BINTULU — Sekurang-kurangnya 350 penghuni dari 23 keluarga di rumah panjang Tuai Rumah Nora Bulin di Sungai Teban Labang, Jalan Bintulu-Bakun, dekat sini hilang tempat berteduh selepas premis terbabit terbakar petang tadi.
Jurucakap Pusat Gerakan Operasi Sarawak berkata, sepasukan anggota bomba dari Balai Bomba dan Penyelamat (BBP) Bintulu dan BBP Samalaju bergegas ke lokasi sejurus menerima panggilan jam 3.32 petang.
“Sejurus sampai, pasukan bomba mendapati api marak memusnahkan keseluruhan struktur satu blok rumah panjang jenis tidak kekal itu.
“Pasukan bomba memadam kebakaran menggunakan dua aliran air sebelum api berjaya dikawal dalam masa hampir hampir dua jam,” katanya.
Kebakaran tidak mendatangkan kecederaan atau kemalangan jiwa kerana semua penghuninya sempat menyelamatkan diri.
Setakat ini punca kebakaran serta anggaran kerugian dialami penghuni masih dalam siasatan.
KUALA LUMPUR — Semua 171 individu yang ditahan dalam Op Global di Selangor dan Negeri Sembilan semalam, direman tujuh hari bagi membantu siasatan kes eksploitasi 402 kanak-kanak dari 20 rumah amal di dua negeri berkenaan.
Mengesahkan perkembangan itu, Ketua Polis Negara, Tan Sri Razarudin Husain berkata pihaknya sedang bekerjasama dengan pelbagai kementerian dan agensi bagi melengkapi siasatan serta tindakan susulan ke atas semua mangsa terbabit.
“Kita perlu teruskan siasatan bagi melihat apa lagi tindakan yang boleh diambil, terutamanya dari segi pendidikan. Kita tahu bahawa yang berumur sepatutnya bersekolah, tapi ini tidak ke sekolah dan dia ada pendidikannya sendiri.
“Kita mungkin akan berhubung dengan Kementerian Pendidikan juga. Apabila dia buka rumah amal ini, kononnya untuk anak yatim, kita juga nak melihat adakah rumah amal ini didaftarkan.
“Itu semua siasatan kita. Daripada situ juga mungkin ada kesalahan-kesalahan lain yang kita boleh lihat lagi, akan ada saksi-saksi yang akan tampil,” katanya ketika dihubungi media, hari ini.
Polis semalam menyelamatkan 402 kanak-kanak dan remaja berusia antara setahun hingga 17 tahun yang disyaki menjadi mangsa eksploitasi di 18 rumah amal di Selangor dan dua di Negeri Sembilan menerusi operasi Op Global.
Razarudin dalam satu sidang media di Kuantan dilaporkan berkata pihaknya turut menahan 171 individu mengendalikan premis terbabit untuk siasatan lanjut.
Hasil serbuan itu katanya, mendedahkan berlaku kesalahan pengabaian serta penganiayaan terhadap kanak-kanak dan remaja yang juga penghuni di rumah amal itu.
Selain diliwat dan meliwat, Razarudin berkata mangsa yang kurang sihat juga tidak dibenarkan mendapatkan rawatan di klinik sehingga keadaan mereka menjadi kritikal.
Mengulas lanjut, Razarudin berkata semua kanak-kanak dan remaja yang menjadi mangsa, masih dalam proses dokumentasi dan pemeriksaan kesihatan.
“Kita rasakan perlu untuk kita ambil DNA. Pasal bapa-bapa mereka, kita tahu adalah ahli-ahli GISB itu sendiri.
“Tentang aspek kesihatan dan kebajikan, agensi seperti Kementerian Kesihatan (KKM) dan Jabatan Kebajikan Masyarakat (JKM) memang sentiasa ada dengan kita dan ditempatkan di PULAPOL,” katanya
Razarudin berkata pada masa ini, semua premis yang diserbu semalam ditutup buat sementara waktu dan berkemungkinan akan diambil tindakan sita.
