POWAY, California: A 19-year-old man who authorities said gave himself up to police shortly after carrying out a deadly shooting in a Southern California synagogue filled with Sabbath worshippers is also under investigation in connection with an unsolved mosque arson.
The gunman walked into the suburban San Diego synagogue late Saturday morning, the last day of the week-long Jewish holiday of Passover, and opened fire with an assault-style rifle, killing one woman inside and wounding three others, including the rabbi, authorities said.
He then sped away in a car, escaping an off-duty U.S. Border Patrol agent who shot at the getaway vehicle but missed the suspect, but the suspect pulled over and surrendered to police officers a short time later.
The suspect was later identified as John Earnest, 19, of San Diego, the apparent author of a "manifesto" who claimed to have set a nearby mosque on fire last month and professed drawing inspiration from the gunman who killed nearly 50 people at two mosques in New Zealand.
San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore said police and FBI were investigating Earnest's "possible involvement" in the March 24 pre-dawn arson fire at the Islamic Center of Escondido, a town about 15 miles (24 km) north of Poway. No one was hurt at the mosque fire.
Gore said Earnest has no prior criminal record.
Saturday's gun violence at the Congregation Chabad temple in the town of Poway, California, about 23 miles (37 km) north of downtown San Diego, unfolded six months to the day after 11 worshippers were killed and six others wounded by a gunman who stormed the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh yelling, "All Jews must die."
The assailant in that massacre, said to be the deadliest attack ever against Jews on U.S. soil, was also arrested.
San Diego County Sheriff's Department officials issued a statement saying the gunman in Saturday's attack was believed to have acted alone and that there "are no known threats to religious gatherings."
But the Passover violence came amid an upsurge in reports of anti-Semitism nationwide and abroad and followed a recent spate of deadly attacks on places of worship around the world.
Suicide bombings during Easter Sunday services at several churches in Sri Lanka killed more than 250 people. A gunman who opened fire at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, on March 15 left 49 people dead and more than 40 wounded, some as they knelt in prayer.
Poway Mayor Steve Vaus characterized Saturday's shooting as a "hate crime," saying his assessment was based on statements uttered by the gunman when he entered the synagogue.
At a news conference later, Gore told reporters: "Clearly it's being investigated as a homicide, but we're also looking at the hate crime possible violation as well as federal civil rights violations."
A rambling, violently anti-Semitic, anti-Muslim screed written by an individual calling himself John Earnest was found posted to the online text-storage site Pastebin.com and the file-storage site Mediafire.com. Links to the content on both sources were posted on the Internet message board 8chan.
In that letter, the author also claimed credit for the Escondido mosque arson, which was put out by congregants inside who were alerted by the smell of smoke. Local media at the time reported that a message scrawled on the driveway of the mosque mentioned the New Zealand massacre.
The synagogue on Saturday was hosting a holiday celebration due to culminate in a final Passover meal that evening. Authorities said about 100 people were inside the temple, where Saturday services marking the Jewish Sabbath would have been under way or have just concluded.
Eyewitnesses reported hearing about a dozen gunshots, punctuated by the sound of a man yelling inside the temple.
Gore told reporters that four people were struck by gunfire and taken to a nearby hospital, where one victim, an "older woman," died. Authorities said the rabbi underwent surgery for treatment of wounds to his hands. The sheriff's office said the two other victims, a 34-year-old man and a girl, were each struck by shrapnel but were "doing well."
Deadly California synagogue shooting kills 1, suspect linked to mosque arson
Deadly California synagogue shooting kills 1, suspect linked to mosque arson
- Police say the shooter, a 19-year-old man armed with a rifle, was arrested as he fled
- The shooting came exactly six months since a shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue killed 11 Jews
EU leaders open emergency talks on defense and Ukraine aid as US support wanes
- EU gathering underscores sea change that has happened in the two months since Donald Trump took office
BRUSSELS: Facing the possibility of a fundamental disengagement under US President Donald Trump, European Union leaders opened a day of emergency summit talks Thursday to beef up their own military defenses and make sure that Ukraine will still be properly protected by its allies.
Friedrich Merz, the likely next chancellor of Germany, was conferring with summit host Antonio Costa over breakfast on how to meet the challenge on a short deadline only days after he and his prospective coalition partner pushed plans to loosen the nation’s rules on running up debt to allow for higher defense spending.
