WASHINGTON, Jan 4, 2024 (AFP) – Police were responding to a shooting at a high school in the midwestern US state of Iowa on Thursday morning, authorities said, though there was no immediate confirmation of any victims. “There was an active school shooting situation at Perry High School,” some 35 miles (55 kilometers) from the state capital Des Moines, an employee from the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office told AFP. A news conference was scheduled for […]
Tag: crime
Toronto deli targeted in suspected anti-Semitic arson attack
MONTREAL, Jan 4, 2024 (AFP) – A Jewish-owned delicatessen in Toronto was set alight Wednesday in what police are investigating as a hate crime. Early on Wednesday, firefighters were alerted to a blaze inside International Delicatessen Foods, located in the north of Canada’s largest city. No one was injured, according to Toronto media reports. Graffiti reading “Free Palestine” had been painted on the doors of the establishment. Toronto Police Staff Superintendent Pauline Gray said the […]
Several US state capitols evacuated over bomb threats: officials
WASHINGTON, Jan 3, 2024 (AFP) – Several state capitol buildings across the United States were evacuated Wednesday over multiple bomb threats, according to officials, one of whom said a “mass email” was responsible for triggering the security response. No explosives or threatening items were found as police evacuated and swept the statehouses in Connecticut, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Montana following an apparent hoax threat, officials and local media reported. “While everyone is […]
Felon lunges at US judge over court bench
LOS ANGELES, Jan 4, 2024 (AFP) – A convicted felon lunged at a US judge on Wednesday as she was about to sentence him to jail, in a dramatic courtroom scuffle caught on video. Footage shows Deobra Redden, 30, launching himself over the bench at Judge Mary Kay Holthus and attacking her in the Clark County court in Las Vegas. Court staff leap to the judge’s defense, pulling the convict off the judge and pummeling […]
Gunmen kill six at party in Mexico
MEXICO CITY, Dec 29, 2023 (AFP) – Gunmen killed six people at a party in northwestern Mexico on Friday, including an alleged criminal believed to have been targeted in the attack, authorities said. “Initial investigations indicate that it was a direct attack against the leader of a criminal group who had arrest warrants for attempted femicide, homicide, illegal deprivation of liberty and criminal association,” the Sonora state prosecutor’s office said. It said the unidentified target […]
Five bodies found in apartment near Paris: prosecutors
BOBIGNY, France, Dec 26, 2023 (AFP) – Five dead bodies were found on Christmas Day in an apartment in the town of Meaux to the east of Paris, the local prosecutor told AFP, adding that a homicide inquiry had been opened. According to news website Actu17, which first reported the discovery, the victims were a woman and her four young children. It added that police were looking for the 33-year-old father, who was “on the […]
Plane held for days in France on trafficking concerns lands in India
MUMBAI, Dec 25, 2023 (AFP) – A plane that had been grounded in France for days over concerns its nearly 300 mostly Indian passengers were part of a human trafficking scheme has landed in Mumbai, flight tracking data showed early Tuesday. The Airbus A340 initially had been bound for Nicaragua when it was detained last Thursday at Vatry airport, east of Paris, where it had stopped for refuelling. It had arrived from Dubai and there […]
Indians held in France over trafficking fears questioned
By Catherine DAUDENHAN, with Kenan AUGEARD in Lille VATRY, France, Dec 24, 2023 (AFP) – Four French judges on Sunday began questioning more than 300 Indians travelling on a plane detained near Paris over suspicions of human trafficking. The Nicaragua-bound Airbus A340 has been held at Vatry airport, 150 kilometres (95 miles) east of Paris, since arriving from Dubai on Thursday for refuelling after an anonymous tip-off that it was carrying potential victims of human […]
Unaccompanied minors on plane held in France over suspected trafficking
VATRY, France, Dec 23, 2023 (AFP) – Ten Indian passengers among more than 300, including unaccompanied minors, on a Nicaragua-bound plane held in France over suspected human trafficking have applied for asylum, a source close to the case told AFP Saturday. The plane has been held at Vatry airport, 150 kilometres (95 miles) east of Paris, since arriving from Dubai on Thursday following an anonymous tip-off that it was carrying potential victims of human trafficking. […]
Sri Lanka detains nearly 15,000 in drug crackdown
COLOMBO, Dec 24, 2023 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s police announced Sunday the arrests of nearly 15,000 people during a week-long military-backed anti-narcotics drive, a crackdown denounced by rights activists. Police said their operation, code-named “Yuktiya” or “Justice”, led to the seizure of almost 440 kilograms (970 pounds) of narcotics, including 272 kg of cannabis, 35 kg of hashish and nine kilograms of heroin. Authorities believe the Indian Ocean island is being used as a drug […]
Colorado paramedics found guilty of negligent homicide in Elijah McClain’s death
WASHINGTON, Dec 23, 2023 (AFP) – A jury in the western US state of Colorado on Friday found two paramedics guilty of negligent homicide in the death of a Black man who was put in a chokehold and injected with ketamine during his arrest, US media said. The August 2019 death of Elijah McClain, an unarmed 23-year-old Black man, died several days after a struggle with police and after being injected with the sedative by […]
15 suspected drug smugglers killed in Thai army shootout
BANGKOK, Dec 18, 2023 (AFP) – Thai soldiers killed 15 suspected drug smugglers in a shootout in a remote northern district near the Myanmar border, an army official said Monday. The clash on Saturday evening took place in Chiang Rai province’s Mae Fah Luang district, close to the “Golden Triangle” where Thailand, Myanmar and Laos meet, which has long been a hub for smuggling. After the clash, officers found 17 bags containing more than two […]
