News In Brief
AFP, Brussels
At least three people were killed and 40 injured on Sunday in a collision between a goods train and a passenger train in Belgium, the Belga news agency reported.
The accident occurred on the line linking Namur and Liege in the east of the country, close to the municipality of Saint-Georges-sur-Meuse, with Belga quoting the mayor of the commune.
The passenger train slammed into the back of the goods train on the same track at high speed, Frederic Sacre, spokesman for Belgian railway infrastructure manager Infrabel, told AFP.
Iraqi forces find mass grave near Falluja
AFP, Baghdad
Iraqi forces discovered a mass grave on Sunday after retaking an area from the militant Islamic State (IS) group near Falluja, where the militants are using thousands of civilians as human shields. Growing numbers of families reaching camps south of Falluja told horrific accounts of how IS shot at them as they fled, but there was still no escape for the tens of thousands believed trapped in the city centre.
US Navy slaps drinking ban on sailors in Japan
Reuters, Tokyo
The U.S. Navy slapped a drinking ban on sailors stationed in Japan on Monday and halted off base liberty after police arrested a U.S. sailor on the southern island of Okinawa on suspicion of drunk driving following a car crash that injured two people.
“For decades we have enjoyed a strong relationship with the people of Japan. It is imperative that each sailor understand how our actions affect that relationship and the U.S. Japan alliance as a whole,” Rear Admiral Matthew Carter, commander of U.S. naval forces in Japan said in a press release on Monday.
Australian storms leave three dead
AFP, Sydney
Wild weather that smashed into Australia’s east coast and whipped up giant waves on Sydney beaches has left at least three people dead and others missing, police said Monday as the clean-up began. Ferocious storms pounded the coast over the weekend, causing flooding in New South Wales state. Huge seas eroded the shoreline, in one instance sweeping the in-ground swimming pool of a beachside home onto the beach.
“This storm, which was so ferocious, has taken life from us,” New South Wales Premier Mike Baird said as he warned that conditions remained dangerous.
