Indian doctors resume strike over colleague’s rape and murder

Indian doctors resume strike over colleague’s rape and murder
Activists and medical professionals shout slogans as they take part in a protest march to condemn the rape and murder of a doctor in Kolkata on September 20, 2024. (AFP/File)
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Updated 01 October 2024
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Indian doctors resume strike over colleague’s rape and murder

Indian doctors resume strike over colleague’s rape and murder
  • The discovery of the 31-year-old’s bloodied body at a state-run hospital in August rekindled nationwide anger at the chronic issue of violence against women
  • Protesting Indian doctors had briefly returned to limited work in emergency departments last month but later decided at a union meeting to cease work again

KOLKATA: Indian doctors in Kolkata said on Tuesday they had resumed a strike to protest against the brutal rape and murder of a colleague because their demands for hospital safety improvements had not been met.

The discovery of the 31-year-old’s bloodied body at a state-run hospital in the eastern city in August rekindled nationwide anger at the chronic issue of violence against women.

Doctors briefly returned to limited work in emergency departments last month but decided at a union meeting to cease work again.

Union spokesman Aniket Mahato said the West Bengal state government had failed to deliver on its promises to upgrade lighting, CCTV cameras and other security measures in hospitals.

“The state government has failed to provide safety and security in the workplace,” he told AFP.

Mahato said doctors would return to the streets on Tuesday night to insist the government meet its pledges and to demand justice for their murdered colleague.

Tens of thousands of ordinary Indians joined in the protests following the August attack, which focused anger on the lack of measures for female doctors to work without fear.

One man has been detained over the murder but the West Bengal government has faced public criticism for its handling of the investigation.

Authorities sacked the city’s police chief and top health ministry officials.

India’s Supreme Court ordered a national task force last month to examine how to bolster security for health care workers, saying the brutality of the killing had “shocked the conscience of the nation.”

The gruesome nature of the attack drew comparisons with the 2012 gang rape and murder of a young woman on a Delhi bus, which also sparked weeks of nationwide protests.


Released pro-Palestinian protest leader sues Trump for $20 million

Released pro-Palestinian protest leader sues Trump for $20 million
Updated 58 sec ago
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Released pro-Palestinian protest leader sues Trump for $20 million

Released pro-Palestinian protest leader sues Trump for $20 million
  • Mahmoud Khalil called the lawsuit a “first step toward accountability for political retaliation and abuse of power”
  • The Columbia University graduate was a figurehead of student protests against ally Israel’s war in Gaza,

NEW YORK: Mahmoud Khalil, one of the most prominent leaders of US pro-Palestinian campus protests, sued the Trump administration Thursday for $20 million over his arrest and detention by immigration agents.

Khalil, a legal permanent resident in the United States who is married to a US citizen and has a US-born son, had been in custody following his arrest in March.

The 30-year-old was freed from a federal immigration detention center in Louisiana last month, hours after a judge ordered his release on bail.

“The administration carried out its illegal plan to arrest, detain, and deport Mr. Khalil ‘in a manner calculated to terrorize him and his family,’ the claim says,” according to the Center for Constitutional Rights which is backing Khalil.

Khalil suffered “severe emotional distress, economic hardship (and) damage to his reputation,” the claim adds.

The Columbia University graduate was a figurehead of student protests against US ally Israel’s war in Gaza, and the Trump administration labeled him a national security threat.

Khalil called the lawsuit a “first step toward accountability.”

“Nothing can restore the 104 days stolen from me. The trauma, the separation from my wife, the birth of my first child that I was forced to miss,” he said in the statement.

“There must be accountability for political retaliation and abuse of power.”

Khalil has previously shared his “horrendous” experience in detention, where he “shared a dorm with over 70 men, absolutely no privacy, lights on all the time.”

President Donald Trump’s government has justified pushing for Khalil’s deportation by saying his continued presence in the United States could carry “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences.”

Khalil’s detention came amid Trump’s campaign against top US universities in recent months, with the president facing off against Columbia, Harvard and other schools over foreign student enrollment while cutting federal grants and threatening to strip accreditation.

Beyond his legal case, Khalil’s team has expressed fear he could face threats out of detention.

 


Firefighters rescue dozens from burning high rise in Santiago

Firefighters rescue dozens from burning high rise in Santiago
Updated 6 min 42 sec ago
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Firefighters rescue dozens from burning high rise in Santiago

Firefighters rescue dozens from burning high rise in Santiago

SANTIAGO, Chile: Firefighters rescued dozens of people from a mixed commercial and residential high rise in Chile’s capital Thursday, plucking some from windows and balconies with ladder trucks and others from the roof by helicopter after a fire started in the building’s basement.

