World News
Halloween party turns into drama in Seoul
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Steph Deschamps / October 30, 2022
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol promised Sunday a “rigorous” investigation into the stampede that killed at least 151 people the night before in central Seoul, where tens of thousands of mostly very young revelers were celebrating Halloween for the first time after the pandemic.
Deploring “a tragedy and a disaster that should not have happened”, Mr. Yoon promised that his government would investigate “rigorously” to determine the causes of the disaster, one of the most serious in the recent history of South Korea, and ensure that it “does not happen again”.
“I have a heavy heart and it is difficult for me to contain my grief,” added the head of state in a televised address, who went to the scene of the tragedy on Sunday morning, wearing the green jacket of the emergency services, and declared national mourning.
Bodies lined up on the sidewalk under blankets or other makeshift shrouds, heart massages performed in the street by passers-by at the request of overworked firefighters, people in disguises or in party clothes running in panic: the night turned into a nightmare in Itaewon, a neighborhood located near a former U.S. military base and known for its cosmopolitan atmosphere, its bars and party places of all kinds in a maze of narrow streets.
“My friend said to me: there is something terrible happening outside,” said Jeon Ga-eul, 30, who was having a drink in a bar at the time of the tragedy. “I said, ‘What are you talking about? I went out to see, and I saw people doing CPR
The accident occurred on Saturday around 22:00 near the Hamilton Hotel, located on a main avenue surrounded by steep alleys. The crowd movement, which is currently unknown what triggered it, killed at least 151 people, including 19 foreigners of various nationalities, 97 women and 54 men, firefighters told AFP. They added that the disaster had injured 89 people.
Among the foreigners killed were people from Iran, China, Uzbekistan and Norway, according to Yonhap news agency. Two Russians are also among the dead, according to the Tass agency.
The authorities in Seoul have also reported 355 people missing early Sunday morning.
People were lying on top of each other like in a grave. Some were gradually losing consciousness, others were obviously dead,” an unidentified witness told Yonhap.
Lee Beom-suk, a doctor who administered first aid to the victims, described scenes of chaos and horror.
“When I first tried to perform CPR, there were two victims lying on the sidewalk. But soon after the number exploded,” he told YTN television.
“Many bystanders came to help us perform CPR,” he continued. “It’s hard to describe in words (…) Many of the victims had pale faces. I couldn’t take their pulse or control their breathing, and many of them had bloody noses. »
A video shared on Twitter by an Internet user who said she was in Itaewon at the time of the tragedy shows hundreds of people, many in cowboy, pirate and other outfits, on a street lined with bars. The scene, calm at first, suddenly turns into confusion. Passers-by are pushed and fall on top of each other between screams and panic. A woman swears in English: “Oh my God! Oh my God! »
About 100,000 people, according to media estimates, had come to Itaewon for this Halloween party, the first in Seoul since the Covid-19 pandemic began.
“The size of the crowd expected in Itaewon was not much different from previous years, so I think the personnel deployed were on a similar scale to before,” said Interior Minister Lee Sang-min, adding that a “considerable number” of police officers were at the same time in another part of the capital to oversee a large demonstration.
Many international leaders have expressed their dismay. “We mourn with the people of the Republic of Korea and send our best wishes for a speedy recovery to all those who were injured,” U.S. President Joe Biden said in a statement.
“I am terribly shocked and deeply saddened” by this accident “which took too many precious lives, including those of young people who had the future ahead of them,” said Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
French President Emmanuel Macron expressed “an emotional thought for the people of Seoul and for all the Korean people.” “This is a sad day for South Korea,” tweeted German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
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Sylvie Claire / July 21, 2024
Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky spoke on the phone on Friday, with the former US president claiming to have promised the Ukrainian president to “end the war” between Ukraine and Russia should he return to the White House. “As your next president of the United States, I will bring peace to the world and end the war that has cost so many lives,” said the Republican presidential candidate.
Donald Trump frequently claims that he would be able to put an end to the conflict in Ukraine very quickly on his return to power, but never provides details of how he would achieve this. Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed the phone call, during which he congratulated the billionaire on his official nomination the previous day as the Republican Party’s presidential candidate.
Donald Trump’s frequent praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin, as well as his criticism of other Nato countries, is causing concern among Ukraine’s Western allies. In February, he threatened that, if he returned to the White House, he would no longer guarantee the protection of Atlantic Alliance countries against Russia if they did not pay their share, even claiming that he would “encourage” Moscow to attack them. The former American president also used his power over the Republicans to block a $61 billion military aid package for Kiev for months in Congress, which was finally adopted at the end of April.
In his posting on X on Friday, Volodymyr Zelensky said he had “agreed with President Trump to discuss, in a face-to-face meeting, the steps to be taken towards a just and lasting peace” in Ukraine.
World News
Former Ukrainian far-right MP murdered in Lviv: “All leads are being investigated, including Russia”
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Steph Deschamps / July 21, 2024
In a message on Telegram, the Ukrainian National Police said she had succumbed to her injuries in hospital after being the target of an assassination attempt.
“I always say that no place is safe in Ukraine,” lamented Lviv mayor Andriï Sadovy, denouncing a ‘heinous murder’ and offering his condolences to the victim’s relatives.
According to the Ukrainian Prosecutor’s Office, the attack took place on Friday evening, at around 7.30pm, when an unidentified individual fired at Irina Farion, seriously wounding her in the head. “All surveillance cameras are being checked, witnesses are being interviewed and several districts (of Lviv) are being examined. All leads are being investigated, including the one leading to Russia”, reacted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on X on Saturday.
Interior Minister Igor Klimenko told a briefing in Lviv on Friday evening that the suspected killer could have been lurking around Irina Farion’s home for several days.
According to him, investigators are currently focusing on the possibility of a murder motivated by a “personal grudge” linked to the victim’s activities, but are not ruling out a “commissioned assassination” either.
The 60-year-old language teacher and linguist was a member of parliament for the nationalist Svoboda party between 2012 and 2014.
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Sylvie Claire / July 18, 2024
At least six people died in a shopping mall fire on Wednesday in Zigong, southwest China, and thirty others were rescued, China’s state broadcaster CCTV said. “Rescue teams are continuing their search,” the media outlet added.
Images broadcast by the channel and others shared on social networks show thick black smoke rising from a building overlooking a shopping street in this city 1,600 kilometers from the capital Beijing, in the southwestern province of Sichuan.
The fire broke out in the early evening in a shopping mall at the foot of a 14-storey building, CCTV reported.
“At 8:20 pm, the fire was extinguished and 17 people were rescued. Others are still trapped, and rescue operations are continuing”, said the station in an initial report on the situation.
Fires and other fatal accidents are frequent in China, due to the sometimes lax application of safety standards. In January, at least 39 people perished in a store fire in central China. According to the authorities, the fire started in the basement of a store when workers “broke the rules” during construction work. At the time, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for lessons to be learned from the disaster to prevent further tragedies. The same month, a fire in a residential building claimed at least 15 lives.
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