World News
Mine collapse in China leaves at least 4 dead and dozens missing
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Sylvie Claire / February 24, 2023
The collapse of a mining site in China has left at least four people dead, according to a new count announced Thursday by state media, as the search for dozens of missing people resumed after a pause following a landslide.
Workers were buried at around 1 p.m. Wednesday when a 180-meter-high hill collapsed at an open-pit coal mine in western Inner Mongolia, according to CCTV.
Hundreds of rescuers were dispatched to the scene of the tragedy, located in the left banner of Alxa –name of an administrative area in the region. Rescue operations had been halted after a landslide on Wednesday night, but have since resumed, CCTV reported Thursday, saying the count was now four dead, six injured and 49 missing.
The channel aired footage of rescuers in orange jumpsuits and yellow helmets amidst a mountain of rust-colored rubble as well as shovels clearing some of the debris. “We had just returned to work. Around 1:15 p.m., we saw that rocks were starting to fall from the top of the hill. It was getting louder and louder,” a surviving worker, Ma Jianping, told CCTV. “It was decided to evacuate the area. But it was already too late. The whole hill collapsed,” he said, lying on his hospital bed.
The injured are all in stable condition, a doctor at the hospital told the station. The cause of the tragedy is not yet known. The Xinjing Coal Mining Company, the operator of the mine site according to CCTV, did not respond to phone calls from AFP on Thursday.
The reasons for the collapse are currently being investigated” and “the personnel involved”, a term that probably refers to mine officials, have been arrested, CCTV said, citing the authorities.
A video posted on social media — reportedly posted by a truck driver carrying coal — shows rocks cascading down a slope raising clouds of brown dust that engulf several vehicles. “The whole slope collapsed (…) How many people died because of this?” a male voice calls out in the background. “If I had been in line there today, I would have died in there too.” Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday night ordered local authorities to “do everything possible to search and rescue the missing people,” according to CCTV.
Alxa’s Left Banner is a sparsely populated area of Inner Mongolia, whose economy is largely based on mining.
Mine safety has improved over the past few decades in the country, as has the reporting of these incidents, many of which were once kept quiet. But accidents still occur regularly, due to the inherent danger of the industry and the sometimes haphazard application of safety procedures.
In late December, 40 people were working underground when a gold mine collapsed in the northwestern region of Xinjiang and 22 were rescued. In December 2021, two miners who were trapped in a flooded coal mine in Shanxi (North) died and 20 others were rescued after rescue operations. And in September 2021, 19 miners trapped underground after a coal mine collapsed in the northwestern province of Qinghai were found dead after a long search.
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Sylvie Claire / July 21, 2024
Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky spoke on the phone on Friday, with the former US president claiming to have promised the Ukrainian president to “end the war” between Ukraine and Russia should he return to the White House. “As your next president of the United States, I will bring peace to the world and end the war that has cost so many lives,” said the Republican presidential candidate.
Donald Trump frequently claims that he would be able to put an end to the conflict in Ukraine very quickly on his return to power, but never provides details of how he would achieve this. Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed the phone call, during which he congratulated the billionaire on his official nomination the previous day as the Republican Party’s presidential candidate.
Donald Trump’s frequent praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin, as well as his criticism of other Nato countries, is causing concern among Ukraine’s Western allies. In February, he threatened that, if he returned to the White House, he would no longer guarantee the protection of Atlantic Alliance countries against Russia if they did not pay their share, even claiming that he would “encourage” Moscow to attack them. The former American president also used his power over the Republicans to block a $61 billion military aid package for Kiev for months in Congress, which was finally adopted at the end of April.
In his posting on X on Friday, Volodymyr Zelensky said he had “agreed with President Trump to discuss, in a face-to-face meeting, the steps to be taken towards a just and lasting peace” in Ukraine.
World News
Former Ukrainian far-right MP murdered in Lviv: “All leads are being investigated, including Russia”
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Steph Deschamps / July 21, 2024
In a message on Telegram, the Ukrainian National Police said she had succumbed to her injuries in hospital after being the target of an assassination attempt.
“I always say that no place is safe in Ukraine,” lamented Lviv mayor Andriï Sadovy, denouncing a ‘heinous murder’ and offering his condolences to the victim’s relatives.
According to the Ukrainian Prosecutor’s Office, the attack took place on Friday evening, at around 7.30pm, when an unidentified individual fired at Irina Farion, seriously wounding her in the head. “All surveillance cameras are being checked, witnesses are being interviewed and several districts (of Lviv) are being examined. All leads are being investigated, including the one leading to Russia”, reacted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on X on Saturday.
Interior Minister Igor Klimenko told a briefing in Lviv on Friday evening that the suspected killer could have been lurking around Irina Farion’s home for several days.
According to him, investigators are currently focusing on the possibility of a murder motivated by a “personal grudge” linked to the victim’s activities, but are not ruling out a “commissioned assassination” either.
The 60-year-old language teacher and linguist was a member of parliament for the nationalist Svoboda party between 2012 and 2014.
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Sylvie Claire / July 18, 2024
At least six people died in a shopping mall fire on Wednesday in Zigong, southwest China, and thirty others were rescued, China’s state broadcaster CCTV said. “Rescue teams are continuing their search,” the media outlet added.
Images broadcast by the channel and others shared on social networks show thick black smoke rising from a building overlooking a shopping street in this city 1,600 kilometers from the capital Beijing, in the southwestern province of Sichuan.
The fire broke out in the early evening in a shopping mall at the foot of a 14-storey building, CCTV reported.
“At 8:20 pm, the fire was extinguished and 17 people were rescued. Others are still trapped, and rescue operations are continuing”, said the station in an initial report on the situation.
Fires and other fatal accidents are frequent in China, due to the sometimes lax application of safety standards. In January, at least 39 people perished in a store fire in central China. According to the authorities, the fire started in the basement of a store when workers “broke the rules” during construction work. At the time, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for lessons to be learned from the disaster to prevent further tragedies. The same month, a fire in a residential building claimed at least 15 lives.
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