Tibet A Chinese tour bus plunged off a cliff in Tibet early yesterday, killing 11 people, state media reported. The accident took place in Gonggar county just south of the regional capital of Lhasa, where the city’s airport and many of Tibet’s most famous tourist attractions are located, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. It said eight other people were injured in the accident, and that the cause was under investigation.
CHINA Peter Humphrey, a British private investigator who worked for GlaxoSmithKline Plc, was released from prison in China following his conviction last year for illegally obtaining information about Chinese citizens. Humphrey was tried in August and sentenced to 2 1/2 years in jail. He was released early for health reasons, according to the Financial Times. His American wife, Yu Yingzeng, is still being held on a 2-year sentence.
VATICAN CITY Pope Francis has created a new Vatican tribunal section to hear cases of bishops accused of failing to protect children from sexually abusive priests, the biggest step the Holy See has taken yet to hold bishops accountable.
GREECE’s prime minister is hoping to meet with the leaders of Germany and France in Brussels, in the latest effort to break a bailout negotiation deadlock that has revived fears his country could default and drop out of the euro.
ITALY Russian President Vladimir Putin is meeting with Italian officials and Pope Francis as the U.S. seeks to encourage the Vatican to join the West in condemning Moscow’s actions in Ukraine. Putin will speak with Premier Matteo Renzi in Milan before heading to the Vatican, fresh from his latest snub by the Group of Seven developed nations, which reaffirmed sanctions against Moscow at a summit this week.
GERMANY The coffins of 15 of the 16 German high school students killed in the Germanwings plane crash are leaving Duesseldorf airport in a hearse convoy to their hometown of Haltern. Lufthansa airline has brought back the remains of the first 44 of the 150 people killed when a Germanwings plane smashed into the French Alps on March 24.
PORTUGAL A judge has ruled that former Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates must remain in prison after refusing an offer of house detention requiring him to wear an ankle bracelet monitoring device. Socrates is being investigated on suspicion of corruption, money-laundering and tax fraud. He was jailed in November.
BELGIUM The European Union urged its 28 nations yesterday to swiftly endorse its plan to relocate 40,000 refugees — a plan that grew even more urgent as Greece saw a record number of migrants arrive by sea. The plan to relocate refugees arriving in Italy and Greece with their EU partners is part of efforts to cope with the massive influx of migrants that has already seen more than 100,000 people cross the Mediterranean into Europe this year. Around 2,000 have died or are missing.
USA New York City could become the first city in the U.S. to require a warning label on high-sodium menu items at chain restaurants. The city’s Health Department will propose that all chain restaurants add a symbol resembling a salt shaker on menus next to food products that contain more than the recommended daily limit of 2,300 milligrams of sodium, equal to about 1 teaspoon of salt.
USA Texas police officer Eric Casebolt, who was seen on video forcing a teenage black girl to the ground and pulling his firearm at a pool party, resigned from the police force Tuesday. Chief Greg Conley called Casebolt’s actions “indefensible,” though he said the officer was not pressured to quit.
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