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Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/5/10/israels-war-on-gaza-live-aid-operation-completely-crippled-amid-attacks

A major terrorist bid was foiled by police and intelligence agencies as they arrested two ‘agents’ of the Indian spy agency, Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), in a joint operation in Karachi, Korangi Superintendent of Police (SSP) Hasan Sardar said on Monday. The official said that two hand grenades, a 9mm pistol and ammunition had been seized from the “terrorists” arrested during the targetted operation.  Sardar further said that the nabbed terrorist had been involved in the recce of a target pointed out by foreign elements. He said that the terrorists used to send the images and information gathered during the recce abroad and received millions of rupees from foreign bank accounts for that. Indian infiltration inside Pakistani territory for intelligence and terrorist purposes is not something known as a number of incidents of extra-territorial activities by RAW and arrest of its agents have been reported in the past. Earlier this year, Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary Syrus Qazi exposed the “sophisticated and sinister” Indian campaign of extra-territorial and extra-judicial killings. Pakistan has “credible evidence” for Indian agents’ link to the killings of two of its citizens on Pakistani soil, Qazi had revealed in January. These claims were provided further credence by British daily newspaper, The Guardian, through a report that revealed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Indian government “ordered killings” on Pakistan’s soil. Quoting intelligence operatives, the report stated that New Delhi has adopted a policy of targeting those it considers hostile to India on foreign soil. Already strained by historical baggage and border disputes, Islamabad and New Delhi’s ties hit new lows after 2016’s Kulbushan Yadav spy arrest and the 2019 revocation of Indian Illegal Occupied Jammu and Kashmir’s (IIOJK) special status. The Kashmir move, a blatant violation of international laws, froze diplomacy and choked trade between the two adjoining countries. Pakistan has, for more than four years, conditioned restoring ties with its nuclear neighbour to the restoration of IIOJK’s special status. India’s notorious spy agency RAW, which is directly controlled by the office of PM Modi, allegedly began to carry out assassinations abroad following the 2019 Pulwama attack. Source: https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/1186042-terrorist-bid-foiled-as-two-raw-agents-arrested-in-karachi

At least five people have died and about 50 others remain trapped following the collapse of a building in South Africa. Rescue teams said on Tuesday that they had contacted survivors buried under the rubble after they worked overnight at the site in the coastal city of George, in South Africa’s Western Cape province. The five-storey building, which was under construction, collapsed on Monday afternoon. No cause has yet been given. Twenty-six of the 75 construction workers on site at the time of the collapse had been pulled from the rubble by Tuesday morning. Five were declared dead; the remainder were transported to hospital. Of the 49 still unaccounted for, rescuers said they contacted 11 people. “Four of them are trapped in a basement,” Colin Deiner, chief director for disaster management, told a news conference, adding that there is a possibility that more could be alive. The priority is to get all those still trapped out, Deiner said, adding it could take much of the day. Rescuers will then begin the process of lifting the different floors. “It’s a very tough operation,” he said. “So many people trapped in a building like that is like searching for a needle in a haystack. You literally have to break through the concrete and cut through the reinforcing.” It is unclear yet why the building, located near the city centre, suddenly collapsed. The police have opened a case and authorities are investigating. Security camera footage from nearby showed the concrete structure and metal scaffolding come crashing down at 2.09pm local time (12:09 GMT) on Monday. President Cyril Ramaphosa on Tuesday sent condolences to the families of those affected and called on investigators to work quickly to rescue survivors. “Investigations into the cause of the incident must aim to bring closure to the community and prevent a repeat of this disaster,” the statement read. At least 11 of those injured were in “red” conditions, authorities said, indicating that “emergency” care was needed for critical injuries under South Africa’s triage procedures. Three people were classified as needing “yellow” or “urgent” care, while 12 others were in less critical “green” and “blue” conditions. Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/5/7/five-dead-in-south-africa-building-collapse

