Foreign News
All 10 onboard Alaska plane confirmed dead in crash
Crews are still working to recover the bodies of 10 people killed in a plane crash in Alaska, officials have said.
Jennifer Homendy, chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, said the investigation into the crash was in its “early stages” and it was too soon to tell what caused it.
The Cessna Grand Caravan aircraft, operated by regional operator Bering Air, was travelling from Unalakleet to Nome on Thursday when it lost radar contact.
Nine passengers and a pilot were on board the plane when it came down in Norton Sound about 34 miles (55km) south-east of Nome, a city of about 3,500 on Alaska’s west coast.
Among the dead were Rhone Baumgartner and Kameron Hartvigson, two employees of the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium.
They had travelled to Unalakleet to carry out maintenance work on a water plant, the non-profit organisation said on Friday.
Ms Homendy said that nine investigators are on the scene, backed up by specialists in Washington DC. “Recovery efforts are still under way, with the priority being victim recovery,” she said during a news conference in Anchorage, Alaska’s largest city. “I would like to take a moment and expend our deepest condolences to people who lost loved ones in this tragedy,” she said.
Ms Homendy said recovery workers were dealing with deteriorating weather conditions and that the wreckage had landed on an ice floe which is moving at a rate of five miles a day.
In a statement, Bering Air, which operates commercial and charter flights, expressed its condolences and said it would be cooperating with the investigation into the crash.
Alaska State Troopers said it had been notified of an “overdue” aircraft at 16:00 local time on Thursday (01:00 GMT).
The Nome volunteer fire department said the pilot had told air traffic controllers that “he intended to enter a holding pattern while waiting for the runway to be cleared”.
The US Coast Guard later said the plane had experienced a rapid loss in altitude and speed before contact was lost. Footage showed low visibility in the area around the time of the crash.
Alaskan Senator Lisa Murkowski shared her condolences following the incident. “Alaska is a big small town. When tragedy strikes, we’re never far removed from the Alaskans directly impacted,” she wrote online.
Alaska’s Governor, Mike Dunleavy, said he was “heartbroken” by the disappearance of the flight. “Our prayers are with the passengers, the pilot, and their loved ones during this difficult time,” he said.
Unakleet and Nome are about 150 miles from each other across Norton Sound, an inlet of the Bering Sea on Alaska’s western coast.
China has launched a search for more than 30 people after a landslide hit the southwestern Sichuan province.
The landslide hit Jinping village in the city of Yibin on Saturday at about 11:50am (03:50 GMT), state broadcaster CCTV reported. Authorities said dozens are missing, with conditions remaining dangerous.
“Ten houses had been buried, more than 30 people were missing, and about 200 people were evacuated and relocated,” CCTV said.
The landslide was “still ongoing”, the broadcaster warned, quoting on-site rescuers. Residents, hundreds of whom have been evacuated, were ordered to stay away from the area.
President Xi Jinping expressed his concern and urged authorities to make every effort to search for the missing and minimise casualties, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
The Ministry of Emergency Management said two people had been rescued, while 200 were relocated. Emergency response teams were on site searching for survivors, it added.
Premier Li Qiang asked for an investigation and inspection of potential geological hazard risks in nearby areas.
He also called for further residents who may be at risk to be evacuated to prevent another disaster.
One villager told state-run Beijing News that rocks had frequently been seen rolling down the mountain over recent months, and that geologists had inspected the area late last year.
The National Development and Reform Commission has allocated 50 million yuan ($6.9m) from the central budget to support the emergency restoration of infrastructure and public service facilities, Xinhua said.
[Aljazeera]
A canal in a suburb of Argentina’s capital Buenos Aires turned bright red on Thursday, alarming local residents.
Pictures and videos show the intensely coloured water flowing into an estuary, the Rio de la Plata, which borders an ecological reserve.
Local media reports suggest the colour may have been caused by the dumping of textile dye, or by chemical waste from a nearby depot.
The Environment Ministry said in a statement that water samples had been taken from the Sarandí canal to determine the cause of the colour change.
By late afternoon the colour of the water had lost some of its intensity, the AFP news agency reported.
Residents have claimed that many local companies dispose of toxic waste in the waterway, which runs through an area of leather processing and textile factories some 10km (6 miles) from the centre of the capital.
A resident, a woman called Silvia, told local news channel C5N that although it is has turned red now, “other times it was yellow, with an acidic smell that makes us sick even in the throat”. “I live a block from the stream. Today, it has no smell. There are not many factories in the area, although there are warehouses.”
Another resident, Maria Ducomls, told AFP industries in the region dump waste in the water, and said she had seen it coloured differently in the past – “bluish, a little green, pink, a little lilac, with grease on top”.
[BBC]
President Donald Trump has signed an executive order sanctioning the International Criminal Court, accusing it of “illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel”.
The measure places financial and visa restrictions on individuals and their families who assist in ICC investigations of American citizens or allies.
Trump signed the measure as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was visiting Washington.
Last November, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu over alleged war crimes in Gaza, which Israel denies. The ICC also issued a warrant for a Hamas commander.
A White House fact sheet circulated earlier on Thursday accused the Hague-based ICC of creating a “shameful moral equivalency” between Hamas and Israel by issuing the warrants at the same time.
Trump’s executive order said the ICC’s recent actions “set a dangerous precedent” that endangered Americans by exposing them to “harassment, abuse and possible arrest”.
“This malign conduct in turn threatens to infringe upon the sovereignty of the United States and undermines the critical national security and foreign policy work of the United States government and our allies, including Israel,” the order said.
It adds that “both nations [the US and Israel] are thriving democracies with militaries that strictly adhere to the laws of war”.
The US is not a member of the ICC and has repeatedly rejected any jurisdiction by the body over American officials or citizens.
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