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Eighteen people, including a 12-year-old girl, are among those killed in a Russian strike that hit a large store in Kharkiv at the weekend, regional officials have said, making it the deadliest attack Ukraine has endured in several weeks. Five people remain missing, Oleh Syniehubov, the head of the Kharkiv region military administration, said Monday. He said that 48 people were injured in the strike that hit the Epicenter hypermarket shopping center building while nearly 200 people were inside. Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second biggest city, which sits near its border with Russia, has seen a spate of Russian attacks in recent weeks. Security camera footage of the moment of the strike shows the building shake on impact, with the whole site immediately engulfed in thick smoke and flames. Police and witnesses described at least two explosions taking place. Oleksandr Lutsenko, director of the Epicenter shopping center, said he was in his office on the second floor at the time of the two explosions. “I started to make my way down the corridor to the evacuation exit, but it was dark and the whole corridor was covered in dust. There was no air to breathe,” he told CNN over the telephone. “The employees were also leaving. Everyone was groping, and people were holding each other. We could hear the ceiling falling.” Once outside, he saw the hypermarket was on fire. “There was black smoke everywhere, and it was hard to breathe. Some people were jumping out of the windows,” Lutsenko added. Ukraine’s interior minister, Ihor Klymenko, said the hours following the strike were “hellish” and thanked everyone who helped to put out the fires. Photographs from inside the store following the attack show the building in complete ruin, with burnt stock and collapsed walls. Emergency workers carry out the body of a victim of a Russian strike that hit a large store in Kharkiv. Kostiantyn Liberov/Libkos/Getty Images Ukrainian Catholic University identified the killed 12-year-old as Maria Myronenko, saying in a Facebook post that she had died in the strike alongside her mother, Iryna, who was a student at the institute. Her father had also been injured and was being treated in hospital, it said. Serhii Bolvinov, Chief of the Investigative Department of the Kharkiv Regional Police, said the family had been shopping when the two bombs hit. Maria’s elder sister, Nadiya, 20, was not with them at the time, and learned of the deaths only after finding her father in hospital. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky denounced the strike as a “brutal attack,” saying that “Russia is run by men who want to make it a norm – burning lives, destroying cities and villages, dividing people, and erasing national borders through war.” Zelensky, who was in Spain for an official visit on Monday, urged Ukraine’s allies to provide it with more air defenses. Meeting with Zelensky in Madrid, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced on Monday a new $1.08 billion weapons deal for Ukraine that “aims to reinforce air defense systems” and protect Ukrainian citizens and infrastructure from Russia’s attacks. “We are sending Patriot missiles,” Sanchez said of the American-built air-defense system. “Zelensky asks for the platforms to launch those, asking how many we can give. We are sending another batch of Leopard tanks and above all, munitions that the [Ukrainian] troops need.” Zelensky was due to visit Spain earlier this month but postponed the trip due to Russia’s offensive around Kharkiv and other parts of Ukraine. That offensive appears to continue, with Kharkiv enduring intense attacks daily. The United States announced on Friday that it’s sending $275 million in military assistance to Ukraine as part of “efforts to help Ukraine repel Russia’s assault near Kharkiv,” according to Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The top US diplomat said the new tranche of assistance “contains urgently needed capabilities” for Ukrainian troops as they fight to hold back Russia’s advances toward the key northeastern city. Ukraine tamps down French trainer comments News of the new military assistance came as Ukraine’s Defense Ministry tamped down expectations that French military trainers could soon be in Ukraine after online comments from army chief Oleksandr Syrskyi appeared to suggest their arrival in country was a done deal. “I welcome the initiative of France to send instructors to Ukraine to train Ukrainian military personnel,” Syrskyi had written on Telegram following a video conference between himself and the two countries’ defense ministers. “I have already signed the documents that will allow the first French instructors to visit our training centres and get acquainted with the infrastructure and