HONG KONG
Marina fire ignites fuel tanks
A fire swept through a marina in the early hours of yesterday, igniting fuel tanks as it passed along a line of closely moored cabin cruisers, and resulting in at least 10 sinking before firefighters extinguished the blaze. Authorities said that at least 16 vessels were set ablaze, including those that sank. The fire in the Aberdeen District began at 2:30am and took firefighters more than six hours to put out. Fuel tanks could be heard exploding as thick smoke billowed skyward, video footage shared by the government showed. About 35 people were rescued from the vessels, Radio Television Hong Kong reported, citing the Fire Services Department.
COLOMBIA
Chopper hit prompts reward
The government on Saturday said that it is offering a reward of nearly 3 billion pesos (US$796,000) for information leading to the capture of those behind an attack on Friday on a helicopter carrying President Ivan Duque near the country’s border with Venezuela. “A reward of up to 3 billion pesos is being offered” for information leading to “those responsible for this terrorist attack,” Minister of National Defense Diego Molano said on social media from the city of Cucuta. The president’s helicopter was approaching the Cucuta airport on a flight from Sardinata when several shots — apparently from rifles — were fired at it. Federal Police Chief General Jorge Vargas said that a search team had found two rifles, one “bearing the mark of the Venezuelan armed forces.”
UNITED STATES
Plane jumper hospitalized
A passenger was on Friday taken to the hospital after jumping out of a moving plane at Los Angeles International Airport, authorities said. United Express flight 5365 was pulling away from a gate shortly after 7pm when the man unsuccessfully tried to breach the cockpit by pounding on the door, then managed to open the service door and jumped down the emergency slide onto the tarmac, the airport said. The man was taken into custody on the taxiway, treated for injuries that were not life-threatening and taken to the hospital, authorities said.
UNITED STATES
Chipmunk dead; uncle shot
A 32-year-old man was shot in the head in New Hampshire after a bullet fired by his eight-year-old nephew ricocheted while they were shooting chipmunks, police said. The man was on Friday injured in Milton and is expected to recover, the Fosters Daily Democrat reported. Milton Police Chief Richard Krauss said that the bullet hitting the uncle after killing the chipmunk was “truly just a freak accident.” “It’s not against the law for anyone to teach a child how to shoot and take them hunting,” Krauss said.
UNITED STATES
Hot air balloon crash fatal
A hot air balloon on Saturday crashed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, killing five people after being blown into power lines by the wind and catching fire, police said, adding that the pilot and three passengers were pronounced dead at the scene. The fourth passenger was transported to an Albuquerque hospital where he succumbed to his injuries. The basket crashed on a street corner, about 10km west of Albuquerque International Sunport Airport, a Federal Aviation Administration report said. “We know from experience here in Albuquerque that sometimes winds kick up or things happen that make it difficult for balloons to navigate,” Albuquerque Police Department spokesman Gilbert Gallegos told a news conference.
When Shanghai-based designer Guo Qingshan posted a vacation photo on Valentine’s Day and captioned it “Puppy Mountain,” it became a sensation in China and even created a tourist destination. Guo had gone on a hike while visiting his hometown of Yichang in central China’s Hubei Province late last month. When reviewing the photographs, he saw something he had not noticed before: A mountain shaped like a dog’s head rested on the ground next to the Yangtze River, its snout perched at the water’s edge. “It was so magical and cute. I was so excited and happy when I discovered it,” Guo said.
TURNAROUND: The Liberal Party had trailed the Conservatives by a wide margin, but that was before Trump threatened to make Canada the US’ 51st state Canada’s ruling Liberals, who a few weeks ago looked certain to lose an election this year, are mounting a major comeback amid the threat of US tariffs and are tied with their rival Conservatives, according to three new polls. An Ipsos survey released late on Tuesday showed that the left-leaning Liberals have 38 percent public support and the official opposition center-right Conservatives have 36 percent. The Liberals have overturned a 26-point deficit in six weeks, and run advertisements comparing the Conservative leader to Trump. The Conservative strategy had long been to attack unpopular Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, but last month he
Chinese authorities said they began live-fire exercises in the Gulf of Tonkin on Monday, only days after Vietnam announced a new line marking what it considers its territory in the body of water between the nations. The Chinese Maritime Safety Administration said the exercises would be focused on the Beibu Gulf area, closer to the Chinese side of the Gulf of Tonkin, and would run until tomorrow evening. It gave no further details, but the drills follow an announcement last week by Vietnam establishing a baseline used to calculate the width of its territorial waters in the Gulf of Tonkin. State-run Vietnam News
THIRD ANNIVERSARY OF WAR: Ursula von der Leyen said that Europe was in Kyiv because ‘it is not only the destiny of Ukraine that is at stake. It’s Europe’s destiny’ A dozen leaders from Europe and Canada yesterday visited Ukraine’s capital to mark the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion in a show of support for Kyiv by some of its most important backers. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau were among the visitors greeted at the railway station by Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha and the president’s chief of staff Andrii Yermak. Von der Leyen wrote on social media that Europe was in Kyiv “because Ukraine is in Europe.” “In this fight for survival, it is not only the destiny of Ukraine that is
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