TANZANIA
Factory explosion kills 11
An explosion at a sugar factory killed 11 people and injured two others, police said on Thursday, with at least three foreigners among the dead. The accident occurred on Wednesday night at a facility in the eastern Morogoro region operated by Mtibwa Sugar, one of the nation’s main producers of the commodity. “The factory accident caused [the] death of 11 people and two others were injured,” regional police commander Alex Mkama told reporters. The fatalities included a Kenyan, an Indian and a Brazilian national, Mkama was quoted by the Citizen newspaper as saying. “There are reports that a steam pipe had leakage which caused the explosion,” he said. A pipe connecting one of the factory boilers with a turbine had burst causing the blast, said Shabani Marugujo, commander of the fire and rescue services in Morogoro.
UNITED STATES
Tornado kills five people
A deadly tornado that wreaked havoc in Greenfield, Iowa, left four people dead and nearly three dozen injured, officials said, while a fifth person was killed elsewhere. The twister that tore through the city on Tuesday was rated at least an EF3 by the National Weather Service and was so destructive that it took authorities more than a day to account for the area’s residents. It is believed that the number of people injured is likely higher, the Iowa Department of Public Safety said. The fifth person was killed about 40km from Greenfield when her car was blown off the road in a tornado, the Adams County Sheriff’s Office said. Monica Zamarron, 46, died in the crash on Tuesday afternoon, officials said. Officials have not yet released the names of the other victims. The severe weather turned south on Wednesday. In Texas, officials issued an emergency declaration in Temple, a city of more than 90,000 people north of Austin, after powerful storms ripped through the area.
JAPAN
‘Doge’ meme dog dies
The Japanese shiba inu dog whose photo inspired a generation of oddball online jokes and the US$23 billion Dogecoin cryptocurrency beloved by Elon Musk died yesterday, her owner said. “She quietly passed away as if asleep while I caressed her,” Atsuko Sato wrote on her blog, thanking the fans of her dog called Kabosu, which was the face of the “Doge” meme.
VIETNAM
Hanoi fire kills 14 people
An overnight fire in an apartment building on a narrow alley in Hanoi killed 14 people and injured six others, state media said yesterday. The apartment building could only be accessed through an alley just 2m wide, preventing firetrucks from reaching it, and firefighters eventually contained the fire by using hoses, state media said. The fire started at about 12:30am and was accompanied by several explosions, the Vietnam News Agency said. It took an hour to extinguish. Neighbor Nguyen Thanh Trung said he was asleep when he heard the explosions and rushed out to see what was happening. “I could feel the shock at my house,” he said, adding that he along with others got a ladder to break the window to help people escape. State media reported the building had 24 residents at the time, seven in the owner’s family and 17 tenants. The injured are stable and being treated at Hanoi Transport Hospital. The fire started in the small courtyard in front of the building that was used as a garage for the sale and repair of electric bikes, state media reported. Trung said the family would often charge the bikes’ batteries at night.
‘GREAT OPPRTUNITY’: The Paraguayan president made the remarks following Donald Trump’s tapping of several figures with deep Latin America expertise for his Cabinet Paraguay President Santiago Pena called US president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming foreign policy team a “dream come true” as his nation stands to become more relevant in the next US administration. “It’s a great opportunity for us to advance very, very fast in the bilateral agenda on trade, security, rule of law and make Paraguay a much closer ally” to the US, Pena said in an interview in Washington ahead of Trump’s inauguration today. “One of the biggest challenges for Paraguay was that image of an island surrounded by land, a country that was isolated and not many people know about it,”
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
‘FIGHT TO THE END’: Attacking a court is ‘unprecedented’ in South Korea and those involved would likely face jail time, a South Korean political pundit said Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday stormed a Seoul court after a judge extended the impeached leader’s detention over his ill-fated attempt to impose martial law. Tens of thousands of people had gathered outside the Seoul Western District Court on Saturday in a show of support for Yoon, who became South Korea’s first sitting head of state to be arrested in a dawn raid last week. After the court extended his detention on Saturday, the president’s supporters smashed windows and doors as they rushed inside the building. Hundreds of police officers charged into the court, arresting dozens and denouncing an
RELEASE: The move follows Washington’s removal of Havana from its list of terrorism sponsors. Most of the inmates were arrested for taking part in anti-government protests Cuba has freed 127 prisoners, including opposition leader Jose Daniel Ferrer, in a landmark deal with departing US President Joe Biden that has led to emotional reunions across the communist island. Ferrer, 54, is the most high-profile of the prisoners that Cuba began freeing on Wednesday after Biden agreed to remove the country from Washington’s list of terrorism sponsors — part of an eleventh-hour bid to cement his legacy before handing power on Monday to US president-elect Donald Trump. “Thank God we have him home,” Nelva Ortega said of her husband, Ferrer, who has been in and out of prison for the
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