International News

Five dead in Japan plane collision at Tokyo airport

TOKYO: Five people aboard a Japan coast guard aircraft died Tuesday when it hit a Japan Airlines passenger plane on the ground in a fiery collision at Tokyo Haneda airport.
All 379 passengers and crew on board the passenger plane which burst into flames were safely evacuated, Japanese transport minister Tetsuo Saito told reporters.
But five of the six crew members from the smaller plane -- bound for central Japan after Monday huge earthquake -- died, Saito said.

US approves emergency sale of munitions to Israel

WASHINGTON: The United States on Friday announced the approval of a $147.5 million sale of 155mm high-explosive artillery munitions and related equipment to Israel under an emergency provision that waives the usual congressional review.
The same provision was used earlier this month to approve the sale of nearly 14,000 rounds of 120mm tank ammunition to Israel, which is battling Hamas in Gaza in a highly destructive conflict that began with a shock attack by the Palestinian militants in October.
Israel requested that 155mm fuses, primers and charges be added to previous foreign military sale cases, increasing their estimated total cost from $96.51 million to $147.5 million and requiring a new notification, the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a statement.

12 dead in northeast China coal mine accident

SHANGHAI: Twelve people have been killed and 13 others injured in a mining accident in northeast China, state media reported on Thursday.
The incident took place at 3:50 pm local time (0750 GMT) on Wednesday at a coal mine on the outskirts of Jixi city in Heilongjiang province, state broadcaster CCTV said.
The accident -- which involved a vehicle in the mine inclined shaft -- "caused 12 deaths and injured 13, and the injured have all been sent to hospital for treatment", CCTV said on Thursday.

Icelandic volcano eruption eases as evacuated village remains off limits

REYKJAVIK: A volcanic eruption that rocked Iceland this week diminished in intensity for a second day Wednesday, though media reports said a nearby evacuated fishing village would remain off limits for at least another week.
The eruption on the Reykjanes peninsula has produced spectacular lava flows, though they were now constrained to two craters, the Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO) said in a statement Wednesday morning, down from three earlier.
"The power of the eruption has decreased with time as well as the seismicity and deformation," IMO said in its latest update.