GLOBAL SNAPSHOT HOT

1 Freeway shootout

SAN FRANCISCO: A homicide suspect died in a shootout with police Wednesday in the middle of a San Francisco Bay Area freeway as stunned motorists looked on. Traffic came to a standstill for hours on the busy Interstate 80 that connects San Francisco with several other cities during the standoff between police and the unidentified man who had been chased about 65km by law officers. The morning rush-hour standoff shut down all lanes of I-80 in the suburb of Emeryville. It ended when the suspect got out of a black sport utility vehicle and exchanged gunfire with police. The suspect was shot and later died in hospital.

2 Rock kills climber

FRESNO: A hunk of rock “the size of an apartment building” fell off the granite face of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park on Wednesday, killing one person and injuring another on a mountain at the height of climbing season, officials and witnesses said. At least 30 climbers were on the wall at the time. El Capitan is one of the world’s largest granite monoliths towering 1219m above Yosemite Valley.

3 Japan poll looms

TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe dissolved the lower house of parliament yesterday, paving the way for a snap election that is expected to be held October 22. The speaker of the house, Tadamori Oshima, read the statement of dissolution. Mr Abe is widely seen as trying to reconsolidate his grip on power within the ruling Liberal-Democratic Party, so he can extend the term of his premiership next year. The dissolution of the more powerful of Japan’s twochamber parliament comes more than a year before required by law.

4 Bali exodus

BALI: The exodus from a menacing volcano on the Indonesian tourist island of Bali is nearing 100,000 people, a disaster official said as hundreds of tremors from the mountain are recorded daily. The National Disaster Mitigation Agency said more than 96,000 people had now fled the area around Mount Agung in the northeast of the island.

5 Island evacuated

PORT VILA: Vanuatu officials have ordered the complete evacuation of an island where a rumbling, belching volcano is threatening to blow. Government spokesman Hilaire Bule says ministers met yesterday and decided they couldn’t risk people’s lives and so ordered the compulsory evacuation of Ambae island, which is home to about 11,000 people. Officials last weekend raised the activity measure of the Manaro volcano to Level 4.