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A fireworks shop explosion in China kills 12 people in the second such blast in days

BEIJING (AP) — An explosion at a fireworks’ shop in China’s Hubei province on Wednesday killed 12 people, state media reported, the second such explosion as the country celebrates the Lunar New Year.

Emergency responders put out the blaze at the fireworks shop in the town of Xiangyang, in central Hubei province, on Wednesday afternoon, according to the official Xinhua News Agency. Investigators are now looking into the cause of the explosion, the report said without giving further details.

The victims were five children and seven adults, officials said Thursday. One was the shop owner, and the rest were customers who had come to buy fireworks for celebrations. Some were visiting family from out of town.

Fireworks are a large part of the Lunar New Year celebration in China, but their use has also been the cause of multiple accidents.

On Sunday, another accident at a fireworks shop in eastern Jiangsu province killed eight people and injured two. Authorities had said a resident had set off fireworks near the shop.

The central government warned of the dangers in a statement Tuesday, saying that “fireworks are still the biggest risks during the Spring Festival period,” according to the Ministry of Emergency Management.

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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