Biden to meet with families of US hostages held in Gaza, US official says
The president was last seen in public late Wednesday after arriving at a US air base in Dover, Delaware
Joe Biden had completed his 10th dose of the COVID-fighting medication Paxlovid on Monday morning
Updated 23 July 2024
Reuters
WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden will meet with families of Americans held hostage in Gaza at the White House later this week, a US official said on Tuesday.
It would be the president’s second such meeting since hostages were taken in Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, the official said.
Biden, who has been recovering from COVID, was expected to meet with visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday, according to an official.
The president’s “symptoms have almost resolved completely” from COVID-19, according to his physician, as the president on Monday remained out of public view for the fifth straight day.
Biden called into the Wilmington, Delaware, headquarters of his former campaign during a visit by Vice President Kamala Harris, whose bid for the White House has been endorsed by Biden. The president sought to pep up the staff, urging them to give “every bit” of their “heart and soul” to Harris. Biden also vowed to be “out on the road” campaigning for his vice president.
“If I didn’t have Covid, I’d be standing there with you,” said Biden, whose voice sounded a touch gravely.
The president was last seen in public late Wednesday after arriving at a US air base in Dover, Delaware, after testing positive for COVID-19 while campaigning in Las Vegas earlier in the day. He then motorcaded to his vacation home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. The White House says Biden plans to return to the White House on Tuesday afternoon.
Biden’s physician, Dr. Kevin O’Connor, said that the president had completed his 10th dose of the COVID-fighting medication Paxlovid on Monday morning and continued to perform all of his presidential duties.
“His symptoms have almost resolved completely. His pulse, blood pressure, respiratory rate and temperature remain absolutely normal,” O’Connor wrote. “His oxygen saturation continues to be excellent on room air. His lungs remain clear.”
The White House said Biden received separate briefings on Monday from homeland security adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall and national security adviser Jake Sullivan. Both briefings were conducted virtually.
First court appearance set for Georgia teen accused of killing 4 at his high school
Colt Gray will appear by video from a youth detention facility for the proceedings at the Barrow County courthouse
It’s the latest example of prosecutors holding parents responsible for their children’s actions in school shootings
Updated 2 sec ago
AP
WINDER, Georgia: The 14-year-old boy accused of fatally shooting four people at a Georgia high school was expected to make his first court appearance Friday, a day after his father was also arrested for allowing his son to possess a weapon. Colt Gray, who is charged as an adult with four counts of murder, will appear by video from a youth detention facility for the proceedings at the Barrow County courthouse. The hearing will be held two days after authorities said the teen opened fire at Apalachee High School in Winder, just outside Atlanta. The teen’s father, Colin Gray, 54, was charged Thursday with four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder and eight counts of cruelty to children, Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Chris Hosey. “His charges are directly connected with the actions of his son and allowing him to possess a weapon,” Hosey said. Colin Gray’s first court appearance has not been set. Father and son have been charged in the deaths of students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14, and teachers Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Cristina Irimie, 53, according to Hosey. Nine other people were injured, seven of them shot. It’s the latest example of prosecutors holding parents responsible for their children’s actions in school shootings. In April, Michigan parents Jennifer and James Crumbley were the first convicted in a US mass school shooting. They were sentenced to at least 10 years in prison for not securing a firearm at home and acting indifferently to signs of their son’s deteriorating mental health before he killed four students in 2021. Arrest warrants obtained by the AP accuse Colt Gray of using a semiautomatic assault-style rifle in the attack. Authorities have not offered any motive or explained how he obtained the gun and got it into the school. The teen denied threatening to carry out a school shooting when authorities interviewed him last year about a menacing post on social media, according to a sheriff’s report obtained Thursday. Conflicting evidence on the post’s origin left investigators unable to arrest anyone, the report said. Jackson County Sheriff Janis Mangum said she reviewed the report from May 2023 and found nothing that would have justified bringing charges at the time. The attack was the latest among dozens of school shootings across the US in recent years, including especially deadly ones in Newtown, Connecticut; Parkland, Florida; and Uvalde, Texas. The classroom killings have set off fervent debates about gun control but there has been little change to national gun laws. It was the 30th mass killing in the US so far this year, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University. At least 127 people have died in those killings, which are defined as events in which four or more people die within a 24-hour period, not including the killer — the same definition used by the FBI.
Rallies in Bangladesh mark one month since ex-premier Sheikh Hasina was ousted
Demonstrators chanted slogans such as “Hasina-Modi, warning, be careful!”
