Rescuers retrieve remains of all 62 passengers in Brazil plane crash. Families gather in Sao Paulo
By: Mauricio Savarese, Gabriela Sá Pessoa And David Koenig
VINHEDO, Brazil (AP) — Brazilian rescue teams Saturday retrieved the remains of all 62 passengers from the wreckage of a plane crash in Sao Paulo state as families started gathering in the metropolis to identify and bury their loved ones.
Local airline Voepass’ plane, an ATR 72 twin-engine turboprop, was headed for Sao Paulo’s international airport in Guarulhos with 58 passengers and four crew members, when it went down in the city of Vinhedo.
Initially, the company said its plane had 62 passengers, then it revised the number to 61 and early on Saturday it raised the figure once again after it found a passenger named Constantino Thé Maia was not on its original list.
Voepass also said three passengers who held Brazilian identification also carried Venezuelan documents and one had Portuguese.
Sao Paulo state government said in a statement that rescue operations finished at 6:30 p.m. local time, with the identification of the bodies of the pilot and co-pilot by forensics experts. There were 34 male and 28 female bodies in the wreckage, the government said.
Released Palestinians describe worsening abuses in Israeli prisons
By: Jack Jeffery And Jalal Bwaitel
OUTSIDE OFER PRISON, West Bank (AP) — Frequent beatings, overcrowding, withholding of basic rations. Released Palestinians have described to The Associated Press worsening abuses in Israeli prisons crammed with thousands detained since the war in Gaza began 10 months ago.
Israeli officials have acknowledged that they have made conditions harsher for Palestinians in prisons, with hard-line National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir boasting that prisons will no longer be “summer camps” under his watch.
Four released Palestinians told the AP that treatment had dramatically worsened in prisons run by the ministry since the Oct. 7 attacks that triggered the latest war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. Some emerged from months of captivity emaciated and emotionally scarred.
The AP cannot independently verify the accounts of the prisoners. But they described similar conditions, even though they were held separately. While Abayat was only able to speak briefly, the other four spoke to the AP at length, and one requested anonymity for fear of being rearrested. Their accounts match reports from human rights groups that have documented alleged abuse in Israeli detention facilities.
Russia’s Putin says Ukraine’s incursion into Kursk is an attempt to stop Moscow’s eastern offensive
By: Samya Kullab
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday that the Ukrainian army’s incursion into the Kursk region, which has caused more than 100,000 civilians to flee and embarrassed the Kremlin, is an attempt by Kyiv to stop Moscow’s offensive in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region and gain leverage in possible future peace talks.
Russian forces are still scrambling to respond to the surprise Ukrainian attack after almost a week of fierce fighting, but Putin insisted Moscow’s army will prevail.
Speaking at a meeting with top security and defence officials, Putin said the attack that began Aug. 6 appeared to reflect Kyiv’s attempt to gain a better negotiating position in possible future talks to end the war.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed for the first time that Ukrainian military forces are operating inside the Kursk region. In a post on Telegram, he praised the country’s soldiers and commanders “for their steadfastness and decisive actions.”
He did not elaborate. He also suggested that Ukraine would offer humanitarian assistance in the region.
Man stabs a girl and her mother in a London tourism hot spot before being arrested, police say
LONDON (AP) — A man stabbed an 11-year-old girl and her mother in London’s bustling theatre district on Monday before being arrested, police said, adding that there was no indication that the attack was terrorism-related.
The attack occurred shortly before noon outside a tea shop in Leicester Square, a magnet for tourists with its shops and theatres.
Workers from nearby shops leapt to the assistance of the victims. Officers arrived within four minutes and arrested the attacker, police said. Police said they weren’t seeking anyone else in connection with the attack.
The victims were taken to a major trauma centre. The girl required treatment but her life was not in jeopardy, police said. Her mother, 34, had less serious injuries.
The suspect is 32, and police said that at this stage, they don’t believe he knew the victims.
It was not clear if Monday’s attack had any link to the unrest.
