BENTONG — Tiga lelaki maut dalam kemalangan membabitkan tujuh kenderaan di Kilometer 42, Lebuh raya Pantai Timur (LPT) arah timur, dekat Bukit Tinggi pada jam 4.13 pagi ini.

Mangsa yang meninggal dunia ialah Mohd Ridzuan Zulkafly, 40, Muhamad Zaimi Shariff, 39, and Muhammad Azizul Fitrie Md Zaire, 23.

Penolong Pengarah Bahagian Operasi Jabatan Bomba dan Penyelamat Malaysia (JBPM) Pahang, Ismail Abdul Ghani berkata, kemalangan itu membabitkan empat kereta, lori 3 tan, dan dua treler dengan satu daripadanya terbakar sepenuhnya.

Katanya, dalam kemalangan itu turut membabitkan 13 mangsa.

“Tiga lelaki yang meninggal dunia dan disahkan oleh kakitangan Kementerian Kesihatan Malaysia (KKM) ialah pemandu dan kelindan lori tiga tan dan seorang lagi dalam kereta yang terbabit dalam nahas berkenaan.

“Tiga mangsa cedera parah, dua lagi cedera manakala lima individu terselamat,” katanya.

Katanya, mangsa maut diserahkan kepada pihak polis untuk tindakan selanjutnya.

Sementara itu, seorang jurucakap Jabatan Bomba dan Penyelamat Bentong berkata, kemalangan tersebut membabitkan kenderaan dari kedua-dua arah.

Beliau berkata, sebuah treler yang membawa muatan konkrit dari Kuala Lumpur menuju ke Bentong dipercayai hilang kawalan sebelum melanggar lori tiga tan dari arah sama.

“Treler terbabit kemudian dikatakan melanggar pembahagi jalan mengakibatkan tiang konkrit jatuh di lorong bertentangan (menuju ke Kuala Lumpur),” katanya.

BH ONLINE

BEIRUT — Three people of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine were killed in an Israeli airstrike targeting a residential building in the al Cola area in Beirut, al-Jadeed local TV channel reported.

This marked Israel’s first attack on the capital since the outbreak of the Hezbollah-Israel conflict on Oct. 8, 2023. Previously attacks concentrated on Beirut’s southern suburbs.

The densely populated al Cola area has seen an influx of displaced people fleeing Israeli airstrikes in southern and eastern Lebanon. Following the attack, ambulances arrived to transport the wounded, while civil defense teams worked to evacuate residents from the building. The Lebanese army was also deployed to the scene.

Tensions between Hezbollah and Israel have escalated after Israel expanded its military operations to Lebanon, aiming to allow Israeli settlers to return to northern Israel. Hezbollah has announced its entry into a new phase of the conflict, pledging continued support for Gaza.

Since Oct. 8, 2023, Hezbollah and Israel have exchanged fire along the Lebanese-Israeli border, raising fears of a wider regional conflict.

XINHUA

KATHMANDU — Nepal’s hydropower plants and irrigation facilities were badly damaged in floods and landslides triggered by incessant rainfalls in recent days, with an estimated initial loss of 4.35 billion Nepali rupees (32.6 million U.S. dollars).

Addressing a press meeting on Sunday, officials at Nepal’s Ministry for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation said that disasters spelt by continuous rains on Friday and Saturday had caused an estimated loss of 3 billion rupees (22.5 million dollars) to hydropower and transmission projects, while river control and irrigation projects suffered an estimated loss of 1.35 billion rupees (10.1 million dollars).

According to the officials, floods had damaged 11 operating hydropower plants with a combined generation capacity of 625.96MW and forced other operating plants to shut down. As a result, 1,100MW in generation capacity was halted, nearly one-third of the total capacity of the country’s operating power plants.

Fifteen hydropower plants under construction were damaged as well, it was noted.

As power plants and transmission lines were damaged, power supply in different parts of the country has been disrupted.