An angry mob of transgender persons on Sunday vandalised Saddar Police Station in Kharian tehsil of Gujrat district after the personnel allegedly subjected some of the community’s members to torture during their illegal confinement. According to details, a few transgender persons were on their way home after attending a function late at night when police personnel intercepted them and tried to conduct a body search of them. The scuffle took place between the transgender persons and the cops on the road when they resisted the body search. Meanwhile, the paramilitary forces shifted them to the police station and reportedly subjected the transgender persons to torture. After being informed, dozens of transgender persons led by their “guru” besieged the police station, threw stones and vandalised the premises. In the footage of the incident, also available with the Geo News, the fierce transgender persons can be seen throwing the furniture of the police station on the road. The video shows the transgender persons were forcefully taking a police official out of the police station. Later, the transgender community held a sit-in and blocked the GT Road in Kharian to record their protest. According to the local police, an inquiry has been launched in this regard and disciplinary action will be taken against the cops if found involved in the torture of transgender persons. Source: https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/1185698-video-irked-by-torture-transgender-mob-storms-gujrat-police-station

Massive floods in Brazil’s southern Rio Grande do Sul state have killed at least 75 people over the last seven days, and another 103 were reported missing, local authorities have said. Damage from the rains also forced more than 88,000 people from their homes, state civil defence authorities said on Sunday. Approximately 16,000 took refuge in schools, gymnasiums and other temporary shelters. The floods left a wake of devastation, including landslides, washed-out roads and collapsed bridges across the state. Operators reported electricity and communications cuts. More than 800,000 people are without a water supply, according to the civil defence, which cited figures from water company Corsan. “I repeat and insist: the devastation to which we are being subjected is unprecedented,” state Governor Eduardo Leite said on Sunday morning. He had previously said that the state will need a “kind of ‘Marshall Plan’ to be rebuilt”. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva visited Rio Grande do Sul for a second time on Sunday, accompanied by Defence Minister Jose Mucio, Finance Minister Fernando Haddad and Environment Minister Marina Silva, among others. The leader and his team surveyed the flooded streets of the state capital, Porto Alegre, from a helicopter. “We need to stop running behind disasters. We need to see in advance what calamities might happen and we need to work,” President Lula told journalists afterwards. The Guaiba River reached a record level of 5.33m (17.5 feet) on Sunday morning, surpassing levels seen during a historic 1941 deluge, when the river reached 4.76m (15.6 feet). During Sunday mass at the Vatican, Pope Francis said he was praying for the state’s population. “May the Lord welcome the dead and comfort their families and those who had to abandon their homes,” he said. The downpour started on Monday and was expected to last through Sunday. In some areas, such as valleys, mountain slopes and cities, more than 300mm (11.8 inches) of rain fell in less than a week, according to Brazil’s National Institute of Meteorology, known by the Portuguese acronym INMET, on Thursday. The heavy rains were the fourth such environmental disaster in the state in a year, following floods in July, September and November 2023 that killed 75 people. Weather across South America is affected by the climate phenomenon El Nino, a periodic, naturally occurring event that warms surface waters in the Equatorial Pacific region. In Brazil, El Nino has historically caused droughts in the north and intense rainfall in the south. This year, the impacts of El Nino have been particularly dramatic, with a historic drought in the Amazon. Scientists say extreme weather is happening more frequently due to human-caused climate change. “These tragedies will continue to happen, increasingly worse and more frequent,” said Suely Araujo, a public policy coordinator at the Climate Observatory, a network of dozens of environmental and social groups. Brazil needs to adjust to the effects of climate change, she said in a Friday statement, referring to a process known as adaptation. Source: https://aljazeera.com/news/2024/5/5/at-least-75-killed-more-than-100-others-missing-in-brazil-floods

Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/5/6/israels-war-on-gaza-live-israel-pounds-rafah-as-truce-talks-stall

