December 7, 2023

The death toll from the fire that ripped through a multi-storey commercial-cum-residential building located near Ayesha Manzil in Karachi’s Federal B Area a day earlier has increased to five, police said on Thursday. Late on Wednesday evening, 12 fire engines, two snorkels and two bowsers brought under control the fire that erupted in the six-storey building after several hours of hectic efforts. Officials had said three people were killed and two sustained burn injuries in the blaze. Witnesses had said the fire erupted in a mattress shop located at the front of the building and then later spread throughout the structure. Immediately after the incident, caretaker Sindh Chief Minister retired Justice Maqbool Baqar ordered a probe. Yesterday’s blaze was the second incident of fire in under a fortnight. On Nov 25, a fire that erupted in a six-storey building on Rashid Minhas Road claimed 11 lives. Speaking to Dawn.com today, Central Senior Superintendent of Police Faisal Abdullah Chachar said the death toll from the Ayesha Manzil fire had increased to five. The deceased persons were aged between 20 and 40 years. He added that a first information report of the incident had not yet been registered. Footage aired on television in the morning showed the charred building, covered in soot. Meanwhile, in a visit to the fire site, Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) convener Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui held the PPP responsible for the incident. “Who should the people of Karachi blame for those who were killed and burned?” he asked. “The public need to know those who are responsible for turning this city into a jungle.” Siddiqui stated that Karachi had seen several of its people being killed on the streets. He demanded that the caretaker chief minister should come forth and show “how much power does he have”. MQM-P’s Dr Farooq Sattar lamented the absence of officials at the building, saying that there was no one present who could comfort the bereaved families. “Who will compensate these people? Who will bring back their homes and shops? These are all questions that need to be answered […] for God sake please listen to our voices,” he added. 90pc buildings in Karachi have no firefighting system At a moot last month, city planners, engineers and experts of building plans had revealed that some 90 per cent of all structures in Karachi — residential, commercial and industrial — did not have fire prevention and firefighting systems. The experts had referred to the data that more than 15,000 people lost their lives and suffered losses of over a trillion rupees every year due to fire accidents across the country which mainly occurred in urban areas where majority of residential, commercial and industrial structures were raised in violation of defined building rules. They had warned that growing concrete structures without following the defined building code posed serious threats to hundreds of thousands of lives. They had also asked the government to move fast for effective implementation of fire prevention and firefighting laws “before it’s too late”. Source:https://www.dawn.com/news/1795817/death-toll-from-blaze-in-building-near-karachis-ayesha-manzil-rises-to-5

The gunman in a Wednesday mass shooting on the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, campus that left three dead and a fourth wounded is a 67-year-old career college professor with connections to colleges in Georgia and North Carolina, a law enforcement source told CNN, but it’s unknown what connection he had with the school where the shooting took place. At a Wednesday evening news conference, Las Vegas Metro Sheriff Kevin McMahill said the identity of the shooter, who is dead, will not be released until his family has been notified. Campus police engaged the shooter outside of Beam Hall, the sheriff said. There was a gathering outside the hall where students were playing games and building things with Legos, according to the sheriff. “What happened today is a heinous, unforgivable crime… If it hadn’t been for the heroic actions of one of those police officers who responded, there could have been countless additional lives taken,” he said. In addition to the four victims who were shot, four people were taken to hospitals due to symptoms of panic attacks, the sheriff said. Two law enforcement officers were treated for minor injuries suffered during the search for victims. Three patients were taken to Sunrise Hospital, spokesperson Marissa Mussi said. The sheriff said the condition of the wounded victim – initially listed as critical – had been upgraded to stable. Police are working to uncover evidence and identify a motive, McMahill said, adding he didn’t have any details on the suspect’s weapon. This latest mass shooting comes as students are in the middle of a study week before taking final exams and going on winter break, in the same city that suffered the worst mass shooting in modern US history in 2017. Student Amanda Perez, 23, is comforted by her fiancé, Alejandro Barron, 24, on campus. Ronda Churchill/AFP/Getty Images Police responded shortly before noon Wednesday to reports of a shooting with multiple victims on the campus, near Beam Hall, the home of