FLORIDA: No mention of fire arms or gun control, President Donald Trump's statement Thursday skirted the big issues and demanded to know how a “disturbed” former student with an obsession with firearms slipped through the net to sow carnage at a Florida high school, killing at least 17 people in the latest gun massacre to rock the nation.
The 19-year-old suspect Nikolas Cruz has been charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder over Wednesday’s deadly rampage at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, America’s worst school shooting since the Sandy Hook massacre left 20 children and six teachers dead in 2012.
After a night of questioning in police custody, the young man was reportedly transferred to a local Florida jail early yesterday.
Trump ordered flags to fly at half-staff and was to deliver a televised address later Thursday, to a nation stunned by the mounting toll of school shootings which US authorities have so far appeared powerless to stop.
Wednesday’s harrowing shooting spree saw terrified students hiding in closets and under desks as they texted for help, while the gunman stalked the school with a semi-automatic AR-15 rifle.
Fifteen people were killed at the school itself, and two later died in hospital. One of those killed was a football coach in Parkland, a city of about 30,000 people, located 50 miles north of Miami.
The president weighed in on the tragedy on Twitter by pointing to indications the shooter — who had been expelled for disciplinary reasons — was “mentally disturbed.”
“So many signs that the Florida shooter was mentally disturbed, even expelled from school for bad and erratic behavior,” Trump wrote.
“Neighbors and classmates knew he was a big problem. Must always report such instances to authorities, again and again!“
Cruz was reportedly known to have firearms at home and had talked about using them.
A teacher at the school said Cruz had been identified previously as a potential threat to his classmates.
“We were told last year that he wasn’t allowed on campus with a backpack on him,” math teacher Jim Gard said in a Miami Herald interview.
“There were problems with him last year threatening students, and I guess he was asked to leave campus.”
According to a BuzzFeed report, the FBI had been informed Cruz could carry out a school shooting last year, after the teen commented on a video: “I’m going to be a professional school shooter.”
The creator of the video tipped off both the FBI and YouTube, BuzzFeed said.
Florida Senator Marco Rubio on Thursday called Cruz a “deeply disturbed person,” and questioned how the teenager “escaped detection, was able to acquire this weapon, and then go on and kill 17 people and injure many more.”
“This was someone that people knew was a danger,” Rubio said.
The United States has been hit by almost 20 school shootings since the start of the year, a terrifying phenomenon that is part of a broader epidemic of gun violence in a country that loses 33,000 people to gun-related deaths each year.
While the latest mass shooting has inevitably reignited questions about America’s permissive gun laws, Trump — who is the first president to have addressed the NRA gun lobby — is staunchly opposed to any additional gun control.
Opponents of gun control have consistently sought to steer public debate away from the issue, and onto the behavior and motives of people using the weapons.
When questioned at a press conference late Wednesday, Florida Governor Rick Scott — who described the massacre as “just pure evil” — declined to make a statement on gun control.
“There’s a time to continue to have these conversations about how through law enforcement, how through mental illness funding that we make sure people are safe, and we’ll continue to do that,” said Scott, a Republican.
Cruz had mixed in with students fleeing the school before being caught, officials said.
“We have already begun to dissect his websites and things on social media that he was on and some of the things... are very, very disturbing,” Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel said.
“If a person is predisposed to commit such a horrific event by going to a school and shooting people ... there’s not anybody or not a lot law enforcement can do about it.”
“This is a terrible day for Parkland,” Israel said.
The FBI said it was assisting local law enforcement with the investigation.
Parkland Mayor Christine Hunschofsky said a police officer was always stationed at the school and there was a “single point of entry.”
Since January 2013, there have been at least 291 school shootings across the country — an average of about one a week, according to Everytown for Gun Safety, a non-profit group that advocates for gun control.
“It is pretty clear that we’re failing our kids here,” said Melissa Falkowski, a teacher who squeezed 19 students into a closet to shield them from harm.
