Greta Thunberg says Trump ‘more dangerous’ but blasts Harris on Gaza

The Republican presidential nominee, former US President Donald Trump, and the Democratic presidential nominee, US Vice President Kamala Harris take part in a presidential debate hosted by ABC in Philadelphia. (Reuters/File Photo)
The Republican presidential nominee, former US President Donald Trump, and the Democratic presidential nominee, US Vice President Kamala Harris take part in a presidential debate hosted by ABC in Philadelphia. (Reuters/File Photo)
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Updated 01 November 2024
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Greta Thunberg says Trump ‘more dangerous’ but blasts Harris on Gaza

Greta Thunberg says Trump ‘more dangerous’ but blasts Harris on Gaza
  • Thunberg urged Americans to go beyond exercising their right to vote and take direct action

STOCKHOLM: Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg on Friday labelled Donald Trump the “more dangerous” option in next week’s US presidential election but slammed the incumbent administration for its support of Israel.
With the United States heading to the polls on November 5, the 21-year-old activist said in a post on X that it was “probably impossible to overestimate the consequences this specific election will have for the world and for the future of humanity.”
“There is no doubt that one of the candidates — Trump — is way more dangerous than the other,” Thunberg said.
But she also slammed sitting President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris — who is running against former president Donald Trump — for their backing of Israel and its offensive in Gaza.
“Let’s not forget that the genocide in Palestine is happening under the Biden and Harris administration, with American money and complicity,” Thunberg said.
“It is not in any way ‘feminist’, ‘progressive’ or ‘humanitarian’ to bomb innocent children and civilians — it is the opposite, even if it is a woman in charge.”
Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel last year triggered the war in Gaza and resulted in 1,206 deaths, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory bombardment and ground war have killed at least 43,259 Palestinians in Gaza, a majority of them civilians, according to data from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.
The United Nations considers these figures to be reliable.
Thunberg urged Americans to go beyond exercising their right to vote and take direct action such as protests and boycotts against the “catastrophic consequences of American imperialism.”
“My main message to Americans is to remember that you cannot only settle for the least worst option,” Thunberg said.


Two killed in Russian drone strike on Kyiv, Ukraine says

Two killed in Russian drone strike on Kyiv, Ukraine says
Updated 55 sec ago
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Two killed in Russian drone strike on Kyiv, Ukraine says

Two killed in Russian drone strike on Kyiv, Ukraine says
  • Two floors of a residential building in central Kyiv were partially destroyed in the strike, according to the State Emergency Service. Two people were killed, it said

KYIV: Russia launched a New Year’s Day drone strike on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv early on Wednesday, killing two people, wounding at least six others and damaging buildings in two districts, authorities said.
Explosions boomed across the morning sky as Ukraine’s air force warned of incoming drones and Mayor Vitali Klitschko said air defenses were repelling an enemy attack.
Two floors of a residential building in central Kyiv were partially destroyed in the strike, according to the State Emergency Service. Two people were killed, it said.
Photos posted by the agency showed firefighters dousing a gutted corner of a building and rescuers helping elderly victims.
The National Bank of Ukraine said in a statement that one of its buildings nearby had been damaged by debris from a downed drone. Debris also damaged a non-residential building in a different neighborhood, authorities said.
“Even on New Year’s Eve, Russia was only concerned about how to hurt Ukraine,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said on social media in response to the strike.
Kyiv’s military said it had shot down 63 out of 111 drones launched by Russia overnight across various regions of Ukraine. Another 46 had been downed by electronic jamming, it added.
Russia has carried out regular air strikes on Ukrainian towns and cities far behind the front line of its nearly three-year-old invasion, in which its troops are claiming village after village in a grinding march across eastern Ukraine.
On Tuesday, Moscow’s forces fired 21 missiles at Kyiv and the northern Sumy region during an overnight strike, damaging buildings and infrastructure in the city of Shostka.
Separately on Wednesday, a 23-year-old volunteer worker was killed by Russian shelling in the southern front-line city of Kherson, city officials said.
The governor of Kherson region, Oleksandr Prokudin, later said that a resident of a town northeast of the city died in hospital of injuries suffered during a drone attack.


