Kategori: NEWS

KUALA LUMPUR — Seorang anggota polis berpangkat Lans Koperal mengaku tidak bersalah di Mahkamah Majistret hari ini atas pertuduhan mencuri dua barangan kemas daripada jasad seorang wanita yang ditemukan meninggal dunia dalam kereta, bulan lalu.

Tertuduh, Mohd Alifah Mohd Sapie, 35, membuat pengakuan itu selepas pertuduhan dibacakan terhadapnya di hadapan Majistret M S Arunjothy.

Mengikut pertuduhan, bapa lima anak itu didakwa mencuri masing-masing seutas rantai leher dan tangan milik si mati bernama Nur Farhana Nisha Syazwan, 26, dalam sebuah kereta di tepi jalan Prima Setapak, Wangsa Maju pada jam 2.40 pagi, 1 Oktober lalu.

Oleh itu dia didakwa mengikut Seksyen 379 Kanun Keseksaan yang boleh dihukum penjara maksimum tujuh tahun atau denda atau kedua-duanya sekali.

Terdahulu, Timbalan Pendakwa Raya Vivi’Asnita Zaina’Larifin tidak menawarkan jaminan berikutan ia adalah kesalahan tidak boleh dijamin.

Bagaimanapun, peguam Lavinia Raj yang mewakili tertuduh memohon jaminan dibenarkan berikutan mempunyai tanggungan lima anak masih kecil dan bersekolah berusia 12, 10, 8, 6 dan dua tahun.

“Anak guam berpangkat Lans Koperal dengan pendapatan hanya RM2,500 sebulan, sekiranya jaminan tinggi ditetapkan, tertuduh akan mengalami kesusahan untuk menampung keluarga,” katanya yang memohon jaminan minimum RM1,000.

Mendengar hujah kedua-dua pihak, Arunjothy membenarkan jaminan RM3,500 dengan seorang penjamin dan sebutan semula kes pada 22 Januari depan.

Sebelum ini, media melaporkan bapa mangsa, Syazwan Abddulah, 59, mendakwa barang kemas dipakai anak perempuannya yang ditemukan meninggal dunia dalam kereta di parkir sebuah kondominium di Setapak di sini pada 1 Oktober lalu, hilang.

Syazwan yang juga pesara polis dilapor berkata dia dimaklumkan oleh pemilik rumah sewa anaknya yang berusia 26 tahun itu berhubung penemuan mayatnya pada awal pagi, 1 Oktober lalu.

Difahamkan anaknya ditemukan anggota polis peronda yang membuat rondaan selepas menyedari kereta Proton Saga dinaikinya diparkir di kawasan terbabit dalam keadaan berkunci dengan enjin masih hidup dan lampu menyala.

Sebaik jenazah anaknya selamat dikebumikan di Banting, Selangor, dia terdetik untuk mencari rantai, loket serta gelang emas pemberian nenek serta kakaknya itu.

Susulan pendedahan bapa mangsa, empat anggota polis ditahan berhubung kehilangan barang kemas milik wanita yang meninggal dalam kereta.

Kes itu juga mengundang kemarahan Ketua Polis Negara Tan Sri Razarudin Husain yang menyifatkan tindakan mencuri barang kemas daripada jasad seorang wanita yang sudah tidak bernyawa adalah tindakan tidak berperikemanusiaan.

“Perbuatan ini sama sekali tidak bertanggungjawab dan tidak berperikemanusiaan dan tindakan tegas perlu diambil terhadap sesiapa sahaja terbabit dalam jenayah seumpama ini.

“Peringatan ini bukan sahaja untuk semua pegawai dan anggota tetapi ia juga kepada diri saya,” katanya hari ini.

BH ONLINE

GAZA — At least 66 Palestinians were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a residential block in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza, according to Palestinian sources on Thursday.

The bombing, which occurred on Wednesday night, targeted several houses near Kamal Adwan Hospital. Hussam Abu Safiya, the hospital director, confirmed that 66 people, including women and children, died in the attack.

The Israeli army has not yet commented on the bombing.

Due to a lack of civil defense personnel, doctors and medical staff at the hospital had to pull victims from the rubble by hand.

The hospital, which lacks specialized surgical facilities, is currently providing only first aid.

Since Oct. 7, 2023, Israel has been conducting a large-scale military operation in Gaza following a major attack by Hamas that resulted in over 1,200 Israeli deaths and 250 hostages taken.

The ongoing conflict has led to over 44,000 deaths and widespread destruction in Gaza, according to Gaza authorities.

XINHUA

RABAT — A Moroccan Royal Air Force DA 42 training aircraft crashed Thursday morning, killing two officers, said the Moroccan Royal Armed Forces in a statement.