the university’s Lee Business School, according to a social media post. At 11:54 a.m. local time, the university posted an emergency notice online, saying, “University Police responding to report of shots fire in BEH evacuate to a safe area, RUN-HIDE-FIGHT.” The university then said on X police were responding to “additional report of shots fired in the Student Union,” and advised people to evacuate the area. Students were ordered to shelter in place for hours as law enforcement confronted the suspect and then worked to clear and evacuate campus buildings. The order was lifted around 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, the university said in a post on X, noting that there was no longer an active threat on campus. Enter your email to sign up for CNN’s “Meanwhile in China” Newsletter. close dialog “I was sitting outside, I was just having breakfast. I heard three loud booms and I was like, ‘Oh, what was that?’” a student told CNN affiliate KVVU. “Police showed up, then I ran inside. “After two minutes, more shots. I ran into the basements, and I was there for 20,” the student said. “I was just hearing a lot of shots.” Brett Johnsen was in Beam Hall when he heard a loud noise during class, he told CNN, but it didn’t sound like a gunshot and the professor continued to teach. “Then an alarm came on,” Johnsen said, “I’ve never heard an alarm like that before, it didn’t sound like a fire alarm.” The students in the class began packing things up, relatively calmly, Johnsen explained. “When we began to walk out of the class, that’s when things got real,” he added. After the professor opened the door to let students out, the look on his face turned to panic and he urged the students to get back, lock the doors and get on the ground, Johnsen said. The professor checked the situation outside again after 30 seconds, Johnsen said, and then told the students to “run as fast as we can.” UNLV president Keith Whitfield said in a statement that the campus community is in shock following the “unfathomable event.” “We will forever remember and honor those we have lost and who were injured. I’m grieving for the victims of today’s senseless shooting, and my heart breaks for the many students, faculty, staff, parents, loved ones and community members who suffered through hours of painful uncertainty while officers ensured that our campus was safe and secure again,” Whitfield said. Shooting is 80th at a US school this year and in same city as deadliest modern US mass shooting There have been 631 mass shootings in the United States this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive. There have been 80 US school shootings so far this year, according to a CNN analysis. Of those, 51 shootings have been reported on K-12 campuses and 29 on university and college campuses. UNLV is located just a few miles from the site of the mass shooting at the Route 91 Harvest music festival, which left at least 58 people dead and hundreds more wounded. In the years after the massacre, two more victims died of shooting-related injuries. A student told CNN affiliate KSNV he was in class in the building next to the student union and saw law enforcement officers going in. “We were really nervous so we barricaded all up,” he told the Las Vegas station. He and the other students took a few minutes to look out the windows, he said. Site of reported shooting “We saw students running out in single file lines with their hands up, scared, and we saw officers going in,” the student, who said he was in journalism class with about a dozen others, added. He said they didn’t hear any shooting or see anyone who might have been the shooter. “Tragic and heartbreaking news coming out of @unlv. Praying for everyone on campus as law enforcement responds to the situation,” Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn G. Goodman posted on X just after news of the shooting broke. The White House said it was monitoring the shooting “very closely.” The second gentleman was also already scheduled to deliver remarks tonight

Palestinians across Gaza face relentless Israeli bombardment as war in Gaza enters third month. UN chief Guterres invokes seldom-used Article 99 to force the Security Council to address war in Gaza, warning of deepening “catastrophe”. Gaza City’s Ahli Arab Hospital is at full capacity, Health Ministry spokesman warns, as the health system struggles to cope with new influx of wounded. At least 16,248 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since October 7. In Israel, the official death toll stands at about 1,200. Photos: Two months of Israeli war on Gaza Palestinians wave their flag and celebrate by a destroyed Israeli tank at the southern Gaza fence east of Khan Younis on Saturday, October 7, 2023. [Yousef Masoud/AP Photo] Palestinians inspect the rubble of the Yassin Mosque destroyed after it was hit by an Israeli airstrike at Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, early Monday, October 9, 2023 [Adel Hana/AP Photo] Palestinians pray over bodies of people killed in the Israeli bombardment who were brought from the Shifa hospital before burying them in a mass grave in the town of Khan Younis, southern Gaza, Wednesday, November 22, 2023. [Mohammed Dahman/AP Photo] Smoke