1 person dies when Tesla truck catches fire and explodes outside Trump’s Las Vegas hotel

1 person dies when Tesla truck catches fire and explodes outside Trump’s Las Vegas hotel
Updated 02 January 2025
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1 person dies when Tesla truck catches fire and explodes outside Trump’s Las Vegas hotel

1 person dies when Tesla truck catches fire and explodes outside Trump’s Las Vegas hotel
  • Tesla CEO Elon Musk says whole Tesla senior team is investigating
  • Seven people nearby had minor injuries

LAS VEGAS: One person died and seven others were injured Wednesday when a Tesla Cybertruck that appeared to be carrying fireworks caught fire and exploded outside President-elect Donald Trump’s Las Vegas hotel, authorities said.
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police and Clark County Fire Department officials told a news conference that a person died inside the futuristic-looking pickup truck and they were working to get the body out. Seven people nearby had minor injuries and several were taken to a hospital.
The fire in the valet area of the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas was reported at 8:40 a.m., a county spokeswoman said in a statement.
According to a law enforcement official, the truck was rented via the Turo app and appeared to have a load of fireworks. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
Law enforcement officials have not ruled out terrorism as a possible motive, a person familiar with the matter said. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss details of the investigation.
“I know you have a lot of questions,” Jeremy Schwartz, acting special agent in charge for the FBI’s Las Vegas office, told reporters. “We don’t have a lot of answers.”
President Joe Biden was briefed on the explosion. The truck explosion came hours after a driver rammed a truck into a crowd in New Orleans’ famed French Quarter early on New Year’s Day, killing at least 10 people before being shot to death by police.
“The whole Tesla senior team is investigating this matter right now,” Tesla CEO Elon Musk wrote in a statement on X, adding: “We’ve never seen anything like this.”
In Las Vegas, witness Ana Bruce, visiting from Brazil, said she heard three explosions.
“The first one where we saw the fire, the second one, I guess, was the battery or something like that, and the third was the big one that smoked the entire area and was the moment when everyone was told to evacuate and stay away,” Bruce said.
Her travel companion, Alcides Antunes, showed video he took of flames lapping the sides of the silver-colored vehicle.
The 64-story hotel is just off the Las Vegas Strip and across the street from the Fashion Show Las Vegas shopping mall.
Eric Trump, a son of the president-elect and executive vice president of the Trump Organization, posted about the fire on the social media platform X. He praised the fire department and local law enforcement “for their swift response and professionalism.”


An armed man kills at least 10 people, including 2 children, in a shooting rampage in Montenegro

An armed man kills at least 10 people, including 2 children, in a shooting rampage in Montenegro
Updated 02 January 2025
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An armed man kills at least 10 people, including 2 children, in a shooting rampage in Montenegro

An armed man kills at least 10 people, including 2 children, in a shooting rampage in Montenegro
  • The shooter, who was on the run, also seriously wounded four people

PODGORICA, Montenegro: Montenegro’s interior minister says at least 10 people, including two children, were killed in a shooting on Wednesday in the western city of Cetinje.
The shooter, who was on the run, also seriously wounded four people, said minister Danilo Saranovic at a news conference. He said that “at this moment, we are focused on arresting him.”
Police dispatched special troops to search for the attacker in Cetinje, some 30 kilometers (18 miles) northwest of the capital, Podgorica. A statement said the man opened fire in a bar and fled the scene armed. Police identified him only by his initials A.M. and said he was 45 years old.
Saranovic said earlier that the dead included the bar owner and his family members, as well as the shooter’s family members — but did not give a definitive death toll.
President Jakov Milatovic said he was “shocked and stunned” by the tragedy. “Instead of holiday joy ... we have been gripped by sadness over the loss of innocent lives,” Milatovic said on the social media platform X.
Prime Minister Milojko Spajic went to the hospital where the wounded were being treated and announced three days of mourning, without specifying how many were killed.
“This is a terrible tragedy that has affected us all,” said Spajic. “All police teams are out.”
Small Montenegro, which has some 620,000 people, is known for gun culture and many people traditionally have weapons.
Wednesday’s shooting was the second shooting rampage over the past three years in Cetinje, Montenegro’s historic capital. An attacker killed 10 people, including two children, in August 2022 before he was shot and killed by a passer by in Cetinje.
The RTCG report identified the man as Aco Martinovic, saying he was known for erratic behavior and had been detained in the past for illegal possession of weapons. The TV published the reported suspect’s photo on its website.
The report said he went home to get his gun and came back to the bar where he opened fire and killed and wounded several people. He then went to another site where he killed the bar owner’s children and a woman, the report added.
Police appealed on the residents to remain calm and stay indoors, ruling out a clash between criminal gangs.


