NEWS OF THE DAY
1 Plane crash: Ontario Provincial police say three Americans have died in a plane crash in southwestern Ontario. Police said search-and-rescue squads located a downed Cessna 182 just after 4 p.m. Friday on Chappie Lake, south of Kenora, Ontario. Police say two people were found dead and the third victim died later of her injuries. Police arrived at the scene after receiving an emergency locator signal from Chappie Lake. Canadian authorities identified the victims as 41-year-old Nikolas Rajala, 40-year-old Teresa Rajala, and 36-year-old Lynn Bohanon, all of Grand Rapids, Minn. Police say the three were on a fishing trip.
2 Asian summit: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry urged China and its neighbors on Saturday to take new steps to ease tensions over maritime disputes that many fear could spark conflict. Under the proposal he presented in Naypyitaw, Burma, China and members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations that have competing claims to territory in the South China Sea would voluntarily halt provocative actions. Recent activity by several nations, particularly China, in disputed areas has heightened concerns about confrontation. “The United States and ASEAN have a common responsibility to ensure the maritime safety of critical global sea lanes and ports,” Kerry said.
3 Drilling for oil: Russia has begun drilling on its northernmost oil well, in the Kara Sea off the northern coast of Siberia. The well is part of a joint project between the Russian state-owned oil company Rosneft and Exxon Mobil to develop the region’s oil reserves, which are estimated at up to 100 billion barrels. The Russian-American project comes despite deteriorating relations between Washington and Moscow over the crisis in Ukraine, in which each side has hit the other with sanctions. President Vladimir Putin, who gave the signal to begin the drilling Saturday in a video linkup between the Arctic and his summer residence in Sochi, praised the project as an example of “pragmatism and common sense.”
4 Attack on al Qaeda: A U.S. drone strike on a house in central Yemen killed three suspected al Qaeda militants, Yemeni security officials said. The officials said the aircraft struck the house in the Obeida Valley in Marib province, where al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has a strong presence. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press. A website affiliated with the Yemeni al Qaeda branch meanwhile confirmed earlier reports that militants had killed 14 soldiers on Friday near the city of Shibam in the eastern Hadramawt province.
5 Bus crash: A tour bus on a highway in Tibet fell off a 30-foot cliff after crashing into a sport utility vehicle and a pickup truck, killing 44 people and injuring 11 others, China’s state media reported Sunday. The bus was carrying 50 people when it crashed in mountainous southern Tibet on Saturday, the Xinhua News Agency said. Most of the passengers were from four Chinese provinces. There were four people in the SUV and a truck driver, but their condition was unclear. Police detained the managers of a travel agency and tour company connected with the bus trip, Xinhua said. It said that the bodies and survivors were pulled out of the bus and the injured rushed to hospitals in the regional capital of Lhasa. Photos released by the news agency showed the vehicle lying upside down.