World
Chile accuses volunteer firefighter and ex-forestry official with causing huge fire that killed 137
SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — A Chilean judge on Saturday ordered a volunteer firefighter and a former forestry official detained for allegedly planning and causing a mammoth forest fire in the Valparaiso region that caused 137 deaths and made 16,000 people homeless in February.
The court in Valparaiso ruled the two men, who were arrested Friday, could be held for 180 days while they are investigated.
The chief prosecutor in the case, Osvaldo Ossandón, told journalists that the main suspect is Francisco Mondaca, a 22-year-old volunteer firefighter in Valparaiso who is accused of physically starting the fire. He said flares and fireworks were found in Mondaca’s vehicle.
The other suspect was identified as Franco Pinto, a former employee of the National Forest Corporation. He is accused of planning the crime.
The regional prosecutor for Valparaiso, Claudia Perivancich, said investigators have evidence the two men agreed “in advance to carry out conduct of this type when the weather conditions were adequate.”
Prosecutors said that according to Mondaca’s testimony, there was an economic motive behind the plot — providing more work in fighting fires. They said they had not ruled out the possibility of more people being involved.
The commander of the Valparaiso Fire Department, Vicente Maggiolo, said, “We are very dismayed by the situation.”
Maggiolo called it an isolated incident and said it should not tarnish the work of the fire department. “We have been saving lives for more than 170 years,” he told TVN.
Christian Little, executive director of the forestry department, described the detention of a former official as “a pain” for the agency.
Both the fire department and forestry agency said they would tighten hiring procedures.
The megafire began Feb. 2 in the Lago Peñuelas nature reserve, in the central region of Chile, and for several days burned several communes, including destroying more than 10,000 homes. It is considered Chile’s worst tragedy since a magnitude 8.8 earthquake killed more than 500 people on Feb. 27, 2010.
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World
Video: An American’s Desperate Effort to Save Her Family in Gaza
![Video: An American’s Desperate Effort to Save Her Family in Gaza](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2024/07/11/video/119532-gaza-waiting-game/119532-gaza-waiting-game-facebookJumbo-v3.jpg?video-overlay)
new video loaded: An American’s Desperate Effort to Save Her Family in Gaza
transcript
transcript
An American’s Desperate Effort to Save Her Family in Gaza
Following an Israeli airstrike on a camp for displaced Palestinians in Rafah, Gaza, Rolla Alaydi, a Palestinian American, could not reach her family members in Rafah for days, leaving her unsure if they had survived the attack.
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We’re going to start a long journey of trying to get them out of Gaza to the safety. I have a total of 21 family members, and they are scattered in different areas of Gaza. They took a decision not to be in one area in case something happened — not all of them will be killed or bombed. Before the war started, all my family, they have their degree. They have all their own career. They lived a very decent life. I feel just hopeless doing nothing. Just waiting and time, just killing me. I cannot even give them the medicine that I got for them. I don’t know what to do. Not strong at all. Not strong at all. When I saw the images of burning tents and the bombing of Rafah, I almost got heart attack because I know for sure my brother, his six kids and his wife, they are in tent in Rafah. This could be my family. They could be burned. They could be killed. The internet signal is weak. It took a whole week from the incident of Rafah to know about my family that they survived. I don’t know what will happen to them next hour. Every hour is unpredictable. If I don’t hear from my family in three days, going to the fourth, I go insane. Voice message: “Your call cannot be completed as dialed. Please check the number and dial again.” My mind is just going all over the scenarios. Like they could be killed, they could be bombed, they could be burned, and no one recognized their faces. And that is the most — horrific, scary feeling. I have to be strong just for my family. All my family, 21 family members, depends on me. I’m their only source of hope.
Recent episodes in Israel-Hamas War
World
German police shoot ax-wielding man with 'incendiary device' threatening fans near Euro 2024 soccer match
![German police shoot ax-wielding man with 'incendiary device' threatening fans near Euro 2024 soccer match](https://static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2024/06/AP24168406223110.jpg)
Police in Germany said officers opened fire on an ax-wielding suspect who put fans in jeopardy near a Euro 2024 fan parade in the city of Hamburg Sunday.
Hamburg Police said an unidentified person threatened officers “with a pickaxe and an incendiary device” in the St. Pauli district.
The incident reportedly happened on the sidelines of a Euro 2024 soccer fan parade, which was unfolding hours before Poland and the Netherlands were scheduled to play in the city’s stadium, Volksparkstadion.
Officers deployed their guns, and the attacker was injured and received medical attention, police said on X.
