Yemen stampede amid distribution kills 85

AT LEAST 85 people were killed and over 300 injured in a crush at a charity distribution event in war-torn Yemen on Thursday, Huthi officials said, one of the deadliest stampedes in a decade.

The latest tragedy to strike the Arabian Peninsula’s poorest country came days ahead of Eid al-Fitr, a Muslim holiday celebrated around the world by feasting to mark the end of the fasting month of Ramadan.

Hundreds of people in the poverty-hit country had gathered at a school in the capital Sanaa to receive cash handouts of 5,000 Yemeni Rials (around $8).

At least “85 were killed and more than 322 were injured” in the stampede in the Bab al-Yemen district of the capital, a Huthi security official said, adding that around 50 were in a serious condition.

“Women and children were among the dead,” he told AFP on condition of anonymity, as he was not authorised to speak to the media. A second health official confirmed the toll.

The Huthi-run interior ministry said the dead and injured have been relocated to hospitals, and those responsible for the event arrested.

Video broadcast by Al Masirah TV channel showed a cluster of bodies packed together, with people climbing on top of each other to try to make their way through.

Many had their mouths covered by other people’s hands, the rest of their bodies engulfed by the dense crowd.

Armed men in military dress and distribution workers screamed at the crowd to turn back as they tried to pull people out of the crush.

Arrests and investigation

According to the head of the Huthis’ Supreme Revolutionary Committee, Mohamed Ali al-Huthi, “overcrowding” caused the stampede.

People were packed in a narrow street leading to the school’s back entrance, he said.

Once the gates opened, the crowd streamed into a tight staircase leading to the courtyard where the distribution was taking place.

Eyewitnesses, however, said that gunfire caused people to rush in a panic.

After the stampede, families converged on hospitals but many were not allowed to enter as top officials were also visiting the dead and wounded.

An AFP correspondent in Sanaa saw large crowds outside one hospital entrance.

At the school, heavily deployed security forces were seen blocking relatives from entering the facility to locate family members.

Footage on Al Masirah TV showed corpses strewn across the complex, which was littered with sandals and scraps of clothes after the stampede was cleared.

The Huthi rebel’s political chief Mahdi al-Mashat said a committee had been formed to investigate.

A Huthi security official said three people had been detained on suspicion of involvement.

Widespread poverty

More than eight years of civil war in Yemen has unleashed what the United Nations describes as one of the world’s worst humanitarian tragedies. AFP

In Brief

‘Jesus relics’ featured in Charles coronation

A CEREMONIAL silver cross containing shards said by the Vatican to be from the cross used to crucify Jesus Christ was blessed on Wednesday before its use in King Charles III’s coronation early next month. Pope Francis gave the two fragments of the “True Cross”, one 5 millimeters long and the other 1 centimeter, as a gift to mark the crowning of the monarch and his wife Camilla as queen on May 6.

They have been fashioned into a tiny cross and incorporated into the overall design, visible behind a rose crystal gemstone.

The Archbishop of Wales, Andrew John, blessed the new Cross of Wales before dignitaries and parishioners at a service in Llandudno, north Wales.

It will now be taken to London and be carried at the head of the coronation procession.

The archbishop said the cross “speaks to our Christian faith, our heritage, our resources and our commitment to sustainability”.

“We are delighted too that its first use will be to guide Their Majesties (Charles and Camilla) into Westminster Abbey at the coronation service.”

THOUSANDS of residents fled from Sudan’s capital where witnesses reported bodies in the streets and embassies said more than 270 civilians had been killed in battles between the army and paramilitaries by Thursday, with no end in sight.

“Life in Khartoum is impossible if this war does not stop,” said Alawya alTayeb, 33, on her way out of the city.

“I tried to make children not see the slain bodies on the streets,” she said, adding that her youngsters are already suffering from trauma and will need treatment.

The Rapid Support Forces paramilitaries said they would “fully commit to a complete ceasefire” from 1600 GMT for 24 hours, as did the army. But gunfire continued in Khartoum

Confusion reigns over ‘bright glow’ above Kyiv skies

register and to cause marginal annotation of the said recognized foreign divorce in Japan in the Report of Marriage, dated September 15, 2006 in Quezon City, of the petitioner and her former Japanese husband, Hidetoshi Someya. Finding the verified Petition to be sufficient in form and substance, the Court gives due course thereto

WHEREFORE, let a copy of this Order be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the Philippines once a week for three (3) consecutive weeks at petitioner’s expense, upon coordination with the Office of the Clerk of Court, Regional Trial Court, Quezon City. Hearing on the verified Petition is hereby set on May 15, 2023 at 9:30 A.M. before this Court at Room 608, 6/F, Hall of Justice-Annex, City Hall Complex, Quezon City, at which date, time and place all interested persons are required to appear and show cause why the petition should not be granted.