ANKARA — Türkiye has launched an investigation into the killing of a Turkish-American woman by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank, Turkish Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said Thursday.
Türkiye would not stay silent in the face of an “unlawful terrorist attack by Israeli forces,” Tunc told reporters, adding that the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office has initiated a probe under domestic law.
He added that Türkiye “will work to prepare a report by forming an independent investigation commission.”
“Afterwards, we will continue our work on including this report in the UN Human Rights Council, the ongoing genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, and the ongoing investigation at the International Criminal Court,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the body of the Turkish-American woman, who “was deliberately targeted and killed by Israeli soldiers during a peaceful demonstration in solidarity with Palestinians in the occupied West Bank,” will be brought from Israel to Türkiye on Friday for burial.
Turkish-American Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, 26, was shot during a protest against an Israeli settlement near the Palestinian town of Beita, and died of her wounds last week, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.
The incident took place during a regular protest march in Beita, a town near Nablus that has frequently been targeted by Jewish settlers, according to WAFA.
In response, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said its forces “responded with fire toward a main instigator of violent activity who hurled rocks at the forces and posed a threat to them.” The IDF added it was investigating reports of a foreign national’s death.
NEW DELHI — A mysterious fever outbreak in the western Indian state of Gujarat has killed 16 people, officials said Thursday.
The outbreak has been reported in several villages of Kachchh district, about 380 km west of Gandhinagar, the capital city of Gujarat.
Doctors have yet to diagnose the disease accurately. Health officials said cases of mysterious fever began to pour in immediately after the region was hit by flooding following heavy rainfall.
“So far 16 deaths have been reported in seven villages of Lakhpat and Abdasa of Kutch after the outbreak of fever,” local health minister Rushikesh Patel said. “The health department of the entire state is in action to ascertain the reasons behind the disease.”
Locals told the media the patients who died from the mysterious disease had symptoms like fever, cold, cough, pneumonia and breathing issues.
Health officials said since the beginning of this month over 60 cases of mysterious fever have been detected.
Amit Arora, district collector of Kachchh, was quoted in local media saying the deaths appear to have been caused by pneumonia.
“It does not appear to be from contamination nor does it seem like a communicable disease,” Arora said. “Samples are being collected for testing against dengue, malaria, H1N1 swine flu, and pneumonia. Teams from the health department are keeping a close watch on this,” he said.
Officials have sent 11 samples of the deceased to Pune’s National Institute of Virology to determine the cause.
“The results are expected to arrive in a day or two,” Arora said.
This season the Kutch district received the highest rainfall in Gujarat, recording about 890 mm of rain, or 184 percent of the average until Sept. 10.
VIENTIANE — The weather bureau of Laos issued a flood alert on Thursday as water levels in the Mekong River and its main tributaries continue to rise following days of heavy rain across Laos.
The level of the Mekong River in Luang Prabang was recorded at 19.02 meters on Thursday, exceeding the danger level of 18 meters, according to the Department of Meteorology and Hydrology under the Lao Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.
The level of the Mekong River section in Oudomxay was recorded at 29.90 meters, exceeding the warning level of 29 meters, with the danger level at 30 meters.
In Xayaboury, the Mekong has risen to 13.95 meters, with a warning level of 15 meters and a danger level of 16 meters.
The level of the Mekong River in Pakxan district of Bolikhamxay province was recorded at 11.15 meters, with the warning level at 13.50 meters and danger level at 14.50 meters.
The level of the Mekong River in the Lao capital Vientiane was recorded at 11.45 meters, compared with a warning level of 11.50 meters and a danger level of 12.50 meters, the weather bureau reported.
Lao authorities are advising people in low-lying areas to prepare to move their belongings to a safer place.
Northern Laos is experiencing some of the worst flooding in recent years after tropical storm Yagi brought prolonged heavy rainfall, which caused already swollen rivers to rise further and some to overflow.
Various government agencies are providing vehicles and other forms of assistance to help people move their belongings and livestock away from rivers.