The deadly accident occurred at the Benslimane air base, which is located 60 kilometers east of the country’s biggest city Casablanca, killing an instructor colonel and a trainee officer, the statement noted.

The deceased were on a training and qualification mission, it said, noting a committee of inquiry was set up to determine the causes of the accident.

The DA 42 is a twin-engine light aircraft primarily used for flight training, navigation, and general aviation purposes.

XINHUA

WASHINGTON — Children made up nearly 40 percent of the more than 3.4 million people in Myanmar displaced by civil war and climate change-driven extreme weather, the UN agency for children said Thursday.

Myanmar has been in turmoil since the military deposed Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government in 2021 and launched a crackdown that sparked an armed uprising against the junta’s rule.

The Southeast Asian nation was also battered by Typhoon Yagi in September, triggering major floods that killed more than 400 people and forced hundreds of thousands from their homes.

“The humanitarian crisis in Myanmar is reaching a critical inflexion point, with escalating conflict and climate shocks putting children and families at unprecedented risk,” UNICEF deputy executive director Ted Chaiban said in a statement on Thursday.

“Over 3.4 million people have been displaced across the country, nearly 40 percent of whom are children.”

The junta is battling widespread armed opposition to its 2021 coup, and its soldiers have been accused of bloody rampages and using air and artillery strikes to punish civilian communities.

The fighting, as well as severe climate events like Typhoon Yagi, have had a “devastating impact” on children, Chaiban said, leaving them displaced, vulnerable to violence and cut off from health care and education.

He said seven children and two other civilians were killed on November 15 in a strike that hit a Kachin church compound where children were playing football.

Myanmar’s northern Kachin state is the homeland of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), one of the various ethnic minority armed groups that hold territory in the north and are battling the junta.

At least 650 children have been killed or wounded in violence in the country this year.

Minors also made up about a third of the more than 1,000 civilian casualties from land mines and explosive remnants of war, according to Chaiban.

“The increasing use of deadly weapons in civilian areas, including airstrikes and land mines hitting homes, hospitals, and schools, has severely restricted the already limited safe spaces for children, robbing them of their right to safety and security,” he said.

Eleven people were killed last week when a teashop in Myanmar was hit by a military air strike in the town of Naungcho in northern Shan state, a local ethnic armed group said.

AN-AFP

VIENTIANE, Laos — An Australian teenager has died after drinking tainted alcohol in Vang Vieng, Laos, Australia’s prime minister said Thursday, and the US State Department confirmed an American also died in the same party town, bringing the death toll to four in the poisoning incident.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told Parliament that 19-year-old Bianca Jones had died after being evacuated from Laos for treatment in a Thai hospital. Her friend, also 19, remains hospitalized in Thailand.

Meantime, the State Department confirmed that an American tourist had also died, but said it had no further comment out of respect to the families.

“This is every parent’s very worst fear and a nightmare that no one should have to endure,” Albanese told lawmakers, adding “we also take this moment to say that we’re thinking of Bianca’s friend Holly Bowles who is fighting for her life.”

The two Australian women fell ill on Nov. 13 after a night out drinking with a group. They are believed to have consumed drinks tainted with methanol, which sometimes used as the alcohol in mixed drinks at disreputable bars and can cause severe poisoning or death.

New Zealand’s Foreign Ministry said Thursday one of its citizens was also unwell in Laos and could be a victim of methanol poisoning. Denmark’s Foreign Ministry, when asked about the poisoning incident, said Wednesday that two of its citizens had died in Laos but would not provide further details.

“We have updated our travel advisory for Laos to note that there have been several cases of suspected methanol poisoning after consuming alcoholic drinks,” New Zealand’s Foreign Ministry said.

“Travelers are advised to be cautious about consuming alcoholic beverages, particularly cocktails and drinks made with spirits that may have been adulterated with harmful substances.”

AN-AP

INDONESIA — A Philippine woman sentenced to death in Indonesia on drug charges said Thursday that she was “elated” to be returning home, after a deal brokered between the two nations.

Mary Jane Veloso was arrested in Indonesia in 2010 carrying a suitcase lined with 2.6 kilograms of heroin and later sentenced to death by firing squad.

The mother-of-two’s case sparked an uproar in the Philippines, with her family and supporters saying she was innocent and had been set up by an international drug syndicate.

On Wednesday, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos said she would be handed over to Manila following years of “long and difficult” negotiations.

“I am very elated to hear there is an opening chance for my hope to return home and be with my family,” Veloso said in a written statement read by the prison warden Evi Loliancy on Thursday.

“I’m grateful and would like to thank everybody who keeps making efforts so I can return to my country,” she said.

The 39-year-old said she would utilize skills she has learned in prison, including local cloth-dying techniques, to earn money for herself and her family.