Hasina fled to India on Aug. 5 after weeks of violence left over 600 people dead
Updated 54 min 7 sec ago
AP
DHAKA: Thousands of people rallied Thursday in Bangladesh’s capital to mark one month since former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was ousted in a mass uprising sparked by students over government job quotas.
Hasina fled to India on Aug. 5 after weeks of violence left more than 600 people dead, including students. The uprising ended the 15-year-rule of the country’s longest-serving prime minister, who began a fourth consecutive term in January following an election boycotted by the major opposition parties.
The demonstrators chanted slogans such as “Where is Hasina? Bury her, bury her!” and “Hasina-Modi, warning, be careful!” or “Naraye Takbeer, Allahu Akbar.”
They were referring to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as Hasina is known to be a trusted ally of India. Many protesters have condemned India for promoting Hinduism and for sheltering Hasina.
The central procession, styled as a “shaheedi march” or “procession for the martyrs” began from the Dhaka University campus and marched through the streets. In addition to the many Bangladeshi flags, some participants carried a giant Palestinian flag.
Tens of thousands joined rallies across the Muslim-majority nation of 170 million people.
In Dhaka’s Uttara neighborhood, thousands of school and madrasah students in uniform took part in processions, chanting anti-Hasina slogans. Some carried banners and placards reading “We want Hasina’s execution” and “We want reforms of the state.”
Thursday’s protests came as Bangladesh was returning to normalcy, despite challenges such as a struggling economy. An interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, who had a frosty relationship with Hasina, has prioritized law and order to stabilize the country.
In a message to the nation marking the day, Yunus vowed to build a new Bangladesh.
“I am committed to fulfilling the dream that our young revolutionaries have instilled into the minds of the people of our country to build a new Bangladesh,” he said. “The sacrifices of the martyrs have inspired us to change the course of history. We want to begin a new era.”
In an interview with the Press Trust of India, or PTI, news agency released Thursday, Yunus said Hasina should stay quiet, and that her political remarks from India are an “unfriendly gesture.”
Opponents of Hasina want her and her associates to stand trial for mass killings during the demonstrations that began in July.
“If India wants to keep her until the time Bangladesh wants her back, the condition would be that she has to keep quiet,” the PTI quoted Yunus as saying.
“No one is comfortable with her stance in India because we want her back to try her. She is there and at times she is talking, which is problematic ... No one likes it,” he said.
Yunus was apparently referring to Hasina’s statement last month in which she demanded “justice”, saying those involved in recent “terror acts,” killings and vandalism must be investigated, identified and punished.
The press office of Yunus, who holds the official position of chief adviser in the interim government, told journalists Thursday that he had the backing of 197 global leaders, including 97 Nobel laureates.
It said that in a show of international support, individuals including former US President Barack Obama, entrepreneur Richard Branson and renowned activist Jane Goodall, congratulated the people of Bangladesh and Yunus in a letter.
Yunus’ administration is reorganizing police, bureaucracy and other state institutions to take control as violence and unrest escalate. On Thursday, the country’s chief election commissioner and his deputies who oversaw the recent elections resigned from office.
Days of street protests by garment workers and other industries forced owners to shut their factories for days before they resumed operations on Thursday amid heightened security in two major industrial hubs outside Dhaka.
Also, media reports said that a young Hindu man was beaten Wednesday by a Muslim mob in the presence of security officials in the southwestern Khulna region after he allegedly posted derogatory comments online about the Prophet Muhammad.
The military’s Inter Service Public Relations office said in a statement later Thursday that soldiers rescued the man, named as Sri Utso, after an angry mob attacked him inside the office of a senior police official. It said he survived and was out of danger, and he would be handed over to police for legal actions against him.
Yunus in the interview with PTI refuted earlier reports that the Hindu minority had been targeted since Hasina’s fall. Modi had also earlier voiced concern over the reports of attacks on Hindus.
Yunus said the issue of attacks on minority Hindus in Bangladesh is “exaggerated” and questioned the manner in which India projected it.
He said the attacks on minorities in Bangladesh are more political than communal: he described them as the fallout of political upheaval as there is a perception that most Hindus supported the now-deposed Awami League regime of Sheikh Hasina.
Also on Thursday, Bangladesh’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs lodged a formal protest to India over the killing of a 13-year-old Bangladeshi girl, Shwarna Das of Moulvibazar district, who was shot and killed by India’s Border Security Force on Sept. 1, according to Yunus’ press office.