U.S.-backed Syrian fighters say they killed 18 pro-government gunmen in rare attack in eastern Syria
By: Hogir Al Abdo
QAMISHLI, Syria (AP) — U.S.-backed Syrian fighters carried out a rare attack Monday in eastern Syria, striking at three posts manned by pro-government gunmen and claiming that they killed 18 of them in a major escalation near the border with Iraq.
The renewed clashes in Syria’s eastern oil-rich province of Deir el-Zour came amid high tensions in the region following last month’s killings of a top commander of Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group in Beirut and the political leader of the Palestinian Hamas group in Iran. Israel was blamed for both attacks, and Iran and Hezbollah have vowed to retaliate.
The Syrian government, which is backed by Russia and Iran, has vowed for years to liberate eastern Syria from U.S. forces who have been deployed in the area since 2015 to help fight the Islamic State group.
Monday’s attack by members of the Arab-led Deir el-Zour Military Council — part of the U.S.-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces — came days after clashes and shelling between the SDF and pro-government gunmen left more than a dozen people dead.
Islamic State-allied militants kill 12 people in eastern Congo, official says
By: Jean-yves Kamale
KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — Militants allied with the Islamic State group in eastern Congo have killed at least 12 people in several villages in North Kivu province, a local official said Monday.
Fighters with the Allied Democratic Forces attacked people in the village of Mukonia on Saturday, the municipality’s mayor, Nicole Kikuku, said on national television. The death toll might be higher because several villagers are still missing, the mayor added.
Attacks from the Allied Democratic Forces have increased recently. Last June, the group killed at least 40 people in several villages in North Kivu. It is also suspected of being behind a massacre last year when 41 people were killed, mostly students, in neighbouring Uganda.
In 2021, Uganda’s army launched joint air and artillery strikes against the ADF in eastern Congo.
Eastern Congo has struggled with armed violence for decades as more than 120 groups fight for power, land and valuable mineral resources, while others try to defend their communities. Some armed groups have been accused of mass killings.
The violence has displaced nearly 7 million people, many beyond the reach of aid.
U.S. beefs up security and orders a missile submarine to the Middle East
By: Lolita C. Baldor
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has ordered a guided missile submarine to the Middle East and is telling the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group to sail more quickly to the area, the Defense Department said Sunday.
The moves come as the U.S. and other allies push for Israel and Hamas to achieve a cease-fire agreement that could help calm soaring tensions in the region following the assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and a senior Hezbollah commander in Beirut.
Officials have been on the lookout for retaliatory strikes by both Iran and Hezbollah for the killings, and the U.S. has been beefing up its presence in the region.
Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, Pentagon press secretary, said in a statement that Austin spoke with Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant earlier in the day, and reiterated America’s commitment “to take every possible step to defend Israel and noted the strengthening of U.S. military force posture and capabilities throughout the Middle East in light of escalating regional tensions.”
The Lincoln, which has been in the Asia Pacific, had already been ordered to the region to replace the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier strike group, which is scheduled to begin heading home from the Middle East. Last week, Austin said the Lincoln would arrive in the Central Command area by the end of the month.
Death toll in Uganda rubbish heap collapse reaches 24 as rescue teams find more victims
By: Rodney Muhumuza
KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — The death toll from a mountain of rubbish that collapsed in the Ugandan capital rose to 24 on Monday as rescuers with excavators continued searching for victims, according to the city authority.
At least four children are among those killed by the collapse at the Kiteezi landfill Friday, police told reporters.
The collapse is believed to have been triggered by heavy rainfall. The precise details of what happened were unclear, but the city authority said there was a “structural failure in waste mass.”
Irene Nakasiita, a spokeswoman for the Uganda Red Cross, said there was no hope of rescuing more people alive.
It was not clear how many people were unaccounted for. The Kiteezi landfill is a vast rubbish dumpsite in an impoverished hillside area that receives hundreds of garbage trucks daily. The city authority has been aiming to decommission it since declaring it full years ago.
It’s also a kind of no-man’s land in the city of 3 million, attractive to women and children who scavenge plastic waste they aim to sell. Others have built permanent homes nearby.
