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Papua New Guinea fears thousands missing after landslide

 

Papua New Guinea fears thousands missing after landslide



There are fears the number of missing following a deadly landslide in Papua New Guinea could stretch into the thousands, a government agency has said.

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The acting director of the nation's National Disaster Centre said in a letter it was feared more than 2,000 people were buried alive in Friday's disaster.

However, an exact casualty figure has been hard to establish and estimates have varied widely, as rescue efforts have been hindered by rubble 10m (32ft) deep in some places and a lack of adequate equipment.

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Fewer than a dozen bodies have been recovered so far, while the United Nations (UN) put the figure of the missing at 670.

The collapse of a mountain side early Friday morning wiped out a bustling village in Enga province, with the damage extending for close to a kilometre, observers report.

About 3,800 people had been living in the area prior to the disaster.

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The letter by Lusete Laso Mana said the damage was "extensive", and that it had "caused major impact on the economic lifeline of the country".

Prime Minister James Marape has expressed his condolences and ordered the country's defence force and emergency agencies to the area, about 600km north-west of the capital Port Moresby.

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But locals in the affected Kaokalam village say they are still waiting for officials to step in with larger rescue operations.

One resident, Evit Kambu, said she believed many of her family members were trapped under the rubble and debris.

"I have eighteen of my family members buried under the debris and soil that I am standing on. And a lot more family members in the village I cannot count," she told news agency Reuters.

"Thank you to all those who've come to help us. But I cannot retrieve the bodies, so I am standing here helplessly."

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A community leader who visited the site told the BBC locals felt they had been left to fend for themselves. They were using shovels and their bare hands to try and dig people out.

"It's been almost three to four days now but [many] bodies are not located yet. It is still covered by the landslide and people are finding it really hard to dig them out - they are calling for the government for support and help," Ignas Nembo told the BBC's Newshour programme.

However, a police official from the province told the BBC he had seen soldiers arrive at the scene and they were attempting to remove boulders to try and free those trapped.

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Acting Provincial Police Commander Martin Kelei described these efforts as precarious - as removing car-sized boulders and other large barriers risked further rock slips.

"Digging is very hard at the moment because we're worried about further landslides and deaths - so local people are only digging from where they can see it is safe. We are trying to identify wherever we can see that people are buried," he said.

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He had visited the site several times since Friday's collapse and claimed survivors could still be heard calling for help under the rubble.

Local media reported one couple being pulled alive from under rocks. They had survived as their home only caught the edge of the landslide's onslaught.

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They were saved after rescue workers heard their shouts for help, the local NBC channel reported.


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Richard Sherman, Songwriter of Many Spoonfuls of Sugar, Dies at 95

 

Richard Sherman, Songwriter of Many Spoonfuls of Sugar, Dies at 95

He and his brother, Robert, teamed up to write the songs for “Mary Poppins” and other Disney classics. They also gave the world “It’s a Small World (After
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 All).”Richard M. Sherman, the younger brother in a songwriting team that won two Oscars and two Grammys, brought Disney movies to musical life and gave the world numbers like “A Spoonful of Sugar,” “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” and the ubiquitous, multiply translated “It’s a Small World (After All),” died on Saturday in Beverly Hills, Calif. He was 95.
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The death, in a hospital, was announced by the Walt Disney Company.

The careers of the Shermans — Richard and Robert — were inextricably linked with Walt Disney. Their Academy Awards were for “Chim Chim Cher-ee,” a chimney sweep’s alternately cheerful and plaintive anthem from “Mary Poppins” (1964), and for the film’s score. Their Grammy Awards were for “Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too,” shared in 1975 for best recording for children, and the “Mary Poppins” score.

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“It’s a Small World” was written for the Disney theme-park ride of the same name. The song plays as guests in boats pass among 240 dolls of many nations with identical faces — tiny can-can and folk dancers, mermaids and mariachi bands — plus Big Ben, the Taj Mahal and grinning farm animals.

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“People want to kiss us or kill us,” Richard Sherman said in a 2011 video interview about the song, which he said was “the biggest hit of the World’s Fair,” where it was introduced in 1964.