In a shocking incident, a highway police officer was killed and two others sustained bullet injuries when unidentified assailants, aboard a car, opened fire on them before a verbal brawl on a traffic challan. According to the police, the incident took place when the cops served a challan on the car driver at Bedra Interchange in Mansehra. The car was travelling from Peshawar to Mansehra. As per Mansehra District Police Officer (DPO) Shafiullah Gandapur, the surrounding areas were cordoned off after the firing and launched a search operation for the arrest of suspects. The deceased police officer was identified as Aamir Khan Swati. It may be noted that similar incidents of violence against the Motorway Police have surfaced in the recent past. On April 24, a woman rammed her car into a Motorway Police personnel and vented anger at the traffic wardens for being stopped for speeding. The entire incident was filmed and posted on social media, showing her arguing in an abusive manner with the Motorway Police officer for being pulled over for speeding. Later, another such incident took place near Kallar Kahar where two ladies “misbehaved” with Motorway Police personnel, threatening and hurling abuses at them during the quarrel. The video of the incident went viral on social media, in which they were heard alleging that the Motorway personnel hurt one of the women while trying to “snatch” her mobile phone while she was making the cops’ video. Source: https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/1185017-police-officer-shot-dead-two-wounded-over-challan-dispute-in-kps-mansehra

At least 12 people, including children, have been killed in twin bomb blasts that hit two camps for displaced people in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, according to government officials, the United Nations and an aid group. Friday’s explosions targeted the camps in Lac Vert and Mugunga, near the city of Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, the UN said in a statement. The attacks, in which at least 20 people were injured, were a “flagrant violation of human rights and international humanitarian law and may constitute a war crime”, it said. A resident of one of the camps told Al Jazeera that many of the victims were sleeping in their tents when the area was attacked. “We started running as the bombs were fired at the camp,” the resident said. The Congolese military and the United States accused the military in neighbouring Rwanda and the M23 rebel group of being behind the attacks. On Saturday, Rwanda denied the US accusations as “ridiculous”. Government spokesperson Yolande Makolo said the Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) is a “professional army” that would never attack displaced people. In a post on X, Makolo instead blamed the assault on militias supported by the Congolese military. Lieutenant-Colonel Guillaume Njike Kaiko, a spokesperson for the DRC’s army in the region, said the attacks were retaliation for earlier DRC strikes on Rwandan army positions in which arms and ammunition were destroyed. In a social media post, government spokesperson Patrick Muyaya also blamed the M23, which has taken over swaths of North Kivu in the last two years. The DRC, the UN and Western countries have said Rwanda is supporting the group in a bid to control mines and mineral resources. Rwanda has denied the allegations. Al Jazeera’s Fintan Monaghan reported that the shells were fired from an area controlled by M23. The group denied any role in the attacks and instead blamed DRC forces, in a statement posted on X.Play Video Video Duration 02 minutes 11 seconds02:11 The intensifying fighting in eastern DRC has forced hundreds of thousands of civilians to flee neighbouring towns towards Goma, which is located between Lake Kivu and the Rwandan border and is largely cut off from the country’s interior. International charity Save The Children said it was present at one of the camps when shells struck close to a busy marketplace. It said dozens were injured, mostly women and children, and the final death toll remained unclear. “A tent does not offer much protection from shelling,” said Greg Ramm, the aid group’s country director in the DRC. “Protection of civilians, especially children and families living in displacement camps, must be prioritised,” he said, and called for “all parties to the conflict to end the use of explosive weapons in the proximity of populated areas”. President Felix Tshisekedi, who was travelling in Europe, decided to return home on Friday following the bombings, a statement from his office said. Tshisekedi has long alleged that Rwanda is destabilising DRC by backing the M23 rebels. The bombings follow the group’s capture of the strategic mining town of Rubaya this week. The town holds deposits of tantalum, which is extracted from coltan, a key component in the production of smartphones. Condemning the attack, US Department of State spokesperson Matthew Miller said it was “essential that all states respect each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity”. Source: https://aljazeera.com/news/2024/5/4/at-least-12-killed-in-bomb-attacks-on-eastern-dr-congo-displacement-camps

Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/5/4/israels-war-on-gaza-live-talks-in-egypt-set-to-steer-wars-direction