World

Pan Am Flight 103: Hurt, anger remain 35 years after terrorist massacre over Lockerbie

Published

1 year ago

December 21, 2023

Press Room

Pan Am Flight 103: Hurt, anger remain 35 years after terrorist massacre over Lockerbie

Read this article for free!

Plus get unlimited access to thousands of articles, videos and more with your free account!

Please enter a valid email address.

Thursday marks 35 years since a transatlantic flight from Germany to the United States, which included stops in London and New York City, was destroyed by a bomb over a Scottish town that killed everyone on board.

Pan Am Flight 103 was en route from London to New York when it exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, on Dec. 21, 1988, killing all 259 people on the plane and another 11 people on the ground in what was called afterward the deadliest terror attack on British soil.

More than 100 of the victims of the attack were Americans, including 35 students who were studying at the time through the Syracuse University Division of International Programs Abroad.

What was first believed to be a horrific accident soon turned out to be the result of a bomb planted by a terrorist in a radio-cassette recorder inside a suitcase in the forward cargo hold of the Boeing 747 aircraft, which was named Clipper Maid of the Seas.

WHO IS LOCKERBIE BOMBING SUSPECT ABU AGILA MOHAMMAD MAS’UD KHEIR AL-MARIMI?

Pan Am Flight 103 was en route from London to New York when it exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, on Dec. 21, 1988, killing all 259 people on the plane and 11 people on the ground. (Getty Images)

Last December, the Justice Department announced that Abu Agila Mohammad Mas’ud Kheir Al-Marimi had been taken into U.S. custody and would face charges for his alleged role in the Lockerbie bombing.

Mas’ud was a longtime operative for Libyan intelligence, including service as an expert in building explosive devices from approximately 1973 to 2011, according to the Justice Department. In the winter of 1988, he was allegedly directed by a Libyan intelligence official to fly to Malta with a bomb disguised in a suitcase that would later explode on board Pan Am Flight 103.

According to the Justice Department, Mas’ud set a timer so that the bomb would explode aboard the flight the next day, and he took the device to the airport, where he handed it off to a co-conspirator who placed the bomb on a conveyor belt that led to the plane.

In January, when Mas’ud was set to face arraignment, it was reported that Mas’ud’s family members had trouble securing a defense attorney. The arraignment was thus pushed back to Feb. 8 and U.S. Magistrate Judge Moxila Upadhyaya reportedly appointed federal public defender Whitney Minter to represent him.

LOCKERBIE BOMBING SUSPECT’S ARRAIGNMENT PUSHED BACK DUE TO FAMILY’S TROUBLE HIRING DEFENSE ATTORNEY: REPORT

Lockerbie residents stand near one of the engines from the ill-fated Pan Am Flight 103 that exploded and crashed on Dec. 21, 1988. (Roy Letkey/AFP via Getty Images)

At the February arraignment, Mas’ud pleaded not guilty to two charges of destruction of an aircraft that resulted in death and one charge of destruction of a vehicle used in foreign commerce by an explosive that resulted in death. So far, no date for a trial has been set.

While Mas’ud is now the third Libyan intelligence official charged in the U.S. in connection with the Lockerbie bombing, he would be the first to stand trial in an American courtroom. The Justice Department originally announced charges against Mas’ud in 2020 on the 32nd anniversary of the bombing.

Only former Libyan intelligence officer Abdelbaset al-Megrahi has been convicted in the bombing to date, being charged for his role in the attack in 2001. He failed to appeal his conviction afterward but was released from prison in 2009 after it was determined he was terminally ill with cancer. He died in 2012 in Libya, having maintained his innocence for the rest of his life.

But a breakthrough in the investigation in 2017 led investigators to Mas’ud, who in an interview with Libyan law enforcement after the collapse of the regime of the country’s leader, Col. Muammar Qaddafi, admitted to building the bomb in the Pan Am attack.

Officials inspect the wreckage of Pan Am Flight 103 on Dec. 21, 1988, in Lockerbie, Scotland. (Georges De Keerle/Getty Images)

CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP

U.S. officials say Mas’ud admitted during the interview that the attack was ordered by Libyan intelligence and that he and others who participated were personally thanked by Qaddafi for their roles.

Fox News’ Michael Lee contributed to this article.