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Rockets fired at Tel Aviv as Israel faces growing pressure over war in Gaza

 

Rockets fired at Tel Aviv as Israel faces growing pressure over war in Gaza

What we're covering

  • Sirens sounded in Tel Aviv and parts of central Israel on Sunday, according to the Israeli military, marking the first time rockets have been fired at the city since late January. Hamas said it was responsible.
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  • Ceasefire and hostage talks are set to resume next week, officials say. Israel's war cabinet meets later Sunday. Talks between Israel and Hamas have stalled, with both parties failing to reach an agreement over differences on key demands.
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  • Protesters clashed with police in Tel Aviv Saturday night, following a day of rallies calling for a ceasefire and the return of hostages. One video showed horse-mounted police and water cannons trying to clear demonstrators.
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  • Spain's defense minister has said that what is happening in Gaza is a "real genocide." Spain was one of three European countries to announce plans to recognize a Palestinian state, further piling pressure on Israel.The
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  •  Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Sunday that eight rockets have been fired from the Rafah area of southern Gaza and had crossed into Israel. "A number of projectiles" were 

At least 6 people are dead after tornado-spawning storms strike the Central US Memorial Day weekend

 

At least 6 people are dead after tornado-spawning storms strike the Central US Memorial Day weekend

At least six people, including children, are dead, after suspected tornadoes struck Texas and Arkansas overnight, as severe storms caused power outages and forced residents to shelter in place across the Central United States on
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 Memorial Day weekend.Five fatalities were reported in Cooke County, Texas, and three occurred in one household, Cooke County Sheriff Ray Sappington told CNN on Sunday morning. Two children in the area were reported missing and are still unaccounted for as of Sunday morning.
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Another person was killed in Benton County, Arkansas, the county’s safety administrator told CNN.

More than 110 million people across broad swaths of the US are under threat of large hail, damaging winds and a fierce twisters Sunday, mainly throughout the mid-Mississippi, Ohio and Tennessee River valleys.

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As the storms move east, the Storm Prediction Center warned of “violent tornadoes, extreme hail and corridors of widespread wind damage.”Inside a Shell gas station, 60 to 80 people were trapped until the storm blew over, Sappington said. Multiple injuries were reported at the station, but none were life-threatening, he added.Many vehicles were damaged and destroyed, leaving about 40 people stranded. They were transported by bus to another gas station in Gainesville, where

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 they were picked up by family members.In north Denton County, Texas, a possible tornado injured an unknown number of people, damaged several homes, overturned 18-wheelers, downed trees and knocked out power lines on Saturday night, authorities said early Sunday. Deputies responded to multiple locations, including “homes and RV trailer parks,” Dawn Cobb, a county spokesperson, said in a news release.

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Gantz: Rocket barrage from Rafah proves need for Israel’s military operation there

 

Gantz: Rocket barrage from Rafah proves need for Israel’s military operation there

This afternoon’s rocket barrage from the southern Gaza city of Rafah shows why Israel needs to continue its military operation there, National Unity chairman Benny Gantz says during a tour of Gaza border communities.

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“The rockets shot from Rafah today prove that the IDF must operate in every place Hamas still operates from, and as such, the IDF will continue to operate wherever necessary,” Gantz, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war cabinet, declares at the Urim IDF base.

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The world must know: Those who still hold our hostages captive, shoot at our cities and continue to propagate terror are responsible for the situation,” he adds. “Terrorist Hamas are war criminals, and we intend on making them pay for their crimes – whether sooner or later.”

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Multiple interceptions by the Iron Dome air defense system were seen over central Israel following a rocket barrage launched from the Gaza Strip, with sirens sounding in Herzliya, Kfar Shmaryahu, Ramat Hasharon, Tel Aviv, Petah Tikva, and several smaller communities.

The rocket barrage fired by the Hamas terror group at central Israel was apparently launched from the Rafah area in the southern Gaza Strip, images posted to social media showed.

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In a significant but somewhat ambiguous sharpening of its treatment of genocide claims against Israel, the International Court of Justice ordered Israel on Friday to halt military operations in Rafah that would risk the destruction of the civilian population sheltering there.

