PHILIPPINES
Firecracker depot blast kills 5
Five people, including a four-year-old child, were killed in a massive explosion at a pyrotechnics warehouse in Zamboanga, emergency services said yesterday. The Saturday afternoon blast tore a large hole in the ground, sent debris careening into nearby buildings and houses and ignited a blaze, fire investigator Luigi Chan said. Four warehouse workers and the four-year-old son of one of the staffers were killed, Chan said. The city disaster office confirmed the death toll and said another 38 people had been injured in the incident, eight of them seriously. Authorities said they were investigating the cause of the explosion, which created a 20m crater, dismantled the depot’s walls and rained rubble on a nearby soft drinks factory, a grains and flour warehouse and area homes.
FRANCE
One dead in wedding attack
One person was killed and five others wounded in Thionville when several masked gunmen opened fire at a wedding ceremony, police sources said yesterday. Sources suggested that the attack in the northeastern city was linked to a settling of scores between drug traffickers. The shooting took place at a reception hall overnight on Saturday to yesterday, with about 100 people in attendance. Two people were seriously injured and one of them was in a critical condition. The shooters fled the scene. “At a quarter past one in the morning, a group of people went outside to smoke in front of the hall, and then three heavily armed men arrived and opened fire in their direction,” police said. The assailants arrived in a 4X4 vehicle, “probably a BMW,” the source said. Members of law enforcement believe that a settling of scores linked to drug trafficking was behind the violence.
UKRAINE
Missile strike kills seven
Russian missiles on Saturday slammed into a town in southern Ukraine, killing seven civilians, including children, and wounding dozens more, local authorities reported. Officials published photographs of bodies stretched out under picnic blankets in a park in Vilniansk, and deep craters in the blackened earth next to the charred, twisted remains of a building. Thirty-six people were wounded in the attack, authorities said, and declared a day of mourning yesterday. Vilniansk is in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, less than 30km from the local capital and north of the front lines, as Russian forces continue to occupy part of the province. Zaporizhzhia Governor Ivan Fedorov said that three children were among the dead and nine more were wounded.
UNITED STATES
Rescuers help dolphins
Animal rescuers were on Saturday trying to keep dozens of dolphins away from shallow waters around Cape Cod, Massachusetts, after 125 of the creatures stranded themselves a day earlier. Teams found one group of 10 Atlantic white-sided dolphins swimming in a dangerously shallow area at dawn on Saturday, and managed to herd them out into deeper water, the International Fund for Animal Welfare said. Scouts also found a second group of 25 dolphins swimming close to the shore near Eastham, the organization said, adding that herding efforts were ongoing as the tide dropped throughout the morning. Ten dolphins died during the stranding Friday at The Gut — or Great Island — in Wellfleet, at the Herring River. The organization said it was the largest mass-stranding it had dealt with on the Cape during its 26-year history in the area.
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
‘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 —
BORDER SERVICES: With the US-funded International Rescue Committee telling clinics to shut by tomorrow, Burmese refugees face sudden discharge from Thai hospitals Healthcare centers serving tens of thousands of refugees on the Thai-Myanmar border have been ordered shut after US President Donald Trump froze most foreign aid last week, forcing Thai officials to transport the sickest patients to other facilities. The International Rescue Committee (IRC), which funds the clinics with US support, told the facilities to shut by tomorrow, a local official and two camp committee members said. The IRC did not respond to a request for comment. Trump last week paused development assistance from the US Agency for International Development for 90 days to assess compatibility with his “America First” policy. The freeze has thrown
TESTING BAN: Satellite photos show a facility in the Chinese city of Mianyang that could aid nuclear weapons design and power generation, a US researcher said China appears to be building a large laser-ignited fusion research center in the southwestern city of Mianyang, experts at two analytical organizations said, a development that could aid nuclear weapons design and work exploring power generation. Satellite photos show four outlying “arms” that would house laser bays, and a central experiment bay that would hold a target chamber containing hydrogen isotopes the powerful lasers would fuse together, producing energy, said Decker Eveleth, a researcher at US-based independent research organization CNA Corp. It is a similar layout to the US$3.5 billion US National Ignition Facility (NIF) in northern California, which in 2022 generated
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