World

The bodies of two pilgrims were pulled from an Iraqi shrine on Monday, two days after a landslide caused it to partially collapse, taking the overall toll to seven dead, rescuers said.

“Unfortunately, we found this morning two bodies, a man and a woman”, under the rubble of Qattarat al-Imam Ali, Jawdat Abdelrahman, director of the civil defence media department, told AFP.

So far, the bodies retrieved from the site were a child, four women and two men, while three children had been rescued and rushed to hospital.

“We are continuing the search for other victims,” Abdelrahman said, adding eyewitnesses had reported that there was another body, of a woman, still under the rubble.

Civil defence spokesman Nawas Sabah Shaker had said on Sunday that between six and eight pilgrims had been reported trapped under the debris of the shrine, near the Shiite holy city of Karbala.

The three children rescued earlier were in “good condition” and being monitored in a hospital, emergency services had said on Sunday.

Search and rescue operations have been carried out since the shrine, which sits at the base of high, bare rock walls, became partially buried when earthen embankments collapsed on Saturday due to saturation from humidity, according to the civil defence.

– Political paralysis –

It is the latest tragedy to befall oil-rich but poverty-stricken Iraq, which is trying to move past decades of war but is hobbled by political paralysis, endemic corruption and other challenges.

Rescuers on Sunday drove a bulldozer through the shrine’s entrance, which resembles half a dome ornately decorated with blue tiles covered in Arabic script.

The rescue teams said they had worked to provide supplies of oxygen, food and water to those trapped under the rubble before the bodies were found, according to the state news agency INA.

Iraqi President Barham Saleh on Sunday called on rescue workers to “mobilise all efforts to save the trapped people”, while Caretaker Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi urged his interior minister to directly supervise operations.

The stricken shrine is dedicated to Imam Ali, the son-in-law of the Prophet Mohammed, who according to Shiite tradition stopped there with his army on his way to a battle in AD 657.

It is located in a natural depression about 25 kilometres (15 miles) west of Karbala, which is the burial place of Imam Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Mohammed.

Shiites view Hussein, who died in battle in AD 680, as the rightful successor to the Prophet Mohammed, the issue at the heart of a schism with Sunni Islam.

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Singapore’s LGBTQ community on Monday welcomed the government’s plan to decriminalise gay sex but warned that upholding the traditional definition of marriage would only promote further inequality.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced on Sunday that the city-state would repeal the colonial-era law, but said the definition of marriage as being between a man and a woman will be kept to allay fears of “a drastic shift in our societal norms”.

Section 377A of Singapore’s penal code penalises sex between men with up to two years in jail. 

Gay rights campaigners have long said the law runs counter to the affluent city-state’s vibrant culture and have unsuccessfully challenged the law in court.

“I am elated and relieved for Singapore’s LGBT community,” said Roy Tan, one of several people who had unsuccessfully challenged the law in court. 

Describing the repeal as the result of an “arduous” struggle, Tan said “we can progressively dismantle the impediments to the visibility and progress of queer citizens”.

While the law remained on the books, no one had been arrested or charged under Article 377A in Singapore for more than a decade, activists say.

Sunday’s announcement also put barriers on the path to full marriage equality.

Lee said national policies such as those covering access to subsidised public housing and adoption rules will continue to be based on the traditional definition of marriage.

As it stands, people can still challenge the constitutionality of the definition. Lee, however, said that doing so would risk the court stepping into policy-making.

“Judges interpret and apply the law… They have neither the expertise nor the mandate to settle political questions, nor rule on social norms and values,” Lee said.

Reactions to Lee’s Facebook post on repealing the law were mixed, with some lauding the move as a “bold step” while others said they were “saddened” by the decision.

– Barriers to marriage equality –

The constitution would need to be amended to shield the definition of marriage from further constitutional challenges, Lee said, a move that is likely to sail through parliament if undertaken as the ruling People’s Action Party has a more than two-thirds majority.

It was unclear what the amendments would look like but the challenges to 377A largely revolved around a constitutional provision which guarantees citizens equality and equal protection under the law.

The LGBTQ community said the repeal “is the first step on a long road towards full equality”.

But they opposed any further laws and constitutional changes to protect the traditional definition of marriage as they would promote unequal treatment.

“We urge the government not to heed recent calls from religious conservatives to enshrine the definition of marriage into the constitution,” more than 20 LGBTQ groups said in a joint statement late Sunday.

“Such a decision will undermine the secular character of our constitution, codify further discrimination into supreme law, and tie the hands of future parliaments.”

Tan, the activist, said: “I look forward to a future where we can hold our heads up high as equals in the eyes of the law instead of living as marginalised, second-class citizens in our own country.”

Maria Sjodin, executive director at US-based LGBTQ rights campaigner OutRight Action International, said the repeal would “hopefully also inspire the continued struggle across the world to remove the laws that hinder equality and respect for LGBTQ people everywhere”.

