NEWS OF THE DAY
Plane crash: Divers searched for victims of the Lion Air plane crash in Indonesia that killed 189 people, and high-tech equipment was deployed to find data recorders as reports emerged of problems on the jet’s previous flight that had terrified passengers. Search and rescue personnel worked through the night, sending 24 body bags to identification experts. The 2-month-old Boeing 737 Max 8 plane crashed into the sea northeast of Jakarta on Monday just minutes after takeoff. The disaster has reignited concerns about safety in Indonesia’s fastgrowing aviation industry, which was recently removed from European Union and U.S. blacklists.
Shorter lines: The head of Europe’s largest airport is urging the British government to quickly implement plans allowing more overseas passengers, including Americans, to use the shorter e-passport gates. Under the plan, Heathrow CEO John HollandKaye said Tuesday passengers from the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Japan will be allowed to use the gates starting this summer.
Floods swamp Venice: Violent thunderstorms, small tornadoes that blew roofs off homes and winds equivalent to a Category 3 hurricane lashed Italy from Piedmont to Sicily early this week, leaving at least 11 people dead, many injured, and firefighters and other rescue workers scrambling to respond to emergency calls. In Venice, ferocious winds drove the high tide to more than 61 inches above average sea level Monday, one of the highest levels ever recorded, plunging much of the city under water. It was the highest flood in a decade in Venice, though far short of the record, more than 76 inches above level, set in November 1966. Some tourists decided to go for a swim in the historic Saint Mark’s Square, in front of the city’s cathedral.
Maoist rebels: Maoist rebels killed a cameraman working for a state-run television channel and two policemen in an ambush Tuesday in an insurgencyhit state in central India. Police officer P. Sunder Raj said two other officers were wounded in the attack in Chhattisgarh state. The Maoist rebels, inspired by Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong, have been fighting the Indian government for more than four decades, demanding land and jobs for tenant farmers, the poor and indigenous communities. With thousands of fighters, the rebels control vast swaths of territory spread over several states. The rebels, also known as Naxalites, have ambushed police, destroyed government offices and abducted officials. They also have blown up train tracks, attacked prisons to free their comrades and stolen weapons from police and paramilitary warehouses. The government has called the rebels India’s biggest internal security threat.
American missionary killed: An American missionary died in northwestern Cameroon after being shot in the head Tuesday amid fighting between armed separatists and soldiers, the director of the regional hospital said. Charles Trumann Wesco, a missionary from the U.S. state of Indiana who had been in the region for two weeks, was rushed to the hospital in Bamenda after he was gravely wounded while in his car. Bamenda is in Cameroon’s Northwest Region, the restive English-speaking area where armed separatists have been fighting to create an independent state they call “Ambazonia” Fighting between armed groups and the military is ongoing.