Briefly

NIGERIA

Death toll of high-rise collapse rises to 42

The death toll in a high-rise collapse in Lagos, Nigeria, has risen to 42 and the number of survivors increased to 15, state authorities have announced. The cause of last week's disaster is still unknown. "We have a total of 42 bodies that have been recovered," Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu said late on Saturday. The 21-story building, under construction in the upscale Ikoyi district, crumbled on Nov 1, trapping dozens of people working on the site. By Friday the authorities had said that nine people had survived. Over the weekend, the number of survivors increased to 15 after six additional people who escaped the collapse were identified. The total number of people on site is unknown.

POLAND

Poles demonstrate against abortion law

Tens of thousands of people demonstrated on Saturday in Warsaw and dozens of other Polish cities to denounce a 9-month-old abortion law blamed for claiming the life of a pregnant mother, organizers said. The 30-year-old woman died of septicemia in a hospital after her 22-week-old fetus died in her womb, the family's lawyer tweeted. According to the government, the woman's death had nothing to do with the new law. Two doctors at the hospital in Pszczyna were suspended after the woman's death, and the town's prosecutors have launched an inquiry. Poland's Constitutional Court last year sided with the government to rule that terminations over fetal defects were unconstitutional.

MEXICO

At least 19 killed in road accident

At least 19 people were killed and three injured when seven vehicles crashed on a highway near the municipality of Chalco in central Mexico, authorities said on Saturday. The accident occurred at midday when a cargo truck had a brake malfunction and crashed into six vehicles at a toll booth on the highway, according to Mexico's Federal Roads and Bridges and Related Services. The truck driver was among the dead, and the injured were taken to nearby medical clinics, officials said. Work to remove the vehicles had begun, but was expected to last several hours as several vehicles caught fire in the crashes.

Agencies - Xinhua