News in Brief

Date: 08 June 2021 - 22:20

News ID: ۹۱۰۵۴

GHOTKI, Pakistan (AP) — The death toll from a horrific collision of two trains in southern Pakistan rose to 63 on Tuesday after rescuers pulled 12 more bodies from crumpled cars a day after the crash, officials said. The collision took place on a dilapidated railway track in Ghotki, a district in the southern Sindh province, when an express train barreled into another that had derailed minutes earlier before dawn on Monday. Most of the passengers — there were about 1,100 on both trains — were asleep when the Millat Express, traveling between the southern port city of Karachi to Sargodha in eastern Punjab province, derailed and many of its cars overturned. As passengers scrambled to get out, another passenger train, the Sir Syed Express, crashed into the derailed coaches. Rescue work continued throughout the day Monday, overnight and into Tuesday. Bodies of passengers killed in the crash were taken to their hometowns for burial.

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BERLIIN (Reuters) -- German police detained more than 70 suspects and searched over 150 locations in Germany as a part of a global crackdown on organized crime in 15 countries, authorities said on Tuesday. The raids on Monday, focused in the western state of Hesse and in cooperation with Europol, were part of an investigation initiated by U.S. law enforcement authorities that started in 2018, Frankfurt public prosecutors office said. Authorities seized hundreds of kilograms of drugs, more than 20 weapons, over 30 luxury cars and cash worth 250,000 euros, as well as IT equipment. The suspects are accused of using prepaid phones containing an encrypted messaging app to deal in weapons and drugs, prosecutors said. The raids, which involved nearly 1,500 law enforcement officers, were part of a European leg of a global sting in which criminals were given phones that allowed law enforcement officials to listen in on their conversations.

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WAUBUN, Minnesota (Reuters) -- Environmental protesters clashed with police after occupying a pump station as they rallied against Enbridge Inc’s Line 3 pipeline in Minnesota, while Enbridge said it had evacuated 44 workers from its site. Line 3, which entered service in 1968, ships crude from the Canadian province of Alberta to U.S. Midwest refiners, and carries less oil than it was designed for due to age and corrosion. Owner Enbridge is replacing the pipeline so it can roughly double the amount of crude it transports. The pipeline is key to landlocked Alberta’s efforts to boost crude exports from its oil sands. Pipeline opponents say they stand in solidarity with indigenous communities concerned about the risks the line poses to their rivers and lakes. Organizers of the protests in Hubbard County said the demonstrations were the largest to date against Line 3. The clashes came after a peaceful march early on Monday that drew hundreds of people. Between 50 and 100 demonstrators occupied the pump station and barricaded its entrances, chanting “Keep it in the ground” and “Stop Line 3”. At one point a police helicopter hovered low over activists, sending dust and debris flying.

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NEW DELHI (Reuters) -- Eighteen people were killed in a fire at a chemical factory in the western Indian city of Pune, police said. The police said 20 people had survived the blaze and the charred bodies of all those killed had been recovered. An inquiry has been ordered by the district administration. The fire was at a plant where chemical manufacturer SVS Aqua Technologies makes products including hand sanitizers, local media reported. Footage shared on social media showed a thick plume of smoke billowing out as fire crews fought the blaze. Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered his condolences on Twitter. His office said the next of kin of these killed would receive 200,000 Indian rupees ($2,750) from a relief fund, and people who were injured would receive 50,000 Indian rupees.

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ULAANBAATAR (Reuters) -- Mongolia goes to the polls on Wednesday to choose its sixth democratically-elected president, with the ruling Mongolian People’s Party (MPP) on the cusp of consolidating its power following a low-key campaign crimped by COVID-19 curbs. The vote is the first after constitutional amendments stripped the office of some of its powers and limited holders to a single six-year term, so keeping incumbent Khaltmaa Battulga of the opposition Democratic Party from seeking re-election. Ukhnaa Khurelsukh, forced to resign as prime minister after protests this year, is the favorite to take over the presidency for the MPP, which already controls parliament and government. The Democratic Party is fielding Sodnomzundui Erdene to replace Battulga.

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NAYPYITAW (Reuters) -- The Myanmar junta’s foreign minister had defended its plan for restoring democracy, state media reported on Tuesday, after a meeting at which Southeast Asian counterparts pressed the army to implement a regional agreement meant to end turmoil. The junta has paid little heed to demands from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to respect a “consensus” agreed in late April to end violence and hold political talks with its opponents. Southeast Asian foreign ministers expressed disappointment at the meeting in China on Monday at the “very slow” progress made by Myanmar on its proposal for ending the turmoil since the army overthrew elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Feb. 1.