World

Wednesday Briefing

Published

5 hours ago

January 15, 2025

Press Room

Israel and Hamas on the ‘brink’ of a truce

Israel and Hamas are close to a deal on a cease-fire in Gaza and the release of hostages there, Antony Blinken, the U.S. secretary of state, said yesterday. “It’s closer than it’s ever been before,” he said. “But right now as we sit here we await final word from Hamas on its acceptance. And until we get that word, we’ll remain on the brink.”

Negotiators said Hamas seemed ready to accept the deal, including its details about the exchange of Palestinian prisoners for hostages and the specific movements of Israeli troops as they withdraw from positions in Gaza, a person familiar with the talks said last night.

The person said Israel was also locked in on the agreement, and that both sides seemed prepared to announce their acceptance of it in the very near future. Neither Israeli nor Hamas officials have publicly confirmed their positions. Here’s what we know about the proposal.

Gaza: An analysis in The Lancet found that Palestinian deaths from bombs and other traumatic injuries may have been undercounted by 40 percent during the first nine months of the war.

South Korea’s president was detained for questioning

Yoon Suk Yeol today became the first sitting South Korean president to be detained for questioning by criminal investigators, after striking a deal with law enforcement officials that ended a weekslong standoff. He has been accused of insurrection in connection with his short-lived declaration of martial law last month.

In a video message, Yoon said he had agreed to submit to questioning to prevent a “bloody” clash between his bodyguards and the police. But he called the investigation and the warrant to detain him illegal. Here’s what to know about South Korea’s leadership crisis.

Investigators have 48 hours to question Yoon, after which they could apply for a separate warrant to formally arrest him. Separately, the Constitutional Court is deliberating whether the National Assembly’s Dec. 14 impeachment of Yoon was legitimate and whether the president, currently suspended, should be permanently removed from office.

Republicans embraced Hegseth’s bid to lead the Pentagon

Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump’s pick for defense secretary, emerged from a tense confirmation hearing yesterday with the Republican Party’s support intact. A Senate vote on whether he should lead the Pentagon — a department with three million employees and a budget of $849 billion — could come as soon as Monday.

Over hours of questioning, Democrats quizzed Hegseth about sexual misconduct allegations — Hegseth was accused of rape in 2017 — and his drinking habits. They called him unfit to lead the Pentagon and grilled Hegseth, a former Fox News host, on his long history of disparaging comments about women in the military.

What’s next: It was unclear whether Hegseth had left the hearing with the votes he needed. If all Senate Democrats oppose him, Hegseth will have to secure the backing of at least 50 of the 53 Republicans in the chamber.

Related: A report was released yesterday that detailed the special counsel’s investigation into Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election. Here are four takeaways.

MORE TOP NEWS

The Maha Kumbh Mela festival in India begins this week. It is expected to draw up to 400 million Hindu pilgrims to the banks of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers, in what would be the world’s largest gathering.

The ceremony happens every 12 years and centers on a series of holy baths. But it has also become an important political event. For Prime Minister Narendra Modi, it is a chance to promote his right-wing party.

The 24-hour diner

All-night diners are a signature New York institution. But in a city that supposedly never sleeps, they’re disappearing as costs rise and habits change.

Priya Krishna, a reporter for The Times, spent a Friday night at Kellogg’s Diner in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, dining nonstop from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. “Surprisingly, I drew no scrutiny from the staff for my hourslong stay,” she writes, “a heartening reminder that no other place will welcome you as unconditionally as an all-night diner.”

Read about Priya’s night of pecan pie, lost treasures and Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.”

World

South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol arrested: report

Published

6 hours ago

January 14, 2025

Press Room

South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol arrested: report

Suspended South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has reportedly been arrested over insurrection charges stemming from his ill-fated martial law declaration last month.

Yoon’s detention was reported Wednesday by Yonhap, one of the country’s largest news outlets. A warrant for his arrest, initially requested after he failed to show up for questioning, has been out since Dec. 31.

Police dispatched some 3,200 officers to the president’s sprawling hillside estate in Seoul, according to Reuters, where he has spent weeks in hiding whilst surrounded by a personal security detail.

