Current Final

Author: AFP

  • Nearly 100 dead in Dominican Republic nightclub roof collapse

    Nearly 100 dead in Dominican Republic nightclub roof collapse

    Rescuers raced to find survivors early Wednesday after the roof of a Dominican Republic nightclub collapsed during a concert by popular singer Rubby Perez, one of nearly 100 people killed in the disaster.

    Rescue workers were pressing on with the search effort, which more than 24 hours after the roof caved in began to be limited more to recovering bodies.

    Renowned Dominican merengue singer Perez, who was on stage at the popular Jet Set nightclub when the roof collapsed shortly after midnight Tuesday, was one of those killed, according to his manager.

    “We are waiting for the children to reach an agreement for the funeral,” Perez’s manager Enrique Paulino told AFP.

    About 370 rescue personnel combed mounds of fallen bricks, steel bars and tin sheets for survivors.

    Also among the dead was 51-year-old retired Major League Baseball pitcher Octavio Dotel, who won a World Series in 2011 with the St Louis Cardinals.

    He was rescued alive but died of his injuries while being taken to hospital, local media reported.

    A black-and-white photo of the player and images of the Dominican flag were projected onto the scoreboard at Citi Field in New York before Tuesday’s game between the New York Mets and the Miami Marlins.

    “Peace to his soul,” the Dominican Republic Professional Baseball League wrote on social media.

    Local media said there were between 500 and 1,000 people in the club when disaster struck at around 12:44 am (0444 GMT) Tuesday. The club has capacity for 700 people seated and about 1,000 people standing.

    Dozens of ambulances ferried the injured to hospital, as scores of people gathered outside the venue desperately seeking news of their loved ones.

    Perez was on stage when there was a blackout and the roof came crashing down, according to eyewitness reports.

    Perez’s daughter Zulinka told reporters she had managed to escape after the roof collapsed, but he did not.

    Also among the dead was the governor of the Monte Cristi municipality, Nelsy Cruz, according to President Luis Abinader.

    The president visited the scene and declared three days of national mourning.

    The death toll started at 15 and kept rising throughout Tuesday. By early Wednesday, the preliminary toll had reached 98, said Juan Manuel Mendez, director of the Emergency Operations Center.

    “As long as there is hope for life, all authorities will be working to recover or rescue these people,” he said earlier.

    ‘We are desperate’

    Iris Pena, a woman who had attended the show, told SIN television how she escaped with her son.

    “At one point, dirt started falling like dust into the drink on the table,” she said.

    “A stone fell and cracked the table where we were, and we got out,” Pena recounted. “The impact was so strong, as if it had been a tsunami or an earthquake.”

    Dozens of family members flocked to hospitals for news.

    “We are desperate,” Regina del Rosa, whose sister was at the concert, told SIN. “They are not giving us news, they are not telling us anything.”

    Helicopter images revealed a large hole where the club’s roof once was. A crane was helping lift some of the heavier rubble as men in hard hats dug through the debris.

    Authorities have issued a call for Dominicans to donate blood.

    The Instagram page of the Jet Set club said it has been in operation for more than 50 years, with shows every Monday until the early hours.

    Its last post before Monday’s event invited fans to come and “enjoy his (Perez’s) greatest hits and dance in the country’s best nightclub.”

    On Tuesday, the club issued a statement saying it was working “fully and transparently” with authorities.

    The Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, received over 11 million visitors in 2024, according to the tourism ministry.

    Tourism generates about 15 percent of GDP, with visitors attracted by its music and nightlife, Caribbean beaches, as well as the colonial architecture of the capital Santo Domingo.

  • Women strangle Multan faith healer after years of blackmail

    Women strangle Multan faith healer after years of blackmail

    Two women have been arrested for murder after strangling a Pakistani faith healer with a scarf after years of being blackmailed over videos he took of them, police said on Monday.

    The women told police they had turned to Riaz Hussain for help in removing black magic curses but he instead took compromising videos that he threatened to release.

    “During the investigation it was found that Riaz Hussain had been sexually harassing women for a long time under the pretext of spiritual healing,” police in the city of Multan in Punjab province said in a statement.

    The women, with the help of their cousin and another man, strangled the faith healer with a scarf before dumping his body.

    The four have been arrested for murder, police said, adding that a fifth man has also been arrested.

    Faith healers are revered by some communities in Pakistan and their orders are followed devotedly, allowing for widespread exploitation.

