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LONDON: A 14-year-old boy who died after a “playground incident” with another pupil at a school in Scotland has been named.
Hamdan Aslam was taken to hospital on Tuesday after emergency services were called to St Kentigern’s Academy in Blackburn, Bathgate, West Lothian. He was later pronounced dead.
Police Scotland said they were told of the incident at 1:20 p.m. Tuesday, adding: “Officers were called to a report of concern for a 14-year-old boy at a school in the Bathgate area.
“He was taken by ambulance to hospital for treatment, but died a short time later. His family have been informed and inquiries are ongoing to establish the full circumstances of the death.”
The police did not comment further, but sources told Sky News “no criminality” occurred in the incident, which involved two pupils.
The local Bathgate Mosque said in a statement: “During these difficult moments, the (Aslam) family needs our support and prayers.
“We ask Allah to grant Hamdan the highest rank in Jannah and provide the family with sabr (patience) to bear this loss. It is crucial that we refrain from making assumptions and speculations regarding this tragedy.”
St Kentigern’s Academy headteacher, Andrew Sharkey, said pupils and staff were receiving support, with the school having previously confirmed an “isolated incident” had occurred.
Local Member of the Scottish Parliament Fiona Hyslop tweeted: “My deepest condolences are with the family and friends of the pupil who has died at St Kentigern’s Academy in my constituency.
“I hope those closest to him are given the privacy they deserve at this tragic time. Pupils and staff I am sure will be supported through this period.”
The nearby St John the Baptist Parish Church, Fauldhouse, posted to its congregation on Facebook: “Can you please keep the family and friends of the young S3 pupil who sadly passed away after an incident at St Kentigern’s Academy in your thoughts and prayers.”
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said on Thursday his country rejects the participation of its citizens as mercenaries in war, contradicting a statement by Cuba’s ambassador in Moscow hours earlier saying his government did not oppose the legal participation of its citizens in Russia´s war in Ukraine.
The apparently conflicting statements follow Cuban state-run and foreign media reports suggesting that young Cuban men have enlisted in the Kremlin´s military in recent months as mercenaries and victims in alleged human trafficking schemes.
“The unequivocal and unswerving position of the Cuban government, in accordance with its national legislation, is contrary to the participation of Cuban citizens in conflicts of any sort and against mercenarism and trafficking in persons,” Rodriguez said on social media.
Last week Cuban authorities said they had arrested 17 people on charges related to a ring of human traffickers that allegedly had lured young Cuban men to serve in the Russian military amid the Ukraine conflict.
Cuban authorities said those fighting for hire as mercenaries or involved in trafficking could face long prison sentences or even the death penalty, depending on the severity of the crime.
Cuba´s top diplomat in Moscow, Julio Antonio Garmendia Pena, told Russia´s state-run RIA news agency hours earlier on Thursday that those arrested in Cuba, all Cuban citizens, had been engaged in illegal activities and had broken the law.
“We have nothing against Cubans who just want to sign a contract and legally take part with the Russian army in this operation. But we are against illegality and these operations that have nothing to do with the legal field,” RIA quoted the ambassador as saying.
Cuba did not respond to Reuters inquiry regarding the apparently contradictory statements.
Cuba’s foreign ministry said last week the human trafficking network that authorities were now working to “neutralize and dismantle” had operated from Russia “to incorporate Cuban citizens living there, and even some from Cuba, into the military forces participating in war operations in Ukraine.”
Russia’s defense ministry did not respond to a Reuters request for comment on the matter.
Russia, which has strong political ties with communist-run Cuba, has long been an important destination for Cuban migrants seeking to escape economic stagnation at home.
Russian President Vladimir Putin last year signed a decree allowing foreigners signing up for service in the Russian army to receive citizenship via a fast-track procedure.
Cuba has denied any involvement in the war in Ukraine.
MOSCOW: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited an aeronautics factory Friday on his tour of Russia’s far east following his summit with President Vladimir Putin.
Two days after meeting Putin at a spaceport, amid speculation they would agree an arms deal, Kim’s bullet-proof train arrived in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, Russian news agencies reported.
Kim is in the city, an important Russian industrial center, to visit an aviation firm producing military and civil equipment.
The RIA Novosti news agency published footage of Kim’s train arriving in the city, with the red carpet rolled out to greet him.
He was met with flowers, music, a dance group and ceremonial loaves of bread, the Interfax agency said.
Kim, who seldom leaves his country, held talks with Putin at the Vostochny cosmodrome on Wednesday.
Putin said on television Wednesday that Kim “will visit factories where civilian and combat aviation equipment is produced” in Komsomolsk-on-Amur.
His visit to Russia’s far east comes as US officials and experts have said Moscow is interested in buying North Korean ammunition to use in the conflict in Ukraine — an arms deal that would defy global sanctions.