KOTA BHARU — ‘Tolong ringankan hukuman saya, saya sudah taubat dan saya mahu kembali kepada anak-anak kerana mahu membimbing mereka’.
Demikian rayuan seorang buruh sebelum Mahkamah Sesyen, di sini, hari ini menjatuhkan hukuman penjara 72 tahun dan 60 sebatan atas enam pertuduhan merogol anak kandungnya berusia 15 tahun sehingga melahirkan anak di Kuala Krai, tahun lalu.
Hakim Zulkifli Abllah menjatuhkan hukuman selepas tertuduh yang berusia 46 tahun mengaku bersalah terhadap kesemua pertuduhan yang dibacakan terhadapnya.
Mahkamah menjatuhkan hukuman penjara 12 tahun dan 10 sebatan bagi setiap pertuduhan dan hukuman berkenaan berjalan secara berasingan.
Mahkamah juga memerintahkan tertuduh menjalani rehabilitasi dan kaunseling ketika berada di penjara selain pengawasan polis selama setahun selepas tamat hukuman.
Tertuduh didakwa merogol anak kandungnya berusia 15 tahun ketika kejadian tanpa kerelaan yang mana perhubungan tertuduh dengan mangsa adalah tidak dibenarkan mengikut undang-undang, hukum agama dan adat.
Perbuatan itu dilakukan di lokasi sama iaitu sebuah rumah di Kampung Manek Urai, Kuala Krai antara Januari hingga Oktober 2023 sekitar jam 1 pagi sehingga 10 pagi.
Tertuduh didakwa mengikut Seksyen 376(3) Kanun Keseksaan yang jika sabit kesalahan boleh dipenjara sehingga 30 tahun dan juga 10 sebatan.
Pendakwaan dilakukan Timbalan Pendakwa Raya, Kamarul Hasyime Rosli, manakala tertuduh tidak diwakili peguam.
Terdahulu, Kamarul Hasyime memohon hukuman setimpal dikenakan supaya memberi pengajaran kepada tertuduh memandangkan mangsa adalah anak kandungnya dan perbuatan terkutuk itu menyebabkan mangsa hamil dan melahirkan anak lelaki.
Tertuduh pula menerusi rayuannya memohon hukuman ringan dikenakan memandangkan anak-anaknya masih kecil selain masih memerlukannya sebagai bapa.
“Saya sudah insaf dan berjanji tidak akan mengulangi perbuatan itu,” katanya.
KUALA TERENGGANU — Seorang tukang urut dipenjara lima tahun di Mahkamah Sesyen di sini hari ini atas tuduhan melakukan amang seksual fizikal terhadap remaja perempuan yang juga pelanggannya.
Hakim Mohd Zul Zakiqudin Zulkifli membuat keputusan itu selepas tertuduh, Ishak Abdul Rahman,57, didapati bersalah terhadap pertuduhan berkenaan.
Mengikut pertuduhan, tertuduh didakwa melakukan amang seksual fizikal terhadap mangsa yang ketika kejadian berusia 16 tahun 10 bulan di sebuah pondok di Dungun, jam 8.45 malam pada 21 Februari 2023.
Bagi kesalahan itu, tertuduh didakwa mengikut Seksyen 14 (d) Akta Kesalahan-kesalahan Seksual Terhadap Kanak-kanak 2017.
Mahkamah mengarahkan hukuman penjara ke atas tertuduh bermula daripada tarikh sabitan iaitu hari ini.
Pendakwaan dikendalikan Timbalan Pendakwa Raya, Noradila Ab Latif manakala tertuduh diwakili peguam, Nor Azri Mohd Arif.
IPOH — Seorang mekanik maut tersepit antara dua kenderaan ketika sedang membaiki sebuah treler rosak di Kilometer (KM) 286.6 Lebuhraya Utara-Selatan (PLUS), arah utara, dekat Simpang Pulai, di sini, awal pagi tadi.
