SOFIA: At least 45 people, including 12 children, died as a bus carrying mostly North Macedonian tourists crashed in flames on a highway in western Bulgaria on Tuesday, officials said.
Seven people who leapt from the burning bus were rushed to hospital in Sofia and were in stable conditions, hospital staff said. Bulgaria’s interior ministry said 45 people died, one less than the toll given earlier .
The cause of the accident was unclear but the bus appeared to have hit a highway barrier either before or after it caught fire, Bulgarian officials said.
Television footage showed the bus charred and gutted by fire in the middle of the highway.
“We have an enormous tragedy here,” Bulgarian interim Prime Minister Stefan Yanev told reporters.
Interior Minister Boyko Rashkov said: “People are clustered inside and are burnt to ash.”
“The picture is terrifying, terrifying. I have never seen anything like that before,” he told reporters at the site.
Bulgarian investigative service chief Borislav Sarafov said four buses from a North Macedonian travel agency had entered Bulgaria late on Monday from Turkey.
“Human mistake by the driver or a technical malfunction are the two initial versions for the accident,” he said.
The accident happened on Struma highway about 45 km (28 miles) west of Sofia around 2:00 a.m. (0000 GMT).
North Macedonian Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani said the coach party was returning to Skopje from a weekend holiday trip to Istanbul.
“I am terrified. This is such a huge tragedy,” North Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev told private television channel BTV.
Flaming bus crash in Bulgaria kills 45 Macedonian tourists
https://arab.news/2bhqz
Flaming bus crash in Bulgaria kills 45 Macedonian tourists
- Bus was taking tourists home to North Macedonia from Turkey
- Survivors leapt from burning vehicle, 12 children among the dead — Bulgarian official
UN warns of ‘massive trauma’ for Gaza’s children
- It’s fear on top of fear, cruelty on top of cruelty, and tragedy on top of tragedy
- “Children who had returned to school after 18 months out of school, now back in tents, ... hearing the bombardment around them constantly
GENEVA: The UN warned Friday that all Gaza’s approximately 1 million children were facing “massive trauma” as fighting in the war-ravaged territory resumed and amid dire aid shortages.
Humanitarians described an alarming situation in Gaza amid a growing civilian death toll since Israel resumed aerial bombardment and ground operations this week after a six-week ceasefire.
Sam Rose, the senior deputy field director in Gaza for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, highlighted the psychological shock for already traumatized children to once again find themselves beneath the bombs.
This is a “massive, massive trauma for the 1 million children” living in the Palestinian territory, he told reporters in Geneva, speaking from Gaza.
The breakdown of the ceasefire that took effect on Jan. 19 comes as the population is already dramatically weakened from 15 months of brutal war sparked by Hamas’s deadly Oct, 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
“It’s worse this time,” Rose warned, “because people are already exhausted, they’re already degraded, their immune systems, their mental health, (and) population’s on the verge of famine.
“Children who had returned to school after 18 months out of school, now back in tents, ... hearing the bombardment around them constantly.
“It’s fear on top of fear, cruelty on top of cruelty, and tragedy on top of tragedy.”
James Elder, a spokesman for the UN children’s agency UNICEF, said traumatized children usually only start to process their trauma when they begin returning to normalcy.
“Psychologists would say our absolute nightmare is that they return home and then it starts again,” he told reporters.
“That’s the terrain that we’ve now entered,” he said, warning that Gaza was the only “example in modern history in terms of an entire child population needing mental health support.”
“That’s no exaggeration.”
Gaza’s civil defense agency said 504 people had been killed since Tuesday, including more than 190 under the age of 18.
The toll is among the highest since the war started more than 17 months ago with Hamas’s attack on Israel.
It has also been a deadly period for humanitarians, with seven UNRWA staff killed just since the ceasefire broke down, bringing the total number killed from that agency alone to 284 since the Gaza war began.
A Bulgarian worker with another UN agency was also killed this week, as was a local staff member of Doctors Without Borders, the medical charity said Friday.
Humanitarians warned the situation on the ground has been made worse by Israel’s decision earlier this month to cut off aid and electricity to Gaza over the deadlock in negotiations to prolong the ceasefire.
“We were able to bring in more supplies during the six weeks of the ceasefire than ... in the previous six months,” Rose said, warning though that that progress was “being reversed.”
He said there was only enough flour in Gaza for another six days.
Asked about Israel’s charge that Hamas has diverted more than sufficient aid inside Gaza, Rose said he had “not seen any evidence” of that.
“There is no aid being distributed right now, so there is nothing to steal.”
He warned, though, that if aid is not restored, “we will see a gradual slide back into what we saw in the worst days of the conflict in terms of looting ... and desperate conditions among the population.”
Meanwhile, Elder described the vital aid items that aid agencies could not bring into Gaza.
“We’ve got 180,000 doses of vaccines a few kilometers away that are life-saving and are blocked,” he said.
