Latest news with #Swat
The Star
5 days ago
- The Star
Police deployed in China to quell teen bullying case protest
Police Swat teams were deployed in southwestern China earlier this week after a protest erupted over authorities' handling of a school bullying case last month. According to footage posted online, the protest occurred on Monday in the Sichuan city of Jiangyou, which is administered by Mianyang. According to a video posted online by Chinese news site hundreds of people gathered inside a government building in Jiangyou on Monday in support of parents of a teenaged girl who had reportedly been beaten and verbally abused at school by three students on July 22. Footage of the bullying incident had been posted online, with rumours spreading that the alleged bullies' parents were government officials or lawyers – claims that authorities denied on Tuesday. As public anger rose, police in Jiangyou said two teen girls had been detained for allegedly assaulting and verbally abusing a 14-year-old girl. Police also said bystanders and a third girl who allegedly took part in the abuse had been 'criticised and educated', adding that the guardians of the teenagers involved had been 'asked to strictly discipline' them. Some mainland media reported that the mother of the bullied girl was deaf, prompting some residents to gather at the government complex to demand harsh punishment for the alleged perpetrators. According to some residents, hundreds of dissatisfied residents gathered on the streets on Monday, confronting the police. Some social media videos that have since been blocked show clashes between people wearing Swat police uniforms and citizens near the Jiangyou municipal government. One video showed dozens of Swat officers trying to contain the crowd with roadblocks and trying to arrest two people in a square in the city's centre. Another video showed the crowd trying to stop a Swat officer from arresting a young man. The Post has confirmed that the videos were filmed in Jiangyou late on Monday night and early on Tuesday morning. A staff member at Mianyang's police bureau said the 'incidents in Jiangyou' were being handled by 'local police and government'. Jiangyou police have been contacted for comment. On Tuesday, a hotel employee said it had been 'very chaotic' outside the night before but declined to provide further details. An employee at a nearby shop said many police officers had been outside on Monday night and the roads near the municipal government were closed on Tuesday. Several map apps showed roads in central Jiangyou closed to traffic by Wednesday morning, but no reason was given for the closures. On Wednesday morning, Fujiang Guancha, an online media outlet affiliated with the Mianyang Communist Party committee, quoted police as saying that they took almost two weeks to handle the case because they had to first wait for the results of an injury assessment. The outlet also quoted a relative of the victim as saying that they hoped social media users would 'stop reposting videos' related to the incident, adding that they 'hope to return to normal life'. - SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
South China Morning Post
6 days ago
- South China Morning Post
Police deployed in China to stop teen bullying case protest
For more on this story: Police Swat teams were deployed in southwestern China in early August after a protest erupted over authorities' handling of a school bullying case the previous month. According to footage posted online, the protest happened on August 4 in the Sichuan city of Jiangyou.
Irish Daily Mirror
29-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Daily Mirror
The 'terrifying' reason Patrick Kielty and Cat Deeley swapped LA for London
TV stars Patrick Kielty and Cat Deeley had spent the last year renovating their new London home after moving back from LA. In 2020, Cat and Patrick announced they wanted to leave LA after a 'terrifying gun incident'. They bought a €5.7 million (£4.9 million) property in Hampstead, North London, which they were in the middle of renovating. Speaking to You magazine at the time, Cat revealed: "I got a call from Paddy, saying, 'They're taking us out through the fire exits but nobody can get to their car. If we walk to a junction, can you come and get us. "He wanted to keep Milo calm, so I didn't understand the enormity of what was happening. As I was driving I began to see helicopters, news vans, firemen and Swat squads." Describing the incident as "terrifying" and revealing her husband was "shaken", Deeley said they had to revisit the shooting incident again when they were looking for prospective schools for their son. "There was a moment when I was with a friend looking at potential schools for Milo and we had to ask the question nobody wants to: 'What do you do if there is a live shooter on the premises?'... The danger suddenly becomes a reality." Their London home was renovated to create a "west coast-inspired" home, drawing on mid-century modern architecture, with Cat sharing some details of their renovation on their home on her Instagram stories. The couple's architect told the MailOnline: "The proposed external appearance builds on the inherent character of the existing house but updates it into a contemporary dwelling both in use and character. "It is inspired by mid-twentieth design ranging from the designs of Alvar Aalto to houses of the west coast of America which are familiar to the clients who spent many years living there." "Materials have also been introduced that connect the clients to their previous home in LA and to places that have significant memories for them." Last year, Patrick revealed he contracted shingles from doing a loft renovation in their home and was afraid he had infected Pope Francis when he was invited to Rome to meet him. The Late Late Show host travelled to the Vatican in June and was among an audience of 100 international comedians and artists who met the Pope. "The week beforehand, we were doing up a house, and I was lifting loft insulation and I thought I actually got loft insulation in my face. (My face) had all swollen up," he added. "When meeting the Pope, I took off my sunglasses and could sort of see him physically recoiling, 'what's going on with this fella'? "It was only afterwards that I actually found out I had shingles. So there was a chance that I had given the Pope shingles, but I was never so glad to actually see him the week after in full health, giving the blessings. It was a surreal experience." Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest news from the Irish Mirror direct to your inbox: Sign up here.
