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From Washington, this is VOA news. I'm Jonathan Jones reporting.
There was a deadly explosion Sunday in a port city of Ningbo in eastern China. The explosion killed at least two people and injured dozens more. It brought down buildings, shattered windows and knocked holes in walls of buildings kilometers away. Some state media account said it was a factory building that exploded. Ningbo is about 100 kilometers south of Shanghai. Officials said they had not yet established the cause for the explosion, which happened in a riverfront area. Industrial accidents are common in China, where safety standards are often not well enforced. A volcano on the Indonesian tourist island of Bali sent plumes of smoke and steam thousands of meters into the air Sunday for the third day this week, triggering flight disruptions and leaving thousands of tourists stranded. Indonesian and regional authorities heightened flight warnings around Bali's Mount Agung on Sunday as the volcano's eruptions sent a plume of volcanic ash and steam more than 6,000 meters into the sky. The airport on the neighboring Lombok island was closed but Bali's main airport remained open. Flight cancellations stranded roughly 7,000 domestic and international passengers. Senior volcanologist Gede Suantika asked residents in the local community to stay calm. About 25,000 people have already been evacuated from the slopes of Mount Agung to shelters. The latest activity on Saturday created a bigger ash cloud than the initial episode on Tuesday. This is VOA news. Pakistani Islamist clashed with security forces for a second day Sunday on the outskirts of Pakistan's capital, Islamabad, burning vehicles before withdrawing to a protest camp they've occupied for more than two weeks. Hospital officials said nearly 200 people were hurt, most of them police. Correspondent Ayaz Gul is in Pakistan. The moment of news of the crackdown went out, the number of protesters started increasing and going up to from several thousand to 10 or 12 thousand people. That made the job of the security forces the police forces, primarily. But it (was) difficult and there were, then, clashes that broke out, resulted in injuries and, in fact, several deaths." At least six people, in fact, were killed on Saturday. Supporters of the small Tehreek-i-Labaik party have been camped out for the past three weeks, demanding the resignation of a law minister over an omitted reference in a parliamentary bill that the Prophet Muhammad is the last prophet in Islam. Voters in Nepal cast ballots Sunday in a historic election. They chose local lawmakers in seven newly formed federal states as well as lawmakers for the national parliament. The election marks the country's first provincial polls. Cuba is holding municipal elections, the first step toward the end of the Castro era. The Communist Party-supervised process comes a day after the first anniversary of the death of Cuban leader Fidel Castro. Though no opposition candidates were competing in Sunday's elections for more than 12,500 council seats, voters could still choose among 30,000 candidates named by acclamation in neighborhood assemblies. The municipal vote is Cuba's only direct election. It's the beginning of a strictly controlled process to eventually choose leaders in high government positions. Pope Francis is to arrive Monday in Myanmar in an effort to draw global attention to the Rohingya refugee crisis. The leader of the Roman Catholic Church is to visit Bangladesh on Tuesday. The pope's schedule does not include a visit to a refugee camp, but he is expected to meet with a small group of Rohingya in Dhaka, the Bangladeshi capital. The pope told Vatican Radio "I am coming to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ, a message of reconciliation, forgiveness, and peace." There is more on these and other late breaking and developing stories, from around the world, around the clock, at voanews.com and on the VOA news mobile app. I'm Jonathan Jones reporting from the world headquarters of the Voice of America in Washington. That's the latest world news from VOA. |