Ibis Blog

Category: NEWS

  • Serangan dron, peluru berpandu ke atas Kyiv mengorbankan sembilan, mencederakan lebih 70, kata Perkhidmatan Kecemasan Negeri

    Serangan gabungan peluru berpandu dan dron Rusia semalaman mencetuskan kebakaran, menghancurkan bangunan dan menimbus penduduk di bawah runtuhan di ibu kota Ukraine Kyiv, membunuh sembilan orang dan mencederakan lebih 70, kata Perkhidmatan Kecemasan Negeri pada Khamis.

    Enam kanak-kanak dilaporkan antara yang cedera.

    “Terdapat kemusnahan. Pencarian diteruskan untuk orang di bawah runtuhan,” tulis Perkhidmatan Kecemasan Negeri di aplikasi pemesejan Telegram.

    Insiden paling serius adalah di sebuah bangunan pangsapuri yang musnah di daerah Sviatoshynskyi di barat pusat bandar.

    Gambar disiarkan di Telegram menunjukkan pasukan penyelamat bekerja dengan lampu limpah, bergerak berhati-hati melalui timbunan runtuhan dan memanjat tangga yang dipanjangkan di sepanjang fasad bangunan. Polis menelefon dari apartmen ke apartmen bagi menentukan sama ada penduduk selamat.

    Pasukan penyelamat, kata perkhidmatan kecemasan, beroperasi di 13 tapak di ibu negara dengan pakar pendakian dan anjing penghidu. Empat puluh kebakaran telah berlaku.

    “Telefon mudah alih kedengaran berdering di bawah runtuhan. Pencarian akan diteruskan sehingga menjadi jelas bahawa mereka telah mendapatkan semua orang,” katanya.

    Kebakaran telah berlaku di garaj, bangunan pentadbiran dan serpihan logam yang jatuh telah menimpa kenderaan.

    Amaran serbuan udara berkuat kuasa di ibu negara selama enam jam.

    Kharkiv, bandar kedua terbesar Ukraine di timur laut, mengalami dua gelombang peluru berpandu Rusia semalaman, mencederakan dua orang dan memecahkan tingkap, datuk bandar Ihor Terekhov menulis di Telegram.

    Terdapat juga kerosakan di wilayah Zhytomyr, barat Kyiv, di mana perkhidmatan kecemasan berkata tentera Rusia melancarkan serangan berulang ke atas pasukan penyelamat yang hadir ke tempat kebakaran, mencederakan seorang pekerja.

    Kereta api negara Ukraine Ukrzaliznytsia berkata infrastruktur kereta api telah diserang dan dua pekerja kereta api cedera.

    Di wilayah Kyiv dan Kharkiv, bedilan itu merosakkan landasan dan bangunan pentadbiran dan teknikal, tetapi kereta api beroperasi seperti biasa.

    REUTERS

  • Drone, missile attack on Kyiv kills nine, injures more than 70, says State Emergency Service

    An overnight Russian combined missile and drone attack triggered fires, smashed buildings and buried residents under rubble in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, killing nine people and injuring more than 70, the State Emergency Service said on Thursday.

    Six children were reported to be among the injured.

    “There has been destruction. The search is continuing for people under rubble,” the State Emergency Service wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

    The most serious incident was at an apartment building destroyed in the Sviatoshynskyi district west of the city centre.

    Pictures posted on Telegram showed rescue teams working with floodlights, moving cautiously through piles of rubble and clambering up ladders extended along the facades of buildings. Police were calling from apartment to apartment to determine whether residents were safe.

    Rescue teams, the emergency service said, were operating at 13 sites in the capital with climbing specialists and sniffer dogs. Forty fires had broken out.

    “Mobile telephones are heard ringing beneath rubble. The search will continue until it become clear that they have got everyone,” it said.

    Fires had broken out in garages, administrative buildings and falling metal fragments had struck vehicles.
    An air raid alert was in effect in the capital for six hours.

    Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second biggest city in the northeast, endured two overnight waves of Russian missiles, injuring two people and smashing windows, Mayor Ihor Terekhov wrote on Telegram.

    There was also damage in Zhytomyr region, west of Kyiv, where emergency services said Russian forces launched a repeat strike on rescue teams attending a fire, injuring one worker.

    Ukrainian state railway Ukrzaliznytsia said that railway infrastructure had come under attack and two railway workers were hurt.

    In Kyiv and Kharkiv regions the shelling damaged track and administrative and technical buildings, but trains were operating normally.

    REUTERS

  • Isteri dan anak pemain bola sepak diculik di Ecuador semasa pencerobohan rumah

    Jackson Rodriguez dari Emelec Ecuador memberi reaksi semasa perlawanan bola sepak pusingan kedua 16 Copa Sudamericana menentang Defensa y Justicia dari Argentina di stadium Unico Diego Armando Maradona di La Plata, Argentina, Selasa, 8 Ogos 2023. AP/Fail

    QUITO, Ecuador – Isteri pemain bola sepak Ecuador Jackson Rodríguez dan anak berusia 5 tahun diculik awal Rabu, polis melaporkan, apabila lelaki memecah masuk ke rumah mereka untuk mencari pemain pertahanan Emelec itu, yang memberitahu penyiasat dia bersembunyi di bawah katil.

    Penculikan berlaku sekitar jam 3 pagi di bandar pantai Guayaquil, kata ketua polis Édison Rodríguez.

    Dalam keterangannya kepada polis, bek berusia 26 tahun itu berkata dia bersembunyi di bawah katil apabila mendengar pintu depan dipecahkan, menurut ketua polis.

    Pelaku membawa isteri dan anak Rodriguez selepas bertanya kepada wanita itu sama ada Rodríguez berada di kediaman itu.

    Menurut polis, Rodríguez melihat di tingkap “bahawa individu-individu itu menaiki trak pikap dua kabin berwarna kelabu.”

    Insiden itu berlaku di tengah-tengah keadaan darurat yang diisytiharkan 10 hari lalu oleh kerajaan di sembilan kawasan di negara itu, termasuk wilayah Guayas, di mana Guayaquil berada. Langkah itu membolehkan pengerahan pasukan keselamatan di wilayah tersebut untuk memerangi operasi kumpulan jenayah terancang, yang dipersalahkan pihak berkuasa atas gelombang keganasan.

    Ketidakamanan dan jenayah telah melanda Ecuador selama empat tahun, dengan peningkatan dalam beberapa bulan pertama tahun ini, menurut kerajaan. Antara Januari dan Mac, 2,345 kematian kejam dilaporkan, 742 daripadanya berlaku di Guayaquil, terletak 270 kilometer (168 batu) barat daya ibu kota Quito.

    Bandar pelabuhan itu dianggap sebagai salah satu kawasan paling berbahaya di negara ini. Dari pelabuhan tersebut, penghantaran dadah haram dihantar ke Eropah, Amerika Tengah, dan Amerika Syarikat, menurut pihak berkuasa.

    Atlet lain telah menjadi sasaran pada masa lalu. Pada Disember 2024, pemain bola sepak Pedro Perlaza, yang bermain untuk Liga de Quito juga telah diculik di Esmeraldas, sebuah bandar yang terletak 182 kilometer barat laut Quito, dan diselamatkan hidup-hidup beberapa hari kemudian.

    AP

  • Soccer player’s wife and child kidnapped in Ecuador during home invasion

    Jackson Rodriguez of Ecuador’s Emelec reacts during a Copa Sudamericana round of 16 second leg soccer match against Argentina’s Defensa y Justicia at the Unico Diego Armando Maradona stadium in La Plata, Argentina, Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2023. AP/File

    QUITO, Ecuador – Ecuadorian soccer player Jackson Rodríguez’s wife and 5-year-old child were kidnapped early Wednesday, police reported, when men broke into their home in search of the Emelec defender, who told investigators he hid under a bed.

