A ‘miracle’: Pakistani survivor of a deadly Mediterranean sea crossing
Islamabad, Pakistan – When Hassan Ali fell into the icy waters of the Mediterranean Sea, he thought of his two children – of their smiles, their hugs and his hopes for their future. Then he remembered the others from his small village in Pakistan’s Punjab province who had dreamed of making it to Europe and wondered if they, too, had spent their last moments in the pitch-black sea, thinking of home and the people they had left behind. “I’d heard about so many others,” says Hassan, speaking on a borrowed phone from Malakasa, a refugee camp near Athens. Unable to swim, he says he felt certain that he would drown. Then, he felt the rope – thrown from a merchant navy ship. “I held onto it with my life,” he says. Hassan was the first person pulled on board in the early hours of Saturday, December 14, near the Greek island of Crete. Many others would follow during the two-day rescue operation that involved nine vessels, including the Greek coastguard as well as merchant navy ships and helicopters. Advertisement But not everyone made it. Greek authorities confirmed at least five deaths and more than 200 survivors, following four separate rescue operations by the coastguard over the weekend, though the total number of missing people remains unclear. Three boats carrying migrants capsized between December 14 and 15, near the island of Gavdos, which is further south of Crete, and another boat capsized near the Peloponnese peninsula. Pakistan’s foreign ministry confirmed that the bodies of five Pakistani nationals were recovered, while at least 47 Pakistanis were rescued. The Pakistani embassy in Athens said that at least 35 Pakistani nationals remain missing. A view shows a capsized migrant boat off the island of Gavdos, Greece, on December 14, 2024 [Handout/Hellenic Navy via Reuters] ‘To live with dignity’ Hassan’s journey had started about three and a half months earlier when the 23-year-old left his wife and two toddler sons in their village near the major industrial city of Gujrat. The third of five siblings, he worked on construction sites as a steel fixer, earning 42,000 rupees ($150) per month, if he worked 10 to 12 hour days, seven days per week. But no matter how hard or long he worked, he struggled to stay afloat as prices kept rising. “My electricity bill would be anywhere between 15,000 ($54) and 18,000 rupees ($64) [per month],” he explains. “And groceries would cost nearly the same for my family, including my parents and two younger siblings.” Hassan often had to take small loans at the end of the month just to make ends meet and he always worried about what would happen if there was some kind of emergency, like an illness in the family. Advertisement “In Pakistan, it’s impossible to live with dignity on such earnings,” he says. It drove him to take desperate measures. “Nobody willingly risks their life like this,” he explains. Hassan first spoke to his wife, mother and older brother to suggest that he follow others in their village and attempt to reach Europe. His family agreed and decided to sell a small plot of land, along with Hassan’s mother’s jewellery, to help fund the journey. They raised nearly two million rupees ($7,100) to pay an “agent” who promised safe passage to Europe. The family had heard of people who left but never made it, but also of those who had safely reached Italy within just a few days of leaving Pakistan. Hassan felt a mixture of trepidation and excitement. Just a few weeks later, he said goodbye to his family and boarded a flight from Sialkot to Saudi Arabia. He spent two days there before flying to Dubai. From Dubai, he flew to Egypt and from there, he took his final flight to Benghazi in Libya. ‘Beaten ruthlessly’ In Libya, Hassan was told that he would be put on a boat that would take him to Italy, but instead, he was taken to a warehouse where more than 100 men were confined to a 6-metre x 6-metre (20-foot x 20-foot) room. Most of the men were from Pakistan. Many had been there for months. The smugglers took Hassan’s phone, passport and backpack with a few items of clothing inside, and the 50,000 rupees ($180) he carried with him. Hassan says guards from Libya and Sudan watched them at all times and warned them not to make any noise. Advertisement “We received a piece of bread daily,” he explains, adding: “The guards allowed us one five-minute bathroom break a day.” He describes how anyone who complained about the lack of food or asked to use the toilet or shower was beaten with steel rods and PVC pipes. “All we were able to do was to look at each other or whisper with each other a little. Anybody making a little bit of noise, the guards would pounce and just beat them ruthlessly,” he says. Sometimes, the men would beg to be sent back home. But that, too, would be met with violence. Then, at the beginning of December, the guards told the men that bad weather meant that instead of being sent to Italy, they would be heading for Greece. They were given 30 minutes to prepare to leave the room where they had been held for months. Their phones and passports were returned to them. Pakistani authorities say at least 47 nationals were rescued whereas at least four were identified among the dead [Handout/Hellenic Navy via Reuters] ‘Everyone began praying’ Hassan, who had never seen the sea before, was terrified. “I begged to be sent back to Pakistan, but they told us, ‘There is no going back. Either go forward or die’,” he says. More than 80 men were crammed on board a rickety wooden boat designed to carry no more than 40 passengers, Hassan explains. The sea was treacherous. Hassan describes how “stormy winds and huge waves” left the men “soaked and terrified”. “The engines broke down and everyone
