JAKARTA, Indonesia
Bird-flu death may be 42nd in Indonesia
A 44-year-old man died of bird flu in Indonesia, a senior health official said today, putting the country on the cusp of being the world’s hardest-hit by the disease.
The man died Wednesday after being hospitalized for two days with high fever, coughing and breathing difficulties, said the official, Nyoman Kandun.
“Local tests showed he was infected with the H5N1 virus,” he said, adding that the man was from the eastern outskirts of the capital, Jakarta, and had reportedly had contact with birds.
If confirmed by a World Health Organization-sanctioned test, the number of people killed by bird flu in Indonesia would rise to at least 42, tying it with hardest-hit Vietnam.
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan
Coalition kills 40 in anti-insurgency push
Coalition and Afghan forces killed more than 40 militants across southern Afghanistan on Saturday, including 10 in a large-scale air assault aimed at wresting a desert town from Taliban control.
More than 300 British paratroopers, backed by U.S. and Canadian forces, launched an early-morning raid on Helmand province’s insurgent stronghold of Sangin, where hundreds of Taliban had massed in preparation for launching attacks, coalition spokesman Maj. Scott Lundy said.
The clashes come amid stepped-up U.S.-led efforts to crush armed extremists, primarily the Taliban, behind a bloody insurgency raging across Afghanistan, particularly in the south.
KATMANDU, Nepal
Rain-triggered slide leaves at least 17 dead
A landslide triggered by monsoon rains swept through a village in northwest Nepal before dawn Saturday, killing at least 17 people as they slept, officials said.
Another 13 people were missing and feared dead after the wall of mud and rock buried seven houses, local administrator Badri Ghimire said.
About 200 soldiers were working with residents to dig through the debris in Ulleri village, about 125 miles northwest of the capital, Katmandu. Help was slow to reach the village because it is only accessible by foot, Ghimire said.
Rescuers have recovered 17 bodies, the official said.
The village is on a popular trekking route for the 26,540- foot Mount Annapurna, but because of the seasonal rains, there are few, if any, trekkers at the moment.
STOCKHOLM, Sweden
Investigation follows roller coaster crash
Two roller coaster trains collided at Sweden’s largest amusement park Saturday, injuring about 20 people, police said.
It was unclear what caused the accident at the Liseberg amusement park in Goteborg, Sweden’s second-largest city, located on the country’s southwestern coast.
“For some reason, two trains collided,” police spokesman Staffan Sellberg said.
The park was closed after the accident, which happened shortly after noon. An investigation was underway, Sellberg said.
BEIJING
18 dead, 39 trapped in mine gas explosion
A gas explosion in a Chinese coal mine killed at least 18 miners and trapped 39 others, a news report said today.
The blast occurred Saturday afternoon in Jinzhong, a city in Shanxi province, China’s leading coal-mining region, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
The report said the directors of China’s national industrial safety and mine safety agencies were en route to the scene to oversee rescue work.
China’s coal mines are the world’s deadliest, with more than 5,000 fatalities a year despite repeated government promises to improve safety.
