NEWS OF THE DAY
From Around the World
1 Deadly fire: A fire swept through a Moscow printing plant warehouse on Saturday, killing 17 migrant workers from Kyrgyzstan, Russian officials said. A representative of the Kyrgyz community said the victims were all young women trapped in a dressing room while changing into their work clothes. The fire was caused by a faulty lamp on the first floor of the warehouse, where many flammable liquids and paper products were stored, and it spread quickly through an elevator shaft to the dressing room, said Ilya Denisov, who heads the Moscow branch of emergency services. Denisov said the dead were all from Kyrgyzstan, a former Soviet republic in Central Asia.
2 Border tensions: North Korea on Saturday threatened to fire at the lighting equipment used by American and South Korean troops at a truce village inside the Demilitarized Zone that divides the two Koreas. The North’s Korean People’s Army accused U.S. and South Korean soldiers of “deliberate provocations” by aiming their lights at North Korean guard posts at Panmunjom since Friday evening. Tensions at the border are high due to last Monday’s start of annual joint military drills between the U.S. and South Korea that Pyongyang says are an invasion rehearsal.
3 Zimbabwe arrests: President Robert Mugabe warned against an Arab Spring type of revolution, as police said they arrested 67 people following a violent protest that rocked the capital, Harare. “What happened in the Arab world should not be tried here,” the state-run Herald newspaper quoted Mugabe as saying. Police used batons, tear gas and water cannons in running battles with antigovernment demonstrators on Friday, despite a court order that the protest could take place. Frustrations over Zimbabwe’s rapidly deteriorating economy are boiling over in the once prosperous country.
4 Wing suit death: A wing suit flier who fatally crashed in the Swiss Alps was broadcasting live on Facebook when the accident happened, media reported Saturday. A video posted online shows a man readying his wing suit before pocketing his phone and taking off Friday. After a few moments, a shout and the sound of impact can be heard. The video couldn’t immediately be verified. The Zurich daily Blick reported that followers watching the video reacted with horror. Some sent messages asking that he “write or say something.” Bern police said the body of a 28-year-old Italian citizen was recovered near Kandersteg, a popular jumping location.
5 Malaysia protest: Student activists led a rally Saturday to demand the arrest of Prime Minister Najib Razak, who has been implicated in a U.S. government probe into fraud in a Malaysian investment fund. More than 1,000 people defied a police ban as they gathered at two locations in Kuala Lumpur and marched to Independence Square. The U.S. Department of Justice said last month that at least $3.5 billion had been stolen from 1MDB, a fund founded by Najib.
6 Traffic mess: A truck struck an overpass Saturday and collapsed a pedestrian bridge onto one of England’s busiest highways, injuring one person, officials said. Witnesses said a truck hauling construction vehicles appeared to clip the bridge Saturday on the London-bound M20 highway 30 miles southeast of the British capital. The M20, which links London with the cross-Channel port of Dover and the nearby Eurotunnel terminal, was closed in both directions. The shutdown caused massive traffic jams.