WASHINGTON: A 97 year-old World War II veteran has become the oldest homicide victim in crime-ridden Baltimore after he was beaten to death in his pajamas for refusing to leave his home.
Wadell Tate was killed on July 21 by burglars inside the rowhouse he had owned for six decades, the Washington Post reported in its Wednesday edition.
Baltimore, a port city about an hour northeast of the US capital, has seen 211 people killed this year, according to city figures.
“They took away his right to die on his own,” Tate’s 65 year-old daughter Sylvia Swann told the Post.
Baltimore, a city of 2.8 million, is troubled by drug use, poverty and racial segregation problems.
In 2016 violent crime in Baltimore was up 22 percent and murders up 78 percent, according to Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
Over the weekend activists called for a 72-hour cease-fire, and held rallies and vigils. Nevertheless two people were killed.
There is little trust between residents and the police as Baltimore struggles with the aftermath of rioting in 2015 following the death in police custody of 25-year-old Freddie Gray.
City police came under scathing criticism after the death of Gray, who suffered a severed spine while being transported in the back of a police van with his hands and feet bound.
In April a federal judge approved a consent decree requiring the Baltimore police to implement sweeping reforms.
The Baltimore city government and police agreed on the decree last year, but the administration of President Donald Trump, promising to empower police to crack down on crime, has sought to delay and modify it.
WWII vet murdered in his pajamas in crime-ridden US city
WWII vet murdered in his pajamas in crime-ridden US city
Three Afghan migrants die of cold while trying to cross into Iran
- More than 1.8 million Afghans were forced to return to Afghanistan by the Iranian authorities between January and the end of November 2025
AFGHANISTAN: Three Afghans died from exposure in freezing temperatures in the western province of Herat while trying to illegally enter Iran, a local army official said on Saturday.
“Three people who wanted to illegally cross the Iran-Afghanistan border have died because of the cold weather,” the Afghan army official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
He added that a shepherd was also found dead in the mountainous area of Kohsan from the cold.
The migrants were part of a group that attempted to cross into Iran on Wednesday and was stopped by Afghan border forces.
“Searches took place on Wednesday night, but the bodies were only found on Thursday,” the army official said.
More than 1.8 million Afghans were forced to return to Afghanistan by the Iranian authorities between January and the end of November 2025, according to the latest figures from the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR), which said that the majority were “forced and coerced returns.”
“These mass returns in adverse circumstances have strained Afghanistan’s already overstretched resources and services” which leads to “risks of onward and new displacement, including return movements back into Pakistan and Iran and onward,” UNHCR posted on its site dedicated to Afghanistan’s situation.
This week, Amnesty International called on countries to stop forcibly returning people to Afghanistan, citing a “real risk of serious harm for returnees.”
Hit by two major earthquakes in recent months and highly vulnerable to climate change, Afghanistan faces multiple challenges.
It is subject to international sanctions particularly due to the exclusion of women from many jobs and public places, described by the UN as “gender apartheid.”
More than 17 million people in the country are facing acute food insecurity, the UN World Food Programme said Tuesday.
