World Briefs: 70,000 evacuated after Uzbek dam bursts
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70,000 evacuated after Uzbek dam bursts
TASHKENT (Uzbekistan) • Around 70,000 people have been evacuated after the Sardoba dam in the central Syrdarya region burst, flooding residential areas and crop fields, said the Uzbek Emergency Ministry.
At least 56 people were injured and hospitalised, the ministry said yesterday.
The dam burst in the early morning on Friday after heavy rain and gales caused serious damage to settlements, communication networks and agricultural land, it added.
XINHUA
China condemns US tweet backing Taiwan
UNITED NATIONS • China has condemned a US tweet backing Taiwan's push for participation at the United Nations as the global body works with its 193 member states to tackle the coronavirus pandemic.
Beijing's diplomatic mission to the UN expressed "strong outrage and firm opposition" to a message on Friday by the United States calling Taiwan's exclusion an "affront" to UN principles.
The self-ruled island, which Beijing considers a wayward province awaiting reunification, has been held up as a model in fighting the virus.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
US astronaut blast-off to space on May 27
WASHINGTON • Nasa and SpaceX said on Friday they were pressing ahead with plans to launch astronauts to space from US soil for the first time in a decade later this month, despite the Covid-19 pandemic.
Mr Robert Behnken and Mr Douglas Hurley, both veterans of the Space Shuttle programme that was shuttered in 2011, will blast off from the Kennedy Space Centre in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on May 27.
Should the mission succeed, the US will have achieved its goal of no longer having to buy seats on Russian Soyuz rockets to give its astronauts rides to the International Space Station.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
