China launches pioneering mission to far side of moon
AP, Beijing
China launched a ground-breaking mission Saturday to land a spacecraft on the largely unexplored far side of the moon, demonstrating its growing ambitions as a space power to rival Russia, the European Union and the U.S.
A Long March 3B rocket carrying a lunar probe blasted off at 2:23 a.m. from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan Province in southwestern China, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
May’s Brexit deal is best option: Rudd
Reuters, London
Britain’s work and pensions minister Amber Rudd said Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal was the best option and the only plan available for leaving the European Union, although she admitted a plan B might be needed.
Members of parliament look set to vote down May’s deal on Tuesday, a move which risks hurtling the world’s fifth-largest economy into even deeper uncertainty and leaving open a number of possible outcomes including a disorderly Brexit.
12 killed in Kashmir bus mishap
AP, Srinagar
At least 12 people were killed and 18 others injured on Saturday after a bus fell into a rocky gorge along a mountainous road in Indian-controlled Kashmir, officials said. Civil administrator Rahul Yadav said the bus plunged off a Himalayan mountain road as its driver negotiated a curve near southern Poonch town and fell into 60-meter-deep (200-foot-deep) rocky gorge.
Yadav said the bus ripped into several parts after hitting the rocks. The injured were hospitalized, including at least five in critical condition.
Marshalls fisherman hauls in 48 kilos of cocaine
AFP, Majuro
A fisherman in the Marshall Islands netted more than he bargained for when he hauled in his catch to find a suspected 48 kilos (106 pounds) of cocaine. The white powder, professionally wrapped and taped in plastic bags, had a street value of about US$4 million , police said Friday.
“We’re pretty sure we got all of it,” deputy police commissioner Robson Almen added, saying there was no indication the packs had broken out from a larger bundle.
Six dead in stampede at Italian nightclub
AFP, Rome
Six people died and dozens were injured in a stampede when panic broke out during a rap concert at an Italian nightclub Saturday morning, the fire service said. Media reports say the suspected use of a pepper spray-like substance sparked the chaos at the venue in the town of Corinaldo, near Ancona in central Italy.
“The cause may have been the dispersal of a stinging substance, the young people fled and trampled over each other. Sadly, six people died and dozens are injured,” the fire service said in a statement on Twitter.