Trump demands answers after 17 gunned down at Florida school
Trump demands answers after 17 gunned down at Florida school
Pakistan Securities And Exchange Commission approves PIA restructuring
- Pakistan’s national airline has accumulated hundreds of billions of rupees in arrears and losses over the years
- Pakistan last year agreed to overhaul loss-making public entities in exchange for a financial bailout from IMF
KARACHI: The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has approved the restructuring scheme of the country’s national airline, the privatization ministry confirmed on Sunday, marking a significant milestone in the government’s endeavors to privatize the loss-making entity.
Pakistan has identified 25 public sector enterprises for privatization that have accumulated billions in losses, including the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), banks, hotels and power generation and distribution companies. Pakistan agreed in June 2023 to overhaul its loss-making state-owned enterprises (SOEs) as part of a deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a $3 billion bailout package. The government resolved to privatize PIA shortly after finalizing the IMF agreement.
However, the country’s progress in privatization has been stalled for decades due to political inertia and various challenges, including legal, licensing and ownership issues. In March, the government created PIA Holding Company (Holdco) to expedite the national carrier’s privatization by managing the airline’s liabilities and assisting in its transfer to potential investors.
On May 4, the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) green-lighted PIA’s acquisition by Holdco, saying it would not have any material impact on the market. On Sunday, the privatization ministry said the SECP had agreed to the transfer of PIA’s non-core assets and liabilities to Holdco.
“This order marks a significant milestone in the collaborative efforts of the Privatization Commission (PC), Finance Division, Aviation Ministry and Pakistan International Airlines to restructure the national carrier,” the ministry said.
It said the SECP has directed the Pakistan Stock Exchange, the Central Depository Company and the National Clearing Company to ensure Holdco’s “smooth listing.”
The PIA has accumulated hundreds of billions of rupees in arrears and losses over the years, forcing successive Pakistani governments to dole out billions of rupees from their budgets to keep the loss-making public entity afloat.
The PIA’s woes were compounded after 2020 when the airline was already struggling financially while its flights were grounded due to the coronavirus pandemic. When the national airline resumed operations in May 2020, a domestic PIA flight crash in Karachi killed 97 out of 99 people on board, prompting an initial inquiry that pointed to a number of safety failures.
The inquiry sparked a disclosure from authorities that nearly a third of PIA’s pilots may have falsified their qualifications, prompting the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and other regulators to ban PIA flights.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has vowed to privatize the airline and warned Pakistan’s bureaucracy that he would not tolerate delays in the process. Sharif has assured Pakistan’s business community several times that the process to privatize the national airline would be a transparent one.
Sporting Lisbon win Portuguese league after Benfica stumble
- Last season’s victors stumbled 2-0 at Famalicao to complete Sporting’s triumph after Ruben Amorim’s triumphant side thrashed Portimonense 3-0 on Saturday
- Sporting will face Porto in the Portuguese Cup final on May 26, aiming to secure a double
LISBON: Sporting Lisbon were crowned champions of Portugal for only the second time in 21 years on Sunday after second-placed Benfica lost.
Last season’s victors stumbled 2-0 at Famalicao to complete Sporting’s triumph after Ruben Amorim’s triumphant side thrashed Portimonense 3-0 on Saturday.
Sporting, the division’s top scorers by far with 92 goals in 32 matches, are eight points clear of Benfica with just two games remaining.
Amorim’s side have lost just two times this season on the way to securing the club’s 20th league title, trailing Porto on 30 and record winners Benfica on 38.
Swedish forward Viktor Gyokeres’ goals have powered Sporting’s title success and he netted his 27th of the campaign on Saturday to wrap up their victory.
The striker signed from Coventry City last summer for a club record fee of 20 million euros ($21.5 million) plus add-ons.
It is the second league trophy brought to the club by former Benfica player Amorim, who led Sporting to glory in the 2020/21 season.
Sporting will face Porto in the Portuguese Cup final on May 26, aiming to secure a double.
