Category: NEWS

MOSCOW — U.S. President Joe Biden’s decision to allow Kiev to deploy U.S. long-range missiles for strikes inside Russia would escalate the Ukrainian conflict, local media reported on Monday, citing the Kremlin.

In a major shift of his administration’s policy on the Ukraine crisis, Biden has authorized Kiev to use U.S.-supplied long-range missiles, or the Army Tactical Missile System, to strike targets inside Russia, U.S. media reported on Sunday.

“If such a decision were indeed formulated and conveyed to the Kiev regime, then … this would mark a qualitatively new round of tensions and a qualitatively new situation in terms of U.S. involvement in this conflict,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told journalists.

He reiterated that Moscow’s stance on this issue should be clear to everyone.

“It is obvious that the outgoing administration in Washington plans to take steps, as they have said, aimed at fueling the fire and provoking further escalation of tensions around this conflict,” Peskov said.

XINHUA

GAZA — At least 30 Palestinians were killed on Monday in Israeli airstrikes on different areas in the Gaza Strip, said Palestinian sources.

At least 17 Palestinians were killed in an Israeli air raid on a house near Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia in northern Gaza, Palestinian medical sources told Xinhua.

In another Israeli bombing in Beit Lahia, the Civil Defense in Gaza said that two people were killed and dozens of others were wounded.

In the southern Gaza Strip, four Palestinians, including two children, were killed and dozens of others were wounded in an Israeli bombing that targeted a tent housing displaced people in the Mawasi area of Khan Younis, medics from Nasser Hospital in the city told Xinhua.

Three Palestinians were also killed in two separate attacks by Israeli drones east and north of Rafah city, according to Palestinian medical sources.

In central Gaza, medics from al-Awda Hospital told Xinhua that four Palestinians were killed in an Israeli bombing of the Faraj family home north of al-Nuseirat city.

Israel has been launching a large-scale offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip to retaliate against a Hamas rampage through the southern Israeli border on Oct. 7, 2023, during which about 1,200 people were killed and about 250 taken hostage.

The Palestinian death toll from ongoing Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip has risen to 43,922, the Gaza-based health authorities said in a statement on Monday.

XINHUA

GENEVA — A convoy of 109 trucks was violently looted on Nov. 16 after crossing into Gaza, resulting in the loss of 98 trucks, an UNRWA aid official told Reuters on Monday.

The convoy carrying food provided by UN agencies UNRWA and the World Food Programme was instructed by Israel to depart at short notice via an unfamiliar route from Kerem Shalom crossing, Louise Wateridge, UNRWA Senior Emergency Officer told Reuters.

“This incident highlights the severity of access challenges of bringing aid into southern and central Gaza,” she said.

AN-REUTERS

LUANDA — Six people were killed when an overloaded boat sank Sunday near Ilha do Cabo, in Luanda, Angola’s capital, with dozens still missing, local media reported Monday.

About 30 people were on the boat, which was designed for fishing and not equipped to carry more than 10, and the chances of finding more survivors are “very slim,” the Jornal de Angola quoted Herminio Cazucoto, provincial commander of the Civil Protection and Fire Service, as saying.

Rescue efforts are still ongoing in the shipwreck area, the commander said.

Seven survivors have been rescued so far. Four were taken to health facilities, and three have already been discharged.

Xe Agora Aguenta, an Angolan news site, reported that most of the passengers onboard were members of the same family participating in religious activity.

The Port Authority of Luanda said the boat’s captain was allegedly under the influence of alcohol at the time of the accident.

In a message on Sunday, Angolan President Joao Lourenco expressed his condolences to the families affected by the shipwreck. He said the authorities are and will remain fully committed to rescuing efforts and mitigating the damage caused by the incident and that a detailed investigation will be conducted to prevent similar tragedies.

XINHUA

TEHRAN — An Iranian software engineer has ended his occupation at Google over the cooperation of the US-based multinational corporation with the Israeli regime.

“I’m happy to announce that I have left Google,” Fars News Agency on Monday quoted Alireza Zakeri, the Iranian expert, as saying.

The engineer had expressed his concerns several months before he learned about Google’s involvement in Project Nimbus, a cloud infrastructure deal aimed at providing technology services to the Israeli regime.

Unfortunately, despite the efforts of many employees, the leadership chose to maintain its stance and dismissed our collective concerns, he noted.

Living in a way that conflicts with your core values is incredibly challenging, he said, noting that the decision reflected his values.

People around the world have protested against the cooperation of Google with the Zionist regime that has killed nearly 43,800 people in the Gaza Strip since October 2023.

IRNA

ZAHEDAN — Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has announced the martyrdom of two Basij forces in a terrorist attack in the city of Saravan in the southeastern province of Sistan-and-Baluchestan.

The Public Relations Office of the IRGC Ground Force’s Quds Headquarters in southeast Iran issued a statement on Monday, announcing the martyrdom of the two members of Basij, which is a volunteer force within the IRGC.

According to the statement, gunmen attacked the pair as they were in their car on the way back home from their work on Monday morning.

IRNA

MANILA — At least eight people have died as super typhoon Man-yi hit the Philippines over the weekend, triggering flooding and landslides along its path, provincial officials said Monday.

The Nueva Vizcaya Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO) confirmed to Xinhua in a telephone interview that at least seven died in Ambaguio town after their house was buried in a landslide.

“We are still getting the details about the disaster,” said a PDRRMO official who declined to be named because she is not authorized to speak publicly to reporters.