    A pregnant woman was brought to a hospital with a nail hammered into her head in 2022 after a faith healer said it would guarantee she gave birth to a boy.

     

    Another woman died the following year after being tortured with sticks for days by a faith healer who claimed to be following an exorcism ritual.

  • Netanyahu, Trump say Israel working on fresh Gaza hostage deal

    Netanyahu, Trump say Israel working on fresh Gaza hostage deal

    President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that new negotiations were in the works aimed at getting more hostages released from Hamas captivity in Gaza.

    “We’re working now on another deal that we hope will succeed, and we’re committed to getting all the hostages out,” Netanyahu told reporters in the Oval Office.

    Trump for his part said: “We are trying very hard to get the hostages out. We’re looking at another ceasefire, we’ll see what happens.”

    Netanyahu added that “the hostages are in agony, and we want to get them all out.”

    The Israeli leader, seated next to Trump, highlighted an earlier hostage release agreement negotiated in part by Trump’s regional envoy Steve Witkoff that “got 25 out.”

    Netanyahu’s visit follows the collapse of Israel’s six-week truce with Palestinian group Hamas, whose militants launched an unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 that triggered the Israeli invasion of Gaza.

    The fragile ceasefire ended with Israel’s resumption of air strikes on Gaza on March 18.

    The recent truce had allowed the return of 33 Israeli hostages, eight of whom were dead, in exchange for the release of some 1,800 Palestinians held in Israeli jails.

    The prime minister and his government maintain — against the advice of most hostage families — that increased military pressure is the only way to force Hamas to return the remaining hostages, dead or alive.

    Of the 251 hostages abducted during Hamas’s October 7 attack, 58 remain in captivity in Gaza, including 34 who the Israeli military says are dead.

    On another issue, after staying silent of late on his much-criticized idea of the United States taking over Gaza and displacing its two million people, Trump plugged it again on Monday.

    “I think it’s an incredible piece of important real estate, and I think it’s something that we would be involved in,” Trump said.

    Trump has repeatedly spoken of Gaza, which the Palestinians want as part of a future state of their own, as a business opportunity for America, saying Gaza could be transformed into the “Riviera of the Middle East.”

    Countries around the world and in particular Arab nations have rejected this proposal vehemently, including Egypt and Jordan, where Trump has suggested the Palestinians of Gaza be sent to live.

    “But you know, having a peace force like the United States there, controlling and owning the Gaza Strip would be a good thing, because right now … all I hear about is killing and Hamas and problems,” Trump said.

    He added: “And if you take the people, the Palestinians, and move them around to different countries, and you have plenty of countries that will do that, and you really have a freedom, a freedom zone.”

  • Trump says wants ‘direct talks’ with Iran on nukes deal

    Trump says wants ‘direct talks’ with Iran on nukes deal

    US President Donald Trump said Thursday he wanted “direct talks” with Tehran on a nuclear deal, after he threatened to bomb Iran if it develops nuclear weapons.

    Trump has given Iran’s leaders a two-month deadline to reach an agreement on the country’s nuclear program, which has strained relations with Western nations for decades.

    Western countries including the United States have long accused Iran of pursuing a nuclear weapon, which Tehran has denied, insisting its enrichment activities were solely for peaceful purposes.

    “I think it’s better if we have direct talks,” he told reporters onboard the presidential plane Air Force One.

    “I think it goes faster and you understand the other side a lot better than if you go through intermediaries.”

    Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said last week that Tehran would not engage in direct talks with Washington “until there is a change in the other side’s approach towards the Islamic republic”.

    Trump in his first term ripped up a 2015 nuclear deal negotiated by predecessor Barack Obama and reimposed crippling sanctions on Iran.

    The deal, sealed between Tehran and world powers, had required Iran to limit its nuclear ambitions in exchange for sanctions relief.

    “They wanted to use intermediaries, I don’t think that’s necessarily true anymore,” Trump said.

    “I think they’re concerned, I think they feel vulnerable. I don’t want them to feel that way,” he added.

    “I think they want to meet.”

    Trump said last month he had written to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to call for nuclear negotiations and warn of possible military action if Tehran refused.

    Khamenei responded by saying that US threats “will get them nowhere” and warned of reciprocal measures “if they do anything malign” against Iran.

    Trump last week said “there will be bombing” of Iran if it does not drop its efforts to develop nuclear weapons.

