Sun, Jan 27, 2019 page5

• World News Quick Take

  • Agencies
  • • 
    • 
    • 

  PANAMA

  Immigrants not threat: pope

  Pope Francis on Friday said that it was “senseless” to condemn every immigrant as a threat to society. Francis was speaking after leading a solemn ceremony for hundreds of thousands of young pilgrims at World Youth Day. The Catholic Church wants to foster a culture “that welcomes, protects, promotes and integrates, that does not stigmatize, much less indulge in a senseless and irresponsible condemnation of every immigrant as a threat to society,” he said. In a wide-ranging speech to round off a massive gathering of young people in a Panama City park, the pope also made a plea for the environment that he said was “trampled underfoot by disregard and a fury of consumption beyond all reason.” Society in general “has lost the ability to weep and to be moved by suffering,” Francis said. Instead of solidarity “from an opulent society,” many encountered rejection, sorrow and misery “and are singled out and treated as responsible for all society’s ills,” he said.

  UNITED STATES

  Flight attendant dies in air

  A Hawaiian Airlines flight from Honolulu to New York City was diverted to San Francisco after a male flight attendant died of an apparent heart attack, officials said on Friday. Hawaiian Airlines Flight HA50 on Thursday night landed after a crew member had “a suspected heart attack,” San Francisco International Airport spokesman Doug Yakel said. Medical personnel attempted cardiopulmonary resuscitation during the flight, but suspended those efforts prior to landing. The San Mateo County coroner declared the crewmember dead on arrival, Yakel said. Hawaiian Airlines spokeswoman Ann Botticelli said that Emile Griffith had been with the company for 31 years. “Emile both loved and treasured his job at Hawaiian and always shared that with our guests,” Botticelli said. The airline has made counseling available for Griffith’s colleagues, she said. The airplane was carrying 253 passengers and 12 crewmembers when it departed Honolulu on Thursday. The passengers who landed in San Francisco five hours after takeoff were put on other flights, Yakel said. Andrea Bartz, who was on the flight to John F. Kennedy International Airport, and another passenger complained on Twitter that the airline played ukulele music during the emergency. “Hawaiian Airlines is still playing the ukulele/traditional singing soundtrack meant for boarding and deplaning, and I’ll tell ya, it’s not making anyone calmer,” she said.

  UNITED STATES

  One dead after train hits bus

  One student was killed and two other individuals were injured after an east Texas school bus was hit by a train on Friday, authorities said. The Tyler Morning Telegraph reported that the collision took place at about 4pm, when the bus was at a train crossing in Athens, about 112km southeast of Dallas. At a news conference on Friday evening, Athens Police Chief Buddy Hill said that a 13-year-old male middle-school student was killed, adding that a nine-year-old girl in elementary school was injured and flown to a Dallas hospital, where she was in a critical, but stable condition. No other students were on the bus, the Athens school district said. The bus driver was also injured and taken to a hospital, where he was in a stable condition, Hill said. “My heart is broken for the families,” district Superintendent Blake Stiles said. The names of the two students and the bus driver were not immediately released. Authorities were still determining a cause of the collision. There were no wooden gate arms or warning lights at the train crossing where the collision took place, Hill said.
• Most Popular

  • 1

    Senegal stun Morocco to win AFCON

  • 2

    Harden steps up late as Clippers edge Raptors

  • 3

    Chinese social media influencer’s residency revoked

  • 4

    Harris leads Pistons past Celtics in thriller

  • 5

    Al-Attiyah and Benevides are winners in Dakar