People waved shirts and other garments from the upper floors calling for help as a large plume of smoke rose into the sky. At least 15 fire companies responded, working quickly to successfully evacuate more than 100 people from the the building without loss of life. Some 40 people were treated on site, said Claudio Pavez, a coronel with Chile’s national police force.

The building was located near the Plaza the Armas, one of the most bustling central area’s of Santiago.

Juan Pablo Slako, a deputy commander with the firefighters, said that there were no fatalities and no serious injuries with most suffering smoke inhalation or shock.

“We don’t have fire in the apartments, so we ask for calm,” said Álvaro Lara, vice superintendent of the firefighters, who added that the fire was controled.


As many as 200 homes damaged as officials survey the aftermath of a deadly New Mexico flood

As many as 200 homes damaged as officials survey the aftermath of a deadly New Mexico flood
Updated 8 min 24 sec ago
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As many as 200 homes damaged as officials survey the aftermath of a deadly New Mexico flood

As many as 200 homes damaged as officials survey the aftermath of a deadly New Mexico flood

RUIDOSO, N.M.: At least 200 homes were damaged during a deadly flash flood in the mountain village of Ruidoso, and local emergency managers warned Wednesday that number could more than double as teams survey more neighborhoods.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham was among the officials who took an aerial tour of Ruidoso and the surrounding area as they looked to bolster their case for more federal assistance for the community, which has been battered over the past year by wildfires and repeated flooding.

The governor said the state has received partial approval for a federal emergency declaration, freeing up personnel to help with search and rescue efforts and incident management. She called it the first step, saying Ruidoso will need much more.

“We will continue working with the federal government for every dollar and resource necessary to help this resilient community fully recover from these devastating floods,” she said.

An intense bout of monsoon rains set the disaster in motion Tuesday afternoon. Water rushed from the surrounding mountainside, overwhelming the Rio Ruidoso and taking with it a man and two children who had been camping at a riverside RV park. Their bodies were found downstream. One person is still unaccounted for.

Lujan Grisham expressed her condolences and wished a speedy recovery for the parents of the 4-year-old girl and 7-year-old boy who were killed. She said it will be an emotional journey.

“There are no words that can take away that devastation,” she said. “We are truly heartsick.”

Congresswoman Melanie Stansbury, whose district includes Ruidoso and surrounding Lincoln County, told reporters more rain is coming and that residents remain at risk. She urged people to follow emergency orders, saying “we cannot lose another life.”

A community rebuilds — again

Broken tree limbs, twisted metal, crumpled cars and muddy debris remain as crews work to clear roads and culverts wrecked by the flooding.

Tracy Haragan, a lifelong Ruidoso resident on the verge of retirement, watched from his home as a surging river carried away the contents of nine nearby residences.

“You watched everything they owned, everything they had — everything went down,” he said.

A popular summer retreat, Ruidoso is no stranger to tragedy. It has spent a year rebuilding following destructive wildfires last summer and the flooding that followed.

This time, the floodwaters went even higher, with the Rio Ruidoso rising more than 20 feet  on Tuesday to set a record. Officials said the area received about 3.5 inches  of rain over the South Fork burn scar in just an hour and a half.

“It is such a great town, it just takes a tail-whipping every once in a while,” Haragan said. “We always survive.”

Requests for aid

The river runs thick with sediment that can settle and raise future water levels. Stansbury said already-promised federal funding to remove silt from the riverbed would help mitigate future flooding, but that the community would need continued help for the next decade after suffering successive catastrophes.

Lujan Grisham said the federal government likely will advance $15 million — from the Department of Agriculture and the Federal Emergency Management Agency — to jumpstart recovery efforts. That amount could climb to more than $100 million in the coming months as Ruidoso tries to rebuild and mitigate future floods.

The governor said officials need to rethink how funding is doled out to reduce the risks of future flooding, in efforts that might restore watersheds and forests.

Ruidoso has also recently requested $100 million in federal aid to convert flood-prone private land to public property after successive years of violent flooding.

The mayor emphasized Thursday that the flood damage was far greater than he and others had realized, highlighting damage to water lines and distribution points for potable drinking water.

“Things have changed,” Crawford said. “There was a lot more damage than what we had assumed and what we thought in the beginning. ... We’ve had to take a step back to move forward.”