    Trump’s outreach comes at a weak point for the Islamic republic after Israel decimated two of its allies —  Hamas, the Palestinian militants who attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, and Lebanon’s Hezbollah.

  • South Korea court ousts impeached president Yoon

    South Korea court ousts impeached president Yoon

    South Korea’s Constitutional Court unanimously ruled on Friday to remove impeached president Yoon Suk Yeol from office over his disastrous martial law declaration, triggering fresh elections after months of political turmoil.

    Yoon, 64, was suspended by lawmakers over his December 3 attempt to subvert civilian rule, which saw armed soldiers deployed to parliament. He was also arrested on insurrection charges as part of a separate criminal case.

    Millions of Koreans watched the Constitutional Court hand down its verdict live on television, with the country’s main messaging app KakaoTalk telling AFP that some users were experiencing delays due to a sudden surge in traffic.

     

    “Given the serious negative impact and far-reaching consequences of the respondent’s constitutional violations… (We) dismiss respondent President Yoon Suk Yeol,” acting court President Moon Hyung-bae said while delivering the ruling.

    Yoon’s removal, which is effective immediately, triggers fresh presidential elections, which must be held within 60 days. Authorities will announce a date in the coming days.

    Outside the court, AFP reporters heard Yoon supporters shouting threats that they wanted to kill the judges, who decided unanimously to uphold Yoon’s impeachment, and have been given additional security protection by police.

    Yoon’s actions “violate the core principles of the rule of law and democratic governance”, the judges said in their ruling.

     

    Yoon sending armed soldiers to parliament in a bid to prevent lawmakers from voting down his decree “violated the political neutrality of the armed forces”.

    He deployed troops for “political purposes”, the judges added.

    “In the end, the respondent’s unconstitutional and illegal acts are a betrayal of the people’s trust and constitute a serious violation of the law that cannot be tolerated,” they ruled.

    Opposition party lawmakers clapped their hands as the verdict was announced, calling it “historic”, while lawmakers from Yoon’s party filed out of the courtroom.

     

    The dismissed president “will likely be remembered as a leader who was fundamentally unprepared — and perhaps unqualified — for the presidency,” Ji Yeon Hong, a political science professor at University of Michigan, told AFP.

    “He failed to grasp the magnitude of the power entrusted to him and showed a deeply biased understanding of democracy and political leadership.”

     

    Impeached

    Yoon is the second South Korean leader to be impeached by the court after Park Geun-hye in 2017.

     

    After weeks of tense hearings, judges spent more than a month deliberating the case, while public unrest swelled.

    Police raised the security alert to the highest possible level on Friday. Officers encircled the courthouse with a ring of vehicles and stationed special operations teams in the vicinity.

    Anti-Yoon protesters gathered outdoors to watch a live broadcast of the verdict, cheering and holding hands. When Yoon’s removal was announced, they erupted into wild cheers, with some bursting into tears.

    “When the dismissal was finally declared, the cheers were so loud it felt like the rally was being swept away,” Kim Min-ji, a 25-year-old anti-Yoon protester, told AFP.

     

    “We cried tears and shouted that we, the citizens, had won!”

    Yoon, who defended his attempt to subvert civilian rule as necessary to root out “anti-state forces”, still commands the backing of extreme supporters.

    Outside his residence, his supporters shouted and swore, with some bursting into tears as the verdict was announced.

    This year, at least two staunch Yoon supporters have died after self-immolating in protest of the leader’s impeachment.

    The decision shows “first and foremost the resilience of South Korean democracy”, Byunghwan Son, professor at George Mason University, told AFP.

     

    “The very fact that the system did not collapse suggests that the Korean democracy can survive even the worst challenge against it — a coup attempt.”

    Portraits of Yoon will be taken down from military offices on Friday, Yonhap news agency reported. According to defence ministry regulations, a photo of the country’s commander-in-chief must be displayed at their offices.

    Trade winds

    The Korean won jumped sharply against the US dollar immediately after the court announced Yoon’s dismissal, with Seoul’s benchmark KOSPI up 8.62 points, or 0.35 percent.

    South Korea has spent the four months since the martial law declaration without an effective head of state, as the opposition impeached Yoon’s stand-in, acting president Han Duck-soo — only for him to be later reinstated by a court ruling.

     

    The leadership vacuum came during a series of crises and headwinds, including an aviation disaster and the deadliest wildfires in the country’s history.