Bangladesh has a 4,096-kilometer (2,545-mile) border with India.
Pope heads to Papua New Guinea after final Mass in Indonesia before an overflow crowd of 100,000
Francis and the grand imam of Jakarta’s Istiqlal Mosque sign joint declaration pledging to work to end religiously inspired violence and protect the environment
In Papua New Guinea, pontiff’s agenda is aligned with more of his social justice priorities
Updated 13 min 35 sec ago
AP
JAKARTA, Indonesia: Pope Francis wrapped up his visit to Indonesia on Friday after celebrating Mass before an overflow crowd of 100,000, a final celebration before heading to Papua New Guinea for the second leg of his 11-day journey through Southeast Asia and Oceania.
The 87-year-old pope had no official events Friday beyond a farewell ceremony and the six-hour flight to Port Moresby, giving him something of a break after a packed three-day program in Jakarta.
The visit culminated with a jubilant Mass on Thursday afternoon before a crowd that filled two sports stadiums and overflowed into a parking lot.
“Don’t tire of dreaming and of building a civilization of peace,” Francis urged them in an ad-libbed homily. “Be builders of hope. Be builders of peace.”
A woman wears a shirt with a photo of Pope Francis at a market ahead of his visit to Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, on Sept. 6, 2024. (AP)
The Vatican had originally expected the Mass would draw some 60,000 people, and Indonesian authorities had predicted 80,000. But the Vatican spokesman quoted local organizers as saying more than 100,000 had attended.
“I feel very lucky compared to other people who can’t come here or even had the intention to come here,” said Vienna Frances Florensius Basol, who came with her husband and a group of 40 people from Sabah, Malaysia, but couldn’t get into the stadium.
“Even though we are outside with other Indonesians, seeing the screen, I think I am lucky enough,” she said from a parking lot where a giant TV screen was erected for anyone who didn’t have tickets for the service.
While in Indonesia, Francis sought to encourage the country’s 8.9 million Catholics, who make up just 3 percent of the population of 275 million, while also seeking to boost interfaith ties with the country boasting the world’s largest Muslim population.
In the highlight of the visit, Francis and the grand imam of Jakarta’s Istiqlal Mosque, Southeast Asia’s largest, signed a joint declaration pledging to work to end religiously inspired violence and protect the environment.
In Papua New Guinea, Francis’ agenda is aligned with more of his social justice priorities. The poor, strategically important South Pacific nation is home to more than 10 million people, most of whom are subsistence farmers.
John Lavu, the choir conductor at St. Charles Luwanga parish in the capital, Port Moresby, said the visit would help him grow stronger in his Catholic faith.
“I have lived this faith all my life, but the coming of the Holy Father, the head of the church, to Papua New Guinea and to be a witness of his coming to us is going to be very important for me in my life as a Catholic,” he said on the eve of Francis’ arrival.
Francis will be traveling to remote Vanimo to check in on some Catholic missionaries from his native Argentina who are trying to spread the Catholic faith to a largely tribal people who also practice pagan and Indigenous traditions.
The country, the South Pacific’s most populous after Australia, has more than 800 Indigenous languages and has been riven by tribal conflicts over land for centuries, with conflicts becoming more and more lethal in recent decades.
History’s first Latin American pope will likely refer to the need to find harmony among tribal groups while visiting, the Vatican said. Another possible theme is the country’s fragile ecosystem, its rich natural resources at risk of exploitation and the threat posed by climate change.
The Papua New Guinean government has blamed extraordinary rainfall for a massive landslide in May that buried a village in Enga province. The government said more than 2,000 people were killed, while the United Nations estimated the death toll at 670.
Francis becomes only the second pope to visit Papua New Guinea, after St. John Paul II touched down in 1984 during one of his lengthy, globetrotting voyages. Then, John Paul paid tribute to the Catholic missionaries who had already been trying for a century to bring the faith to the country.
Papua New Guinea, a Commonwealth nation that was a colony of nearby Australia until independence in 1975, is the second leg of Francis’ four-nation trip. In the longest and farthest voyage of his papacy, Francis will also visit East Timor and Singapore before returning to the Vatican on Sept. 13.
