In the World
CHINA
Trash-pile collapse leaves 85 missing
Rescuers searched Monday for 85 missing people a day after the collapse of a mountain of excavated soil and construction waste that had been piled up over two years in China's manufacturing center of Shenzhen.
Authorities said the landslide buried or damaged 33 buildings in the industrial park in Shenzhen, a city near Hong Kong that makes products ranging from cellphones to cars.
Residents blamed the government while officials cited human error, with one ministry saying, "The pile was too big, the pile was too steep."
The landslide Sunday covered an area of 450,000 square yards with silt 33 feet deep. At least 16 people were hospitalized, including children, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
The Shenzhen government said seven trapped people had been rescued and 85 others remained missing Monday evening. Earlier in the day it had said 91 people were missing and seven rescued, but it gave no explanation for the change in the missing. - AP
INDIA
High court upholds murderer's release
A day after a man convicted as a minor in a brutal 2012 gang rape and murder in New Delhi was released from detention, India's Supreme Court on Monday rejected appeals to extend his sentence in a case that has sparked a passionate debate over juvenile justice.
The man, who was shy of his 18th birthday when convicted, was released Sunday after completing a three-year term in a reform home, the maximum sentence allowed under Indian law.
On Monday, India's highest court dismissed a petition filed by the Delhi Commission of Women, a government body, arguing that the man should be returned to custody. The court ruled that despite the emotions surrounding the case, which prompted international outrage and reforms that have expedited prosecutions of rape cases, it had no legal grounds to extend the man's sentence.
The man, now 20, was the sole juvenile among six assailants convicted of the rape of a physiotherapy student aboard a moving bus in India's capital in December 2012. The victim died from her injuries two days later. The other five perpetrators were sentenced to death. - L.A. Times
CZECH REPUBLIC
Zoo claims world's longest salamander
The Prague Zoo says it likely has the longest Chinese giant salamander in the world. The critically endangered animal is the largest amphibian.
In a statement Sunday, the zoo says Karlo, which it received 19 months ago from a museum in Karlsruhe, Germany, is likely the biggest representative of its species. The zoo says, according to the latest measurements done Friday, that Karlo is 5 feet, 23/16 inches long. - AP