AMSTERDAM: A knife-wielding assailant in Amsterdam seriously wounded five people — including two from the United States, one from Belgium and one from Poland — in a stabbing attack Thursday on a busy shopping street, Dutch police said.
The attack lasted several minutes before the assailant was stopped by a passerby near the city’s Dam Square in the late afternoon. Police cordoned off the area and several ambulances and a trauma helicopter were called to the scene.
Authorities said in a statement that no motive had been established for the attack, but that police were considering a scenario where the man targeted victims at random.
The victims were identified as a 67-year-old woman and a 69-year old man from the United States, a 73-year-old woman from Belgium, a 26-year-old man from Poland and a 19-year old Dutch woman from Amsterdam.
“The police investigation is in full swing and has full priority at the moment. We hope to soon get more clarity about the background of this horrible stabbing,” Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema said in a statement. Our hearts go out to the victims, their families and loved ones,”
The assailant was injured when he was overpowered by a bystander. “The suspect was detained with the help of a civilian,” police spokesperson Eline Roovers told The Associated Press.
Last year, the city experienced several stabbings attributed to people with mental health issues. Amsterdam set up a hotline last month for residents to report concerns about irrational behavior. The reporting mechanism was recommended after an investigation showed that a man was stabbed to death by his neighbor.
A stabbing attack in Amsterdam wounds five people, including four foreigners
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A stabbing attack in Amsterdam wounds five people, including four foreigners
- Two Americans were among those hurt, along with one victim from Belgium, one from Poland and one from the Netherlands
- No motive has been established, but police are considering that it was a random attack
South Africa declares national disaster as flooding death toll rises to 92
Authorities have appealed for residents to report missing people
JOHANNESBURG: South Africa was under a declared state of national disaster on Thursday as the death toll from floods caused by severe rains in the Eastern Cape region rose to 92.
The Eastern Cape government honored the victims of last week’s floods with a provincial Day of Mourning and a memorial service at King Sabatha Dalindyebo Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) College in Mthatha, one of the few schools whose infrastructure remained intact.
Speaking at the public memorial service, Zolile Williams, a member of the executive council, said the people of the coastal province have not been the same since the disaster hit, and many are now faced with the challenging task of rebuilding.
“Since June 9, this province has been hit hard by unprecedented, catastrophic and unimaginable disasters, where in the whole of the province, about 92 people have perished,” said Williams.
“Since that day, the Eastern Cape has not been the same. It is the first time we have experienced so many dead bodies, some of whom have not yet been found.”
An extreme weather front brought heavy rain, strong winds and snow to parts of the province caused flooding in one of South Africa’s poorest provinces last week, leaving dozens dead and roads, houses, schools and other infrastructure damaged.
At least two school children who were washed away in a bus are among the unverified number of missing persons according to local media reports, while thousands have since been displaced.
Authorities have appealed for residents to report missing people so rescuers could better understand how many people they were still looking for.
Religious leaders from different Christian religions were among the hundreds of mourners who attended the memorial ceremony, lighting candles as a symbolic expression of remembering the 92 people who died in the floods.
In a government notice on Wednesday, Elias Sithole, director of the National Disaster Management Center, said severe weather had caused property damage. and the disruption of vital services in the provinces of KwaZulu-Natal, the Eastern Cape, the Western Cape, and the Free State, which prompted South Africa to declare a national state of disaster.
The declaration allows the government to release funding for relief and rehabilitation and will remain in place until it lapses or until the conditions can no longer be categorized as such and is revoked by the head of the center.
President Cyril Ramaphosa recently visited the town of Mthatha, in Eastern Cape province, where the floods hit hardest.
Many of the Eastern Cape flood victims lived on floodplains close to rivers. Government officials said poor neighborhoods with informal dwellings were most severely impacted. Authorities have been criticized for the rescue response but also for the state of the infrastructure in the area.
