Oakland party fire death toll hits 36

OAKLAND • The confirmed death toll from Friday's fire at a California warehouse during a rave party has so far reached 36, with the authorities unsure how many more bodies could be found in half the building that has yet to be searched. Appeals were made yesterday to relatives of the missing for DNA samples to help identify bodies found scattered throughout the maze-like warehouse, known locally as Oakland Ghost Ship.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Rail dispatcher jailed over fatal crash

TRAUNSTEIN (Germany) • A German court yesterday sentenced a rail dispatcher to jail for 31/2years over a train crash that killed 12 people, after he set the wrong train signals while playing a mobile phone game on duty.

Michael Paul, 40, admitted his guilt last month at the start of the trial over the February accident near the southern town of Bad Aibling, in which two commuter trains collided at high speed.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Debris from spaceship crash found

MOSCOW • The authorities in Russia's Siberian region of Tuva yesterday were examining several pieces of the Progress cargo spaceship that crashed last week after failing to reach orbit on a supply mission to the International Space Station.

Two pieces, including a large spherical object, were found by herders, while another was discovered in the courtyard of a house.

The Roscosmos space agency is currentlyinvestigating the reasons behind thecrash, which Russian media say could have been caused by an engine failure on a third-stage rocket.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE