Brotherhood leader’s son killed in clashes; Gunfire heard at besieged Cairo mosque

August 17, 2013

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Cairo, Aug 17: Gunfire was on Saturday heard at a Cairo mosque where hundreds of supporters of deposed Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy were engaged in a tense standoff with security forces, even as the death toll in fierce street clashes rose to nearly 180.

Gunshots were heard at Al-Fatah mosque near Ramses Square in central Cairo, where security forces in riot gear have surrounded pro-Morsy supporters.

State-run MENA news agency reported that gunmen were firing from inside the mosque and live footage on television showed security forces shooting at a minaret from outside.

Scores of protesters, who took those killed and wounded in Friday’s clashes to the mosque, have refused to leave.

Some security personnel entered the mosque to negotiate with protesters and reportedly offered to allow women to leave the mosque but said men would be held for questioning. The Muslim Brotherhood rejected the proposal.

Speaking to Al Jazeera by phone from inside the mosque, Omaima Halawa said there were about 700 people, including women and children, inside.

They feared leaving the mosque because “there were thugs outside with the security forces, and that... the security forces were working with the thugs”, she said.

Egypt’s Nile News reported that about 10 people, mostly women, left the mosque with the body of a woman who died on Friday.

As the toll in Friday’s clashes between protesters and security forces across the country rose to 173, the Muslim Brotherhood on Saturday called for a week of protests.

Brotherhood spiritual leader’s son killed

Senior Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie’s son was among dozens shot dead in the Egyptian capital on Friday.

Ammar Badie, a 38-year-old computer engineer, died of a bullet wound in Ramses Square in Cairo during protests.

The Muslim Brotherhood has established a makeshift field hospital in the mosque at Ramses Square, the latest flashpoint in a growing crisis.

Two protesters inside the mosque told BBC they did not trust the authorities’ promises of a safe exit. They said the protesters had drinking water but there was only one toilet.

Security officials quoted by MENA news agency claimed “armed elements” had opened fire from inside the mosque. They said people were being prevented from leaving the mosque by protesters.

Mr. Morsy’s supporters took to the streets after Friday prayers to protest the killing of over 600 in the August 14, 2013 crackdown by the military-backed government.

Egypt’s interim officials say more than 1,000 Islamists were arrested after Friday’s protests, dubbed as “Day of Rage“.

“The number of Muslim Brotherhood elements arrested reached 1,004,” the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

“Our rejection of the coup regime has become an Islamic, national and ethical obligation that we can never abandon,” said the Brotherhood, which has accused Egypt’s military of plotting the downfall of Mr. Morsy last month to regain the levers of power.

The crackdown has divided Egyptians as never before in recent history, splintering the army-installed government and inviting international censure.

An interim cabinet, installed by the Army after it removed Morsy during rallies against his rule, has refused to back down in the face of the protests. It has authorised police to use live ammunition to defend themselves and state installations.

Bader Abdel Atty, a spokesman for the Egyptian Foreign Ministry, defended the actions of the security forces in an interview with Al Jazeera, saying that protesters were armed with machine guns.

He dismissed international condemnation of the violence and said Egypt would accept no external interference.

Egypt’s interim leaders have imposed a state of emergency with dusk-to-dawn curfews in the capital and other areas. The Interior Ministry says police have been authorised to use live ammunition “within a legal framework“.

The Muslim Brotherhood has been on the streets since July 3 after the army deposed Mr. Morsy — Egypt’s first democratically elected president — last month and installed an interim government.

Al-Qaeda chief’s brother held

Authorities have also arrested the brother of al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri, a security official was quoted by media reports as saying.

Mohammed al-Zawahiri, leader of the ultraconservative Jihadi Salafist group, was detained at a checkpoint in Giza.

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News Network
April 18,2020

Dubai, Apr 18: Saudi Arabia has reported 1,132 new coronavirus cases, taking the total number of confirmed COVID-19 patients to 8,274, the Ministry of Health revealed on Saturday.

The ministry has also announced five more deaths from the virus, taking to 92 the Kingdom’s death toll.

Recoveries
As for recoveries, 280 new recoveries were reported, pushing the total number of patients recovered to 1,329.