Dalam kejadian pada jam 1.35 pagi itu, Mohammad Marinoor Chik, 60, tersepit antara bahagian hadapan treler dengan bahagian belakang van miliknya.
Ketua Polis Daerah Ipoh, Asisten Komisioner Abang Zainal Abidin Abang Ahmad, berkata siasatan awal mendapati, mangsa menghentikan van dinaikinya di kiri bahu jalan untuk membaiki treler
Katanya, tidak lama kemudian, seorang lelaki berusia 36 tahun yang juga rakan setugas mangsa hadir ke lokasi kejadian dengan memandu van berlainan dan berhenti di hadapan kenderaan mangsa.
“Ketika mangsa sedang membaiki treler yang rosak itu, secara tiba-tiba rakan setugas mangsa mengundurkan kenderaannya ke belakang dengan laju lalu melanggar van mangsa.
“Akibat perlanggaran itu, van mangsa menggelongsor ke belakang dan menghimpit mangsa yang berada di tengah-tengah antara treler dan vannya itu.
“Rakan setugas mangsa kemudian melarikan diri dari tempat kejadian,” katanya dalam kenyataan, hari ini.
Beliau berkata, mangsa yang parah disahkan meninggal dunia di tempat kejadian dan dihantar ke Hospital Raja Permaisuri Bainun untuk dibedah siasat.
“Pemandu treler dan rakan setugas mangsa tidak mengalami sebarang kecederaan.
“Kes disiasat mengikut Seksyen 41(1) Akta Pengangkutan Jalan 1987 iaitu menyebabkan kematian kerana memandu melulu atau membahayakan,” katanya.
Orang awam yang menyaksikan kemalangan terbabit diminta menghubungi pegawai penyiasat kes, Inspektor Edwin Tang Chiew Song di talian 016-5506863 atau tampil ke balai polis berhampiran bagi membantu siasatan.
ALOR GAJAH — Perjalanan pulang seorang pekerja kilang berakhir tragedi apabila maut selepas motosikal ditunggangi dipercayai dihempap pokok tumbang di Jalan Industri Kelemak, di sini pagi tadi.
Dalam kejadian kira-kira jam 6.30 pagi, mangsa, Ikhmal Hakimi Hasrul Rizuan,18, yang menunggang motosikal Benelli maut di lokasi kejadian akibat parah di kepala.
Ketua Polis Daerah Alor Gajah, Superintendan Ashari Abu Samah, berkata polis menerima laporan kemalangan itu pada jam 6.50 pagi.
Menurutnya, berdasarkan siasatan awal, mangsa dalam perjalanan pulang dari arah Alor Gajah menghala ke rumah di Taman Lendu Bakti, Masjid Tanah, di sini.
“Ketika tiba di lokasi dipercayai sebatang pokok tumbang menghempap tangki motosikal sehingga menyebabkan penunggang jatuh di atas jalan.
“Mangsa disahkan meninggal dunia di tempat kejadian akibat kecederaan di kepala.
“Mayatnya dibawa ke Unit Forensik Hospital Alor Gajah untuk proses bedah siasat dan kenderaan terbabit ditahan untuk dibawa ke Puspakom bagi pemeriksaan kenderaan,” katanya dalam kenyataan hari ini.
Ashari berkata, pihaknya sedang mengesan saksi bagi membantu siasatan dan kes disiasat mengikut Seksyen 41(1) Akta Pengangkutan Jalan 1987.
Clockwise, from top left: Peru’s former president Alberto Fujimori after winning re-election in April 1995; reviewing the guard of honor in Lima on July 28, 1995; at a hospital in Lima with his children on April 30, 2024; appearing in court in Lima for trial on graft and corruption on November 7, 2013; and addressing a campaign rally on May 17 2000 in Cajamarca. (AFP photos)
LIMA — Former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori, who steered economic growth during the 1990s but was later jailed for human rights abuses stemming from a bloody war against Maoist rebels, died on Wednesday. He was aged 86.
