Briefly

GERMANY

Hotel collapse kills 2 and traps others

Rescue teams were working on Wednesday to free people trapped after part of a hotel collapsed in western Germany, killing two and injuring several others, authorities said. A floor in the hotel in Kroev, a town some 110 kilometers west of Frankfurt, collapsed for unknown reasons around 11 pm on Tuesday, police said. A woman and a man were killed in the accident, police spokesman Joerg Teusch told journalists on Wednesday. Of the 14 people inside at the time, five managed to get out. "We were able to make contact with the seven people buried and four of them were rescued with minor injuries, so it's a miracle," Teusch said.

UNITED STATES

NASA postpones launch after Starliner stranding

NASA said on Tuesday it pushed a routine SpaceX launch of astronauts to the International Space Station, or ISS, back a month because of continuing issues with Boeing's Starliner spacecraft. The Starliner, which brought two NASA astronauts aboard the ISS in early June, has been docked for the past two months because of anomalies detected in its propulsion system during its flight, with the mission's return date increasingly uncertain. The SpaceX flight was supposed to carry out the next group of four ISS crew members in mid-August to relieve the current foursome aboard the space station.

Xinhua - Agencies