MOSCOW (AP) — Searchers combing the area where a Ukrainian military aircraft crashed found two more bodies, bringing the death toll to 26. One person survived.
The plane, a twin-turboprop Antonov-26 belonging to the Ukrainian Air Force, was carrying a crew of seven and 20 cadets of a military aviation school when it crashed and burst into flames while coming in for landing at the airport in Chuhuiv, about 400 kilometers (250 miles) east of the capital Kyiv.
Two people initially survived the crash, but one later died in a hospital. No cause for the crash has been determined.
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — The health minister in Australia’s Victoria state has resigned in the fallout from an inquiry into why security guards were used instead of police or the military at quarantine hotels. Lapses in security at the hotels were given as the major reason for a second wave of COVID-19 cases.
Victoria reported just one more coronavirus death as Melbourne’s new case average continued to fall. The death took the state toll to 782 and the national figure to 870. There were 12 new cases, while Melbourne’s 14-day average fell again to 23.6.
Melburnians, who have been in lockdown for more than a month, are waiting for the easing of restrictions on Monday. It’s expected to include a staged return to school for some students and outdoor gatherings of five people from two households.
Health Minister Jenny Mikakos issued a statement confirming her resignation, just a day after Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews gave evidence to the inquiry and pointed partial blame at Mikakos for her role in the bungled quarantine program.
“I am disappointed that my integrity has sought to be undermined,” she wrote in a one-page statement. “I have never shirked my responsibility.” She said she also plans to resign from Victoria Parliament.
NEW DELHI (AP) — Three Bollywood actors, including top star Deepika Padukone, were questioned by India’s narcotics agency as part of an investigation into the movie industry’s alleged links with drug peddlers and cartels, officials said.
Padukone was the first to arrive at the Narcotics Control Board’s office in Mumbai. She had received a summons earlier in the week while shooting a movie in the western beach resort of Goa.
Video broadcast live on Indian TV news channels later showed Shraddha Kapoor and Sara Ali Khan also reaching the agency’s office for questioning.
Details of the questioning were not immediately available.
The narcotics agency said in a statement that it started the Bollywood drug probe after the death of young actor Sushant Singh Rajput, whose body was found at his Mumbai residence in June. An investigation is ongoing.