Kim’s visit will last a few more days, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced on Thursday, without giving further details.
WASHINGTON: NASA on Thursday officially joined the search for UFOs — but reflecting the stigma attached to the field, the US space agency kept secret for hours the identity of the person heading a new program tracking mystery flying objects.
The official’s appointment is the result of a year-long NASA fact-finding report into what it calls “unidentified anomalous phenomena,” or UAP.
“At NASA, it’s in our DNA to explore — and to ask why things are the way they are,” agency chief Bill Nelson said.
An independent team of 16 researchers concluded in the report that the search for UAPs “demands a rigorous, evidence-based approach.”
NASA is well positioned to play a prominent role, thanks to its satellite capabilities and other technical assets. But the agency stressed in its report that any findings of possible extraterrestrial origin “must be the hypothesis of last resort — the answer we turn to only after ruling out all other possibilities.”
“We want to shift the conversation about UAP from sensationalism to science,” Nelson said.
While initially withholding the program leader’s name, NASA ultimately relented Thursday evening, saying in an updated press release it had appointed Mark McInerney as director of UAP research.
In government positions since 1996, McInerney has served as NASA’s liaison to the Pentagon on UAP issues.
Even if NASA has long explored the heavens, hunting for the origin, identity and purpose of a growing number of unexplained flying objects over planet Earth is bringing unprecedented challenges.
Military and civilian pilots keep offering a multitude of reports on strange sightings. But decades of movies and sci-fi books about aliens mean the entire topic is mostly laughed off by the public as the territory of cranks.
That atmosphere explained the unusual decision by NASA to initially withhold the lead UAP official’s identity.
“We need to ensure that the scientific process and methods are free,” said Daniel Evans, who worked on NASA’s report leading to the announcement.
“Some of the threats and the harassment have been beyond the pale, quite frankly,” Evans said.
There have been more than 800 “events” collected over 27 years, of which two to five percent are thought to be possibly anomalous, the report’s authors said in May.
These are defined as “anything that is not readily understandable by the operator or the sensor,” or “something that is doing something weird,” said team member Nadia Drake.
The US government has begun taking UAP issues more seriously in recent years, in part due to concerns that they are related to foreign surveillance.
One example of a still-unexplained phenomenon was a flying metallic orb spotted by an MQ-9 drone at an undisclosed location in the Middle East. Footage of the UAP was shown to Congress in April.
NASA’s work, which relies on unclassified material, is separate from a parallel Pentagon investigation, though the two are coordinating on how to apply scientific tools and methods.
In July, a former US intelligence officer made headlines when he told a congressional committee he “absolutely” believes the government is in possession of unidentified anomalous phenomena — as well as remains of their alien operators.
“My testimony is based on information I’ve been given by individuals with a longstanding track record of legitimacy and service to this country — many of whom also shared compelling evidence in the form of photography, official documentation and classified oral testimony,” David Grusch told lawmakers.
Earlier this week, the alleged bodies of two “non-human” beings were presented during a congressional hearing in Mexico, generating a mixture of surprise, disbelief and ridicule on social media.
The purported mummified remains, which had a grayish color and a human-like body form, were brought by Jaime Maussan, a controversial Mexican journalist and researcher who reported finding them in Peru in 2017.
WASHINGTON: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is expected on Capitol Hill and at the White House next week as he visits the US during the United Nations General Assembly.
Zelensky’s trip comes as Congress is debating providing as much as $21 billion in military and humanitarian aid for Ukraine as it fights the Russian invasion.
An administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive visit, said Zelensky will meet with President Joe Biden at the White House next Thursday. The trip to the Capitol was confirmed by two congressional aides granted anonymity to discuss the plans.
The Ukrainian president made a wartime visit to Washington in December 2022 and delivered an impassioned address to a joint meeting of Congress.
At the time Zelensky thanked Americans for helping to fund the war effort and told lawmakers the money is “not charity,” but an “investment” in global security and democracy.
Details of Zelensky’s visit next week were not yet being made public.
Congress is increasingly divided over providing additional funding for Ukraine. Biden has sought a package of $13 billion in additional military aid for Ukraine and $8 billion for humanitarian support.
But some conservative Republican lawmakers have been pushing for broad federal spending cuts and some are specifically looking to stop money to Ukraine as Congress works to pass its annual appropriations bills before a Sept. 30 deadline to keep the US government running.
WASHINGTON: Angry, frustrated and unable to lead a fractured and unruly Republican majority, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Thursday told the colleagues threatening to oust him: Do it.
The embattled Republican leader essentially dared his hard-right flank to quit holding the risk of a vote to remove him from the job.
If you’re going to do it, go ahead and try, McCarthy told the Republicans behind closed doors.
