NEWS OF THE DAY
From Around the World
_1 Tanker blast: Pakistan’s prime minister cut short a trip abroad to comfort victims of a fuel tanker fire as authorities on Monday raised the death toll to 157. The truck, carrying 6,600 gallons of gasoline, was traveling from Karachi to Lahore when the driver lost control and crashed on a highway outside the town of Bahawalpur early Sunday. Scores of villagers rushed to the scene to collect spilled fuel. When the fire broke out, the villagers were engulfed in flames. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif visited a hospital in Bahawalpur on Monday and ordered that the most critically hurt be transferred to larger care centers. Sharif also announced almost $20,000 as financial assistance for each family that lost someone in the inferno.
_2 Gay rights: At least 44 people were detained during a march for LGBT rights that the governor of Istanbul had banned, Turkey’s state-run news agency reported Monday, while Europe’s top human rights organization criticized the country for barring the event. The governor’s office banned Pride for the third year in a row, citing safety concerns. Police set up checkpoints Sunday to prevent people from entering Istanbul’s main thoroughfare and marching. Police also used tear gas and plastic bullets on groups of participants.
_3 Dali exhumation: A Spanish judge on Monday ordered that the remains of artist Salvador Dali be exhumed as part of a paternity lawsuit. Dali, considered one of the fathers of surrealist art, died in 1989 and is buried in his museum in the northeastern town of Figueres. Pilar Abel is a tarot-card reader from the nearby city of Girona. Born in 1956, she says she is the offspring of an affair between Dali and her mother. Dali was then married to his muse, Gala. A Madrid court statement said DNA tests were necessary to make a genetic comparison. If there’s a match, the woman could pursue further action to use Dali’s name or claim part of his estate.
_4 Bodyguards banned: The German government says it doesn’t expect to see Turkish security agents accused of attacking protesters in Washington during President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit the upcoming Group of 20 summit in Hamburg. Germany is hosting the leaders of the G-20 powers July 7-8. Police in Washington have issued arrest warrants for a dozen Turkish agents accused in last month’s incident. German Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer said Monday that he could “assume with a good conscience that these people who have been incriminated by American judicial authorities won’t set foot on German soil in the foreseeable future, including during the G-20 summit.”
_5 Syria fighting: Syrian Kurdish forces said Monday that they seized a new district from the Islamic State group in its self-declared capital, Raqqa. Cihan Shekh Ehmed, a spokeswoman for the U.S.-backed militia known as the Syrian Democratic Forces, said the group’s fighters seized the western district of al-Qadisiya. Assisted by air strikes from the U.S.led coalition, the SDF has been slowly advancing against the militants in Raqqa since opening its offensive in early June after encircling the city.
_6 Severe storm: Hurricane Dora formed Monday in the Pacific off Mexico’s southwestern coast. The hurricane was centered about 175 miles southwest of Manzanillo and was moving northwest. The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Dora’s forecast track shows its center staying offshore. But swells from the storm are expected to cause lifethreatening surf and rip current conditions.
Chronicle News Services