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South Korea starts releasing Jeju Air crash victims to families

South Korea starts releasing Jeju Air crash victims to families
South Korea is observing seven days of mourning, with flags flying at half-mast. Above, people collect flowers before placing them in front of the memorial set up in front of Seoul City Hall on Dec. 31, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 31 December 2024

South Korea starts releasing Jeju Air crash victims to families

South Korea starts releasing Jeju Air crash victims to families
  • Investigators race to determine why the Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 crash landed and burst into flames
  • Everyone aboard Jeju Air Flight 2216 was killed, save two flight attendants pulled from the wreckage

MUAN, South Korea: South Korean authorities began releasing the bodies of plane crash victims to families Tuesday, as investigators raced to determine why the Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 crash landed and burst into flames.
US investigators, including from Boeing, arrived at the crash site in southwestern Muan, officials said, as South Korean authorities began assessing two black boxes retrieved from the burned-out wreckage of the aircraft.
The plane was carrying 181 people from Thailand to South Korea when it made a mayday call and belly-landed before crashing into a barrier and bursting into flames.
Everyone aboard Jeju Air Flight 2216 was killed, save two flight attendants pulled from the wreckage.
South Korea is observing seven days of mourning, with flags flying at half-mast.
Acting President Choi Sang-mok, who has only been in office since Friday, said the accident was a “turning point” for the country, calling for a full overhaul of air safety systems.
He urged officials to “thoroughly reexamine the overall aircraft operation system... and immediately address any necessary improvements.”
“Today marks the final day of 2024,” he said Tuesday, urging citizens to “reflect on the past year and prepare for the new one.”
“I am well aware that whenever challenges arose, both domestically and internationally, all citizens and public officials united with one heart and mind to overcome these crises.”
At Muan airport, investigators combed over the wrecked fuselage and soldiers picked carefully through the fields around the airport Tuesday, as people left ritual offerings for victims – including food and letters – near the airport’s perimeter.
“Captain, first officer, and crew members, thank you so much for doing your best to save the passengers. I pray for your eternal rest,” one letter left on the fence said.
Inside the airport, where victims’ relatives have been camped out since Sunday, waiting for information, anger was growing over delays in identifying passengers on the doomed plane.
But officials said they had begun releasing the first bodies to relatives, even as work to identify all victims continued.
“Of the 179 victims, the bodies of four have completed the handover procedures to their bereaved families for funerals,” transport minister Park Sang-woo said at Muan airport Tuesday.
“For 28 victims, whose identities have been confirmed and autopsies completed, we will allow funeral procedures to begin from 2 p.m. (0500 GMT) today with the consent of their families,” he added.
One family lost nine members – including the oldest passenger on the plane, who was taking his first-ever overseas trip to celebrate his birthday, local broadcaster KBC reported.
The passenger, surnamed Bae, was traveling with his wife, his two daughters, one son in law, and four grandchildren, including a five-year-old.
The entire family was killed, with only one of the daughter’s husbands – who was not able to join the trip – left behind to face the loss of his wife and three children.
“Yesterday, the village chief went to Muan Airport and said the son-in-law was in utter despair, saying, ‘I should have gone with them and died with them,’” KBC said.
Memorial altars for the victims have been set up nationwide, including in Seoul.
At Muan airport, families were overseeing the set-up of a new altar Tuesday, with black-and-white funeral flowers filling the area.
A fuller account of what went wrong in the flight’s final moments is expected once authorities have analyzed the black boxes.
“Regarding the black box, surface contamination cleaning has been completed at the testing and analysis center, and its condition is currently being assessed,” deputy civil aviation minister Joo Jong-wan said.
“However, the flight data recorder’s data storage unit is still under evaluation,” he said, as it was found with a missing connector.
Technical reviews are underway to determine how to extract the data.


Spain PM ‘proud’ of pro-Palestinian protests at Vuelta

Spain PM ‘proud’ of pro-Palestinian protests at Vuelta
Updated 57 min 51 sec ago

Spain PM ‘proud’ of pro-Palestinian protests at Vuelta

Spain PM ‘proud’ of pro-Palestinian protests at Vuelta
  • Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Sunday said pro-Palestinian protests that have rocked the Vuelta a Espana filled him with “pride” as large demonstrations await the race’s final stage in Madrid

