News
Bodies in Danish freezer COPENHAGEN:
Danish police said yesterday they found the bodies of a slain Syrian refugee and her two young daughters in a freezer in their apartment, as they launched a manhunt for the girls’ father. The bodies of the 27-yearold mother and her seven and nine-year-old daughters were found inside a freezer in their apartment in the southern Danish town of Aabenraa after a concerned relative had not heard from them for days. “Police went into the apartment and found the three bodies in a freezer,” local police said in a statement. “The victim’s husband and the father of the two children was not in the apartment, and we are actively searching for him,” the statement added. The Syrian family arrived in Denmark in 2015 and were granted refugee status. The Scandinavian nation welcomed 21,000 migrants in 2015. The influx has significantly slowed since Denmark re-established border controls in early 2016.
Egypt’s Health Ministry says recent floods have killed 26 people and injured 72 others across the country. Ministry spokesman Khaled Megahed says yesterday that the flooding hit four provinces - Southern Sinai and the Red Sea, as well as Sohag and Bani Suef in Upper Egypt. He says in Bani Suef, south of the capital, Cairo, five people were injured but no one was killed. Fatalities occurred in the three other provinces. Last week’s floods have also caused power outages, displaced hundreds of people and swept away dozens of cars, particularly in the Red Sea oil city of Ras Ghareb. They have prompted the military to take the lead in rescue and relief efforts, clearing streets inundated by water and distributing food to affected families.
Bahrain postpones verdict
A Bahraini court yesterday postponed its verdict in the trial of prominent human rights activist Nabeel Rajab charged with spreading false information and posting insults online, a judicial source said. The criminal court that had been expected to issue a ruling at yesterday’s hearing decided in Rajab’s presence to defer the decision until December 15. The court ordered the appointment of an expert from the interior ministry’s cyber crimes unit to determine who was operating Rajab’s Twitter account, the source said. The Shiite human rights activist, who had been pardoned for health reasons last year, was re-arrested in June and is on trial on a list of charges, including insulting a state institution and Saudi Arabia in online postings. He is also accused of “spreading false news and rumors and inciting propaganda during wartime which could undermine the war operations by the Bahraini armed forces and weaken the nation”, according to state media. Bahrain is part of a Saudi-led coalition battling Shiite Houthi rebels in Yemen.
Iran denies US accusation
Iran’s foreign ministry has rejected accusations from the United States that it has been shipping arms to the Shiite Houthi rebels in Yemen, according to media reports yesterday. A US admiral said on Thursday that warships from the US Navy and allied nations had intercepted four weapons shipments from Iran to the Arabian Peninsula country since April 2005. The shipments contained thousands of AK-47 assault rifles, antitank missiles, sniper rifles and “other pieces of other equipment, higher-end weapons systems,” said Vice Admiral Kevin Donegan. Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghassemi dismissed the claims. “These accusations are totally false when... every day destructive arms, US bombs and missiles are dropped by the Arab coalition on the heads of defenseless civilians in schools, hospitals, prisons and homes in Yemen,” he said, quoted in local media yesterday. Ghassemi said the bombardment amounted to “war crimes”. The United States and Saudi Arabia have repeatedly accused Iran of arming the Houthis.
Hindu temples attacked
Hundreds of Muslims in eastern Bangladesh angry about a social media post launched a wave of attacks against Hindu temples and homes in a rare convulsion of communal violence in the region, Bangladeshi police said yesterday. Police arrested 15 people suspected of taking part in the violence, which erupted over a social media post depicting the Hindu god Shiva over a picture of the Kaaba, the large cube-shaped building in Makkah that is considered one of the holiest places in Islam. As news of the post spread through neighborhoods in Muslim-majority Bangladesh, hundreds of people rampaged for two hours Sunday through Hindu communities east of Dhaka, the capital, said senior regional police officer Abdul Karim. Police said 100 homes and five Hindu temples were looted. Some rioters apprehended a 27 year-old man they suspected of posting the offensive picture, but police have yet to determine if he posted it. “We are working on it,” Karim said.