Briefly

JAPAN

Cooling system stalls at Fukushima plant

The cooling system for the spent fuel pool at a reactor of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was halted for about 10 hours on Tuesday, following a power panel malfunction, local media reported. Coinciding with the glitch, smoke was observed emanating from the basement of the reactor's turbine building, triggering a fire alarm, with no injuries reported. Tokyo Electric Power Company, the plant's operator, said it was investigating the cause of both the power panel glitch and the smoke accident.

CHAD

9 dead, 46 injured in munitions depot blaze

At least nine people have been killed and 46 others injured following an explosion at an ammunition warehouse in Chad's capital N'Djamena, Abdelmadjid Abderrahim, the country's health minister, said on Wednesday. Local media reported the blasts started just before midnight Tuesday and lasted more than 30 minutes as nearby buildings shook and ammunition was thrown from the depot with explosive force. The cause of the fire and explosions is not yet known, Abderrahim said.

UNITED KINGDOM

Migrant boat crossings hit 19-month high

More than 800 asylum-seekers arrived in Britain via small boats on Tuesday, the highest single-day figure since late 2022. Provisional data from Britain's interior ministry showed 882 migrants arrived on Tuesday, taking the yearly total so far to above 12,300.The daily figure was last higher in November 2022, when 947 migrants arrived in a single day.

Agencies - Xinhua