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Death Toll in Papua New Guinea Landslide Estimated to Be at Least 670

 

Death Toll in Papua New Guinea Landslide Estimated to Be at Least 670


More than 48 hours after the disaster, its full extent remains unclear, with aid slow to reach survivors and conditions on the ground still dangerous.The aftermath of a huge landslide that hit Papua New Guinea on Friday. Hundreds of people are thought to have been buried in the debris.At least 670 people are assumed to have died after a

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 landslide in Papua New Guinea, according to a local United Nations official. The landslide hit a rural region of the island nation early Friday, but search-and-rescue efforts have been hampered by difficulty in reaching the disaster site and by the hazard that the shifting ground continues to pose.

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This danger has prompted many survivors to abandon their homes, according to Serhan Aktoprak, the chief of mission at the International Organization for Migration’s office in Papua New Guinea, who estimated that over 250 houses were abandoned and that roughly 1,250 people were displaced.

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The region, in Enga Province, is densely populated, according to local officials, and has a young population. The authorities fear that many of the fatalities will be children under 15.The local government secured food and water for around 600 people, Mr. Aktoprak said, and a humanitarian convoy of local officials and members of the International Organization for Migration headed to the region on Sunday. An aid convoy had gotten through on Saturday

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 afternoon to deliver tarps and water, but no food.Conditions have made distribution difficult. As of Sunday afternoon, land was still sliding, rocks were falling and the soil was cracking from increased pressure and running groundwater. No earth-moving equipment had arrived, and people were searching for bodies using tools like spades and pitchforks, Mr. Aktoprak said.

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Gantz submits proposal for resolution on state commission of inquiry into Oct. 7, war

 

Gantz submits proposal for resolution on state commission of inquiry into Oct. 7, war

National Unity leader and war cabinet minister Benny Gantz submits a proposal to the cabinet secretariat for a government resolution to establish a state commission of inquiry into the events surrounding the October 7 Hamas invasion and massacre and the subsequent, ongoing war in Gaza.

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The commission, if approved, would examine political, military, and intelligence decision-making before, during and after the October 7 atrocities.

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Critically, against the background of the intense scrutiny of Israel’s conduct of the war by the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice, the commission would also examine whether Israel has met its obligations under

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 international law in managing the war, which could head off the ICC prosecutor’s request for arrest warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.All the event that preceded the war will be investigated within the framework of the state commission of inquiry — decision making in the political and military echelons, and actions during the time of war itself,” National Unity says in a statement to the press.

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The commission would examine security and intelligence agencies as well as government ministries in terms of their policy and decision-making processes regarding protecting the border region with Gaza before the war, and how they responded to the events on October 7 and during the ensuing war.

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The move comes amid high tensions between Gantz and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over management of the war and threats by Gantz to quit the government if Netanyahu does not set out a postwar plan for Gaza by June 8.

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Russia Bombs Hardware Superstore in Kharkiv, Killing 11, Ukraine Says

 

Russia Bombs Hardware Superstore in Kharkiv, Killing 11, Ukraine Says

It was the latest attack in a sustained bombing campaign that has made life increasingly dangerous for civilians in
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 the northeastern Ukrainian city.Ukrainian officials said at least 11 people were killed and dozens were injured in the latest bombing that has made life increasingly dangerous for civilians in the northeastern Ukrainian city.Russia bombed a hardware superstore in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on Saturday afternoon, killing at least 11 people and injuring dozens more, Ukrainian officials said. The attack was the latest in a sustained bombing campaign against the city that has made life increasingly difficult and dangerous for civilians.
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Oleh Syniehubov, the head of the Kharkiv regional military administration, added that another airstrike on Saturday, in the center of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, injured at least 14 people.

“For the entire day, Kharkiv has been under Russian terrorist strikes. The air raid in the Kharkiv region has been ongoing for more than 12 hours,” President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on social media.

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Saturday’s attack, Mr. Zelensky added, underscored Ukraine’s recent calls on Western allies to provide it with air defense systems and other weapons capable of shooting down Russian missiles and the planes that launch the bombs. “If Ukraine had sufficient air defenses systems and modern combat aircraft, Russian strikes like this one would have been impossible,” he said.Videos and photos posted online by Ukrainian officials showed large plumes of black smoke billowing from the superstore, as firefighters scrambled to extinguish a blaze that the authorities said extended over 10,000 square meters.

Kharkiv, currently home to 1.3 million people and located just 25 miles from the Russian border, has been increasingly targeted by Russian airstrikes in recent months, in what Ukrainian officials and military experts say is a tactic intended to intimidate residents and create panic.


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