Politics
Bondi Beach Gunman to Face Charges Soon: Australian PM
One of the two men suspected of carrying out Australia’s deadliest mass shooting in three decades is expected to face charges later on Wednesday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said, as funerals began for the Jewish victims of Sunday’s attack.
The alleged father-and-son duo opened fire at a Jewish Hanukkah celebration on Sydney’s Bondi Beach, in an attack that shook the nation and raised concerns about rising antisemitism and violent extremism.
Sajid Akram, 50, was shot dead by police at the scene, while his 24-year-old son, Naveed Akram, emerged from a coma on Wednesday after also being shot by police.
“He will be charged formally, if he hasn’t been so already. I expect that will take place in the coming hours,” Albanese said in a podcast interview Wednesday morning.
New South Wales Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon said investigators plan to question Naveed once his medication wears off and legal counsel is present. He remains hospitalized under heavy police guard.
Authorities revealed the suspects had traveled to the southern Philippines, a region long affected by militancy, weeks before the attack, which police said appeared to be inspired by Daesh (ISIS).
In the United States, President Donald Trump expressed solidarity at a White House Hanukkah event, saying he was thinking of the victims of the “horrific and antisemitic terrorist attack.”
“We join in mourning all of those who were killed, and we’re praying for the swift recovery of the wounded,” he added.
Funerals for Jewish victims begin
A funeral for Rabbi Eli Schlanger, an assistant rabbi at Chabad Bondi Synagogue and a father of five, was held on Wednesday.
He was known for his work for Sydney’s Jewish community through Chabad, a global organisation fostering Jewish identity and connection.
Schlanger would travel to prisons and meet with Jewish people living in Sydney’s public housing communities, Jewish leader Alex Ryvchin said on Monday.
Albanese is facing criticism that his centre-left government did not do enough to prevent the spread of antisemitism in Australia during the two-year Israel-Gaza war.
“We will work with the Jewish community, we want to stamp out and eradicate antisemitism from our society,” Albanese told reporters.
The government and intelligence services are also under pressure to explain why Sajid Akram was allowed to legally acquire the high powered rifles and shotguns used in the attack. The government has already promised sweeping reforms to gun laws.
Akram’s son, meanwhile, was briefly investigated by Australia’s domestic intelligence agency in 2019 over alleged links to Daesh, but there was no evidence at the time he posed a threat, Albanese said.
Man praises as hero to undergo surgery
Albanese said Ahmed al-Ahmed, 43, the man who tackled one of the shooters to disarm his rifle and suffered gunshot wounds, was due to undergo surgery on Wednesday.
Al-Ahmed’s uncle, Mohammed al-Ahmed in Syria, said his nephew left his hometown in Syria’s northwest province of Idlib nearly 20 years ago to seek work in Australia.
“We learned through social media. I called his father and he told me that it was Ahmed. Ahmed is a hero, we’re proud of him. Syria in general is proud of him,” the uncle told Reuters.
The family of 22-year-old police officer Jack Hibbert, who was shot twice on Sunday and had been on the force for just four months, said in a statement on Wednesday he had lost vision in one eye and faced a “long and challenging recovery” ahead.
“In the face of a violent and tragic incident, he responded with courage, instinct, and selflessness, continuing to protect and help others whilst injured, until he was physically no longer able to,” the family said.
Health authorities said 22 people were still in several Sydney hospitals.
Holocaust survivor among victims
Other shooting victims included a Holocaust survivor, a husband and wife who first approached the gunmen before they started firing, and a 10-year-old girl named Matilda, according to interviews, officials and media reports.
Matilda’s father told a Bondi vigil on Tuesday night he did not want his daughter’s legacy to be forgotten.
“We came here from Ukraine … and I thought that Matilda is the most Australian name that can ever exist. So just remember the name, remember her,” local media reported him as saying.
In Bondi on Wednesday, swimmers gathered on Sydney’s most popular beach and held a minute’s silence.
“This week has obviously been very profound, and this morning, I definitely feel a sense of the community getting together, and a sense of everyone sitting together,” Archie Kalaf, a 24-year-old Bondi man, told Reuters. “Everyone’s grieving, everyone’s understanding and processing it in their own way.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Monday night said talks with the United States were making progress with Pakistan’s “gracious effort,” while cautioning Washington against being drawn into further escalation amid a standoff over the Strait of Hormuz.