“Managing enough power for the country in the upcoming winter could be challenging as it takes time to maintain and repair the damaged power plants,” said Kul Man Ghising, managing director of Nepal Electricity Authority.

Nepal produces surplus hydropower during the monsoon season, but in the dry season it generates around one-third of the power.

Meanwhile, the death toll from floods and landslides hit 170 by Sunday evening, the Home Ministry said in a statement. Furthermore, 111 were injured and 42 others missing, the ministry said, noting that about 4,000 victims had been rescued.

The Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport said in a statement that 47 of 80 national highways in Nepal had remained obstructed.

XINHUA

KYIV — Russia launched a drone attack on Kyiv early on Monday, with air defence units engaged in repelling the strikes, Ukraine’s military said.

Reuters’ witnesses heard several blasts that sounded like air defence systems in operation and saw objects being hit in the air.

Kyiv, its surrounding region and all eastern part of Ukraine were under air raid alerts, with Ukraine’s air force warning of Russia targeting the territory with attack drones.

REUTERS

KOTA KINABALU — Tindakan pantas anggota bomba dapat menyelamatkan nyawa tiga mangsa terperangkap dalam kebakaran rumah di Kampung Bantayan, Inanam, di sini, awal pagi tadi.

Ketua Balai Bomba dan Penyelamat (BBP) Lintas, Agustavia Joe Guasi berkata, pihaknya menerima panggilan kecemasan berhubung kejadian itu jam 1.53 pagi.

Katanya, 13 pegawai dan anggota bersama jentera dan Unit Bantuan Perkhidmatan Kecemasan (EMRS) dikejarkan ke lokasi.

“Sebaik tiba, didapati kebakaran membabitkan rumah dua tingkat dengan bahagian tangga yang terbakar.

“Ketika kejadian, tiga mangsa terperangkap di tingkat satu dan diselamatkan oleh pasukan bomba menggunakan tangga melalui tingkap,” katanya di sini, hari ini.

Beliau juga berkata, pasukan bomba bertindak memadam kebakaran sebelum operasi ditamatkan jam 3.42 pagi.

“Punca kejadian masih dalam siasatan,” katanya.

BH ONLINE

BEIRUT — An Israeli airstrike hit an apartment within a residential building in Al Cola, a neighborhood in Beirut, during the early hours of Monday, according to reports from Lebanese TV channel al-Jadeed.

This incident marked the first time Israel has targeted the capital since the outbreak of conflicts between Hezbollah and Israel on Oct. 8, 2023.

XINHUA

BEIRUT — At least 105 people were killed and 359 others injured on Sunday in Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health.

XINHUA

MADRID — Three people died on Sunday when the helicopter they were travelling in collided with power lines near a town located in eastern Spain.

The accident happened at around 10 a.m. local time (0800 GMT) close to the town of Pucol in a hilly area, as the three were inspecting electric cables there.

According to reports, for reasons not yet known, the helicopter hit a high-voltage line and crashed into a nearby field killing all aboard.

Emergency services in the region said they had “received news of an accident involving a helicopter which was carrying out inspections on electric lines in Pucol,” adding they had sent to the scene a helicopter containing members of a special mountain rescue group and three fire engines, along with ambulances.

Medical services confirmed the death of the three people inside the helicopter at the scene of the crash.

Local media said the site is still dangerous as the accident has left live cables hanging over the helicopter, while fuel has been spilled over the area following the crash.

XINHUA

KUANTAN — Seramai 12 individu, termasuk empat kanak-kanak, cedera apabila dua kereta bertembung di Jalan Felda Jengka 4 menghala ke Maran, hari ini.

Jurucakap Jabatan Bomba dan Penyelamat Malaysia (JBPM) Pahang berkata, insiden itu membabitkan sebuah kereta jenis Honda City dinaiki tiga lelaki dan dua wanita dengan Perodua Bezza yang membawa seorang lelaki, dua wanita serta empat kanak-kanak.

