SYDNEY: Cyclone Alfred stalled off Australia’s east coast on Thursday as officials shut airports, schools and public transport while residents stockpiled supplies and sandbagged homes against flooding expected when the category-two storm hits.
The storm is now likely to make landfall by Saturday morning near Brisbane, Australia’s third-most populous city, the Bureau of Meteorology said in its latest update, compared with a prior projection of landfall by early Friday.
The storm’s destructive reach will stretch across the border regions of the states of Queensland and New South Wales, the bureau said, bringing heavy rain, flooding and damaging wind.
“Alfred is behaving at the moment like a completely unwanted houseguest. It’s told us it’s going to be late but linger even longer,” New South Wales Premier Chris Minns told reporters.
“Unfortunately that means the window for destruction in our community – heavy rains, winds, powerful surf – is longer than we would have otherwise liked.”
Storm warnings on Thursday stretched for more than 500km across the northeast coast, as huge waves whipped up by the cyclone eroded beaches, and officials urged residents in flood-prone areas to evacuate soon.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the defense force would be ready to support emergency services.
Heavy rain from the weather system has already drenched some regions, said Dean Narramore, forecaster at Australia’s weather bureau.
Narramore said the cyclone’s stalling could result in “a longer and prolonged period of heavy rainfall, particularly in northern New South Wales” leading to life-threatening flash flooding.
New South Wales resident Sara Robertson and her family has moved all their valuables from their home in the rural town of Murwillumbah to a motel ahead of the storm.
“I’m glad we’ve got a little bit more of a breather, feeling very tired today and we still have a lot to do,” Robertson told ABC News after moving computers and electronics into the motel.
More than 5,000 properties in southeast Queensland and thousands in northern New South Wales are without power as officials warned there would be more outages when the wind speed increases.
Brisbane airport said it will suspend operations around 4 p.m. (0600 GMT) on Thursday but keep its terminals open for defense operations.
Qantas Airways said its international operations from Brisbane would remain suspended until Saturday noon and domestic flights until Sunday morning.
More than 1,000 schools in southeast Queensland and 250 in northern New South Wales were closed on Thursday, while public transport in Brisbane has been suspended.
Alfred has been called by officials a “very rare event” for Brisbane, Queensland’s state capital, with the city last hit by a cyclone more than half a century ago in 1974. The city of around 2.7 million had near misses from cyclones in 1990 in 2019.
Cyclone Alfred stalls off Australia’s east as millions brace for impact
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Cyclone Alfred stalls off Australia’s east as millions brace for impact
- Cyclone Alfred is now likely to make landfall by Saturday morning near Brisbane, Australia’s third-most populous city
- The storm’s destructive reach will stretch across the border regions of the states of Queensland and New South Wales
Kardashian ‘grateful’ after Paris robbers convicted
Describing the heist as “the most terrifying experience of my life,” Kardashian swiftly expressed her gratitude to the French authorities for pursuing “justice” in the case.
Nine men and one woman have been on trial since April and prosecutors sought the toughest jail terms — 10 years — for the four men accused of carrying out the robbery.
Aomar Ait Khedache, 69, the ringleader, was handed the heaviest sentence of three years in prison plus five years suspended, but due to time served in jail will not return to detention, like all the others convicted.
Two other suspects accused of handing information about the American superstar’s whereabouts were acquitted. All the sentences were substantially lower than the terms demanded by the prosecution.
Kardashian, then 35, was robbed while staying at an exclusive hotel in the French capital on the night of October 2-3, 2016.
She was threatened with a gun to the head and tied up, with her mouth taped.
Kardashian said after the verdict she she was “deeply grateful to the French authorities for pursuing justice.”
“The crime was the most terrifying experience of my life, leaving a lasting impact on me and my family,” she said in a statement sent by her lawyers.
“While I’ll never forget what happened, I believe in the power of growth and accountability and pray for healing for all,” she added.
After the hearing adjourned, the convicted men embraced their loved ones in relief and slowly left the courtroom, taking with them the bags and suitcases they had prepared in case of imprisonment.
“The sentences are quite lenient; I understand that you understand that you have caused harm,” presiding judge David De Pas told them as he read out the verdicts.
He also said “the state of health of the main protagonists ethically prohibits incarcerating anyone. It would have been unjust to take you to prison this evening.”
