While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, Sept 4, 2025
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Police and firefighters working at the site of a funicular railway accident in Lisbon, on Sept 3.
PHOTO: AFP
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15 killed in crash on Lisbon’s historic cable car railway
At least 15 people died and 18 were injured on Sept 3 when Lisbon’s Gloria funicular railway car, which is popular with tourists and is one of the city’s symbols, derailed and crashed, an emergency medical service spokesperson told reporters.
Authorities did not identify the victims or disclose their nationalities, but said some foreign nationals were among the dead. Five people were gravely injured, the spokesperson said.
“It’s a tragic day for our city... Lisbon is in mourning, it is a tragic, tragic incident,” Mr Carlos Moedas, mayor of the Portuguese capital, told reporters.
Portugal’s government declared a day of national mourning on Sept 4.
Trump plans to hold talks on Ukraine in coming days
US President Donald Trump said on Sept 3 he plans to hold talks about the war in Ukraine in coming days after his Alaska summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in August failed to achieve a breakthrough.
Mr Trump has been frustrated at his inability to get a halt to the fighting, which began with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, after he initially predicted he would be able to end the war swiftly when he took office in January.
A White House official said Mr Trump was expected to speak on the phone on Sept 4 with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The French presidency said earlier on Sept 3 that several European leaders, including Mr Zelensky and France’s Emmanuel Macron, would call Mr Trump on the afternoon of Sept 4.
Taiwan says China deploying oil rigs in its waters
PHOTO: REUTERS
Taiwan accused China on Sept 3 of breaching international law by deploying oil and gas exploration platforms and other structures in its waters.
President Lai Ching-te’s office made the remarks after a report published by a US think tank said Chinese state oil giant CNOOC had 12 structures in Taiwan’s claimed exclusive economic zone (EEZ) near disputed Pratas Island.
Taiwan controls Pratas in the northern part of the South China Sea but Beijing also claims the island, along with most of the strategic waterway.
Epstein victims compiling list of sexual abusers
Victims of notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein said on Sept 3 they were compiling a confidential list of his associates who abused underage girls.
President Donald Trump, a one-time close friend of the deceased financier, sought meanwhile to dampen the political furore over the Epstein case.
“This is a Democrat hoax that never ends,” Mr Trump told reporters at the White House.
Downton Abbey finale premieres in London
PHOTO: REUTERS
The stars of Downton Abbey walked the red carpet in London on Sept 3 for one last time as the hugely successful English country house saga finally comes to an end.
Much of the original cast, including Hugh Bonneville, a pregnant Michelle Dockery, Jim Carter and Phyllis Logan, turned out for the world premiere of Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale in central London’s Leicester Square.
The film, which will be released in cinemas in France on Sept 10 and worldwide two days later, will be Downton’s last outing following six seasons and two earlier films.
