Heavy machinery brought in to pull out Indian workers from collapsed tunnel

Heavy machinery brought in to pull out Indian workers from collapsed tunnel
The tunnel, which was being built on a national highway that is part of a Hindu pilgrimage route, caved in around 5:30 a.m. on Sunday. (AFP)
Short Url
Updated 14 November 2023
Follow

Heavy machinery brought in to pull out Indian workers from collapsed tunnel

Heavy machinery brought in to pull out Indian workers from collapsed tunnel
  • Excavators have been removing debris for two days to carve out a path to reach the workers
  • Work on tunnel stretch commenced in 2018 and was initially intended to be completed by July 2022

LUCKNOW, India: Excavators began drilling with heavy machinery on Tuesday to fix a wide steel pipe that will help pull out almost 40 Indian workers trapped inside a collapsed Himalayan highway tunnel that caved in two days ago in the north Indian state of Uttarakhand.
The tunnel, which was being built on a national highway that is part of a Hindu pilgrimage route, caved in around 5:30 a.m. on Sunday (2400 GMT on Saturday).
“We have been supplying food, water and oxygen to the trapped laborers and the officials are in continuous touch with all of them,” Devendra Singh Patwal, a disaster management official said.
Excavators have been removing debris for two days to carve out a path to reach the workers and had been awaiting delivery of a wide steel pipe which will be pushed into an opening of excavated debris to safely pull out the workers.
Patwal said it was not easy to ascertain the time required to pull out the workers.
A team of geologists from the state government and educational institutions had arrived to determine the cause of accident, he added.
The region is prone to landslides, earthquakes and floods and the incident follows events of land subsidence in the state that geologists, residents and officials have blamed on rapid construction in the mountains.
The work on the tunnel stretch commenced in 2018 and was initially intended to be completed by July 2022, which has now been delayed to May 2024, an Indian government statement said.
The Char Dham pilgrimage route is one of the most ambitious projects of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government. It aims to connect four important Hindu pilgrimage sites of North India through 889km of two-lane road being built at a cost of $1.5 billion.
But some work has been halted by local authorities after hundreds of houses were damaged by subsidence along the routes, including in Uttarakhand.


Dutch government investigating possible missed warnings from Israel following riots

Dutch government investigating possible missed warnings from Israel following riots
Updated 58 min 9 sec ago
Follow

Dutch government investigating possible missed warnings from Israel following riots

Dutch government investigating possible missed warnings from Israel following riots

AMSTERDAM: The Dutch government is investigating if possible warning signs from Israel were missed in the events leading up to this week’s assaults on Israeli football fans, Justice Minister David van Weel said in a letter to Parliament.
“An investigation is still being conducted on possible warning signs from Israel,” Van Weel said in his letter late on Friday evening.
At least five people were injured during the assaults on Thursday night and treated in hospital. All were released later on Friday. The incident concerned fans of the visiting Maccabi Tel Aviv football team.
Police on Saturday said four people remained in custody of the 63 people initially detained.
“The Public Prosecution Service has stated that it aims to apply fast-track justice as much as possible,” Van Weel said, adding that it is “the absolute priority” to identify every suspect.
He said the investigation would also examine whether the assaults were organized, with an antisemitic motive.
Political leaders have already denounced the attacks as antisemitic. Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof said on Friday he was “horrified by the anti-Semitic attacks on Israeli citizens” and had assured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by phone that “the perpetrators will be identified and prosecuted.”
Israel sent extra planes to The Netherlands to bring fans home, but a Dutch government spokesperson could not immediately confirm how many people made use of this.
Videos on social media on what happened showed riot police in action, with some attackers shouting anti-Israeli slurs. Footage also showed Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters chanting anti-Arab slogans before Thursday evening’s match.
Amsterdam banned demonstrations through the weekend and gave police emergency stop-and-search powers in response to the unrest.
Antisemitic incidents have surged in the Netherlands since Israel launched its assault on the Palestinian enclave of Gaza after the attacks on Israel by Hamas militants in October last year, with many Jewish organizations and schools reporting threats and hate mail.