’Almost dead’ Rublev battles illness to claim Madrid Open title
- The Russian world No. 8 said he was “almost dead every day” and could barely sleep this week after securing a career second Masters 1000 victory
- Rublev, who takes the Madrid crown from double champion Carlos Alcaraz whom he beat in the quarterfinals, said he had played despite feeling ill at times this week and hailed his doctors for helping him through
MADRID: Andrey Rublev won the Madrid Open with a hard-fought 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 victory over Felix Auger-Aliassime on Sunday to secure his second title of the year, despite battling with illness.
The Russian world No. 8 said he was “almost dead every day” and could barely sleep this week after securing a career second Masters 1000 victory.
Rublev had lost four consecutive matches before arriving in the Spanish capital but came from a set down to beat his Canadian opponent.
The 26-year-old triumphed at the Hong Kong Open in January but struggled since before turning around his form in Madrid, dropping just one set on the way to what proved a tense final.
“I think it was an incredible match, Felix deserved (in) the same way as me to win today and we showed a great battle together, I think the most important thing was that the people enjoyed it,” said Rublev on court.
“Our sport is like this, we cannot have both winners.”
Rublev, who takes the Madrid crown from double champion Carlos Alcaraz whom he beat in the quarterfinals, said he had played despite feeling ill at times this week and hailed his doctors for helping him through.
“If you knew what I had been through in the past nine days you would not imagine that I would be able to win a title,” he added.
“I was almost dead every day, I was not sleeping at night — the last three, four days I didn’t sleep.”
Auger-Aliassime reached the final after his opponent Jiri Lehecka retired hurt in the semifinals and quarterfinal opponent Jannik Sinner withdrew with a hip injury, with the ATP draw at the clay-court tournament struck by misfortune.
However, the 23-year-old Canadian, ranked 35th in the world, gave everything he had in his first Masters 1000 final appearance.
Auger-Aliassime started superbly by breaking to love in the first game and then again in the fifth game for a 4-1 lead.
Rublev recovered a break when Auger-Aliassime went long, and consolidated for a 4-3 deficit.
The Russian saved a set point to hold for 5-4 down but Auger-Aliassime clinched it at the second opportunity with a forehand down the line.
In the second set the Canadian held for 3-3 with a brilliant drop shot after Rublev spurned a break point.
They stayed on serve until the 12th game when Rublev brought up two set points, converting the second to take it to a deciding third set.
Rublev raced through his service games and put heavy pressure on his opponent’s serve, forcing a break point in the second game and two more in the fourth, none of which he could take.
Auger-Aliassime produced huge serves to fight his way out of tough spots, racking up 14 aces in the match to Rublev’s seven.
However Rublev dropped just three points on his serve in the third set, while Auger-Aliassime trailed in all of his service games but always battled back, until the decisive 12th game.
Auger-Aliassime double-faulted to hand Rublev the title, with the Russian falling to the floor in delight.
Philippines, US fire at ‘invasion’ force in South China Sea war games
- Thousands of troops are conducting maneuvers against a backdrop of increased confrontations between Chinese and Filipino vessels around shoals in the South China Sea
LAOAG, Philippines: US and Filipino troops fired missiles and artillery at an imaginary “invasion” force during war games on the Philippines’ northern coast Monday, days after their governments objected to China’s “dangerous” actions in regional waters.
Thousands of troops are conducting land, sea and air maneuvers against a backdrop of increased confrontations between Chinese and Filipino vessels around shoals in the South China Sea claimed by Manila, as well as stepped-up Chinese air and naval activity around nearby self-ruled Taiwan.
US troops massed at a strip of sand dunes on Luzon island’s northwest coast — around 400 kilometers south of Taiwan — let loose more than 50 live 155mm howitzer rounds at floating targets about five kilometers off the coast, AFP journalists saw.
Filipino troops followed up by firing rockets aimed at wearing down the attackers, before the two forces finished the job with machine guns, Javelin missiles and more artillery rounds.
Lt. Gen. Michael Cederholm, commander of the US First Marine Expeditionary Force, said the exercise was “to prepare for the worst” by “securing key maritime terrain.”
“It’s designed to repel an invasion,” Cederholm told reporters at the exercise site.