Katanya, lapan anggota serta pegawai dari Balai Bomba dan Penyelamat (BBP) Jengka bergegas ke lokasi sejurus menerima panggilan kecemasan berhubung kejadian itu pada jam 12.29 tengah hari tadi.

“Pasukan bomba telah membantu mengeluarkan pemandu Honda City yang tersepit di dalam kereta itu.

“Mangsa cedera kemudian diserahkan kepada pihak Kementerian Kesihatan untuk dibawa ke hospital,” katanya ketika dihubungi, di sini, hari ini.

Sementara itu dalam kejadian berasingan di Temerloh, seorang pemandu dan jururawat cedera ringan apabila ambulans dinaiki mereka terbalik, pagi tadi.

Kejadian berlaku selepas ambulans itu dipercayai hilang kawalan ketika mengelak sebuah motosikal di Kilometer 115.2 Lebuh Raya Pantai Timur menghala ke Kuantan.

Ketua Polis Daerah Temerloh, Asisten Komisioner Mazlan Hassan, berkata hasil siasatan awal mendapati kemalangan berlaku ketika dua pemandu dan dua jururawat sedang dalam perjalanan balik ke Hospital Tengku Ampuan Afzan, di sini.

Setiba di lokasi, beliau berkata, pemandu ambulans itu dikatakan cuba mengelak motosikal berkenaan, namun kenderaan terbabit dipercayai hilang kawalan lalu terbabas serta melanggar penghadang besi di sebelah kanan jalan.

“Tiada perlanggaran berlaku dengan motosikal itu. Namun akibat kemalangan itu, seorang pemandu lelaki yang juga penumpang hadapan berusia 42 tahun mengalami luka di lutut kiri, manakala seorang jururawat lelaki berumur 34 tahun pula luka di siku kiri,” katanya dalam satu kenyataan.

BH ONLINE – BERNAMA

KUALA LUMPUR — Kisah seorang pelajar cemerlang yang menggunakan guni untuk mengisi barangan yang dibawa untuk ke asrama sewaktu pendaftaran ke Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) baru-baru ini, mendapat perhatian Menteri Pendidikan, Fadhlina Sidek.

Fadhlina menerusi hantaran di Facebook rasminya hari ini memaklumkan, beliau sudah pun menghubungi remaja berkenaan, Rafida Zaiddin dan menguruskan serta-merta semua urusan beban kewangan serta keperluan diperlukan pelajar itu untuk meneruskan pengajian.

“Rafida, anak yang cerdik. Berasal dari bumi bertuah, Sandakan. Keputusan peperiksaan beliau di Matrikulasi Labuan sangat membanggakan.

“Sedang mengikuti pengajian perakaunan di UMS. Bagaimana isu Rafida ini sangat dekat di hati saya? Kerana pada hari yang sama saya turut menghantar anak sulung saya ke universiti.

“Saya merakamkan ucapan terima kasih kepada semua pihak khususnya Setiausaha Politik Ketua Menteri Sabah, Cikgu Rahman dan rakan saya, Dr Abdullah Bade, pensyarah UMS yang telah melaporkan keadaan anakanda Rafida Zaiddin,” katanya.

Fadhlina dalam hantaran sama turut menzahirkan ucapan terima kasih kepada Rafida kerana telah memberi kesedaran bahawa perjuangan pendidikan manusiawi adalah kekuatan Malaysia.

“Fly high, stand tall Rafida. Insya-Allah Rafida tidak perlu risau apa-apa tentang pengajiannya.

“Semuanya telah diuruskan dengan baik sehingga habis pengajian. Semoga Allah SWT memberkati pengajian anakanda Rafida,” katanya.

BH 0NLINE – BERNAMA

RIYADH — The Ministry of Health has fined three airlines for violating health surveillance regulations on arriving at Prince Mohammad bin Abdulaziz International Airport in Madinah, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Sunday.

