AFGHANISTAN
Earthquake kills one
A magnitude 6.3 earthquake yesterday hit the western part of the country, causing one death and dozens of injuries, officials said, predicting the toll could rise amid reports of landslides and building collapses. The US Geological Survey said the epicenter was 40km northwest of the region’s largest city, Herat, and was followed by five aftershocks with magnitudes of 5.5, 4.7, 6.3, 5.9 and 4.6. Crowds of residents and shopkeepers fled buildings in the city at about 11am as the quakes began, causing 25 injuries and a single fatality, a Taliban government spokesperson said. National Disaster Management Authority spokesman Mullah Jan Sayeq said the initial toll was “preliminary” and he feared it would rise as “in the rural and mountainous areas there have been landslides as well.”
SINGAPORE
Fires lower air quality
The air quality yesterday fell into the unhealthy range, official readings showed, due to increased forest fires from neighboring Indonesia. At 2pm, the 24-hour Pollutant Standards Index readings in the eastern and central part of Singapore was above 100, levels at which people are advised to reduce prolonged strenuous outdoor activities. Transborder haze is a perennial problem in Southeast Asia as regulatory loopholes make it hard for authorities to eliminate Indonesia’s slash-and-burn land clearing practices. The National Environment Agency said that 212 hot spots were detected on Indonesia’s nearby Sumatra Island on Friday, up from 65 on Thursday and 15 the day before. A brief shift in the wind direction on Friday afternoon blew some of the lighter haze toward Singapore, worsening the island nation’s air quality, it said.
MEXICO
Sixteen migrants die in crash
At least 16 migrants from Venezuela and Haiti died early on Friday in a bus crash in the south, authorities said. The National Immigration Institute and prosecutors in Oaxaca said the dead included two women and three children, and 29 people were injured. There was no immediate information on their condition. Photos from the scene showed the bus rolled over onto its side on a curvy section of highway. The cause of the crash in Tepelmeme is under investigation. The institute said that a total of 55 migrants, mostly from Venezuela, were aboard the vehicle. It was the latest in a series of migrant deaths in Mexico amid a surge in migrants traveling toward the US border. Because migration agents often raid regular buses, migrants and smugglers often seek out risky forms of transportation, such as unregulated buses, trains or freight trucks.
UNITED STATES
Pakistani flies to space
Adventurer Namira Salim on Friday became the first Pakistani to travel into space, riding aboard Virgin Galactic’s fifth successful flight in five months, the US company announced. Salim, who previously traveled to both poles and has also parachuted over Mount Everest, was among the first customers to buy a ticket with billionaire Richard Branson’s space company after it was founded almost two decades ago. “I love my title: ‘first Pakistani astronaut.’ It’s like being a very special princess of the country. Maybe nicer than being a princess,” Salim said in 2012. Virgin Galactic said that Salim is also a resident of Monaco and the United Arab Emirates. That makes her the first person from Monaco and the first Emirati woman to travel to space, it added.
The Philippines yesterday said its coast guard would acquire 40 fast patrol craft from France, with plans to deploy some of them in disputed areas of the South China Sea. The deal is the “largest so far single purchase” in Manila’s ongoing effort to modernize its coast guard, with deliveries set to start in four years, Philippine Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Ronnie Gil Gavan told a news conference. He declined to provide specifications for the vessels, which Manila said would cost 25.8 billion pesos (US$440 million), to be funded by development aid from the French government. He said some of the vessels would
Hundreds of thousands of Guyana citizens living at home and abroad would receive a payout of about US$478 each after the country announced it was distributing its “mind-boggling” oil wealth. The grant of 100,000 Guyanese dollars would be available to any citizen of the South American country aged 18 and older with a valid passport or identification card. Guyanese citizens who normally live abroad would be eligible, but must be in Guyana to collect the payment. The payout was originally planned as a 200,000 Guyanese dollar grant for each household in the country, but was reframed after concerns that some citizens, including
Airlines in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia and Singapore yesterday canceled flights to and from the Indonesian island of Bali, after a nearby volcano catapulted an ash tower into the sky. Australia’s Jetstar, Qantas and Virgin Australia all grounded flights after Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki on Flores island spewed a 9km tower a day earlier. Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia, India’s IndiGo and Singapore’s Scoot also listed flights as canceled. “Volcanic ash poses a significant threat to safe operations of the aircraft in the vicinity of volcanic clouds,” AirAsia said as it announced several cancelations. Multiple eruptions from the 1,703m twin-peaked volcano in
A plane bringing Israeli soccer supporters home from Amsterdam landed at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport on Friday after a night of violence that Israeli and Dutch officials condemned as “anti-Semitic.” Dutch police said 62 arrests were made in connection with the violence, which erupted after a UEFA Europa League soccer tie between Amsterdam club Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv. Israeli flag carrier El Al said it was sending six planes to the Netherlands to bring the fans home, after the first flight carrying evacuees landed on Friday afternoon, the Israeli Airports Authority said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also ordered
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