2 people fatally shot in a rural area of northern Austria

2 people fatally shot in a rural area of northern Austria
Police officers patrol in Altenfelden, Upper Austria, on October 28, 2024, after at least one man was shot dead in the Muehlviertel region in the morning, according to Austrian media reports. (AFP)
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Updated 28 October 2024
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2 people fatally shot in a rural area of northern Austria

2 people fatally shot in a rural area of northern Austria

VIENNA: Two people were fatally shot on Monday in a rural area of northern Austria, police said, and the suspected shooter was on the run.
The body of a man was found early Monday in the Muehlviertel area of Upper Austria province, the Austria Press Agency reported. Police said later in the morning that there was a second victim.
They didn't identify either victim but Austrian media reported, without naming sources, that one was a local mayor.


France’s Macron races to choose new PM

France’s Macron races to choose new PM
Updated 20 sec ago
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France’s Macron races to choose new PM

France’s Macron races to choose new PM
  • Following the ouster of the government of Michel Barnier in a historic no-confidence vote last week, Macron on a bid to form a “government of national interest“
Paris: French President Emmanuel Macron raced Wednesday to meet a self-imposed 48-hour deadline to name a new prime minister after he hosted party bosses in a bid to hammer out a consensus and avoid a protracted political crisis.
Following the ouster of the government of Michel Barnier in a historic no-confidence vote last week, Macron on Tuesday gathered leaders from across the political spectrum in a bid to form a “government of national interest.”
The bosses of the far-right National Rally (RN) and hard-left France Unbowed (LFI), who joined forces to oust Barnier, were not invited.
Macron, who is set to travel to Poland on Thursday, aimed to name a new prime minister “within 48 hours,” said the party chiefs who had met him Tuesday.
Several people close to the president said the announcement could come as early as Wednesday evening.
Last week far-right and hard-left lawmakers joined forces to oust the minority government of Barnier following a standoff over an austerity budget.
Macron is now under huge pressure to form a government that can survive a no-confidence vote and pass a budget for next year in a bid to limit political and economic turmoil.
The French leader dissolved parliament in June after the far right trounced his alliance in European elections and called snap parliamentary polls that resulted in a hung parliament.
Elusive progress
He told party leaders on Tuesday that he did not want to dissolve the National Assembly lower house again before the end of his second and final term in 2027, a person close to him said.
Barnier, prime minister for only three months, remains in charge on a caretaker basis until a new government is appointed.
On Wednesday, the cabinet were due to discuss a special budget law to allow the French state to keep functioning in the new year.
The National Assembly will debate the bill on Monday, a parliamentary source said, with most parties saying they will back it in the name of stability.
Some commentators said that bringing together so many parties marked progress from Macron’s new attempt to reach consensus after the snap election, but progress still appeared elusive.
Greens leader Marine Tondelier said on Tuesday the presidential camp was not ready for any “compromise or concession,” but Macron had stressed the need “to no longer rely on the RN to govern.”
Her party is part of the left-wing New Popular Front (NFP), which emerged as the largest bloc in the National Assembly after the summer elections.
Macron has hoped to prise the Socialists, Greens and Communists away from their pact with the LFI but their bosses insist a new prime minister should be named from their ranks.
On Wednesday morning, Socialist Party leader Olivier Faure spoke out against the candidacy of Macron’s centrist ally Francois Bayrou tipped as a possible contender for prime minister.
Faure told broadcaster BFMTV/RMC that Bayrou, 73, would embody a “continuity,” whereas he wanted to see a prime minister “from the left.”
He refused to say whether the Socialists would censure a government led by the centrist.

’Medal of opposition’
Far-right leader Marine Le Pen, who emerged as kingmaker after the elections, said she relished being awarded the “medal of the opposition” while mainstream parties held “a banquet to share out jobs” in government.
An Ifop-Fiducial poll for Le Figaro Magazine and Sud Radio published on Wednesday indicated that Le Pen would win between 36 percent and 38 percent of the vote in the first round of the French presidential election.
The poll, carried out after Barnier’s ouster, suggested Le Pen would obtain 36 percent of the vote against center-right former premier Edouard Philippe (25 percent) and 38 percent against Barnier’s predecessor Gabriel Attal (20 percent).
Some observers have suggested that Le Pen, 56, is seeking to bring down Macron before his term ends by joining forces with the hard left and ousting Barnier.
“Macron hopes to replace the informal deal with Le Pen’s far right which initially sustained the short-lived Barnier government with a more formal deal with the moderate left and independents,” risk consultancy Eurasia Group said.

Malaria cases up again in 2023, African children worst hit, WHO reports

Malaria cases up again in 2023, African children worst hit, WHO reports
Updated 11 December 2024
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Malaria cases up again in 2023, African children worst hit, WHO reports

Malaria cases up again in 2023, African children worst hit, WHO reports
  • There were 597,000 deaths the vast majority among African children aged under 5 years old, the WHO said

LONDON: There were around 11 million more cases of malaria in 2023 than in 2022, up to an estimated 263 million, according to a new World Health Organization report, marking another year of negligible progress against the age-old killer.
There were 597,000 deaths, a similar total to 2022, the vast majority among African children aged under 5 years old, the WHO said.
“No-one should die of malaria; yet the disease continues to disproportionately harm people living in the African region, especially young children and pregnant women,” said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, in a statement.
Malaria cases and deaths fell significantly between 2000 and 2015, but since then progress has stalled and even reversed, with a particular jump in mortality during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Case numbers are not only going up as populations grow. In 2015, there were 58 cases for every 1,000 people deemed to be at risk; in 2023, there were 60.4, nearly three times higher than the WHO’s target. There were 13.7 deaths per 100,000 people at risk, more than twice the target.
There are new tools available to fight the mosquito-borne disease, including two vaccines as well as next-generation bed nets, but climate change, conflict and displacement, drug and insecticide resistance and a lack of funding have all combined to challenge the response, the WHO said, despite progress in some countries.
In 2023, $4 billion was available to fight malaria, compared with an estimated $8.3 billion needed, the UN health agency added.


Death toll from Russian missile attack on Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia rises to six, officials say

Death toll from Russian missile attack on Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia rises to six, officials say
Updated 11 December 2024
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Death toll from Russian missile attack on Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia rises to six, officials say

Death toll from Russian missile attack on Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia rises to six, officials say
  • Photos posted on the emergency’s Telegram messaging channel showed rescuers and machinery working in piles of rubble from a collapsed building at night

The death toll from a Russian missile strike that destroyed a clinic in the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia on Tuesday has risen to six, while four more people remain under the rubble, the regional governor and emergency services said on Wednesday.
An additional 22 people were injured, governor Ivan Fedorov said on his Telegram messaging channel.
“All emergency services of the city are working at the scene,” he said.
Ukraine’s State Emergency Service of Ukraine said its rescuers were able to pull out two women overnight from underneath the ruins of the building.
Photos posted on the emergency’s Telegram messaging channel showed rescuers and machinery working in piles of rubble from a collapsed building at night.
Russia regularly carries out airstrikes on Zaporizhzhia and the surrounding region. Last Friday, an attack on the city killed 10 people and wounded more than 20.
Both sides deny targeting civilians in their attacks, saying the aim of the strikes is to undermine infrastructure key to each other’s war efforts.
President Volodymyr Zelensky urged Ukraine’s allies on Tuesday to provide 10-12 more Patriot air defense systems that he said would fully protect the country’s skies.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, Ukraine has consistently asked its allies to supply more advanced air-defense systems.