Philippine President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos told reporters that a man also died in Camarines Norte province, southeast of Manila.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, the country’s top disaster coordinator, has yet to report deaths and damages due to Man-yi.

Man-yi is the sixth powerful typhoon that battered the Philippines in less than a month. It is the 16th tropical cyclone to hit the Philippines this year.

The back-to-back cyclones dumped heavy rainfall, flooding, and landslides, wreaking havoc across Luzon and other parts of the archipelago.

Man-yi is expected to exit the Philippines on Monday afternoon.

XINHUA

BEIRUT — Schools in Beirut were closed on Monday after Israeli strikes on the Lebanese capital killed six people including Hezbollah’s spokesman, the latest in a string of top militant targets slain in the war.

Israel escalated its bombardment of Hezbollah strongholds in late September, vowing to secure its northern border with Lebanon to allow Israelis displaced by cross-border fire to return home.

Sunday’s strikes hit densely populated districts of central Beirut that had so far been spared the violence engulfing other areas of Lebanon.

Six people were killed in the strikes, according to Lebanese health ministry figures, including Hezbollah media relations chief Mohammed Afif, the group and Israel’s military said.

The strikes prompted the education ministry to shut schools and higher education institutions in the Beirut area for two days.

Children and young people around Lebanon have been heavily impacted by the war, which has seen schools around the country turned into shelters for the displaced.

Israel widened the focus of its war from Gaza to Lebanon in late September, nearly a year into the conflict in Gaza that was sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack.

In support of its Palestinian ally, Hezbollah launched low-intensity strikes on Israel after the attack, forcing about 60,000 Israelis to flee their homes.

With Hamas weakened but not crushed, Israel escalated its battle against Hezbollah, vowing to fight until victory.

Lebanese authorities say more than 3,480 people have been killed since October last year, with most casualties recorded since September.

Israel says 48 soldiers have been killed fighting Hezbollah.

Israeli strikes have killed senior Hezbollah officials including its leader Hassan Nasrallah in late September.

The group’s spokesman Afif was part of Nasrallah’s inner circle, and one of the group’s few officials to engage with the press.
Another strike hit a busy shopping district of Beirut, sparking a huge blaze that engulfed part of a building and several shops nearby.

Lebanon’s National News Agency said the fire had largely been extinguished by Monday morning, noting it had caused diesel fuel tanks to explode.

It also reported new strikes early Monday on locations around south Lebanon, long a stronghold of Hezbollah.

Israel’s military told AFP it had hit more than 200 targets in Lebanon over 36 hours, including in Beirut’s southern suburbs, Hezbollah’s main bastion.
Lebanon’s military, which is not a party to the conflict, said Israel “directly targeted” an army center in south Lebanon on Sunday, killing two soldiers.

Israel’s military said about 20 projectiles crossed from Lebanon into Israel, and some were intercepted.

Lebanon last week said it was reviewing a US truce proposal in the Israel-Hezbollah war, as Hamas said it was ready for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Ongoing war on Gaza
So far, however, there has been no sign of the wars abating.

The Israeli military kept up its campaign in Gaza over the weekend, where civil defense rescuers said strikes on Sunday killed dozens of people.

Vowing to stop Hamas from regrouping in northern Gaza near the border, Israel on October 6 began an air and ground operation in Jabalia and then expanded it to Beit Lahia.

On Sunday, Gaza’s civil defense agency said 34 people were killed, including children, and dozens were missing after an Israeli air strike hit a five-story residential building in Beit Lahia.

“The chances of rescuing more wounded are decreasing because of the continuous shooting and artillery shelling,” civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP.

Weighed down with backpacks, many like Omar Abdel Aal were fleeing, often on foot, through dusty streets.

“They bombarded the houses and completely destroyed Beit Lahia,” he said.

Israel’s military said there were “ongoing terrorist activities in the area of Beit Lahia” and several strikes were directed at militant targets there.

“We emphasize that there have been continuous efforts to evacuate the civilian population from the active war zone in the area,” the military said.

The United Nations and others have condemned humanitarian conditions in northern Gaza, with the UN agency supporting Palestinian refugees last week calling the situation “catastrophic.”

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza on Sunday said the overall death toll in more than 13 months of war had reached 43,846, a majority civilians, figures that the United Nations consider reliable.

Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

AN-AFP

CHANGCHUN — Part of the roof of an ice rink in the city of Baicheng, northeast China’s Jilin Province, collapsed on Monday morning, though no casualties were reported, local authorities said.

The incident occurred at around 7:35 a.m., and the cause of the collapse is currently under investigation, the city’s emergency management department announced in a statement.

XINHUA

CAIRO — Israeli military strikes across the Gaza Strip killed 18 Palestinians on Monday, including six people who were killed in attacks on tents housing displaced families, medics said.

Four people, two of them children, were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a tent encampment in the coastal area of Al-Mawasi, designated as a humanitarian zone, while two were killed in temporary shelters in the southern city of Rafah and another in drone fire, health officials said.

In Beit Lahiya town in northern Gaza, medics said an Israeli missile struck a house, killing at least two people and wounding several others. On Sunday, medics and residents said dozens of people were killed or wounded in an Israeli airstrike on a multi-floor residential building in the town.

The Israeli military, which has been fighting Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza since October 2023, said it conducted strikes on “terrorist targets,” in Beit Lahiya.

An Israeli airstrike on a house in Gaza City killed five people and wounded 10 others, medics said. Later on Monday, an Israeli air strike killed four people in the Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip, they added.

