United States: The man killed in a blaze at New York City's Trump Tower was an art collector who spent time with Andy Warhol, but fell on hard financial times in recent years and went through bankruptcy proceedings. Todd Brassner, 67, died yesterday at a hospital after a fire tore through his 50th-floor apartment in the high-rise, which was constructed at a time when building codes did not require the residential section to have sprinklers. The city's Department of Buildings said today the building did have working hard-wired smoke detectors. A cause of the fire had not yet been determined. Brassner, who records show bought his unit in 1996, is mentioned several times in Warhol's posthumously published diaries, with references including lunch dates and shared taxis. The artist signed and dedicated at least one print to him.
United States: An Allegiant Air passenger jet skidded off a snowy runway in South Dakota. Allegiant spokeswoman Krysta Levy says Flight 456 carrying 155 passengers and six crew members from Las Vegas touched down at Sioux Falls Regional Airport when heavy snow and crosswinds caused the McDonnell Douglas MD-80 to slide 6m off the runway. Levy says passengers walked down the plane's rear stairs and were taken by buses to the terminal. She says no one was injured. The plane came to rest with its front wheels in a patch of grass, and remained upright and level.
Britain: The British Government plans to tighten laws on weapons due to a recent wave of crime, including stabbings and acid attacks. The Home Office said it plans to ban the sale of most dangerous corrosive products to people under the age of 18 and restrict online sales of knives among other measures. The changes come as part of the Offensive Weapons Bill, which is to be tabled within weeks, as part of the government's strategy to lower violent attacks. The measures to be proposed in the following weeks also include a ban on rapid firing rifles and equipment that helps to speed up a rifle's rate of fire, such as a bump stock.
The murder rate in London this year has passed 50 deaths, with another stabbing this time in Hackney. A man in his 20s was attacked last night, he approached police here for help but they couldn’t save him @LBC pic.twitter.com/ykRMukMWCo
— Rachael Venables (@rachaelvenables) April 5, 2018
France: Travellers have grappled with another crippling wave of transport strikes in France, as train workers protested against President Emmanuel Macron's economic reforms and a stand-off between the government and rail unions hardened. Train staff last week began three months of nationwide rolling strikes in a dispute over the government's planned overhaul of state-run railway SNCF. Talks between workers and ministers have so far hit a wall. Some unions are stiffening their resistance, while the government has dug in its heels on the main aspects of its reform, which include the end of job-for-life guarantees for rail staff. Officials at the CGT union said on Friday strikes could drag on well beyond June if nothing shifted.
