Suspected Gas Blast in China's Harbin Kills One, Injures Three

Representation Photo: Fire in a factory in China (Reuters)
Representation Photo: Fire in a factory in China (Reuters)
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Suspected Gas Blast in China's Harbin Kills One, Injures Three

Representation Photo: Fire in a factory in China (Reuters)
Representation Photo: Fire in a factory in China (Reuters)

A suspected gas explosion at a residential building in China's northeastern city of Harbin killed one person and injured three as it tore off a balcony, state media said on Thursday, while scattering rubble in the street.
It is China's latest such incident after two people were killed and 26 injured in March following a massive blast caused by a suspected gas leak at a restaurant in the northern province of Hebei that ripped facades from buildings and crushed cars, Reuters said.
Thursday's blast, suspected to have been caused by an explosion of a gas tank, happened at about 7 a.m. (2300 GMT) at a building in the city's district of Xiangfang, the official China Daily said, citing district officials.
The official Xinhua news agency quoted witnesses as saying the blast was on the fourth floor of the building at a downtown intersection in the capital of the province of Heilongjiang.
Residents heard a loud blast and suspected it was a gas explosion, the agency said, adding that the blast ripped off the balcony of the apartment and several others nearby.
People ran out of the building. Ambulances, public security and fire officials mounted a rescue operation at the site, Xinhua said.
The cause of the explosion is being further investigated, the China Daily said.
Video images from a car's dashboard camera showed the blast spewing debris onto a nearby highway. In other images rescue workers and firemen picked their way around concrete rubble scattered on the sidewalk outside the building.



Netanyahu Receives Warning from Panel Probing Submarine Purchase 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a state memorial ceremony at Nachalat Yitzhak cemetery in Tel Aviv on June 18, 2024. (AFP)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a state memorial ceremony at Nachalat Yitzhak cemetery in Tel Aviv on June 18, 2024. (AFP)
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Netanyahu Receives Warning from Panel Probing Submarine Purchase 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a state memorial ceremony at Nachalat Yitzhak cemetery in Tel Aviv on June 18, 2024. (AFP)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a state memorial ceremony at Nachalat Yitzhak cemetery in Tel Aviv on June 18, 2024. (AFP)

An Israeli commission investigating suspected wrongdoing in government purchases of submarines and missile boats from Germany issued a warning to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday.

The panel notified Netanyahu that based on evidence gathered thus far, it could ultimately determine that he had used his position as prime minister between 2009 and 2016 to greenlight the purchases without due process.

"By doing so, he (Netanyahu) endangered the security of the state and harmed the state of Israel's foreign relations and economic interests," said the panel in its written decision, made public on Monday.

Netanyahu in response said that the submarines were central to Israel's security "in ensuring its existence against Iran, which is trying to destroy us".

"History will prove that Prime Minister Netanyahu was right on this issue as well and made the right decisions for the security of Israel," the statement from his office said.

The commission, established under the previous government in 2022, said that it will soon publish unclassified parts of the evidence collected during the probe into the deal, worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

Netanyahu has struggled to salvage his security credentials since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas-led fighters, who killed 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostages to Gaza according to Israeli tallies, the worst attack on Jews since the Holocaust.

In the Israeli assault on Gaza that followed, more than 37,000 people have been killed according to Gaza health authorities.