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9 workers killed after truck falls into ravine in central Philippines

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A truck veered off a downhill mountain road and plunged into a ravine in the central Philippines, killing nine workers on board, police said.

The workers were traveling back to their office after delivering crude oil and other supplies in a farming village in Bayawan city in Negros Oriental province when their truck overshot the road and fell into a 30-meter- (98-foot-) deep ravine, police said. It was loaded with five drums of crude oil.

The cause of the accident, which happened shortly before noon in good weather, was not immediately clear. The workers died while being brought to a hospital, provincial police chief Col. Timmar Alam said.

The Philippines has a disturbing record of deadly road accidents, which are often blamed on weak enforcement of traffic laws, reckless driving, rickety vehicles and inadequate road safety railings and signs.

Beijing bans 4 New Zealand lawmakers from entering China because they visited Taiwan

By WTOP Staff
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Beijing banned four New Zealand lawmakers from traveling to China for a year and demanded they apologize because they visited Taiwan on a parliamentary trip, according to a message from the Chinese embassy conveyed via parliamentary officials and shown to The Associated Press on Thursday. China has hit lawmakers from other countries with sanctions related to contact with Taiwan before, but it's the first time for New Zealand parliamentarians, the government in Wellington said. Beijing has been increasing pressure in recent years on the democratically governed island that it claims as its own territory. Two lawmakers reached by the AP on Thursday rejected the demand for an apology, while the other two could not be immediately reached. New Zealand's government said it would express concern about the travel bans to Beijing. The elected officials visited Taipei in May, as New Zealand parliamentarians have done “for decades,” a spokesperson for Foreign Minister Winston Peters said in a statement.
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