Close colleagues visited him earlier in the day, reporting that he was in a critical condition.
“After a long battle with cancer, our father… has just departed to meet the Lord,” his daughter Keiko Fujimori wrote in a message on X, also signed by the former leader’s other children.
Fujimori, the son of Japanese immigrants, was the little-known chancellor of a farming university when elected to office in 1990. He quickly established himself as a cunning politician whose hands-on style produced results even as he angered critics for concentrating power.
He slayed hyperinflation that had thrown millions of Peruvians out of work, privatized dozens of state-run companies, and slashed trade tariffs, setting the foundations for Peru to become, for a while, one of Latin America’s most stable economies.
Under his watch, the feared leader of the Maoist Shining Path, Abimael Guzman, was captured — dealing a crucial blow to a movement that in the 1980s seemed close to toppling the Peruvian state. Guzman died in prison in September 2021.
But many Peruvians saw Fujimori as an autocrat after he used military tanks to shut down Congress in 1992, redrafting the constitution to his liking to push free-market reforms and tough anti-terrorism laws.
A slew of corruption scandals during his 10-year administration also turned public opinion against him.
Shortly after he won a third election in 2000 — amending the constitution to run — videos emerged of his top adviser and spy chief Vladimiro Montesinos doling out cash to bribe politicians. Fujimori fled to exile in Japan.
He resigned via fax from Tokyo and then unsuccessfully campaigned for a Japanese senatorial seat.
Montesinos was later captured in Venezuela and jailed, convicted by the hundreds of videos he recorded of himself handing out cash bribes to politicians and business and media executives.
The cases against Fujimori piled up — including accusations that he had ordered the use of death squads in his battle against Shining Path militants.
Fujimori was safe in Japan — he was a dual citizen and Japan does not extradite its citizens. So many were shocked when in 2005 he decided to head back to Peru, apparently in hopes of forgiveness and a return to politics.
Instead, he was detained during a layover in Chile, extradited to Peru in 2007, and in 2009 he was convicted and sentenced to 25 years in prison.
’FUJI-SHOCK’
Once jailed, Fujimori’s public appearances were limited to hospital visits where he often appeared disheveled and unwell.
While detractors dismissed his health complaints as a ploy to get out of prison, then-president Pedro Pablo Kuczynski briefly pardoned Fujimori in 2017.
Months later Kuczynski was impeached and the pardon overturned by Peru’s top constitutional court, sending Fujimori back to the special prison that held him and no other inmates.
The court restored the pardon in December 2023, releasing the ailing Fujimori, who had suffered from stomach ulcers, hypertension and tongue cancer. In May 2024, Fujimori announced he had been diagnosed with a malignant tumor.
Fujimori’s legacy has been most passionately defended by his daughter Keiko, who has been close to clinching the presidency herself three times on a platform that has included pardoning her father and defending his constitution.
The late Fujimori was born in Lima on Peruvian Independence Day, July 28, 1938.
A mathematician and agricultural engineer, Fujimori was a political nobody when he decided to run for the presidency, driving a tractor to his campaign rallies. He surprised the world by defeating renowned writer Mario Vargas Llosa in the 1990 election, with heavy support from the left.
He touted himself as an alternative to the country’s white elite and gained crucial support from Peru’s large Indigenous and mixed race populations.
As Peru battled what was among the world’s worst hyperinflation, Fujimori promised not to carry out drastic measures to tame it.
But on his second week in office he suddenly lifted the subsidies that kept food essentials affordable, in what became known as the ‘Fuji-shock.’
“May God help us,” Fujimori’s finance minister said on TV after announcing the measure. Inflation worsened in the short-term but the bet paid off, eventually stabilizing the economy after over a decade of crisis.
Even as support for him started to wane, Fujimori pulled off audacious stunts in his second term.
In 1997, he devised a plan to dig tunnels under the Japanese ambassador’s residence in Lima to end a four-month hostage crisis after another insurgency, the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement, took 500 people captive for 126 days.
