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3 killed as high winds topple a tree on an Easter egg hunt in Germany

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Three people, including a 10-month-old girl, were killed Sunday when high winds toppled a tree in northern Germany during an Easter egg hunt, police said.

Around 50 people from a nearby residential facility for new mothers, pregnant women and children were attending the event in woods near the town of Satrupholm at about 11 a.m. when a 30-meter (100-foot) tree fell on the group, police said in a statement.

Four people were pinned under the tree. A 21-year-old woman and a 16-year-old girl were treated by first responders but died at the scene, while the woman’s 10-month old daughter died later in the hospital. An 18-year-old woman suffered serious injuries and was brought to the hospital by helicopter.

The facility is part of the state-funded child welfare system and supports pregnant women and new mothers who need help, according to its website. Grief counselors were sent to the scene.

Pictures from the scene published by the Bild news site showed several Easter eggs scattered on the ground and two of the victims covered in white sheets.

The area had been under a high winds warning from the German weather service.

Government officials from the Schleswig-Holstein region where the facility was located said they were “deeply shaken” by the accident.

“Our thoughts are with the family members of the dead, with the injured, and with everyone who had to experience this terrible occurrence,” regional Governor Daniel Günther, Interior Minister Magdalena Finke, and Youth and Families Minister Aminata Touré said in a joint statement carried by the dpa news agency.

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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