Arab News
22-07-2025
- Climate
- Arab News
Monsoon rains wreak havoc, killing 10 in northwestern Pakistan during last 24 hours
PESHAWAR: At least 10 people were killed and two injured during the last 24 hours in rain-related incidents across Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, the provincial disaster management authority (PDMA) said on Tuesday as monsoon rains continue to wreak havoc in many parts of the country. As per the PDMA's preliminary report, the deceased include two men, two women and six children while the injured includes a man and one child. The report said that 10 houses were damaged in total, eight of which were partially damaged while two were completely destroyed due to rains and flash floods. The incidents occurred in various districts of the province such as Swat, Bajaur, Buner, Upper Kohistan, Upper Chitral and Shangla, as per the PDMA report. 'The PDMA has directed the concerned district administrations to immediately provide assistance to the affected families and ensure the best possible medical treatment for the injured,' the disaster management authority said. The development takes place as the death toll from rain-related incidents in Pakistan since June 26 has surged to 221, as per the National Disaster Management Authority's (NDMA) latest situation reported released on Monday evening. Pakistan's most populous Punjab province has reported the highest number of deaths at 135, followed by 46 in KP, 22 in Sindh, 16 in Balochistan, and one each in the federal capital of Islamabad and Azad Kashmir. The Pakistan Meteorological Department warned this week that landslides and mudslides may block roads in vulnerable areas of Murree, Galliyat, Azad Kashmir and GB, forecasting heavy rains till July 25. Torrential rains, windstorms and lightning could also damage weak structures, electric poles, billboards, vehicles and solar panels, it added. 3 DEAD, 15 MISSING IN NORTHERN PAKISTAN The NDMA said three people had died after a cloudburst triggered flash floods on Babusar Road in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) region on Monday afternoon. Various news reports said 15 tourists were missing after flash floods swept away several vehicles, damaging them in the process. The authority said an area of approximately seven to eight kilometers on Babusar Road was affected, causing 14–15 major blockages due to landslides, debris and flash floods. 'Three dead bodies received at Regional Headquarters Chila, one injured person under treatment,' the NDMA said on Monday. 'Tourists stranded at various points were evacuated.' The NDMA said Babusar Road was 'severely blocked,' adding that around 10–15 vehicles were stuck in nullahs and slide areas as authorities rescued stranded tourists in the area. The twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi were also lashed with heavy rainfall over the past 24 hours State broadcaster Radio Pakistan reported that Islamabad received the highest rainfall, 184 millimeters, over the past 24 hours. Heavy rains led to urban flooding in the capital's Saidpur Village, as footage shared widely on social media showed severely damaged cars being swept away by raging currents in nullahs. A video played by leading news channel Geo News showed a car with two people inside being swept away by floodwater. The news channel claimed the incident took place in Rawalpindi's Defense Housing Authority Phase 5 area. Monsoon season brings South Asia 70 to 80 percent of its annual rainfall, arriving in early June in India and late June in Pakistan, and lasting through until September. In 2022, record-breaking monsoon rains combined with glacial melt submerged nearly a third of Pakistan, killing more than 1,700 people and displacing over 8 million. In May, at least 32 people were killed in severe storms, including strong hailstorms.