According to a 2020 report by the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA), homosexuality is prohibited in 69 countries, including 11 where it is punishable by death.

In contrast to festive summer crowds around him in central Kyiv, Vladyslav Zhaivoronok has a grim story to tell about the defence of Mariupol, the injuries he suffered and his weeks in captivity.

The 29-year-old Azov Regiment soldier, who leans on his crutches as he lost his left leg in combat, spoke to AFP in front of a huge banner reading “Free Mariupol Defenders” on a city hall building.

“It was getting worse and worse, harder and harder. We held the defence as long as it could be held,” he said of the fighting at the Azovstal steelworks — some of the fiercest in the last six months.

Russian forces invaded Ukraine on February 24 and within days had surrounded Mariupol, a strategic industrial port hub on the Sea of Azov.

Zhaivoronok said he and his comrades took up positions in the city’s sprawling Azovstal facility in March in a desperate attempt to fight on.

Under constant shelling, he made his base in a half-ruined bunker, going out during the day to carry out his duties as a drone operator.

He said that “the entire area was littered with fragments of buildings” and there was a desperate lack of water, food and weapons.

“It was consistently bad everywhere,” said Zhaivoronok.

As he spoke, passers-by looked back at the soldier, who wore military-style brown shorts with an empty left trouser leg.

– Stretchered out of Azovstal –

Despite the rapidly deteriorating situation at Azovstal, Zhaivoronok said the soldiers managed to keep up morale. 

“The last days I was anticipating a kind of the last battle. We were waiting for this and were ready for this,” he said.

Then, on May 15, he was hit by an anti-tank missile.

Rushed to the “medical bunker”, he found himself on an improvised operating table on the verge of death.

His right eye was also badly wounded in the blast.

On the morning of the following day, he had his leg amputated.

He regained consciousness afterwards for just a few seconds before being taken out of Azovstal.

He remembers being stretchered out and seeing the Russian soldiers’ patches bearing the “Z” symbol used by the invaders.

Due to his heavy injury, he was spared the fate of his comrades who were sent to the notorious Olenivka prison in the occupied Donetsk region, where a blast last month reportedly killed dozens of Ukrainian prisoners.

But the weeks that Zhaivoronok spent in captivity in one of the Donetsk hospitals brought him suffering of a different kind.

“There was no contact with relatives, no access to the phone,” he said.

Medical care was “very low-grade” and medicines were in short supply.

“I was just dripping rotten meat because, after being seriously wounded, I did not start receiving antibiotics until the fifth day,” he said.

He and three other soldiers from his ward were given just enough food “so that the heart would not stop”.

“And we were told every day that no one needed us, that they would not exchange us for anyone, that everyone had abandoned us.”

– ‘What presses from within’ –

His month-and-a-half of captivity ended without warning.

“We were awakened at 4:00 am, the lists were read out, we were taken outside, loaded onto buses and driven until evening,” Zhaivoronok recalls.

He and over a hundred other wounded Ukrainian prisoners left the hospital for a prisoner exchange.

“I could not breathe out until I was on Ukrainian territory, out of reach of (Russian) artillery.”

Zhaivoronok tries to crack jokes, making light of his heavy injuries.

“I’ve brought a lot of work to our medics,” he grins.

As a career serviceman, he said he continues to fulfil certain military obligations despite his injuries.

The soldier speaks very calmly.

His voice slightly breaks only once — when he talks about the thousands of Ukrainian prisoners remaining in Russian captivity.

“It does not give rest. This is what presses from within. When the guys are back, I’ll be able to breathe more freely.”

A woman who is believed to be related to two children whose remains were found in suitcases in New Zealand is in South Korea, Seoul police told AFP Monday.

Last week, New Zealand police said they had discovered the remains of two children, who are thought to have been between five and 10 years old when they died, in suitcases.

The bodies were discovered after an unsuspecting family bought a trailer-load of items — including the suitcases — at an auction for abandoned goods.

New Zealand police have said the bodies were likely to have been in storage for several years, which has complicated the investigation into the crime.

Police said Monday that a woman of Korean descent, who is believed to be related to the children, is currently in South Korea.

“We confirm that she is in South Korea, and that she is a New Zealand national of Korean descent,” an official at the Korean National Police Agency told AFP.

She arrived in the South in 2018 and had no record of leaving the country since that year, he added.

“New Zealand police are leading this investigation and we intend to cooperate at their request,” the official added.

Police have been checking hours of CCTV footage, but key moments could have already been erased due to the delay between when the victims died and the discovery of the bodies.

Both the storage unit and property where the suitcases were taken have been thoroughly examined by forensic experts.

Authorities in New Zealand reiterated last week that the family who found the bodies were not connected to the homicide.

They are receiving support to help deal with the trauma, the country’s Detective Inspector Tofilau Faamanuia Vaaelua said at the time. 