rises following Israeli bombardment in Gaza, Wednesday, December 6, 2023 [Ariel Schalit/AP Photo] Women mourn holding the body of a Palestinian child killed in Israeli strikes on homes in Rafah, December 7, 2023 [Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters] Click More Israeli raids across occupied West Bank At least 21 Palestinians were detained in overnight and pre-dawn raids across the occupied West Bank, according to initial reports by the Palestinian Prisoners Society. Here’s a breakdown: In Hebron, Israeli forces confiscated more than a dozen scrap cars from Beit Ummar town north of the city – often used within villages as they cost less; Israel fears they can be used to carry out attacks, since they are not registered. In Bethlehem, at least five Palestinians were detained, in addition to three workers from Gaza. At least five other Palestinians were detained from Tulkarem, where Israeli forces raided the city with bulldozers destroying infrastructure in and around Nour Shams and Tulkarem refugee camps. Three Palestinians were detained from Nablus’ old city a short while ago, during yet another raid. A print shop was closed in downtown Ramallah after its contents were confiscated during a pre-dawn raid. Click here to share on social 1media G7 leaders demand measures be taken to protect civilians in Gaza The leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) have released a statement in which they express concern over the devastating impact that the war is having on the Palestinian civilian population in Gaza. Here are some of the key points: More effective action must also be taken to prevent the displacement of additional people and protect civilian infrastructure. Every effort must be made to ensure unhindered and continued humanitarian assistance for civilians, including food, water, medical care, fuel and shelter, and access for humanitarian workers. The population is increasingly vulnerable, and with winter approaching, we must continue to increase the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza to meet fully the needs on the ground, including by opening additional crossings. Click here to share on social media Two months of ‘death, destruction and displacement’ Hani Mahmoud Palestinians have been experiencing the worst of living conditions under heavy Israeli bombardment since day one of the war. We are talking about a carpet bombardment of entire neighbourhoods and residential blocks. A large number of critically injured Palestinians overwhelmed their hospitals with this extreme shortage of medical supplies and necessities to keep them surviving. There is a serious lack of everything that Palestinians need to survive. So far, the mood of these more than 60 days has been death, destruction and displacement. We’re talking about more than 60 days of constant movement and running for their lives from one place to another, from the extreme northern part of the Gazan City of Beit Hanoon to the extreme south by Rafah, where many people are being packed and squeezed. Click Two months of war Two months ago, Israel declared war on Hamas after its deadly attack on October 7. Here is a quick recap of key developments: On October 7, Hamas fighters launched an unprecedented assault into Israel, killing at least 1,147 people, including 320 Israeli soldiers and 59 policemen. About 240 people were taken captive. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared war with the promise to destroy Hamas’s military and governmental capabilities and to return all hostages. A day later, Israel imposed a total blockade on Gaza, including a ban on admission of food, electricity and fuel. Weeks of intensive and indiscriminate bombing followed, destroying entire neighbourhoods in Gaza. At the end of October, Israel unleashed its second phase of the war by starting a ground operation in northern Gaza. On November 24, a weeklong truce mediated by Qatar took effect. It resulted in the release of more than 100 captives in exchange for at least 240 Palestinians who were held in Israeli prisons. Israeli air strikes resumed with renewed intensity on Friday following the collapse of the truce. Since then, Israeli troops have expanded their military operations to the south of Gaza with its troops now pressing deeper into Khan Younis. Overall, Israeli forces have killed more than 16,000 people, including at least 7,000 children. More than 1.9 million people have been forcefully displaced. Panic in Rafah as Israeli army strikes city overnight Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Rafah in the Gaza Strip, said on Thursday that despite Israeli orders for people from central Gaza and Khan Younis to evacuate to the city for safety, the city experienced heavy shelling overnight. The Israeli army “ordered with a threatening tone to move to Rafah because it is safe, but as of last night overnight … at least five residential homes were targeted and destroyed. And we’re talking about a large number of people who were killed,” he said. “[These strikes] are not concentrated in one area of Rafah … multiple locations were targeted, just sending waves of fear and concern that confirm what people have talked about and expressed before – there is literally no safe place