    This week, South Korea was slammed with 25 percent tariffs on exports to key ally the United States after President Donald Trump unveiled global, so-called reciprocal levies.

    After the court decision on Friday, National Assembly speaker Woo Won-shik said “we have reaffirmed that no one in the Republic of Korea can be above the law”.

    “We have made clear the principle that any power that commits unconstitutional or illegal acts must be held accountable,” Woo said.

    Yoon also faces a separate criminal trial on charges of insurrection over the martial law bid.

    Han will remain as acting president until the new elections are held.

  • Pakistan lands on tariffs block as Trump escalates global trade war

    Pakistan lands on tariffs block as Trump escalates global trade war

    Amid the ongoing “trade-wars”, United States (US) President Donald Trump has announced new tariffs on a number of countries, including a 29 percent tariff on Pakistani goods “in a bid to fix trade disparities” and counter what the new administration sees as “unfair treatment of American products”. 

    Reports quoted the American president as highlighting that Pakistan charged a 58 percent tariff on US goods and, therefore, the US would impose a 29 percent tariff in return.

    Trump intensifying a global trade war on Wednesday on imports from allies and foes alike has sent markets into a tailspin and upending decades-long free trade norms.

    The EU and China vowed retaliation against the levies, with Australia’s leader saying the new tariffs were “not the act of a friend” and would hurt the close allies’ relationship.

    Shortly after Trump’s proclamation, separate tariffs of 25 percent on all foreign-made cars and light trucks went into effect, with auto parts also due to be hit by May 3.

     

    Holding up a chart of the sweeping measures in the White House Rose Garden, Trump unveiled particularly stinging tariffs on major trade partners China and the European Union on what he called “Liberation Day.”

    “This is one of the most important days, in my opinion, in American history,” said Trump. “It’s our declaration of economic independence.”

    The tariffs announcement triggered immediate anger around the world, with rival China warning they could “endanger” global economic development.

    Stock markets looked set for major volatility Thursday, with Tokyo’s Nikkei leading an Asian selloff, collapsing more than four percent, and Hanoi shares tanked more than five percent after Vietnam was targeted with tariffs of 46 percent.

     

    US futures plummeted and safe haven gold hit a new record as investors took fright.

    Trump reserved some of the heaviest blows for what he called “nations that treat us badly.”

    That included an additional 34 percent on goods from China — bringing the new added tariff rate there to 54 percent.

    Beijing swiftly vowed countermeasures and called for dialogue, warning the levies would “seriously harm” those involved.

    The figure for the European Union was 20 percent, and 24 percent on Japan, whose trade minister called the tariffs “extremely regrettable.”

    For the rest, Trump said he would impose a “baseline” tariff of 10 percent, including another key ally, Britain.

     

    The 78-year-old Republican brushed off fears of turmoil, insisting that the tariffs would restore the US economy to a lost “Golden Age.”

    “For decades, our country has been looted, pillaged, raped and plundered by nations near and far, both friend and foe alike,” Trump said.

    ‘Make America wealthy again’

    A hand-picked audience of cabinet members, as well as workers in hard hats from industries including steel, oil and gas, whooped and cheered as Trump promised tariffs would “make America wealthy again.”

    Trump labeled Wednesday’s tariffs “reciprocal” but many experts say his administration’s estimates for levies placed on US imports by other countries are wildly exaggerated.The US president had telegraphed the move for weeks, sparking fears of a recession at home as costs are passed on to US consumers, and a damaging trade war abroad.

    US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned against countermeasures, saying on Fox News: “If you retaliate, there will be escalation.”

    Some of the worst-hit trading partners were in Asia, including 49 percent for Cambodia, 46 percent for Vietnam and 44 percent for military-ruled Myanmar, recently hit by a devastating earthquake.

    Russia was not affected because it is already facing sanctions over the Ukraine war “which preclude any meaningful trade,” a White House official said.

     

    Certain goods like copper, pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, lumber and gold will not be subject to the tariffs, according to the White House.

     

    ‘Fight’

    EU chief Ursula von der Leyen vowed Europe was “prepared to respond” to the tariffs, calling them a “major blow to the world economy.”

    Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, a close Trump ally, said the levies on the EU were “wrong” but pledged to seek a deal.

    Britain escaped relatively lightly after a diplomatic offensive, but said it still wanted to “mitigate” the tariffs.