Sri Lanka Navy rescues over 100 Rohingya adrift in the Indian Ocean
The 102 refugees, including 25 children, were taken to Sri Lanka’s eastern port of Trincomalee. More than 100 Rohingya refugees from war-torn Myanmar have been rescued while adrift on a fishing trawler off the Indian Ocean island nation by Sri Lanka’s navy, bringing them safely to port. The 102 people, including 25 children, were taken to Sri Lanka’s eastern port of Trincomalee, a navy spokesman said on Friday. “Medical checks have to be done before they are allowed to disembark,” the spokesman said. The Muslim-majority ethnic Rohingya are heavily persecuted in Myanmar and thousands risk their lives each year on long sea journeys, the majority heading southeast to Malaysia or Indonesia. But fisherman spotted the drifting trawler off Sri Lanka’s northern coast at Mullivaikkal at dawn on Thursday. The navy spokesman said on Friday that language difficulties had made it hard to understand where the refugees had been headed, suggesting that “recent cyclonic weather” may have pushed them off course. While unusual, it is not the first boat to head to Sri Lanka, which is about 1,750km (1,100 miles) across open seas southwest of Myanmar. Advertisement In October, six people died as nearly 100 Rohingya landed by boat in Indonesia’s Aceh province in one of the latest waves of arrivals from Myanmar. The Sri Lankan navy rescued more than 100 Rohingya refugees in distress on a boat off their shores in December 2022. In 2017, hundreds of thousands of Rohingya fled Myanmar for neighbouring Bangladesh during a crackdown by the military that is now the subject of a United Nations genocide court case. Myanmar’s military seized power in a 2021 coup and a grinding civil war since then has forced millions to flee. The Rohingya have borne the brunt of the latest fighting because they have been forcibly drafted into the army despite not being recognised as citizens. Adblock test (Why?)
Malaysia to resume search for missing Malaysian Airlines MH370
Flight MH370, a Boeing 777 carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew, vanished en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014. Malaysia’s government has agreed in principle to resume the search for the wreckage of missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, more than 10 years after it disappeared in one of the world’s greatest aviation mysteries, the country’s transport minister announced. Anthony Loke said on Friday that the proposal to search a new area in the southern Indian Ocean came from United States-based exploration company Ocean Infinity, which had also conducted the most recent search for the plane that ended in 2018. “The proposal for a search operation by Ocean Infinity is a solid one and deserves to be considered,” Loke told reporters. “Our responsibility and obligation and commitment is to the next of kin. We hope this time will be positive, that the wreckage will be found and give closure to the families.” Flight MH370, a Boeing 777 carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew, vanished en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014. Loke said Ocean Infinity would receive $70m if the wreckage found is substantive. Advertisement Malaysian investigators initially did not rule out the possibility that the aircraft had been deliberately taken off course. Investigators previously found that less than an hour into the overnight flight, its communications systems were turned off. Military radar then revealed the aircraft had turned back across Malaysia, skirted the island of Penang, and headed towards the northern tip of Sumatra. Some 26 countries joined the search and rescue mission that followed the disappearance, but could find nothing. Weeks later, the Malaysian government announced MH370 had flown until it ran out of fuel, ending its journey thousands of kilometres from Beijing in the depths of the southern Indian Ocean. Debris, some confirmed and believed to be from the aircraft, has washed up along the coast of Africa and on islands in the Indian Ocean. Relatives had been demanding compensation from Malaysia Airlines, Boeing, aircraft engine maker Rolls-Royce and the Allianz insurance group, among others. Malaysia engaged Ocean Infinity in 2018 to search in the southern Indian Ocean, offering to pay up to $70m if it found the plane, but it failed on two attempts. That followed an underwater search by Malaysia, Australia and China, which had 150 nationals on the flight, in a 120,000sq km (46,332sq mile) area of the southern Indian Ocean, based on data on automatic connections between an Inmarsat satellite and the plane. Adblock test (Why?)
Karnataka: Two village fight over ‘holy’ buffalo’s ownership, police conduct DNA test
Two villages in the district- Kunibelakere and Kulagatte- are fighting over a buffalo which is dedicated to a temple and worshipped by many devotees.
