Top Stories Today – July 18, 2019
Top Stories Today – July 18, 2019
A man kills nearly 30 at Japan anime studio
A man screaming “You die!” burst into an animation production studio in Kyoto, Japan, and set it on fire Thursday, authorities said, leaving nearly 30 people confirmed or presumed dead, shocking anime fans in and outside Japan. Most of the dead and the 36 injured were workers at Kyoto Animation, known for mega-hit stories featuring high school girls, with places featured in the stories even becoming “pilgrimage sites” for their fans.
The fire started in the three-story building in Japan’s ancient capital after the suspect sprayed an unidentified liquid accelerant, Kyoto prefectural police and fire department officials said. Japanese media reported the fire might have been set near the front door, forcing people to find other exits and possibly delaying their escape. The Associated Press
Iranian forces seize foreign oil tanker
Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard forces have seized a foreign oil tanker accused of smuggling oil with a crew of 12, Iran’s state TV reported Thursday, just days after an oil tanker based in the United Arab Emirates disappeared off trackers in Iranian territorial waters. The seizure was the latest in a series of dramatic developments as tensions mount between the United States and Iran over the unravelling nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers.
Iran’s state television did not identify the seized vessel or nationalities of the crew, but said it was intercepted on Sunday. It said the oil tanker had 12 foreign crew members on board and was involved in smuggling some 1 million liters (264,000 gallons) of fuel from Iranian smugglers to foreign customers. The Associated Press
India reschedules launch of lunar probe
India’s space agency says it will make a second attempt to launch an unmanned probe to the Moon’s south pole next Monday, July 22. The launch of the Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft will take place exactly one week after its first attempt was aborted less than an hour before liftoff due to a “technical snag” on the giant Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark Three rocket.
Chandrayaan, the Sanskrit word for “moon craft,” is designed for a soft landing on the far side of the moon and to send a rover to explore water deposits confirmed by a previous Indian space mission. If the $140 million mission is successful, India will become just the fourth nation to pull off a soft landing of a spacecraft on the lunar surface, after the United States — which is observing the 50th anniversary of the historic Apollo 11 mission this week — Russia and China. The Voice of America
7,800 police in Philippines punished for drug raids
Thousands of Philippine police officers have received administrative punishments with more than 2,000 dismissed for wrongdoings during raids where drug suspects were killed under the president’s crackdown, officials said Thursday. Communications Assistant Secretary Marie Rafael Banaag told a news conference that 14,724 police were investigated for their involvement in police drug operations that led to deaths from July 2016 until last April. She said 7,867 of them received administrative punishments for unspecified lapses.
A tally presented by Banaag showed that 2,367 police officers have been fired, 4,100 suspended while the rest were reprimanded, demoted, had their salaries forfeited or deprived of certain privileges. Banaag did not say how many officers have been criminally charged for serious lapses or outright crimes committed while enforcing the crackdown, which was launched by President Rodrigo Duterte as his centerpiece program when he took office in mid-2016. Philippine police officials say about 6,600 drug suspects have been killed in raids carried out by the police mostly in gunbattles that ensued after the suspects fought back and endangered the lives of law enforcers. The Associated Press
Influenza cases mount In Australia
Australia’s annual influenza season started unusually early in 2019, and already there are more than 144,000 confirmed cases. At least 231 people have died, so far, including some children, although most of the victims were frail, elderly Australians.
This year is likely to be one of Australia’s most severe for influenza, and the government, worried about a vaccine shortage, has ordered 400,000 more doses. Australia suffered its worst flu season on record in 2017, when more than 250,000 cases were reported. More than 1,100 people died, slightly less than those killed in road accidents. The government recommends that every Australian older than 6 months should get a flu shot every year. Flu season in Australia usually runs from June to September, peaking in August. The Voice of America
US House votes not to impeach Trump
The House on Wednesday killed an attempt to impeach President Trump for statements that the chamber condemned this week as racist, turning aside an accusation that he had brought “ridicule, disgrace and disrepute” to his office. The move split Democrats, underscoring the divisions within the party over whether they should use their majority to charge Mr. Trump and try to remove him from office, with 95 signaling their support for at least considering the question further, and 137 moving to stop the current effort in its tracks.
The president brushed off the vote as a victory, and hours later, at a rally in Greenville, N.C., he showed no signs of easing his attacks or toning down the vicious language that led to the impeachment attempt. He charged that the “dangerous, militant hard left” among the Democrats were “hate-filled extremists who are constantly trying to tear our country down.” By the end of the rally, Mr. Trump went even further, accusing them of seeking the “destruction of our country.” The New York Times
US overdose deaths drop
Drug overdose deaths in the US have fallen for the first time since 1999, according to preliminary official data. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) figures showed a drop of 5.1% in 2018 from the year before. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said this was down to a decline in deaths linked to opioids. US efforts “to curb opioid use disorder and addiction are working,” he said in a statement, although he added the issue “will not be solved overnight”.
The US is in the midst of an opioid crisis, with hundreds of thousands thought to have died over the last few decades. Fatal drug overdose numbers rose every year from 1999 to 2017, including a sharp spike between 2014 and 2017. Experts partially blame the over prescription of powerful and addictive painkillers for the epidemic. BBC
US House hold Barr and Ross in criminal contempt
The House voted Wednesday to hold Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in criminal contempt of Congress for obstructing a probe into the administration’s failed bid to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census. The criminal contempt resolution passed by a vote of 230-198. It passed along party lines — no Republicans voted in favor. Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan, now an independent after leaving the GOP earlier this month, voted in favor of the move.
Four Democrats voted against it — Reps. Anthony Brindisi of New York, Jared Golden of Maine, Conor Lamb of Pennsylvania and Jefferson Van Drew of New Jersey. White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham blasted the vote as “ridiculous and yet another lawless attempt to harass the President and his Administration.” NBC News
WHO declares Ebola outbreak a global health emergency
The World Health Organization has declared the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo an international health emergency. This announcement comes days after the Congolese Health Ministry said that the virus had spread to Goma. The International Health Regulations Emergency Committee made its decision on Wednesday after having met three other times since the outbreak began last year without choosing to declare it an international health emergency.
More than 1,600 deaths have been reported since August 2018, and in June, the first death outside of the DRC was reported when a young boy died in Uganda. The last declaration of an international health emergency was during the West Africa Ebola outbreak that began in 2014. The Associated Press via The Week