Ammonia gas leak in Chennai fertiliser unit, 25 hospitalised
About 25 people including children, who were residents of areas close to the fertiliser manufacturing facility were hospitalised. Most of them experienced unease, shortness of breath, nausea, and faintness.
‘Wear anything in black, so that…’: Conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar’s message to Jacqueline Fernandez from jail
Conman Sukesh Chandrasekhar allegedly sent WhatsApp message using a fake number to urge Bollywood actor Jacqueline Fernandez to wear black attire for a court hearing.
From Manipur to Mumbai: Congress’ Rahul Gandhi to start 6200-km Bharat Nyay Yatra from Jan 14
The Congress Party on Wednesday announced the Nyay Yatra that will start on the January 14 in Imphal, Manipur and is expected to conclude on March 20 in Mumbai, Maharashtra.
Amid JN.1 surge, AIIMS reserves beds for COVID-19 patients
The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) has decided to allocate two beds in every in-patient ward for severely ill patients. Additionally, the Lady Hardinge Medical College and Safdarjung Hospital have earmarked 48 and 59 beds respectively.
Mary Jane Veloso case unresolved as Jokowi prepares to leave office
Jakarta, Indonesia – For more than a decade, Mary Jane Veloso has been held in a prison in the Indonesian city of Yogyakarta awaiting execution after being found guilty of drug trafficking. This year, her family got to see her for the first time in five years. “Mary Jane has been here in Indonesia for a very long time already. Before Mary Jane’s father and I pass away, we hope that she comes home for her children and she will be the one that takes care of her children,” her mother Celia told Al Jazeera. “It’s been a very long time. We want her back,” she added. Like many Filipinos, Veloso sought work overseas because the money was better than at home. Leaving her two sons with her mother, she first went to Dubai where she spent nine months as a domestic worker. After another household employee allegedly tried to rape her, Veloso left her job and returned home to the Philippines where she was approached by a woman named Maria Kristina Sergio who said she had a job for her in Malaysia. Eager for another chance, Veloso accepted the offer but when she got to Malaysia, she found there was no work. Sergio, her contact, instead suggested Veloso join her on a holiday to Indonesia, but when the women landed at Yogyakarta’s Adisutjipto Airport in April 2010, officials found 2.6kg (5.7 pounds) of heroin in 25-year-old Veloso’s suitcase. Six months later, she was found guilty of drug trafficking and sentenced to death. Despite a tough line on drugs by Indonesian President Joko Widodo, who was first elected in 2014, Veloso has so far managed to escape the firing squad. Veloso’s family speaking to the media about their efforts to secure clemency earlier this year [File: Rolex Dela Pena/EPA] She won a last-minute reprieve in 2015, when seven foreigners and an Indonesian were executed, after Sergio turned herself in to the Philippines police on allegations of people trafficking and the government in Manila under then President Benigno Aquino asked for Veloso’s case to be reviewed. As Widodo enters his last few months in office, Veloso’s family are now hoping the outgoing president will agree to clemency for the Filipino after, in March, giving a rare pardon to another domestic worker who had also been sentenced to death. ‘Forced to go abroad’ Veloso’s supporters argue she is a victim of human trafficking. According to the National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL), which is raising awareness about Veloso’s case, the drugs were “secretly stashed in a bag given to her by the brother of Tintin’s [Sergio’s] boyfriend in Malaysia without Mary Jane’s knowledge, consent or intention”. Hailing from Nueva Ecija, north of Manila on the island of Luzon, all the women in the Veloso family were among the millions of Filipinos working overseas to provide for their families. “Our life is very difficult, it’s very hard, we don’t have much [money] to eat,” their mother Celia Veloso explained. “That’s why we are forced to make a choice to go abroad. All of my daughters, four of them… all worked overseas”. Mary Jane’s recruiters for the supposed job in Malaysia, Sergio and Julius Lacanilao, were found guilty in January 2020 of running an alleged illegal recruitment network and sentenced to life in prison. Veloso has also filed a case against the pair in the same court but has been unable to give testimony because it needs to be delivered in person and she cannot do so because while being on death row in Indonesia. “The only barrier right now for that to move forward is for both governments, both Indonesia and the Philippine government, to agree on the technicality… where this testimony will be taken,” said Joanna Concepcion, who chairs Migrante International, an organisation advocating for Veloso. Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Teuku Faizasyah told Al Jazeera he had not followed up on the issue and referred questions to the Ministry of Law and Human Rights. The law ministry spokesperson did not reply to Al Jazeera’s questions. Mary Jane Veloso at a prison craft workshop in 2016 [Rana Dyandra/Antara Foto via Reuters] Widodo and former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who took office after Aquino, shared the same hardline approach to drugs, with Duterte leading a brutal crackdown, which left thousands dead and is now the subject of an International Criminal Court investigation. Instead of seeking clemency from Indonesia, Widodo said Duterte had given the green light for Veloso’s execution in 2015. The Philippines, which does not use capital punishment, said Duterte had said he would simply respect the judicial process. Migrante International’s Concepcion says there does not seem to have been much of a change in approach since Ferdinand Marcos Jr took office in June 2022. “He continues the same policy and has not publicly said that it would change anything that Duterte had done,” she said. Indonesia and the Philippines are founding members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Indonesia was the first country Marcos Jr visited after he was elected president.. “Maybe he is playing it safe,” Concepcion added. “It was his first state visit at that time as president, so I’m sure that the agenda items that he would discuss were very carefully planned out, of what specific issues that his first state visit would focus on”. In the first two years of Widodo’s first term, 18 people, including two women, were executed. All had been found guilty of drug offences. Under international law, where the death penalty exists, it is supposed to be used only for the “most serious crimes”, a threshold that does not include drug crimes. Amid widespread criticism from national, regional and global human rights defenders, there has not been an execution in Indonesia since July 2016, according to Afif Abdul Qoyim, coordinator of the Community Legal Aid Institute (LBHM), an organisation that campaigns against the death penalty. Activists have been calling for a moratorium, but one is not formally in
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 672
As the war enters its 672nd day, these are the main developments. Here is the situation on Wednesday, December 27, 2023. Fighting Ukraine said it destroyed the Novocherkassk landing ship in an attack on a naval base in Russian-occupied Crimea. Russia acknowledged the ship had been damaged and that the attack started a fire which was brought under control. One person was killed and four injured. Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the commander of Ukraine’s Armed Forces, said his troops remained on the northern edge of Marinka after Russia’s defence minister said Moscow was in control of the now-ruined town, a short drive from the Russian-occupied regional centre of Donetsk. Zaluzhnyi said Marinka “no longer existed” due to the destruction wreaked upon it. Ukraine said at least one person was killed and four others injured in a Russian attack on a railway station in the southern city of Kherson, where about 140 people were preparing for an evacuation. Ukraine’s Air Force said its air defence systems destroyed 13 of the 19 drones Russia launched against Ukraine during the night. Politics and diplomacy Taiwan announced an expansion to its list of sanctioned goods for Russia and its ally Belarus over Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in a move the Economy Ministry said was necessary to prevent Taiwanese high-tech goods from being used for military purposes. The list includes equipment for making semiconductors as well as certain chemicals and medicines, the ministry said in a statement. Adblock test (Why?)