Daily Maverick
07-07-2025
- Politics
- Daily Maverick
Mayor, bomb squad go AWOL as hundreds of thousands of Joburg households go without water
In the radio silence from authorities, Johannesburg's active citizens stepped into the crisis. WhatsApp groups with reach across all communities pinned locations and shared information on where to find water; they also liaised with Johannesburg Water and did their best to support vulnerable people. Water outages again hit armies of people in Johannesburg from north to south and west to east as a Rand Water-scheduled maintenance plan hit the hard realities of deadbeat infrastructure. But neither Dada Morero nor his MMC for infrastructure, Jack Sekwaila, were anywhere to be seen; nor was the city's bomb squad appointed to deal with service delivery crises. Not even President Cyril Ramaphosa's Swat team for Joburg, appointed in March, led from the front. Instead, crisis management was left to councillors, who were run ragged, and to the communications and marketing staff of Rand Water and its municipal counterpart, Johannesburg Water. There are still two weeks to go for the winter maintenance, although Rand Water said six of the eight-part maintenance plan was complete and that all its systems were pumping. This doesn't mean there's water in taps as its mega-systems take days to recover and to fill municipal reservoirs. Water cuts are not like load-shedding, where the lights immediately come back on when the switch is flipped to green. Rand Water is the bulk supplier, while Johannesburg Water is the city's troubled utility, which already suffers legacy negligence, so one in two reservoirs has leaks. This means recovery takes even longer than anticipated. Vandals also laid waste to a major Rand Water pipeline at the weekend, setting recovery back and causing an extended weekend of grief for residents. While the city said two tankers would be supplied to all affected wards, that didn't happen. 'The final phase of Rand Water's maintenance that will affect Johannesburg is scheduled for 15-18 July 2025. This phase will again impact the Sandton, Midrand, Linksfield and South Hills systems,' said Johannesburg Water. 'We are working closely with Rand Water to mitigate potential disruptions with lessons learned from the current phase.' The utility added that: 'The entire city is not affected by this phase of the maintenance. Most Johannesburg systems have recovered, except for areas in the south of Johannesburg and parts of the inner city, which are still experiencing supply challenges.' The city expects full recovery in the next 24 to 48 hours (as at Sunday, 6 July at 6pm), provided no further setbacks occur. On the ground The inner city, specifically the high-density areas of Hillbrow, Yeoville and Berea, was among the worst affected. At the weekend, people used hand-made trolleys to pull buckets of water they collected mostly from springs and from a hole near the Yeoville reservoir. They had to lug heavy water containers up to the high-rises. At the reservoir, women did their washing on the street while there was a traffic jam as people collected water from the 'well' in the ground. Near Tudhope Street, a community used a spring to collect water in buckets, some loading them on to a bakkie. They would not allow photographs because raids on immigrants by paramilitary organisations such as Operation Dudula are growing, as Lerato Mutsila reported. The area is home to people from across the rest of Africa, although some locals live there, like Doreen Ntuli and her daughter, who were pulling buckets of water that councillor David Modupi had arranged for them. Modupi was driving around trying to get water tankers to the area. 'The situation's not good at all. We've not seen the two tankers per ward. I'm sure they (Johannesburg Water) are throttling, too,' he said. The city has implemented water throttling in areas where payments are low and illegal connections high – this means water is reduced to a trickle, or there is no water at night. If you implement maintenance cuts and add throttling, the system grinds to a halt, leaving taps dry. Ntuli said she had been without water for seven days by Sunday afternoon, 6 July. 'They (Johannesburg Water) have not catered to elders,' said Modupi, who introduced Daily Maverick to Octavia Mtshali, who wore a T-shirt with former President Jacob Zuma's image. Her buckets had been stolen when she entrusted them to youngsters to fetch water from a tanker. Ntuli was sharing her haul with the old neighbour. Modupi said he and another councillor for a water-stressed area had protested at a council meeting last week. He said they had objected to councillors getting bottled water and having a water tanker stationed outside Constance Bapela chamber in Braamfontein while areas suffered without water. Residents in the dry and in the dark 'Joburg Water remains silent, and residents' taps dry,' said the DA's Johannesburg spokesperson for infrastructure, Tyrell Meyer. 'Rand Water's maintenance impacts multiple high-demand systems including Commando, Orlando East and West, Soweto, Brixton, Crosby, Hursthill 1 and 2, Northcliff, Crown Gardens, and various central and high-lying suburbs – dry taps stemming from these outages ought to be communicated by Joburg Water, but there has been radio silence on the matter. 'We reject the careless manner in which residents have been kept in the dark. Clear proactive communication would have allowed communities to prepare adequately for a complete water outage, not just a 50% supply reduction (as previously stated),' said Meyer. He said the provision of water tankers was helter-skelter and some areas saw tanks arriving at 10pm. (When Joburg temperatures drop to low single digits). The map of outages covers a range of between 20 and 40km; it exceeds a February 2025 system failure, which Morero said had affected 60% of the city's water system. Morero's spokesperson referred Daily Maverick to Johannesburg Water. The head of the bomb squad, Snuki Zikalala, did not respond to requests for comment. WhatsApp groups and active citizens step up In the radio silence from authorities, Johannesburg's active citizens stepped into the crisis. The Johannesburg Water Crisis Committee and WaterCan (the community action network run by Dr Ferrial Adam) protested at Johannesburg Water on Saturday. 'The bomb squad has gone into a bomb shelter, it seems,' said Adam, who said that tankers had been thin on the ground and communication unclear. She said council information showed that infrastructure investment had been under-funded in the latest budget, but that she remained buoyant about plans on the table by the Presidential Working Group team to structure a solid plan to improve water provision. The Rand Water maintenance is part of that planning. WhatsApp groups with reach across all communities pinned locations and shared information on where to find water; they also liaised with Johannesburg Water and did their best to support vulnerable people. This is the fifth time over two years that water cuts that have hit Johannesburg have been so extensive that Daily Maverick has characterised them as near Day Zero conditions – the term refers to taps running dry at a scale that can be called Day Zero. The term was coined by a Cape Town team working for the council as they ramped up efforts in 2018 to ward off severe water cuts threatening the city. DM