MADRID: Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Sunday said pro-Palestinian protests that have rocked the Vuelta a Espana filled him with “pride” as large demonstrations await the race’s final stage in Madrid.
The protests, which have targeted the Israel-Premier Tech team over the devastating war in Gaza, have disrupted several stages of one of cycling’s three grand tours and cast doubt on whether the 21-day race could be completed.
The activism has forced some stages to be shortened and occasionally caused crashes as demonstrators burst onto the course, prompting criticism for threatening rider safety and harming Spain’s image.
In his first public comments on the debate, Sanchez expressed his “recognition and full respect for the athletes, but also our admiration for a people like Spain’s which mobilizes for just causes, like Palestine.”
“Spain today shines as an example and as a source of pride, an example to an international community where it sees Spain taking a step forward in the defense of human rights,” he told a Socialist party gathering in Malaga.
Several members of the leftist government have publicly supported the movement in a country where support for the Palestinian cause is strong.
The authorities have ramped up security for Sunday’s final stage in Madrid, which was slightly shortened and will see 1,100 police officers deploy in the Spanish capital.
Protesters briefly breached reinforced security and attempted to block the road during the penultimate stage in the Guadarrama mountains outside Madrid on Saturday, forcing cyclists to swerve around them.
The leader of the conservative opposition Popular Party, Alberto Nunez Feijoo, lashed out on X at the protest, which he said “gave such a shameful image.”
“Instead of ministers encouraging it, the government should condemn, denounce and prevent it,” he added.


An explosion in Madrid from a suspected gas leak killed 1 person and injured 25

An explosion in Madrid from a suspected gas leak killed 1 person and injured 25
Updated 14 September 2025

An explosion in Madrid from a suspected gas leak killed 1 person and injured 25

An explosion in Madrid from a suspected gas leak killed 1 person and injured 25

MADRID: A suspected gas leak explosion in a building in Madrid killed one person and injured 25, emergency services for the Spanish capital said on Sunday.
Rescue workers found the body of a man in a rescue operation with search dogs following the explosion on Saturday, authorities said.
Spanish news agency EFE said that firefighters suspect that the explosion was caused by a gas leak, but police were still investigating its cause.
Firefighter chief Javier Romero said that firefighters pulled four people from the rubble after the explosion occurred at around 3 p.m. Saturday on the ground floor of a three-story building. He said that the blast damaged a cafe, a store and other properties.


New Nepal PM vows to follow protesters’ demands to ‘end corruption’

New Nepal PM vows to follow protesters’ demands to ‘end corruption’
Updated 14 September 2025

New Nepal PM vows to follow protesters’ demands to ‘end corruption’

New Nepal PM vows to follow protesters’ demands to ‘end corruption’
  • Karki added that she and her interim government would not “will not stay here one day more than six months”

Katmandu: Nepal’s new leader vowed Sunday to follow protesters’ demands to “end corruption” as she began work as interim prime minister, after “Gen Z” youth demonstrations ousted her predecessor.
“We have to work according to the thinking of the Gen Z generation. ... What this group is demanding is end of corruption, good governance and economic equality,” said Sushila Karki, the 73-year-old former chief justice, in her first public comments since taking office on Friday. “You and I have to be determined to fulfil that.”
Karki added that she and her interim government would not “will not stay here one day more than six months,” with elections set for March 5, 2026.


Supporters of slain US activist Charlie Kirk shut down critics

Supporters of slain US activist Charlie Kirk shut down critics
Updated 14 September 2025

Supporters of slain US activist Charlie Kirk shut down critics

Supporters of slain US activist Charlie Kirk shut down critics
  • Online vitriol and grassroots persecution have exploded in the wake of the assassination of the 31-year-old who had been an electrifying presence on the US right

WASHINGTON: For some Americans on the far right, Charlie Kirk died a “martyr” and any criticism of the hugely popular conservative activist must be punished.
Online vitriol and grassroots persecution have exploded in the wake of the assassination of the 31-year-old who had been an electrifying presence on the US right, with the killing further deepening fraught political divisions in the country.
Laura Sosh-Lightsy, assistant dean of students at a university in the southern state of Tennessee, found herself in hot water after posting on social media about Kirk’s death.
“Hate begets hate. ZERO sympathy,” she said on Facebook after the killing, which happened Wednesday in front of a large crowd at a university in Utah.
Republican US Senator Marsha Blackburn quickly called out the comment — and Sosh-Lightsy.
“This person should be ashamed of her post. She should be removed from her position,” the Tennessee lawmaker said.
Middle Tennessee State University’s president announced that same night an employee’s firing for a “callous” comment about Kirk.
Kirk, who rallied his millions of followers to help President Donald Trump win a second White House term, was both revered and reviled for his pro-gun, anti-abortion and anti-immigrant rhetoric.
Shooting suspect Tyler Robinson, who was arrested Thursday, is said to have engraved anti-fascist messages on his bullet casings. This has led to a large part of the American right labeling him a “far-left” killer.
Some Kirk supporters have turned into online sleuths, searching out accounts that praised or celebrated Kirk’s murder.
“If they have their picture on their profile, even without a name, download the picture and reverse image search it,” conservative influencer Joey Mannarino said.
“Cross-reference it with their LinkedIn profile and find their place of employment. Call the place of employment, leave Google reviews.”
These efforts have targeted teachers, firefighters and even military personnel, some of whom have lost their jobs.
Kirk’s murder has been condemned by both sides of the political aisle. But Trump quickly blamed the country’s “radical left,” even as authorities were only just launching a manhunt for the killer.
Online trackers have targeted an Oklahoma teacher, who posted on social media: “Charlie Kirk died the same way he lived: bringing out the worst in people.”
That teacher has since been investigated by the state’s Department of Education, which described his comments as “abhorrent.”

