UNITED STATES
Flooding sparks water fears
Record flooding along the Missouri River has impaired treatment of drinking supplies in Kansas City, Missouri, raising health risks for infants, the elderly and other people with compromised immune systems, the KC Water utility said on Saturday. The advisory came as utility crews struggled to replace broken pumps at a wastewater treatment plant submerged by floodwaters about 48km upstream in Leavenworth, Kansas, a town of 35,000 on the river’s west bank. The crest of the flood-swollen Missouri inundating kilometers of farmland and wooded areas along both banks in murky brown water. It was expected to reach Kansas City yesterday. The utility said water drawn from the river had failed to meet “enhanced treatment technique standards.” It said the diminished water quality was not considered an emergency, but advised customers with compromised immune systems, the elderly and those with infants to seek advice from healthcare providers.
FRANCE
Noise triggers stampede
Crowds of holidaymakers stampeded for safety in Disneyland Paris on Saturday when they mistook the din from a broken escalator or elevator for the sound of weapons, officials and witnesses said. “There was an enormous panic,” said one witness, who identified herself as Alexia. “Everyone thought it was an attack. After a few minutes they made us leave through the back. There were police everywhere.” The Ministry of the Interior later tweeted that it had been a false alarm: “Security forces confirm there is no threat.”
CANADA
Stabbing suspect charged
A man who allegedly stabbed a priest in front of his congregation live on television during a Mass on Friday at the nation’s biggest church was on Saturday charged on with attempted murder and assault with a weapon. Vlad Cristian Eremia, 26, appeared briefly by video link in a Montreal court on Saturday afternoon; his next hearing was scheduled for today. He is accused of attacking Claude Grou, the 77-year-old priest of St Joseph’s Oratory, who was left with minor injuries. Police have described the assault as an isolated incident committed by a man known to authorities, although the motive remains unclear. Grou was able to leave hospital on Friday and would rest for a few days before resuming his duties, the church said in a statement on Saturday.
ISRAEL
Aircraft target Hamas sites
Military aircraft targeted Hamas positions in the Gaza Strip early yesterday after Palestinians there threw explosive devices at the border fence during “riots,” the army said. Palestinians in Gaza had thrown a number of explosive devices toward the border fence with Israel, one of which set off air raid sirens in the south of the country late on Saturday, the army said. There were no immediate reports of casualties in Gaza.
ISRAEL
Famed spymaster dies
Former minister and veteran spy Rafi Eitan, who led the 1960 operation to capture fugitive Nazi mastermind Adolf Eichmann, died on Saturday at the age of 92. “We have lost a brave fighter whose contribution to Israel’s security will be taught for generations to come,” President Reuven Rivlin said. Eitan died after being hospitalized in Tel Aviv, YNET news Web site and other media reported. Eitan was also involved in the attack on Iraq’s Osirak nuclear reactor in 1981.
CONDITIONS: The Russian president said a deal that was scuppered by ‘elites’ in the US and Europe should be revived, as Ukraine was generally satisfied with it Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday said that he was ready for talks with Ukraine, after having previously rebuffed the idea of negotiations while Kyiv’s offensive into the Kursk region was ongoing. Ukraine last month launched a cross-border incursion into Russia’s Kursk region, sending thousands of troops across the border and seizing several villages. Putin said shortly after there could be no talk of negotiations. Speaking at a question and answer session at Russia’s Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Putin said that Russia was ready for talks, but on the basis of an aborted deal between Moscow’s and Kyiv’s negotiators reached in Istanbul, Turkey,
In months, Lo Yuet-ping would bid farewell to a centuries-old village he has called home in Hong Kong for more than seven decades. The Cha Kwo Ling village in east Kowloon is filled with small houses built from metal sheets and stones, as well as old granite buildings, contrasting sharply with the high-rise structures that dominate much of the Asian financial hub. Lo, 72, has spent his entire life here and is among an estimated 860 households required to move under a government redevelopment plan. He said he would miss the rich history, unique culture and warm interpersonal kindness that defined life in
A French woman whose husband has admitted to enlisting dozens of strangers to rape her while she was drugged on Thursday told his trial that police had saved her life by uncovering the crimes. “The police saved my life by investigating Mister Pelicot’s computer,” Gisele Pelicot told the court in the southern city of Avignon, referring to her husband — one of 51 of her alleged abusers on trial — by only his surname. Speaking for the first time since the extraordinary trial began on Monday, Gisele Pelicot, now 71, revealed her emotion in almost 90 minutes of testimony, recounting her mysterious
Thailand has netted more than 1.3 million kilograms of highly destructive blackchin tilapia fish, the government said yesterday, as it battles to stamp out the invasive species. Shoals of blackchin tilapia, which can produce up to 500 young at a time, have been found in 19 provinces, damaging ecosystems in rivers, swamps and canals by preying on small fish, shrimp and snail larvae. As well as the ecological impact, the government is worried about the effect on the kingdom’s crucial fish-farming industry. Fishing authorities caught 1,332,000kg of blackchin tilapia from February to Wednesday last week, said Nattacha Boonchaiinsawat, vice president of a parliamentary
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