Russia warns strike on Iran’s Bushehr nuclear plant could cause ‘Chernobyl-style catastrophe’
- An Israeli military spokesperson said Israel had struck the site, but an Israeli military official later called this statement “a mistake“
- Bushehr is Iran’s only operating nuclear power plant and was built by Russia
ST PETERSBURG: The head of Russia’s nuclear energy corporation warned on Thursday that an Israeli attack on Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant could lead to a “Chernobyl-style catastrophe.”
An Israeli military spokesperson said Israel had struck the site, but an Israeli military official later called this statement “a mistake” and said he could neither confirm nor deny that the Bushehr site on the cost of the Gulf had been hit.
Bushehr is Iran’s only operating nuclear power plant and was built by Russia.
President Vladimir Putin told journalists in the early hours of Thursday that Israel had promised Russia that Moscow’s workers — who are building more nuclear facilities at the Bushehr site — would be safe, even as Israel tries to degrade Iran’s nuclear capabilities by force.
The head of Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom warned on Thursday that the situation around the plant was fraught with risk.
“If there is a strike on the operational first power unit, it will be a catastrophe comparable to Chernobyl,” the state RIA news agency cited Alexei Likhachev as saying.
Likhachev was referring to the world’s worst nuclear disaster in 1986, when a reactor exploded at Chernobyl in Soviet Ukraine.
An attack on Bushehr would be “beyond... evil,” Likhachev added.
Russia has evacuated some of its specialists from Bushehr, he said, but the core workforce — which Putin said numbered hundreds of people — remained on site.
“We are prepared for any scenario, including the rapid evacuation of all our employees,” RIA cited Likhachev as saying.
’GOD FORBID’
Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, said Israeli attacks on peaceful nuclear facilities were unacceptable and illegal.
“We are especially concerned about the safety of the Bushehr nuclear power plant, in whose operation Russian specialists are involved,” she told reporters.
“We would like to especially warn Washington against military intervention in the situation, which would be an extremely dangerous step with truly unpredictable negative consequences,” Zakharova added, underlining a warning that Moscow first issued on Wednesday.
Putin, in his comments early on Thursday, was defensive when asked what more Moscow would do to help Tehran. He said it had not asked for military assistance, that ties were strong, and that the continued presence of Russian workers building more nuclear facilities at Bushehr showed Russia’s support for Iran.
But Putin also stressed the importance of Russia’s ties with Israel — even though he later condemned its behavior in a phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping — and said he believed a diplomatic solution that would satisfy Israel’s concerns about its own security and Iran could be found.
Russia signed a strategic partnership with Iran in January and also has a relationship with Israel, although that has been strained by Moscow’s war in Ukraine. A Russian offer to mediate in the Israel-Iran conflict has so far not been taken up.
Mikhail Bogdanov, another Russian deputy foreign minister, recoiled on Thursday when asked by Reuters about the possibility of the US joining Israel’s war with Iran.
“God forbid, the consequences would be hard to predict,” he said.
Philippines passes law designating national day for hijab awareness
- Muslim women say new law means they are seen as equal in nation-building
- National Day of Awareness on Hijab to be observed each year on Feb. 1
MANILA: Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has signed a law recognizing the Muslim headscarf as part of the country’s traditional garment culture and designating a special day to increase awareness of it.
The new law, signed on Wednesday, declares Feb. 1 each year as the National Day of Awareness on the Hijab and Other Traditional Garments and Attire “to promote diversity, awareness, and tolerance of the various religious and cultural beliefs through the wearing of indigenous and traditional clothing, head garments and coverings.”
Government institutions, in coordination with the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos, the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples, and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, will under the law organize events “that promote the cultural values of wearing the hijab and other traditional garments and attire.”
Muslims constitute about 10 percent of the country’s 110 million predominantly Catholic population. Most Philippine Muslims live on the southern island of Mindanao and the Sulu archipelago, as well as in the central-western province of Palawan.
The move to recognize the Muslim garment was welcomed by the community as a step toward promoting inclusion.
“When the government does that, it’s a recognition of the importance of hijabs to the Muslims. It’s really promoting inclusiveness in society, and it is honoring the Muslim women,” Dr. Potre Dunampatan-Diampuan, a Filipina Muslim scholar from the United Religions Initiative, told Arab News.