There has been no Israeli comment on Monday’s incidents.

In Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, relatives of Palestinians killed in an Israeli airstrike on tents housing displaced families sat beside bodies wrapped in blankets and white shrouds to pay farewell before walking them to graves.

“My brother wasn’t the only one; many others have been martyred in this brutal way — children torn to pieces, civilians shredded. They weren’t carrying weapons or even know ‘the resistance’, yet they were ripped apart into fragments,” said Mohammed Aboul Hassan, who lost his brother in the attack.

“We remain steadfast, patient, and resilient, and by the will of God, we will never falter. We will stay steadfast and patient,” he told Reuters.

The Israeli army sent tanks and soldiers into Beit Lahiya and the nearby towns of Beit Hanoun and Jabalia, the largest of the Gaza Strip’s eight historic refugee camps, early last month in what it said was a campaign to fight Hamas militants waging attacks and prevent them from regrouping.

Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya, said the hospital was under siege by Israeli forces and the World Health Organization had been unable to deliver supplies of food, medicine and surgical equipment.

Cases of malnutrition among children were increasing, he said, and the hospital was operating at a minimal level.

“We receive daily distress calls, but we are unable to assist them due to the lack of ambulances, and the situation is catastrophic,” he said. “Yesterday, I received a distress call from women and children trapped under the rubble, and due to my inability to help them, they are now among the martyrs (dead).”

Israel said it had killed hundreds of militants in the three northern areas, which residents said was cut off from Gaza City, making it difficult and dangerous for them to flee. The armed wings of Hamas and militant group Islamic Jihad said they have killed many Israeli soldiers in anti-tank rocket and mortar fire attacks during the same period.

The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 43,800 people have been confirmed killed since the war erupted on Oct. 7, 2023. Hamas militants killed around 1,200 people in attacks on communities in southern Israel that day, and hold dozens of some 250 hostages they took back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.

AN-REUTERS

TEHRAN — The Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah has officially confirmed that Mohammed Afif Al Nabulsi its media relations chief has been assassinated in an Israeli airstrike on central Beirut.

In statement in the early hours of Monday, Hezbollah expressed its condolences to Secretary General Naim Qassem, resistance fighters and the family of Al-Nabulsi over his martyrdom.

Mohammad Afif Al-Nabulsi, responsible for Hezbollah’s media relations, along with a number of his colleagues were martyred in the bombardment of the criminal Zionist regime, the statement said, adding that he was a loyal, strong, trusted voice and one of the main pillars of Hezbollah’s media, political and resistance activities.

The movement said, Afif clearly outlined the features of the ongoing war by his live appearances in Beirut’s southern suburbs which have been the focal point of Israeli bombardment of the Lebanese capital.

Hezbollah added that Afif’s brave positions instilled fear in the hearts of the enemy as he was never afraid of the threats to assassinate him and responded to the enemy’s threats with the famous phrase “We are not afraid of bombing, how can we be afraid of threats”.

The Israeli strike on Sunday targeted a building in Beirut’s Ras Al-Naba’a district, resulting in the killing of Hezbollah media relations chief.

IRNA

MOSCOW — Washington’s decision to let Kyiv strike deep into Russia with long-range US missiles escalates the conflict in Ukraine and could lead to World War III, senior Russian lawmakers said on Sunday.

Two US officials and a source familiar with the decision revealed the significant reversal of Washington’s policy in the Ukraine-Russia conflict earlier on Sunday.

“The West has decided on such a level of escalation that it could end with the Ukrainian statehood in complete ruins by morning,” Andrei Klishas, a senior member of the Federation Council, Russia’s upper chamber of parliament, said on the Telegram messaging app.

Vladimir Dzhabarov, first deputy head of the Russian upper house’s international affairs committee, said that Moscow’s response will be immediate.

“This is a very big step toward the start of World War Three,” the TASS state news agency quoted Dzhabarov as saying.

President Vladimir Putin said in September that the West would be fighting Russia directly if it allowed Ukraine to strike Russian territory with Western-made long-range missiles, a move he said would alter the nature and scope of the conflict.

Russia would be forced to take what Putin called “appropriate decisions” based on the new threats.

Leonid Slutsky, chairman of the State Duma lower house’s foreign affairs committee, said that US authorization of strikes by Kyiv on Russia with US ATACMS tactical missiles would lead to the toughest response, Russian news agencies reported.

“Strikes with US missiles deep into Russian regions will inevitably entail a serious escalation, which threatens to lead to much more serious consequences,” TASS news agency quoted Slutsky as saying.

NATO member Poland welcomed Biden’s decision, saying missiles against Russia is “a language Putin understands.”

“With the entry into the war of North Korea troops and (Sunday’s) massive attack of Russian missiles, President Biden responded in a language that (Russian President) V. Putin understands,” Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski posted on X.

“The victim of aggression has the right to defend himself,” Sikorski added in his post. “Strength deters, weakness provokes.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has long pushed for authorization from Washington to use the powerful Army Tactical Missile System, known by its initials ATACMS, to hit targets inside Russia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that approval would mean that NATO was “at war” with his country — a threat he has made previously when Ukraine’s Western backers have escalated their military assistance to Kyiv.

AN-REUTERS

LONDON — An Israeli military court sentenced on Sunday the Palestinian journalist Rasha Herzallah to six months in jail and issued a fine of 13,000 shekels ($3,300).

