Paris, France | AFP | Monday 4/24/2023 Following the grim discovery in Kenya of the bodies of more than 50 suspected cult members believed to have starved themselves to death, we look at other notorious killer sects. – 914 dead, Guyana jungle apocalypse – In one of the most dramatic mass murder-suicides of modern history, 914 adults and children from a US cult died in the jungle of the small South American country of Guyana […]
Tag: crime
Kenya’s Ruto vows action after 58 bodies linked to cult found
Malindi, Kenya | AFP | Monday 4/24/2023 by Yasuyoshi CHIBA Kenyan President William Ruto on Monday vowed to crack down on “unacceptable” religious movements as police discovered more fatalities in a cult that practised starvation, bringing the toll to 58. A major search is under way in a forest near the coastal town of Malindi where dozens of corpses were exhumed over the weekend, with authorities fearing more grisly discoveries could be made. A full-scale […]
Japan PM says security balance ‘difficult’ after attack
by Sara HUSSEIN Striking the right balance on security for politicians is “very difficult”, Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said in an interview Thursday, days after he escaped an attack unharmed while campaigning. Security around officials was tightened after the assassination of former prime minister Shinzo Abe last year, but a man was still able to throw an apparent pipe bomb towards Kishida on Saturday. The incident shows “the challenge of how much distance politicians, […]
Two Texas cheerleaders shot after one tried to enter wrong car
Washington, United States | AFP | Two cheerleaders were shot in a Texas parking lot after one mistakenly tried to enter the wrong car, part of a spate of similar incidents this week in the United States. The gunman fired multiple shots at the young women, seriously wounding one, police reported. The shooting early Tuesday came days after a Black teenager was shot in Missouri after ringing the wrong doorbell, and a young woman was […]
Japan PM blast suspect filed lawsuit over election rules
Tokyo, Japan | AFP | Tuesday 4/18/2023 A man accused of throwing an explosive at Japan’s prime minister had previously filed a lawsuit against the government, a court spokesman said Tuesday. Japanese media said the lawsuit filed in June by the suspect, named as 24-year-old Ryuji Kimura, was a complaint about the country’s minimum age for running in elections. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida was unharmed after the attack on Saturday, in which a suspected pipe […]
Toxic alcohol kills at least 27 in ‘dry’ Indian state
PATNA, India (AFP) — Toxic hooch has killed at least 27 people in the eastern Indian state of Bihar where alcohol is banned, officials said Tuesday, with unconfirmed reports putting the death toll at 40. Selling and consuming liquor is prohibited in several parts of India, driving a thriving black market for potent and sometimes lethal backstreet moonshine that kills hundreds every year. Initial investigations into the latest tragedy showed that poisonous methyl alcohol was […]
Indian ex-politician, brother shot dead live on TV
Prayagraj, India | AFP | Gunmen seemingly posing as journalists shot dead a former Indian member of parliament and his brother live on TV as they were being taken in handcuffs to hospital by police, authorities said. Atiq Ahmed, 61, who had been jailed since 2019 and was convicted of kidnapping, was answering reporters’ questions late Saturday when he and his brother Ashraf were shot at close range, the television images showed. “According to preliminary […]
‘Gunpowder’ found at home of Japan PM blast suspect: media
Tokyo, Japan | AFP | Monday 4/17/2023 Suspected gunpowder has been found at the home of a man accused of throwing an explosive at Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during a campaign event, local media said Monday. Kishida was unharmed in the attack, in which a suspected pipe bomb was tossed towards him at a port in western Japan’s Wakayama, shortly before he gave a speech. Police spent over eight hours on Sunday searching the […]
Gunmen kill 7 people at water park in central Mexico
Japan needs to increase security as Group of Seven officials visit, the country’s prime minister said Sunday, a day after an explosive was thrown at him during a campaign event. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida escaped unharmed after the device, reportedly a pipe bomb, was thrown towards him as he campaigned in the western city of Wakayama on Saturday. A 24-year-old man was arrested, but has so far revealed nothing about his motives in the […]
DEVELOPING STORY: Gunmen kill 7 people at water park in central Mexico: City Hall
Celaya, Mexico | AFP | Sunday 4/16/2023 Gunmen stormed a water park in central Mexico on Saturday and killed six adults and a child, unleashing panic among those present, local authorities said. Police “arrived at the scene where they found… three dead women, three men and a seven-year-old minor, in addition to one person seriously wounded,” said a statement from City Hall in Cortazar, the municipality where the attack took place. © Agence France-Presse
Kenyan sect leader arrested after four followers die
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Saturday 4/15/2023 Kenyan police said Saturday they have arrested a local cult leader after the death of four followers he reportedly told to starve themselves in order to “meet Jesus”. Eleven other followers of the Good News International Church led by Makenzie Nthenge were taken to hospital, three of them in critical condition, after being rescued Friday in the Shakahola forest near the town of Malindi. Police said they feared […]
US police kill man after responding to wrong address, video shows
Washington, United States | AFP | Saturday 4/15/2023 Police in the US state of New Mexico released footage Friday showing officers shooting a man dead after responding to the wrong address. The Farmington Police Department released body camera videos and 911 audio of the incident on April 5, in which three officers knocked on the door of the wrong house. They were responding to a call about domestic violence from 5308 Valley View Ave but […]