At the same time, the 27-nation bloc was waking up to the news from French President Emmanuel Macron would confer with EU leaders the possibility of using France’s nuclear deterrent to protect the continent from Russian threats.
It all underscored the sea change that has happened in the two months since Trump took office and immediately started questioning the cornerstones of cooperation between the United States and Europe which had been the bedrock of Western security since World War II.
“Given these profound shifts in US policy, and the existential threat of another war on the continent, Europe, must manage its essential defense tasks,” the European Policy Center think tank said in a commentary.
The bloc of 27 will “take decisive steps forward,” Macron told the French nation Wednesday evening. “Member states will be able to increase their military spending” and “massive joint funding will be provided to buy and produce some of the most innovative munitions, tanks, weapons and equipment in Europe.”
Adding to the ebullient message he said that “Europe’s future does not have to be decided in Washington or Moscow.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wants to be up to the task and has proposed an 800 billion euro ($840 billion) plan that would allow EU member states to spend much more on defense despite their current budgetary woes and profit from loans to kickstart the process.
Part of any plan is also to protect the increasingly beleaguered position of Ukraine, and President Volodymyr Zelensky is set to take part in the talks.
Early this week, Trump ordered a pause to US military supplies to Ukraine as he sought to press Zelensky to engage in negotiations to end the war with Russia, bringing fresh urgency to the EU summit in Brussels.
“Europe faces a clear and present danger on a scale that none of us have seen in our adult lifetime. Some of our fundamental assumptions are being undermined to their very core,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warned in a letter to the EU’s 27 leaders, who will consider ways to access more money for defense spending and ease restrictions on it.
But perhaps the biggest challenge for the EU on Thursday will be to take a united stance at a moment when it’s fractured, since much of what the bloc does requires unanimous support.
Even if the challenges are so daunting, Thursday’s summit is unlikely to produce immediate decisions on spending for Ukraine or its own defenses. Another EU summit where the real contours of decisions would be much clearer is set for March 20-21.
UN report finds women’s rights weakened in quarter of all countries
- Number of women with social protection benefits increased by a third between 2010 and 2023
- Though two billion women and girls still live in places without such protections
UNITED NATIONS, United States: Women’s rights regressed last year in a quarter of countries around the world, according to a report published by UN Women on Thursday, due to factors ranging from climate change to democratic backsliding.
“The weakening of democratic institutions has gone hand in hand with backlash on gender equality,” the report said, adding that “anti-rights actors are actively undermining long-standing consensus on key women’s rights issues.”
“Almost one-quarter of countries reported that backlash on gender equality is hampering implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action,” the report continued, referring to the document from the 1995 World Conference on Women.
In the 30 years since the conference, the UN said that progress has been mixed.
In parliaments around the world, female representation has more than doubled since 1995, but men still comprise about three-quarters of parliamentarians.
The number of women with social protection benefits increased by a third between 2010 and 2023, though two billion women and girls still live in places without such protections.
Gender employment gaps “have stagnated for decades.” Sixty-three percent of women between the ages of 25 and 54 have paid employment, compared to 92 percent of men in the same demographic.
The report cites the COVID-19 pandemic, global conflicts, climate change and emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) as all new potential threats to gender equality.
Data presented by the UN Women report found that conflict-related sexual violence has spiked 50 percent in the past 10 years, with 95 percent of victims being children or young women.
In 2023, 612 million women lived within 50 kilometers of armed conflict, a 54-percent increase since 2010.
And in 12 countries in Europe and Central Asia, at least 53 percent of women have experienced one or more forms of gender-based violence online.
“Globally, violence against women and girls persists at alarming rates. Across their lifetime, around one in three women are subjected to physical or sexual violence by an intimate partner or sexual violence by a non-partner,” the report said.
The report sets out a multi-part roadmap to address gender inequality, such as fostering equitable access to new technologies like AI, measures toward climate justice, investments to combat poverty, increasing participation in public affairs and fighting against gendered violence.
Cyclone Alfred stalls off Australia’s east as millions brace for impact
- Cyclone Alfred is now likely to make landfall by Saturday morning near Brisbane, Australia’s third-most populous city
- The storm’s destructive reach will stretch across the border regions of the states of Queensland and New South Wales
SYDNEY: Cyclone Alfred stalled off Australia’s east coast on Thursday as officials shut airports, schools and public transport while residents stockpiled supplies and sandbagged homes against flooding expected when the category-two storm hits.