    Canada and Mexico are not affected by the new levies as Trump has already punished them for what he says is their failure to stymie drug trafficking and illegal immigration.

     

    Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney vowed to “fight” the existing levies.

    Trump’s announcement is the culmination of a long love affair with tariffs, which he has seen for decades as a cure-all for America’s trade imbalances and economic ills.

    The 10 percent “baseline tariff” kicks in on Saturday, while the elevated rates for those the White House deemed “the worst offenders” will take effect on April 9.

  • Myanmar quake death toll rises over 3,000

    Myanmar quake death toll rises over 3,000

    The death toll from a major earthquake in Myanmar has risen above 3,000, the ruling junta said on Thursday.

    A statement from a junta spokesperson said that 3,085 deaths had been confirmed, with 341 people still missing and 4,715 injured, six days after the shallow 7.7-magnitude quake.

    Rescue and aid workers had arrived from 17 countries, Zaw Min Tun added, with nearly 1,000 tonnes of supplies and relief materials.

    “We have been continuing search and rescue work, we would like to express special gratitude for the hard work of the international community and medical teams,” he said.

    The head of Myanmar’s junta is expected to travel to Bangkok on Thursday for a regional summit.

    Min Aung Hlaing will join a BIMSTEC gathering — the seven littoral nations of the Bay of Bengal — where he will raise the response to Friday’s 7.7-magnitude quake that has flattened buildings across the country.

    Many nations have sent aid and teams of rescue workers to Myanmar since the quake, but heavily damaged infrastructure and patchy communications — as well as the country’s rumbling civil war — have hampered efforts.

    Myanmar has been engulfed in a brutal multi-sided conflict since 2021, when Min Aung Hlaing’s military wrested power from the civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi.

    Following reports of sporadic clashes even after the recent earthquake, the junta on Wednesday joined its opponents in calling a temporary halt to hostilities to allow relief to be delivered.

    AFP journalists saw hectic scenes on Wednesday in the city of Sagaing — less than 15 kilometres (nine miles) from the epicentre — as hundreds of desperate people lined up for the distribution of emergency supplies.

    Roads leading to the city were packed with traffic on Thursday, many of the vehicles part of aid convoys organised by civilian volunteers and adorned with banners saying where they had been sent from across Myanmar.

    Destruction in Sagaing is widespread, with the World Health Organization (WHO) reporting that one in three houses have collapsed.

    Nearly a week after the quake, locals have complained of a lack of help.

    “We have a well for drinking water, but we have no fuel for the water pump,” Aye Thikar told AFP.

    “We also don’t know how long we will be without electricity,” she said.

    The 63-year-old nun has been helping distribute relief funds to those left without basic amenities by Friday’s quake.

    But many people are still in need of mosquito nets and blankets, forced to sleep outside by the tremors that either destroyed their homes or severely damaged them.

    Eyes on summit

    All the main leaders from the seven members of the BIMSTEC — Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand — are expected to attend the Bangkok summit.

    Host country Thailand has proposed that the leaders issue a joint statement on the impact of the disaster when they meet on Friday — a week on from the day the quake struck.

    Min Aung Hlaing’s attendance is something of a diplomatic coup for Myanmar’s isolated government, as the summit breaks with a regional policy of not inviting junta leaders to major events.

    His expected arrival in the Thai capital comes as the death toll from last week’s earthquake surpasses 3,000 people, according to junta figures.

    A statement from a junta spokesperson said Thursday that 3,085 deaths had been confirmed, with 341 people still missing and 4,715 injured.

    Rescue and aid workers had arrived from 17 countries, Zaw Min Tun added, with nearly 1,000 tonnes of supplies and relief materials.

    “We have been continuing search and rescue work, we would like to express special gratitude for the hard work of the international community and medical teams,” he said.

    Bangkok, hundreds of kilometres from the epicentre of the quake, also suffered isolated damage.

    The death toll in the city has risen to 22, with more than 70 still unaccounted for at the site of a building collapse.

    A 30-storey skyscraper — under construction at the time — was reduced to a pile of rubble in a matter of seconds when the tremors hit, trapping dozens of workers.

    Bangkok governor Chadchart Sittipunt said in a Thursday morning livestream that he was “hoping for a miracle, but don’t expect too much as there’s a high chance of disappointment too”.

