SAN ANTONIO, USA: The American soldier who sprinted into North Korea across the heavily fortified border between the Koreas more than two months ago arrived back in the US early Thursday, video appeared to show.
North Korea abruptly announced Wednesday that it would expel Pvt. Travis King. His return was organized with the help of ally Sweden and rival China, according to the White House.
While officials have said King, 23, is in good health and the immediate focus will be on caring for him and reintegrating him into US society, his troubles are likely far from over.
King, who had served in South Korea, ran into the North while on a civilian tour of a border village on July 18, becoming the first American confirmed to be detained in the isolated country in nearly five years. At the time, he was supposed to be heading to Fort Bliss, Texas, following his release from prison in South Korea on an assault conviction.
He has been declared AWOL from the Army. In many cases, someone who is AWOL for more than a month can automatically be considered a deserter.
Punishment for going AWOL or desertion can vary, and it depends in part on whether the service member voluntarily returned or was apprehended. King’s handover by the North Koreans makes that more complicated.
Video aired Thursday by a Texas news station appeared to show King walking off a plane in San Antonio. Dressed in a dark top and pants, he could be seen speaking briefly with people waiting on the tarmac. He shook hands with one before being led into a building.
Emails seeking comment were sent to Lackland Air Force Base in Texas, the Air Force and the Army.
Officials earlier said he would be taken to Brooke Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston. He is expected to undergo psychological assessments and debriefings, and he will also get a chance to meet with family.
He will be in military custody throughout the process since his legal situation is complicated.
Many questions remain about King’s case, including why he fled in the first place and why the North — which has tense relations with Washington over Pyongyang’s nuclear program, support for Russia’s war in Ukraine and other issues — agreed to turn him over.
The White House has not addressed North Korean state media reports that King fled because of his dismay about racial discrimination and inequality in the military and US society.
The North’s official Korean Central News Agency reported that King made such complaints but verifying that is impossible.
On Wednesday, Swedish officials took King to the Chinese border, where he was met by US Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns, the Swedish ambassador to China, and at least one US Defense Department official.
He was then flown to a US military base in South Korea before heading to the US
His detention was relatively short by North Korean standards.
Several recent American detainees had been held for over a year — 17 months in the case of Otto Warmbier, a college student who was arrested during a group tour. Warmbier was in a coma when he was deported, and later died.
North Korea has often been accused of using American detainees as bargaining chips, and there had also been speculation that the North would try to maximize the propaganda value of a US soldier.
But analysts say King’s legal troubles could have limited his propaganda value, and Biden administration officials insisted they provided no concessions to North Korea to secure his release.
American soldier who crossed into North Korea arrives back in the US, video appears to show
https://arab.news/c8dqg
American soldier who crossed into North Korea arrives back in the US, video appears to show
- North Korea abruptly announced Wednesday that it would expel Pvt. Travis King
- His return was organized with the help of ally Sweden and rival China, according to the White House
Russian authorities bring in trains to fight oil depot fire
473 firefighters and 189 pieces of equipment were engaged in the operation
MOSCOW: Authorities in southern Russia’s Krasnodar region brought in firefighting trains loaded with water on Saturday to help battle a blaze still raging at an oil depot following a Ukrainian drone attack.
Regional officials, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said four trains were drafted into the site at Kavkazskaya, where the fire first broke out last Tuesday.
Firefighters were tackling a fire still burning at one of the tanks at the site covering 1,250 sq. meters (13,500 square feet) while also trying to cool other equipment at the site.
The statement said 473 firefighters and 189 pieces of equipment were engaged in the operation.
On Friday, depressurization of the burning tank triggered an explosion and the release of burning oil.
Reports on Friday said the fire covered some 10,000 square meters.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry said this week the attack amounted to a violation of a proposed ceasefire on energy sites in the more than three-year-old war, agreed between Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump.
The accord fell short of a wider agreement that the US had sought, and which was accepted by Ukraine, for a blanket 30-day truce.
Migrants deported from Mauritania recount police beatings
- Government spokesperson Houssein Ould Meddou said migrants were returned to the border crossings through which they had entered the country
ROSSO, SENEGAL: Ismaila Bangoura has terrible dreams about the night when he says Mauritanian police burst into the place in Nouakchott he shared with other Guineans, beat them up, and carted them off to a police station.
After three days in detention without food or access to toilets, they were taken to the border with Senegal on March 7, the 25-year-old said.