The storm is now likely to make landfall by Saturday morning near Brisbane, Australia’s third-most populous city, the Bureau of Meteorology said in its latest update, compared with a prior projection of landfall by early Friday.
The storm’s destructive reach will stretch across the border regions of the states of Queensland and New South Wales, the bureau said, bringing heavy rain, flooding and damaging wind.
“Alfred is behaving at the moment like a completely unwanted houseguest. It’s told us it’s going to be late but linger even longer,” New South Wales Premier Chris Minns told reporters.
“Unfortunately that means the window for destruction in our community – heavy rains, winds, powerful surf – is longer than we would have otherwise liked.”
Storm warnings on Thursday stretched for more than 500km across the northeast coast, as huge waves whipped up by the cyclone eroded beaches, and officials urged residents in flood-prone areas to evacuate soon.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the defense force would be ready to support emergency services.
Heavy rain from the weather system has already drenched some regions, said Dean Narramore, forecaster at Australia’s weather bureau.
Narramore said the cyclone’s stalling could result in “a longer and prolonged period of heavy rainfall, particularly in northern New South Wales” leading to life-threatening flash flooding.
New South Wales resident Sara Robertson and her family has moved all their valuables from their home in the rural town of Murwillumbah to a motel ahead of the storm.
“I’m glad we’ve got a little bit more of a breather, feeling very tired today and we still have a lot to do,” Robertson told ABC News after moving computers and electronics into the motel.
More than 5,000 properties in southeast Queensland and thousands in northern New South Wales are without power as officials warned there would be more outages when the wind speed increases.
Brisbane airport said it will suspend operations around 4 p.m. (0600 GMT) on Thursday but keep its terminals open for defense operations.
Qantas Airways said its international operations from Brisbane would remain suspended until Saturday noon and domestic flights until Sunday morning.
More than 1,000 schools in southeast Queensland and 250 in northern New South Wales were closed on Thursday, while public transport in Brisbane has been suspended.
Alfred has been called by officials a “very rare event” for Brisbane, Queensland’s state capital, with the city last hit by a cyclone more than half a century ago in 1974. The city of around 2.7 million had near misses from cyclones in 1990 in 2019.
South Korea says military jet misdrops 8 bombs, injuring civilians
- ‘Eight MK-82 general-purpose bombs were abnormally released from an Air Force KF-16 aircraft’
- Air Force says in statement that it had established an accident response committee to investigate the incident
SEOUL: South Korea’s Air Force said Thursday that one of its fighter jets had accidentally dropped eight bombs in the wrong place during a training exercise, resulting in civilian injuries.
“Eight MK-82 general-purpose bombs were abnormally released from an Air Force KF-16 aircraft, landing outside the designated firing range,” the Air Force said.
The incident occurred around 10:00 a.m. in Pocheon, around 25 kilometers south of the heavily fortified border with the nuclear-armed North.
“We deeply regret the unintended release of the bombs, which resulted in civilian casualties, and wish those injured a swift recovery,” the Air Force said in a statement.
It said it had established an accident response committee to investigate the incident, and said it would “take all necessary measures, including compensation for damages.”
The Air Force said the military jet had been “participating in a joint live-fire exercise involving both the Air Force and Army.”
South Korea was holding combined live-fire drills with the United States Thursday in Pocheon, the Yonhap news agency reported.
South Korea’s National Fire Agency said that the bombs were “presumed to have fallen on a village during a South Korea-US joint exercise.”
This resulted in “casualties and property damage, with many displaced residents,” it said, adding that four people had been seriously injured and three suffered minor injuries.
One church building and sections of two houses were damaged, according to the statement.
Joint South Korea-US “Freedom Shield” military exercises, one of the security allies’ largest annual joint exercises, are set to begin later this month.
The two Koreas remain technically at war since the 1950-1953 conflict ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.
The United States stations tens of thousands of soldiers in the South, in part to protect Seoul against Pyongyang.
Top Trump allies hold talks with Zelensky’s political opponents, Politico reports
- Discussions were held on whether Ukraine could have quick presidential elections, according to the report
Four senior members of President Donald Trump’s entourage have held discussions with some of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s top political opponents, Politico reported on Wednesday.
Talks were held with Ukrainian opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko and senior members of the party of Former President Petro Poroshenko, Politico reported, citing three Ukrainian lawmakers and a US Republican foreign policy expert.
Discussions were held on whether Ukraine could have quick presidential elections, according to the report.