Super Typhoon Yagi slams southern China, shutting schools and canceling flights
Winds and rain were accompanied by powerful thunder and lightning across the region overnight and on Friday morning
Packing maximum sustained winds of 245 kph, Yagi is the world’s second-most powerful tropical cyclone in 2024 so far
Vietnam’s four airports in the country’s north, including Hanoi’s Noi Bai International, would be closed on Saturday due to the storm
Updated 06 September 2024
Reuters
HONG KONG: Powerful gales and heavy rain from Super Typhoon Yagi drenched southern China on Friday, with schools shut for a second day and flights canceled as one of the strongest storms to hit Asia this year headed for landfall along Hainan’s tropical coast.
Packing maximum sustained winds of 245 km per hour (152 mph) near its eye, Yagi registers as the world’s second-most powerful tropical cyclone in 2024 so far, after the Category 5 Atlantic hurricane Beryl.
More than doubling in strength since devastating northern Philippines earlier this week, Yagi is expected to make landfall along China’s coast from Wenchang on the island of Hainan, to Leizhou, in Guangdong province from Friday afternoon.
Winds and rain were accompanied by powerful thunder and lightning across the region overnight and on Friday morning.
Vietnam’s Civil Aviation Authority said four airports in the country’s north, including Hanoi’s Noi Bai International, would be closed on Saturday due to the storm.
Transport links across southern China were mostly shuttered on Friday with many flights canceled in Hainan, Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau. The world’s longest sea crossing, the main bridge linking Hong Kong with Macau and Zhuhai in Guangdong, was also closed.
In the financial hub of Hong Kong, the stock exchange was shuttered while schools remained closed on Friday.
The typhoon 8 signal, the third highest, would be lowered by 12.40pm, Hong Kong’s observatory said, with winds over the city expected to weaken gradually as Yagi moves away, allowing businesses to begin to reopening.
Intense rainbands associated with Yagi will still bring heavy squally showers to the territory, it said, warning residents to stay away from the shoreline.
China’s government sent task forces to Guangdong and Hainan to guide flood and typhoon prevention, official news agency Xinhua said.
In Hainan’s capital Haikou, streets were deserted as people stayed indoors, photographs on social media showed
Super Typhoon Yagi’s projected landfall in Hainan is rare, as most typhoons landing on the duty-free island are classified as weak. From 1949 to 2023, 106 typhoons landed in Hainan but only nine were classified as super typhoons.
Typhoons are becoming stronger, fueled by warmer oceans, amid climate change, scientists say. Last week, Typhoon Shanshan slammed into southwestern Japan, the strongest storm to hit the country in decades.
Yagi, which strengthened into a super typhoon on Wednesday night, is the Japanese word for goat and for the constellation of Capricornus, a mythical creature that is half goat, half fish. (Reporting by Farah Master and the Beijing newsroom; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)
Republican VP candidate JD Vance says he laments that school shootings are a ‘fact of life’ and calls for better security
Says further restricting access to guns, as many Democrats advocate, won’t stop a psycho who wants to make headlines from going after soft targets such as schools
Updated 06 September 2024
AP
PHOENIX: Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance said Thursday that he lamented that school shootings are a “fact of life” and argued the US needs to harden security to prevent more carnage like the shooting this week that left four dead in Georgia.
“If these psychos are going to go after our kids we’ve got to be prepared for it,” Vance said at a rally in Phoenix. “We don’t have to like the reality that we live in, but it is the reality we live in. We’ve got to deal with it.”
The Ohio senator was asked by a journalist what can be done to stop school shootings. He said further restricting access to guns, as many Democrats advocate, won’t end them, noting they happen in states with both lax and strict gun laws. He touted efforts in Congress to give schools more money for security.
“I don’t like that this is a fact of life,” Vance said. “But if you are a psycho and you want to make headlines, you realize that our schools are soft targets. And we have got to bolster security at our schools. We’ve got to bolster security so if a psycho wants to walk through the front door and kill a bunch of children they’re not able.”
Vance said he doesn’t like the idea of his own kids going to a school with hardened security, “but that’s increasingly the reality that we live in.”
He called the shooting in Georgia an “awful tragedy,” and said the families in Winder, Georgia, need prayers and sympathy.
Earlier this year, Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, toured the bloodstained Florida classroom building where the 2018 Parkland high school massacre happened. She then announced a program to assist states that have laws allowing police to temporarily seize guns from people judges have found to be dangerous.
Harris, who leads the new White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, has supported both stronger gun controls, such as banning sales of AR-15 and similar rifles, and better school security, like making sure classroom doors don’t lock from the outside as they did in Parkland.
