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Teen arrested in Kentucky school shooting that leaves 2 dead, 12 wounded

Marshall County High School students are escorted to retrieve their vehicles by emergency responders after a deadly shooting at the school in Benton, Ky., on Tuesday. (AP)
Updated 24 January 2018
Reuters
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Teen arrested in Kentucky school shooting that leaves 2 dead, 12 wounded

Updated 24 January 2018
Reuters

BENTON, Kentucky: A 15-year-old boy opened fire with a handgun just before classes started at his high school in rural western Kentucky on Tuesday, killing two fellow students and wounding a dozen other youths before he was arrested, the state’s governor and police said.
The shooter, who has not been identified, entered a common area at Marshall County High School in Benton shortly before 8 a.m. (1400 GMT), pulled out a pistol and began firing at students, witnesses told local media.
The suspect will be charged with two counts of murder and multiple counts of attempted murder, the Kentucky State Police said. Police have not released a motive for the shooting but said they believed the gunman acted alone.
The students killed were Bailey Hope, a 15-year-old girl, and Preston Cope, a 15-year-old boy, state police said. Five of the victims were in critical condition, police said, but hospital officials said they expected all those injured in the incident to survive.
“I see this guy draw from his side and he pulls out a pistol. I didn’t even know what was going on. And then it registered. About the time it registered, this guy was sitting here pulling the trigger into all of us,” student Bryson Conkwright told TV station WKRN.
“I can hear the gunshots. He was shooting in our group,” said Conkwright, showing where a bullet grazed his hand.
At least one hospitalized student suffered a broken jaw from falling and being trampled while trying to escape, Marshall County prosecutor Jeff Edwards said in a phone interview. Fourteen students were hit by gunfire, including the two who were killed, and five others suffered injuries in the ensuing chaos.
Edwards toured the school where he, his wife and their children all graduated from, describing signs of the scramble to flee from the gunfire.
Backpacks, cellphones and clothes were strewn in the main area where the shooting occurred, he said.
“When it happened, apparently everyone left everything laying,” Edwards said. “It made it real, seeing the disarray.”

A WOUNDED COMMUNITY
The bloodshed at the school of nearly 1,150 students in a small farming town was the latest outbreak of gun violence that has become a regular occurrence at schools and college campuses across the United States over the past several years.
The school serves Marshall County, which has a population of about 31,000, and the shooting hit the community hard. Local churches are planning vigils on Tuesday night and Wednesday.
Earlier in the day, Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin’s voice choked with emotion and he paused to collect himself at a news conference.
“This is a wound that is going to take a long time to heal. And for some in this community, it will never fully heal,” he said.
“There’s no good answer for it,” Bevin said. “There’s 1,000 hypotheses we’re not going to go into.”
Bevin said the suspect was apprehended at the school “in a nonviolent” manner, but did not elaborate.
Students followed training they had recently received from state police in how to respond to such incidents, authorities said, crediting police for quickly arriving on the scene and apprehending the suspect.
Helicopters took five victims, including the boy who later died, to the nearest Level 1 Trauma Center, about 120 miles (190 km) away at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee.
Agents from the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have joined the investigation.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said President Donald Trump had been briefed on the shooting. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and the families there,” she said.

Topics: Kentucky high school Benton Marshall County High School

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Namibians vote to wind up chaotic polls

Updated 6 sec ago
AFP
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Namibians vote to wind up chaotic polls

  • Electoral authorities prolonged voting until Saturday in presidential and legislative polls
  • The original election day was marred by logistical and technical failures that led to hours-long queues
Updated 6 sec ago
AFP
WINDHOEK: Namibians voted Saturday on the last day of a controversially extended election after poll chaos and allegations of foul play.
Electoral authorities prolonged voting until Saturday in presidential and legislative polls, after the original election day — Wednesday — was marred by logistical and technical failures that led to hours-long queues, which some voters eventually abandoned.
On Saturday, hundreds of people queued up at the sole polling station in the capital Windhoek where some 2,500 voters had cast their ballots on Friday.
Sielfriedt Gowaseb, 27, managed to vote in less than 30 minutes on Saturday but was critical of the arrangements.
“They should have set up at least another polling station where the majority of Namibians live. We would have needed more venues, one in the suburbs. Most Namibians don’t live in the central business district,” he said.
Namibia’s opposition is hoping to bring an end to 34 years of rule by the South West Africa People’s Organization (SWAPO), which is facing its toughest challenge as disenchanted younger voters across the region reject traditionally dominant liberation-era parties.
SWAPO has governed Namibia since leading it to independence from apartheid South Africa in 1990, but high youth unemployment and enduring inequalities have eroded its support, with around 42 percent of the 1.5 million registered voters aged under 35.
Naita Hishoono, executive director of the Namibia Institute for Democracy, a nonpartisan NGO, echoed popular dissatisfaction.
“It would have been helpful to open more than 36 polling stations... each constituency should have at least have one polling station open to accommodate everybody. Every voter should only stay half an hour to an hour in line and the whole voting process should take no more than 15 minutes,” Hishoono said.
SWAPO’s candidate, Vice President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, 72, could become the first woman to lead the country if she is elected.
The Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) has admitted to failures in the organization of the vote, including a shortage of ballot papers and the overheating of electronic tablets used to register voters.

