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3 dead after light planes collided in Australia

3 dead after light planes collided in Australia
Police and firefighters stand near where a few people have died after two light planes collided midair and crashed into a forested area southwest of Sydney, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP)
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Updated 50 sec ago
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3 dead after light planes collided in Australia

3 dead after light planes collided in Australia
Updated 50 sec ago
AP
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SYDNEY: Three men died after two light planes collided midair and crashed into a forested area southwest of Sydney on Saturday.
Australian police, fire and ambulance crews reached the two wreckage sites, located in a semirural bushland area about 55 miles southwest of Sydney, on foot. One plane had burst into flames on impact.
New South Wales Police Acting Superintendent Timothy Calman confirmed that a Cessna 182 carrying two people collided with an ultralight aircraft from a nearby airfield carrying one.
Further details of the victims have not been disclosed.
Witnesses saw “debris coming from the sky” and tried to help, but “there was probably not much that could’ve been done,” Calman said to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation . He noted both crashes, about one kilometer apart, were “not survivable.”
NSW Ambulance Inspector Joseph Ibrahim, part of the emergency response team, said to the ABC, “unfortunately, there was nothing they could’ve done.”
The cause of the crash will be investigated by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau.

Topics: Australia plane crash

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Russian attacks on central Ukraine, Kyiv kill 5

Russian attacks on central Ukraine, Kyiv kill 5
Updated 10 sec ago
Reuters
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Russian attacks on central Ukraine, Kyiv kill 5

Russian attacks on central Ukraine, Kyiv kill 5
Updated 10 sec ago
Reuters

KYIV: Russian missile strikes killed three people including a child in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro while a teenager and another person died in attacks on Kyiv and the surrounding region, officials said Saturday.
Overnight strikes on Dnipro wounded 19 others and damaged multiple buildings, said Sergiy Lysak, the governor of the central Dnipropetrovsk region.
A two-story residential building was destroyed, he said.
Images shared by Lysak showed rescuers working in a pile of rubble, while another showed what appeared to be a hospital room with its windows blown out.
“Three people were killed in Dnipro, including a child. Nineteen were injured, four of them children. Eight are hospitalized,” Lysak said.
Separate night attacks on the capital Kyiv and surrounding region left two people dead, including a teenage girl who was killed in a drone strike, according to regional authorities.
Ukrainian cities including Kyiv have been subjected to deadly drone and missile attacks throughout Russia’s invasion.
Kyiv has been asking for more air defenses from its allies ahead of what is likely to be its toughest winter yet, as Moscow ramps up strikes on energy infrastructure.

Topics: Russia ukraine war

US, UK urge Iran not to respond to latest Israel attack

US, UK urge Iran not to respond to latest Israel attack
Updated 24 min 46 sec ago
AFP
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US, UK urge Iran not to respond to latest Israel attack

US, UK urge Iran not to respond to latest Israel attack
  • UK leader: ‘I’m equally clear that we need to avoid further regional escalation and urge all sides to show restraint’
  • The Israeli military conducted air strikes against Iran on Saturday, hitting military bases and missile sites
Updated 24 min 46 sec ago
AFP Reuters

WASHINGTON/LONDON: The United States and UK urged Iran on Saturday to stop attacking Israel to break the cycle of violence after Israel launched strikes against the Islamic republic in retaliation for a missile barrage.

“We urge Iran to cease its attacks on Israel so that this cycle of fighting can end without further escalation,” US National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett told reporters.

“I am clear that Israel has the right to defend itself against Iranian aggression. I’m equally clear that we need to avoid further regional escalation and urge all sides to show restraint. Iran should not respond,” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said, speaking at a press conference in Samoa, where he has been attending a Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.

The Israeli military conducted air strikes against Iran on Saturday, hitting military bases and missile sites, and other systems in several regions.

“Their response was an exercise in self-defense and specifically avoided populated areas and focused solely on military targets, contrary to Iran’s attack against Israel that targeted Israel’s most populous city,” he added.

Stressing that the United States did not participate in the operation, he said “it is our aim to accelerate diplomacy and de-escalate tensions in the Middle East region.”

A senior administration official said President Joe Biden and his national security team have worked with the “Israelis over recent weeks to encourage Israel to conduct a response that was targeted and proportional with low risk of civilian harm.”

“And that appears to have been precisely what transpired this evening,” the official told reporters.