Aomar Ait Khedache had begged to be forgiven in his final statement ahead of sentencing.
Khedache is now virtually mute and completely deaf, and his statement was read out by his lawyer.
“I ask for forgiveness. I can’t find the words. I am very sorry,” he wrote, asking for “a thousand pardons” from his son Harminy, who was convicted for acting as a driver on the night of the heist.
Two other men convicted of carrying out the robbery on the night, Yunice Abbas, 71, and Didier Dubreucq, 69, were sentenced to seven years jail including five suspended. Dubreucq was absent as he is undergoing chemotherapy treatment for cancer.
The fourth member of the robbery gang, Marc-Alexandre Boyer, at 35 the only youngster, was given the same sentence.
Kardashian’s lawyers said in a statement that the star “looks forward to putting this tragic episode behind her, as she continues working to improve the criminal justice system on behalf of victims, the innocent, and the incarcerated seeking to redeem themselves.”
Most of the stolen valuables were never recovered, including a diamond ring given to Kardashian by her then-husband, rapper Kanye West.
The ring alone was valued at 3.5 million euros ($3.9 million).
The robbery was the biggest against a private individual in France in 20 years.
Most of the accused are now in their 60s and 70s and have been dubbed the “Grandpa robbers” by French media.
But making the sentencing demands earlier this week, the prosecutor urged the judges and jury to remember that Kardashian was targeted by a violent attack and not to be taken in by the “wrinkles” of the defendants.
The American star testified at the trial, wearing a diamond necklace valued at $3 million, according to its New York-based creator Samer Halimeh.
During the trial, Kardashian told the court she forgave Khedache after hearing a letter of apology from him.
“I forgive you for what has taken place but it does not change the emotion, the feelings, the trauma and the way my life changed,” she told Khedache, adding that she believed in a “second chance.”
Kardashian, sometimes described as “famous for being famous,” became well known in the early 2000s through TV reality shows, before launching fashion brands and appearing in films.
France’s Deneuve joins over 900 cinema figures on Gaza petition
CANNES: France’s Catherine Deneuve has joined over 900 cinema figures who have signed an open letter denouncing alleged “genocide” in Gaza and the movie industry’s failure to speak up about it, organizers said on Friday.
The petition began circulating during the buildup to the Cannes film festival and had garnered around 380 names, including “Schindler’s List” star Ralph Fiennes, when the event kicked off on May 13.
An update by organizers on Friday included more than 900 names, including Deneuve, British director Danny Boyle, and Swedish actor Gustaf Skarsgard.
The initiative, called “Artists for Fatem,” was sparked by the killing of Palestinian photojournalist Fatima (“Fatem“) Hassouna, who was the subject of a documentary that premiered at Cannes week.
Hassouna, 25, was killed in an Israeli airstrike along with 10 relatives in her family home in northern Gaza last month, the day after the documentary was announced as part of the ACID Cannes selection.
“As artists and cultural players, we cannot remain silent while genocide is taking place in Gaza and this unspeakable news is hitting our communities hard,” the open letter says.
Other signatories include Juliette Binoche, who is chairing the jury at Cannes, Rooney Mara, Jonathan Glazer, US indie director Jim Jarmusch, “Lupin” star Omar Sy, Richard Gere, Susan Sarandon, Pedro Almodovar, and
Mark Ruffalo.
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, who is in Cannes to promote a documentary about his life, has also signed the letter, organizers said Friday.
He posed for photographers on Tuesday with a T-shirt bearing the names of killed Gaza children.
On Thursday, Gaza’s Health Ministry said at least 3,613 people had been killed in the territory since Israel resumed strikes on March 18, taking the war’s overall toll to 53,762, mostly civilians.
Hamas’s October 2023 attack triggered the war.
2026 election: Djibouti president leaves door open to sixth term
ADDIS ABABA: Djiboutian President Ismail Omar Guelleh, in power since 1999, did not rule out running for a sixth term in next year’s election despite a constitutional ban on doing so, in an interview published on Friday.
Asked about a potential candidacy in April 2026 in the interview with The Africa Report, the 77-year-old said: “I won’t answer that.”
“What I can say is that I love my country too much to lead it into a reckless venture or sow division,” he added.
