Category: English

DOHA — Qatar Tourism, the regulatory body of the tourism sector, announced on Sunday that the country welcomed over five million visitors in 2024, marking a 25 percent increase in international arrivals compared to 2023.

“Surpassing five million visitors is a landmark accomplishment for Qatar, bringing us closer to realizing our vision of positioning the country as one of the world’s fastest-growing, family-friendly premier destinations,” head of Qatar Tourism Saad Bin Ali Al Kharji said.

XINHUA

NEW DELHI — Police used water cannons and canes to disperse hundreds of students in India’s eastern state of Bihar on Sunday.

The students who were demanding the cancellation of an examination conducted earlier this month for government jobs alleged that the question paper of the examination was “leaked.” The protest had been going on for the past few days.

Several students were injured in the clash with police, and were admitted to a local hospital.

The protest escalated in Bihar state’s capital city Patna during the day, prompting police to resort to the use of force.

XINHUA

NEW DELHI — At least four persons were killed and more than 30 others injured after their bus overturned in India’s eastern state of Odisha on Sunday, a local government official said.

The mishap occurred in the state’s Koraput district.

Carrying nearly 50 people, the bus was moving toward the Gupteswar temple. The bus driver lost control of the bus on a sharp turn in the hilly terrain of Daparighati, resulting in the accident.

The injured, some of them critical, included women and children.

The state’s Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi expressed condolences and announced monetary compensation to the families of the victims.

XINHUA

OSLO — Torp Airport in Norway resumed operations on Sunday afternoon after a Royal Dutch Airlines (KLM) Boeing 737, which made an emergency landing Saturday evening, was cleared from the runway.

The incident disrupted flights for approximately 5,000 passengers, causing numerous cancellations and delays over the weekend, national broadcaster NRK reported.

The aircraft, en route from Oslo to Amsterdam, was diverted to Torp following reports of hydraulic failure. Pilots experienced difficulties controlling the plane, which veered off the runway onto the grass after landing at 7 p.m.

All 176 passengers and six crew members were safely evacuated without injuries, KLM said in a statement.

Passengers described the atmosphere during the emergency landing as calm, with one traveler recalling loud applause upon landing. Evacuated passengers were transported by bus to the terminal and later to Oslo Gardermoen Airport, where hotel accommodations were arranged.

Norwegian police and the Accident Investigation Board Norway conducted a preliminary investigation before authorizing the aircraft’s removal. The recovery process faced delays as the plane became stuck in mud, complicating efforts.

XINHUA

SEOUL — Most of the people aboard a South Korean airplane that crashed at an airport in southwest South Korea on Sunday morning were believed to have been killed except two rescued, local fire authorities said.

The passenger plane with 175 passengers, including 173 South Koreans and two Thais, as well as six flight attendants on board, crashed while attempting to land at the Muan International Airport, some 290 km southwest of the capital Seoul, at about 9:07 a.m. local time (0007 GMT).

Chief of the Muan fire department said in a televised press briefing that most of the 181 people on board the plane were presumed to be dead except two rescued, including a 22-year-old male and a 25-year-old female crew member, noting that there was little chance of survival as passengers were thrown out of the fuselage after colliding with an outer wall.

A total of 85 people were confirmed dead, with two rescued at 12:50 p.m. local time (0350 GMT). Rescue operations were underway to determine additional casualties.

The Jeju Air flight 7C2216 from Bangkok, Thailand skidded off the runway and crashed into the outer wall of the runway, with its fuselage broken in half and catching fire.

According to the fire authorities, it would take time to recover and identify the bodies as the fuselage was severely destroyed.

TV footage showed a big plume of black smoke billowing out of the Boeing 737-800 engulfed by flames. Another footage showed an engine on the right wing emitting smoke with flames before attempting to land.

The fire authorities estimated that the accident may have been caused by a bird strike that led to landing gear failure.

After making the first landing attempt, the aircraft went around into the air due to an estimated malfunctioning of landing gear and made the second landing attempt with a belly landing that resulted in the crash into the wall.

The fire was initially extinguished some 43 minutes later, with about 80 firefighters and helicopters being dispatched to the scene.

Minister of Economy and Finance Choi Sang-mok, who became an acting president following the impeachments of both President Yoon Suk-yeol and Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, ordered relevant high-ranking officials to make all-out efforts by mobilizing all available equipment and manpower to save lives.

Choi, who doubles as deputy prime minister for economic affairs, stressed that special attention should be paid to prevent rescuers from suffering additional accidents during rescue operations.

After giving those orders, Choi departed for the scene of the accident.

XINHUA

NEW YORK — Corrections officers punched and kicked a handcuffed, shackled inmate in the groin and chest during a fatal attack at a prison in central New York this month, local media reported on Saturday.