President Biden had encouraged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “to design a response that served to deter further attacks against Israel while reducing risks of further escalation, and that is our objective.”

Topics: Iran Israel US UK

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Russians behind fake video of ballots being destroyed, US officials say

Russians behind fake video of ballots being destroyed, US officials say
Updated 39 min 38 sec ago
AFP
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Russians behind fake video of ballots being destroyed, US officials say

Russians behind fake video of ballots being destroyed, US officials say
  • Video connected to a Kremlin-aligned disinformation network known as Storm-1516, according to researchers
  • Account on X that distributed the video has regularly amplified other narratives from this network
Updated 39 min 38 sec ago
AFP

WASHNGTON: Russian actors were behind a viral video falsely showing mail-in ballots for Donald Trump being destroyed in the swing state of Pennsylvania, US officials said Friday, amid heightened alert over foreign influence operations targeting the upcoming election.
The video, which garnered millions of views on platforms such as the Elon Musk-owned X, purports to show a man sorting through mail-in ballots from the state’s Bucks County and ripping up those cast for Trump.
On Thursday, the Bucks County Board of Elections declared the video as “fake,” saying that the envelope and other materials depicted in the footage are “clearly not authentic materials” belonging to or distributed by them.
In a joint statement on Friday, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said the video was part of a Russian disinformation operation.
“Russian actors manufactured and amplified a recent video that falsely depicted an individual ripping up ballots in Pennsylvania,” the statement said.
“This Russian activity is part of Moscow’s broader effort to raise unfounded questions about the integrity of the US election and stoke divisions among Americans,” it added.
The statement said Russia was expected to create and release more such content in an attempt to “undermine trust” in the integrity of the November 5 elections.
The video surfaced as American authorities brace for a surge in disinformation in the final days of a nail-biting election between Republican nominee Trump and the Democratic candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris.
The video, also debunked by AFP’s fact-checkers, was connected to a Kremlin-aligned disinformation network known as Storm-1516, according to researchers including Darren Linvill, co-director of Clemson University’s Media Forensics Hub.
Linvill, who has closely studied the network, said the account on X — previously called Twitter — that distributed the video has regularly amplified other narratives from this network.
Storm-1516 has previously produced fake videos to discredit the campaign of Harris and her running mate Tim Walz, according to disinformation researchers.
Last month, the Microsoft Threat Analysis Center said Russian operatives are ramping up disinformation operations to malign Harris’s campaign by disseminating conspiracy-laden videos.
Aside from Russia, Iran and China are also fanning “divisive narratives to divide Americans and undermine Americans’ confidence in the US democratic system,” the ODNI warned in a memo earlier this week.
“Foreign influence efforts will intensify in the lead-up to Election Day, especially through social media posts — some of which are likely to be AI generated or enhanced,” the report said.
“These actors probably perceive that undermining confidence in the elections weakens the legitimacy of our democracy and consequently makes the United States less capable of effectively pursuing policies that are counter to their interests,” it added.

Topics: US Election 2024 US Russia

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Final campaigning in tight Japan election

Final campaigning in tight Japan election
Updated 54 min 21 sec ago
AFP
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Final campaigning in tight Japan election

Final campaigning in tight Japan election
  • Opinion polls suggest the ruling coalition Liberal Democratic Party might fall short of a majority
  • Such a bombshell outcome could potentially be a knockout blow to Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba
Updated 54 min 21 sec ago
AFP

