MEXICO
Gas platform explodes
An explosion and fire on Friday destroyed an offshore gas platform in the Gulf of Mexico, killing two workers and injuring eight, while one was missing, officials said. State-owned Petroleos Mexicanos said that the disaster happened on the Nohoch gas transfer platform that it operates. The dead and missing workers were employed by a subcontractor, and three of those injured were company employees and five worked for the subcontractor, the company said. None of the injuries were life-threatening, it said. Seven ships evacuated 321 workers from the platform, it said. Petroleos Mexicanos director Octavio Romero said that the platform “was totally destroyed,” but that four other nearby, linked platforms did not catch fire. There appeared to be little risk of an oil spill, although it was unclear whether the incident might force the company to increase burning of excess gas.
UNITED STATES
Man rescued from sewer
Firefighters on Friday rescued two men who fell into a maintenance hole during heavy rain in downtown Omaha, Nebraska, including one who was washed about 1.6km through sewer pipes before getting trapped behind a metal grate. The men, who were workers for a private contractor, Ace Pipe Cleaning, were swept into the sewers near the Old Market just after 9am, the Omaha World-Herald quoted Lieutenant Neal Bonacci of the Omaha Police Department as saying. One of the men, who was tethered to a safety system, was quickly pulled out. A large-scale rescue effort ensued for the other, who was apparently not tethered. He was found at about 10:20am. The 41-year-old man had extricated himself from the water and was found behind a metal grate covering a culvert. An Omaha Fire Department crew cut the grate to free him, assistant fire chief Jason Bradley told the newspaper.
UNITED STATES
Chemical arms destroyed
President Joe Biden on Friday announced that the nation has fully destroyed its stockpiles of chemical weapons, fulfilling a commitment under the Chemical Weapons Convention. “Today, I am proud to announce that the United States has safely destroyed the final munition in that stockpile, bringing us one step closer to a world free from the horrors of chemical weapons,” Biden said. The US was the last of the convention’s signatories to complete the task of destroying their “declared” stockpiles, although some are believed to maintain secret reserves of chemical weapons. “It marks the first time an international body has verified destruction of an entire category of declared weapons of mass destruction,” Biden said in a statement. The announcement came after the Blue Grass Army Depot, a US Army facility in Kentucky, recently completed its four-year job of eliminating about 500 tonnes of chemical agents, the last batch held by the US military. The US had for decades held stores of artillery projectiles and rockets that contained mustard gases, VX and sarin nerve agents, and blister agents. Such weapons were condemned widely after their use with horrendous results on the battlefields of World War I. However, many countries retained and further developed them in the years afterward. The convention, agreed in 1993 and taking effect in 1997, gave the US until Sept. 30 to destroy all of its chemical agents and munitions. Other signatories to the pact had already eliminated their holdings, Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons head Fernando Arias said in May.
OPTIMISTIC: A Philippine Air Force spokeswoman said the military believed the crew were safe and were hopeful that they and the jet would be recovered A Philippine Air Force FA-50 jet and its two-person crew are missing after flying in support of ground forces fighting communist rebels in the southern Mindanao region, a military official said yesterday. Philippine Air Force spokeswoman Colonel Consuelo Castillo said the jet was flying “over land” on the way to its target area when it went missing during a “tactical night operation in support of our ground troops.” While she declined to provide mission specifics, Philippine Army spokesman Colonel Louie Dema-ala confirmed that the missing FA-50 was part of a squadron sent “to provide air support” to troops fighting communist rebels in
PROBE: Last week, Romanian prosecutors launched a criminal investigation against presidential candidate Calin Georgescu accusing him of supporting fascist groups Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Romania’s capital on Saturday in the latest anti-government demonstration by far-right groups after a top court canceled a presidential election in the EU country last year. Protesters converged in front of the government building in Bucharest, waving Romania’s tricolor flags and chanting slogans such as “down with the government” and “thieves.” Many expressed support for Calin Georgescu, who emerged as the frontrunner in December’s canceled election, and demanded they be resumed from the second round. George Simion, the leader of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), which organized the protest,
ECONOMIC DISTORTION? The US commerce secretary’s remarks echoed Elon Musk’s arguments that spending by the government does not create value for the economy US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Sunday said that government spending could be separated from GDP reports, in response to questions about whether the spending cuts pushed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency could possibly cause an economic downturn. “You know that governments historically have messed with GDP,” Lutnick said on Fox News Channel’s Sunday Morning Futures. “They count government spending as part of GDP. So I’m going to separate those two and make it transparent.” Doing so could potentially complicate or distort a fundamental measure of the US economy’s health. Government spending is traditionally included in the GDP because
Hundreds of people in rainbow colors gathered on Saturday in South Africa’s tourist magnet Cape Town to honor the world’s first openly gay imam, who was killed last month. Muhsin Hendricks, who ran a mosque for marginalized Muslims, was shot dead last month near the southern city of Gqeberha. “I was heartbroken. I think it’s sad especially how far we’ve come, considering how progressive South Africa has been,” attendee Keisha Jensen said. Led by motorcycle riders, the mostly young crowd walked through the streets of the coastal city, some waving placards emblazoned with Hendricks’s image and reading: “#JUSTICEFORMUHSIN.” No arrest
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