Let copies of this Order be posted by the Branch Sheriff thirty (30) days before the hearing date at the following places at the expense of the petitioner;

1. At the main entrance of the City Hall Building, Quezon City;

2. On the bulletin board of the Court, Hall of Justice Bldg., Quezon City; and

3. At the Barangay Hall of the barangay where the petitioner resides.

Likewise, let a copy of this Order be furnished the Office of the Local Civil Registrar of Quezon City; the Office of the Solicitor General, Makati City; the Office of the City Prosecutor, Quezon City; the Consulate General of Chiba-Ken, Noda City, Japan, the Office of the City Mayor of Chiba-ken, Noda City, Suzuki Yuu; the Embassy of Tokyo, Japan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Japan, the from the appointed time and into Wednesday night, according to witnesses.

It was the second day in a row a proposed humanitarian ceasefire failed to take hold.

The Sudanese army said that 177 Egyptian soldiers who had been captured by the RSF in the northern city of Merowe were evacuated Wednesday back to Egypt—a close ally of the military establishment—on four Egyptian military transport planes.

Other evacuation plans have been difficult to orchestrate, as foreign diplomats have been attacked and UN received reports of sexual violence against aid workers.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced he would meet Thursday with the heads of the African

Union, the Arab League and regional bloc the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, his spokesman told reporters.

The violence erupted on Saturday between forces of the two generals who seized power in a 2021 coup: army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo who commands the RSF.

It followed a bitter dispute between them over the planned integration of the RSF into the regular army—a key condition for a final deal aimed at restoring Sudan’s democratic transition.

Heavy gunfire resounded and deafening explosions rattled buildings in Khartoum -- a city of five million people—as thick black smoke rose from buildings around the army headquarters. AFP

Charles presented the Cross of Wales to the Anglican Church in Wales to mark its centenary.

It took designer Michael Lloyd two years to make and was crafted from recycled silver bullion, with fragments of Welsh timber and slate.

After the coronation, it will be shared by the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches in Wales. AFP

‘Don’t Say Gay’ law for all school years

FLORIDA on Wednesday extended its controversial ban on lessons related to gender identity and sexual orientation to all school grades, a move pushed by the southern US state’s Republican governor and likely presidential candidate Ron DeSantis.

Dubbed by critics as the “Don’t Say Gay” law, the policy was initially limited to kindergarten through third grade, but the state’s Board of Education on Wednesday approved an expansion to grades four through 12.

A FLASH in the sky over the Ukrainian capital on Wednesday prompted confusion and alarm as city authorities said it was caused by a NASA satellite reentering the atmosphere, but the US space agency denied involvement.

A “bright glow” was observed over Kyiv around 10:00 pm (1900 GMT), the head of Kyiv’s military administration Sergiy Popko wrote on Telegram.

An air raid alert was activated, Popko said, but “air defence was not in operation” in the besieged country fighting a Russian invasion.

Meanwhile, South Korea’s decision on whether to send military aid to Kyiv depends on Russia’s actions, Seoul’s presidential office said Thursday, adding that a possible large-scale civilian attack could tip the balance.

Seoul has a long-standing policy against providing weapons to countries in active conflict, which it has repeatedly said makes it difficult to supply arms directly to Ukraine.

South Korea has supported the US-led sanctions on Moscow and has sent humanitarian aid to Kyiv, while signing major arms deals—including for tanks and howitzers—with Poland.

“According to preliminary information, this phenomenon was the result of a NASA space satellite falling to Earth,” Popko said. AFP

The expansion had already been approved by the Department of Education, which like the board is led by DeSantis appointees, and does not need legislative approval to take effect.

The new rule stipulates that teachers “shall not intentionally provide classroom instruction to students in grades 4 through 12 on sexual orientation or gender identity unless such instruction is ... expressly required by state academic standards.”

It also allows for an exemption if the lesson is “part of a reproductive health course or health lesson for which a student’s parent has the option to have his or her student not attend.”

Teachers who violate the policy could have their licenses suspended or revoked, according to the text.

Equality Florida, an LGBTQ rights group, expressed outrage at the move. AFP

Nephew of US president Kennedy heralds presidential bid

ROBERT Kennedy Jr, a noted antivaccine advocate whose uncle “JFK” was the 35th US president, formally announced his own White House bid on Wednesday.

The 69-year-old outsider intends to compete for the Democratic Party’s nomination against incumbent President Joe Biden, who has yet to announce his reelection bid but has repeatedly said he plans to run.

Kennedy’s father “RFK” served as attorney general under Democratic president John F Kennedy and later as a US senator from New York.

The assassinations of both brothers— JFK in 1963 and RFK in 1968 during his own presidential campaign—are viewed as among the most significant events in 20th century US politics. RFK Jr worked for decades as an en- vironmental lawyer, but has been known since 2005 for promoting conspiracy theories about vaccines, notably linking them to the development of autism.

“I’ve come here today to announce my candidacy for the Democratic nomination for president of the United States,” he said at his campaign launch event in Massachusetts, the stronghold of the Kennedy family.

Among the crown assembled in Boston, several supporters wore caps with anti-vaccine messages.

Kennedy vowed to end the deep political division in the United States by “telling the truth to the American people.”

Despite his highly recognizable name, Kennedy’s bid is a longshot against incumbent Biden, whose own official launch is expected later in the year, though no date has been announced. AFP