World
Lebanon files complaint against Israel at UN labour body over pager attacks
Labour Minister Mustafa Bayram says 4,000 civilians were killed or wounded in the September attacks.
Lebanon has filed a complaint against Israel with the United Nations’ International Labour Organization (ILO) over a string of deadly attacks involving exploding pagers in September.
Lebanese Labour Minister Mustafa Bayram filed the formal complaint at the UN headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, on Tuesday. Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, he said the attack was an “egregious war against humanity, against technology, against work”.
“It’s a very dangerous precedent if not condemned,” he said of the attacks, which Lebanon says killed and injured workers.
“We are in a situation where ordinary objects – objects used in daily life – become dangerous and lethal.”
The explosions on September 23 were purportedly aimed at targeting the Hezbollah armed group in Lebanon that used the devices to communicate.
The attack was widely blamed on Israel, which has neither confirmed nor denied the allegation. Bayram said it was “widely accepted internationally … that Israel was behind this heinous act”.
The minister added that the casualty count was even higher than first reported, explaining that “more than 4,000 civilians fell – between martyrs and injured and maimed – in a few minutes by this attack.”
‘Contrary to decent work principles’
During a press conference in Geneva, Bayram was asked why he opted to file the complaint at the ILO, to which he replied that the workers who were harmed in the explosions were on the job.
“We deemed it necessary to point out that this runs contrary to work environment, security and safety, contrary to decent work principles … defended by the ILO,” he said.
He added that the Lebanese authorities could still file complaints about pager attacks in other international forums, including the World Trade Organization (WTO).
With the attack on the pagers in September, Israel began a more intense war on Lebanon.
Hezbollah and the Israeli army had already been trading attacks since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza in October 2023.
A week after the pager attack, Israel announced a ground operation in southern Lebanon as well as heavy air strikes on areas in Beirut’s southern suburbs and the eastern Bekaa Valley.
So far, more than 3,000 people have been killed in Lebanon and 13,492 injured since last October, according to Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health.
More than a million people have also been displaced due to Israel’s attacks on Lebanon.
In the latest attacks on Wednesday, Israeli strikes killed at least 30 people in Baalbek in the Bekaa Valley, according to the regional governor, while more strikes hit Beirut’s southern suburbs.
Iranians mourning the country’s supreme leader condemned U.S. strikes that Washington called retaliation for Iran’s attacks on commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz. At a tightly controlled state funeral in Mashhad — one of Iran’s most conservative cities, where opponents of the government were unlikely to be found in the crowd — mourners voiced defiance and called for revenge.
World
Beloved musicians among victims in deadly Bahamas plane crash; aviation authority grounds flights
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A devastating double-aviation crisis in the Bahamas, including a deadly North Andros plane crash and a separate aircraft fire on Friday, prompted the government to suspend flight operations for a local airline and launch a federal safety probe.
Shortly after 1 p.m. local time Friday, a Cessna 402 aircraft with Bahamian registration departed Lynden Pindling International Airport in Nassau bound for San Andros Airport.
The Aircraft Accident Investigation Authority (AAIA) said the plane “encountered difficulties” and crashed into bushes prior to landing.
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Authorities said 10 people were killed in a Bahamas plane crash on Friday. (Our News Bahamas via AP)
First responders, including the Royal Bahamas Police Force, Airport Authority and emergency medical personnel, rushed to the dense brush where the aircraft went down.
The Bahamas Musicians and Entertainers Union confirmed in a statement Saturday that 10 people died in the crash, including prominent members of the “The Pond Band” and a local DJ, whose artistry the union said “touched so many lives and helped to enrich the cultural fabric of The Bahamas.”
Bahamian Prime Minister Philip Brave Davis said a sole survivor was pulled from the wreckage.
“Ann and I are praying for the families who are now facing unbearable grief,” Davis wrote in a statement on X. “We are also praying for the survivor, whose recovery and care will remain in our thoughts.”
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The identities of those killed in the crash have not yet been released.
While the AAIA’s preliminary reports initially indicated seven people were on board, officials are still establishing the facts of the flight manifest.
Just hours before the fatal crash in North Andros, a Flamingo Air flight en route to Mayaguana was forced to turn back to Nassau after the pilot reported a concern, according to the Ministry of Energy, Utilities and Aviation (MoET).
After the aircraft landed and passengers safely deplaned, the plane caught fire on the runway.
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FILE – The Civil Aviation Authority Bahamas temporarily suspended Flamingo Air’s Air Operator Certificate following two aircraft incidents Friday. (iStock)
Following the two back-to-back safety incidents, the Civil Aviation Authority Bahamas (CAAB) temporarily suspended Flamingo Air’s Air Operator Certificate, according to MoET officials.
“The suspension is a precautionary safety measure and should not be treated as an adverse compliance action against Flamingo Air,” the agency wrote in a statement.
FILE – The plane crashed in North Andros on Friday after taking off from Lynden Pindling International Airport. (Melissa Alcena/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Investigators from the AAIA and inspectors from the CAAB remain at the scene in North Andros as they work to determine what caused the Cessna 402 tragedy.
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Flamingo Air did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Published on •Updated
Moldova’s pro-European President Maia Sandu nominated businessman Vasile Tofan on Saturday as the country’s next prime minister to replace Alexandru Munteanu, who resigned earlier this month over differences with the ruling majority.
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In a video posted to social media, Sandu said Tofan’s primary responsibility, after his candidacy is approved by the country’s parliament, would be to move the country further towards its path of “integration” into the European Union.
He should also “strengthen the resilience of state institutions and society”, and “revive the economy”, added Sandu.
The Moldovan businessman now has two weeks to secure parliamentary backing, a prospect he hopes to achieve after submitting his government programme and his ministerial cabinet nominations.
Tofan had been mentioned as a possible prime minister last year even before the appointment of Munteanu.
Igor Grosu, who heads Sandu’s Action and Solidarity Party (PAS) which won the last parliamentary elections in September, announced on Friday that he had selected him as his candidate to replace the outgoing premier.
He said Tofan shared “the same objectives” as him and PAS, specifying that “EU accession in the years to come, institutional reform and economic growth”, were among the biggest points of agreement.
The nominee for prime minister, who graduated Harvard Business School and turns 44 on Sunday, has a degree in public management from the Netherlands and is a managing partner at Horizon Capital, a private equity firm with assets primarily in Ukraine and Moldova.
He has also chaired the board of directors of Moldova’s Purcari winery, considered the crown jewel of the country’s winemaking sector.
Munteanu, another businessman who like Sandu previously worked at the World Bank, had been chosen to boost the economy and bring it closer to the EU, but turbulence with PAS saw him vacate his post less than a year into holding office.
He resigned on 3 July after less than eight months, stating that he could no longer carry out his mandate “according to (his) principles and (his) convictions”.
The EU last month officially launched a first round of accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova. Both countries became official EU candidate countries on 23 June 2022.
Additional sources • AFP
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