The statement comes after US and Iran launched new attacks in the Gulf on Monday as they wrestled for control over the Strait of Hormuz with duelling maritime blockades, shaking a fragile truce.
US President Donald Trump launched a new effort to get stranded tankers and other ships through the strait, the vital energy-trade chokepoint that has been virtually closed since the US and Israel began attacks on Iran in February, a war that has killed thousands of people across the region.
Trump gave scant details about his new effort, which he called “Project Freedom,” to help stuck ships travel through the strait when he announced it on social media, two days after a legal deadline under US law had passed for him to get authorisation from Congress for the war. Trump told Congress the war was “terminated” and the deadline was moot, a claim disputed by some lawmakers.
It was the first apparent attempt to use military force since last month’s ceasefire announcement to unblock the world’s most important energy shipping route, which Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has said can only happen with its permission.
The cost of shipping insurance has also rocketed. For weeks, the US Navy has blockaded Iran’s trade by sea, which Iran says is itself an act of war.
But Trump’s latest move, at least initially, appeared to have backfired, bringing no surge of merchant ship traffic while provoking a promised show of force from Iran, which has threatened to respond to any escalation with new attacks on its neighbours hosting US soldiers. Major shipping companies said they were likely to wait for an agreed end to hostilities before trying to cross the strait.
Meanwhile, Iranian FM Araghchi said Monday’s events showed there was no military solution to the crisis. He said peace talks were progressing with Pakistan’s mediation while warning the US and the UAE against being drawn into a “quagmire by ill-wishers.”
Criticising the US initiative aimed at escorting vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, Araghchi said: “Project Freedom is Project Deadlock.”
Nonetheless, the US military said two US merchant ships made it through the strait, without saying when, with the support of Navy guided-missile destroyers. While Iran denied any crossings had taken place in recent hours, Maersk said the Alliance Fairfax, a US-flagged ship, exited the Gulf via the Strait of Hormuz accompanied by the US military on Monday.
The commander of U.S. forces in the region said his fleet had destroyed six small Iranian boats, which Iran also denied. Admiral Brad Cooper said he “strongly advised” Iranian forces to keep clear of U.S. military assets carrying out the mission.
Iranian authorities released a map of what they said was an expanded sea area now under their control, extending far beyond the strait to include long stretches of the UAE’s coastline.
‘Dialogue and diplomacy’
A day earlier, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar held a telephonic conversation with his Iranian counterpart, during which both sides discussed the evolving regional situation and Pakistan’s ongoing diplomatic efforts.
According to the Foreign Office, Araghchi appreciated Pakistan’s constructive role and mediation efforts, while Dar reaffirmed Islamabad’s commitment to promoting dialogue and engagement.
He stressed that diplomacy remained the only viable path to achieving lasting peace and stability.
Negotiations between Washington and Tehran have remained stalled since a ceasefire took effect on April 8, with tensions centred on Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz following US-Israeli strikes. The move has disrupted global flows of oil, gas and fertiliser, while the United States has responded by imposing a counter-blockade on Iranian ports.
Pakistan has emerged as a key intermediary in efforts to revive dialogue, hosting high-level engagements between the two sides in Islamabad last month, though a second round of talks has yet to materialise.
- Iran dismisses US escort plan as counterproductive initiative.
- Dar reiterates diplomacy as only path forward.
- Tehran reviews US response via Pakistani mediators.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Monday night said talks with the United States were making progress with Pakistan’s “gracious effort,” while cautioning Washington against being drawn into further escalation amid a standoff over the Strait of Hormuz.
The statement comes after US and Iran launched new attacks in the Gulf on Monday as they wrestled for control over the Strait of Hormuz with duelling maritime blockades, shaking a fragile truce.
US President Donald Trump launched a new effort to get stranded tankers and other ships through the strait, the vital energy-trade chokepoint that has been virtually closed since the US and Israel began attacks on Iran in February, a war that has killed thousands of people across the region.
