Crane collapses in N.Y., kills at least 4, injures 10

Crane collapses in N.Y., kills at least 4, injures 10

NEW YORK — A crane mounted to the side of a skyscraper under construction toppled with a roar Saturday, smashing into a block of apartment buildings, killing at least four people and setting off a scramble for survivors in the rubble.

The crane split into pieces as it fell, pulverizing a four-story brownstone and demolishing parts of three other buildings.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said at least four people, believed to be construction workers, have died and at least 10 people were injured in one of the city’s worst construction accidents in recent memory.

The collapse created a virtual war zone on an affluent block on Manhattan’s East Side: Cars were overturned and crushed. A huge dust cloud rose over the neighborhood. Rubble was piled several stories high.

Blast at Albanian depot kills 5, injures hundreds

TIRANA, Albania — A massive explosion at an Albanian army ammunition dump Saturday killed at least five people and injured 243, including many children, authorities said.

Footage from Albanian television showed a massive ball of fire shooting up from the site in Gerdec village, about six miles north of the capital, Tirana.

Shrapnel and shell fragments rained down on homes and vehicles, and houses more than a mile away were damaged by the blast. The initial blast set off a series of explosions, and ammunition continued to detonate into the night.

Prime Minister Sali Berisha, who described the blasts as an accident, said in a late-night news conference that the death toll stood at five, but that the number was likely to increase.

Will Tibet crackdown bring Olympic boycott?

BEIJING — Soldiers on foot and in armored carriers swarmed Tibet’s capital Saturday, enforcing a strict curfew a day after protesters burned shops and cars to vent their anger against Chinese rule. In another western city, police clashed with hundreds of Buddhist monks leading a sympathy demonstration.

The violence erupted just two weeks before China’s Summer Olympic celebrations kick off with the start of the torch relay, which passes through Tibet. China is gambling that its crackdown will not draw an international outcry over human rights violations that could lead to boycotts of the Olympics.

The latest unrest began Monday on the anniversary of a 1959 uprising against Chinese rule. Tibet was effectively independent for decades before communist troops entered in 1950.

Initially, the protests were led by Buddhist monks demanding the release of other detained monks. Their demands spiraled to include cries for Tibet’s independence and turned violent Friday when police tried to stop a group of protesting monks. Pent-up grievances against Chinese rule came to the fore, as Tibetans directed their anger against Chinese and their shops, hotels and other businesses.

It was the fiercest challenge to Beijing’s authority in nearly two decades.

China’s official Xinhua News Agency reported at least 10 civilians were burned to death Friday. The Dalai Lama’s exiled Tibetan government in India said Chinese authorities killed at least 30 Tibetans and possibly as many as 100. The figures could not be independently verified.

Fired for snooping on Brit

LOS ANGELES — UCLA Medical Center will fire some employees and discipline others for snooping at the confidential medical records of Britney Spears, who was hospitalized in its psychiatric ward, a hospital official told The Associated Press.

Jeri Simpson, the hospital’s director of human resources who was involved in the investigations of the confidentiality breach, confirmed the action but could not say how many employees were affected. The hospital did not say when the snooping took place or which of Spears records were looked at.

The Los Angeles Times reported on its Web site Friday that the breaches occurred during Spears most recent hospital stay. While the disciplined employees were unable to access her psychiatric records, they did look at nonpsychiatric records from her previous visits to the medical center, the Times reported.

The newspaper said more than 13 employees, none of whom are doctors, would be fired. Twelve others, including several doctors, will be disciplined otherwise for looking at her computerized records, it reported.

There is no evidence that any employee leaked or sold the information about Spears, who is a tabloid favorite, according to the Times.

Associated Press