When a ‘fire hurricane’ hit, Maui’s warning sirens never sounded
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Published
Reporting from Maui, Hawaii
Lahaina, once Hawaii’s royal capital, is now a crematorium.
“We pick up remains and they fall apart,” said Maui County police chief John Pelletier on Saturday, four days after a massive wildfire tore downhill through dry brush and grass and engulfed the island’s western edge.
Close to 100 deaths have been confirmed, making the Lahaina wildfires the deadliest in the US in more than a century.
But just 3% of Lahaina’s charred ruins have been searched so far, stoking fears that the death toll will continue its sharp climb.
“None of us really know the size of it yet,” chief Pelletier warned, growing visibly emotional.
Dozens of survivors shared their stories of escape and loss with the BBC, helping to piece together a more complete picture of the tragedy that unfolded on Tuesday, when fires moving at a mile per minute consumed the town.
Niger junta says it will prosecute deposed president for ‘high treason’
Mohamed Bazoum – ousted by military last month – could face death penalty if found guilty
Niger’s military junta has said it will prosecute the deposed president, Mohamed Bazoum, for “high treason” and undermining state security, as concerns were raised about the detention conditions and health of Bazoum and his family.
The statement on Bazoum’s prosecution came hours after the junta indicated to religious mediators that they were open to a diplomatic resolution to the crisis that followed July’s coup. Bazoum could face the death penalty if convicted.
A spokesperson said on state television that the regime had gathered evidence to prosecute the ousted president and his accomplices, apparently referring to messages that Bazoum has communicated with foreign countries during his house arrest.
Iran arrests 8 ‘foreigners’ after fatal shooting at Shiite shrine
Iranian security forces have arrested eight foreign suspects after detaining a gunman in the killing of one person at a Shiite Muslim shrine, authorities said on Monday.
The attack on the Shah Cheragh mausoleum in Shiraz, capital of Fars province in Iran’s south, came less than a year after a mass shooting at the same site later claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group.
“Eight people suspected of links with the terrorist attack… have been arrested,” according to the judiciary’s Mizan Online website, quoting Fars province chief justice Kazem Mousavi.
“All the people arrested are foreigners,” Mousavi said, without elaborating.
The main suspect was arrested on Sunday night shortly after the attack, and Mizan identified him as Rahmatollah Nowruzof from Tajikistan.
Poland detains Russians spreading Wagner Group propaganda
Poland has recently warned of possible provocations coming from the mercenary group currently based in neighbouring Belarus.
Polish Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski on Monday said police and the country’s Internal Security Agency had detained two people suspected of spying and other charges.
Poland has recently complained of possible provocations from the Wagner Group, currently based in neighboring Belarus.
What do we know about the arrests?
The men were spreading material from the Russian mercenary Wagner Group in Poland’s two largest cities, the minister said.
“The Internal Security Agency identified and detained two Russians who distributed propaganda materials of the Wagner Group in Krakow and Warsaw,” Kaminski wrote on messaging platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
Who is Monu Manesar, Indian vigilante accused of inciting Haryana violence?
A video released by Manesar two days before the deadly communal riots in Nuh is believed to be the trigger, but he is yet to be arrested.
In February this year, two Muslim men were abducted and allegedly burned alive in their car by a group of cow vigilantes in India’s northern state of Haryana.
As the charred skeletons of the two men – Nasir Hussain, 28, and Junaid Khan, 35 – were discovered inside an SUV in the state’s Bhiwani district, the main accused, 28-year-old Mohit Yadav, became a poster boy of cow vigilantism in India and a subject of extensive public scrutiny.
Haryana is governed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has been accused of patronising Yadav, better known as Monu Manesar, and preventing his arrest in numerous such cases of cow-related attacks and even killings.
Argentinian far-right outsider Javier Milei posts shock win in primary election
Argentina’s voters punished the country’s two main political forces in a primary election on Sunday, pushing a rock-singing libertarian outsider candidate into first place in a huge shake-up in the race towards presidential elections in October.
With some 90% of ballots counted, far-right libertarian economist Javier Milei had 30.5% of the vote, far higher than predicted, with the main conservative opposition bloc behind on 28% and the ruling Peronist coalition in third place on 27%.
The result is a stinging rebuke to the center-left Peronist coalition and the main Together for Change conservative opposition bloc with inflation at 116% and a cost-of-living crisis leaving four in 10 people in poverty.
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