 


US has reclosed its southern border after a flesh-eating parasite is seen further north in Mexico

US has reclosed its southern border after a flesh-eating parasite is seen further north in Mexico
Updated 10 min 3 sec ago
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US has reclosed its southern border after a flesh-eating parasite is seen further north in Mexico

US has reclosed its southern border after a flesh-eating parasite is seen further north in Mexico

The US has closed its southern border again to livestock imports, saying a flesh-eating parasite has moved further north in Mexico than previously reported.

Mexico’s president was critical Thursday, suggesting that the US is exaggerating the threat to its beef industry from the parasite, the New World screwworm fly. The female flies lay eggs in wounds on warm-blooded animals, hatching larvae that are unusual among flies for feeding on live flesh and fluids instead of dead material.

American officials worry that if the fly reaches Texas, its flesh-eating maggots could cause large economic losses, something that happened decades ago. The US largely eradicated the pest in the 1970s by breeding and releasing sterile male flies to breed with wild females, and the fly had been contained in Panama for years until it was discovered in southern Mexico late last year.

The US closed its southern border in May to imports of live cattle, horses and bison but announced June 30 that it would allow three ports of entry to reopen this month and another two by Sept. 15. However, since then, an infestation from the fly has been reported 185 miles  northeast of Mexico City, about 160 miles  further north than previously reported cases. That was about 370 miles  from the Texas border.

“The United States has promised to be vigilant,” US Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said in a statement Wednesday announcing the border closing. “Thanks to the aggressive monitoring by USDA staff in the US and in Mexico, we have been able to take quick and decisive action to respond to the spread of this deadly pest.”

In Mexico, President Claudia Sheinbaum said authorities there were following all established protocols to deal with the northernmost case. Mexican authorities said the country has 392 infected animals, down nearly 19 percent since June 24.

“From our point of view, they took a totally exaggerated decision to closing the border again,” Sheinbaum said. “Everything that scientifically should be done is being done.”

Three weeks ago, Rollins announced plans for combating the parasite that include spending nearly $30 million on new sites for breeding and dispersing sterile male flies. Once released in the wild, those males would mate with females, causing them to lay eggs that won’t hatch so that the fly population would die out.

The USDA hopes a new fly factory will be operating in southern Mexico by July 2026 to supplement fly breeding at an existing complex in Panama. The agency also plans to open a site in southern Texas for holding sterile flies imported from Panama, so they can be released along the border if necessary.

Also Thursday, US Reps. Tony Gonzalez, of Texas, and Kat McCammack, of Florida, urged the Trump administration to quickly approve the use of existing anti-parasite treatments for New World screwworm fly infestations in livestock. They said labeling requirements currently prevent it.


Pentagon takes stake in US rare earth company

Pentagon takes stake in US rare earth company
Updated 12 min 12 sec ago
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Pentagon takes stake in US rare earth company

Pentagon takes stake in US rare earth company

NEW YORK: A US rare earth company announced Thursday an agreement with the Pentagon granting the government a stake in the venture in exchange for billions of dollars to finance additional manufacturing.

Las Vegas-based MP Materials described the arrangement as a “transformational public-private partnership” that includes a “multibillion-dollar package of investments” and long-term commitments from the Department of Defense .

It will allow MP to construct a second domestic magnet manufacturing facility, according to a company press release, and to expand production at MP’s Mount Pass, California facility — the only large-scale rare earth mining and processing operation in North America.

Under the arrangement, the Pentagon agreed to purchase $400 million of newly created MP preferred stock, convertible to common stock.

Ultimately, the agreement will result in the DoD holding 15 percent of MP’s common shares, making it the company’s largest shareholder, MP said in its press release.

It is rare for the Pentagon to take stakes in private companies. AFP asked the Pentagon for comment on the announcement but had yet to hear back.

Rare earths are critical building blocks in many US weapons systems and are also needed for smartphones, automobiles and other goods. The dearth of capacity in the United States — and the continued dominance of China — has emerged as a growing worry in Washington.

China controls close to 70 percent of global rare earth production, according to some estimates.

MP said the partnership with DoD would “catalyze domestic production, strengthen industrial resilience, and secure critical supply chains for high-growth industries and future dual use applications.”

The new magnet facility, whose location has yet to be chosen, is expected to begin operating in 2028, bringing MP’s total US rare earth magnet manufacturing capacity to an estimated 10,000 metric tons, the press release said.

The partnership between MP and the Pentagon includes a 10-year agreement establishing a price floor of $110 per kilogram for MP products and DoD assurance that 100 percent of the magnets made at the second factory will be purchased by the Pentagon and commercial customers.

Shares of MP finished the day 50.6 percent higher.