Pakistan court grants bail to journalist detained after probing protest, lawyer says

Updated 12 min 54 sec ago
Reuters
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Pakistan court grants bail to journalist detained after probing protest, lawyer says

  • Matiullah Jan was picked up off the street on Wednesday night while investigating claims of casualties in a protest march
  • The Committee to Protect Journalists had expressed ‘grave alarm’ over Jan’s ‘abduction,’ demanding his immediate release
Updated 12 min 54 sec ago
Reuters
ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani court approved bail for a journalist arrested this week after investigating claims of casualties in a protest march, his lawyer said on Saturday.
Matiullah Jan, a critic of military influence in Pakistani politics, was granted bail by an anti-terrorism court in the capital Islamabad in a terrorism and narcotics case, his lawyer, Imaan Mazari, said in a text message.
“He should be home by this evening,” Mazari said.
Jan was picked up off the street on Wednesday night while investigating claims of casualties in a protest march demanding the release of jailed ex-Prime Minister Imran Khan, according to a colleague and his lawyer.
The Committee to Protect Journalists had expressed “grave alarm” over Jan’s “abduction,” demanding his immediate release.
Hours before being picked up, Jan had appeared on television casting doubt over the government’s denial that live ammunition had been used when security forces dispersed the protest and that any protesters had been killed.
The government has repeatedly denied using deadly force against protesters. Police and the information ministry have not responded to request for comment on Jan’s detention.
Thousands of supporters of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party this week stormed Islamabad. The government said they had killed four security officers.
The PTI said hundreds of protesters had been shot, and between eight and 40 killed.

Taiwan’s Lai departs for US stopover during Pacific trip

Updated 18 min 49 sec ago
AFP
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Taiwan’s Lai departs for US stopover during Pacific trip

  • China considers self-governed Taiwan to be part of its territory
  • Beijing opposes any international recognition of the island
Updated 18 min 49 sec ago
AFP

TAIPEI: Taiwan President Lai Ching-te departed Saturday for a stopover on US soil as part of a week-long tour of the Pacific, which has ignited fiery threats from Beijing.
China considers self-governed Taiwan to be part of its territory and opposes any international recognition of the island and its claim to be a sovereign state.
Lai, on his first trip abroad since taking office in May, will stop over in Hawaii and the US territory of Guam as he visits Taiwan’s allies Marshall Islands, Tuvalu and Palau.
They are the only Pacific island nations among the 12 remaining allies that recognize Taiwan, after China poached others with promises of aid and investment.
In a speech shortly before take-off, Lai said the tour “ushered in a new era of values-based democracy” and he thanked the US government for “helping to make this trip a smooth one.”
Lai said he wanted to “continue to expand cooperation and deepen partnerships with our allies based on the values of democracy, peace and prosperity.”
The trip has elicited a furious response from China, which has vowed to “resolutely crush” any attempts for Taiwan independence.
China and Taiwan have been ruled separately since 1949 when Chiang Kai-shek’s nationalist forces were defeated by Mao Zedong’s communist fighters and fled to the island.
Taiwan lives under the constant threat of an invasion by China, which has refused to rule out using force to bring the island under its control.
Beijing deploys fighter jets, drones and warships around Taiwan on a near-daily basis to press its claims, with the number of sorties increasing in recent years.
Taiwanese government officials have previously stopped over on US soil during visits to the Pacific or Latin America, angering China, which has sometimes responded with military drills around the island.
Lai’s tour of the Pacific was an opportunity for him “to show those countries and the world that Taiwan matters,” said Bonnie Glaser, a Taiwan-China affairs expert at the German Marshall Fund of the United States.
“I think that the People’s Republic of China always wants to leave the impression that Taiwan is isolated and it is dependent on the PRC,” Glaser told AFP, using China’s official name.
“When Taiwan’s president travels outside Taiwan, it’s a reminder that there are countries in the world that value their diplomatic relationships with Taiwan,” she said.
“And of course, when he transits the United States, it’s a reminder, I think, to the public of Taiwan, that the United States and Taiwan have a close partnership.”
The US is Taiwan’s most important backer and biggest supplier of arms, but Washington does not have official diplomatic relations with Taipei.
Lai’s trip follows the US approving the proposed sale to Taiwan of spare parts for F-16 fighter jets and radar systems, as well as communications equipment, in deals valued at $385 million in total.
Earlier this month, Taiwan’s foreign minister Lin Chia-lung met with European Parliament members in Brussels.
It was part of a trend of more senior Taiwanese officials traveling abroad and countries publicly receiving them despite the risk of suffering retaliation from China, Glaser told AFP.
“I think there’s safety in numbers — the more countries that do something, the more that other countries are willing to do it,” Glaser said.
“There’s also greater awareness of how aggressive and assertive China has been, and so countries are willing, to some extent, to stand up to China because they don’t like China’s behavior,” she said.
“And there is recognition of Taiwan’s role in the world, especially in semiconductor chips.”

