Smog forces schools shut in Iran
AFP, Tehran
Air pollution forced schools to close on Sunday in parts of Iran including Tehran, state media reported, as the capital lay under a thick cloud of smog.
The pollution level in the capital was “unhealthy for sensitive groups” and officials warned the young, elderly and people with respiratory illnesses to stay indoors, with sporting activities suspended.
50 bodies unearthed from Mexican mass grave
AFP, Guadalajara
The bodies of at least 50 people have been unearthed from a mass grave at a farm outside Mexico’s western city of Guadalajara, local authorities said. The grim site was discovered just over three weeks ago in Jalisco – a state hard-hit by violence linked to organized crime.
The local prosecutor’s office said Saturday 13 of the dead – 12 men and a woman – have been identified and the remains given to their families. The process of identifying more of the victims and how they died will continue, it added.
New Zealand eruption death toll rises to 18
AFP, Wellington
The death toll from New Zealand’s White Island volcano eruption rose to 18 Sunday, including two people whose bodies have not been recovered, police said.
A land search early Sunday failed to find any sign of the missing pair and a sea search resumed in the afternoon amid increasing speculation both could be in the water. “The stream where the bodies were last seen on Monday runs all the way through to the sea,” deputy police commissioner Mike Clement said.
Bus crash kills at least 14 in central Nepal
Xinhua, Kathmandu
At least 14 passengers were killed while around 16 others injured in a bus crash at Sindhupalchowk district in central Nepal on Sunday morning, authorities confirmed. Ganesh Khanal, spokesperson at district police office Sindhupalchowk, told Xinhua, “12 passengers died on the spot while two breathed their last in the hospital. The injured have already been sent to the hospitals.” According to the police, the ill-fated bus fell few hundred meters down the road at Sunkoshi rural municipality of the district located in Province 3.
