Chemical clean-up at China blast site...Indonesian airliner missing...Julian Bond dies

TIANJIN, China (AP) — Teams are scrambling to clear dangerous chemical contamination at a massive blast site in the Chinese port of Tianjin where the death toll from explosions and fire has reached 112. Hundreds of people were injured and 85 firefighters and 10 others are missing following the incident Wednesday. Authorities say the site contained "several hundred" tons of the toxic chemical sodium cyanide. Some 3,000 soldiers are helping with the work.

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — An Indonesian airliner carrying 54 people is missing after losing contact with ground control during a short flight in bad weather. Officials say there was no indication that the pilot made a distress call. A search for the plane in Indonesia's mountainous eastern province of Papua has been suspended until morning.

FORT WALTON BEACH, Fla. (AP) — The Southern Poverty Law Center is praising Julian Bond as a "visionary" and "tireless champion" for civil and human rights. Bond, an icon of the 1960s movement, died yesterday in Florida. He was 75. The SPLC says the country has lost "one of its most passionate and eloquent voices for the cause of justice."

RIDGECREST, Calif. (AP) — A two-week hunt for a man suspected of killing a retired dentist, taking three men hostage and wounding two deputies has apparently ended in the rugged, mountainous high desert of central California. Authorities say a man who matched the description of Benjamin Peter Ashley was shot and killed by two deputies who tried to stop him as he walked on a rural road toward the foothills. They say he was shot after he brandished a handgun.

PHOENIX (AP) — The heat warnings are out in parts of the West as a high-pressure system centered over New Mexico acts like a lid to block cooler air. Much of the West is expecting above-normal temperatures the rest of the weekend, including triple digit forecasts in Phoenix, Los Angeles and other cities. Authorities warned people not to leave small children or pets in cars and to stay indoors.

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