China’s Xi hails ‘new chapter’ in relations with Indonesia

China’s Xi hails ‘new chapter’ in relations with Indonesia
Updated 09 November 2024
Follow

China’s Xi hails ‘new chapter’ in relations with Indonesia

China’s Xi hails ‘new chapter’ in relations with Indonesia
  • Beijing and Jakarta are key economic allies, with Chinese companies plowing money into extracting Indonesian natural resources in recent years
  • But the two countries have sparred verbally over disputed claims in the South China Sea

BEIJING: Chinese President Xi Jinping told his Indonesian counterpart that Beijing hopes for a “new chapter” in bilateral relations, as the two leaders met on Saturday.
Xi held talks with newly sworn-in President Prabowo Subianto in Beijing, the first stop of the Indonesian leader’s inaugural foreign tour since he took office in October.
China is keen to work with Indonesia to “write a new chapter of joint self-reliance, solidarity and cooperation, mutual benefit and win-win results as major developing countries,” Xi told Prabowo in front of journalists.
Beijing and Jakarta are key economic allies, with Chinese companies plowing money into extracting Indonesian natural resources in recent years, particularly the nickel sector.
But the two countries have sparred verbally over disputed claims in the South China Sea.
Prabowo said that the relationship between the two countries was “getting stronger and stronger.”
“I would like to reiterate our commitment... to work together for the mutual benefit of our two peoples and for the prosperity, peace and stability of all of Asia,” he added.
Xi held a welcome ceremony for Prabowo at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People on Saturday before the talks.
Prabowo, who landed in China on Friday, is also meeting Premier Li Qiang and number three official Zhao Leji on his trip, which ends on Sunday.
He will travel onwards to Washington, at the invitation of US President Joe Biden, as part of a world tour which will also include Peru, Brazil and Britain.
Prabowo has pledged to stick to Jakarta’s traditionally non-aligned foreign policy while making the world’s fourth-most populous nation more active abroad.
Confrontations over what Indonesia says are Chinese incursions into its territorial waters have weighed on the trading partners’ relationship in recent years.
In 2020, Indonesia deployed fighter jets and warships to patrol around the Natuna islands in the South China Sea after Chinese vessels entered the area.
Last month, Indonesia said it drove Chinese coast guard ships from contested waters in the South China Sea on three separate occasions.
Indonesia says it is trying to stop foreign vessels from fishing in its waters, costing the economy billions of dollars annually.
Huge unexploited oil and gas deposits are believed to lie under the South China Sea, though estimates vary greatly.
Beijing has for years sought to expand its presence in the contested waters, brushing aside an international ruling that its claim to most of the waterway has no legal basis.
It has built artificial islands armed with missile systems and runways for fighter jets, and deployed vessels that the Philippines says harass its ships and block its fishers.
The latest confrontations are an early test for Prabowo, who has pledged to bolster the defense of Indonesian territory.
Prabowo has promised to be bolder on foreign policy than his predecessor Joko Widodo, who focused more on domestic issues.


Russian drone attack on Ukraine’s Odesa kills one, injures 13, governor says

Russian drone attack on Ukraine’s Odesa kills one, injures 13, governor says
Updated 09 November 2024
Follow

Russian drone attack on Ukraine’s Odesa kills one, injures 13, governor says

Russian drone attack on Ukraine’s Odesa kills one, injures 13, governor says
  • Russia launched 51 drones, focusing its attack on Odesa and the nearby region in the south of Ukraine
  • Ukraine’s military said that Russia launched more than 2,000 attack drones at civilian and military targets in Octobe