The penalties, which have been issued in accordance with the general provisions of the executive regulations of the health surveillance law at entry points, stem from the ministry’s responsibility to address health risks and ensure public safety.

The ministry said the airlines did not comply with disease vector control measures after having failed to spray their aircraft with insecticides to specified standards.

This represented a breach of health procedures outlined in the executive regulations of the health surveillance law at entry points, the ministry added.

Disciplinary action has been taken against the companies to ensure that such breaches, which may endanger public health, are not repeated, the SPA reported.

The measures are part of the ministry’s ongoing supervisory efforts to boost health surveillance at airports and border crossings and safeguard public health by strictly enforcing regulations to ensure the health and safety of citizens, residents and visitors to the Kingdom.

AN

CAIRO — Blasts were heard in the vicinity of Syrian capital Damascus, state news agency SANA reported on Sunday, adding that an investigation was being conducted to establish the cause.

AN-REUTERS

CAIRO — Israeli military strikes across the Gaza Strip have killed at least 11 Palestinians, health officials in the enclave said on Sunday, as Israeli planes bombarded several northern, central and southern areas.

A school sheltering displaced Palestinians in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip was among buildings hit, killing four people and wounded several others, Gaza medics said.

The Israeli military said it struck Hamas militants operating from a command center embedded in a compound that had previously served as Um Al-Fahm School. It accused Hamas of exploiting civilian facilities and its population for military purposes, which Hamas denies.

In another strike, three people were killed in a house in Gaza City, medics said.

Four others were killed in three separate airstrikes in Nuseirat and Khan Younis in central and southern parts of the Gaza Strip.

Israeli forces pursued their operations in Rafah, near the border with Egypt, and in Gaza City’s suburb of Zeitoun, where forces blew up several houses, according to residents and Hamas media.
On Sunday the Israeli military said forces continue the fight in a “multi-front war” and are operating in Gaza to bring Israeli and foreign hostages home and to “dismantle” Hamas.

It said troops discovered and dismantled an underground tunnel route that is approximately 1km long near residential buildings and civilian spaces in central Gaza, adding that they found several rooms and equipment used by Hamas for prolonged periods.

Fighting and Israeli military activities in Gaza have declined in the past week as Israel escalated its military offensive against Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, killing its leader Hassan Nasrallah in an airstrike on Friday. The group announced Nasrallah’s death on Saturday.

Most of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million have been displaced by the war, in which 41,500 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gaza health authorities.

Israel and Hamas have been fighting since gunmen from the Palestinian militant group stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and capturing about 250 hostages, going by Israeli tallies.

AN-REUTERS

BEIRUT — In Syria, 37 militants affiliated to the extremist Daesh group and an Al-Qaeda-linked group were killed in two strikes, the United States military said Sunday.

Two of the dead were senior militants, it said.

US Central Command said it struck northwestern Syria on Tuesday, targeting a senior militant from the Al-Qaeda-linked Hurras Al-Deen group and eight others. They say he was responsible for overseeing military operations.

They also announced a strike from earlier this month on Sept. 16, where they conducted a “large-scale airstrike” on a Daesh training camp in a remote undisclosed location in central Syria. That attack killed 28 militants, including “at least four Syrian leaders.”

“The airstrike will disrupt Daesh’ capability to conduct operations against US interests, as well as our allies and partners,” the statement read.

There are some 900 US forces in Syria, along with an undisclosed number of contractors, mostly trying to prevent any comeback by the extremist Daesh group, which swept through Iraq and Syria in 2014, taking control of large swaths of territory.

US forces advise and assist their key allies in northeastern Syria, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, located not far from strategic areas where Iran-backed militant groups are present, including a key border crossing with Iraq.

AN-AP

JERUSALEM — The Israeli military said on Sunday that it killed more than 20 Hezbollah militants of varying ranks in its Friday strikes in Beirut, during which the group’s top leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, was also assassinated.

