60 HIGH-RISE TOWERS FAIL SAFETY TEST
london» The list of high-rise apartment towers in Britain that have failed fire safety tests grew to 60, officials said Sunday, revealing the mounting challenge the government faces in the aftermath of London’s Grenfell Tower fire tragedy.
All of the buildings for which external cladding samples were so far submitted failed combustibility tests, Communities Secretary Sajid Javid said. As of late Sunday, that includes 60 towers from 25 different areas of the country — double the figure given a day earlier.
The national testing was ordered after an inferno engulfed Grenfell Tower in west London on June 14 and killed at least 79 people.
Teen missing a year is found alive ●
charlotte, n.c.» The FBI said a North Carolina teenager who went missing more than a year ago has been found alive in Georgia, and a 31-year-old man faces charges.
FBI spokeswoman Shelley Lynch said Sunday the 17-year-old girl is reunited with her parents after being found overnight at a home in Duluth, about 30 miles northeast of Atlanta.
Agents arrested Michael Wysolovski on charges that include sex offenses, cruelty to children and false imprisonment. The girl was 16 when she left home near Charlotte in May 2016.
WBTV reported last year her parents found a diary detailing plans to run off with an older man she met online. Her father said the man “gradually wormed his way into her good graces.”
It’s unknown if Wysolovski has a lawyer.
Air bag maker files for bankruptcy. Japanese air
bag maker Takata Corp. has filed for bankruptcy protection in Tokyo and the U.S., overwhelmed by lawsuits and recall costs related to its production of faulty air bag inflators.
The company announced the expected action Monday morning Tokyo time. Takata confirmed that most of its assets will be bought by rival Key Safety Systems, based in suburban Detroit.
Takata was done in by defective inflators that can explode with too much force when they fill up an air bag, spewing out shrapnel. They’re responsible for at least 16 deaths and 180 injuries and touched off the largest automotive recall in U.S. history.
Gunmen kill at least 10 in Mexico ●
xalapa, mexico» Gunmen burst into a restaurant and killed the federal police commander for Veracruz and a second officer in another bloody day for the Mexican state.
The police officers were among at least 10 people slain in Veracruz state Saturday, including four children from one family, according to local officials.
Veracruz Gov. Miguel Angel Yunes released a video calling the killers “beasts” and “cowards” and repeated his vow to crack down on organized crime in the troubled Gulf coast state.
“We are going to do everything, whatever it may be,” he said. “Veracruz will not be hostage to these animals.”
Scores still missing in China landslide ●
xalapa, mexicomao county, china» Rescuers recovered 10 bodies and were still searching for 93 missing people on Sunday, a day after a massive landslide buried a picturesque mountain village in southwestern China.
More than 2,500 rescuers with detection devices and dogs were looking for signs of life amid the rubble of huge boulders that rained down on Xinmo village in Sichuan province early Saturday.
As of Sunday night, only three people — a couple and their monthold baby — had been rescued from the disaster site.