14 killed, 147 hurt in China explosion
Reuters, Beijing
A powerful blast at a prefabricated house in northwestern China on Monday killed at least 14 people and injured 147, state news agency Xinhua said.
The explosion occurred in the early afternoon in the town of Xinmin in Shaanxi province, damaging dozens of buildings including the local hospital, Xinhua said.
An initial police investigation indicated that the blast was caused by illegally stored explosives, Xinhua said, adding that authorities had detained the owner of the building and were searching for the tenant.
Humanitarian corridors in Aleppo still open: Russia
AP, Moscow
Russia’s Defense Ministry says that humanitarian corridors out of Syria’s Aleppo are still open and that there have been no Russian or Syrian airstrikes on the besieged city for seven days now. The ministry’s spokesman, Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, said on Tuesday that a total of 48 women and children left eastern Aleppo the previous evening.
4 dead in Australia theme park disaster
AFP, Gold Coast (Australia)
Two women and two men were killed at a theme park on Australia’s popular Gold Coast Tuesday, police said, with witnesses describing how “everyone was screaming” after a raft apparently flipped on a water ride.
Queensland police said the four victims died on the Thunder River Rapids ride at the Dreamworld park, as Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull extended his prayers to their families over what he called a “very, very, sad, tragic event”.
