World News
The “Slow Death”, a homemade alcohol, kills 9 people in a village on New Year’s Eve in Venezuela
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Eva Deschamps / January 7, 2023
The “Slow Death”, so the inhabitants of Chivacoa, agricultural village of the center-west of Venezuela have nicknamed the adulterated alcohol which cost the life to 9 persons during the celebrations of the New Year. Sixteen other persons were hospitalized, confirmed the governor of Yaracuy Julio Leon evoking a “ethylic intoxication of an artisanal product not approved by the sanitary authorities ».
The consumption of such low-cost artisanal beverages has spread, especially in the working-class neighborhoods of large cities and in the villages of the interior of the country affected by an unprecedented economic crisis.
A few drops of the yellowish liquid remained in bottles perched in the garden of the house… The party with musicians went on late into the night in a house in Pueblo Nuevo. No one suspected that a few hours later, the deaths would follow one another.
It started on January 1 when he lost his sight. He was very dizzy,” recalls Joselyn Oropeza, a 27-year-old housewife, of her uncle Oswaldo Oviedo, one of the victims. Oviedo was attending the funeral of another deceased when his symptoms worsened, forcing him to go to a health center.
The deaths were added throughout the week. “We are going through a painful moment (…), most of the deceased are friends and partly brothers too”, regrets Winder Campos, brother of Manuel Campos, while coming back from the cemetery where he rests.
We don’t know what they were really up to,” says Oropeza, but “it’s very strange that so many people died in such a short time, three days. The source of the alcohol is not yet known. The police want to find the suppliers, but the person who sold it without control and brought it to the party also died from consumption. »
Authorities interviewed relatives and visited the house where the party was held. They took samples of the little alcohol left for laboratory analysis. A police source told AFP that the alcohol was adulterated with methanol, a substance that can cause blindness, liver damage and ultimately death.
As the investigation into the “slow death” progresses, traumatized neighbors gather and chat on plastic chairs in the street in front of their homes. They talk about the victims. Doris Barico, 56 years old, mourns her older brother Carlos, 57 years old: “He led a very good life, very happy ».
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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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