Lebanese troops rescue 27 from sinking boat
Beirut: The Lebanese army and the country’s civil defence recused early on Saturday 27 migrants whose boat was sinking off the coast of north Lebanon, the military said in a statement. The army did not say where the migrants were heading nor did it give their nationalities. Over the past years, thousands of Lebanese, Syrians and Palestinian migrants took the dangerous trip from Lebanon across the Mediterranean seeking a better life in Europe. Such migrations intensified since the country’s historic economic meltdown began in October 2019. Lebanon has hosted refugees for years. It has some 805,000 UN-registered Syrian refugees, but officials estimate the actual number to be between 1.5 million and 2 million. Lebanon is also home to tens of thousands of Palestinian refugees and their descendants, many living in 12 refugee camps scattered around the country.
5 dead, over 100 injured in Taiwan factory fire
Beijing: A fire and subsequent explosions at a golf ball factory in southern Taiwan killed at least five people and injured more than 100 others, and five people are still missing. The fire began on Friday night at the factory in Pingtung county and raged overnight. Three firefighters were among the dead, authorities said. Rescuers were still looking for four factory workers and one firefighter who remained unaccounted for, officials said. More than 100 people were taken to the hospital with injuries. Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen in a speech in Taipei on Saturday expressed her condolences to the families of the victims and said she would travel to Pingtung to visit those affected by the disaster, according to Taiwanese news outlet Focus Taiwan. Tsai said the Pingtung county government had set up an emergency operation centre to offer assistance to those impacted by the fire.
Uyghur scholar sentenceD for life in china
Beijing: A prominent Uyghur scholar specialising in the study of her people's folklore and traditions has been sentenced to life in prison, according to a US-based foundation that works on human rights cases in China. Rahile Dawut was convicted on charges of endangering state security in December 2018 in a secret trial, the San Francisco-based Dui Hua Foundation said in a statement Thursday. Dawut appealed but her conviction was upheld, the foundation said. “The sentencing of Professor Rahile Dawut to life in prison is a cruel tragedy, a great loss for the Uyghur people, and for all who treasure academic freedom,” John Kamm, executive director of the Dui Hua Foundation, said in a statement. Dawut was a professor at Xinjiang University and founder of the school’s Ethnic Minorities Folklore Research Centre. She disappeared in late 2017 amid a brutal government crackdown aimed at the Uyghurs, a Turkic, predominately Muslim ethnicity native to China’s northwest Xinjiang region. For years, her exact status was unknown, as Chinese authorities didn’t disclose her whereabouts or the nature of the charges against her.
Indian gets jail term for money laundering
Washington: An Indian national has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for conspiring to commit money laundering, the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado has said. Dhruv Jani, 40, has also been ordered to pay USD 1.1 million restitution, a media release issued on Friday said. According to the plea agreement, starting in January 2020, Jani was part of a conspiracy to launder funds obtained through a government official imposter scheme. Victims in the US were contacted by telephone and coerced into believing that they were under investigation by ‘agents’ of federal law enforcement agencies. Federal prosecutors said the victims were told that their identities had been connected to a criminal incident, that their imminent arrest and/or deportation from the United States had been ordered by law enforcement and that the only way to avoid arrest and/or deportation was to pay the ‘government’ large sums of money. The ‘agent’ then convinced the victim to package and ship the cash to alleged government officials via Federal Express or United Parcel Service. Many of these victims were also directed to mail packages of cash to individuals in other states.
9 Croatian soccer fans detained for violence
Zagreb: Croatian police have arrested nine soccer fans sought on European warrants for involvement in deadly violence last month in Greece, state television station HRT reported on Saturday. Greece has issued arrest warrants for 10 fans of Croatia’s Dinamo Zagreb soccer club, but one of them remains at large, the report said. Croatia’s Justice Ministry said in a statement it had been informed of the warrants by the Croatian police. The fans, members of the so-called Bad Blue Boys fan group, are suspected of taking part in the August violence in Athens that killed one person. Dozens of other Croatian soccer fans already have been detained in Greece over the violence, during which a 29-year-old Greek fan was stabbed to death outside AEK Athens' stadium, prompting the cancellation of a Champions League qualifier against Dinamo Zagreb. Amateur video of the attack showed dozens of youths wielding bats and iron bars running past the stadium as flares and firebombs exploded. Ten people were injured.
‘Air strikes killed many rebels in Congo’
Kampala: Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni said on Saturday that recent airstrikes against rebels with ties to the Islamic State group in eastern Congo have killed “a lot” of the militants, possibly including a notorious bomb maker. The statement issued by the president’s office didn’t provide details on the September 16 airstrikes targeting the Allied Democratic Forces, or ADF, a shadowy extremist organisation blamed for regular violence targeting civilians from bases in Congo’s volatile east. The airstrikes targeted four ADF camps located between 100-150 kilometres from the Uganda border, according to Museveni’s statement. Uganda and Congo launched joint military operations against the ADF in 2021. Meddie Nkalubo, a Ugandan bomb maker with the ADF, was likely killed in the airstrikes, according to the statement.
Yemen’s leader renews call for separate state
United Nations: The head of Yemen’s Southern Transitional Council, an umbrella group of heavily armed and well-financed militias, has said that he will prioritise the creation of a separate country in negotiations with their rivals, the Houthi rebels. Aidarous al-Zubaidi’s comments, in an interview with The Associated Press on Friday, come days after the conclusion of landmark talks in Riyadh between the Houthi rebels and Saudi Arabia, which leads a coalition fighting them in the country’s civil war. The remarks signal that his group might not get on board for a solution without inclusion of a separate state’s creation. Al-Zubaidi has a dual role in Yemeni politics — he is vice president of the country but also the leader of a separatist group that has joined the internationally recognised coalition government seated in the southern city of Aden. His trip to the high-level leaders meeting of the UN General Assembly was aimed at amplifying the call for southern separatism, which has taken a backseat to discussions aimed at ending the wider war. Earlier this year, the head of the country’s internationally recognised government brushed aside the issue.
Junta accuses UN chief of blocking participation
Abuja: The military government that seized power in Niger has accused United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres of “obstructing” the West African nation’s full participation at the UN’s annual meeting of world leaders in order to appease France, Niger’s former coloniser, and its allies. The decision to not allow the junta's envoy to speak at the UN General Assembly in New York could “undermine any effort to end the crisis in our country,” Col Maj Amadou Abdramane, a spokesman for the officers who deposed Nigerien President Mohamed Bazoum in a July coup, said late on Friday. The junta had wanted Niger’s former ambassador to the United Nations, Bakary Yaou Sangare, who was made foreign minister after the coup, to speak on its behalf at the General Assembly. However, Bakary did not receive credentials to attend after the deposed Nigerien government's foreign minister sent the world body a letter “informing of the end of functions of Bakary as permanent representative of Niger to the United Nations,” Stéphane Dujarric, Guterres’ spokesperson, said.
