News in Brief

Date: 24 December 2022 - 21:53

News ID: ۱۱۰۵۳۹

MOSCOW (Al Jazeera) – A fire has ripped through a care home for the elderly in the Siberian city of Kemerovo, killing at least 22 people, Russian emergency services said. The blaze gutted the entire second floor of the building, which was not officially registered as a home for the elderly, Russian news agency RIA Novosti and fire safety officials said on Saturday. It broke out on Friday in the two-storey wooden building in Kemerovo, about 3,000 kilometers (1,900 miles) east of the capital, Moscow. The blaze was brought under control a few hours later. The cause of the fire was not immediately determined, according to the Tass news agency, but the building was heated by stoves. It was not clear how many people lived at the privately run facility or how many were in the building when the fire started. Officials said many homes for the elderly operate without registration throughout Russia and could not be subject to inspections as they were officially considered private property.

***
KHARTOUM (AFP) – Clashes between rival groups in Sudan’s restive Darfur region have killed at least seven people, state media reported Saturday. Violence erupted on Wednesday around 20 kilometers from the South Darfur state capital Nyala pitting Arab herders against farmers from the Daju minority and other non-Arab ethnic groups, witnesses said. It was not immediately clear what sparked the fighting. “A group of herders riding camels and vehicles attacked the village of Amuri on Friday, leaving the site burnt and four people killed,” the official SUNA news agency said, adding that two people were killed between Wednesday and Thursday. Another person was killed when the fighting spread to nearby villages, which were “partially burnt” as shops were looted, the news agency added, quoting a government statement. At least 20 people were treated at Nyala hospital for bullet wounds, a medical source told AFP. Security forces were dispatched to the area to contain the violence, SUNA said. Ethnic clashes often break out in Darfur, a vast region the size of France which was ravaged by a bitter civil war that erupted in 2003.

***
JOHANNESBURG (AP) – A truck carrying liquified petroleum gas exploded in the South African town of Boksburg, east of Johannesburg, killing at least 8 people and injuring 50 others on Saturday, officials said. The top of the truck scraped a low-lying bridge, sparking flames that caused the explosion, according to emergency services officials. Video footage shared by residents on social media showed the dramatic explosion, with pedestrians running away from the blaze and cars dramatically speeding away. Several houses and vehicles have been damaged by the explosion, according to local reports. The tanker was reportedly delivering gas to the nearby O.R. Tambo Memorial Hospital, where some of the injured were treated. Patients in some units at the hospital had to be evacuated because of the explosion and fire, according to local media reports. “Walking through here was just a sight of absolute devastation, I have never seen something like this ever before,” local resident Simon Lapping, told the local Citizen newspaper. He said he saw the bodies of six adults and two children.

***
TOKYO (Reuters) – Recent heavy snow in Japan’s north and elsewhere has killed 13 people, injured more than 80 and left more than 10,000 households without power, the authorities said on Saturday. Snowstorms and high waves in northern Japan and along the Sea of Japan coast could cause snow as deep as 60 cm (two feet), the Meteorological Agency warned. By late Saturday afternoon, more than 30 had been seriously injured and more than 50 sustained minor injuries, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency said. Train and airplane services were disrupted in northern Japan, and some parts of central and western areas experienced traffic disruption, according to public broadcaster NHK.

***
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) – Sitiveni Rabuka was sworn in as Fiji’s prime minister on Saturday, capping a tense week in a fragile Pacific democracy where the former military commander first held office more than two decades ago. The 74-year-old won the nomination by one vote over incumbent Frank Bainimarama at a sitting of the Fijian Parliament in Suva. Rabuka, the head of the People’s Alliance Party, won after forming a majority coalition with two other parties following last week’s close and contentious election. On Thursday, army and navy personnel were reportedly called in to protect minority groups over threats against them following the Dec. 14 vote. During his swearing-in ceremony, Rabuka pledged to “obey, observe, uphold and maintain” the constitution of his nation. He said he spoke with Bainimarama, the head of the Fiji First Party who had ruled for almost 16 years, to thank him for his contributions.

***
OTTAWA (AFP) – Polar bears are disappearing fast from the Western part of Hudson Bay, on the southern tip of the Canadian Arctic, according to a new government survey. The number of female bears and cubs in particular has seen a dramatic decline. Researchers have flown over the region -- which includes the town of Churchill, a tourist destination touted as the “polar bear capital of the world” -- every five years to count the number of bears and extrapolate population trends. During the last survey in late August and early September 2021, the results of which were released earlier this month, they spotted 194 bears and, based on that count, estimated a total population of 618 bears, down from 842 five years earlier. “Comparison to aerial surveys estimates from 2011 and 2016 suggests that the WH (Western Hudson Bay population) may be decreasing in abundance,” the study said. It also “revealed significant declines in the abundance of adult female and subadult bears (cubs) between 2011 and 2021.” “The observed declines are consistent with long-standing predictions regarding the demographic effects of climate change on polar bears,” the researchers said.