at about 7am yesterday, killing at least one fisherman and triggering a search for 11 others missing, coast guard officials said. Rescue workers found one of the fishermen unconscious in waters 7.4km south of the boat and airlifted him to a hospital on the nearby island of Jeju, where he was pronounced dead. The coast guard and navy were deploying boats, helicopters and a patrol plane to search the waters near the island for survivors, said Lee Geun-han, an official from the coast guard in Jeju. Six of the boat’s crew are locals, including the man killed, and the others are Vietnamese, Lee said.
SOUTH KOREA
Houthi capture confirmed
Two out of three vessels seized by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on the weekend are South Korean, Seoul officials said yesterday, as are two out of the 16 people captured. The vessels — a dredger being towed by a South Korean and a Saudi-flagged tug — were seized by the Houthis at the southern end of the Red Sea on Sunday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. Those captured were taken to Salif Port where they were being held by the Houthis, the ministry added. “All of our citizens ... are healthy and safe,” officials said in a statement. Seoul has sent a navy ship, the Cheonghae, which had been on anti-piracy standby off the coast of Oman, to waters near where the accident took place. “We are doing our very best for the early release of our citizens,” the statement added.
INDIA
Avalanche kills six
An avalanche on Monday hit a patrol on the Siachen Glacier, killing four soldiers and two porters, an army spokesman said. The disaster was the latest on the more than 5,000m glacier that is claimed by India and Pakistan. Military spokesman Colonel Rajesh Kalia said that the avalanche engulfed eight people in the patrol at the northern end of the glacier in the Karakoram mountain range. Rescue teams managed to dig the patrol members out of the snow, and they were taken by helicopter to hospital.
UNITED STATES
Thieves throw guinea-pig
A Kentucky pet store owner said that two women stole a pair of guinea pigs, lobbing one of the animals at him during their escape. News outlets reported that Isabelle Mason, 21, and Jaimee Pack, 19, on Saturday last week tried to smuggle the animals out of Pet Paradise without paying. Owner Scott Gonyaw told WKYT-TV that he confronted the suspects, screaming: “Give me the guinea pigs!” as they got into a vehicle. One suspect rolled down a window and tossed a four-month-old guinea pig named Lucky onto the concrete. The other ran over Gonyaw’s foot with the car. He said he suffered bruising. Lucky was not injured, but the other guinea pig remains missing.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At 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
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese