AFP, Moscow
Four miners were killed and 26 were missing after a pit collapse in northern Russia, in the latest tragedy to hit the accident-prone industry, investigators said on Friday.
A total of 110 people were on duty at the Severnaya coal mine in the remote Komi region on Thursday when it was hit by a “pressure burst”, Vorkutaugol, which owns the mine, said. Eighty workers were rescued and brought to the surface.
Shooting in Kansas leaves 4 dead, 14 injured
AP, Los Angeles
Four people have died and 14 have been wounded at a shooting in a Kansas workplace, along with two other locations Thursday evening, authorities said.
The shooter – identified as Cedric Larry Ford, 38, a Newton resident, was an employee at Excel Industries, one of the scenes, Harvey County Sheriff T. Walton said in a press conference Thursday.
Police said the shooter fired from his car and shot people at two nearby locations before unleashing a hail of bullets in the factory, hitting at least 14 people, and killing three of them.
97 hospitalised after
eating meal in India
AFP, Mumbai
Nearly 100 Indian schoolchildren were hospitalised with suspected food poisoning on Thursday after eating a free midday meal at a government-run school near Mumbai, officials said, adding that 13 were in a critical condition.
Most of the children at the rural primary school fell ill after the lunch of rice and pulses. “Ninety-seven have been admitted to hospital, a few of them are critical,” Shrikrishna Kokate, deputy police chief of Palghar district in the western state of Maharashtra, said.
Lanka may accept int’l actors in war crimes probe
Reuters, Washington
Sri Lanka’s foreign minister said on Thursday he is willing to consider international participation in investigating possible war crimes during the 26-year Tamil insurgency.
“I think it is only fair that the victims of the war would want some form of guarantee that the new courts will deliver justice and accountability in a fair manner, and for that we are willing to consider the participation of international actors,” Mangala Samaraweera, the minister, said at a Washington think tank.
Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena has previously said that foreign participation was not needed for an impartial inquiry.