    The kidnappings took place around 3 a.m. in the coastal city of Guayaquil, police chief Édison Rodríguez said.

    In his testimony to police, the 26-year-old fullback said he hid under a bed when he heard the front door being broken down, according to the police chief.

    The perpetrators took Rodriguez’s wife and child after asking the woman if Rodríguez was at the residence.

    According to police, Rodríguez saw at a window “that the individuals were traveling in a gray-colored double-cab pickup truck.”

    The incident occurred amid a state of emergency declared 10 days ago by the government in nine areas of the country, including the province of Guayas, to which Guayaquil belongs. The measure allows the mobilization of security forces in those territories to combat the operations of organized crime groups, which authorities blame for the wave of violence.

    Insecurity and crime have plagued Ecuador for four years, with an increase in the first few months of the year, according to the government. Between January and March, 2,345 violent deaths were reported, 742 of which occurred in Guayaquil, located 270 kilometers (168 miles) southwest of the capital Quito.

    The port city is considered one of the most dangerous areas in the country. From those ports, illegal drug shipments are sent to Europe, Central America, and the United States, according to authorities.

    Other athletes have been targeted in the past. In December 2024, soccer player Pedro Perlaza, who played for Liga de Quito also was kidnapped in Esmeraldas, a city located 182 kilometers northwest of Quito, and rescued alive a few days later.

    AP

  • Wartawan Rusia meninggal dunia akibat kecederaan dialami pada Mac dalam perang Ukraine

    Seorang wartawan Rusia yang terperangkap dalam serangan artileri Ukraine bulan lalu meninggal dunia akibat kecederaannya di hospital, kata penerbitannya awal Khamis.

    Nikita Goldin, yang bekerja untuk Televisyen Zvezda tentera, adalah sebahagian daripada kumpulan yang diserang di bahagian kawalan Moscow di wilayah Luhansk di timur laut Ukraine pada 24 Mac.

    Enam orang maut dalam serangan itu, termasuk dua lagi wartawan dan pemandu mereka.

    Goldin, yang juga menulis untuk akhbar harian tentera Krasnaya Zvezda, dibawa ke hospital tentera di Moscow, tetapi meninggal dunia akibat kecederaannya hampir sebulan selepas serangan itu.

    Kementerian Luar Rusia menuduh Ukraine sengaja menyasarkan wartawan dalam serangan itu.

    Data yang diberikan sebelum ini dalam perang oleh Jawatankuasa Melindungi Wartawan (CPJ) mengira sekurang-kurangnya 15 wartawan terbunuh sejak pencerobohan besar-besaran Rusia pada Februari 2022 ke atas Ukraine.

    Hampir semua wilayah Luhansk telah ditawan oleh tentera Rusia ketika Moscow bergerak untuk menguasai wilayah timur Donbas yang lebih luas, salah satu kawasan paling industri di Ukraine.

    REUTERS

  • Russian journalist dies of wounds suffered in March in Ukraine war

    A Russian journalist caught in a Ukrainian artillery strike last month died of his wounds in hospital, his publication said early on Thursday.

    Nikita Goldin, who worked for the military’s Zvezda Television, was part of a group that came under attack in a Moscow-controlled part of Luhansk region in northeastern Ukraine on March 24.

    Six people died in the strike, including two other journalists and their driver.

    Goldin, who also wrote for the military daily Krasnaya Zvezda, was taken to a military hospital in Moscow, but died of his wounds nearly a month after the attack.

    Russia’s Foreign Ministry accused Ukraine of deliberately targeting the journalists in the attack.

    Data provided earlier in the war by the Committee to Protect Journalists counted at least 15 journalists killed since Russia’s February 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

    Nearly all of the Luhansk region has been captured by Russian forces as Moscow drives to take control of the broader eastern Donbas region, one of Ukraine’s most industrialised areas.

