MONSOON RAINS COLLAPSE HOUSES IN INDIA; 58 DEAD
INDIA» At least 58 people have been killed in two days as monsoon rains triggered house collapses and flooded wide swaths of land in northern India, officials said Saturday.
Weather officials predicted more rain in the next 48 hours in India’s most populous state of Uttar Pradesh.
The deaths occurred since rains started Thursday night, said government spokesman Awanish Awasthi. Ten of the victims died in Meerut district. In Agra, the northern Indian city where the white marble Taj Mahal is located, at least six died, including four members of a family who perished in a house collapse, Awasthi said.
He said the dead included women and children.
Khan’s party in Pakistan says it has support to form government. ISLAMABAD» The party of cricket star Imran Khan on Saturday claimed it had acquired the support of the lawmakers required to form a coalition government after winning this week’s polls, as a secular party angered over alleged fraud rallied in the northwest.
“People have voted us into power and, God willing, we will form a government,” Fawad Chaudhry, the spokesman for Khan’s party, told The Associated Press.
He did not say exactly how many lawmakers had agreed to join their future government, saying the announcement would be made when the National Assembly convenes this week for the swearing-in ceremony of the newly elected lawmakers.
Taxis in Barcelona on strike.
SPAIN» Taxi drivers in Barcelona blocked traffic on a major thoroughfare as part of an indefinite strike to protest the use of ride-hailing apps such as Uber or Cabify.
Hundreds of taxi drivers parked their black-and-yellow cabs in the middle of Barcelona’s Gran Via on Saturday, where some drivers spent the night in their vehicles or in tents.
Catalan public television showed taxis from other Spanish cities, including Bilbao, 372 miles away, arriving overnight to join the protest.
Polar bear killed after attack on Arctic cruise ship guard. Norwegian authorities said a polar bear on Saturday attacked and injured a guard who was leading tourists off a cruise ship on an Arctic archipelago. The polar bear was shot dead by another employee, the cruise company said.
The Joint Rescue Coordination for Northern Norway tweeted that the attack occurred when the tourists from the MS Bremen cruise ship landed on the most northern island of the Svalbard archipelago, a region between mainland Norway and the North Pole that is known for its remote terrain, glaciers, reindeer and polar bears.
The German Hapag Lloyd Cruises company, which operates the MS Bremen, told The Associated Press two polar bear guards from their ship went on the island and one of them “was attacked by a polar bear and injured on his head.”
Australian first woman to skipper Clipper race winner.
Australian sailor Wendy Tuck became the first woman to skipper the winning vessel in the Clipper Round The World Yacht Race.
Tuck, 52, from Sydney, led the Sanya Serenity Coast team to victory in the race that finished in Liverpool on Saturday. Her team beat 25-yearold British skipper Nikki Henderson’s Visit Seattle yacht by four points.
The brainchild of Robin Knox-johnston, the first person to sail solo nonstop around the world, the race encompasses 40,000 nautical miles. Competitors sail on identical 70-foot ocean racing yachts around the world.