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Gaza a ‘slaughterhouse,’ says British surgeon

Gaza a ‘slaughterhouse,’ says British surgeon
Relatives mourn by the bodies of four-month-old Aylul Abu Seif and her father Khaled who were killed in Israeli strikes, at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in central Gaza Strip, May 18, 2025. (AFP)
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Updated 18 May 2025

Gaza a ‘slaughterhouse,’ says British surgeon

Gaza a ‘slaughterhouse,’ says British surgeon
  • Dr. Tom Potokar: ‘It’s difficult to describe in words what’s happening here’
  • ‘Absolutely horrific’ stories amid escalating Israeli attacks

LONDON: A British surgeon working in southern Gaza has described treating severe explosive injuries and compared the Palestinian enclave to a “slaughterhouse” amid escalating Israeli attacks.

Overnight, at least 130 people were reported killed as Israeli forces launched extensive ground operations in the northern and southern Gaza Strip, forcing the closure of some of its main medical facilities.

that medical staff were treating severe explosive injuries in southern Gaza.

“It’s difficult to describe in words what’s happening here (with the) constant sound of bombardment, jets overhead,” he added.

Following the Hamas attack in October 2023 that killed nearly 1,200 people, Israeli forces launched an air, ground and sea campaign on Gaza, killing over 52,000 Palestinians and displacing and injuring hundreds of thousands.

Potokar said he treated a young woman who “is not yet aware that everyone in (her) family was killed in the onslaught.”

He added: “Another day of devastation here in Gaza ... The stories coming from the north ... absolutely horrific ... particularly around the Indonesian Hospital.”

The hospital, one of the largest partially functioning medical facilities in Beit Lahia, has ceased operations due to Israeli bombing.

In the south, the Gaza European Hospital in Khan Yunis announced that it was out of service last week, while the Kuwait Specialized Hospital in Rafah said it can no longer operate its surgical department amid the Israeli attacks.

Since March, Israel has enforced a blockade on aid, prompting a warning from UN food experts about the imminent risk of mass starvation in Gaza.


Germany to pay local US military staff during shutdown

Updated 5 sec ago

Germany to pay local US military staff during shutdown

Germany to pay local US military staff during shutdown
BERLIN: Germany plans to pay some 11,000 local employees at US military bases in the country whose paycheques have been impacted by the government shutdown in Washington, the finance ministry said Wednesday.
“The federal government will initiate an unscheduled expenditure to ensure that October salaries are paid on time,” a ministry spokeswoman said.
The trade union Verdi on Tuesday said that local staff have continued being paid during past US government shutdowns, but expressed fears that the current Trump administration appeared likely to halt paycheques.
The union contended that doing so would be a clear violation of German law, and urged a solution to prevent any missed pay.
The finance ministry spokeswoman told AFP on Wednesday that it currently remains unclear whether US payments might still come through despite the shutdown.
But the federal government in Berlin and the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate struck the deal to guarantee salaries will be paid and avoid any issues, she said.
The German government anticipates being reimbursed for the payroll cost once the US side makes payment, according to the spokeswoman.
Berlin’s contribution is “a sign of solidarity with the US armed forces stationed in Germany and their civilian employees,” she added.

Louvre reopens for first time after jewel heist

Louvre reopens for first time after jewel heist
Updated 12 min 10 sec ago

Louvre reopens for first time after jewel heist

Louvre reopens for first time after jewel heist
  • First visitors began entering the world-famous institution, though the museum said the Apollo Gallery remains closed
  • Disappointed tourists were turned away at the entrance of the Louvre in the heart of Paris the day after the theft

PARIS: The Louvre reopened its doors to visitors on Wednesday, three days after it had been shuttered over the theft of precious royal jewelry, an AFP journalist saw.
From 9:00 a.m. (0700 GMT), the museum’s usual opening time, the first visitors began entering the world-famous institution, though the museum said the Apollo Gallery, where Sunday’s theft occurred, remains closed.
Scores of investigators are looking for Sunday’s culprits, working on the theory that it was an organized crime group that clambered up a ladder on a truck to break into the museum, then dropped a diamond-studded crown as they fled.
They made off with eight priceless pieces, including an emerald-and-diamond necklace that Napoleon I gave his wife Empress Marie-Louise and a diadem that once belonged to the Empress Eugenie, which is dotted with nearly 2,000 diamonds.
Disappointed tourists were turned away at the entrance of the Louvre in the heart of Paris the day after the theft, and it remained closed on Tuesday as per its regular schedule.
The world’s most visited museum, last year it welcomed nine million people to its extensive hallways and galleries.
The theft reignited a row over the lack of security in French museums, after two other institutions were hit last month.