Herzallah, 39, was working for the official Palestine News and Information Agency (WAFA) at the time of her arrest last June, when she was summoned for an investigation at the Israeli Huwwara detention center north of the occupied West Bank.

Her detention was extended five times before a charge of “incitement on social media” was brought in court.

She is the sister of Muhammad Herzallah, who died from his wounds in November 2023 after being shot in the head by Israeli forces during a raid of Nablus city, WAFA reported.

Herzallah’s court hearing was held at the Israeli Salem military base near Jenin, her family told WAFA. She is expected to be released from prison on Dec. 1.

She is among 94 Palestinian journalists currently detained in Israeli jails since Oct. 7, 2023.

WAFA reported that four female journalists, including Herzallah, Rola Hassanin, Bushra Al-Tawil, and Amal Shujaiyah, a journalism student from Birzeit University, remain in Israeli detention.

AN, Nov 17, 2024

TEGUCIGALPA — Slow-moving Tropical Depression Sara unleashed major rainfall over Honduras this weekend, causing at least one death while forcing thousands to flee their homes and destroying bridges and a highway due to flooding, officials said on Sunday.

Airports in the capital Tegucigalpa and industrial hub San Pedro Sula were shuttered, according to civil aviation officials.

Sara churned to the northwest where it made landfall on neighboring Belize on Sunday, home to ancient ruins, beach resorts and coral reefs popular with tourists. It also threatened major flooding and swollen rivers.

The center of the storm is currently located some 55 miles (88 km) west of Belize City, the tiny Caribbean nation’s commercial hub, according to the latest report from the U.S. National Hurricane Center. The government urged locals to hold Sunday religious services remotely while announcing that all schools would be suspended on Monday as a precaution.

The NHC on Sunday downgraded the storm to a Tropical Depression from a Tropical Storm, and said it expects it to weaken as it moves further inland over Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula.

The Miami-based forecaster estimates Sara’s maximum sustained winds at 35 miles per hour (55 kph), and its northwesterly movement at only 8 mph (13 kph).

In a report, Honduran risk management officials added that more than 71,000 people had been impacted by the storm, with around 4,000 evacuated from homes and relocated to shelters.

At least 251 communities were listed as cut off from communications as more rain continued to fall Sunday over much of the country, especially eastern and southern areas.

At a virtual press conference, Belize Chief Meteorologist Ronald Gordon noted that some 12 inches (30 cm) of rain hit the central coastal town of Dangriga, south of Belize City, while stressing the risk of localized flooding.

REUTERS

MANILA — A powerful storm sweeping toward the Philippines intensified into a super typhoon on Saturday, the state weather forecaster said, warning of “significant to severe impacts” from the wind and “life-threatening” storm surges.

Around 255,000 people have fled their homes ahead of Super Typhoon Man-yi, which is expected to make landfall later Saturday or early Sunday, becoming the sixth major storm to pummel the archipelago nation in the past month.

With wind gusts of up to 230 kilometers per hour (about 140 miles per hour), Man-yi was on track to slam into the sparsely populated island province of Catanduanes as a super typhoon or “near peak intensity,” the weather service warned.

Up to 14-meter (46-feet) high seas were expected around Catanduanes, while “significant to severe impacts from typhoon-force winds are possible” in the hardest hit areas, along with a “high risk of life-threatening storm surges” exceeding three meters, the forecaster said.

At least 163 people died in the five storms that pounded the Philippines in recent weeks that also left thousands homeless and wiped out crops and livestock.

The government urged people Saturday to heed warnings to flee to safety.

“If preemptive evacuation is required, let us do so and not wait for the hour of peril before evacuating or seeking help, because if we did that we will be putting in danger not only our lives but also those of our rescuers,” Interior Undersecretary Marlo Iringan said.

In Albay province, Legazpi City grocer Myrna Perea was sheltering with her fruit vendor husband and their three children in a school classroom with nine other families after they were ordered to leave their shanty.

Conditions were hot and cramped — the family spent Friday night sleeping together on a mat under the classroom’s single ceiling fan — but Perea said it was better to be safe.

“I think our house will be wrecked when we get back because it’s made of light materials — just two gusts are required to knock it down,” Perea, 44, said.

“That’s why we evacuated. Even if the house is destroyed, the important thing is we do not lose a family member.”

Scientists have warned climate change is increasing the intensity of storms, leading to heavier rains, flash floods and stronger gusts.

About 20 big storms and typhoons hit the Southeast Asian nation or its surrounding waters each year, killing scores of people, but it is rare for multiple such weather events to take place in a small window.

Evacuation centers were filling up on Catanduanes island in the typhoon-prone Bicol region, with the state weather forecaster warning Saturday of “widespread incidents of severe flooding and landslides.”

More than 400 people were squeezed into the provincial government building in the capital Virac, with new arrivals being sent to a gymnasium, provincial disaster officer Roberto Monterola said.

Monterola said he had dispatched soldiers to force about 100 households in two coastal villages near Virac to move inland due to fears storm surges could swamp their homes.

“Regardless of the exact landfall point, heavy rainfall, severe winds, and storm surges may occur in areas outside the predicted landfall zone,” the forecaster said.

In Northern Samar province, disaster officer Rei Josiah Echano lamented that damage caused by typhoons was the root cause of poverty in the region.

“Whenever there’s a typhoon like this, it brings us back to the mediaeval era, we go (back) to square one,” Echano said, as the province prepared for the onslaught of Man-yi.