For Samira Gutoc, chairperson of the rights advocacy group Ako Bakwit, the new law meant that she was being seen as equal in nation-building.
“We, hijabis, aim to be part of the workforce — not just in the Philippine National Police or army, but to work alongside all,” she said.
“It is a vital measure promoting awareness, respect and acceptance of the hijab, reinforcing the rights of Muslim women to practice their faith freely.”
The National Day of Awareness on the Hijab and Other Traditional Garments and Attire will coincide with World Hijab Day, which has been observed on Feb. 1 since 2013 to promote understanding and awareness about Muslim religious and cultural practices.
“Muslim women in the Philippines had been looking forward to the time when they would be seen as equal — treated equally, without any judgment,” Princess Habibah Sarip-Paudac, the Philippines’ first news anchor to wear a hijab on national television, told Arab News.
“We are so happy with this (law’s) passage. It only means that the government is acknowledging the concerns of its people and it is after inclusivity.”
Afghans start fleeing Iran in fear of Israeli bombings
- Iran hosts the largest population of Afghan refugees and migrant workers
- Traffic at one of the main border crossings surges to 8,000 crossings per day
KABUL: Abdulsaboor Seddiqi was in the middle of his mid-term exams at a university in Tehran when Israeli bombardment started to wreak havoc in the city. He decided to leave as soon as classes were suspended, and traveled 1,200 km to cross to Afghanistan.
Israeli airstrikes on Iran began last week, when Tel Aviv hit more than a dozen Iranian sites — including key nuclear facilities and the residences of military leaders and scientists — claiming it was aiming to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.
Daily attacks have been ongoing for the past seven days after Iran retaliated with ballistic missile strikes against Israel. The Israeli military has since been increasingly targeting civilian infrastructure.
“During the last week, we didn’t have proper phone and internet connectivity. Power cuts were more frequent,” Seddiqi, a computer science student, told Arab News.
“My family back in Herat was worried for my safety. I decided to leave.”
He is one of the thousands of Afghans who are now crossing the border every day.
At the Islam Qala crossing alone — part of the main route connecting Herat and Iran’s Mashhad — the number of people crossing daily has surged from 1,500 to as high as 8,000.
“The number of Afghans returning from Iran has drastically increased during the last week. The majority of the returnees were individuals prior to the conflict, while a lot of families also returned in the last week,” said Naser Azimi, a health worker at the Islam Qala health center.
“The number of Afghans returning through Islam Qala every day increased to 3,000 and even reached 8,000 people in a day.”
Abdulbasit Qazizada, who has been working in Tehran for the past two years, arrived in Herat on Monday.
“There was an unusual rush at the Islam Qala border crossing when I was coming back,” he said. “There’s so much fear and anxiety across all cities of Iran, especially Tehran. Many Afghans also work or live there.”
Over decades of armed conflict at home, about 5 million Afghan refugees and migrant workers settled in neighboring Iran, according to official data. Iran is home to the largest Afghan diaspora in the world. Most of them live in Tehran.
Some Afghan families have lost contact with their relatives living in the Iranian capital since the outbreak of violence.
“My brother went to Iran a few months ago for work. We heard in the news on Friday that Israel attacked Iran and killed a lot of people,” said Mohammad Naser, a resident of Kabul, whose brother and two cousins were in Tehran.
“It’s been a week that we don’t know anything about them. My mother and my family members are very concerned. We don’t know if they are OK. We feel helpless because we can’t do anything.”
According to the Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education, at least 224 people have been killed and 1,481 wounded in Israeli attacks. Various media outlets have reported, however, that casualty numbers could be at least twice as high.
Russia, Ukraine say have completed fresh POW exchange
- “Our people are returning home from Russian captivity,” Zelensky said
KYIV: Russia and Ukraine said Thursday they had completed another exchange of captured soldiers, part of an agreement reached earlier in June at peace talks in Istanbul.
“Our people are returning home from Russian captivity,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on social media, as Russia’s defense ministry also confirmed the exchange. Neither side said how many soldiers had been freed.
