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Death toll in South Africa school bus crash rises to 14 as the driver is charged with murder

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Two teenage girls died Thursday of their injuries in this week’s school bus crash in South Africa ’s Gauteng province, raising the death toll to 14, authorities said, as the bus driver was charged with murder.

The private minibus was transporting 16 students to various primary and high schools in the south of Johannesburg on Monday when it collided with a truck around 7 a.m., leaving 12 children dead at the scene, according to authorities.

Seven people, including five students, the bus driver and a passenger in the truck, were injured and hospitalized. Three of the seven injured were discharged.

One of the injured students, a teenage girl who was in intensive care at Sebokeng Hospital, died Thursday morning, the Gauteng health department said. Another female student died at a private hospital, police Lt. Col. Mavela Masondo said.

Two surviving children remain hospitalized.

The minibus driver, Ayanda Dludla, 22, originally was to be charged with several counts of culpable homicide, police said.

However the charges were upgraded Thursday to 14 counts of murder, three counts of attempted murder and driving without a professional license, National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana said.

Dludla appeared Thursday before the Vanderbijlpark Magistrate’s Court, where he declined to seek bail.

The case was adjourned until March 5 for further investigation.

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

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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