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News in Brief (16-08-2018)

August 16, 2018 00:00:00


Anger grows in Italy as bridge toll rises to 39

GENOA (Italy), Aug 15: Rescuers scoured crushed mountains of rubble for victims of a bridge collapse in Genoa as the toll rose to 39 Wednesday and Italy's government blamed the company in charge of motorways for the disaster. A vast span of the Morandi bridge caved in during a heavy rainstorm in the northern port city on Tuesday, sending about 35 cars and several trucks plunging 45 metres (150 feet) onto the railway tracks below. —AFP

Japan toddler alive three days after going missing

TOKYO, Aug 15: A two-year-old boy who went missing in woods in western Japan has been found unharmed after three days alone, apparently surviving on river water as volunteers hunted desperately for him. Yoshiki Fujimoto disappeared on Sunday morning in the Yamaguchi region while out walking with his brother and grandfather, and the search for him made headlines nationwide. Police and locals combed the woods looking for him, but it was a 78-year-old volunteer from a neighbouring region who stumbled upon the toddler on Wednesday morning. — AFP

India postman loses job for dumping 6,000 letters

A postal worker in India has been suspended after he was found not to have delivered thousands of letters for more than 10 years. Ever wondered why you never heard back from that job offer, that ATM card application or never got mail from someone you really wanted to hear from? Well, if you're in the Odhanga village in India's Orissa state, there's a good chance that letter was in fact sent. It was just never delivered, piling up with countless other undelivered mail. The stash of old letters and packages was discovered by chance when a group of school children played in the recently abandoned post office after the branch had moved to a new location. — BBC

Transgender woman to run for Vermont governor

Vermont Democrats made Christine Hallquist the first openly transgender person to win a major party nomination for statewide office in US history as she clinched Tuesday's primary election for governor. She defeated three other Democrats on Tuesday and will take on incumbent Governor Phil Scott, a Republican, in the Nov 6 general election, unofficial results showed. "I think Vermont is a beacon of hope for the rest of the country," Hallquist said during an interview with Reuters. "This is what I call expanding our moral compass and that is what I think it represents." — Reuters


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