Hundreds protest in New Delhi against reported attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh

Hundreds protest in New Delhi against reported attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh
Updated 11 December 2024
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Hundreds protest in New Delhi against reported attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh

Hundreds protest in New Delhi against reported attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh
  • Protesters demanded UN intervention, criticizing the world body for not doing more to address problems in Bangladesh
  • They also rejected claims by interim government officials in Bangladesh that the targeting of minorities was internal matter

NEW DELHI: Hundreds of protesters rallied near the Bangladesh diplomatic mission in the Indian capital on Tuesday, pressing for an end to reported attacks on Hindus and other minorities in Bangladesh after former premier Sheikh Hasina fled into exile in India in August.
The protesters demanded an intervention by the United Nations, carrying banners and placards that criticized the world body for not doing more to address the problems in Bangladesh. They also rejected claims by interim government officials in Bangladesh that the targeting of minorities was an internal matter.
“It’s a very serious attack, a very sustained attack on the lives of the (Hindu) minority,” said Veena Sikri, a former Indian ambassador to Bangladesh. Attacks on the livelihoods, homes and businesses of minorities in Bangladesh must stop, she said.
Scores of social and cultural organizations joined the protest in New Delhi a day after top Foreign Ministry officials from the two countries, Vikram Misri and Mohammad Jashim Uddin, met in Dhaka, the Bangladesh capital, to discuss their strained relations. It was the first high-level visit to Bangladesh by an Indian official since massive protests ended Hasina’s 15-year rule.
Following Hasina’s ouster, minorities — and particularly Hindus — have reported widespread attacks in the Muslim-majority nation of Bangladesh, but Bangladesh says the reports are widely exaggerated.
Most Bangladeshi Hindus are thought to support Hasina’s secular Awami League party.
Tensions spiked over the recent arrest of a Hindu spiritual leader in Bangladesh, which is currently being run by an interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus. India also stopped issuing visas to Bangladeshis, except for emergency medical visas, after Hasina fled. Many Indian nationals working on infrastructure projects also left Bangladesh because of security threats.
After Monday’s meeting, Misri told reporters there was no reason for the mutually beneficial relationship between the two countries to deteriorate.
“To that end, therefore, I have underlined today India’s desire to work closely with the interim government of Bangladesh,” he said.


Human trafficking rises sharply after dropping during pandemic, UN says

Human trafficking rises sharply after dropping during pandemic, UN says
Updated 11 December 2024
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Human trafficking rises sharply after dropping during pandemic, UN says

Human trafficking rises sharply after dropping during pandemic, UN says
  • Children accounted for 38 percent of detected victims, compared to 35 percent for figures for 2020 which formed the basis of the previous report

VIENNA: Human trafficking has risen sharply due to conflicts, climate-induced disasters and global crises, according to a United Nations report published on Wednesday.
In 2022, the latest year for which data is widely available, the number of known victims worldwide rose to 25 percent above 2019’s pre-pandemic levels, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime’s Global Report on Trafficking in Persons said. A sharp fall in 2020 had largely disappeared by the following year.
“Criminals are increasingly trafficking people into forced labor, including to coerce them into running sophisticated online scams and cyberfraud, while women and girls face the risk of sexual exploitation and gender-based violence,” the report said, adding that organized crime was mainly responsible.
Children accounted for 38 percent of detected victims, compared to 35 percent for figures for 2020 which formed the basis of the previous report.
The latest report showed adult women remain the largest group of victims, representing 39 percent of cases, followed by men at 23 percent, girls at 22 percent and boys at 16 percent.
The total number of victims in 2022 was 69,627.
The most common reason by far for women and girls being trafficked was sexual exploitation at 60 percent or more, followed by forced labor. For men, it was forced labor and for boys, it was forced labor and “other purposes” in roughly equal measure.
Those other purposes include forced criminality and forced begging. The report said the growing number of boys identified as victims of trafficking could be linked to rising numbers of unaccompanied minors arriving in Europe and North America.
The region of origin that accounted for the largest number of victims was sub-Saharan Africa with 26 percent, though there are many different trafficking routes.
While improved detection could account for the growing numbers, the report said it was likely a combination of that and more trafficking in general.
The biggest increases in cases detected were in sub-Saharan Africa, North America and the ‘western and southern Europe’ region, according to the report, with migration influxes being a significant factor in the latter two.