All vessels — from fishing boats to oil tankers — have been ordered to stay in port or return to shore.

The volcanology agency also warned heavy rain dumped by Man-yi could trigger flows of volcanic sediment, or lahars, from three volcanos, including Taal, south of Manila.

Man-yi will hit the Philippines late in the typhoon season — most cyclones develop between July and October.

Earlier this month, four storms were clustered simultaneously in the Pacific basin, which the Japan Meteorological Agency said on Saturday was the first time such an occurrence had been observed in November since its records began in 1951.

AN-AFP

SIBU — Seorang wanita tempatan berusia lingkungan 30-an kerugian RM86,841 selepas menjadi mangsa penipuan cinta lelaki warga Korea yang dikenali menerusi aplikasi “Tinder” pada Jun lalu.

Ketua Polis Daerah Sibu, Asistan Komisioner Zulkipli Suhaili, berkata dalam laporan polis pada Khamis, pekerja swasta berkenaan memaklumkan pada 19 Jun lalu suspek telah berjanji akan bertemu dengannya selepas permohonan visa suspek diluluskan.

“Pada awal Julai lalu, suspek memberitahu mangsa bahawa dia telah membuat beberapa penghantaran barang kepada mangsa namun barang berkenaan ditahan pihak kastam Indonesia sebelum transit ke Malaysia,” katanya dalam kenyataan hari ini.

Zulkipli berkata selepas berhubung dengan seorang individu yang menyamar sebagai pegawai kastam pada 25 Julai, mangsa diminta untuk membuat beberapa pembayaran bagi mendapatkan sijil pelepasan supaya barangan berkenaan dihantar ke Malaysia.

Mangsa membuat 25 transaksi pindahan wang ke lapan akaun tempatan berjumlah RM86,841 sebelum berasa ragu-ragu dan menyedari dirinya ditipu apabila masih diminta untuk membuat pelbagai pembayaran. Suspek juga tidak dapat dihubungi mangsa selepas itu.

“Pihak polis telah membuka satu kertas siasatan di bawah Seksyen 420 Kanun Keseksaan,” katanya.

BH ONLINE – BERNAMA

LUCKNOW — Ten newborn babies died from burns and suffocation after a fire swept through a neonatal intensive care unit in northern India, a government official said on Saturday.

The blaze broke out late on Friday at the Maharani Laxmibai Medical College in Jhansi district about 285 km (180 miles) southwest of Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh state.

Emergency responders rescued 38 newborns from the ward, which housed 49 infants at the time of the incident, said state Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak.

“Seventeen of the injured are receiving treatment in different wings and some private hospitals,” Pathak told reporters in Jhansi.
Seven of the deceased infants have been identified, while the authorities are working to identify the remaining three, he said.

One infant remains missing, said a government official who asked not to be identified as he is not authorized to speak to media.

The cause of the fire remains unknown. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath ordered an inquiry into the incident.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed condolences over the “heart-wrenching” incident.

“My deepest condolences to those who lost their innocent children in this,” Modi posted on the X platform. “I pray to God to give them the strength to bear this immense loss.”

AN-REUTERS

BEIRUT — The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said in a statement on Friday that an artillery shell hit its West Sector headquarters in the village of Chamaa in southern Lebanon.

“This afternoon, a 155mm live artillery shell hit UNP 2-3, UNIFIL West Sector headquarters in Chamaa,” the statement said.

“The shell did not detonate, and Italian bomb disposal experts swiftly secured the area, removed the ordnance, and conducted a controlled detonation,” the statement said, noting that there were no injuries among the peacekeepers.

“As a precautionary measure due to ongoing hostilities between the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Hezbollah, personnel were in shelters,” it said.

The statement reminded relevant parties to ensure the safety and security of UN personnel and property, noting, “Deliberate attacks on peacekeepers are a grave violation of international humanitarian laws and the UN Security Council Resolution 1701.”

UNIFIL sites and facilities have previously been attacked amid an escalating conflict between the Israeli army and Hezbollah, which began on Oct. 8, 2023.

Statistics released by the Lebanese Health Ministry on Friday revealed that the death toll from Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon since the onset of the conflict has reached 3,445, with injuries rising to 14,599.

Meanwhile, the Lebanese National News Agency reported that on the same day, eight people were killed and nine others injured in Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanon.

XINHUA

IPOH — Mayat seorang wanita ditemukan terapung di lombong Tekah Permai, Taiping, dekat sini hari ini.

Penolong Pengarah Bahagian Operasi Jabatan Bomba dan Penyelamat Malaysia (JBPM) Perak Sabarodzi Nor Ahmad berkata pihaknya menerima laporan berhubung kejadian berkenaan pada 9.13 pagi hasil maklumat polis.

“Mangsa adalah seorang wanita dewasa namun identitinya masih tidak dapat dikenal pasti,” katanya dalam kenyataan.

Beliau berkata 11 anggota dari Balai Bomba dan Penyelamat (BBP) Taiping mengambil masa 15 minit untuk menarik mayat mangsa ke tebing sebelum diserahkan kepada polis untuk tindakan lanjut.

BH ONLINE – BERNAMA

KLUANG — Seorang suspek pecah rumah ditemui mati, manakala dua lagi rakan sejenayah ditahan polis di sebuah rumah dekat Jalan Laksamana Sunrise Park di sini malam tadi.