In a surprise attack, Fujimori sent in more than 100 commandos in a raid that killed all 14 insurgents.
Only two commandos and one of the remaining 72 hostages died. Television footage showed Fujimori calmly stepping over the corpses of the insurgents after the raid.
Fujimori was married twice. A public falling-out with his first wife Susana Higuchi while he was president led him to name daughter Keiko as the first lady. The couple had three other children, including Kenjo Fujimori, also a politician.
HANOI — As of Thursday morning, Typhoon Yagi and the consequent landslides and floods had left 197 dead and 128 missing in Vietnam, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development announced.
Yagi, the most powerful typhoon to hit Asia this year, made landfall on the northern coast of Vietnam on Saturday and moved westwards, hitting the capital Hanoi with gales and heavy rain.
The storm also hit other provinces up the Red River, the area’s largest, collapsing a bridge on Monday.
LIMA — A prison worker was killed and another injured early Wednesday in an armed assault outside a prison in southern Peru’s Ica region, according to the National Penitentiary Institute (Inpe).
“Our Institution expresses its condolences to the family of the deceased and will provide all necessary support to the workers affected by this incident,” the agency said on X, formerly Twitter.
The victims of the assault outside the prison in the city of Chincha were identified as Fanny Flor Hernandez Correa, who died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital, and Manuel Ricardo Cervantes Cruz, who was injured and “is out of danger.”
The assault took place around 7:30 a.m. local time (1230 GMT) when suspects riding a motorcycle ambushed the workers, as they were arriving by car at a security checkpoint several meters from the prison entrance, the state-run news agency Andina reported.
Hernandez Correa had previously received death threats inside the prison, said the report.
KUALA LUMPUR — Bekas pembantu penyelidik Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Muhammed Yusoff Rawther, didakwa di Mahkamah Majistret hari ini atas pertuduhan mengedar 305 gram ganja minggu lalu.
Yusoff, 31, didakwa mengedar ganja kira-kira jam 10.15 pagi di hadapan tempat letak kereta surau Ibu Pejabat Polis Kontinjen Kuala Lumpur pada 6 September lalu.
Pertuduhan dibuat mengikut Seksyen 39B(1)(a) Akta Dadah Berbahaya yang boleh dihukum di bawah Seksyen 39(B(2) membawa hukuman penjara seumur hidup dan sebat tidak kurang daripada 12 sebatan.
Dia mengangguk dan memahami pertuduhan dibacakan di hadapan Majistret M S Arunjothy.
Bagaimanapun, tiada pengakuan direkodkan daripada Yusoff kerana kes dadah di bawah bidang kuasa Mahkamah Tinggi.
Timbalan Pendakwa Raya Mohd Sabri Othman meminta mahkamah menetapkan tarikh sebutan semula sementara menunggu keputusan bahan yang telah dihantar ke Jabatan Kimia untuk dianalisis.
Mahkamah menetapkan 12 November untuk sebutan semula kes.
Yusoff diwakili peguam Muhammad Rafique Rashid Ali.
Rafique akan mengadakan sidang media berhubung perkara itu lewat hari ini.
Terdahulu, Yusoff tiba di kompleks mahkamah di bawah kawalan ketat polis hari ini.
Semalam, ketua polis bandar raya Datuk Rusdi Mohd Isa mengesahkan menerima laporan berhubung penahanan seorang lelaki di Bukit Kiara.
Beliau dilaporkan berkata lelaki itu ditahan selepas polis menemui dua pistol tiruan dan blok mampat yang disyaki ganja di dalam kenderaannya.
Kes disiasat mengikut Seksyen 36 Akta Senjata 1960 kerana memiliki dan mengimport senjata tiruan dan Seksyen 39B Akta Dadah Berbahaya 1952.
Dilaporkan Yusoff ditahan Jumaat lalu selepas polis didakwa menemui dua pistol dan 305g ganja di dalam kereta yang dinaikinya.
Rafique berkata Yusoff ditahan sekitar jam 9.30 pagi pada hari sama.
