World scene

CHINA

3 Americans die in plane crash

SHANGHAI | A Zimbabwe-registered cargo plane crashed in flames during takeoff from Shanghai’s main airport Saturday, killing three American crew members and injuring four others on board.

The accident closed two runways at the Pudong airport in China’s largest city for several hours.

The MD-11 cargo plane, operated by Zimbabwe-based Avient Aviation, was heading to Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, the Xinhua news agency said.

Three Americans in the seven-member crew died and a fourth was injured, U.S. Embassy spokesman Richard Buangan told the Associated Press. Shanghai television said the other crew members were from Indonesia, Belgium and Zimbabwe.

PERU

Peru apologizes to blacks for slavery

LIMA | Peru’s government on Saturday formally apologized to Peruvians of African descent for the slavery and discrimination their forebears suffered since the time of the Spanish conquistadors.

“We extend a historical apology to Afro-Peruvian people for the abuse, exclusion and discrimination perpetrated against them since the colonial era until the present,” the Ministry of Women and Social Development said.

A public show of apology will take place at a “solemn and public ceremony,” the ministry added, without indicating a time or place for the ceremony.

Africans were first brought to Peru as slaves during the conquest of the region by Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro in the early part of the 16th century.

Blacks make up about 5 percent of Peru’s population of 29 million.

IRAN

Lawmaker threatens to quit nuke treaty

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