Topics: Taiwan China Lai Ching-te

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More than 100 Rohingya refugees rescued off Indonesia: UN

Updated 36 min 38 sec ago
AFP
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More than 100 Rohingya refugees rescued off Indonesia: UN

  • Indonesia is not a signatory to the UN refugee convention and says it cannot be compelled to take in refugees from Myanmar
Updated 36 min 38 sec ago
AFP

Banda Aceh: More than 100 Rohingya refugees including women and children have been rescued after their boat sank off the coast of Indonesia, the United Nations refugee agency said Saturday.
The mostly Muslim ethnic Rohingya are heavily persecuted in Myanmar and thousands risk their lives each year on long and dangerous sea journeys to reach Malaysia or Indonesia.
“We received a report from the East Aceh government that there are 116 refugees in total,” UNHCR’s Faisal Rahman told AFP on Saturday.
“The refugees are still on the beach right now, it has not been decided where they would be taken.”
He said the flimsy wooden boat carrying the Rohingyas was found half-submerged not far from the beach off the coast of northeastern Sumatra island.
A local fisherman, Saifudin Taher said the boat was first spotted entering East Aceh waters on Saturday morning, and a few hours later it nearly sank.
“All passengers survived, but one of them was ill and ...immediately received treatment,” Saifudin told AFP, adding the boat was only 100 meters away from the beach, and the refugees could walk easily to safety.
Rohingya arrivals in Indonesia tend to follow a cyclical pattern, slowing during the stormy months and picking back up when sea conditions calm down.
Last month, 152 Rohingya refugees were finally brought ashore after being anchored for days off the coast of South Aceh district for days while officials decided whether to let them land.
Indonesia is not a signatory to the UN refugee convention and says it cannot be compelled to take in refugees from Myanmar, calling instead on neighboring countries to share the burden and resettle Rohingya who arrives on its shores.
Many Acehnese, who have memories of decades of bloody conflict themselves, are sympathetic to the plight of their fellow Muslims.
But others say their patience has been tested, claiming the Rohingya consume scarce resources and occasionally come into conflict with locals.
In December 2023, hundreds of students forced the relocation of more than 100 Rohingya refugees, storming a community hall in Aceh where they were sheltering and vandalising their belongings.

Topics: Rohingya Indonesia

Georgia police say 107 people arrested at pro-EU protest

Updated 20 min 1 sec ago
AFP
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Georgia police say 107 people arrested at pro-EU protest

  • The Black Sea nation has been rocked by turmoil since the ruling Georgian Dream party claimed victory in a Oct. 26 parliamentary election
Updated 20 min 1 sec ago
AFP

TBILISI: Georgia on Saturday said 107 people were arrested during a second day of protests sparked by the government’s decision to delay European Union membership talks amid a post-election crisis.
The Black Sea nation has been rocked by turmoil since the ruling Georgian Dream party claimed victory in a October 26 parliamentary election that the pro-EU opposition said was fraudulent.
The interior ministry said 107 people were detained for “disobedience to lawful police orders and petty hooliganism.”
“Throughout the night... protesters threw various objects, including stones, pyrotechnics, glass bottles, and metal items, at law enforcement officers,” it said, adding that “10 employees of the ministry of internal affairs were injured.”
It had said that 32 police officers were wounded and 43 protesters detained on Thursday.
Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze’s statement Thursday that Georgia will not seek to open accession talks with the European Union until 2028 ignited a furious reaction from the opposition and two days of protests.
He later accused the opposition and the EU ambassador to Georgia of distorting his words, and insisted membership in the bloc “by 2030” remains his “top priority.”
On Friday, AFP reporters saw riot police fire water cannon and tear gas at pro-EU protesters gathered outside the parliament in Tbilisi who tossed eggs and fireworks.
Clashes broke out later between protesters and police, who moved in to clear the area outside parliament, beating demonstrators, some of whom threw objects.
Independent TV station Pirveli said one of its journalists covering the protest was hospitalized with serious injuries.
Protests were also held in other cities across Georgia on Friday, independent TV station Mtavari reported.
At least eight demonstrators were arrested in Georgia’s second-largest city, Batumi, local media said.
Opposition lawmakers have questioned the results of the election.
Brussels has demanded an investigation into what it said were “serious (electoral) irregularities.”
Pro-Western opposition parties are boycotting the new parliament, while President Salome Zurabishvili has sought to annul the election results through the country’s constitutional court.
In recent years, critics accuse Georgian Dream – in power for more than a decade – of having moved the country away from Europe and closer to Russia.

Topics: Georgia EU

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