  • Man pulled alive from Myanmar quake rubble after five days

    Man pulled alive from Myanmar quake rubble after five days

    Rescuers on Wednesday pulled a man alive from the rubble five days after Myanmar’s devastating earthquake, as calls grew for the junta to allow more aid in and halt attacks on rebels.

    The shallow 7.7-magnitude earthquake on Friday flattened buildings across Myanmar, killing more than 2,700 people and making thousands more homeless.

    Several leading armed groups fighting the military have suspended hostilities during the quake recovery, but junta chief Min Aung Hlaing vowed to continue “defensive activities” against “terrorists”.

    UN agencies, rights groups and foreign governments have urged all sides in Myanmar’s civil war to stop fighting and focus on helping those affected by the quake, the biggest to hit the country in decades.

    Hopes of finding more survivors are fading, but there was a moment of joy on Wednesday as a man was pulled alive from the ruins of a hotel in the capital Naypyidaw.

    The 26-year-old hotel worker was extracted by a joint Myanmar-Turkish team shortly after midnight, the fire service and junta said.

    Dazed and dusty but conscious, the man was pulled through a hole in the rubble and put on a stretcher, video posted on Facebook by the Myanmar Fire Services Department shows.

    Call for peace

    Min Aung Hlaing said Tuesday that the death toll had risen to 2,719, with more than 4,500 injured and 441 still missing.

    But with patchy communication and infrastructure delaying efforts to gather information and deliver aid, the true scale of the disaster has yet to become clear, and the toll is likely to rise.

    Relief groups say that that response has been hindered by continued fighting between the junta and the complex patchwork of armed groups opposed to its rule, which began in a 2021 coup.

    Julie Bishop, the UN special envoy on Myanmar, called on all sides to “focus their efforts on the protection of civilians, including aid workers, and the delivery of life-saving assistance”.

    Even before Friday’s earthquake, 3.5 million people were displaced by the fighting, many of them at risk of hunger, according to the United Nations.

    Late Tuesday, an alliance of three of Myanmar’s most powerful ethnic minority armed groups announced a one-month pause in hostilities to support humanitarian efforts in response to the quake.

    The announcement by the Three Brotherhood Alliance followed a separate partial ceasefire called by the People’s Defence Force — civilian groups that took up arms after the coup to fight junta rule.

    But there have been multiple reports of junta air strikes against rebel groups since the quake.

    “We are aware that some ethnic armed groups are currently not engaged in combat, but are organising and training to carry out attacks,” said Min Aung Hlaing, mentioning sabotage against the electricity supply.

    “Since such activities constitute attacks, the Tatmadaw (armed forces) will continue to carry out necessary defensive activities,” he said in a statement late Tuesday.

    Thailand toll rises

    Australia’s government decried the reported air strikes saying they “exacerbated the suffering of the people”.

    “We condemn these acts and call on the military regime to immediately cease military operations and allow full humanitarian access to affected areas,” Foreign Minister Penny Wong said.

    Amnesty International said “inhumane” military attacks were significantly complicating earthquake relief efforts in Myanmar.

    “You cannot ask for aid with one hand and bomb with the other,” said the group’s Myanmar researcher Joe Freeman.

    Hundreds of kilometres (miles) away, in the Thai capital Bangkok, workers continued to scour a pile of rubble that formed when Friday’s tremors collapsed a 30-storey skyscraper.

    The structure had been under construction at the time, and its crash buried dozens of builders — few of whom have come out alive.

    The death toll at the site has risen to 22, with more than 70 still believed trapped in the rubble.

  • US senator smashes record with 25-hour anti-Trump speech

    US senator smashes record with 25-hour anti-Trump speech

    A Democratic US lawmaker shattered a record for the longest speech in Senate history Tuesday, staying on his feet for more than 25 hours to deliver a fiery protest against President Donald Trump’s “unconstitutional” actions.

    Senator Cory Booker’s display of endurance — to hold the floor he had to remain standing and could not even go to the bathroom — recalled the famous scene in Frank Capra’s 1939 film classic “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.”

    The longest Senate speech on record before Tuesday was delivered by South Carolina’s Strom Thurmond, who filibustered for 24 hours and 18 minutes against the Civil Rights Act of 1957.

    Booker, only the fourth Black senator to be popularly elected to the body, blew past that deadline, his voice still strong but emotional as he topped out at 25 hours and five minutes.