Running in the 2026 race would require changing the constitution, which prohibits candidates older than 75.
Guelleh won 97 percent of the vote in the 2021 election, and his UMP party currently holds a majority in parliament.
BACKGROUND
Ismail Omar Guelleh won 97 percent of the vote in the 2021 election, and his UMP party currently holds a majority in parliament.
Guelleh, known as “IOG,” succeeded Hassan Gouled Aptidon — who led Djibouti to independence from France in 1977 — after serving as his chief of staff for 22 years.
Djibouti is a stable state in a troubled region that has become a key strategic base for major powers, with the US, France, and China all maintaining a military presence there.
The Horn of Africa country, bordering Ethiopia, Somalia, and Eritrea, is one of the least populated on the continent, with around one million inhabitants.
Helmsman of cargo ship run aground in Norway ‘was likely asleep’
OSLO: The helmsman of a huge container ship that ran aground in Norway just a stone’s throw away from a cabin as its owner slept was probably asleep as well at the time of the accident, Norwegian media reported on Friday.
“Only one person was on the bridge at the time. He was steering the vessel, but did not change course when entering the Trondheim fjord as he should have,” the news agency NTB reported.
“Police have received information from others who were on board that he was asleep,” police official Kjetil Bruland Sorensen told NTB.
The 135-meter NCL Salten sailed up onto shore just meters from Johan Helberg’s wooden cabin around dawn on Thursday.
Helberg discovered the unexpected visitor only when a panicked neighbor who had rung his doorbell repeatedly to no avail gave up and called him on the phone.
It’s a very bulky new neighbor but it will soon go away.
Johan Helberg
“The doorbell rang at a time of day when I don’t like to open,” Helberg told television channel TV2.
His neighbor, Jostein Jorgensen, said he was roused at around 5 a.m. by the sound of a ship heading at full speed toward land and immediately ran to Helberg’s house.
None of the cargo’s 16 crew members were injured, and Norwegian police have opened an investigation.
“We are aware of the police stating that they have one suspect, and we continue to assist the police and authorities in their ongoing investigation,” the NCL shipping group said on Friday.
“We are also conducting internal inquiries but prefer not to speculate further,” it added.
Efforts to refloat the ship have failed so far, and the massive red and green container ship remained stuck, looming over the small cabin.
UN urges warring sides in South Sudan to ‘pull back from the brink’
- The human rights situation risks further deterioration as fighting intensifies, Volker Turk says
GENEVA: The UN rights chief has urged warring sides in South Sudan to pull back from the brink, warning that the human rights situation risks further deterioration as fighting intensifies.
“The escalating hostilities in South Sudan portend a real risk of further exacerbating the already dire human rights and humanitarian situation, and undermining the country’s fragile peace process,” said the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk.
“All parties must urgently pull back from the brink,” he added.
Since May 3, fighting has intensified, with OHCHR citing reports of indiscriminate aerial bombardment and river and ground offensives by the South Sudan People’s Defense Forces SSPDF on Sudan People’s Liberation Army positions in parts of Fangak in Jonglei State and in Tonga County in Upper Nile.
Clashes between South Sudan’s army and fighters backing the rival to President Salva Kiir have killed at least 75 civilians since February, the UN human rights chief said on Friday.
Dozens more have been injured and thousands forced to flee their homes, said the commissioner.
He expressed concern over arbitrary detentions and a rise in hate speech since February.
BACKGROUND
South Sudan, the world's youngest country after gaining independence from Sudan in 2011, was plunged into a violent civil war between 2013 and 2018 that claimed around 400,000 lives.
South Sudan, which gained independence from Sudan in 2011, was plunged into a civil war between 2013 and 2018 that left around 400,000 dead and 4 million displaced.
A 2018 power-sharing agreement between the warring parties had allowed for a precarious calm.
But for several months, violent clashes have set President Kiir’s faction against supporters of his rival, Vice President Riek Machar, who was arrested in March.
Civilian-populated areas have been struck, including a medical facility operated by medical charity Doctors Without Borders or MSF, Turk said.
According to a UN estimate in mid-April, around 125,000 people have been displaced since the escalation of tensions.
Turk said dozens of opposition politicians linked to the SPLM-IO had been arrested, including Machar, ministers, MPs and army officers, as had civilians.