Timbalan Ketua Polis Daerah Kluang, Superintendan Nik Mohd Azmi Husin, berkata dalam kejadian jam 7.12 malam itu, suspek yang mati ditemui dengan kesan kecederaan pada tangan kanannya dan punca kematiannya itu sedang disiasat.

“Si mati didapati cedera pada salur darah utama kerana banyak kesan darah dijumpai di lokasi. Punca kecederaan itu masih dalam siasatan, sama ada akibat terkena pagar besi rumah atau objek lain ketika pecah masuk rumah atau hendak melarikan diri apabila menyedari penduduk setempat dan polis sampai.

“Sebelum itu, si mati bersama tiga lagi suspek yang berusia lingkungan 29 hingga 48 tahun memecah masuk sebuah rumah dan polis menerima panggilan memaklumkan hal itu dari orang awam.

“Bertindak atas maklumat, sepasukan anggota dan pegawai polis yang tiba di lokasi berjaya menahan dua suspek dan menemui si mati yang telah meninggal dunia di lokasi kejadian,” katanya dalam kenyataan semalam.

Nik Mohd Azmi berkata, susulan kejadian itu juga, polis kini giat mengesan seorang lelaki dikenali sebagai Mohamad Sahli Talib, 39, dengan alamat terakhir di Kampung Belukar Gunong Bachok Kelantan bagi membantu siasatan kes di bawah Seksyen 457 Kanun Keseksaan.

Katanya, bedah siasat terhadap mayat sedang dibuat bagi mengetahui punca sebenar kematian dan jenis objek yang menyebabkan kecederaan yang membawa kepada kematiannya.

“Ketika ini siasatan mengikut kes mati mengejut,” katanya sambil memaklumkan bahawa semua suspek mempunyai rekod jenayah lampau bagi kesalahan jenayah dan narkotik.

“Saringan air kencing terhadap kedua-dua suspek yang ditangkap didapati positif dadah jenis Methamphetamine,” katanya.

BH ONLINE

KAMPAR — Identiti tiga mangsa lemas semasa melakukan aktiviti berakit di Sungai Kampar, dekat Gopeng, petang tadi dikenalpasti sebagai kakitangan Jabatan Kerja Raya (JKR).

Dua mangsa lelaki ialah Mohamad Khairul Hakim Hamidi, 37, dan Muhammad Ikram Abdul Bari, 29, yang bertugas di JKR Langkawi, manakala mangsa wanita iaitu Suhaili Mat Saad, 47, berkhidmat di JKR Seberang Perai Tengah.

Identiti ketiga-tiga mangsa itu disahkan oleh Ketua Polis Daerah Kampar, Superintendan Mohamad Nazri Daud ketika dihubungi malam ini.

Beliau berkata, mangsa wanita berasal dari Kampung Teluk Sungai Kecil, Nibong Tebal, Pulau Pinang.

“Mohamad Khairul Hakim berasal dari Ayer Hangat, Langkawi manakala Muhammad Ikram berasal dari Taman Permata, Jitra, Kedah,” katanya.

Berdasarkan tinjauan di Hospital Kampar, mayat ketiga-tiga mangsa tiba di Unit Forensik sekitar jam 9.55 malam dengan dibawa kenderaan polis.

Terdahulu, dilaporkan mangsa adalah antara 22 peserta yang menyertai aktiviti berakit di Sungai Kampar, dekat Gopeng sempena program ‘Team Building’ yang diiringi enam pemandu pelancong.

Difahamkan, kesemua peserta turun ke kawasan sungai bermula jam 3.30 petang yang mana jarak perjalanan ‘rafting’ adalah enam kilometer (km) menyusuri sungai.

Dikatakan, mangsa dihanyutkan arus di selepas empat km perjalanan menyusuri sungai.

Pengarah Jabatan Bomba dan Penyelamat Malaysia (JBPM) Perak Sayani Saidon dipetik berkata, seramai 10 anggota Balai Bomba dan Penyelamat (BBP) Gopeng dikejarkan ke lokasi kejadian sebaik pihaknya menerima panggilan kecemasan jam 5.56 petang.

Menurutnya, setibanya di tempat kejadian, tiga mangsa terbabit sudah dinaikkan orang awam ke tebing sungai dan disahkan meninggal dunia.

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HULU SELANGOR — Seorang polis bantuan di sebuah agensi yang disangka hilang ditemui meninggal dunia dalam kawasan semak di lereng bukit di Kilometer 408 Lebuhraya Utara Selatan arah utara, dekat Lembah Beringin hari ini.

Mayat lelaki berusia 51 tahun itu ditemui pada jarak kira-kira 300 meter dari motosikalnya, jam 7.50 pagi tadi.

Difahamkan, mangsa dalam perjalanan pulang ke rumahnya di daerah ini.

Ketua Polis Daerah Hulu Selangor, Superintendan Ahmad Faizal Tahrim, berkata polis menerima laporan berhubung kemalangan itu jam 6.02 pagi.

“Siasatan awal mendapati pada jam 11.30 malam tadi, sebuah kereta Toyota Vios dipandu lelaki berusia 24 tahun terbabas dan hilang kawalan lalu melanggar mangsa.

“Kereta itu kemudian terbabas ke lorong kiri dan melanggar penghadang jalan sebelum terbabas ke lorong kanan,” katanya dalam satu kenyataan.

Beliau berkata, kemalangan itu mengakibatkan penunggang motosikal tercampak ke lereng bukit dan disahkan meninggal dunia di lokasi kejadian.

