UNITED KINGDOM
Lightning hits gas plant
A lightning strike on Monday hit a food waste recycling plant, sending a huge fireball into the night sky and cutting power nearby. Severn Trent Green Power, which runs the Cassington anaerobic digestion facility near Yarnton, England, said that the strike “caused an explosion in our biogas tanks.” The company said: “Thankfully no one has been hurt and we are working with the emergency services to make sure the site is safe so that we can assess the damage as soon as possible.”
UNITED STATES
Satellite owner fined
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Monday said that it has issued its first space debris enforcement fine, of US$150,000 for DISH, which failed to properly deorbit its EchoStar-7 satellite. The wholly owned unit of DISH Network admitted liability and would adhere to a compliance plan, the FCC said, adding that the company’s action “could pose orbital debris concerns.” DISH relocated its satellite at the end of its mission to a disposal orbit “well below the elevation required by the terms of its license” after launching it in 2002, the FCC said.
UNITED STATES
Plane kills mower driver
A woman riding a lawnmower next to an airport runway was struck and killed by the wing of a small airplane, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol said on Monday. Samantha Hayes, 27, of Idabel died on Friday at Broken Bow Municipal Airport, police said in a report. James Baxter, the pilot of the single-engine aircraft, a Bonanza A36, told investigators he saw Hayes after touching down on the runway at about 2:30pm and tried to pull up and fly over her, but she was hit by a wing, police said. “We’re investigating whether any charges could filed against the pilot,” police spokesperson Sarah Stewart said. “Did the pilot do anything wrong or was this just unavoidable?” Stewart said other questions about the episode remained under investigation, including whether the woman saw the airplane.
UNITED STATES
Mummy to be buried
A mummified man known as Stoneman Willie would receive a proper burial after being on display at a funeral home in Reading, Pennsylvania, for 128 years. The unidentified man was an alcoholic who died of kidney failure in a local jail on Nov. 19, 1895. He was accidentally mummified by a mortician experimenting with new embalming techniques, Auman’s Funeral Home said. Dressed in a suit with a bow tie, the gaunt man is displayed in a coffin with a red sash across his chest. His hair and teeth remain intact, and his skin has taken on a leathery appearance. Because the man gave a fake name when arrested for picking pockets, Stoneman Willie’s identity was unknown for many years and local officials were unable to locate relatives. The funeral home had petitioned the state for permission to keep the body instead of burying it to monitor the experimental embalming process. However, Auman’s Funeral Home says it has now identified Stoneman Willie using historical documents and would reveal his name later this week when they lay the body to rest. “We don’t refer to him as a mummy. We refer to him as our friend Willie,” funeral director Kyle Blankenbiller said. “He has just been become such an icon, such a storied part of not only Reading’s past, but certainly its present.” On Saturday, he is to make his final journey through the streets of Reading and be buried at a local cemetery, where his real name will finally be inscribed on his tombstone.
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
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