Since then, the group has wandered the streets of Rosso with nowhere to go and no connections to this remote part of northern Senegal.
“They beat us and stuck us in jail without telling us why,” said Bangoura, a trained carpenter who emigrated to Mauritania in 2024 to earn a living.
“They took everything we had — money, watches, phones. They handcuffed us and crammed us into buses to deport us,” he said.
He was left with only the clothes on his back — a Guinea squad football jersey and a pair of black shorts.
For several weeks now, Mauritania has been throwing out migrants, mostly from neighboring countries in West Africa like Senegal, Mali, Ivory Coast, and Guinea.
The campaign has sparked indignation in the region.
The vast, arid country on the Atlantic seaboard is a departure point for many African migrants seeking to reach Europe by sea.
The authorities say their “routine” deportations target undocumented people.
They have not provided information on the number of people expelled.
None of the migrants said they intended to take to the sea.
Interior Minister Mohammed Ahmed Ould Mohammed Lemine told journalists all the foreigners deported had been in Mauritania illegally.
He said the expulsions were “compliant with international conventions.”
Government spokesperson Houssein Ould Meddou said migrants were returned to the border crossings through which they had entered the country.
NGOs, however, have condemned the “inhumane” deportations, and the Senegalese government has voiced outrage at the treatment of its nationals.
A few meters from the Rosso crossing, about 30 migrants — mostly Guinean men, women, and children — squatted in a dilapidated building littered with rubbish, each trying to carve out a space of their own in the narrow edifice.
“You have to get in there quickly if you want to secure a place to sleep at night,” commented a young man named Abibou.
The rest “sleep on the street,” he said.
The most fortunate end up at the nearby Red Cross premises, where they are looked after.
But Mbaye Diop, the head of the Red Cross branch in Rosso, said there had been such a large influx of migrants recently that his organization could no longer accommodate everyone.
“The people who come to us generally arrive exhausted. They’re hungry and need a shower. Some also need psychological support,” he said.
Around him, several migrants tried to get some sleep on old mats despite the constant noise and movement of people around them.
Others remained huddled in their corners, staring blankly.
“We’re hungry. We haven’t eaten anything since this morning,” one said.
Some said they were getting restless and now just wanted to go home.
Amid the hubbub, Ramatoulaye Camara tried to soothe her crying toddler.
She was also deported in early March.
Despite being heavily pregnant with another child, she was — like many others — beaten by Mauritanian guards, imprisoned, and stripped of all her belongings, she recounted.
“We suffered a lot,” she said quietly, trying to comfort the little girl.
Idrissa Camara, 33, has been working as a carpenter in Nouakchott since 2018.
On March 16, he says he was arrested at his workplace and deported. Since then, he has been wandering around Rosso in the same grey and yellow overalls and protective boots, his only remaining possessions.
“They got so dirty and smelly these past few days that I had to go and wash them in the river. I had to hang around nearby in my underwear while they dried,” he said.
The married father of two said he had kept his deportation secret from his family so as not to distress them and planned to return to Nouakchott and his job there.
“All I want is to be able to work and provide for my family. I haven’t harmed anyone,” he said.
Daesh suspect who held journalists gets life sentence in France
- Nemmouche is already in prison after a Belgian court jailed him for life in 2019 for killing four people at a museum in May 2014, after he had returned from Syria
PARIS: A French court sentenced a French extremist to life in prison for holding four journalists captive more than a decade ago in the Syrian Arab Republic.
Mehdi Nemmouche, 39, was convicted of having held the French reporters hostage for Daesh from June 2013 to April 2014.
The sentence carries a minimum term of 22 years before he is eligible for parole.
All four journalists during the trial said they clearly recognized Nemmouche’s voice and manner of speech as belonging to a so-called Abu Omar, who terrorized them and made sadistic jokes while they were in captivity.
Nemmouche denied ever being their jailer, only admitting in court that he was a Daesh fighter in Syria.
From the beginning of the trial last month, he has claimed only to have fought against the forces of former President Bashar Assad.
“Yes, I was a terrorist, and I will never apologize for that.”
Nemmouche has said he joined Al-Qaeda’s Syria affiliate and then Daesh — both listed as “terrorists” in the EU — while in Syria.
Nemmouche is already in prison after a Belgian court jailed him for life in 2019 for killing four people at a museum in May 2014, after he had returned from Syria.
