9 die in immigrant-smuggling attempt in sweltering truck ADVERTISING 9 die in immigrant-smuggling attempt in sweltering truck SAN ANTONIO (AP) — At least nine people died after being crammed into a sweltering tractor-trailer found parked outside a Walmart in the
9 die in immigrant-smuggling attempt in sweltering truck
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — At least nine people died after being crammed into a sweltering tractor-trailer found parked outside a Walmart in the midsummer Texas heat, victims of what authorities said on Sunday was an immigrant-smuggling attempt gone wrong.
The driver was arrested, and nearly 20 others rescued from the rig were hospitalized in dire condition, many with extreme dehydration and heatstroke, officials said.
“We’re looking at a human-trafficking crime,” said San Antonio Police Chief William McManus, calling it “a horrific tragedy.”
One U.S. official said Sunday evening that 17 of those rescued were being treated for injuries that were considered life-threatening. The official spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the information has not been publicly released.
Authorities were called to the San Antonio parking lot late Saturday or early Sunday and found eight people dead inside the truck. A ninth victim died at the hospital, said Liz Johnson, spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
64 years after Korean War, North still digging up bombs
HAMHUNG, North Korea (AP) — In the 10 years he has been digging up ordnance from the Korean War, Maj. Jong Il Hyon has lost five colleagues to explosions. He carries a lighter one gave him before he died. He also bears a scar on his left cheek from a bomb disposal mission gone wrong.
Sixty-four years after it ended, the war is still giving up thousands of bombs, mortars and pieces of live ammunition. Virtually all of it is American, but Jong noted that more than a dozen other countries fought on the U.S. side, and every now and then their bombs will turn up as well.
“The experts say it will take 100 years to clean up all of the unexploded ordnance, but I think it will take much longer,” Jong said in an interview with The Associated Press at a construction site on the outskirts of Hamhung, North Korea’s second-largest city, where workers unearthed a rusted but still potentially deadly mortar round in February. Last October, 370 more were found in a nearby elementary school playground.
According to Jong, his bomb squad is one of nine in North Korea, one for each province. His unit alone handled 2,900 leftover explosives — including bombs, mortars and live artillery shells — last year. He said this year they have already disposed of about 1,200.
Fortunately, there have been only a few injuries in the past few years. But Jong said an 11-year-old boy who found a bomb in May lost several fingers when it went off while he was playing with it.
2 Jordanians killed, 1 Israeli wounded at Israeli embassy
AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — Two Jordanians were killed and an Israeli was wounded by gunfire Sunday in a residential building at the Israeli embassy compound in Jordan’s capital, the kingdom’s Public Security Directorate said.
Israeli media reported Monday that an Israeli security guard opened fire after a Jordanian worker attacked him with a screwdriver. The worker and the Jordanian owner of the building were wounded and later died, the reports said.
Jordan’s security agency confirmed that Jordanians had entered the apartment building for carpentry work.
The statement said the building was in the Israeli embassy compound, but the Israeli media reports indicated that the building was not part of the compound.
The Jordanian security agency did not say what triggered the shooting.
White House indicates Trump would sign new sanctions bill
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House indicated Sunday President Donald Trump would sign a sweeping Russia sanctions measure, which the House could take up this week, that requires him to get Congress’ permission before lifting or easing the economic penalties against Moscow.
Lawmakers are scheduled to consider the sanctions package as early as Tuesday, and the bill could be sent to Trump before Congress breaks for the August recess. The legislation is aimed at punishing Moscow for meddling in the presidential election and its military aggression in Ukraine and Syria.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the newly appointed White House press secretary, said the administration is supportive of being tough on Russia and “particularly putting these sanctions in place.”
“We support where the legislation is now, and will continue to work with the House and Senate to put those tough sanctions in place on Russia until the situation in Ukraine is fully resolved,” Sanders said on ABC’s “This Week.”
Congressional Republicans and Democrats announced Saturday that they’d settled lingering issues with the bill, which also includes stiff economic penalties against Iran and North Korea. The sanctions targeting Russia, however, have drawn the most attention due to Trump’s persistent push for warmer relations with President Vladimir Putin and ongoing investigations into Russia’s interference in the 2016 campaign.
US student freed after week held in China over taxi dispute
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — An American university student is free following a weeklong detention in China for allegedly injuring a taxi driver who was roughing up his mother during a fare dispute, in a case that drew objections over the student’s treatment from U.S. lawmakers.
Guthrie McLean, a student at the University of Montana, was released from a detention center in Zhengzhou early Monday, according to his mother, Jennifer McLean, a teacher who lives in the central Chinese city.
“We are very, very very, very happy,” Jennifer McLean wrote in an email to The Associated Press. She said the release — at 2 a.m. local time when her son was delivered to her doorstep — came as a surprise after she’d twice been told to anticipate a release only to be disappointed.
“They have not finished the process completely, but we are hopeful it will go smoothly from here on,” she said.
The U.S. State Department confirmed McClean’s release, but provided no details citing privacy concerns.