Biden-Harris admin rolls out another $4.28 billion in student loan handouts
The Biden administration announced another $4.28 billion in student loan handouts as President Biden and Vice President Harris prepare to leave the White House. The massive loan handout will give 54,900 public workers loan forgiveness. “Four years ago, the Biden-Harris Administration made a pledge to America’s teachers, service members, nurses, first responders, and other public servants that we would fix the broken Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, and I’m proud to say that we delivered,” Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said in a release on Friday. The action brings the total loan forgiveness approved by Biden to nearly $180 billion for nearly 5 million borrowers. HOUSE GOP LEADERS SCRAMBLE FOR PLAN B AFTER TRUMP, MUSK LEAD CONSERVATIVE FURY AGAINST SPENDING BILL “With the approval of another $4.28 billion in loan forgiveness for nearly 55,000 public servants, the Administration has secured nearly $180 billion in life-changing student debt relief for nearly five million borrowers,” Cardona said. “The U.S. Department of Education’s successful transformation of the PSLF Program is a testament to what’s possible when you have leaders, like President Biden and Vice President Harris, who are relentlessly and unapologetically focused on making government deliver for everyday working people.” The Biden-Harris administration touted the program for creating an “incentive” for public servants to “pursue and remain” in their careers by forgiving borrowers’ remaining balance after they made the 120 qualifying monthly payments. DAD WHO SACRIFICED HIS SAVINGS TO PAY FOR SON’S COLLEGE CALLS STUDENT LOAN FORGIVENESS A ‘BITTER PILL’ “The relief announced today includes both borrowers who have benefitted from the Administration’s limited PSLF waiver, a temporary opportunity that ended in October 2022, as well as from regulatory improvements made to the program during this Administration,” the release said. During his 2020 presidential campaign, Biden pledged to forgive student loans for millions of Americans if elected, but the president has faced continuous legal roadblocks in his attempt to eliminate hundreds of billions of dollars in debt. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP After the Supreme Court blocked the Biden administration’s first attempt at providing broad-based student loan forgiveness, ruling it was an overreach of the executive branch’s authority under the Constitution, the president and his team began to work on other options to provide handouts. President-elect Trump has not said specifically how he will approach the Biden administration’s student loan handout plans, but he has said he plans to rework the entire education system during his term. Fox News Digital’s Audrie Spady contributed to this report.
Kerala Lottery Results December 20: NIRMAL NR 411 Friday lucky draw result TODAY 3 pm
This lottery is part of the Kerala State Lotteries, which offers tickets in 12 different series that may vary weekly. Each successive draw is designated by an alphanumeric code. For the drawing on December 20, 2024, at 3 pm, the code is: NIRMAL NR 411 Friday
Several schools in Delhi receive bomb-threat mail for the sixth time in 11 days, no suspicious items found
Around five schools in Dwarka, along with some in other districts, received similar emails, the official said.
Mahakumbh: Know the myth behind it and why it’s a symbol of purity
The Mahakumbh, world’s largest congregation of pilgrims, holds cultural and spiritual significance for crores of devotees as it takes place at the confluence of sacred rivers-Ganga, Yamuna, and the mythical Saraswati. Taking dips in the holy waters of Ganga and Yamuna and attending arti, devotees im
Top DOGE senator to demand lame-duck Biden agencies halt costly telework talks, citing voter mandate
The Senate’s top DOGE Republican will send 24 letters – one to each major federal agency head – demanding a halt to last-minute work-from-home negotiations before President Biden returns to Delaware. Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, chair of the Senate GOP Policy Committee, made the demand days after crafting legislation for 2025 that would “decentralize” and relocate one-third of the federal workforce outside Washington, D.C. That bill’s lengthy acronym spells out “DRAIN THE SWAMP Act.” Ernst said that not a single government agency’s office space is half-occupied two-plus years on from the COVID-19 pandemic, and she previously called for the Biden administration to sell off unused real estate for taxpayers’ benefit. DOGE CAUCUS LEADER ERNST EYES RELOCATION OUT OF DC FOR ONE-THIRD OF FEDERAL WORKERS In her letters, Ernst laid out that 90% of telework-eligible federal employees are still working from home and only 6% report they are working on a “full-time basis.” Additionally, she wrote that public-sector unions are purportedly “dictating personnel policy” without regard to federal directives from the Office of Management & Budget (OMB), which is running up a massive tab and leading to wastes of time, space and money. “The union bosses are rushing to lock in last minute, lavish long-term deals with the lame-duck Biden administration—extending beyond President Trump’s next term in office—guaranteeing that bureaucrats can stay at home for another four years or longer,” Ernst wrote in one letter prepped for Office of Personnel Management director Robert Shriver III. “Apparently, protecting