GERMAN POLICE PREPARE FOR LARGEST DEPLOYMENT EVER AHEAD OF EURO 2024 AS SOCCER VIOLENCE SURGES
Police cordon off an area near the Reeperbahn in Hamburg, Germany, Sunday, June 16, 2024. German police say officers have shot and wounded a man who was threatening them with an ax and a firebomb. (Steven Hutchings/dpa via AP)
The department afterward announced a “major police operation” underway, adding the event at Heiligengeistfeld “is subject to various security checks and is well protected.”
“We are currently assuming that there was a lone perpetrator,” police added.
The incident happened around the same time as the Dutch fan parade. Nearly 40,000 soccer fans were marching through the entertainment district, according to German state broadcaster DW.
The suspect reportedly walked out of a bar and began waving an ax in a “threatening manner.” Officers opened fire after the man refused to lay down the ax, hitting him in the leg, German news agency Deutsche Presse-Agentur reported, citing Hamburg Police. German media published images of a person lying in the street surrounded by paramedics and police officers.
![German soccer stadium](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2024/06/1200/675/AP24160474868527.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
A view of the Volkspark Stadium ahead of the European Soccer Championships 2024 in Hamburg, Germany, May 14, 2024. (Christian Charisius/dpa via AP, File)
“According to current knowledge, there is no football connection,” a police spokesman told the outlet. The motive was not immediately announced.
EUROPEAN VOTERS REJECT SOCIALISM, FAR-LEFT POLICIES IN EU PARLIAMENT ELECTIONS: ‘POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE’
German authorities have put police on high alert during the tournament, which began Friday and runs through July 14, for fear of possible fan violence and terrorist attacks.
![German police officers](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2024/06/1200/675/AP24167328799084.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
Police officers walk on a sidewalk next to an apartment building in Wolmirstedt, Germany, Saturday, June 15, 2024. German police say they shot to death an Afghan man after he fatally attacked a compatriot and later wounded three people watching the televised Euro 2024 soccer tournament. (Thomas Schulz/dpa via AP)
On Friday, police shot to death a 27-year-old Afghan national after he fatally attacked a 23-year-old compatriot with a “knife-like object” and later wounded three people watching the televised game between Germany and Scotland in Wolmirstedt, a small town about 80 miles west of Berlin.
Police said Sunday the motive for that attack was still unclear.
The Interior Ministry in Saxony-Anhalt state, which includes Wolmirstedt, said police had increased their presence across the state.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
World
Protesters in Brussels march against right-wing ideology
![Protesters in Brussels march against right-wing ideology](https://static.euronews.com/articles/stories/08/50/73/62/1200x675_cmsv2_6769e2f9-ce9e-5cdb-9ae2-a51ad9b53a08-8507362.jpg)
It’s the second major march in the Belgian capital denouncing the far-right since the EU elections on June 9th which saw right, far-right and populist parties winning big at the polls.
More than 4,000 people have marched through Brussels in protest against the political right and racism.
Organised by the Anti-fascist Coordination of Belgium (CAB) the march brought together around 20 social movements and organisations.
It’s the second major march in the Belgian capital denouncing the far-right since the EU elections on June 9th which saw right and far-right parties winning big.
“This march is important today to show a message of hope in the face of the messages of despair that the far right wants to bring us,” said CAB member Sixtine Van Outryve.
“It’s important to show that we’re in solidarity with everyone, whatever their nationality, whatever they earn, whatever they do. We stand together and we want a society that doesn’t divide us. A society that doesn’t exclude, a society that isn’t racist or sexist.”
“Many of us were shocked by the election results, showing far-right breakthroughs at the European level,” Van Outryve said, expressing concern about what she called an “alarming” trend towards the normalisation of far-right discourse.
Right and far-right parties scored big in the EU elections with the most dramatic result coming in France. Marine le Pen’s National Rally took first place in the polls with more than 31% of the vote, prompting President Emmanuel Macron to dissolve the National Assembly and call snap elections.
In Italy, Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing Brothers of Italy bagged the most votes (28.7%) while in Germany, the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) surged to second place, knocking Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats into third.
There were also victories for right-leaning and populist parties in Austria, Hungary and Bulgaria.
Demonstrators in Brussels were keen to show that the rise of the far-right wasn’t “inevitable” and that it was important to confront it by building social and democratic alternatives.
“We’re going to show them that young people aren’t entirely seduced by far right and that the majority of us continue to fight against their ideas,” said a 17-year-old protester called Henri.
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