“Mayat dibawa ke Unit Forensik Hospital Kuala Kubu Bharu untuk bedah siasat, manakala kenderaan yang terbabit nahas ditahan di Cawangan Trafik Hulu Selangor untuk tindakan lanjut.

“Kes disiasat Seksyen 41 (1) Akta Pengangkutan Jalan 1987. Polis memohon orang ramai yang mempunyai maklumat berhubung kejadian itu diminta tampil untuk membantu siasatan,” katanya.

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LAHAD DATU — Seorang budak perempuan berusia dua tahun maut selepas motosikal dinaiki bersama tiga ahli keluarganya terbabit nahas dengan sebuah lori di Batu 4, Bulatan Jalan Pan Borneo, di sini.

Mangsa disahkan maut di lokasi kejadian disebabkan kecederaan parah dalam kemalangan kira-kira jam 2.15 petang semalam itu.

Motosikal ditunggang bapanya berusia 47 tahun turut membawa abang mangsa berusia tiga tahun dan ibu mereka berusia 29 tahun.

Ketua Polis Daerah Lahad Datu, Asisten Komisioner Dzulbaharin Ismail, berkata sebelum nahas berkenaan, motosikal dinaiki empat sekeluarga itu dalam perjalanan dari arah Lahad Datu menuju ke Sandakan.

Katanya, sebaik memasuki bulatan jalan, sebuah lori dipandu seorang lelaki berusia 59 tahun dikatakan tiba-tiba keluar dari simpang jalan di sebelah kiri.

“Akibat jarak terlalu dekat, bapa mangsa gagal mengelak lalu terus merempuh tayar hadapan lori berkenaan. Susulan itu, mangsa bersama tiga lagi ahli keluarga tercampak dari motosikal ke atas jalan,” katanya dalam kenyataan, hari ini.

Menurutnya, bapa, ibu dan abang mangsa mengalami kecederaan lalu dihantar ke Hospital Lahad Datu untuk rawatan.

“Sampel darah pemandu dan penunggang motosikal sudah diambil dan dihantar ke Jabatan Kimia untuk ujian alkohol serta dadah. Siasatan lanjut dijalankan mengikut Seksyen 41(1) Akta Pengangkutan Jalan 1987,” katanya.

Dzulbaharin meminta orang ramai yang mempunyai maklumat berhubung kejadian berkenaan menghubungi Inspektor Muhammad Rasul Ramlee di talian 089-881225 untuk membantu siasatan.

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KATHMANDU — A sports utility vehicle fell off a highway in far-western Nepal on Friday morning, leaving eight dead and five others wounded.

The vehicle carrying a total of 13 people fell around 300 meters down a cliff at around 4 a.m. local time in Darchula district.

“The car was carrying pilgrims who were returning after visiting the Mallikarjun temple in the district,” said Chhatra Bahadur Rawat, spokesperson for district police.

He told Xinhua that three of the injured were in serious condition.

The fatal accident is the fourth in eight days in mountainous Nepal.

XINHUA

TEHRAN — The Zionist regime has killed 24 more Palestinians in the Gaza Strip as the death toll reaches 43,736, media outlets have reported.

According to Al Mayadeen, Israeli forces killed 24 civilians and injured 112 others in three massacres over the past 24 hours, the Palestinian Health Ministry announced on Thursday.

A ministry statement added that some 103,370 others were injured in the ongoing assault since last October.

The death toll has reached at least 43,736 civilians in the Strip in the said time.

The death toll from Israel’s yearlong war on Gaza is likely far higher with thousands of bodies buried in the rubble of the vast destruction throughout the Palestinian territory.

An official of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees has warned that humanitarian aid arriving in the Gaza Strip has reached its lowest in the past few weeks.

Louise Wateridge warned that aid entering the Gaza Strip has been at its lowest level in the past month, the Palestinian Wafa news agency reported on Tuesday.

IRNA, Nov 14, 2024

LIMA, Peru — Malaysia menzahirkan komitmen untuk membantu pembangunan umat Islam di Peru termasuk memudahkan urusan pensijilan halal.

Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim berkata perkara itu dinyatakan beliau dalam pertemuan bersama Persatuan Islam Peru, di sini.

“Alhamdulillah, diberi kesempatan untuk bertemu dan mengadakan perbincangan bersama Persatuan Islam Peru diketuai Presidennya, Murad Hamida.

“Dalam pertemuan ini, kami telah membincangkan soal pembangunan umat Islam di Peru.

“Turut dibangkitkan adalah komitmen Malaysia dalam memudahkan urusan pensijilan halal serta membantu pendidikan Islam dan dakwah dalam kalangan komuniti Islam di Peru,” katanya menerusi perkongsian di media sosial.

Mengulas lanjut, menurut Anwar, dalam pertemuan kira-kira 30 minit itu, Persatuan Islam Peru turut memuji usaha Malaysia yang sentiasa di hadapan dalam memperjuangkan nasib saudara Islam di Palestin dan Lubnan yang ditindas rejim Zionis Israel.

Pada masa sama, Perdana Menteri turut menyampaikan sumbangan kepada komuniti Islam di Peru, selain menyerahkan 50 naskah Al-Quran cetakan khas dan terjemahan dalam bahasa Sepanyol.

Semalam, ketika sidang media bersama Presiden Peru, Dina Ercilia Boluarte Zegarra selepas mesyuarat dua hala, Anwar dilaporkan berkata Malaysia bercadang membangunkan zon ekonomi halal di Peru dalam usaha menembusi pasaran Amerika Latin.