At least eight killed after severe storms batter eastern Australia
The dead include a nine-year-old child who was swept into a surging storm drain on the outskirts of Brisbane. At least eight people have been killed with one still missing after severe storms battered Australia’s eastern states over the Christmas holidays, bringing down trees and power lines and leaving tens of thousands of households without power. Police and rescue services in the states of Victoria and Queensland confirmed the deaths of eight people, the youngest a nine-year-old girl who was reportedly swept away in a flooded storm drain on the outskirts of Brisbane, Queensland’s capital. In Gympie, some 180km (111 miles) north of the city, three women were swept into a storm drain when floodwaters surged through the rural town. One of the women survived, a 40-year-old woman died and emergency services said there were now “grave concerns” for the other woman. Queensland Fire and Emergency Services deputy commissioner Kevin Walsh said rescue teams would continue scouring the area on Wednesday. “It’s absolutely tragic news for families in this region at Christmas time,” Gympie Mayor Glen Hartwig told ABC News. Severe thunderstorms hit the country’s eastern coast on December 25 and December 26, bringing large hailstones, high winds and torrential rain. Rivers flooded and high winds blew off roofs and brought down trees in some of the worst-affected areas. Eleven people were tossed into the ocean when their boat capsized at sea off Brisbane. Police said on Wednesday that three people had drowned, while eight were rescued from the water and rushed to hospital. “It has been a very tragic 24 hours due to the weather,” Queensland Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll told reporters. The Bureau of Meteorology has warned that coastal regions in Queensland were still at risk of “dangerous” storms as well as “life-threatening” floods, “giant” hail and “damaging” winds. Queensland’s power company Energex said the storm brought down more than 1,000 power lines and about 86,000 households remained without electricity. It was expected to take days to restore power to some people, the company said. Meanwhile, in Victoria, a woman was found dead late on Tuesday evening after flash floods swamped a regional campground in Buchan, 350km (217 miles) east of the state capital Melbourne. Two people were also killed by falling trees. The wild weather also took a toll on the annual Sydney to Hobart yacht race. Less than 24 hours after the 95 boats left Sydney Harbour on December 26 on their way south to the Tasmanian capital, eight entrants had pulled out. The Sydney to Hobart race got underway on December 26 [David Gray/AFP] SHK Scallywag, a Hong Kong-owned ship that had been contesting for the lead, was damaged and crew member Geoff Cropley said the sailors had endured “lightning and thunder for hours”. They were now “hunkered down”, he added, with the weather slowly beginning to improve. First held in 1945, this year marks the 25th anniversary of a violent storm that tore into the 1998 race fleet, with wild winds whipping up mountainous seas in which six people died, five boats sank and 55 sailors were rescued. The east coast storms come after former Tropical Cyclone Jasper made landfall earlier this month, causing flooding and widespread damage in Queensland. In the country’s west, meanwhile, several regions are fighting fires. A volunteer firefighter was killed while responding to a bushfire, media reported. Australia is currently in an El Nino, which can cause extremes ranging from wildfires to tropical cyclones and prolonged droughts. Adblock test (Why?)
‘Possible terror attack’: Israel issues travel warning for its citizens in India after blast near embassy in Delhi
Israeli nationals have been warned to try to avoid going to crowded places (malls and markets) and places identified as serving Westerners/Jews and Israelis.
Ohio Republican lawmaker latest victim of ‘swatting’ incident
A Republican lawmaker in Ohio became the latest victim of a “swatting incident” on Tuesday. State Representative Kevin D. Miller wrote on X that numerous sheriff’s deputies responded to his residence around 3 p.m. on a false report of a shooting. “This ‘swatting incident’ put several lives at risk and was a huge waste of resources,” Miller said. “Special thanks to Licking County Sheriff Randy Thorp and his team for their expeditious and professional response.” Fox News Digital has reached out to the Licking County Sheriff’s Department for more information. “Swatting” involves calling 911 and faking an emergency that draws a response from law enforcement, typically a SWAT team. ‘SWATTING’ GETS A TERRIFYING NEW UPDATE AS CRIMINALS NOW WREAKING ‘EMOTIONAL HAVOC’ AS A PAID SERVICE Earlier this month, the nonprofit group Secure Community Network (SCN) documented nearly 200 swatting incidents over 24 hours targeting Jewish facilities across dozens of states. And on Christmas day, two Republican lawmakers – Rep. Brandon Wiliams of New York and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia – were the targets of “swatting” calls. Greene signaled it was the eighth time she’d been the victim of a swatting incident. Both incidents are under investigation.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to visit J-K today, six days after Poonch attack
The minister’s visit comes following the death of four army personnel, two of them captain, during an encounter between security forces and terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri district last week.