LIMA — At least three people died and 22 were injured when an interprovincial bus veered off the road and capsized on a highway in northern Peru’s Piura region early Wednesday morning, local media reported.
According to the Andina news agency, the accident occurred around 3:00 a.m. local time when the “El Dorado” company’s bus left the road in the Los Organos district.
The injured were transferred to clinics and hospitals in Piura and the neighboring region of Tumbes, the final destination of the trip, to receive medical care.
The 46-year-old driver was arrested by the police on suspicion of crimes against life, body and health, although the causes of the accident are under investigation.
LA PAZ — At least six people died and seven others were injured when a cargo truck going the wrong way collided head-on with a public transit minibus in western Bolivia on Wednesday, according to local authorities.
The accident occurred along a highway connecting the departments of La Paz and Oruro, 35 km from the city of La Paz, the departmental chief of police in La Paz, Edgar Cortez, told local media.
“Unfortunately, this accident has left six people dead, including minors, and several injured who were taken to nearby medical centers,” said Cortez.
The minibus, which was headed to the city of La Paz, was carrying 13 people when the head-on collision occurred. The front of the bus was smashed and the vehicle ran off the road.
According to initial investigation, the driver of the truck fled and authorities are trying to locate him.
The police chief said the accident once again puts the focus on road safety in Bolivia, where road infrastructure and reckless driving lead to a significant number of deaths each year.
LIMA — At least three people died and 22 were injured when an interprovincial bus veered off the road and capsized on a highway in northern Peru’s Piura region early Wednesday morning, local media reported.
According to the Andina news agency, the accident occurred around 3:00 a.m. local time when the “El Dorado” company’s bus left the road in the Los Organos district.
The injured were transferred to clinics and hospitals in Piura and the neighboring region of Tumbes, the final destination of the trip, to receive medical care.
The 46-year-old driver was arrested by the police on suspicion of crimes against life, body and health, although the causes of the accident are under investigation.
Handguns are displayed in an exhibition booth during the annual National Rifle Association (NRA) meeting in Dallas, Texas, U.S., May 17, 2024. REUTERS/Shelby Tauber/File Photo
BOSTON — U.S. authorities said on Wednesday they had seized more than 350 websites selling gun silencers and parts from China used to covert semiautomatic pistols into fully automatic machine guns.
Federal prosecutors in Boston said the seizures followed an investigation since August 2023 into websites, businesses and people offering to illegally sell and import machine gun conversion devices.
Law enforcement conducted undercover purchases from those websites of gun-related items, resulting in shipments from China of packages that falsely described their contents as containing materials like a “necklace” or “toys,” prosecutors said.
In fact, the packages contained machine gun conversion devices known as “switches” and silencers that are prohibited from being imported under the federal National Firearms Act, prosecutors said.
Many of the websites sold counterfeit goods and misused gun manufacturer Glock Inc’s trademark to suggest the switches were produced by the company when they were not, authorities said in court papers.
“The seizure of these domains is a critical step in disrupting the flow of dangerous contraband that threatens public safety,” Acting U.S. Attorney Joshua Levy in Massachusetts said in a statement.
Over 700 machine gun conversion devices, 87 illegal suppressors, 59 handguns and 46 long guns have been seized as a result of the probe, in addition to the 355 websites, said Ketty Larco-Ward, inspector in charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service’s Boston Division.
“The proliferation of readily available devices which allow the illegal manufacturing of machine guns is a plague on our communities,” she said.
CAIRO — The U.N. Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA said six staffers were killed in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip on Wednesday, marking what it said was the highest death toll among its staff in a single incident.
MANILA — The Philippines is the deadliest country in Asia for environment defenders, the latest Global Witness report shows, with the country recording the most environmental killings in the region for over a decade.
At least 196 environmentalists and land activists were killed globally in 2023, according to UK advocacy group’s estimates released earlier this week.
The figure brings the total number of people killed for trying to protect their homes, community or the planet to 2,106 since 2012, when Global Witness started its monitoring.