Rescue workers searched through the rubble of a Shiite Muslim shrine in central Iraq into Sunday night, after a landslide killed at least five people including a child.

After more than 24 hours of digging through collapsed rocks, wood and other debris, “we have found five bodies,” civil defence General Abdelrahman Jawdat told AFP. 

“That could be the final toll,” he added, while digging continued in case there were other victims.

It is the latest tragedy to befall oil-rich but poverty-stricken Iraq, which is trying to move past decades of war but is hobbled by political paralysis, endemic corruption and other challenges.

Civil defence spokesman Nawas Sabah Shaker said earlier that between six and eight pilgrims had been reported trapped under the debris of the shrine, known as Qattarat al-Imam Ali, near the city of Karbala. 

Rescuers drove a bulldozer through the shrine’s entrance, which resembles half a dome ornately decorated with blue tiles covered in Arabic script.

The sacred building, flanked by two minarets, sits at the base of high, bare rock walls. Part of its concrete roof had been torn apart.

Jawdat said rescuers had recovered the bodies of two women, a man and a child, and were working to free the corpse of the fifth victim, another woman whom they had located.

Armed security forces guarded the shrine entrance while rescuers worked inside and onlookers watched from behind a metal fence.

Three children were rescued earlier following the Saturday afternoon disaster, emergency services had said, adding that they were in “good condition” and being monitored in a hospital.

Rescue teams working through the night Saturday were able to provide supplies of oxygen, as well as food and water to some of those trapped through gaps in the rubble, state news agency INA said.

– ‘Mobilise all efforts’ –

Iraqi President Barham Saleh on Twitter called on the “heroic” rescue workers to “mobilise all efforts to save the trapped people”.

Caretaker Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi urged his interior minister to directly supervise the rescue on the ground and wished the injured a swift recovery.

Emergency responders had said earlier they were maintaining verbal contact with the victims “to reassure them”.

“We are working hard, with the utmost precision, to reach” those trapped, Jawdat, director of the civil defence media department, had said.

“Any mistake could lead to further collapses.”

One man at the scene, Bassem Khazali, said his nephew was among those buried. 

“I am afraid that all the efforts undertaken will be in vain… We want to know what happened, why it happened,” Khazali told AFP.

Civil defence spokesman Shaker told AFP that “sand dunes and rocks collapsed onto the shrine building”, blaming humidity.

The stricken shrine is dedicated to Imam Ali, the son-in-law of the Prophet Mohammed, who according to Shiite tradition stopped there with his army on his way to a battle in AD 657.

It is located in a natural depression about 25 kilometres (15 miles) west of Karbala, the Shiite holy city which is the burial place of Imam Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Mohammed.

Shiites view Hussein, who died in battle in AD 680, as the rightful successor to the Prophet Mohammed, the issue at the heart of a schism with Sunni Islam.

Millions of children in the Philippines returned to school as the academic year started on Monday, with many taking their seats in classrooms for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic hit.

The Philippines is one of the last countries in the world to resume full-time, in-person lessons — sparking warnings that the prolonged closure of classrooms had worsened an education crisis in the country.

Children in masks and uniforms lined up for a temperature check and squirt of hand sanitiser at Pedro Guevara Elementary School in Manila, which had shut classrooms since March 2020.

The school has adopted a hybrid system of in-person and remote learning as it transitions its nearly 6,000 students back to face-to-face classes by November — a deadline set by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr soon after he took office two months ago.

Grade six student Sophia Macahilig said she was “excited” to meet her classmates and teachers after two years of Zoom lessons.

“We used to have fun and now I can have fun again,” 11-year-old Macahilig told AFP.

But many students have a lot of catching up to do.

Even before the pandemic, nine out of 10 Filipino children could “not read a simple text with comprehension” by age 10, the World Bank and other agencies said in a recent report.

Only 10 countries were worse off, including Afghanistan, Laos, Chad and Yemen.

– Lagging behind –

After Philippine schools closed, a “blended learning” programme involving online classes, printed materials and lessons broadcast on television and social media was introduced.

As face-to-face classes resume, old problems persist: large class sizes, outdated teaching methods, poverty, and lack of basic infrastructure — such as toilets — have been blamed for contributing to the education crisis. 

Pedro Guevara science teacher Ethel Tumanan, 32, said she was worried that students had missed out on valuable learning over the past two years.

“As a teacher, we really prefer face-to-face, at least we are the ones who can gauge and assess where our pupils are at.”

In the lead-up to the reopening of classrooms, the government has been ramping up a vaccination drive and will provide students with free public transport until the end of the calendar year. 

On Saturday, the government began handing out cash aid to students and parents struggling to cover expenses, leading to chaotic scenes outside distribution centres.

In the city of Zamboanga, 29 people were injured when several thousand tried to push through the gate of a high school.