    REUTERS

  • Pemilik kelab malam Dominican yang bumbungnya runtuh, mengorbankan 232, bercakap buat kali pertama

    SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – Bumbung runtuh di sebuah kelab malam popular di Republik Dominican dan mengorbankan 232 orang bulan ini mengalami masalah penapisan selama beberapa dekad dan telah berulang kali diperbaiki dengan papan eternit, menurut pemiliknya.

    Antonio Espaillat, yang juga berkhidmat sebagai pengurus kelab malam Jet Set di ibu negara Dominican Santo Domingo, bercakap dengan stesen TV tempatan Telesistema pada Rabu dalam wawancara pertamanya sejak bencana 8 April.

    Espaillat memberitahu wartawan dengan program berita El Día bahawa pekerja telah menambah papan eternit baharu pada bumbung beberapa jam sebelum runtuh.

    Dia menyatakan, papan eternit telah jatuh berulang kali sepanjang tahun atas sebab termasuk air yang ditapis melalui unit penghawa dingin kelab. Bagaimanapun, Espaillat berkata tiada siapa yang pernah memeriksa bumbung atau penapisan air.

    “Kami sentiasa membeli papan eternit. Sentiasa,” kata Espaillat, yang bercakap dengan tenang sepanjang wawancara hampir satu jam itu.

    Jurucakap wanita Espaillat tidak membalas mesej untuk mengulas bagi mendapatkan temu bual dengannya.

    Espaillat berkata dia mengetahui tentang keruntuhan itu apabila saudara perempuannya memanggilnya dari bawah serpihan, terperangkap bersama ratusan yang lain menghadiri konsert penyanyi merengue tercinta Rubby Pérez, yang merupakan antara yang terkorban.

    “Kepada keluarga mangsa, saya ingin meminta maaf. Saya sangat menyesal,” kata Espaillat. “Saya hancur sepenuhnya.”

    ‘Kami semua terkejut’

    Espaillat berkata dia berusia 6 tahun ketika ibunya mengasaskan kelab legenda itu 52 tahun lalu. Kelab itu kemudiannya berpindah ke ruang yang diduduki oleh panggung wayang yang tertutup dan kekal di lokasi itu selama 30 tahun sehingga runtuh.

    Dia berkata terdapat enam unit penghawa dingin di atas bumbung, ditambah tiga tangki air. Sebuah loji elektrik dipasang di bilik bersebelahan, bukan di atas bumbung, tambahnya.

    Setiap enam hingga lapan tahun, kru khas akan kalis air pada bumbung, dengan kalis air terakhir dilakukan kira-kira sebulan sebelum runtuh, katanya.

    Woofer berat yang melonjakkan muzik di Jet Set, yang terkenal dengan pesta merengue diadakan setiap Isnin, berada di lantai, katanya.

    Espaillat berkata jika ada sesuatu yang boleh dilakukannya untuk mengelakkan keruntuhan, dia akan melakukannya.

    “Tiada amaran, tiada apa-apa. Kami semua terkejut,” katanya.

    ‘Saya akan hadapi segala-galanya’

    Kerajaan Dominican telah mewujudkan jawatankuasa yang merangkumi pakar tempatan dan antarabangsa yang ditugaskan untuk menyiasat keruntuhan itu.

    Kira-kira 515 orang berada di Jet Set apabila bumbung jatuh menimpa orang ramai, menurut Espaillat.

    Dalam tempoh 53 jam selepas bencana itu, kru menyelamatkan 189 mangsa yang terselamat. Puluhan yang lain dimasukkan ke hospital.

    232 mangsa termasuk tujuh doktor; seorang pegawai PBB yang telah bersara; bekas pemain MLB Octavio Dotel dan Tony Enrique Blanco Cabrera; dan Nelsy Cruz, gabenor wilayah Montecristi dan saudara perempuan kepada tujuh kali Major League Baseball All-Star Nelson Cruz.