KYIV: Russian drones attacked Ukraine’s Black Sea port of Odesa overnight, killing one person and injuring 13 others, including two boys, regional governor Oleh Kiper said on Saturday.
Several residential apartment buildings, private houses, commercial buildings and dozens of private cars were damaged in what was the second day in a row of Russian drone attacks on the city, Kiper said.
“At night the enemy again attacked Odesa and the nearby region with attack drones. One person died and 13 were wounded. Among the injured there were two children,” he said on the Telegram messaging app.
Prosecutors said the children were boys aged four and 16.
Russia launched 51 drones, focusing its attack on Odesa and the nearby region in the south of Ukraine, the Ukrainian air force said, adding that Ukrainian air defense units and mobile drone hunter groups shot down 32 Russian drones.
It also said that 18 drones were “lost,” most likely meaning they had been thwarted electronically.
Russian drones also triggered a large fire in one of Odesa’s districts, public broadcaster Suspilne reported, quoting residents.
Other media outlets in the city posted video footage showing cars and buildings ablaze and thick smoke billowing skyward.
As the war against Russia nears its 1,000-day mark, Moscow’s forces have intensified air attacks on Ukrainian cities and towns, sending swarms of drones almost every night.
Ukraine’s military said that Russia launched more than 2,000 attack drones at civilian and military targets in October.
Moscow says it does not target civilians. The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine had verified 11,743 civilian deaths in conflict-related violence from Russia’s full-scale invasion in Feb. 2022 to the end of August this year. The Ukrainian government says the toll is likely to be much higher due to difficulties accessing parts of the country.


Maryland, California election offices received bomb threats, officials say

Maryland, California election offices received bomb threats, officials say
Updated 09 November 2024
Follow

Maryland, California election offices received bomb threats, officials say

Maryland, California election offices received bomb threats, officials say

WASHINGTON: Several Maryland boards of elections and an office in a county in California received bomb threats on Friday, state authorities said, adding everyone was safe and law enforcement authorities were conducting probes.
Election officials were counting mail-in ballots when the threats came in Maryland. State Administrator of Elections Jared DeMarinis said the threats led to evacuation of some buildings. He called the threats “cowardly,” adding local officials will resume counting on Saturday.
“Safety is a top concern — but we WILL resume canvassing tomorrow. Cowardly threats whether from abroad or not shall not deter us,” DeMarinis said on social media platform X.
“The Baltimore County Police Department is aware and currently investigating the bomb threat received via email by the Baltimore County Board of Elections Office,” police posted on X, later adding that a probe found that threat unfounded.
In California’s Orange County, the registrar of voters received a bomb threat at an office in Santa Ana after which the office building was evacuated and bomb detection dogs were used to conduct a search. No explosives were located, officials said, adding normal operations will resume on Saturday.
The offices of California Governor Gavin Newsom and Maryland Governor Wes Moore said they were monitoring the situations and working with local officials.
Republican Donald Trump defeated Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in Tuesday’s presidential election. Counting continued in parts of the country in local, congressional and presidential races.
The FBI said that hoax bomb threats, many of which appeared to originate from Russian email domains, were directed on Tuesday at polling locations in five battleground states — Georgia, Michigan, Arizona, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania — as Election Day voting was under way. Russia denies interfering in US elections.
Ahead of the elections, officials had braced for attacks and threats arising from misinformation and conspiracy theories about the vote.


Iran foreign ministry says Trump assassination plot claim ‘totally unfounded’

Iran foreign ministry says Trump assassination plot claim ‘totally unfounded’
Updated 09 November 2024
Follow

Iran foreign ministry says Trump assassination plot claim ‘totally unfounded’

Iran foreign ministry says Trump assassination plot claim ‘totally unfounded’
  • The US Justice Department on Friday disclosed an Iranian murder-for-hire plot to kill Donald Trump
  • Investigators learned of the plan to kill Trump from Farhad Shakeri, an Iranian government asset

WASHINGTON/TEHRAN: Iran’s foreign ministry on Saturday described as “totally unfounded” US accusations of a plot by Tehran to assassinate president-elect Donald Trump.