Trump gave scant details about his new effort, which he called “Project Freedom,” to help stuck ships travel through the strait when he announced it on social media, two days after a legal deadline under US law had passed for him to get authorisation from Congress for the war. Trump told Congress the war was “terminated” and the deadline was moot, a claim disputed by some lawmakers.
It was the first apparent attempt to use military force since last month’s ceasefire announcement to unblock the world’s most important energy shipping route, which Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has said can only happen with its permission.
The cost of shipping insurance has also rocketed. For weeks, the US Navy has blockaded Iran’s trade by sea, which Iran says is itself an act of war.
But Trump’s latest move, at least initially, appeared to have backfired, bringing no surge of merchant ship traffic while provoking a promised show of force from Iran, which has threatened to respond to any escalation with new attacks on its neighbours hosting US soldiers. Major shipping companies said they were likely to wait for an agreed end to hostilities before trying to cross the strait.
Meanwhile, Iranian FM Araghchi said Monday’s events showed there was no military solution to the crisis. He said peace talks were progressing with Pakistan’s mediation while warning the US and the UAE against being drawn into a “quagmire by ill-wishers.”
Criticising the US initiative aimed at escorting vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, Araghchi said: “Project Freedom is Project Deadlock.”
Nonetheless, the US military said two US merchant ships made it through the strait, without saying when, with the support of Navy guided-missile destroyers. While Iran denied any crossings had taken place in recent hours, Maersk said the Alliance Fairfax, a US-flagged ship, exited the Gulf via the Strait of Hormuz accompanied by the US military on Monday.
The commander of U.S. forces in the region said his fleet had destroyed six small Iranian boats, which Iran also denied. Admiral Brad Cooper said he “strongly advised” Iranian forces to keep clear of U.S. military assets carrying out the mission.
Iranian authorities released a map of what they said was an expanded sea area now under their control, extending far beyond the strait to include long stretches of the UAE’s coastline.
‘Dialogue and diplomacy’
A day earlier, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar held a telephonic conversation with his Iranian counterpart, during which both sides discussed the evolving regional situation and Pakistan’s ongoing diplomatic efforts.
According to the Foreign Office, Araghchi appreciated Pakistan’s constructive role and mediation efforts, while Dar reaffirmed Islamabad’s commitment to promoting dialogue and engagement.
He stressed that diplomacy remained the only viable path to achieving lasting peace and stability.
Negotiations between Washington and Tehran have remained stalled since a ceasefire took effect on April 8, with tensions centred on Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz following US-Israeli strikes. The move has disrupted global flows of oil, gas and fertiliser, while the United States has responded by imposing a counter-blockade on Iranian ports.
Pakistan has emerged as a key intermediary in efforts to revive dialogue, hosting high-level engagements between the two sides in Islamabad last month, though a second round of talks has yet to materialise.
— With additional input from Reuters
- Hunan fireworks factory blast kills 21, injures 61.
- Xi orders thorough probe into deadly factory explosion.
- Nearly 500 rescuers deployed after Hunan explosion.
HONG KONG: A blast at a fireworks factory in China’s Hunan province has killed 21 people and injured 61, prompting President Xi Jinping to call for a thorough investigation, state media reported on Tuesday.
The blast in Hunan’s capital city of Changsha, home to a hub for fireworks manufacturing, occurred on Monday around 4:40pm (0840 GMT), according to reports by CCTV and Xinhua.
Videos on Chinese internet platforms showed thick smoke billowing from a large site with collapsed buildings and debris strewn around the area. Reuters could not verify the footage.
Nearly 500 firefighters, rescuers and medical personnel attended the scene, according to the South China Morning Post.
The blast happened at Huasheng Fireworks Manufacturing and Display Company, media said. Reuters could not find a telephone listing for the company to seek comment.
Xi called for a speedy investigation to determine the cause of the blast and strict accountability for the incident, Xinhua reported.
Last year, China exported $1.14 billion worth of fireworks, more than two-thirds of global sales, data from the Observatory of Economic Complexity shows.
Xi also ordered authorities to strengthen risk screening and hazard control in key industries, enhance public safety and ensure the safety of people’s lives and property.
Last week, he urged a nationwide upgrade in China’s disaster response capacity.
US-Iran talks progressing with Pakistan’s efforts, says Araghchi amid Hormuz tensions
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