telework perks for public employees is a higher priority than showing up to serve American taxpayers,” she wrote, calling Biden’s submission to union demands “shocking and unacceptable.” She noted it was a similarly liberal president who vociferously opposed unionization of public employees in the first place, as Democrat Franklin Roosevelt wrote in a letter to a union steward declining a 1937 invitation to a national federal employee union convention. “All government employees should realize that the process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service,” Roosevelt said. TOP DOGE SENATOR DEMANDS ANSWERS ON PLAN TO EXHAUST CHIPS ACT FUNDS BEFORE TRUMP ARRIVES “It has its distinct and insurmountable limitations when applied to public personnel management. The very nature and purposes of government make it impossible for administrative officials to represent fully or to bind the employer in mutual discussions with government employee organizations.” “The employer is the whole people, who speak by means of laws enacted by their representatives in Congress.” Ernst suggested federal workers and their union representatives have forgotten Roosevelt’s warning, citing the last-minute push to ratify collective bargaining agreements and telework privilege pacts before President-elect Donald Trump can begin his oversight endeavors through DOGE. Ernst pointed out situations she said show union bosses and career agency management have the “government wrapped around their finger.” In the letters, she embedded a photo of former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley while he was serving as Biden’s Social Security Administration chief and who was wearing a Captain America T-shirt alongside a purported union official at a party. Ernst cited news reports of O’Malley going to Florida to party with union members before endorsing a contract preventing easy reduction of work-from-home ability. She said O’Malley spent the trip “crooning” Irish ballads on his guitar and drinking alcohol. “This buddy-buddy relationship between the Social Security Commissioner and the union bosses representing his workforce during what is supposed to be a negotiation resulted in a contract unbelievably slanted towards the union and against the interests of taxpayers and the mission of the agency,” she said. In another case, she pointed to Housing & Urban Development employees who may not have deserved the TFUT or “taxpayer-funded union time” they filed for. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP One such worker successfully claimed compensation while in jail. Ernst demanded the agencies report data on TFUT claims and payouts, unused or underused real estate holdings designated for use through collective bargaining, and any cases of each agency permitting unions or their employees to use department property at a discount or for free. “Giving bureaucrats another four-year vacation from the office is unacceptable. Bureaucrats have had enough gap years—it’s time to get them back to work,” she said. Fox News’ Julia Johnson contributed to this report.
Here’s a list of the 38 Republicans who defied Trump by voting ‘no’ on the failed spending bill
A bill to avert a partial government shutdown that was backed by President-elect Donald Trump failed to pass the House of Representatives on Thursday night, pushing Congress closer to a government shutdown. The bill, which had won the approval of President-elect Donald Trump, still lost the approval of 38 Republicans. The deal roundly lost 235 to 174, scoring only 2 Democratic ‘yes’ votes and 197 Democratic nos. It comes after two days of chaos in Congress as lawmakers fought among themselves about a path forward on government spending – a fight joined by Trump and his allies Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. Meanwhile, the national debt has climbed to over $36 trillion, and the national deficit is over $1.8 trillion. The new deal also includes several key policies unrelated to keeping the government open, but the 116-page bill is much narrower than its 1,547-page predecessor. ‘HELL NO’: HOUSE DEMS ERUPT OVER GOP SPENDING DEAL Like the initial bill, the new iteration extended the government funding deadline through March 14 while also suspending the debt limit – something Trump had pushed for. It also included $110 billion in disaster relief and a farm bill extension. “Why would we give Joe Biden more money this late in his administration?” said Rep. Bob Good, D-Va., after the vote. “The money intended for disaster victims should have been paid for, there should have been offsets. The Democrats who voted ‘yes’ on the legislation were Reps. Kathy Castor, Fla., and Marie Gleusenkamp Perez, Wash. Here’s a list of all the Republicans who voted ‘no’ on the legislation: Rep. Aaron Bean, Fla. Rep. Andy Biggs, Ariz. Rep. Josh Brecheen, Okla. Rep. Tim Burchett, Tenn. Rep. Eric Burlison, Mo. Rep. Kat Cammack, Fla. Rep. Michael Cloud, Texas Rep. Andrew Clyde, Va. Rep. Eli Crane, Ariz. Rep. John Curtis, Utah Rep. Jeff Duncan, S.C. Rep. Russ Fulcher, Idaho Rep. Bob Good, Va. Rep. Paul Gosar, Ariz. Rep. Doug Lamborn, Colo. Rep. Debbie Lesko, Ariz. Rep. Nancy Mace, S.C. Rep. Thomas Massie, Ky. Rep. Rich McCormick, Ga. Rep. Corey Mills, Fla. Rep. Alex Mooney, W. Va. Rep. Ralph Norman, S.C. Rep. Scott Perry, Pa. Rep. Chip Roy, Texas Rep. David Schweikert, Ariz. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Rep. Keith Self, Texas Rep. Victoria Spartz, Ind. Rep. Tom Tiffany, Wis. Rep. Beth Van Duyne, Texas