TOKYO: A sudden explosion from a suspected gas leak blew out walls and windows in part of a northern Japanese town Thursday morning, killing one person and injuring 17 others.
There was no sign of a fire and investigators at the suspect a gas leak may have cause the blast, Koriyama fire department official Hiroki Ogawa said. Local media say a gas leak and explosion occurred at a restaurant.
So far, one person was confirmed dead and 17 others have been taken to hospitals. Two of them were seriously injured, Ogawa said.
The area has been closed off and neighbors have been evacuated.
NHK footage showed only a skeleton left of a building, the steel structure gnawed and pieces of wall and glass scattered around. Several employees and customers at a nearby bank were injured, NHK said.
The explosion occurred in a crowded business and commercial district close to the city’s main train station, where hospitals, schools and the city hall are also located.
“I heard a ‘boom!’ and felt the ground shaking, so I thought it was an earthquake, but the shaking didn’t last very long so I realized it wasn’t,” an employee at nearby Kuwano Kyoritsu Hospital told NHK. Nobody was injured at the hospital, although some of its windows were shattered.
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Suspected gas leak in northern Japan kills 1, injures 17
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Suspected gas leak in northern Japan kills 1, injures 17
- The cause of the explosion is still unknown
Zimbabwe pulls out of US health aid talks
HARARE: Zimbabwe has pulled out of negotiations with the United States on a new health deal intended to replace the aid program disbanded by President Donald Trump, the US embassy in Harare has said.
The US has been striking new health?aid agreements across Africa after Trump tore down the long?standing USAID agency and curtailed the role of NGOs.
But critics say the deals give Washington broad access to health data and risk shifting control of disease?response systems away from national authorities.
The embassy confirmed in a statement on Tuesday that Zimbabwe had ended the talks.
“We believe this collaboration would have delivered extraordinary benefits for Zimbabwean communities especially the 1.2 million men, women and children currently receiving HIV treatment through US-supported programs,” ambassador Pamela Tremont was quoted as saying.
“We will now turn to the difficult and regrettable task of winding down our health assistance in Zimbabwe.”
The deal would have provided $367 million in funding over five years, according to the statement.
AFP also obtained a letter late Tuesday from the secretary for foreign affairs, dated December 23, stating that Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa had directed officials to halt the negotiations because the terms threatened the country’s autonomy.
“Zimbabwe must discontinue any negotiation, with the USA, on the clearly lop-sided MoU that blatantly compromises and undermines the sovereignty and independence of Zimbabwe,” said the letter, which had not previously been made public.
The US last year began pursuing one?on?one health agreements under its “America First” strategy, aiming to counter China’s influence on the continent — where Beijing’s spending has long centered on large infrastructure projects financed through loans.
The first pact was signed with Kenya in December but has since been challenged in court by a Kenyan senator alleging constitutional breaches.
More than a dozen countries have signed on including Rwanda, Uganda, Lesotho and Eswatini.
The US has been striking new health?aid agreements across Africa after Trump tore down the long?standing USAID agency and curtailed the role of NGOs.
But critics say the deals give Washington broad access to health data and risk shifting control of disease?response systems away from national authorities.
The embassy confirmed in a statement on Tuesday that Zimbabwe had ended the talks.
“We believe this collaboration would have delivered extraordinary benefits for Zimbabwean communities especially the 1.2 million men, women and children currently receiving HIV treatment through US-supported programs,” ambassador Pamela Tremont was quoted as saying.
“We will now turn to the difficult and regrettable task of winding down our health assistance in Zimbabwe.”
The deal would have provided $367 million in funding over five years, according to the statement.
AFP also obtained a letter late Tuesday from the secretary for foreign affairs, dated December 23, stating that Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa had directed officials to halt the negotiations because the terms threatened the country’s autonomy.
“Zimbabwe must discontinue any negotiation, with the USA, on the clearly lop-sided MoU that blatantly compromises and undermines the sovereignty and independence of Zimbabwe,” said the letter, which had not previously been made public.
The US last year began pursuing one?on?one health agreements under its “America First” strategy, aiming to counter China’s influence on the continent — where Beijing’s spending has long centered on large infrastructure projects financed through loans.
The first pact was signed with Kenya in December but has since been challenged in court by a Kenyan senator alleging constitutional breaches.
More than a dozen countries have signed on including Rwanda, Uganda, Lesotho and Eswatini.
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