Two trains collide in Switzerland
Geneva: Two trains collided in a tunnel on a mountain railway in Switzerland on Friday, slightly injuring a few people, the railway operator said.
A car shuttle train transporting about 15 vehicles hit the side of a local passenger train with about 30 people on board that was travelling in the opposite direction, Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn spokesman Jan Baerwalde told broadcaster SRF.
The cause of the crash near Oberwald, in Valais canton (state) in southern Switzerland, wasn’t immediately clear. (AP)
Female ISIS jailed for life
London: A female Islamic State (ISIS) supporter was on Friday sentenced to life imprisonment after pleading guilty to terrorism charges, including a plot to bomb London’s famous St. Paul’s Cathedral.
Safiyya Amira Shaikh, a 37-year-old Muslim convert who was born Michelle Ramsden, was arrested in October last year following an undercover operation by counter-terrorism officers.
At a hearing at the Old Bailey court in London, she admitted to terrorism offences earlier this year and was sentenced this week to life imprisonment, with a minimum term of 14 years behind bars before being considered for parole. (PTI)
50 hurt in Turkey factory explosion
Ankara: At least 50 people were injured in an explosion at a fireworks factory in Turkey’s northwestern province of Sakarya on Friday.
Citing a statement of Sakarya Governor Cetin OktayKaldirim, the state-run TRT broadcaster said 50 people have so far been rushed to the nearby hospitals.
Kaldirim stated that there were 172 people inside the factory, which contained 110 tons of explosive material.
Over 60 ambulances and two helicopter ambulances have been dispatched to the area, according to press reports. (IANS)
Activist flees Hong Kong
Hong Kong: One of Hong Kong’s most prominent young democracy activists has fled the territory after China imposed a sweeping, controversial security law.
Nathan Law, a one-time student leader and local legislator who spent time in prison after 2014’s “Umbrella Protests”, said he would continue his advocacy work from abroad, the BBC reported.
He announced he had left two days after China brought in its new security law.
Activists say it erodes freedoms but Beijing has dismissed the criticism. (IANS)