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by Michael MAINVILLE Agence France-Presse MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Rescuers hunted for survivors Wednesday in the rubble of a Russian apartment building wrecked by a New Year’s Eve gas explosion, but found only bodies as the number of confirmed dead rose to 28, four of them children. The revised toll left 13 people still missing following the explosion, which destroyed 35 apartments in the Ural mountains city of Magnitogorsk. Braving temperatures as low as minus […]
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AFP) — Fiji’s Meteorological Service warned of intense rain and “damaging gale force winds” to outer areas of the island nation Thursday, as the first tropical cyclone of the New Year formed in the South Pacific. Tropical Cyclone Mona was moving in southeast and expected to cross outlying islands. “There’s a risk of flash flooding in low-lying and flood-prone areas. Therefore, all communities living in the flood-prone and landslide areas are requested […]
CHICAGO, United States (AFP) — Advocates for clergy abuse victims on Wednesday demanded inclusion in a historic Vatican conference to address the crisis, as US bishops gathered in prayer near Chicago in advance of the February meeting. The groups Ending Clergy Abuse (ECA) and Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) said they had sent an open letter to Catholic Church’s Pope Francis asking to be included in discussing reforms in the Catholic […]
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AFP) — Six people were killed Wednesday in a train accident on a bridge connecting two islands in Denmark, rail operator DSB said. “We can confirm that six people are dead,” a duty officer told AFP, as media reports said the roof of a cargo train blew off in heavy winds and hit a passenger train that was travelling in the opposite direction. The accident occurred on the Great Belt Bridge connecting the islands […]
MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Fourteen people are confirmed dead from the New Year’s Eve explosion at a high-rise in central Russia, local officials said Wednesday, as rescuers continued to pull bodies from the rubble. The local governor’s office said 14 bodies had been found and that 27 people were unaccounted for following the gas explosion in the city of Magnitogorsk, nearly 1,700 kilometers (1,050 miles) east of Moscow in the Ural mountains. Five people had […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — Taiwan’s unification with the mainland is “inevitable”, President Xi Jinping said Wednesday, warning against any efforts to promote the island’s independence and saying China would not renounce the option of using military force to bring it into the fold. China still sees democratic Taiwan as part of its territory to be reunified, despite the two sides being ruled separately since the end of a civil war on the mainland in 1949. […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan’s Emperor Akihito delivered his final New Year’s address Wednesday before his abdication later this year, telling tens of thousands of well-wishers he was praying for peace. The Imperial Palace said more then 72,000 people flocked to the royal residence on Wednesday morning alone, with many more still arriving for a final chance to see the 85-year-old royal deliver his traditional new year’s greeting. The emperor will become the first Japanese […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — President Donald Trump said Tuesday he looked forward to another summit with Kim Jong Un, a day after the North Korean leader warned Pyongyang could take a different approach to nuclear talks if US economic sanctions persist. “I also look forward to meeting with Chairman Kim who realizes so well that North Korea possesses great economic potential!” Trump said in a brief tweet. The US leader made his comment after […]
by Anna MALPAS Agence France Presse MOSCO, Russia (AFP) — Russian rescuers Tuesday pulled a baby boy hurt but alive from the ruins of an apartment building where he spent the night in sub-zero temperatures after a gas explosion that killed at least nine people. With dozens of inhabitants still missing, authorities identified the 10-month-old boy as Ivan Fokine, and said he had been reunited in hospital with his mother, who also survived the ordeal. […]
by Robin MILLARD / Joe JACKSON Agence France Presse MANCHESTER, United Kingdom (AFP) — A British probe into a stabbing at a Manchester railway station on New Year’s Eve which injured three people is being treated as “a terrorist investigation”, the city’s police force said on Tuesday. The 25-year-old man who was arrested at the scene on Monday night is now being detained under a mental health law, Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said late Tuesday. […]
by Hiroshi HIYAMA Agence France Presse TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Nine people were hurt, one seriously, when a man deliberately ploughed his car into crowds celebrating New Year’s Eve along a famous Tokyo street, police and media said Tuesday. With an “intent to murder”, a man identified as 21-year-old Kazuhiro Kusakabe drove a small vehicle into Takeshita Street in Tokyo’s fashion district of Harajuku at 10 minutes past midnight, a police spokesman told AFP. According […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — The presidents of China and the US have exchanged messages vowing to boost cooperation despite a bruising trade war on the 40th anniversary of the countries’ diplomatic relations, Chinese state media reported. Tensions between Beijing and Washington soared in 2018 over trade disputes, although US President Donald Trump has frozen the latest planned tariff hike and on Saturday reported “big progress” after a call with his counterpart Xi Jinping. In the […]
