Blast in Japan eatery injures 42 people
TOKYO -- More than 40 people were injured in an explosion Sunday night at a Japanese restaurant in northern Japan, police said.
The explosion occurred in Sapporo, the capital city of Japan's northern main island of Hokkaido, and caused nearby apartment buildings and houses to shake.
Police said 42 people were injured, most of them mildly, though one was in serious condition. They were rushed to nearby hospitals for treatment.
The cause of the explosion, which occurred at a two-story restaurant in Sapporo's Toyohira district, is under investigation, police said, adding that they had no further details.
TV footage from Japanese public broadcaster NHK showed the restaurant in flames, with debris scattered on the ground.
The footage later showed gray smoke billowing from the restaurant as dozens of firefighters poured water onto the building, which was charred and nearly collapsing. Windows on an apartment building next door were broken, and cars parked outside were partially covered with debris that had fallen on them.
A witness told NHK that he smelled gas after the sound of an explosion. The broadcaster said the district office was to set up a shelter for neighbors of the restaurant to stay overnight so they could escape the smoke.
Protesters block French traffic circles
PARIS -- Yellow-vest protesters occupied dozens of traffic roundabouts across France on Sunday even as their movement for economic justice appeared to be losing momentum on the fifth straight weekend of protests.
The road blockades remained despite a call by Interior Minister Christophe Castaner to free the roundabouts from the traffic chaos created by the protests. Eight people have died in incidents tied to the yellow-vest movement, mostly from traffic accidents linked to roads blocked by protesters.
The demonstrators are demanding more measures to help France's workers and retirees and want top officials in President Emmanuel Macron's centrist government to resign, including Macron himself.
Despite the cold weather, protesters occupying a roundabout close to a major highway near the southern city of Orange pledged to keep holding more demonstrations, including blocking fuel depots.
"Mr. Castaner, if you want us to clear roundabouts, you will need to offer your resignation. We don't need bandits of your kind," a protester identified as Nicolas told the BFM TV channel.
Some yellow-vest protesters -- whose movement takes its name from the safety garb that all French motorists must carry -- set a small fire with wooden planks and held a barbecue at a roundabout near the city of Reims in the Champagne region. Some of them wore Santa hats and deployed a banner that read "Revolution 2018."
Attackers target civilians in Rwanda
KIGALI, Rwanda -- At least two Rwandan civilians were killed and eight injured when attackers set fire to three passenger vehicles in the southern Nyamagabe district, which borders Burundi, said a Rwandan army official.
"We have been watching the situation in this area for some time now and have a good idea of who is behind today's incident. We are in pursuit of the attackers and action will be taken against those responsible," army spokesman Innocent Munyengango said in a statement.
He said the army is pursuing the attackers, who retreated into Nyungwe Forest, a mountain rainforest area that is home to wild chimpanzees.
Just two days earlier, President Paul Kagame said two or three Rwandan army soldiers were killed by rebels who had crossed the border from Congo.
Kagame blamed the earlier Dec. 9 attack in the country's western Rubavu district on the Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, which has links to perpetrators of the 1994 genocide, and the Rwanda National Congress, founded by a former army chief.
Speaking to reporters on Friday in Kigali, Kagame also addressed tensions with neighboring Burundi, saying his country will never be pulled into "provocations" from Burundi.
Burundi's President Pierre Nkurunziza earlier this month called for an emergency meeting of the East African Community, accusing Rwanda of "aggression" and of harboring plotters of a failed coup in 2015.
Switzerland bus crash kills passenger
BERLIN -- Zurich police say a tour bus on its way to Germany has crashed in Switzerland, killing one person and injuring 44 others.
The Deutsche Presse-Agentur news agency reported Sunday that a bus traveling to Duesseldorf from Genoa in Italy crashed at 4:15 a.m. south of Zurich, a city in northern Switzerland that is the country's financial hub.
Police say the bus went into a skid on the snowy road and crashed into a wall.
They said one woman, whose identity was not immediately released, was killed. Three people, including the driver, have serious injuries.
Switzerland's 20 Minuten news site quoted authorities saying the woman who died was 37 years old and Italian.
-- Compiled by Democrat-Gazette staff from wire reports
A Section on 12/17/2018