INDONESIA
Two trains collide
Two trains collided yesterday on the main island of Java, causing cars to buckle and overturn, and killing at least four people, officials said. The incident happened about 500m from Cicalengka train station in West Java Province, said Ayep Hanapi, a spokesman for PT Kereta Api Indonesia, the national railways. A Turangga express train carrying 287 passengers was traveling from Surabaya, the capital of East Java Province, when it plowed into a Bandung Raya commuter train with 191 passengers heading to Padalarang from Cicalengka station at about 6:30am, he said. “All passengers of the two crashed trains have been evacuated safely,” Hanapi said, adding that 28 people were injured. He said 22 were being treated at a hospital, mostly with head injuries. West Java Police spokesperson Ibrahim Tompo said that at least four train crew members were killed — the driver and his assistant on the commuter train and a steward and a security guard on the express train. Television video showed several cars overturned or badly mangled. One car plunged into a nearby rice field. People screamed as panicked passengers tried to get out of the train. Some walked through the fields carrying suitcases and other items as ambulances evacuated injured people. Ministry of Transportation spokeswoman Adita Irawati apologized for the incident and for the disruption of railway services across Java island. The cause of the incident was being investigated, she said, adding that rescuers had evacuated all passengers and were working to remove the trains to restore service.
ZIMBABWE
Mine workers trapped
Eleven mine workers were trapped in a shaft after a collapse at Redwing Mine, 270km west of the capital, Harare, authorities said on Friday. The incident took place on Thursday morning, with initial assessments pointing to tremors as the possible cause, the Ministry of Mines said in a statement. Metallon Corp, which owns Redwing Mine, confirmed the incident in a separate statement. The company has deployed a rescue team to bring the trapped miners back to the surface, it said. “The team has made several rescue attempts. However, the ground remains unstable, rendering rescue operations unsafe. Our teams are diligently assessing ground conditions to make sure the rescue operations proceed safely as soon as possible,” Metallon said. Mining operations at Redwing have been undertaken by subsistence miners carrying out unsanctioned work since the mine was placed under corporate rescue in 2020, the company said.
INDIA
Navy responds to hijacking
A navy warship was moving toward a hijacked Liberian-flagged vessel in the Arabian Sea, and aircraft were closely monitoring the situation, the navy said yesterday. At least 15 Indian crew members were on board the MV Lila Norfolk, which was hijacked near Somalia’s coast and the navy received information about it on Thursday evening, Indian news agency ANI reported earlier, citing military officials. The ship sent a message on the UK Maritime Trade Operations portal saying that five to six unknown armed personnel had boarded on Thursday evening, the navy statement said. The INS Chennai was diverted and deployed to assist the vessel, the statement said, adding that a naval aircraft yesterday overflew the hijacked vessel and had established contact with it.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un sent Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) greetings with what appeared to be restrained rhetoric that comes as Pyongyang moves closer to Russia and depends less on its long-time Asian ally. Kim wished “the Chinese people greater success in building a modern socialist country,” in a reply message to Xi for his congratulations on North Korea’s birthday, the state-run Korean Central News Agency reported yesterday. The 190-word dispatch had little of the florid language that had been a staple of their correspondence, which has declined significantly this year, an analysis by Seoul-based specialist service NK Pro showed. It said
On an island of windswept tundra in the Bering Sea, hundreds of miles from mainland Alaska, a resident sitting outside their home saw — well, did they see it? They were pretty sure they saw it — a rat. The purported sighting would not have gotten attention in many places around the world, but it caused a stir on Saint Paul Island, which is part of the Pribilof Islands, a birding haven sometimes called the “Galapagos of the north” for its diversity of life. That is because rats that stow away on vessels can quickly populate and overrun remote islands, devastating bird
‘CLOSER TO THE END’: The Ukrainian leader said in an interview that only from a ‘strong position’ can Ukraine push Russian President Vladimir Putin ‘to stop the war’ Decisive actions by the US now could hasten the end of the Russian war against Ukraine next year, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday after telling ABC News that his nation was “closer to the end of the war.” “Now, at the end of the year, we have a real opportunity to strengthen cooperation between Ukraine and the United States,” Zelenskiy said in a post on Telegram after meeting with a bipartisan delegation from the US Congress. “Decisive action now could hasten the just end of Russian aggression against Ukraine next year,” he wrote. Zelenskiy is in the US for the UN
A 64-year-old US woman took her own life inside a controversial suicide capsule at a Swiss woodland retreat, with Swiss police on Tuesday saying several people had been arrested. The space-age looking Sarco capsule, which fills with nitrogen and causes death by hypoxia, was used on Monday outside a village near the German border. The portable human-sized pod, self-operated by a button inside, has raised a host of legal and ethical questions in Switzerland. Active euthanasia is banned in the country, but assisted dying has been legal for decades. On the same day it was used, Swiss Department of Home