Russia warns of severe environmental damage as oil from damaged tankers washes up on beaches

Russia warns of severe environmental damage as oil from damaged tankers washes up on beaches
Updated 02 January 2025
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Russia warns of severe environmental damage as oil from damaged tankers washes up on beaches

Russia warns of severe environmental damage as oil from damaged tankers washes up on beaches
  • More than 71,000 tons of contaminated sand and soil had been removed along 56 kilometers (35 miles) of shoreline since the original spill, Russia’s emergencies ministry reported on Wednesday morning

Russian officials warned of severe environmental damage Wednesday as thousands of people came out to clean up tons of fuel oil that spilled out of two storm-stricken tankers more than two weeks ago in the Kerch Strait, near Moscow-occupied Crimea.
More than 10,000 people, largely volunteers, raced to rescue wildlife and remove tons of sand saturated with mazut, a heavy, low-quality oil product, according to Russian news reports.
Authorities in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region last week announced a region-wide emergency, as the fuel oil continued washing up on the coastline 10 days after one tanker ran aground and the other was left damaged and adrift on Dec. 15.
The move came days after Russian President Vladimir Putin called the oil spill an “ecological disaster.”
On Wednesday, New Year’s Day, Krasnodar officials said the oil kept on surfacing on the beaches of Anapa, a popular local resort.
More than 71,000 tons of contaminated sand and soil had been removed along 56 kilometers (35 miles) of shoreline since the original spill, Russia’s emergencies ministry reported on Wednesday morning.
On Dec. 23, the ministry estimated that up to 200,000 tons in total may have been contaminated.
Some Russian media critical of the Kremlin cited Russian volunteers as saying that state support has been inadequate as they grapple with the consequences of the spill. Some said they experienced headaches, nausea and vomiting after spending hours inhaling toxic fumes, and complained of insufficient equipment and protective measures.
Others called for international specialists to be sent in, citing the scale of the spill and the likely extent of the impact.
Photos circulating on social media and local news channels showed seabirds coated in black fuel oil.
The spill may have killed more than 20 dolphins, the local Delfa dolphin rescue center said, adding tests were ongoing to ascertain the cause of the deaths.
The Kerch Strait separates the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula from Russia and is an important global shipping route, providing passage from the inland Sea of Azov to the Black Sea.
It has also been a key point of conflict between Russia and Ukraine after Moscow annexed the peninsula in 2014. In 2016, Ukraine took Moscow to the Permanent Court of Arbitration, where it accused Russia of trying to seize control of the area illegally. In 2021, Russia closed the strait for several months.
Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the head of the office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, last month described the oil spill as a “large-scale environmental disaster” and called for additional sanctions on Russian tankers.


Global condemnation, condolences for New Orleans attack

A black flag with white lettering lies on the ground rolled up behind a pickup truck that a man drove into a crowd.
A black flag with white lettering lies on the ground rolled up behind a pickup truck that a man drove into a crowd.
Updated 01 January 2025
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Global condemnation, condolences for New Orleans attack

A black flag with white lettering lies on the ground rolled up behind a pickup truck that a man drove into a crowd.
  • “We are deeply saddened by the attack that took place in New Orleans, USA,” Turkiye’s foreign ministry said in a statement

PARIS: International condemnation poured in Wednesday for the attack on a crowd of New Year’s Eve revellers in New Orleans, which killed at least 10 people and wounded dozens more.
Here is a round-up of global reactions.
“New Orleans, so dear to the hearts of the French, has been struck by terrorism,” French President Emmanuel Macron wrote on X, posting in both French and English.
New Orleans was initially founded by colonists from France and the attack took place in the Louisiana city’s famed French Quarter.
“Our thoughts are with the families of the victims and the injured, as well as with the American people, whose sorrow we share,” Macron said.
“Horrified by the attack in New Orleans, US, which has claimed innocent lives and left many injured,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky posted on X.
“We trust that those responsible for this terrible act will be brought to justice. Violence, terrorism, and any threats to human life have no place in our world and must not be tolerated. Our deepest condolences to the families of the victims... Ukraine stands with the American people and denounces violence.”
“I am deeply saddened by the deliberate attack on those celebrating New Year’s in New Orleans,” the European Union’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, posted on X.
“There is no excuse for such violence... We stand in full solidarity with the victims and their families during this tragic time.”
The German ambassador in Washington, Andreas Michaelison, wrote in a message on Bluesky reposted by the German Foreign Office: “I am shocked and saddened by the horrific events in #NewOrleans. My deepest condolences to the victims and their loved ones.
“Germany just suffered an attack on a Christmas market,” he added, referring to the December 20 car ramming that killed five people in the city of Magdeburg. “We stand united with the US in condemning such acts of violence.”
“Deeply saddened by the terrorist attack in New Orleans,” Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar wrote on X.
“My heartfelt condolences go out to the families of the victims. Wishing a swift recovery to the two injured Israeli citizens and all the wounded... Terror has no place in our world.”
“We are deeply saddened by the attack that took place in New Orleans, USA,” Turkiye’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
“We extend our condolences to the families and friends of those who lost their lives... We hope that the motive for the attack will be revealed as soon as possible and that those who might be responsible will be held accountable before justice.”