Veloso’s family maintained that she was duped into signing up for a non-existent job abroad as a domestic worker and was not aware the suitcase given to her by the recruiter contained hidden drugs.

The Philippine government won a last-minute reprieve for Veloso in 2015 after a woman suspected of recruiting her was arrested and put on trial for human trafficking in a case in which Veloso was named as a prosecution witness.

Indonesia’s law and human rights minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra said President Prabowo Subianto had “approved the transfer,” which is expected to happen next month.

Philippine leader Marcos on Wednesday posted a message thanking his Indonesian counterpart.

He said Veloso’s “story resonates with many: a mother trapped by the grip of poverty, who made one desperate choice that altered the course of her life.”

AN-AFP

BEIRUT — Sixty-eight pro-Iran militants were killed in Israeli air strikes on the Syrian city of Palmyra, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said on Thursday.

Those killed in Wednesday’s strikes included 42 fighters from pro-Iran Syrian groups, 26 foreign fighters, most of them from the Iraqi Al-Nujaba movement, and four from Lebanon’s Hezbollah armed group, the monitor said.

AN-AFP

BELGRADE — Serbia’s Minister of Domestic and Foreign Trade, Tomislav Momirovic, has submitted his resignation to Prime Minister Milos Vucevic on Wednesday, national public broadcaster RTS reported.

Momirovic’s resignation came after President Aleksandar Vucic said that additional government officials would bear political responsibility for the tragic collapse of a concrete canopy at Novi Sad railway station on Nov. 1.

That incident left 15 dead and two critically injured after the falling canopy trapped 17 people under rubble.

Although the accident is not under Momirovic’s current portfolio, he served as minister of construction, transport, and infrastructure from 2020 to 2022. Goran Vesic, the minister of construction at the time of the incident, resigned shortly after the tragedy.

RTS also reported that Jelena Tanaskovic, acting director of the state enterprise Serbian Infrastructure Railways, has stepped down.

The tragedy has sparked a public outcry, with opposition protests erupting in Novi Sad and Belgrade. On Wednesday, clashes took place between protesters and police in Novi Sad.

XINHUA

GAZA — A Hamas official said on Wednesday that there would be no prisoner exchange without the Gaza ceasefire.

“We say clearly, we want this aggression to stop, and it must stop first in order to carry out any prisoner exchange,” Khalil al-Hayya, a member of Hamas’ political bureau, was quoted by Hamas-run Al-Aqsa TV as saying.

Al-Hayya noted that communications with various countries and intermediaries are ongoing, emphasizing that they are “ready and proactive.” However, he stressed the key lies in “the occupation’s true will to stop the aggression.”

Al-Hayya reaffirmed that Hamas is exploring all paths to stop the “aggression,” affirming that “as Palestinians, we want, in the clearest terms, the cessation of the aggression.”

He said Hamas supports the creation of a committee to handle Gaza-related issues, “with the essential condition that this committee manages Gaza fully and locally, handling all matters related to daily life there.”

Al-Hayya underscored the importance of productive meetings in Cairo with Fatah and other Palestinian leaders, which have advanced unity efforts.

“Gaza is not isolated; it is an integral part of the Palestinian national fabric. We call for continued coordination between Gaza and the West Bank to safeguard the interests of the Palestinian people and prevent divisions or threats,” he said.

XINHUA

PUTRAJAYA — Seorang wanita hamil antara tiga maut manakala seorang lagi wanita hamil parah selepas kereta dinaiki mereka terbabas berhampiran pusat beli-belah IOI City Mall di sini, tengah malam tadi.

Mangsa yang meninggal dunia adalah Muhammad Danial Mohd Nuzi, 24, Nurulhuda Ramli, 41, dan Amizan Sapiie, 27, manakala mangsa yang parah dikenal pasti sebagai Nizasuhana Ujang, 28.

Penolong Pengarah Operasi Jabatan Bomba dan Penyelamat Malaysia (JBPM) Selangor Ahmad Mukhlis Mokhtar, berkata anggota dari Balai Bomba dan Penyelamat (BBP) Cyberjaya dikejarkan ke lokasi sebaik menerima laporan kemalangan pada jam 12.10 tengah malam.

Katanya, kemalangan membabitkan sebuah kereta Perodua Viva yang dipercayai terbabas sendiri.

“Terdapat empat mangsa masing-masing dalam kereta, dua lelaki dan dua perempuan hamil. Seorang wanita hamil cedera parah dan sudah dihantar ke Hospital Putrajaya.

“Dua lelaki dan seorang lagi wanita hamil disahkan meninggal dunia oleh pihak Kementerian Kesihatan Malaysia (KKM),” katanya dalam kenyataan hari ini.

Ahmad Mukhlis berkata mayat ketiga-tiga mangsa yang meninggal dunia diserahkan kepada pihak polis.

BH ONLINE