Taiwan reports its first case of African swine fever

Taiwan reports its first case of African swine fever
Updated 38 min 20 sec ago

Taiwan reports its first case of African swine fever

Taiwan reports its first case of African swine fever
TAIPEI: Taiwan reported its first cases of African swine fever on Wednesday and authorities culled at least 195 pigs and ordered a ban on the movement and slaughter of pigs across the island.
The Ministry of Agriculture said that samples from dead pigs from a farm in the coastal city of Taichung had tested positive for African swine fever on Tuesday.
Animal protection and quarantine authorities immediately went to the farm and “preventively culled 195 pigs,” the ministry said. The authorities then supervised the cleaning and disinfection of the farm and established a control zone with a radius of 3 kilometers (1.9 miles) from the center of the affected farm.
Authorities also ordered a five-day ban on the movement and slaughtering of pigs across the island starting at noon on Wednesday.
Taiwan will isolate the virus strain before officially reporting it to the World Organization of Animal Health, Agriculture Minister Chen Junne-jih said in a press conference.
“However, virus isolation takes two weeks, but we can’t wait,” Chen added. “We must implement the highest standards to prevent and control this suspected case of African swine fever.”
African swine fever, which is nearly always fatal to swine, does not affect humans or other animals outside of the pig family.
This is Taiwan’s first-ever reported case of the virus, Chen said. The island prohibits bringing in any meat or meat products without proper inspection and quarantine, with fines up to 1 million Taiwan dollars (about $32,500).
“The most likely route of transmission is from outside Taiwan, through the illegal importation of pork products, which ultimately find their way to pig farms through food waste systems,” Chen added.
In 2019, millions of pigs were culled in China and Vietnam as the virus spread through Asia.
Currently, the only Asian country with a confirmed ongoing African swine fever outbreak is South Korea, according to the World Organization of Animal Health’s October report on the virus situation worldwide. Twelve countries in Europe are also battling the virus.

Unspoilt corner of Portugal fears arrival of high end tourism

Unspoilt corner of Portugal fears arrival of high end tourism
Updated 41 min 35 sec ago

Unspoilt corner of Portugal fears arrival of high end tourism

Unspoilt corner of Portugal fears arrival of high end tourism
  • Rapid development in the coastal region of Comporta has alarmed locals and environmentalists, who fear a repeat of the unchecked growth seen in Portugal’s southernmost Algarve province, long a package holiday destination

COMPORTA: Above the pine forests and dunes that stretch along the nearly deserted beaches of southwestern Portugal, cranes rise from building sites soon to be luxury hotels — a sign of the region’s contentious transformation into a playground for the wealthy.
Rapid development in the coastal region of Comporta has alarmed locals and environmentalists, who fear a repeat of the unchecked growth seen in Portugal’s southernmost Algarve province, long a package holiday destination.
Dubbed “the new Portuguese Riviera,” Comporta has drawn high-profile visitors including Oscar-winning actor Nicole Kidman and Princess Caroline of Monaco.
Real estate consultancy Knight Frank lists the region, located about an hour’s drive south of Lisbon, among the five most sought-after luxury residential markets worldwide.
“Comporta appeals to a wealthy clientele seeking nature, privacy and wellness,” the company wrote in a recent report.
French designer Christian Louboutin was among the first international figures to discover Comporta’s charm, opening a hotel in Melides, a small village of whitewashed houses with blue doors.
Princess Eugenie, whose uncle is Britain’s head of state King Charles III, splits her time between London and Comporta, drawn by the region’s relaxed lifestyle.
“I can go to the supermarket in sportswear, my hair in disarray, and nobody cares,” she told the podcast Table and Manners in 2023.

- ‘Overrun by tourism’ -

Environmentalists warn that development projects threaten the region’s unique mix of dunes, pine forests, gnarled cork trees and an endless patchwork of rice fields.
Campaign group Dunas Livres (Free Dunes) says eight “mega-projects” are under development, each covering hundreds of hectares, which will increase water consumption in a region already threatened by drought.
“These hotel complexes, with golf courses, swimming pools and a very large number of tourist beds, obviously consume a lot of water,” Catarina Rosa, a biologist with the group, told AFP.
“Comporta, a true natural treasure, is being overrun by tourism,” she added.
The transformation traces back to the collapse of the Espirito Santo bank during the 2011 debt crisis.
The Espirito Santo family were once the sole owners of the 12,000-hectare Herdade da Comporta estate but sold large parcels to developers following the collapse of their banking empire.
Since then, investors including French developer Claude Berda’s Vanguard Properties and US-based Discovery Land Company have launched private residences, hotel complexes and golf courses.
Discovery Land is behind the CostaTerra Golf and Ocean Club, planned to feature nearly 300 luxury villas.

- ‘Frenzy’ -

Local residents have mixed feelings about the changes.
Some have sold small properties for staggering sums, while others worry that skyrocketing real estate prices are disrupting their way of life or forcing them out.
A small house worth 20,000 euros ($23,000) two decades ago is now valued at one million euros, said Jacinto Ventura, a farmer and president of a local association in Melides.
“This real estate bubble, with no clear end in sight, has driven prices into a frenzy. And this frenzy has forced a large portion of the population to move away,” he told AFP.
Residents also complain about restricted access to public beaches and rising costs in local shops since the arrival of wealthy visitors.
While some are leaving the area, others are trying to hold on.
Belinda Sobral, 42, a former engineer who reopened her grandparents’ tavern in the nearby town of Grandola, said the problem is not tourism itself, but the pace of development.
“It has been too fast, without planning or respect for the locals,” the mother of two said.
“I want to preserve the identity of this place. Without memory, Comporta will become another Ibiza — a resort like so many others,” she added.


63 people killed in Uganda road accident: police

63 people killed in Uganda road accident: police
Updated 22 October 2025

63 people killed in Uganda road accident: police

63 people killed in Uganda road accident: police
  • Two buses collided on a major motorway in Uganda early on Wednesday, killing 63 people and injuring several others, police said

NAIROBI: Two buses collided on a major motorway in Uganda early on Wednesday, killing 63 people and injuring several others, police said.
The incident occurred on the Kampala-Gulu highway just after midnight, when two buses “met head-on during the overtaking maneuvers” police said in a statement posted on X.
One of the drivers swerved in an attempt to avoid collision, but instead caused “a chain reaction” which led to at least four other vehicles “losing control and overturning several times,” the statement said.
“As a result, 63 people lost lives, all occupants from involved vehicles and several others sustained injuries,” police said.
Those hurt had been taken to Kiryandongo Hospital and other nearby medical facilities, the statement said, but did not give any further details on the number injured or the extent of their wounds.