“File the f— — — motion,” McCarthy said, using a profanity for emphasis, according to those in the private meeting.
With a government shutdown looming, McCarthy is confronting the same stubborn problem that has driven Republicans before him from the speaker’s job — trying to lead a ruptured GOP majority that’s split between what’s left of the traditional party and a harder-right element largely allied with former President Donald Trump.
Even his decision to launch an impeachment inquiry against President Joe Biden did little this week to appease the demands of the Freedom Caucus and others as they threaten to shut down the government in pursuit of deep spending cuts or move to a motion to oust him from office.
“I showed frustration in here because I am frustrated with some people in the conference,” McCarthy said after the meeting in the Capitol basement as lawmakers were wrapping up for the week.
“But when we come back, we’re going to get this done. Nobody wins in a government shutdown.”
This may be the toughest moment yet for McCarthy who is trying to survive his first year as House speaker and live to fight another day.
But now, after promises made and possibly dashed, he has barely any days left.
At the moment McCarthy has just nine working days to pass the spending bills needed to fund the government or risk a politically devastating federal shutdown.
An interruption in government services would ripple across the country, almost certain to hurt his party politically as Republicans are blamed for the disruption and disarray.
Biden said in a speech Thursday that McCarthy and House Republicans seem unable to honor the commitments they made as part of a June debt-limit deal and are now seeking deeper cuts. In his remarks, the president did not address the impeachment inquiry nor the indictment Thursday of his son, Hunter, on gun-purchasing charges.
“They’re back at it again, breaking their commitment,” Biden said in Maryland. “Threatening to shut down the government again this month.”
Led by Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, a core group of McCarthy critics is holding the threat of removal over him unless he meets conservative demands.
A top Trump ally, Gaetz reiterated the conservative flank’s many demands after McCarthy’s meeting — single-subject spending bills, a subpoena for Hunter Biden in the impeachment inquiry and other priorities.
“So instead of emotionally cursing, let’s do this,” Gaetz chided. “We must begin immediately. Pull yourself together, Kevin!”
None of the hard-right opponents of McCarthy rose to speak during the private morning meeting — in fact, few even showed up.
But McCarthy still addressed them directly — and profanely.
“Kevin doesn’t live in fear about this,” said Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla.
McCarthy has prided himself being a survivor, who rose from the ranks over the past nearly 20 years to lead House Republicans.
At the start of the year, he suffered through 14 votes in his reach for the speaker’s gavel before colleagues finally agreed to give it to him on the 15th vote.
Top McCarthy ally Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene who is also close with Trump recaptured the speaker’s message. “He said, ‘If you want to throw in a motion to vacate, that’s fine. I didn’t survive 15 rounds for nothing and I’ll survive another 15 rounds.”
That said, there still is no viable plan or having the House pass the bills needed to run the government by Sept. 30, when current funding runs out, risking the shutdown.
Freedom Caucus conservatives are demanding cuts lower than what McCarthy agreed to in a budget deal with Biden earlier this year — — and even lower than the speaker promised he would fight for when he agreed to their demands during his election to become speaker.
It’s not just Trump influencing House Republicans from the campaign trail. Republican rival Ron DeSantis has also connected with conservatives “and is supportive of us trying to fight to get change up here,” said Freedom Caucus member Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas.
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said, “House Republicans have made clear that they are determined to shut down the government and try to jam their extreme right-wing ideology down the throats of Americans.”
Jeffries said he had not talked to McCarthy this week about a solution, but he has spoken with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and they have agreed “the only way forward is a bipartisan path that funds the government at the current fiscal year levels.”
The Senate meanwhile, which is narrowly controlled by Democrats, pushed ahead with a rare and overwhelmingly bipartisan vote, 91-7, to advance a package of spending bills toward final passage — until it was stalled by Senate conservatives.
“And now all of a sudden, you have a group, a small group in the Senate, trying to mimic the Freedom Caucus in the House,” Schumer said, calling on Republican leaders to intervene “for the good of the country.”
McCarthy told the lawmakers to go home for the weekend — they are not in session Friday for the Jewish holiday — and be prepared to stay in session next week until they get the job done.
“I don’t walk away from a battle,” the speaker said, preparing to return to fight another day.
Asked if he had a plan for the week ahead, McCarthy said later: “I always have a plan. Doesn’t mean it happens.”
“I had a plan for this week, didn’t turn out exactly as I had planned,” he said.
Exasperated, McCarthy had already showed signs of strain the night before.
As he left the Capitol, his voice hoarse and his dry-cleaning bags of fresh shirts in hand, McCarthy scoffed when asked about the conservatives’ latest demands for spending cuts.
“Welcome to my world,” McCarthy said, as the grand Memorial Door slammed behind him.