personnel.” Syrskyi’s statement gave no possible timeline, but seemed to indicate France was ready to make what would be a very significant shift in NATO countries’ involvement in Ukraine’s war with Russia. Further heightening that sense, Syrskyi went on to write, “I believe that France’s determination will encourage other partners to join this ambitious project. I thanked the minister for the friendly support of the French people and military and economic assistance to Ukraine to repel Russian military aggression.” In a later comment to CNN, apparently designed to lower expectations, and possibly soothe key allies, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry toned down the language, saying Kyiv had “expressed interest in the prospect of welcoming foreign instructors in Ukraine” ever since a conference in Paris at the end of February. “We have ongoing discussions with France and other countries on this issue and have started internal paperwork to move forward when the decision is taken,” the short statement concluded. The French Defense Ministry, in a comment to CNN, had a similar message about military trainers. “As with all the projects discussed at the conference, we are continuing to work with the Ukrainians to understand their exact needs,” the statement said. At the Paris conference, French President Emmanuel Macron had floated the idea that sending military trainers to Ukraine was one way Kyiv’s western allies could deploy troops in the country. Source: https://edition.cnn.com/2024/05/27/europe/russian-strike-kharkiv-megastore-intl/index.html

Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/5/28/israels-war-on-gaza-live-intense-israeli-artillery-shelling-across-rafah

As many as 2,000 people are feared to have been buried by last week’s massive landslide in Papua New Guinea, according to the country’s National Disaster Centre, as rescuers scramble to find any survivors in the remote region. The landslide occurred in the mountainous Enga region in northern Papua New Guinea on Friday and the latest figure is a sharp rise from earlier estimates. Soon after the disaster occurred, the United Nations said as many as 100 may have died. That was later revised up to 670, according to estimates from the Chief of Mission for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in the country. But that may now be a major underestimate according to the latest projection from Papua New Guinea’s disaster agency. “The landslide buried more than 2000 people alive and caused major destruction to buildings, food gardens and caused major impact on the economic lifeline of the country,” Lusete Laso Mana, Acting Director the National Disaster Centre, said in a letter to the UN. “The situation remains unstable as the landslip continues to shift slowly, posing ongoing danger to both rescue teams and survivors alike,” he added, saying the main highway to the area had been completely blocked by the landslide. “Following the inspection conducted by the team, it was determined that the damages are extensive and require immediate and collaborative actions from all players.” The landslide hit the remote village of Kaokalam, about 600 kilometers (372 miles) northwest of the capital Port Moresby, at approximately 3 a.m. local time on Friday, leaving a scar of debris that humanitarian workers said was as big as four football pitches. More than 150 houses in Yambali village were buried in debris, officials said on Sunday. The area continues to pose an “extreme risk,” officials said, as rocks continue to fall and the ground soil is exposed to constant increased pressure. Papua New Guinea is home to around 10 million people. Its vast mountainous terrain and lack of roads have made it difficult to access the affected area. Pierre Rognon, an associate professor from the University of Sydney’s School of Civil Engineering, said it’s “particularly challenging” for rescuers to find survivors after a landslide. “Landslides can bury collapsed structures and people under dozens of meters of geomaterials,” he said. “To make things worse, they can move structures and trap people over hundreds of meters. No one can predict exactly where potential survivors may be located and where to start looking for them.” It’s not clear what caused the landslide, but geology professor Alan Collins from the University of Adelaide said it occurred in a region of “considerable rainfall.” “Although the landslide does not appear to have been directly triggered by an earthquake, frequent earthquakes caused by plates colliding build steep slopes and high mountains that can become very unstable,” Collins said. He said rainfall could have altered the minerals making the bedrock, weakening the rock that forms the steep hillsides. “Vegetation mitigates this as tree roots can stabilise the ground and deforestation can make landslides more prevalent by destroying this biological mesh,” he said. Source: https://edition.cnn.com/2024/05/27/world/papua-new-guinea-landslide-thousands-feared-buried-intl-hnk/index.html

 Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi has said that Pakistan has evidence that Afghanistan’s soil was used for an attack on Chinese engineers in Bisham, and it is a matter of great concern for Islamabad. He demanded that the interim Taliban government in Afghanistan should hand over banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) terrorists involved in the Bisham terror attack to Islamabad. Addressing a joint press conference along with officials of the National Counter-Terrorism Authority (Nacta), Naqvi said: “Whether Afghanistan try the terrorists [in the court of law] or not, it should hand over the militants to Pakistan.” At least six people, including five Chinese nationals, were killed after a suicide bomber rammed into the bus transporting the staff working on the Dasu hydropower project in Bisham, Shangla district, in March this year. In view of the investigation report, the interior minister said the TTP operated the Bisham terror attack on Chinese citizens from inside Afghanistan. “[Pakistan has formally] requested the interim government in Afghanistan to arrest the leadership of [banned] TTP,” he added. Briefing the media about the progress of the probe, Naqvi said: “Probe agencies have prepared an investigation report.” He said they had concrete evidence that the TTP carried out the terror attack on the Chinese engineers and Afghan soil was used for it. The minister said they wanted friendly ties with Kabul, adding that “it is only possible if they cooperate with Islamabad”. Responding to a question, he said the government had contacted the interim authorities in Kabul but “good results are not coming from there”. The interior minister said Pakistan gave great importance to its ties with China, adding that both friendly nations support each other at different global forums. “The security of Chinese nationals is very important to us.” He said the government “is taking all possible measures to ensure the security of Chinese nationals” in the country. To another question about the suicide attack on the Chinese nationals, Naqvi said that it was a planned attack. “The government knows very well which forces want to create a law and order situation in the country.” The minister said such threats coming from across the borders make regional security more complex. Mohsin Naqvi said Pakistan had beefed up its security at borders, adding that the government was well aware of the elements behind such incidents, which wanted to harm relations between Pakistan and China. He said support was being provided to TTP-like terrorists in border areas. He said Chinese security was very important and new standard operating procedures (SOPs) had been made in this regard and were being strictly implemented. The minister said that in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, the Counter-Terrorism Department was doing great work and they had developed themselves in very short span of time. Mohsin Naqvi said the Pakistan government had requested the interim Afghan government to arrest Bakhtiar Shah, Qari Asadullah and Khan Lala and specially TTP Ameer Noor Wali Mehsud, TTP Malakand Commander Azmatullah Mehsud and other senior leaders of the TTP. National Counter-Terrorism Authority (Nacta) Coordinator Muhammad Tahir Rai gave a detailed briefing about the investigation carried out so far. He said the entire incident was planned in Afghanistan and objective was to harm the Pakistan-China relations. He said 11 accused namely Adil Shehbaz, Shafiq Qureshi, Zahid Qureshi, Nazeer Hussain, Faizullah, Fasihullah, Imran Swati, Sakha-Ullah, Abdullah, Abdul Rehman and Kamal Khan had been arrested so far. He said the accused were in police custody on physical remand. The remaining accused including Hazrat Bilal would be arrested soon. Tahir said a cellphone, which the suicide bomber had been using to communicate with his local handlers, led to the arrest of suspects. The investigation and evidence show the militants had been taking instructions from TTP leaders in Afghanistan. He said one of the SIMs was issued in the name of Adil Shah, a resident of Mansehra, and the other one in the name of Shafique Qureshi. “Adil Shah was in contact with terrorist Hazrat Bilal.” Source: https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/1193550-bisham-attack-islamabad-asks-kabul-to-hand-over-ttp-terrorists

Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/5/27/israels-war-on-gaza-live-news-35-killed-in-rafah-tent-bombings

