World briefs
Published 9:00 pm Monday, October 23, 2006
Mechanical problems triggered a fire that raced through a bus in Panama’s capital on Monday, killing at least 18 people, injuring 25 and sending passengers jumping from the flaming vehicle, police said. Investigators using trained dogs found no evidence of explosives on the city bus and believed some form of fuel leak was to blame for the blaze. The bus lacked an emergency exit. Many passengers were seen scrambling to get off before flames engulfed the bus. At least 25 people managed to escape but all were hospitalized with severe burns.
The spread of dengue fever, a mosquito-borne disease, is slowing down in India, with only two deaths reported across the country in the previous day, a health official said Monday. The disease has so far killed 124 people in 12 states this year out of a total of 7,488 cases reported by hospitals, P. L. Joshi, a director in India’s Health Ministry, told reporters. Workers with fogging machines mounted on bicycles went through congested neighborhoods spraying clouds of pesticide to kill mosquito larvae.
Thailand’s military-installed government said Monday it would maintain martial law because supporters of ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra were still out to create political chaos. The military staged a bloodless coup on Sept. 19 when Thaksin was in New York on an official trip and appointed an interim government led by Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont, a former army commander. He has promised to step down after a new constitution is drafted and a general election is held next October.
An unmanned Russian cargo ship carrying nearly three tons of supplies, equipment and gifts blasted off Monday en route to the international space station, a Russian official said. The ship was scheduled to reach the orbiting station Thursday evening, delivering fresh fruit and vegetables, compact discs, DVDs and other gifts to the station’s crew: cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin, U.S. astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria and German astronaut Thomas Reiter.
From Herald news services