    “Strom Thurmond’s record always… really irked me,” he later told broadcaster MSNBC.

    “That the longest speech on our great Senate floor was someone who was trying to stop people like me from being in the Senate.”

    The public galleries of the Senate chamber gradually filled as the moment he broke the record approached, with more Democratic lawmakers joining the session — although Republicans largely stayed away.

    “This is a moral moment. It’s not left or right. It’s right or wrong,” Booker said as he wrapped up.

    He also quoted his mentor John Lewis, a 1960s civil rights movement leader, who urged campaigners to get into “good trouble,” before finally pronouncing “Madam President, I yield the floor.”

    The 55-year-old New Jersey native had found a moment for some humor as he passed the record, joking: “I want to go a little bit past this and then I’m going to deal with some of the biological urgencies I’m feeling.”

    ‘Foundations of democracy’

    Although Booker’s talk-a-thon was not actually blocking the majority Republican Party from holding votes in the Senate, as would be the case in a true filibuster, his defiance quickly became a rallying point for beleaguered Democrats.

    Booker, a former presidential candidate, seized command in the chamber at 7:00 pm (2300 GMT) Monday and finished at 8:05 pm Tuesday.

    He lashed out at Trump’s radical cost-cutting policies that have seen his top advisor Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, slash entire government programs without consent from Congress.

    The senator said Trump’s aggressive seizing of ever-more executive power had put US democracy at risk.

    “Unnecessary hardships are being borne by Americans of all backgrounds. And institutions which are special in America, which are precious and which are unique in our country, are being recklessly — and I would say even unconstitutionally — affected, attacked, even shattered,” Booker said.

    “In just 71 days the president of the United States has inflicted so much harm on Americans’ safety, financial stability, the core foundations of our democracy,” he said.

    But he had words of encouragement for Trump opponents, saying as he concluded that “the power of the people is greater than the people in power.”

    Cramps and sore throat

    Booker later went into detail about how he withstood the physical demands of the speech.

    “My strategy was to stop eating. I think I stopped eating Friday and then to stop drinking the night before I started on Monday,” he told reporters in the Capitol.

    The approach “had its benefits and had its really downsides… different muscle groups start to really cramp up” with dehydration, he added.

    In a statement sent by his office, Booker added that he was “tired and a little hoarse.”

    Democratic lawmakers, in the minority in both the Senate and House of Representatives, have struggled over how to blunt Trump’s efforts to downsize government, ramp up deportations and shred much of the country’s political norms.

    “I just want to thank you for holding vigil for this country all night,” Senator Raphael Warnock told Booker on the floor.

    Booker dedicated much of his speech to criticizing Trump’s policies, but to pass the time he also recited poetry, discussed sports and entertained questions from colleagues.

    “If you love your neighbor, if you love this country, show your love. Stop them from doing what they’re trying to (do),” he said.

  • Brathwaite quits as West Indies Test skipper, Hope takes white-ball charge

    Brathwaite quits as West Indies Test skipper, Hope takes white-ball charge

    Kraigg Brathwaite quit as West Indies Test captain on Monday after four years in charge while ODI skipper Shai Hope was handed leadership of the T20 team, officials said.

    The 32-year-old Brathwaite, who is two matches shy of reaching the 100-Test mark, led the team to a first Test victory in Australia in 27 years with an eight-run win in Brisbane last year.

    Earlier this season, he was in charge when the West Indies won a Test match in Pakistan for the first time in nearly 35 years.

    A dogged and disciplined opening batsman, Brathwaite has accumulated 5,935 runs in Tests with 12 centuries and 31 fifties but at an average of just over 33.

    He is also renowned for feats of patience, batting for the best part of 16 hours over two innings to secure a draw with England at Barbados in 2022.

    “Kraigg Brathwaite has been an outstanding leader for our Test team, guiding the squad with discipline, resilience, and a deep understanding of the game,” said West Indies director of cricket, Miles Bascombe.

    “His contributions have been invaluable, and under his leadership, we have witnessed historic moments that will be remembered for years to come.”

    Meanwhile, Hope replaces Rovman Powell, in charge since 2023, as T20 captain.

    Hope, 31, has played 133 ODIs and 39 T20 internationals, scoring more than 6,000 runs over both formats.

    He has 17 centuries in ODI cricket.

    “Shai Hope’s appointment signals a progressive shift for West Indies cricket,” said head coach Darren Sammy.