The ministry revealed that 79 per cent of today’s cases are expatriates and that 65 per cent of the cases were detected through intensified and active COVID-19 screening in densely-populated areas.

A total of 201 patients of Saturday’s cases have contracted the disease due to being in contact with existing cases, the ministry added.

The new infected cases have been placed under complete isolation and they are receiving necessary medical care, an official from the ministry said.

He affirmed that medical teams are intensifying efforts and screening tests in workers' neighbourhoods and accommodations in order to limit the spread of the disease.

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News Network
January 8,2020

Dubai, Jan 8: A Ukrainian airliner crashed soon after taking off from Tehran's Imam Khomeini airport on Wednesday, killing all 176 people aboard, Iran's state television and Ukraine's leaders said.

The Boeing 737 belonging to Ukraine International Airlines crashed near the airport and burst into flames. Ukraine's embassy in Iran, citing preliminary information, said the plane had suffered engine failure and the crash was not caused by "terrorism".

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said there were no survivors.

"My sincere condolences to the relatives and friends of all passengers and crew," Zelenskiy said in a statement, adding that Ukraine was seeking to establish the circumstances of the crash and the death toll.

Iranian TV said the crash was due to technical problems but did not elaborate. State broadcaster IRIB said on its website that one of the plane's two black boxes - the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder - had been found.

Iranian media quoted an Iranian aviation official as saying the pilot of the airliner did not declare an emergency.

There was no official word from Ukraine International Airlines. It was the Kiev-based airline's first fatal crash.

"The fire is so heavy that we cannot (do) any rescue... we have 22 ambulances, four bus ambulances and a helicopter at the site," Pirhossein Koulivand, head of Iran's emergency services, told Iranian state television.

Ukraine's prime minister and Iranian state TV said 167 passengers and 9 crew were on board. Iranian TV said 32 of those on board were foreigners.

Television footage showed debris and smouldering engine parts strewn across a field, and rescue workers with face masks retrieving bodies of the victims.

According to air tracking service FlightRadar24, the plane that crashed was Flight PS 752 and was flying to Kiev. The plane was three years old and was a Boeing 737-800NG, it said.

The model's twin engines are made by CFM International, a U.S.-French venture co-owned by General Electric and France's Safran.

Modern aircraft are designed and certified to cope with an engine failure shortly after take-off and to fly for extended periods on one engine. However, an uncontained engine failure releasing shrapnel can cause damage to other aircraft systems.

A spokesman for Boeing said the company was aware of media reports of a plane crash in Iran and was gathering more information. The plane manufacturer grounded its 737 MAX fleet in March after two crashes that killed 346 people.

The 737-800 is one of the world's most-flown models with a good safety record and which does not have the software feature implicated in crashes of the 737 MAX.

Under international rules overseen by the United Nations, Iran is responsible for leading the crash investigation.

Ukraine would be involved and the United States would usually be accredited as the country where the Boeing jet was designed and built. France, where the engine maker CFM has half its activities, may also be involved.

There was no immediate word on whether the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board would be involved in the probe amid escalating tensions between the U.S. and Iran. The NTSB usually invites Boeing to give technical advice in such investigations.

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Agencies
May 26,2020

Dubai, May 26: An Indian expat, who recently recovered from COVID-19, fell to his death from a building in Dubai, police said.

The 26-year-old Indian national identified as Neelath Muhammed Firdous from Kerala, fell from the seventh floor balcony of his building where he stayed with six others including his uncle, Naushad Ali, 33.

A Dubai Police official confirmed the incident to Gulf News on Monday and said it had been a suicide.

"He was suffering from a mental disorder and there is no criminal suspicions behind his death," said the official.

"The incident happened on Sunday," the official confirmed.

The victim's relative said: "(He) awoke early to perform prayers and everyone was getting on with their daily morning chores when he walked to the balcony and jumped.

"He was suffering from a mental disorder and had been disturbed for some time. He thought everyone was out to attack him and had stopped eating his food as he thought people were feeding him poison. He was refusing to even take water from us."

The victim had tested positive for COVID-19 on April 10. On May 7, he was discharged from a Dubai hospital after clearing all tests.

The relative told Gulf News that he had registered the victim in the Department of Non-Resident Keralites Affairs (NORKA) last month in order to repatriate him, however he was unsuccessful in procuring a ticket.

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