News in Brief

Date: 09 July 2021 - 21:41

News ID: ۹۲۲۲۵

WASHINGTON (Dispatches) - The death toll in the condo building collapse in Surfside, Florida, rose to 64 on Thursday after additional victims were recovered. Forty of the victims have been identified, and 76 people are still unaccounted for, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said at a press conference, CBS News reported. Teams worked through the night searching for victims and paused around 1:20 am to mark two weeks since the building crumbled in the middle of the night. Levine Cava said that a moment of silence with first responders was held Thursday to “honor the victims and their families”.

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STOCKHOLM (Dispatches) -A small plane carrying skydivers crashed outside the Swedish city of Orebro, killing all nine people on board, police said. The dead included the pilot and eight passengers, police said. The victims were members of a local skydiving club, according to Orebro County Governor Maria Larsson. Spokesperson Carl-Johan Linde of the Swedish Maritime Administration, which oversees air traffic, told broadcaster SVT the crash must have occurred “in connection” with the plane’s takeoff.

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PARIS (Dispatches) -South African former president Jacob Zuma has turned himself in to police to begin 15 months in jail for contempt of court, the culmination of a long legal drama seen as a test of the post-apartheid state’s ability to enforce the rule of law. The confirmation that Zuma has been detained came shortly after the expiry of a Constitutional Court deadline that he be jailed by midnight on Wednesday. “I can confirm he is in police custody,” police spokesman Vish Naidoo said by phone from Pretoria, the capital. “I cannot say which prison he will go to because the Department of Correctional Services will do that.”

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LONDON (Dispatches) - An international human rights body has condemned Colombia for ‘excessive and disproportionate’ use of force in response to this year’s anti-government protests, in which dozens died. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights also said the security forces used “lethal force” in many situations. The government said those cases were the exception, and that claims of abuse were already under investigation. The protests were largely peaceful but occasionally turned violent. They started in April amid anger over a proposed reform that would have lowered the threshold at which salaries are taxed. The plan was withdrawn but the protests grew to cover other issues including police violence and poverty.

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PARIS (France 24) - A British police officer on Friday pleaded guilty to the murder of a woman whose disappearance sparked outrage and a national debate about women’s safety. Wayne Couzens, 48, who served in the Metropolitan Police’s elite diplomatic protection unit, had already confessed to kidnapping Sarah Everard, AFP reported. On Friday he also pleaded guilty to her murder, via video link at London’s Old Bailey court. Everard, a 33-year-old marketing executive, went missing while walking home in South London on the evening of March 3. Her disappearance led to vigils and protests and prompted the government to promise enhanced police patrols at night, as well as funding to make the streets safer for women.