Daesh emerged in 2013 in the chaos that followed the outbreak of the Syrian civil war, slowly gaining ground before declaring a so-called caliphate in large parts of Syria and neighboring Iraq.
A US-backed offensive dealt the final blow to that proto-state in 2019.
Daesh abducted and held hostage 25 Western journalists and aid workers in Syria between 2012 and 2014, publicly executing several of them, according to French prosecutors.
Reporters Didier Francois and Edouard Elias, and then Nicolas Henin and Pierre Torres, were abducted 10 days apart while reporting from northern Syria in June 2013.
They were released in April 2014.
Henin alerted the authorities after he saw a facial composite of the presumed perpetrator of the May 2014 Brussels attack that looked very familiar.
Henin, in a magazine article in September 2014, recounted Nemmouche punching him in the face and terrorizing Syrian detainees.
During the trial, he detailed the repeated torture and mock executions he witnessed while in captivity.
=Nemmouche, whose father is unknown, was brought up in the French foster system and became radicalized in prison before going to Syria, say investigators.
The court also handed life sentences to two other extremists tried in absentia because they are presumed dead.
Belgian extremist Oussama Atar, a senior Daesh commander, had already been sentenced to life for the 2015 terror attacks in Paris claimed by Daesh that killed 130 people and the Brussels bombings by the group that took the lives of 32 others in 2016.
The other defendant was French Daesh member Salim Benghalem, accused of having been the jailer-in-chief of the hostages.
The court also handed a 22-year sentence to Frenchman Abdelmalek Tanem, 35, accused of being one of the jailers.
None of the journalists had recognized Tanem, who said he was a bodyguard for several IS leaders and slept in the basement of an eye hospital where they were held hostage, but claimed to have never seen them.
But prosecutors argued he was one of around 10 French-speaking Daesh jailers.
The court also handed a 20-year sentence to Kais Al Abdallah, a 41-year-old Syrian extremist accused of having helped abduct the journalists and of having been deputy in command in the Syrian city of Raqqa, all of which he denies.
From sahoor drums to online apps: Ramadan through the eyes of 3 generations of a Pakistani family
- Digital age has significantly altered how holy month is observed, offering spiritual engagement through apps, social media, and online platforms
- Mobile apps have become indispensable tools for Muslims worldwide during Ramadan, whether to check prayer timings or order food
ISLAMABAD: The clatter of plates, spoons, and forks filled the air as Mahmood Ahmed Hashmi, 67, broke his fast earlier this week at his home in Islamabad, seated with his three sons, daughters-in-law and grandchildren around a large, colorful tablecloth spread on the floor.
Ramadan traditions and practices evolve across generations, influenced by changing demographics, lifestyles, media and digital apps, while retaining the core spiritual elements of fasting, prayer, and charity.
As in other parts of the world, the digital age has also significantly altered how Ramadan is observed by Pakistani families, offering new avenues for spiritual engagement, community connection, and resource access through apps, social media, and online platforms.
FASTFACT
Digital age has significantly altered how holy month is observed, offering spiritual engagement through apps, social media, and online platforms.
Hashmi, a retired civil servant, detailed how Ramadan has changed through the generations of his family, beginning with the tradition of Ramadan drummers walking through the streets, beating drums to wake people for the pre-dawn meal (sahoor) before fasting began for the day. Once a typical feature of the holy month, the tradition’s usefulness has been eclipsed by TV, mobile phones, and alarm clocks.
“In those days, the elders used to come out in the neighborhood to wake up people for sahoor,” Hashmi told Arab News at iftar. “They used to do some drumming and other things so that people could get up, but now you have everything in your cell phone.”
Mobile apps have become indispensable tools for Muslims around the world during Ramadan, offering features such as prayer time reminders, Qur’anic recitations, and fasting trackers, ensuring accurate timing and accessibility.
While many people used to visit neighborhood or community religious gatherings earlier, now platforms such as YouTube and TikTok host Islamic scholars and influencers who share daily Ramadan reflections, Qur’anic tafseer (exegesis), and tips for spiritual growth, making Islamic education more accessible, especially for younger Muslims.
Social media platforms have also become main avenues for sharing Ramadan greetings, exchanging recipes, and discussing spiritual reflections.
Handwritten Eid cards, once widely exchanged among friends and relatives ahead of the post-Ramadan Eid Al-Fitr festival, are now a rarity in the age of digital greeting cards shared on Whatsapp and other messaging platforms, Hashmi lamented.