KARACHI: More than 80 “scrap dealers” attacked Gulistan-e-Johar police station, leaving two policemen injured, Geo News reported on Friday. Police said over 80 people involved in the scrap business stormed the police station as well as tortured and pelted stones at policemen which resulted in injuries to two cops including an ASI. The scrap dealers attacked police officials after three suspects were arrested for selling stolen goods, they said. “The attack was spearheaded by the president of scrap dealers’ association, Iqbal Rind, to get the suspects freed from the police station,” they said adding that six of the assailants had been arrested, while the rest of them fled. The police resorted to baton charge to disperse the assailants. According to the police, two FIRs had been lodged at the said police station on behalf of the state. It added that 80 suspects including the nine arrested were nominated in the case, while Rind was nominated as the key suspect for attacking the police station. Sindh IG for crackdown on scrap dealers Last week, Sindh police chief Ghulam Nabi Memon said street crime and the sale and purchase of stolen goods were interconnected. Addressing a meeting on the law and order situation, with a particular focus on street crime, the Sindh police top cop reviewed police actions against scrap dealers and those involved in buying and selling stolen goods, providing further instructions as needed. The SSP of the Anti-Vehicles Lifting Cell had reported that 352 scrap dealers were checked, resulting in 79 arrests under 55 FIRs. Investigations had revealed that drug addicts often exchanged stolen goods for money or drugs, or handed them over to drug mafias. A systematic crackdown on scrap dealers had led to the recovery of significant amounts of stolen goods from warehouses. The meeting disclosed that much of the stolen iron ore from major government projects ended up with scrap dealers. Source: https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/1192678-police-arrest-six-of-80-scrap-dealers-involved-in-attacking-police-station

A massive landslide has struck Papua New Guinea’s highlands, local officials and aid groups said, with dozens believed to have been killed. The disaster hit Kaokalam village in Papua New Guinea’s Enga province, about 600km (370 miles) northwest of the South Pacific island nation’s capital of Port Moresby, at about 3am local time on Friday (17:00 GMT Thursday). According to reports from the Australian Broadcasting Corp (ABC) and local media, about 100 people are believed to have been killed, but authorities have not confirmed this figure. “Authorities say the scale of the landslide is ‘massive’, but they still cannot confirm the death toll,” said Al Jazeera’s Jessica Washington, reporting from Jakarta in Indonesia. She said the disaster affected a community of mostly subsistence farmers living in a “remote and quite hilly area where landslides are common”. “Many homes have been destroyed as well as the gardens that people rely on to feed themselves in these communities,” our correspondent added. Enga’s provincial governor Peter Ipatas told the AFP news agency that a big landslide had caused “loss of life and property”. He said at least six villages had been affected. Prime Minister James Marape said in a statement that he was yet to be fully briefed on the situation but assured that relevant authorities are working diligently to address the disaster. “We are sending in disaster officials, PNG Defence Force, and the Department of Works and Highways to meet provincial and district officials in Enga and also start relief work, recovery of bodies, and reconstruction of infrastructure,” Marape said. “I will release further information as I am fully briefed on the scale of destruction and loss of lives.” ‘Houses got buried’ Images from the scene posted on social media showed a vast bite of rock and soil cleaved off from a densely vegetated hill. A long and wide scar of car-size boulders, felled trees and dirt stretched down towards the valley floor. The remains of many corrugated tin shelters could be seen at the foot of a large landslide. Dozens of local men and women scrambled over the piles of rock and soil, digging, crying out, listening for survivors or standing scanning the scene in disbelief. Some became instant rescuers, pulling out bodies buried under rocks and trees. “The landslide hit around three last night and it looks like more than 100 houses got buried. It is not yet known how many people were in those houses,” Vincent Pyati, president of the local Community Development Association, told AFP. “The number of victims is unknown.” Elizabeth Laruma, who runs a women’s business association in Porgera, a town in the same province near the Porgera Gold Mine, told the ABC houses in Kaokalam village were flattened when the side of a mountain gave way. “From what I can presume, it’s about 100-plus people who are buried beneath the ground,” she said. The landslide hit a section of highway near the mine, operated by Barrick Gold through Barrick Niugini Ltd, its joint venture with China’s Zijin Mining. A spokesperson said it was too soon to know whether there had been any damage to the mine, which had enough supplies to operate normally in the short term. Aid agencies including the Papua New Guinea Red Cross and CARE said they had received confirmation of the landslide, and were working to find out more. Sitting just south of the equator, the area gets frequent heavy rains. This year has seen intense rainfall and flooding. In March, at least 23 people were killed by a landslide in a nearby province. Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/5/24/dozens-feared-dead-after-landslide-hits-papua-new-guinea

Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/5/24/israels-war-on-gaza-live-news-at-least-60-palestinians-killed-in-attacks

Amid extremely hot weather prevailing in Karachi, Sindh Energy Minister Nasir Hussain Shah warned that a case would be lodged against Karachi-Electric (KE) if anyone dies of heatstroke due to loadshedding during the ongoing heatwave. Karachi recorded a temperature of nearly 40℃ today while Larkana witnessed a temperature of 48.5℃. As per officials, the heatwave hasn’t begun in Karachi yet, but the temperature is expected to remain elevated. Shah made the statement while speaking on the floor of the provincial assembly. To a query regarding appointments in the Sindh government’s energy department, the minister said that recruitments were made as per the required staffers. Raising objections to Shah’s response, a Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) lawmaker Ali Khurshidi remarked that the court would never issue a stay order if merit-based appointments were made. During the question hour, MQM-P MPA Mazahir Ameer sought the Sindh government’s response on whether it would question the sole power supply firm in Karachi — KE — for carrying out loadshedding in those areas where dues’ recovery rate is 80-85%. To this, Shah admitted that unannounced power outages were continued in several areas. In a detailed reply, the provincial energy minister said that the chief minister took up the issue with the federal government and also informed about the closure of several feeders of KE, Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (Hesco) and Sukkur Electric Power Company (Sepco). He added that not only power outages but they also raised other issues with the power company with the Centre. Shah said that Sindh Local Government Minister Saeed Ghani scheduled a meeting for Friday to discuss collective issues being faced by the masses from the KE. He invited other lawmakers to represent their parties in the upcoming meeting. The minister urged that overbilling and unannounced loadshedding should be eliminated. Regarding special measures after heatwave predictions, Shah said that all departments have been put on alert and necessary steps were taken. He announced that FIR would be lodged against the KE if someone lost their life due to loadshedding during the heatwave. In order to prevent masses from adverse effects of the scorching heat, the province has postponed exams in educational institutions and also changed school timings besides issuing advisories to the general public to stay away from direct contact with sunlight during the heatwave period. Source: https://thenews.com.pk/latest/1191994-sindh-govt-warns-filing-fir-against-ke-if-anyone-dies-of-loadshedding

Geoff Kitchen was on his way to a six-week holiday across South Asia and Australia with his wife Linda. Ten hours into the flight and in the middle of the breakfast service, Singapore Airlines flight SQ321 from London to Singapore plunged 6,000 feet (1,800 metres) in minutes. The Boeing 777-300ER carrying 211 passengers and 18 crew members made an emergency landing in Bangkok. Kitchen went into cardiac arrest and ultimately died. At least 71 others were injured and 20 people are still in intensive care units in Bangkok. How often does air travel lead to injuries? Compared with the millions of flights that take to the skies each year (40.1 million forecast for 2024), what happened on SQ321 is rare. In the United States, the world’s largest air travel market, there have only been 163 injuries between 2009 and 2022 that required hospitalisation, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. The National Transportation Safety Board hasn’t reported a single turbulence-related death on a large-body aircraft in that period. It’s also almost unheard of for turbulence to bring down an aircraft – let alone a commercial one. Although a plane did crash in 2001, it was because of a technical error and not directly related to turbulence. That was American Airlines flight 587 from New York’s JFK to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The