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.
Seven people sustained mostly minor injuries in an airplane fire in South Korea, authorities said yesterday, with local media suggesting the blaze might have been caused by a portable battery stored in the overhead bin. The Air Busan plane, an Airbus A321, was set to fly to Hong Kong from Gimhae International Airport in southeastern Busan, but caught fire in the rear section on Tuesday night, the South Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said. A total of 169 passengers and seven flight attendants and staff were evacuated down inflatable slides, it said. Authorities initially reported three injuries, but revised the number
A colossal explosion in the sky, unleashing energy hundreds of times greater than the Hiroshima bomb. A blinding flash nearly as bright as the sun. Shockwaves powerful enough to flatten everything for miles. It might sound apocalyptic, but a newly detected asteroid nearly the size of a football field now has a greater than 1 percent chance of colliding with Earth in about eight years. Such an impact has the potential for city-level devastation, depending on where it strikes. Scientists are not panicking yet, but they are watching closely. “At this point, it’s: ‘Let’s pay a lot of attention, let’s
‘BALD-FACED LIE’: The woman is accused of administering non-prescribed drugs to the one-year-old and filmed the toddler’s distress to solicit donations online A social media influencer accused of filming the torture of her baby to gain money allegedly manufactured symptoms causing the toddler to have brain surgery, a magistrate has heard. The 34-year-old Queensland woman is charged with torturing an infant and posting videos of the little girl online to build a social media following and solicit donations. A decision on her bail application in a Brisbane court was yesterday postponed after the magistrate opted to take more time before making a decision in an effort “not to be overwhelmed” by the nature of allegations “so offensive to right-thinking people.” The Sunshine Coast woman —
CHEER ON: Students were greeted by citizens who honked their car horns or offered them food and drinks, while taxi drivers said they would give marchers a lift home Hundreds of students protesting graft they blame for 15 deaths in a building collapse on Friday marched through Serbia to the northern city of Novi Sad, where they plan to block three Danube River bridges this weekend. They received a hero’s welcome from fellow students and thousands of local residents in Novi Said after arriving on foot in their two-day, 80km journey from Belgrade. A small red carpet was placed on one of the bridges across the Danube that the students crossed as they entered the city. The bridge blockade planned for yesterday is to mark three months since a huge concrete construction
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