KATOWICE, Poland – Rescuers abandoned hope Sunday of finding survivors beneath the wreckage of an exhibition hall that collapsed, killing 66 people, and authorities were bringing in heavy equipment to demolish what little remained of the building. The structure collapsed Saturday afternoon with an estimated 500 people inside attending a pigeon racing exhibition. The last person rescued alive from the building was pulled out less than five hours later. Rescue crews nonetheless worked through the night, using hand tools to carve through the sheet metal and snarled poles of the collapsed building so as not to risk harming any possible survivors as temperatures dropped to 1 degree.
Australia: USS Reagan loses fighter
A U.S. fighter jet crashed into the sea off Australia after failing to land on the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, officials said Sunday. No one was injured. The pilot ejected Saturday after the unsuccessful landing attempt about 120 miles southeast of Brisbane, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Consulate in Sydney said. The pilot was trying “to land on the flight deck. Something went wrong (so) the pilot ejected,” she said Sunday. The pilot was pulled from the water by a helicopter, but the $28 million F/A-18 Hornet fighter was unlikely to be recovered.
Finland: President gets 2nd term
Leftist incumbent President Tarja Halonen won another six-year term Sunday after her conservative challenger conceded defeat in Finland’s presidential runoff election. With 99.9 percent of votes counted, Halonen had 51.8 percent against Sauli Niinisto’s 48.2 percent. Voter turnout was 77 percent. “The man has lost,” Niinisto said, kissing Halonen’s hand. Halonen, 62, described her victory as historic, as she was the Nordic country’s first head of state to be re-elected in a direct ballot.
Nigeria: Gunmen steal $285,000
Gunmen raided a compound used by South Korea’s Daewoo oil company in Nigeria’s restive south, fleeing in speedboats with nearly $300,000 in cash, police said Sunday. Nearly two dozen armed men forced their way into the riverside compound at the main oil-region center of Port Harcourt on Saturday for the theft of $285,000 in Nigerian naira before speeding away in three boats, a police spokeswoman said. With a daily export capacity 2.5 million barrels, Nigeria is Africa’s leading oil producer. It is also the fifth-biggest source of U.S. oil imports.
Kuwait: New emir selected
Sheik Sabah Al Ahmed Al Sabah was sworn in as the new emir of Kuwait on Sunday, ending an unprecedented leadership crisis in the oil-rich U.S. ally that saw the legislature vote to oust the former leader. Earlier Sunday, parliament voted unanimously to name Sheik Sabah the new leader – the first time in Kuwait’s history that the legislature played a role in choosing the emir, a matter that had been the business of the ruling family for hundreds of years.
Brazil: Heavy rain leaves 12 dead
Heavy rains in Brazil led to the deaths of 12 people in Brazil’s second-largest city, including six people killed when an underground shopping mall garage filled with water, authorities said Sunday. Nearly four inches of rain fell in the Rio de Janeiro area in a matter of hours on Friday night. In addition to the six people killed when the parking garage filled with water, at least six others died in separate incidents, including two electrocutions, two drownings, a woman crushed to death by a collapsing wall and a man killed in a mudslide, officials said Sunday.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
