Briefly

UNITED STATES

Train derailment 'reveals grave flaws'

The recent derailment and explosion of a train carrying vinyl chloride near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border revealed grave flaws of the country's rail system, the British newspaper The Guardian has reported. The catastrophe is a "wake-up call" to dangers of more deadly train derailments, said the report on Saturday. It said the incident forced thousands to evacuate in East Palestine. Ron Kaminkow, an Amtrak locomotive engineer, blamed "ineffective oversight and a largely self-monitoring industry that has cut the nation's rail workforce to the bone in recent years as it puts record profits over safety".

NEW ZEALAND

Emergency declared after cyclone hits

Cyclone Gabrielle swept away roads, inundated homes and left 225,000 people without power in New Zealand on Tuesday, as a national state of emergency was declared. High winds and driving rain lashed the country's populous North Island, in what Prime Minister Chris Hipkins called the "most significant weather event New Zealand has seen in this century".An estimated 2,500 people were been displaced from their homes.

SAUDI ARABIA

Riyadh plans to send 1st woman into space

Saudi Arabia will send its first ever woman astronaut on a space mission this year, the official Saudi Press Agency said. Rayyana Barnawi will join fellow Saudi Ali al-Qarni on a 10-day mission to the International Space Station. Barnawi and Qarni will fly to the station aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft as part of a mission this spring by the private space company Axiom Space.

Xinhua - Agencies