Stadium memorial service 

Trump, who praised Kirk as a “giant of his generation,” has led the US government in memorializing the activist, with high-ranking US officials working to weed out critics of Kirk and his legacy.
Trump ordered flags lowered to half-staff in honor of his ally, and Kirk’s body was flown from Utah to his home in Phoenix, Arizona aboard Air Force Two, escorted by Vice President JD Vance.
Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered members of the military to identify colleagues who mocked or celebrated Kirk’s death.
US Under Secretary of State Christopher Landau declared that “foreigners who glorify violence and hatred are not welcome visitors to our country.”
“I have been disgusted to see some on social media praising, rationalizing, or making light of the event, and have directed our consular officials to undertake appropriate action,” he said in a post on X.
“Please feel free to bring such comments by foreigners to my attention so the @statedept can protect the American people.”
Laura Loomer, a far-right conspiracy theorist who has Trump’s ear, has been one of the most high-profile attackers of Kirk’s critics.
She denounced an employee of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), who had expressed disgust on Instagram that flags would be lowered for “the literal racist homophobe misogynist.”
Loomer shared the staffer’s LinkedIn profile and said: “These people hate us. They don’t belong near the levers of our National Power.”
Following Loomer’s post, FEMA said the employee was placed on leave for making “revolting and unconscionable” comments.
On Saturday, Kirk’s organization Turning Point USA announced a memorial service for its founder will be held on September 21 in a suburb of Phoenix.
The chosen venue hints at the expected turnout: a stadium normally home to a professional football team, with a seating capacity of more than 63,000.


Australia says US will have access to Western Australia nuclear submarine shipyard

Australia says US will have access to Western Australia nuclear submarine shipyard
Updated 14 September 2025

Australia says US will have access to Western Australia nuclear submarine shipyard

Australia says US will have access to Western Australia nuclear submarine shipyard
  • The AUKUS pact, aims to provide Australia with nuclear-powered attack submarines from the next decade to counter China’s ambitions in the Indo-Pacific region

Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles said on Sunday that the United States would be able to use planned defense facilities in Western Australia to help deliver submarines under the AUKUS nuclear submarine deal.

The government on Saturday said it would spend A$12 billion to upgrade facilities at the Henderson shipyard near Perth, as part of a 20-year plan to transform it into the maintenance hub for its AUKUS submarine fleet.

The AUKUS pact, agreed upon by Australia, Britain and the US in 2021, aims to provide Australia with nuclear-powered attack submarines from the next decade to counter China’s ambitions in the Indo-Pacific region. President Donald Trump’s administration is undertaking a formal review of the pact.
When asked on Sunday if the US would be able to use dry docks at the facility for its nuclear-powered submarines, Marles said “this is an AUKUS facility and so I would expect so.”
“This is about being able to sustain and maintain Australia’s future submarines but it is very much a facility that is being built in the context of AUKUS,” he told Australian Broadcasting Corporation television. “I would expect that in the future this would be available to the US.”

The center-left Labor government made an initial investment of A$127 million last year to upgrade facilities at the shipyard, which will also build the new landing craft for the Australian army and the new general-purpose frigates for the navy, supporting around 10,000 local jobs.

Under AUKUS — worth hundreds of billions of dollars — Washington will sell several Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarines to Australia, while Britain and Australia will later build a new AUKUS-class submarine.

The Republican and Democratic heads of a US congressional committee for strategic competition with China in July stressed their strong support for AUKUS, amid the review of the deal by Elbridge Colby, a top Pentagon policy official and public critic of the pact.

Australia, which the same month signed a treaty with Britain to bolster cooperation over the next 50 years on AUKUS, has maintained it is confident the pact will proceed.