“How good the feeling used to be to get Eid cards from your loved ones,” he said. “Your near and loved ones used to wait for them. People used to display them in their drawing rooms or bedrooms. Now a picture (card) will come (on mobile phone).”
Iftar and sahoor meals would also be made entirely at home, or with snacks and food bought from neighborhood eateries, and would be consumed as a family, while food was now increasingly ordered from online apps as per individual choices, Hashmi added.
While the retired official regrets the decline in many of the Ramadan customs of his youth, his son Miraj Mustafa Hashmi, a professor at the National University of Sciences and Technology, said digital innovations such as mobile apps have streamlined everyday rituals, while still nurturing cherished Ramadan traditions.
“Apps like FoodPanda have replaced traditional market trips for iftar (items),” Miraj said, explaining that this was beneficial for people who did not have the luxury of time due to jobs and other responsibilities.
“It is a digital era, things are going on like that and people are comfortable in it. I think it is a very positive change … because people like us have to stay in the office all day and work … Obviously, we want to go to the market but the pressure of work and the load is there.”
Digital platforms and apps have also made it easier for people to donate to charity and support those in need, a core aspect of the holy month, Miraj said.
For his 10-year-old son Ibrahim, a student who began fasting at the age of 7, Ramadan is about being able to order his favorite dishes online and checking the internet for iftar and sahoor timings.
“I love having noodles, pizza, macaroni, samosas, pakoras, and jalebis for iftar,” Ibrahim said.
But was there anything Miraj missed about the way Ramadan used to be observed?
Relatives and friends used to meet each other more often at Ramadan events when they did not have the luxury to connect through video calls, he said.
“When I think of my childhood, we used to go to social events, we used to go shopping with our grandparents, we used to do all these activities.
“If we see, our parents spent a very tough life due to limited facilities, but they made it a little easier (for us) and our children are living a much easier life and technology is helpful.”
Pope Francis will be released from the hospital on Sunday, doctors say
- Gemelli medical director Dr. Sergio Alfieri said Saturday that Francis will require at least two months of rest and rehabilitation
- Pope Francis ‘ doctors provided their first in-person update on the pontiff’s condition in a month
ROME: Pope Francis will be released from the hospital on Sunday, after 38 days battling a life-threatening case of pneumonia in both lungs, his doctors said.
Gemelli medical director Dr. Sergio Alfieri said Saturday that Francis will require at least two months of rest and rehabilitation as he continues recovering back at the Vatican.
Francis was admitted to Gemelli hospital on Feb. 14 after a bout of bronchitis worsened. He later developed a life-threatening case of pneumonia.
Pope Francis ‘ doctors provided their first in-person update on the pontiff’s condition in a month, in a sign that he has made good and steady progress in his battle against double pneumonia.
The Saturday evening briefing is the first since Feb. 21, a week after the 88-year-old Francis was brought to Gemelli hospital. He subsequently experienced several respiratory crises that landed him in critical condition, though he has since stabilized.
In another development, the Vatican announced that Francis would appear on Sunday morning to bless faithful from his 10th floor suite at the hospital. While Francis released an audio message on March 6 and the Vatican distributed a photo of him March 16, Sunday’s blessing will be the first live appearance since Francis was admitted on Feb. 14 for what has become the longest hospitalization of his 12-year papacy.
The Argentine pope, who has chronic lung disease, is prone to respiratory problems in winter and had part of one lung removed as a young man, was admitted after a bout of bronchitis worsened.
Doctors first diagnosed a complex bacterial, viral and fungal respiratory tract infection and soon thereafter, pneumonia in both lungs. Blood tests showed signs of anemia, low blood platelets and the onset of kidney failure, all of which later resolved after two blood transfusions.
The most serious setbacks began on Feb. 28, when Francis experienced an acute coughing fit and inhaled vomit, requiring he use a noninvasive mechanical ventilation mask to help him breathe. He suffered two more respiratory crises in the following days, which required doctors manually aspirate the mucus, at which point he began sleeping with the ventilation mask at night to help his lungs clear the accumulation of fluids.
At no point did he lose consciousness, and doctors reported he was alert and cooperative.
Over the past two weeks, he has stabilized and registered slight improvements, the Vatican press office has reported. He no longer needs to wear the ventilation mask at night, and is cutting back his reliance on high flows of supplemental oxygen during the day.