NTSB confirmed that turbulence caused a failure in the aircraft’s vertical stabiliser. What causes turbulence? Turbulence is essentially a disturbance in the air and there are several different types and reasons why it occurs. Terrain like mountains can shift airflow and air is forced to rise over natural terrain that can cause waves of air that trigger turbulence. While weather events can affect turbulence as well, the one that causes the most concern is called clear-air turbulence or CAT. “It can be caused by what are called gravity waves that cause undulations in the air that you can’t see. The only way pilots know about it is to hear about it from a previous pilot. Pilots often listen to what a person who took that same flight path a few minutes earlier say. That’s the best way to detect these turbulence events,” Ramalingam Saravanan, head of the department of atmospheric sciences at Texas A&M University, told Al Jazeera. Have instances of turbulence risen – and is climate change responsible? A study from the University of Reading in England published last year found that between 1979 and 2020, clear-air turbulence rose by 55 percent over the North Atlantic, one of the world’s busiest flight routes. Warmer temperatures can affect wind patterns. The report asserts that greenhouse gas emissions are largely to blame. That’s echoed by researchers at the University of Chicago who forecast that warming temperatures could lead to higher wind speeds in the “fastest upper-level jet stream”. The study suggests that speeds will increase by 2 percent for every degree Celsius the world warms, which is expected to increase by 4 degrees Celsius by the end of the century if greenhouse gases continue to rise at the same level. The global temperature has increased by at least 1.1 degrees Celsius since the pre-industrial era. Over that period, the biggest surge has been since 1975, according to NASA. The University of Chicago researchers say that because of the expected record-breaking wind speeds, airlines will need to slow down speeds to limit the safety impacts of turbulence. Turbulence is expected to increase most drastically in the North Atlantic – the key route between North America and Europe, but there is also a massive surge expected in southeast China, the western Pacific, and northern India.  A 2021 study by Nanjing University in China forecast a 15 percent increase in instances of CAT by 2059. The surge in the Asia Pacific region is an increasing concern for the airline industry. China is expected to overtake the United States as the most passenger by volume air travel market by 2037. Who is worst hit when planes suffer from turbulence? The problems with turbulence are more about the safety of the people on board than the plane itself and happens mostly when customers and flight crew are not properly buckled in. Flight crew accounts for 79 percent of all turbulence-related injuries. “Turbulence is a serious workplace safety issue for Flight Attendants,” Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL–CIO said in a statement. “While details of Singapore Flight 321 are still developing, initial reports seem to indicate clear-air turbulence, which is the most dangerous type of turbulence. It cannot be seen and is virtually undetectable with current technology. One second, you’re cruising smoothly; the next, passengers, crew and unsecured carts or other items are being thrown around the cabin,” Nelson added. Does air turbulence hurt airline profits? Despite how rare turbulence-related disasters are, turbulence costs the airline industry up to $500m annually. That accounts for damage to the plane and its cabins, delays and the occasional liability payment. With it being more common in the years to come, costs will add up. Under the 1999 Montreal Convention, airlines were also to be held financially responsible for injuries incurred on board by turbulence including for damage to luggage as well as personal injury and even death. “The convention sets forth the jurisdictions where the respective plaintiffs can bring their case, and that’s going to vary based on analysis of each of the passengers’ factual situation. They’re entitled to full compensatory economic damages,” Ladd Sanger, managing partner of Slack Davis Sanger, a Texas-based personal injury law firm with extensive experience in aviation accidents, told Al Jazeera. Airlines are required to comply and pay affected consumers with what are called special drawing rights or SDRs. That’s a reserve asset established by the International Monetary Fund and depending on the nationality of those injured, it can be exchanged for their respective currency. Thanks to the Montreal Convention, airlines are required to pay out the asset unless they can prove that an injury was a result of passenger