Video shows officers closing in on Yoon’s residence, according to Reuters, where hundreds of his supporters had already gathered to protest on his behalf. Earlier, they were reportedly seen pushing through a group of them.

SOUTH KOREA’S IMPEACHED PRESIDENT AVOIDS ARREST ATTEMPT AFTER HOURSLONG STANDOFF

A previous attempt to detain Yoon was called off on Jan. 3 following a six-hour standoff between military guards and the president’s security staff.

“As I have repeatedly emphasized the need for prevention of physical conflict between state agencies,” Acting President Choi Sang-mok said in a statement Wednesday. “I will sternly hold those responsible if unfortunate events occur.”

Authorities are making a second attempt to detain suspended South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol following last month’s martial law declaration. (South Korea Presidential Office via AP, File)

Executing a warrant for Yoon’s arrest has proven difficult for investigators, as the president’s legal counsel insists it is impossible to do so under a law barring non-consensual searches of locations potentially linked to military secrets.

Yoon’s lawyers have also decried such a warrant as an illegal means of publicly humiliating him.

ARREST WARRANT ISSUED FOR IMPEACHED SOUTH KOREAN PRESIDENT AS POLITICAL CRISIS DEEPENS

The arrest warrant is the first ever to be levied against a sitting South Korean president. Yoon’s warrant stems from his declaration of martial law on Dec. 3 out of apparent frustration with the opposition-dominated parliament’s refusal to pass key items on his political agenda.

The move was decried within South Korea and abroad, where analysts expressed shock at the sudden and unprecedented move in what is typically one of Asia’s most stable democracies.

Police officers are seen closing in on suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol’s residence in Seoul, South Korea, alongside investigators of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials. (REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji)

Parliament unanimously rejected Yoon’s declaration, and subsequently suspended him on Dec. 14 in a 204-85 vote that included members of his own party.

Yoon will be formally impeached should the Constitutional Court uphold the motion with a three-fourths majority.

The court’s next hearing is scheduled for Thursday.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Kyle Schmidbauer is a production assistant for Fox News Digital. A graduate of Montclair State University in New Jersey, he joined Fox in 2022.

World

Looking for a job in IT? These countries are desperate for new hires

Published

7 hours ago

January 14, 2025

Press Room

Looking for a job in IT? These countries are desperate for new hires

Over two-thirds of large companies struggle to fill their IT roles. What are the highest-paid jobs? Which countries are most in need?

As the IT sector continues to grow, thousands of European companies are having trouble filling the many positions available.

According to 2024 Eurostat data, 57.5% of EU businesses can’t recruit all the necessary ICT specialists.

The gap between labour demand and actual employment has grown by 20% in the past ten years.

Large businesses are facing the biggest challenges.

Sixty-eight per cent of them are unable to fill all their ICT specialist positions, followed by medium (59.2%) and small-sized enterprises (53.4%).

Germany, the Czech Republic, Malta, Austria, and Luxembourg are the countries most in need of ICT specialists, with at least 65% of businesses facing shortages.

The percentages are even higher for large enterprises: 84% in Malta, 80% in Germany, 79% in the Czech Republic, 78% in Slovenia, 76% in Austria, 75% in Luxembourg, 73% in Latvia, 72% in Hungary and 71% in Croatia.

Spain, Poland, and Bulgaria have the least hiring problems, although at least 30% of companies in these countries still face ICT shortages.

What are the highest-paid IT positions?

The main difficulties in recruitment, according to Eurostat, are a lack of applications, insufficient qualifications and experience, and high salary expectations.

Salaries in the ICT sector have consistently outpaced average wages in Europe in the last decade, according to the 2024 OECD Digital Economy Outlook. In the EU, in particular, annual wages grew by 0.24% compared to 0.20% in the rest of the economy.

Recruitment specialists Robert Walters have listed the top-paid ICT jobs in countries including Germany, which seems to be struggling the most in the EU to recruit specialists.

The highest-paid role is Chief Information Technology Officer, with an annual base of €150k for employees with at least three years of experience, to €180k for those with at least eight years.

The consultancy role in the highest bracket is the SAP/ERP one, with a base of €100k. (SAP ERP is an enterprise resource planning software.)

Data engineer and data scientist positions are both in the €100-120k bracket.

Video editor • Mert Can Yilmaz