World News
Seven dead and several wounded in a shooting near a synagogue in East Jerusalem, police say terrorist attack
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Steph Deschamps / January 29, 2023
Seven people were killed by a gunman who opened fire near a synagogue in East Jerusalem during early Shabbat prayers before being shot himself.
Seven civilians “were killed by an armed assailant who opened fire around 8:15 p.m.in the street near this synagogue in Neve Yaacov, a Jewish settlement area in East Jerusalem, part of the Holy City annexed by Israel, according to an Israeli police statement.
It was “one of the worst attacks in recent years” against Israelis, police chief Kobi Shabtai told Israeli television.
According to police, the shooter, a 21-year-old Palestinian resident of East Jerusalem, was shot by police after fleeing in a car.
The attack, which comes amid a new round of violence between Israelis and Palestinians over the past 36 hours, was immediately condemned by Washington.
“This is absolutely appalling,” State Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters.
We condemn this apparent terrorist attack in the strongest terms,” he added, noting that there was no change in the program of the head of U.S. diplomacy, Antony Blinken, who is scheduled to visit from Sunday in Egypt and Monday and Tuesday in Jerusalem and Ramallah.
He will discuss “measures to be taken to de-escalate tensions,” he added.
Magen David Adom (MDA), Israel’s equivalent of the Red Cross, said it counted a total of ten gunshot victims, including a 70-year-old man and a 14-year-old boy.
Israeli Internal Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, a far-right figure, visited the scene of the attack, where AFP reporters saw three bodies lying in the street.
“I heard a lot of gunfire,” Matanel Almalem, an 18-year-old student living next to the synagogue, told AFP.
The shooting comes a day after nine Palestinians were killed in a raid by Israeli armed forces in the northern West Bank town of Jenin.
The raid, which also left dozens injured, targeted the Islamic Jihad group which was planning an attack in Israel, according to Israeli sources.
A tenth Palestinian was killed Thursday by Israeli fire in Al-Ram, near Ramallah, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
The United Nations has not recorded such a high death toll from a single Israeli operation in the West Bank since it began keeping track of casualties in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in 2005.
In retaliation, rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip, under the control of the Hamas movement.
Israel retaliated with strikes against the Palestinian micro-territory. No casualties were recorded in this battle.
In response to the Israeli raid in Jenin, the Palestinian Authority decided to end security cooperation with Israel, the first time this has happened since 2020.
France urged Israel and the Palestinians “to refrain from fueling the escalation” and the United States said it was “deeply concerned about the escalation of violence. »
For his part, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday in a statement that his country “does not seek escalation” but is prepared “for all scenarios.
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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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