CHINA A bus overturned on a highway and was hit by an oncoming truck in eastern China, killing at least 12 people, officials said. Another 24 people were injured Friday, including three in serious condition, the government of Wuhu city in Anhui province said. The crash was under investigation. State broadcaster CCTV said the bus overturned into the opposite lane and was hit by the cargo truck. It wasn’t clear how many people were aboard the two vehicles.
JAPAN Tama the stationmaster, Japan’s feline star of a struggling local railway, was mourned by company officials and fans and elevated into a goddess at a funeral yesterday. The calico cat was appointed stationmaster at the Kishi station in western Japan in 2007. Tama, who had turned 16 in April, died of a heart failure on June 22. During yesterday’s Shinto-style funeral at the station where she served, Tama became a goddess.
ARMENIA Demonstrators protesting higher household electricity rates blocked the Armenian capital’s main avenue on Sunday for a seventh straight day, but they planned to decide in the evening whether to call a halt to their protest after the president promised to suspend the rate hikes.
IRAN A senior U.S. official acknowledged yesterday that Iran nuclear talks will go past their June 30 target date, as Iran’s foreign minister prepared to head home yesterday for consultations before returning to push for a breakthrough. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met in Vienna for their third encounter since Saturday. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius are also in Vienna, and their Russian and British counterparts were to join later. China was sending a deputy foreign minister in a building diplomatic effort to wrap up the negotiations.
USA Rainbows and good cheer will be out in force as crowds of people are expected to pack gay pride events nationwide to celebrate a Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage. Organizers in San Francisco expect about 1 million revelers; New York City’s march expects more than 2 million.
USA Officers scouring dense and boggy woods for a surviving escaped killer take floodlights into the search area overnight, and others carrying rifles man checkpoints and examine vehicles, opening trucks and peering into windows. One official is optimistic the search’s end is near.
USA A SpaceX rocket carrying supplies to the International Space Station broke apart yesterday shortly after liftoff. NASA says the accident occurred a few minutes into the flight from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Pieces could be seen falling into the Atlantic Ocean. NASA commentator George Diller says “the vehicle has broken up.” He says it was not clear how the disaster occurred.
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