The foreign ministry “rejects allegations that Iran is implicated in an assassination attempt targeting former or current American officials,” spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said in a statement, after US prosecutors announced charges over the alleged plot.

The Justice Department on Friday disclosed an Iranian murder-for-hire plot to kill Donald Trump, charging a man who said he had been tasked by a government official before this week’s election with planning the assassination of the Republican president-elect.

Investigators learned of the plan to kill Trump from Farhad Shakeri, an accused Iranian government asset who spent time in American prisons for robbery and who authorities say maintains a network of criminal associates enlisted by Tehran for surveillance and murder-for-hire plots.

Shakeri told investigators that a contact in Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard instructed him this past September to set aside other work he was doing and assemble a plan within seven days to surveil and ultimately kill Trump, according to a criminal complaint unsealed in federal court in Manhattan.

The official was quoted by Shakeri as saying that “We have already spent a lot of money” and that “money’s not an issue.” Shakeri told investigators the official told him that if he could not put together a plan within the seven-day timeframe, then the plot would be paused until after the election because the official assumed Trump would lose and that it would be easier to kill him then, the complaint said.

Shakeri is at large and remains in Iran. Two other men were arrested on charges that Shakeri recruited them to follow and kill prominent Iranian-American journalist Masih Alinejad, who has endured multiple Iranian murder-for-hire plots foiled by law enforcement.

“I’m very shocked,” said Alinejad, speaking by telephone to The Associated Press from Berlin, where she was about to attend a ceremony to mark the anniversary of the tearing down of the wall. “This is the third attempt against me and that’s shocking.”

In a post on the social media platform X, she said: “I came to America to practice my First Amendment right to freedom of speech — I don’t want to die. I want to fight against tyranny, and I deserve to be safe. Thank you to law enforcement for protecting me, but I urge the US government to protect the national security of America.”

Lawyers for the two other defendants, identified as Jonathan Loadholt and Carlisle Rivera, did not immediately return messages seeking comment. Iran’s UN Mission declined to comment.

Shakeri, an Afghan national who immigrated to the US as a child but was later deported after spending 14 years in prison for robbery, also told investigators that he was tasked by his Revolutionary Guard contact with plotting the killings of two Jewish-Americans living in New York and Israeli tourists in Sri Lanka. Officials say he overlapped with Rivera while in prison as well as an unidentified co-conspirator.

The criminal complaint says Shakeri disclosed some of the details of the alleged plots in a series of recorded telephone interviews with FBI agents while in Iran. The stated reason for his cooperation, he told investigators, was to try to get a reduced prison sentence for an associate behind bars in the US

According to the complaint, though officials determined that some of the information he provided was false, his statements regarding a plot to kill Trump and Iran’s willingness to pay large sums of money were determined to be accurate.

The plot, disclosed just days after Trump’s defeat of Democrat Kamala Harris, reflects what federal officials have described as ongoing efforts by Iran to target US government officials, including Trump, on US soil. Last summer, the Justice Department charged a Pakistani man with ties to Iran in a murder-for-hire plot targeting American officials.

“There are few actors in the world that pose as grave a threat to the national security of the United States as does Iran,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement Friday. FBI Director Christopher Wray said the case shows Iran’s “continued brazen attempts to target US citizens,” including Trump, “other government leaders and dissidents who criticize the regime in Tehran.”

Iranian operatives also conducted a hack-and-leak operation of emails belonging to Trump campaign associates in what officials have assessed was an effort to interfere in the presidential election.

Intelligence officials have said Iran opposed Trump’s reelection, seeing him as more likely to increase tension between Washington and Tehran. Trump’s administration ended a nuclear deal with Iran, reimposed sanctions and ordered the killing of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, an act that prompted Iran’s leaders to vow revenge.

Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said the president-elect was aware of the assassination plot and nothing will deter him “from returning to the White House and restoring peace around the world.”