2 landslides leave 11 dead in China
BEIJING — Eleven people have been confirmed dead in two landslides that followed the major typhoon that hit southeastern China several days ago.
An official statement issued today says eight people have been found dead after a Wednesday landslide in Sucun village in Zhejiang province, south of Shanghai. Another 19 people are still missing.
Another Wednesday landslide in Zhejiang province killed three people.
Video published by the official Xinhua News Agency shows fast flood waters carrying rocks and debris rushing down a mountain and into Sucun village. About 20 homes were buried by the landslide.
Typhoon Megi brought torrential rain and strong winds into southeastern China and Taiwan, where five people died in falls and other accidents during the storm and another three were found dead after a landslide engulfed their home.
Rosetta comet probe ends
BERLIN — After 12 years of hurtling through space in pursuit of a comet, the Rosetta probe ended its mission Friday with a slow-motion crash onto the icy surface of the alien world it was sent out to study.
Mission controllers lost contact with the probe, as expected, after it hit the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko at 1039 GMT (6:39 a.m. EDT) Friday, the European Space Agency said.
“Farewell Rosetta, you’ve done the job,” said mission manager Patrick Martin. “That is space science at its best.”
ESA chief Jan Woerner called the 1.4 billion-euro ($1.57 billion) mission a success. Aside from sending a lander onto the surface of comet 67P in November 2014 — a cosmic first — the Rosetta mission has collected vast amounts of data that researchers will spend many years analyzing.
Deepest underwater cave
WARSAW, Poland — Explorers say they’ve found the world’s deepest underwater cave, located at least 404 meters (1,325 feet) down a limestone formation in the eastern Czech Republic.
Polish explorer Krzysztof Starnawski, who led the team, told The Associated Press on Friday that he felt like a “Columbus of the 21st century” to have made the discovery near the Czech town of Hranice.
Mr. Starnawski, 48, determined Tuesday that the flooded limestone Hranicka Propast, or Hranice Abyss, which divers have explored for decades, was at least 404 meters deep. He scuba dived to a narrow slot in the formation at 200 meters down, then sent a remotely operated underwater robot, or ROV, that went to the depth of 404 meters, or the length of its cord, but still did not seem to hit the bottom.
In 2015, Mr. Starnawski himself passed through the slot and went to 265 meters down without reaching the cave’s bottom. After diving that far down, he had to spend over six hours in a decompression chamber.
Duterte ‘happy’ to kill
MANILA, Philippines — Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte raised the rhetoric over his bloody anti-crime war to a new level Friday, comparing it to Hitler and the Holocaust and saying he would be “happy to slaughter” 3 million addicts.
Mr. Duterte issued his latest threat against drug dealers and users early Friday on returning to his hometown in southern Davao city after visiting Vietnam, where he discussed his antidrug campaign with Vietnamese leaders and ways for their governments to fight transnational crimes, including illegal drugs.