Criminal probe launched in explosion at power plant

Criminal probe launched in explosion at power plant

MIDDLETOWN, Conn. — Authorities launched a criminal investigation Monday into the cause of an explosion that killed five people at a power plant under construction, saying they couldn’t rule out negligence.

“If everything went right, we wouldn’t all be here right now,” Middletown Mayor Sebastian Giuliano said. “There’s a point where negligence raises to the level of criminal conduct, and that’s what we’re investigating.”

The powerful explosion blew apart large swaths of the nearly completed 620-megawatt Kleen Energy plant as workers for the construction company, O&G Industries Inc., were purging a gas line Sunday morning. The blast tore apart sheet metal that covered the plant’s sides and left parts of the complex so unstable that rescuers were unable to work Monday because of the danger of collapse.

Mexican authorities arrest 2 suspected gang leaders

TIJUANA, Mexico — Mexican authorities on Monday arrested two suspected leaders of a brutal drug trafficking gang that terrorized the border city of Tijuana for several years, a U.S. official said.

The capture of Raydel Lopez Uriarte and Manuel Garcia Simental apparently wipes out the existing leadership of the cartel headed by Teodoro Garcia Simental, who was captured last month. Teodoro and Manuel Garcia are brothers.

Lopez, known as “El Muletas,” and Garcia, known as “El Chiquilin,” were arrested Monday in La Paz, a city in the southern end of the Baja California peninsula, said Amy Roderick, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. She had no further details on the operation that led to their capture.

Mexican federal prosecutors and police declined to comment.

Afghan soldiers, police to play role in offensive

CAMP SHORABAK, Afghanistan — Thousands of Afghan soldiers and police will join U.S. and NATO troops in an upcoming offensive in southern Afghanistan, playing their biggest role in any joint operation of the Afghan war.

The pending attack on the Taliban-held town of Marjah in Helmand province will be a crucial test for the NATO strategy of transferring more responsibility to the Afghans so foreign troops can go home.

Exact numbers of NATO and Afghan troops earmarked for the assault on Marjah have not been disclosed for security reasons. However, U.S. and Afghan officers said the percentage of Afghan soldiers and police will be far greater than the 10-to-one ratio of Americans to Afghans during the last major offensive in Helmand province last summer.

Chinese officials find 170 more tons of tainted milk

BEIJING — The discovery has punched a 170-ton hole in China’s promises to overhaul its food safety system. Officials say they’ve found yet another case where large amounts of tainted milk powder from the country’s 2008 scandal that should have been destroyed were instead repackaged.

China ordered tens of thousands of milk products laced with an industrial chemical burned or buried after more than 300,000 children were sickened and at least six died from the contamination. But, crucially, the government did not carry out the eradication itself, and this month an emergency crackdown has made it clear that tons of compromised products are still on the market.

Tainted dairy has recently been found in China’s largest city, Shanghai, and in the provinces of Shaanxi, Shandong, Liaoning, Guizhou, Jilin and Hebei. At least five companies are suspected of reselling tainted products that should have been destroyed, the Health Ministry said last week. The problem products uncovered in the 10-day emergency crackdown have so far been limited to the domestic market.

5.7-magnitude quake shakes southern Mexico

OAXACA, Mexico — A magnitude 5.7-earthquake shook southern Mexico near the Oaxaca coast Monday, setting off evacuation alarms and swaying buildings as far away as Mexico City.

The quake was centered 35 miles north of the fishing and resort town of Puerto Angel, according to the U.S. Geological Survey’s Earthquake Hazards Program.

It struck at 6:47 p.m. local time and was felt 280 miles away in Mexico City.

Oaxaca state’s civil protection agency said it had received no reports of damage or injury.

Associated Press