He also pointed to a “massive shortage” of incubators in Gaza even as pre-term births were surging.
“We have dozens of them, again sitting across the border,” he said. “Blocked ventilators for babies.”
Struggling Medvedev suffers early exit in Miami
- Medvedev hurling his racket on several occasions
- The Russian made 32 unforced errors
MIAMI, United States: Daniil Medvedev crashed out of the Miami Open in the second round on Friday after suffering a 6-2, 6-3 upset defeat to Spain’s 56th-ranked Jaume Munar.
Medvedev, the 2023 winner in Miami, showed his frustration, hurling his racket on several occasions as the Mallorca-born 27-year-old picked up his third career win against a top 10 opponent.
The Russian made 32 unforced errors and although he gave himself a chance of a comeback in the final game, he couldn’t convert on two break points.
Karen Khachanov ensured the Nick Kyrgios comeback trail was cut short with a 7-6 (7/3), 6-0 win.
Australian Kyrgios, who has struggled since wrist surgery, defeated Mackenzie McDonald in the first round to earn his first tour-level win since October 2022 but was unable to overcome Khachanov, who reached the semis in Miami in 2023.
In the women’s draw, world number two Iga Swiatek advanced into the third round after surviving a second set dip to beat France’s Caroline Garcia 6-2, 7-5.
Swiatek had beaten Garcia with ease at the same stage at Indian Wells earlier this month but she faced a little more resistance at Hard Rock Stadium.
Swiatek was 3-1 down in the second set and had to save a set point, when serving at 5-4 down before rallying to win the last three games.
“My energy level got down really fast. So I tried to wake myself up, keep the intensity from the first set, follow through and go for it,” Swiatek said.
Swiatek lost to Mirra Andreeva in the semifinals at Indian Wells, with the 17-year-old Russian going on to win the title.
Andreeva is in action later on Friday when she takes on fellow-Russian Veronika Kudermetova.
In the men’s draw, fourth-seed Novak Djokovic faces Australian Rinky Hijikata while second-seed Carlos Alcaraz launches his bid against Belgian David Goffin.
Saudi aid center distributes 3,800 boxes of dates in Aden
- The center distributed 300 food baskets in Costanta, Romania, benefiting 1,500 individuals.
ADEN: The King Salman Center for Relief and Humanitarian Aid recently distributed 3,800 boxes of dates across the districts of Mansoura, Sheikh Othman, and Dar Saad in Aden province, Yemen.
The distribution benefited 22,800 individuals, including displaced persons and people with special needs, as part of KSrelief’s 2025 date assistance distribution project in the country.
The center also distributed 300 food baskets in Costanta, Romania, benefiting 1,500 individuals. This is part of the Etaam Food Basket Distribution Project.
These initiatives are part of the Kingdom’s relief and humanitarian efforts carried out to support those in need and alleviate suffering worldwide.
Pope Francis advisers say he’ll recover from pneumonia and a ‘new stage’ is opening for him
- Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra told AP that he had found Francis in good humor
- “The pope is recovering well. The doctors say that he needs some time, but it’s going well progressively“
ROME: Pope Francis is recovering well from pneumonia and that a “new stage” in his pontificate would open, two of his closest advisers said Friday, offering notes of optimism as the 88-year-old pontiff hit the five-week mark in his hospitalization.
Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra told AP that he had found Francis in good humor and serene during the three times he has visited the pope at the Gemelli hospital in Rome.
Peña Parra, who is the Vatican chief of staff, visited Francis on Feb. 24, March 2 and March 9 along with the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the lone Vatican officials who have called on him aside from his personal secretaries.
“The pope will recover,” Peña Parra said on the sidelines of a book launch. “The pope is recovering well. The doctors say that he needs some time, but it’s going well progressively.”
“I found him well, serene, in good humor, and — just like him — tough with the desire to go forward,” he said.
The Vatican press office reported Friday that Francis’ overall condition remained stable, with slight improvements as he continues respiratory and physical physiotherapy. He was continuing to reduce his reliance on high-flow supplemental oxygen he has needed to breathe during the day and no longer needs the mechanical ventilation mask at night.
In other comments Friday, another top friend and ally of the pope, Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, said that “a new stage” was opening in Francis’ 12-year pontificate and that he expects some surprises from the pontiff when he’s released.
Fernández, the Argentine theologian whom Francis brought in as the Vatican’s doctrine chief, said that he had been in touch with Francis since his Feb. 14 hospitalization and was heartened that he had stabilized. He provided no time frame on when Francis might be released, but ruled out any thought that he might resign.
He said that he understood that Francis was responding well to treatment, but that doctors were keeping him at the hospital “to be 100 percent.” He said that Francis needed rehabilitation therapy to help him regain strength to speak after so many weeks on noninvasive mechanical ventilation and supplemental oxygen.
Fernández revealed that Francis had resisted going to the hospital when his bronchitis worsened, and only agreed to go after people close to him threatened to quit if he didn’t.