According to a statement from the military, among the others killed were Ibrahim Hussein Jazini, director of Nasrallah’s security unit, and Samir Tawfiq Deeb, a longtime adviser to Nasrallah, as well as Abd al-Amir Muhammad Sablini and Ali Naaf Ayoub, who were responsible for Hezbollah’s force build-up and firepower, respectively.

They were located at Hezbollah’s central headquarters in the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital as Israel launched the strikes, which leveled a multi-story building.

Israel continued to pound Lebanon on Sunday with more airstrikes in Beirut and the airport area, targeting Hezbollah’s chemical industry expert, according to the Israeli state-owned Kan TV news.

The military said its fighter jets also struck southern Lebanon, hitting rocket launchers aimed at Israeli territory, weapons storage facilities, and Hezbollah infrastructure sites. It highlighted that warplanes also launched fresh strikes on 45 sites in southern Lebanon’s Kafra area to target the group’s weapons storage facilities.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah fired about ten rockets toward the western Galilee and Haamakim areas in northern Israel, with some projectiles intercepted, according to the military.

XINHUA

BEIRUT — At least 28 people were killed and 30 others injured when Israeli airstrikes targeted on Sunday afternoon several towns and villages in southern and eastern Lebanon, prompting retaliation by Hezbollah, according to Hezbollah and Lebanese military sources.

The sources, who spoke anonymously, said the Israeli raids involved about 15 warplanes and targeted around 27 towns and villages deep in southern Lebanon and the Baalbek-Hermel areas in eastern Lebanon, about 130 km from the borderline with Israel.

The raids killed two people in southern Lebanon and 26 others in eastern Lebanon, including 11 displaced Syrians, according to the sources. Meanwhile, 30 others were injured during the attacks.

For its part, Hezbollah bombed Israeli’s Ofek camp, south of Tel Aviv, “with a salvo of Fadi 1 missiles while also targeting enemy soldiers in Al-Manara settlement, north of occupied Palestine and Avivim (in the occupied Golan Heights).”

Confrontations between Hezbollah and Israel have intensified following Israel’s announcement to broaden its war objectives to include the return of northern residents, who were evacuated due to attacks by Hezbollah in Lebanon. Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas, has launched barrages of rockets at Israel since last October in solidarity with Hamas and the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

XINHUA

BEIRUT — Hezbollah confirmed on Sunday that the group’s senior leader Ali Karaki, head of the southern front, was killed, along with top leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, in the Israeli airstrikes targeting Beirut’s southern suburbs on Friday.

Hezbollah said in a statement that Karaki “was martyred with a group of his jihadist brothers in the enemy’s criminal raid on Haret Hreik, accompanied by … Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.”

On Friday evening, Israeli warplanes launched airstrikes on Hezbollah’s main headquarters in Dahieh, the southern suburbs of Beirut, during which Nasrallah and some other commanders of the armed group were killed.

The raids flattened several residential buildings, resulting in at least six deaths, 91 injuries, and significant infrastructure damage in the neighborhood, local media reported earlier.

These heavy assaults mark the latest escalation of the ongoing clashes between Israel and Hezbollah, which began on Oct. 8, 2023, when Hezbollah started launching rockets at Israel in solidarity with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, prompting Israel’s retaliatory artillery fire and airstrikes in southeastern Lebanon.

XINHUA

NEW DELHI — Five policemen were wounded in an improvised explosive device explosion in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh on Sunday, police said.

The device planted by Naxals exploded in Tarrem area of Bijapur district, about 452 km south of Raipur, the capital city of Chhattisgarh.

Police said the wounded personnel were removed to a local hospital.

“All the injured jawans are out of danger,” senior police officer P Sundarraj told media.

Police said earlier that three Naxal commanders were killed during a five-day-long fierce gunfight in Paradi area of Abhujmad forest of the state’s Narayanpur district.

Currently, Naxals are active across the central and eastern parts of India.

New Delhi has deployed paramilitary forces to take on Naxals in their strongholds.

XINHUA