Foreign News
Journalist opens USB letter bomb in newsroom
BBC reported that Journalists across Ecuador have been targeted by explosive devices sent through the post.
One presenter, Lenin Artieda, was injured when he opened the envelope in the middle of the newsroom. He said the explosive device looked like a USB drive. He plugged it into his computer and it detonated.
The Ecuadorean attorney-general’s department confirmed it had opened a terrorism investigation into the letters on Monday. It did not name the specific news outlets targeted. However, at least five different organisations across Ecuador were sent the letters.
The government has condemned the attacks, describing freedom of expression as “a right that must be respected. .Any attempt to intimidate journalism and freedom of expression is a loathsome action that should be punished with all the rigour of justice,” it said in a statement.
“It’s so good to be home.”
The statement sums up how almost 400 people felt after their flight from Dubai arrived in Dublin on Wednesday night.
The Emirates flight was the first in a number of days after the United States-Israeli attacks on Iran led to the closure of nearly all airspace in the Middle East.
One of the passengers, Norita Geary, said: “Everyone clapped when the plane landed and we all cheered.”
“It was unreal. I mean you see these things on television, you see them in movies but you just don’t think you’ll end up there yourself,” she added.
A second flight directly to Dublin from Dubai is scheduled for Thursday, with a further 400 passengers on it.
Rushali Lakhani said she is feeling “very happy” to be back [BBC]
Rushali Lakhani said she is “very happy” and “very grateful” to be back.
“It was quite a stressful time but grateful and thanking our lucky stars really.”
She said was “it was quite nerve wracking, we couldn’t really sleep much”.
“A lot of sleepless nights, a lot of bangs. There were no airplanes flying so whenever we heard some noises we knew that it wasn’t good news.”
So far 25,000 Irish citizens in the region have registered with the Department of Foreign Affairs – 2,000 of them have said they want to leave.
The Irish government has chartered a flight for Irish citizens from Muscat in Oman on Friday.
The Irish Embassy in the UAE thanked all those had registered but warned that registration is not an expression of interest in a flight.
Meanwhile, a flight chartered by the UK government which had been due to bring back some Britons stranded in the Middle East on Wednesday night did not take off as scheduled..
British citizens stuck in the Middle East have told the BBC there has been a lack of information about available routes to travel home.
The Foreign Office said two more chartered flights would depart by the end of the week.
Foreign Office officials said 138,000 British nationals in the Gulf had registered their presence, of whom 112,000 were in the UAE.
[BBC]
An eight-year-old Queensland girl has been killed after she was seriously injured in a snowmobile accident at a Japanese ski resort.
Chloe Jeffries, from the Gold Coast, was riding on a snowmobile with her mother in Hakuba Valley, Nagano prefecture, on Saturday when it overturned, trapping her underneath. She was airlifted to hospital but later died.
In a tribute from her netball club, Jeffries was remembered for her “beautiful nature” and “her cheeky, infectious smile”.
Tour operator Hakuba Lion Adventure said the vehicle flipped after going up an embankment along a forest road and that police were investigating. Jeffries is the fourth Australian to have died at a Japanese ski resort this year.
Prosecutors in Norway have charged the son of Norway’s crown princess with reckless behaviour and violating a restraining order a month after he went on trial for rape and dozens of other alleged offences.
Marius Borg Høiby was arrested the day before his trial began at the start of February, on suspicion of threats and violence against a woman in his flat in Oslo. Police remanded him in custody for the first four weeks of the trial.
Although allegations of bodily harm and knife threats have been dropped, prosecutors say the 29-year-old has admitted reckless behaviour and violating a restraining order.
He now faces a total of 40 charges and denies the most serious allegations.
Marius Borg Høiby is the son of Crown Princess Mette-Marit and grew up in the royal family, but he is not a member of Norway’s royal house. He was four when his mother married Crown-Prince Haakon in 2001.
He has admitted some of the 40 charges against him, but denies four counts of rape which all involve a woman who was either asleep or incapacitated after they had had intercourse.
The latest charges against him relate to a woman from the upmarket Frogner area of Oslo, who he was banned from contacting at the time.
He already admitted violating a restraining order relating to the same woman at the start of the trial and partially admits other allegations that date back to 2024.
Marius Borg Høiby was first arrested after a violent incident at the woman’s Frogner flat, and spoke at the time of suffering from mental issues for years.
Although it is unusual for further charges to be added during a trial, state prosecutor Sturla Henriksbø explained that this was possible if the defendant admitted the offences. Reckless behaviour can command a jail term of up to two years in prison.
By Tuesday the trial at Oslo District Court was 17 days into the 28 days allocated for the case, which is taking place amid tight restrictions requiring no images of either the defendant or the four women he is alleged to have raped.
The only woman who can be identified is a former girlfriend, Nora Haukland, who he denies abusing. She has already given evidence to the court that he kicked, punched and choked her during their relationship between 2022-23.
Last week an audio recording was played to the court of an argument in which Marius Borg Høiby could be heard hurling abuse at Ms Haukland, a Norwegian influencer with more than 100,000 followers on Instagram.
He denies being violent and his defence counsel says his ex-girlfriend did not in any way “live in a regime of fear”.
During Tuesday’s proceedings, the court heard from Nora Haukland’s former boyfriends, including one who spoke of their “peaceful break-up” and his respect for her, and another who described their relationship as turbulent.
If found guilty of the more serious charges he could spend at least 10 years in jail.
[BBC]
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