“I don’t know what swear words they used (to tell him) you have to go there, otherwise we go home and end our relationship here,” he said.
As a result, he said he knew that the hospitalization had been hard on Francis and had surely made him reflect.
“I think a new stage is opening for him. He is a man of surprises, who will surely have learned so many things in this month and he’ll pull who knows what out of the hat,” he said. “So even knowing that this has been a very heavy effort for him, a difficult time, I know it will be fruitful for the church and for the world.”
Francis hit the five-week mark in his hospitalization Friday. He was admitted Feb. 14 with a bad case of bronchitis that developed into a complex lung infection and double pneumonia. He has long battled respiratory illnesses and had part of one lung removed when he was a young man. He has admitted to being a bad patient and is a known workaholic.
“He wants to spend what little time he has left and says ‘I want to use it and not to take care of myself,’” Fernández said. “And then what happens? He comes back here and it’s not easy for him to follow the advice” of doctors.
That might change after this experience, he said.
“He has to certainly change, but I can’t say what those details might be,” he said.
Former central bank governor Riad Salameh’s case referred to financial prosecution
- PM Nawaf Salam announces Lebanon’s shift to digital governance
- Former economy minister banned from travel on suspicion of corruption
BEIRUT: Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam announced on Friday that the government was working on establishing an executive mechanism to transition Lebanon into a digital state.
Lebanon is focused on using all its resources and connections to leverage external expertise in order to pursue the government’s development goals, he stated during a meeting with a delegation of business leaders.
The Cabinet approved a mechanism for administrative appointments in state institutions on Thursday, which Salam described as “transparent and competitive.”
Media reports in Beirut on Friday characterized this mechanism as a “theoretical qualitative leap and a reformative advancement in the selection of public sector employees. However, the critical factor remains its successful implementation.”
The position of governor of Lebanon’s central bank, the Banque du Liban, is currently vacant as President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Salam have not yet reached an agreement on the most suitable candidate. In the meantime, the judiciary is awaiting the findings of the financial public prosecutor regarding the investigation into the bank’s former governor Riad Salameh.
Salameh has been in pretrial detention for the past seven months on charges of embezzling public funds.
A judicial source told Arab News that Investigative Judge Bilal Halawi had concluded the investigation into Salameh’s case after issuing two in absentia arrest warrants for Salameh’s advisers.
The case has now been referred to Financial Prosecutor Judge Ali Ibrahim for review in preparation for issuing an indictment.
There is no specific deadline for the financial prosecution to respond.
Salameh — along with two lawyers, Michel Tueini and Marwan Issa Khoury, who served as advisers at the central bank — is being prosecuted for allegedly embezzling over $40 million from the bank’s funds. It is claimed that this amount was transferred to Salameh’s account with the assistance of Tueini and Issa Khoury.
In the ongoing pursuit of corruption cases, Judge Jamal Hajjar, the public prosecutor at the Court of Cassation, has moved to ban former Economy Minister Amin Salam from traveling.
The decision was made based on a report from the National Economy, Industry, Trade, and Planning Committee.
It also included his advisers Karim Salam and Fadi Tamim, as well as financial auditor Elie Abboud.
On Thursday, MP Farid Boustany, the committee’s chairman, lodged a complaint with the Public Prosecutor’s Office against the former minister, his advisers, and Abboud as a signatory.
The complaint alleges “bribery, influence-peddling, blackmailing insurance companies, mismanagement of public funds, and money laundering.”
In response to these accusations, Salam denied the charges, claiming they were part of a “systematic campaign of personal or political targeting” against him and his team.
Salam served as the economy minister for less than four years in the Najib Mikati government.
A report from the Parliamentary Observatory determined that Salam “misused his authority over the Insurance Control Commission, which oversees the insurance sector, for personal benefit at the expense of public funds.”
A judicial source informed Arab News that the travel ban was a preliminary measure aimed at ensuring that the suspects are notified about their upcoming interrogations, scheduled to occur soon at the Palace of Justice in Beirut.
The National Economy Committee of Parliament prepared a dossier detailing “violations” by Salam during his time in office.
The committee had previously summoned him to discuss the oversight of insurance companies by the ministry.
Salam did not attend three sessions, leading the committee to refer the case to the public prosecutor at the Court of Cassation and the financial prosecution for further action.
In 2023, sources said suspicions arose after his adviser, Tamim, was accused of blackmailing insurance companies for hundreds of thousands of dollars to prevent the revocation of the company’s license.
“Tamim was arrested, and it later came to light that Minister Karim Salam, the brother of the minister, had pressured insurance companies to pay large sums for mandatory solvency studies through a firm owned by Tamim. These actions resulted in accusations of abuse of power and blackmail.
“The National Economy Committee uncovered evidence that former Minister Salam misused public funds, spending over $50,000 a month on his office and engaging in questionable contracts.”