“Our northwestern side is more exposed,” Major General Marvin Licudine, exercise director for the Filipinos, said ahead of the live firing at the La Paz sand dunes near Laoag city.
“Because of the regional problems that we have... we have to already practice and orient ourselves in our own land in these parts,” he added.
Beijing claims almost the entire South China Sea despite an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis.
It deploys hundreds of coast guard, navy and other vessels to patrol and militarise the waters.
Just last week, Manila said the China Coast Guard damaged a Philippine Coast Guard ship and another government vessel in water cannon attacks around the disputed China-controlled Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea on April 30.
More than 16,700 Filipino and American troops are taking part in the annual military drills — dubbed Balikatan, or “shoulder to shoulder” in Tagalog — in multiple locations across the Asian archipelago.
Maritime confrontations between China and the Philippines have raised fears of a wider conflict that could involve the United States and other allies.
Monday’s exercise came days after the defense ministers of the Philippines, the United States, Japan and Australia met in Hawaii and issued a joint statement on their strong objections to the “dangerous and destabilising conduct” of China in the South China Sea.
The ministers “discussed opportunities to further advance defense cooperation” and to “work together to support states exercising their rights and freedoms in the South China Sea.”
Last week, US forces taking part in the Balikatan exercises fired HIMARS precision rockets into the South China Sea from the western island of Palawan, the nearest major Philippine landmass to the hotly disputed Spratly Islands.
The US Marine Corps said the maneuver was a rehearsal for the rapid deployment of the missile system across the Philippines’ South China Sea coast to “secure and protect Philippines’ maritime terrain, territorial waters and exclusive economic zone interests.”
The confrontations between the Philippines and China comes as tensions have ratcheted up between Beijing and Taipei, which is about to inaugurate a new president regarded by China as a dangerous separatist.
Taiwan’s defense ministry said Friday it had detected 26 Chinese aircraft and five naval vessels around the self-ruled island in the previous 24 hours.
“To a degree, military exercises are a form of deterrence,” Philippine Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo was quoted as saying in remarks delivered on his behalf by an aide at a public workshop on Friday.
“The more we simulate, the less we actuate,” he added.
Sri Lanka, Scotland qualify for women’s T20 World Cup
- Winner of Sri Lanka, Scotland match to join Group A members Australia, India, New Zealand and Pakistan
- Qualifying runners-up will play Bangladesh, England, South Africa and West Indies in T20 World Cup 2024
Abu Dhabi: Sri Lanka survived a scare against the United Arab Emirates on Sunday to secure the last place at this year’s women’s T20 World Cup, after Scotland also booked a spot at the tournament.
In the second semifinal of the global qualifying event in Abu Dhabi, Sri Lanka posted 149-6 batting first, with Vishmi Gunaratne top-scoring with 45.
Sri Lanka, seventh in the world T20I rankings, were in trouble for much of the UAE’s chase, but the hosts fell away after the dismissal of captain Esha Oza for a 44-ball 66, finishing on 134-7 to lose by 15 runs.
Chamari Athapaththu’s side will head into the World Cup, to be held in Bangladesh in October, with hopes of getting out of the group stage for the first time after a historic T20 series win over former world champions England last year.
Earlier, 14th-ranked Scotland qualified for a maiden women’s World Cup by cruising to an eight-wicket win over Ireland.
Captain Kathryn Bryce took 4-8 from four overs as Ireland were restricted to just 110-9 batting first.
“It’s unbelievable, I feel like we’ve worked so hard for this for so long, and had our share of disappointments,” Sarah Bryce, who was at the crease with sister Kathryn when her team secured victory, told Cricket Scotland.
“To finally get over the line, it makes me well up every time I start thinking about it, we’re actually going to a World Cup.”
Bryce made a 29-ball 35 not out after Megan McColl’s fifty, as Scotland chased down their target with 3.4 overs to spare.
Scotland will meet Sri Lanka in Tuesday’s qualifying final, with the winners to join holders Australia, India, New Zealand and Pakistan in Group A at the main event which runs from October 3-20.
The qualifying runners-up will play Bangladesh, England, South Africa and the West Indies in Group B.