Colombia was the deadliest country for environmentalists and land rights defenders in 2023, the Philippines was fourth.
“Colombia had record-high defender killings in 2023 with 79 deaths: the highest annual total ever recorded by Global Witness Followed by Brazil (25), Mexico (18) and Honduras (18) and the Philippines (17),” the report read.
At the same time, the Philippines was the third — preceded only by Colombia and Brazil — in the total number of such killings since the first Global Witness report, with 298 environmental and land activists killed between 2012 and 2023.
The report also highlighted “cases of enforced disappearances and abductions, pointed tactics used in both the Philippines and Mexico in particular, as well as the wider use of criminalisation as a tactic to silence activists across the world.”
Besides the Philippines, only two other Asian countries are featured in this year’s report: India, where five activists were killed, and Indonesia, where three such killings were recorded.
Jashaf Shamir Lorenzo, environmentalists and head of research at BAN Toxics Philippines, told Arab News that environmentalists were oppressed in a number of ways.
“The most extreme cases include red-tagging, abduction, and even killings … It seems that environmentalists who are most at risk are those who get in the way of big industries, big politicians. It doesn’t really differ much from what we see happening to journalists, human rights defenders, and activists,” he said.
“We need the government to really take action — environmental concerns have always been a big part of political platforms for decades, but major incidences of abuse point towards a lack of commitment to not only protect the environment, but to protect its stewards.”
He said impunity of the abusers has been aided by government inaction since the times of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, who was in office from 2016 to 2022.
“Ever since Duterte, the government has been really lenient with these things,” he said.
“Unless the government really commits to protecting the environment, these abuses will only worsen.”
Palestinians inspect a school sheltering displaced people, after it was hit by an Israeli strike, in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip, on Sept. 11, 2024. (Reuters)
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli airstrikes across Gaza overnight and Wednesday hit a UN school sheltering displaced Palestinian families as well as two homes, killing at least 34 people, including 19 women and children, hospital officials said.
The deadliest strike came Wednesday afternoon, targeting the UN’s Al-Jawni Preparatory Boys School in central Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp. The Israeli military said it was targeting Hamas militants planning attacks from inside the school. The claim could not be independently confirmed.
At least 14 dead from the strike, including two children and a woman, were brought to Awda and Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospitals nearby, officials from the facilities said. At least 18 people were wounded in the strike, they said.
One of the children killed was the daughter of Momin Selmi, a member of Gaza’s civil defense agency, which works rescuing wounded and bodies after strikes, the agency said in a statement. Selmi hadn’t seen his daughter for 10 months, since he remained in north Gaza to keep working while his family fled south, the agency said.
Tens of thousands of Palestinians driven from their homes by Israeli offensives and evacuation orders are living in Gaza’s schools. The Al-Jawni school, one of many in Gaza run by the UN agency for Palestinians UNWRA, has been hit by multiple strikes over the course of the war.
Israel frequently bombs schools, saying they are being used by Hamas militants. It blames Hamas for civilian casualties from its strikes, saying its fighters base themselves and operate within dense residential neighborhoods.
More than 90 percent of Gaza’s school buildings have been severely or partially damaged in strikes, and more than half the schools housing displaced people have been hit, according to a survey in July by the Education Cluster, a collection of aid groups led by UNICEF and Save the Children.
Israel’s 11-month-old campaign in Gaza has killed at least 41,084 Palestinians and wounded another 95,029, the territory’s Health Ministry said Wednesday. Israel launched its campaign vowing to destroy Hamas after the Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel, in which militants killed some 1,200 people and abducted 250 others.
Earlier Wednesday, a strike hit a home near the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, killing 11 people, including six brothers and sisters from the same family ranging in age from 21 months to 21 years old, according to the European Hospital, which received the casualties.
A strike late Tuesday on a home in the urban Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza killed nine people, including six women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry and the civil defense. The civil defense said the home belonged to Akram Al-Najjar, a professor at the Al-Quds Open University, who survived the strike.