    Sekurang-kurangnya tiga saman telah difailkan.

    Espaillat, yang berkata dia biasanya menghadiri parti merengue Isnin Jet Set, berada di Las Vegas untuk konvensyen apabila saudara perempuannya menelefon.

    “Bagaimana bumbung boleh runtuh?” dia teringat tertanya-tanya semasa dia terbang kembali ke Republik Dominican.

    Espaillat berkata dia tidak segera melawat tapak itu sebaik tiba kerana pegawai bimbang tentang keselamatannya, sambil menyatakan bahawa orang di tempat kejadian marah.

    Dia berkata dia tidak banyak tidur sejak bencana itu, dan dia telah bercakap dengan keluarga pekerjanya dan beberapa saudara mangsa.

    “Saya akan menghadapi segala-galanya,” katanya.

    “Saya tidak akan ke mana-mana.”

    Siasatan yang berterusan

    Siasatan terhadap punca keruntuhan itu boleh mengambil masa beberapa bulan dan telah menimbulkan persoalan tentang keselamatan infrastruktur di seluruh Santo Domingo dan seterusnya.

    Pada masa ini tiada agensi kerajaan yang ditugaskan untuk memeriksa bangunan perniagaan swasta di Republik Dominika, walaupun Presiden Luis Abinader mengumumkan minggu lalu bahawa undang-undang baharu dijangka mengubahnya.

    Yamil Castillo, seorang jurutera struktur dan naib presiden Persatuan Jurutera Puerto Rico, berkata kebocoran air boleh sangat merosakkan dan harus dijaga dengan segera.

    Castillo, yang tidak terlibat dalam menyiasat keruntuhan, memberi amaran bahawa air yang meresap ke dalam bahan berbeza yang membentuk bumbung boleh membebankannya, selain apa sahaja yang diletakkan di atas bumbung, termasuk unit penghawa dingin.

    Udara masin juga menyebabkan kakisan dan kerosakan bumbung, katanya.

    “Kebocoran itu sepatutnya telah diperbaiki,” kata Castillo, sambil menambah bahawa menggantikan papan eternit tidak mencukupi.

    AN-AP

  • The owner of a Dominican nightclub whose roof collapsed, killing 232, speaks for the first time

    SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – A roof that collapsed at a popular nightclub in the Dominican Republic and killed 232 people this month had filtration problems for decades and had been repeatedly fixed with plasterboard, according to its owner.

    Antonio Espaillat, who also serves as manager of the Jet Set nightclub in the Dominican capital of Santo Domingo, spoke with local TV station Telesistema on Wednesday in his first interview since the April 8 disaster.

    Espaillat told a reporter with El Día news program that employees had added new plasterboard to the roof hours before the collapse.

    He noted that plasterboard had fallen repeatedly throughout the years for reasons including water that filtered through the club’s air conditioning units. However, Espaillat said no one ever inspected the roof or water filtrations.

    “We always bought plasterboard. Always,” said Espaillat, who spoke in a subdued manner throughout the nearly one-hour interview.

    A spokeswoman for Espaillat did not return a message for comment seeking an interview with him.

    Espaillat said he learned about the collapse when his sister called him from underneath the debris, trapped along with hundreds of others attending a concert by beloved merengue singer Rubby Pérez, who was among those killed.

    “To the families of the victims, I want to say I’m sorry. I’m very sorry,” Espaillat said. “I am completely destroyed.”

    ‘We were all surprised’

    Espaillat said he was 6 years old when his mother founded the legendary club 52 years ago. The club later moved to a space occupied by a shuttered movie theater and remained in that location for 30 years until the collapse.

    He said there were six air-conditioning units on the roof, plus three water tanks. An electric plant was installed in an adjacent room, not on the roof, he added.

