INDIA
Bridge collapse kills nine
At least nine people were killed after a bridge over a river collapsed in Gujarat state yesterday, the Press Trust of India reported, quoting police officials. Gujarat Minister of Health Rushikesh Patel said that several vehicles were on the bridge when a portion of it collapsed, sending many into the river. He said at least five people were rescued. Video footage showed a truck on the bridge, which had a section missing, tilted with part of it dangling over the river. In the water, near a pillar of the bridge, partially submerged vehicles were visible, the video showed. The incident occurred in Vadodara District, which has had heavy rain over the past few days. The bridge was built in 1985, Patel said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the incident was ”deeply saddening” and offered condolences to those who died.
Photo: AP
CHINA
Laser accusations denied
Beijing yesterday dismissed claims by Berlin that the military had directed a laser at a German aircraft over the Red Sea as “completely inconsistent with the facts.” The German Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday said that a German aircraft participating in a “routine” EU-led mission to protect marine traffic in the Red Sea had been targeted by a laser, endangering personnel. Its counterpart in Beijing rejected the accusation. “Both sides should adopt a pragmatic attitude, strengthen communication in a timely manner, and avoid misunderstandings and miscalculations,” Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Mao Ning (毛寧) said. Chinese naval vessels had been carrying out escort duties in the Gulf of Aden and in Somalian waters, “contributing to the safety of international shipping lanes,” Mao said. Describing the incident as “entirely unacceptable,” Berlin said the reconnaissance aircraft involved had been forced to abandon its mission and returned to a base in Djibouti. It was not immediately clear whether the laser was a weapon or a laser guidance system. The Bild reported that the incident took place on Wednesday last week near the Yemeni coast and involved a “blinding laser” aimed at disrupting the operation of an aircraft.
GUATEMALA
Two die amid quakes
Two people were killed when their vehicle was buried under a landslide after a series of earthquakes shook much of the Central American country on Tuesday, authorities said. The swarm of tremors up to magnitude 5.6 rattled the country on Tuesday afternoon, centered near the towns of Amatitlan and Alotenango southwest of the capital, seismological services reported. “Unfortunately, human fatalities are confirmed” due to a landslide after rocks and earth buried a vehicle on a highway, said Andres Erazo, a spokesman for disaster coordination agency CONRED. The quakes were also felt in neighboring El Salvador. The landslide occurred on a road southwest of the capital near the city of Antigua Guatemala. President Bernardo Arevalo told reporters the quakes had also trapped a family of five, who were being rescued, and two others who were being treated for injuries after being freed. The tremors forced dozens to evacuate buildings in Guatemala City, where anti-earthquake alarms sounded, a journalist reported.
In the sweltering streets of Jakarta, buskers carry towering, hollow puppets and pass around a bucket for donations. Now, they fear becoming outlaws. City authorities said they would crack down on use of the sacred ondel-ondel puppets, which can stand as tall as a truck, and they are drafting legislation to remove what they view as a street nuisance. Performances featuring the puppets — originally used by Jakarta’s Betawi people to ward off evil spirits — would be allowed only at set events. The ban could leave many ondel-ondel buskers in Jakarta jobless. “I am confused and anxious. I fear getting raided or even
Eleven people, including a former minister, were arrested in Serbia on Friday over a train station disaster in which 16 people died. The concrete canopy of the newly renovated station in the northern city of Novi Sad collapsed on Nov. 1, 2024 in a disaster widely blamed on corruption and poor oversight. It sparked a wave of student-led protests and led to the resignation of then-Serbian prime minister Milos Vucevic and the fall of his government. The public prosecutor’s office in Novi Sad opened an investigation into the accident and deaths. In February, the public prosecutor’s office for organized crime opened another probe into
RISING RACISM: A Japanese group called on China to assure safety in the country, while the Chinese embassy in Tokyo urged action against a ‘surge in xenophobia’ A Japanese woman living in China was attacked and injured by a man in a subway station in Suzhou, China, Japanese media said, hours after two Chinese men were seriously injured in violence in Tokyo. The attacks on Thursday raised concern about xenophobic sentiment in China and Japan that have been blamed for assaults in both countries. It was the third attack involving Japanese living in China since last year. In the two previous cases in China, Chinese authorities have insisted they were isolated incidents. Japanese broadcaster NHK did not identify the woman injured in Suzhou by name, but, citing the Japanese
RESTRUCTURE: Myanmar’s military has ended emergency rule and announced plans for elections in December, but critics said the move aims to entrench junta control Myanmar’s military government announced on Thursday that it was ending the state of emergency declared after it seized power in 2021 and would restructure administrative bodies to prepare for the new election at the end of the year. However, the polls planned for an unspecified date in December face serious obstacles, including a civil war raging over most of the country and pledges by opponents of the military rule to derail the election because they believe it can be neither free nor fair. Under the restructuring, Myanmar’s junta chief Min Aung Hlaing is giving up two posts, but would stay at the
RSS