Katanya, Pelabuhan Chancay di republik itu boleh dimanfaatkan sebagai laluan strategik untuk mengeksport produk halal negara.

Perdana Menteri berada di ibu negara Peru sempena lawatan rasmi sulungnya ke rantau Amerika Latin, selain menghadiri Mesyuarat Pemimpin-Pemimpin Ekonomi APEC (AELM) Kerjasama Ekonomi Asia-Pasifik (APEC) ke-31 dari 14 hingga 16 November ini.

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HONG KONG — An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.7 jolted 112 km ESE of Kokopo, Papua New Guinea, at 0528 GMT on Friday, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

The epicenter, with a depth of 52.4 km, was initially determined to be at 4.74 degrees south latitude and 153.20 degrees east longitude.

XINHUA

KLUANG — Seorang penunggang motosikal maut manakala dua lagi cedera dalam kemalangan membabitkan tiga kenderaan termasuk treler di Kilometer 69.5, Lebuh Raya Utara Selatan arah utara berhampiran Machap, kira-kira 7.40 pagi tadi.

Ini adalah kemalangan maut kedua membabitkan treler dalam tempoh tiga hari selepas di Jalan Bukit Tengah, Bukit Mertajam yang menyaksikan seorang wanita terbunuh akibat dihempap kontena.

Komander Operasi, Pegawai Bomba Kanan I KUP Abd Rahim Razali berkata penunggang Yamaha MT09 berusia 33 tahun itu disahkan meninggal di lokasi kejadian akibat kecederaan parah.

Katanya, pemandu kereta Honda Civic dikesan tersepit di tempat duduk, sebelum berjaya dikeluarkan oleh Pasukan Keluaran Operasi (PKO) peralatan khas.

“Kemalangan membabitkan sebuah lori treler jenama Volvo seberat 40 tan dengan sebuah kereta Honda Civic dan motosikal Yamaha MTO9.

“Pasukan perubatan Kementerian Kesihatan mengesahkan kematian mangsa dan kemudian mayatnya diserahkan kepada pihak polis untuk tindakan lanjut.

“Pemandu lori treler Volvo, seorang lelaki berusia 40 tahun, selamat tanpa sebarang kecederaan.

“Dua lelaki dewasa berusia 25 dan 26 tahun yang menaiki Honda Civic mengalami kecederaan. Mereka dihantar ke hospital oleh orang awam yang berada di lokasi,” katanya dalam satu kenyataan.

Abd Rahim berkata operasi menyelamat dilakukan oleh 12 anggota dengan kekuatan dua jentera bomba jenis FRT dari Balai Bomba dan Penyelamat (BBP) Renggam dan BBP Ayer Hitam.

Terdahulu, PKO tiba di tempat kejadian pada jam 8.36 pagi dan berjaya menamatkan operasi pada jam 9.11 pagi.

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LA PAZ — Bolivian authorities have arrested two opposition leaders with ties to former president Evo Morales on charges of terrorism and other crimes, local media reported Thursday.

Peasant leaders Ramiro Cucho and Humberto Claros were arrested on Wednesday for allegedly inciting an uprising and were transferred to La Paz.

Police also raided the residence of the former Minister of the Presidency, Juan Ramon Quintana, as part of an investigation into alleged acts of terrorism, but failed to arrest him.

Morales and other political leaders opposed to the government have described the arrests as acts of “repression” and “political kidnapping,” arguing that the detention constitutes an attack on the freedom to protest.

The recent opposition-led protests that blocked roadways for 24 days caused multimillion-dollar losses to the country, said the police.

XINHUA

MANILA — Typhoon Usagi weakened sharply on Friday after bearing down on the Philippines’ northern towns, blowing away houses in its path as authorities brace for another storm that could hit the capital Manila over the weekend.

Usagi, known locally as Ofel, intensified into a super typhoon as it made landfall in the town of Baggao in Cagayan province on Thursday afternoon.

Philippine meteorological agency Pag-asa said that Usagi has since weakened and is now headed towards Taiwan.

Usagi is the 15th cyclone to hit the Philippines this year. Officials are already bracing for another typhoon, Man-yi, which could hit eastern towns and the capital region over the weekend as it continues to intensify in the western Pacific.

Man-yi could become a supertyphoon on early Sunday, Pag-asa said.

No casualties have yet been reported from Usagi, even as thousands of families living in vulnerable communities fled ahead of its arrival.

Rueli Rapsing, head of the Cagayan disaster relief office, said town officials are still probing the extent of the damage from the storm.

“There were more homes that were partially or totally blown after Marce (Typhoon Yinxing). Currently, we’re moving around assessing the damage,” Rapsing said on Friday.

Preemptive evacuations of vulnerable residents in Typhoon Man-yi’s path will begin on Friday.

Pag-asa said Man-yi’s center was last estimated around 795km (494 miles) east of the central town of Guian in Eastern Samar province, and warned of a storm surge of up to 3 metres (10 feet) in coastal towns of the central provinces.

The Philippines is dealing with its sixth storm in a month, mainly hitting the main island of Luzon.

Tropical Storm Trami and Typhoon Kong-rey brought heavy flooding and triggered landslides, killing 162 people with 22 still missing, according to government data.

Four storms churned in the western Pacific ocean at the same time this month, the first time it has happened since records began in 1951, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

About 20 tropical storms strike the Philippines each year on average, bringing heavy rains, strong winds and deadly landslides.

REUTERS