The footage was recorded by body cameras worn by four of the officers. It was made public by Letitia James, the state attorney general, as part of her office’s investigation into the death of the man, Robert Brooks, and the beating that preceded it, according to The New York Times.

Among other things, the videos showed one corrections officer using a booted foot to kick Brooks, whose face is bloodied, and then force him onto his back on an infirmary examination table while another officer punches Brooks in the upper body.

James said that the eight videos her office released depicted “shocking and disturbing” behavior.

“James’s investigation could result in criminal charges for some or all of those implicated in the assault, as could inquiries by the State Police and the corrections department’s Office of Special Investigations,” noted the report.

Brooks was Black and all the officers in the video appear to be white. James did not mention race in her description of the beating. But in a watchdog report issued last year about the prison, the Marcy Correctional Facility, nearly 70 percent of inmates who were interviewed reported racial bias among staff members.

The videos were released two weeks after the deadly attack and several days after New York Governor Kathy Hochul said she was moving to fire the 14 prison workers implicated in the attack.

XINHUA

SANAA — An air strike hit Yemen’s capital on Friday, a day after deadly Israeli raids, according to the Iran-backed Houthis who blamed the US and Britain for the latest attack.

A Houthi statement cited “US-British aggression” for the new attack, as witnesses also reported the blast.

There was no immediate comment from Israel, the United States or Britain.

“I heard the blast. My house shook,” one resident of the Houthi-held capital Sanaa told AFP.

The attack followed Thursday’s Israeli raids on infrastructure including Sanaa’s international airport that left six people dead.

The strikes came in response to a series of Houthi attacks on Israel.
The Houthis have also been firing on the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden shipping route for months, prompting a series of reprisal strikes by US and British forces.

AN-AFP/Dec 27, 2024/22:26

NAIROBI — Kenyan rights groups, lawyers and politicians voiced grave concern over a fresh spate of abductions targeting government critics on Friday.

A small protest was organized in northeastern Embu town, where a 24-year-old man, Billy Mwangi, disappeared last weekend.

Security forces in the East African nation have been accused of carrying out dozens of illegal detentions since youth-led anti-government demonstrations in June and July.

The latest disappearances have been primarily young men who have criticized President William Ruto online.
Police have denied involvement but activists have questioned why they appear not to be investigating the disappearances.

The Law Society of Kenya said recent denials by the inspector-general of police were “insufficient,” calling for him to take clear action against the kidnappers or resign. “If indeed the police are not complicit,” LSK said, they must immediately “investigate and prosecute those responsible.”

Human Rights Watch said earlier this year that its research pointed toward a unit drawn from multiple security agencies.

Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, who was ousted after clashing with Ruto over the protests, also alleged on Friday that a secret unit was behind the disappearances.

“Abducting these children and killing them is not a solution … This is the first administration in the history of this country to target children for repression,” Gachagua claimed at a press conference.

The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights said Thursday there had been 82 abduction cases carried out “clandestinely, with unidentified armed persons” since June, with 29 still missing. It listed seven people who had been abducted since Dec. 17.

Two of them — Mwangi and Peter Muteti — were taken shortly after sharing AI-generated images of Ruto dead.

The Kenyan Judiciary said this week that “abductions have no place in law and indeed are a direct threat to the rights of citizens.”

In a post on X on Thursday, it urged “security agencies and all connected entities to adhere to the law to safeguard fundamental rights and freedoms.”

The anti-government demonstrations earlier this year were sparked by proposed tax hikes, triggering the worst crisis since Ruto took power in 2022.

While large-scale rallies have mostly stopped, anger against the government has simmered, fueled by a cost of living crisis and continued allegations of brutality by the security forces.

AN-AFP

JERUSALEM — Israel’s military said it struck multiple targets linked to the Iran-aligned Houthi movement in Yemen on Thursday, including Sana’a International Airport and three ports along the western coast.

Attacks hit Yemen’s Hezyaz and Ras Kanatib power stations as well as military infrastructure in the ports of Hodeidah, Salif and Ras Kanatib, Israel’s military added.

The Houthis have repeatedly fired drones and missiles toward Israel in what they describe as acts of solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

The Israeli attacks on the airport, Hodeidah and on one power station, were reported by Al Masirah TV, the main television news outlet run by the Houthis.

More than a year of Houthi attacks have disrupted international shipping routes, forcing firms to re-route to longer and more expensive journeys that have in turn stoked fears over global inflation.

Israel has instructed its diplomatic missions in Europe to try to get the Houthis designated as a terrorist organization.

The UN Security Council is due to meet on Monday over Houthi attacks against Israel, Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon said on Wednesday.

On Saturday, Israel’s military failed to intercept a missile from Yemen that fell in the Tel Aviv-Jaffa area, injuring 14 people.

AN-REUTERS