    Every six to eight years, a specialized crew would waterproof the roof, with the last waterproofing done about a month before the collapse, he said.

    The heavy woofers that boomed music at Jet Set, known for its merengue parties held every Monday, were on the floor, he said.

    Espaillat said if there was something he could have done to avoid the collapse, he would have done it.

    “There was no warning, nothing. We were all surprised,” he said.

    ‘I’m going to face everything’

    The Dominican government has created a committee that includes local and international experts tasked with investigating the collapse.

    About 515 people were at Jet Set when the roof fell on the crowd, according to Espaillat.

    In the 53 hours following the disaster, crews rescued 189 survivors. Dozens of others were hospitalized.

    The 232 victims include seven doctors; a retired UN official; former MLB players Octavio Dotel and Tony Enrique Blanco Cabrera; and Nelsy Cruz, the governor of Montecristi province and sister of seven-time Major League Baseball All-Star Nelson Cruz.

    At least three lawsuits have been filed.
    Espaillat, who said he usually attended Jet Set’s Monday merengue parties, was in Las Vegas for a convention when his sister called.

    “How can a roof collapse?” he recalled wondering as he flew back to the Dominican Republic.

    Espaillat said he did not immediately visit the site upon arriving because officials worried about his safety, noting that people at the scene were angry.

    He said he hasn’t slept much since the disaster, and that he has talked to the families of his employees and some of the victim’s relatives.

    “I’m going to face everything,” he said.

    “I’m not going anywhere.”

    An ongoing investigation

    The investigation into what caused the collapse could take a couple of months and has raised questions about the safety of infrastructure across Santo Domingo and beyond.

    There is currently no government agency tasked with inspecting the buildings of private businesses in the Dominican Republic, although President Luis Abinader announced last week that new legislation is expected to change that.

    Yamil Castillo, a structural engineer and vice president of the Society of Engineers of Puerto Rico, said water leaks can be extremely damaging and should be taken care of immediately.

    Castillo, who is not involved in investigating the collapse, warned that water seeping into the different materials that compose a roof can weigh it down, in addition to whatever else is placed on the roof, including air conditioning units.

    Salty air also cause corrosion and roof damage, he said.

    “Those leaks should have been fixed,” Castillo said, adding that replacing the plasterboard was not enough.

    AN-AP

  • Child shot, killed by Israeli army’s gunfire near Jenin

    JENIN, April 23 – A twelve-year-old Palestinian boy was killed after being shot by Israeli forces in the town of Yamoun west of Jenin, in the northern occupied West Bank, according to the Ministry of Health.

    The ministry identified the victim as 12-year-old Mahmoud Mithqal Ali Abu al-Haijja, who succumbed to critical wounds he sustained after being struck by Israeli forces’ live ammunition.

    The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) reported that its crews transported the child, who had sustained fatal gunshot wounds to the cheek and abdomen, from al-Hadaf Medical Center in Yamoun to Jenin Governmental Hospital.

    WAFA

  • Kanak-kanak ditembak, maut akibat tembakan tentera Israel dekat Jenin

    JENIN, 23 April – Seorang budak lelaki Palestin berusia dua belas tahun terbunuh selepas ditembak oleh tentera Israel di pekan Yamoun di barat Jenin, di utara Tebing Barat yang diduduki, menurut Kementerian Kesihatan.

    Kementerian itu mengenal pasti mangsa sebagai Mahmoud Mithqal Ali Abu al-Haijja, 12 tahun, yang meninggal dunia akibat kecederaan kritikal dialaminya selepas terkena peluru hidup tentera Israel.

    Persatuan Bulan Sabit Merah Palestin (PRCS) melaporkan, krunya mengangkut kanak-kanak itu, yang mengalami luka tembakan maut di pipi dan perut, dari Pusat Perubatan al-Hadaf di Yamoun ke Hospital Kerajaan Jenin.

    WAFA