TOKYO: Candidates in Japan’s super-tight election made last-ditch appeals to voters on Saturday, with opinion polls suggesting the ruling coalition might fall short of a majority.
Such a bombshell outcome would be the worst result for the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) since 2009, and potentially a knockout blow to Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.
Ishiba — a fan of trains, 1970s pop idols and making model ships and planes — only last month took the helm of the LDP, which has governed Japan for almost all of the past seven decades.
After a tough internal contest, the 67-year-old former defense minister became premier on October 1.
Days later, he called the snap parliamentary elections, promising a “new Japan.”
Ishiba pledged to revitalize depressed rural regions and to address the “quiet emergency” of Japan’s falling population through policies such as flexible working hours.
But he has since rowed back his position on issues including allowing married couples to take separate surnames.
He also named only two women ministers in his cabinet.
A poll on Friday by the Yomiuri Shimbun daily suggested that the LDP and its coalition partner Komeito might struggle to get the 233 lower house seats needed for a majority.
Ishiba has set this threshold as his objective, and missing it would undermine his position in the LDP and mean finding other coalition partners or leading a minority government.
Local media speculated that Ishiba could potentially even resign immediately to take responsibility, becoming Japan’s shortest-serving prime minister in the post-war period.
The current record is held by Naruhiko Higashikuni who served for 54 days — four days more than British leader Liz Truss in 2022 — just after Japan’s 1945 defeat in World War II.
“The situation is extremely severe,” Ishiba said on the stump Friday, Japanese media reported.
In many districts, LDP candidates are in neck-and-neck battles with those from the Constitutional Democratic Party (CDP) — the second-biggest in parliament — led by popular former prime minister Yoshihiko Noda.
“The LDP’s politics is all about quickly implementing policies for those who give them loads of cash,” Noda said at a rally on Saturday.
“But those in vulnerable positions, who can’t offer cash, have been ignored,” he added, referring to insufficient support by the LDP-led government for survivors of a huge New Year’s Day earthquake in central Japan.
“This kind of politics must be changed.”
Noda’s stance “is sort of similar to the LDP’s. He is basically a conservative,” Masato Kamikubo, a political scientist at Ritsumeikan University, said.
“The CDP or Noda can be an alternative to the LDP. Many voters think so,” Kamikubo said.
Also dogging Ishiba is the continuing fallout from a slush fund scandal within the LDP that angered voters and helped sink his predecessor, Fumio Kishida.
Ishiba promised to not actively support LDP politicians caught up in the scandal running in the election, although they are still standing.
According to media reports, the party has also provided 20 million yen ($132,000) each to district offices headed by these figures.
“It is truly frustrating that such reports come out at a time like this,” Ishiba said in a campaign speech on Thursday. “Those candidates will not use the money.”
“We cannot be defeated by those with biased views,” he added.
Hitomi Hisano, an undecided voter from the central Aichi region, said in Tokyo that the LDP’s funding scandal was a big factor for him.
“The LDP has sat in power for too long. I see hubris in there,” the 69-year-old said. “So part of me wants to punish them.”
“But there aren’t other parties that are reliable enough to win my vote.”
Rintaro Nishimura, of the think tank The Asia Group, said that win or lose, Ishiba’s position was tenuous.
“Regardless of what the election results are, Ishiba’s longevity as prime minister is in question.”

Topics: Japan Shigeru Ishiba

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Police gear up for large, rival London protests

Police gear up for large, rival London protests
Updated 26 October 2024
Reuters
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Police gear up for large, rival London protests

Police gear up for large, rival London protests
Updated 26 October 2024
Reuters

LONDON: Right-wing, anti-immigrant protesters and opposing anti-racism demonstrators are both planning large rallies in London on Saturday, closely watched by a beefed up police operation aimed at heading off any clashes between the rival gatherings.
A “Unite the Kingdom” march organized by anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, known by the pseudonym Tommy Robinson, is due to meet at London’s Victoria train station before marching toward parliament.
Meanwhile a counterprotest of anti-racism campaigners and trade unionists will gather at the other end of Whitehall, the main thoroughfare toward parliament from the opposite direction where many government departments are located.
“We are well prepared for what is set to be a busy day in the center of London,” said Deputy Assistant Commissioner Rachel Williams, who is leading a policing operation that will involve drafting in officers from around the country.
“We will have significant resources in place to respond to any incidents, to deal decisively with any offenses, and to keep disruption to other members of the public and businesses to a minimum,” she said on Friday.
Britain saw days of rioting in towns and cities across the country at the end of July in the wake of the murder of three young girls at a dance workshop in Southport, after misinformation on social media wrongly identified the suspected killer as a Muslim migrant.
The unrest, which targeted hotels housing asylum seekers and mosques, ended after a clampdown by the authorities that included more than 1,500 arrests and about 1,000 people charged.
The right-wing protesters describe themselves as “patriots,” who say Britain is under threat from migrants and Islamification. Their critics, including most lawmakers, say their number includes racists, far-right supporters and soccer hooligans bent on violence.
“Tomorrow we’re back, and won’t be ignored or silenced,” Yaxley-Lennon said on X on Friday.
However, according to his social media account, he will not be at the march in person as he is being held in police custody over the weekend ahead of a contempt of court case that is due to be heard on Monday. 

Topics: UK Britain Protests

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