Global Pulse

分类： society

  • South Korean police seek indictments of 7 transport ministry officials over Jeju Air crash

    South Korean police seek indictments of 7 transport ministry officials over Jeju Air crash

    On Thursday, South Korean law enforcement announced a major development in the investigation into the country’s worst aviation disaster in nearly 30 years: authorities are pushing for criminal indictments against seven senior transport ministry officials linked to the December 2024 Jeju Air crash at Muan International Airport that claimed 179 lives.

    The tragedy unfolded when a Boeing 737-800 operated by regional carrier Jeju Air attempted an emergency landing after its landing gear failed to deploy. The aircraft skidded off the runway before colliding with a concrete structure housing landing guidance equipment, triggering a catastrophic fire that left only two survivors among the 181 people on board.

    Investigators have already recovered physical evidence of bird strike damage to both of the plane’s engines, a key detail that has factored into early probes. A further unusual finding has added complexity to the case: the jet’s two black boxes, which record flight data and cockpit audio, ceased recording approximately four minutes before the crash, leaving gaps in investigators’ full understanding of the final moments of the flight.

    Many aviation safety experts have pointed to additional systemic failures that contributed to the high death toll, specifically calling out the design and construction of the concrete localizer structure the plane hit. Localizers are antenna arrays that guide aircraft during landing approaches, and global aviation safety standards require these structures to be built with frangible, easily breakable materials to minimize damage in the event of a collision. Experts argue the non-frangible concrete construction of the Muan airport localizer directly worsened the crash’s impact.

    Police investigations have now uncovered that the seven indicted transport ministry officials knowingly falsified official records and public statements, falsely claiming the Muan localizer had been installed in full compliance with both South Korean domestic regulations and international aviation safety standards. Law enforcement has officially referred the case to state prosecutors, requesting the seven officials be charged with the criminal offense of falsifying official government documents. Conviction on this charge carries a maximum penalty of seven years’ imprisonment in South Korea. When contacted for comment following Thursday’s announcement, the South Korean Transport Ministry declined to issue any statement.

    The probe remains ongoing: police confirmed they are still investigating roughly 70 other individuals connected to the crash, including personnel involved in the original installation of the Muan airport localizers and senior airport operations managers.

    The crash marks South Korea’s deadliest aviation accident since 1997, and as of yet no formal final cause has been publicly released by investigators, and no prior criminal prosecutions have been filed in connection with the disaster. The investigation has already been marked by controversy earlier this year: the Aviation and Railway Accident Investigation Board initially planned to release an early probe finding that both engines sustained bird strike damage, and that pilots had shut down the less severely damaged engine moments before the emergency landing. That draft finding, widely interpreted as implying pilot error contributed to the crash, sparked fierce public pushback from bereaved families of the victims and active-duty South Korean pilots, who accused authorities of attempting to shift blame for the disaster onto the deceased pilots to deflect from institutional failures. In response to the outcry, the investigation board scrapped the planned announcement of the preliminary results.

  • Sydney police investigate death of teen girl from suspected choking during sex

    Sydney police investigate death of teen girl from suspected choking during sex

    A devastating tragedy in Sydney has reignited urgent public debate over the growing popularity of dangerous sexual choking practices among young Australians, after a 16-year-old girl died in hospital earlier this week following a suspected choking incident during sexual activity.

    Local emergency responders were dispatched to a private residence in Elanora Heights, a quiet coastal suburb in Sydney’s Northern Beaches, at roughly 5:45 p.m. local time on Sunday. Crews found the teen unconscious at the scene, administered immediate first aid, and airlifted her in critical condition to Sydney’s Royal North Shore Hospital. Despite medical intervention, the young girl succumbed to her injuries on Tuesday night.

    While formal police reports have not publicly confirmed the exact cause of death or details of her injuries, unnamed law enforcement sources have confirmed to multiple major Australian outlets, including the national public broadcaster ABC and *The Sydney Morning Herald*, that investigators are working from the initial hypothesis that the teen lost consciousness after being choked during sex.

    Public health experts and sexual violence advocates have long flagged that non-fatal and fatal strangulation during sexual activity has become increasingly common among young Australian demographics in recent years, even as the practice carries well-documented life-altering risks: chronic headaches, permanent memory impairment, irreversible brain damage, and in rare but devastating cases, death.

    Chanel Contos, a leading Australian sexual consent activist and founder of the national advocacy group Teach Us Consent, launched in 2021, said the 16-year-old’s death was almost entirely avoidable, and placed direct blame on mainstream pornography platforms for normalizing harmful behavior.

    Contos, who first sparked a nationwide reckoning with campus and school sexual assault in 2021 when hundreds of young Australians came forward to share their own experiences of abuse, argued that mainstream pornography consistently frames sexual violence against women — including choking, slapping, and other physical abuse — as desirable or consensual, misleading young audiences about real risks.

    “This is not the first tragedy of its kind and it won’t be the last,” Contos warned. She emphasized that contrary to a common misconception among many young people who view the practice as low-risk, there is no safe way to perform sexual choking. “Even when young people believe they are consenting, they’re often uninformed about its potential consequences, which are fatal at worst, and can cause permanent brain injury even when there are no visible signs of harm,” she added.

    Data from recent Australian academic research backs up advocates’ concerns about the rising prevalence of the practice. A 2024 joint study by the University of Melbourne and the University of Queensland surveyed 4,700 young adults across the country and found that 57% of Australians between the ages of 18 and 35 had experienced sexual strangulation at least once. The research also found that one-third of respondents who had engaged in the practice first experienced it between the ages of 19 and 21, pointing to how normalized the dangerous act has become among late teenage and early adult demographics. Police are continuing their investigation into the 16-year-old’s death to confirm the exact circumstances surrounding the incident.

  • ‘Black smoke’ chokes Pakistan maternity ward as hospital fire kills 14 infants

    ‘Black smoke’ chokes Pakistan maternity ward as hospital fire kills 14 infants

    On a Wednesday dawn, a catastrophic blaze swept through the maternity ward of Pakistan’s leading public hospital, claiming the lives of 14 infants and leaving grieving families and a nation in shock. The fire broke out on the third floor of the Mother and Child Health Ward at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), located in the capital city of Islamabad, according to an official statement from the Islamabad district administration.

    Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif confirmed that all 14 fatalities were infants. Deputy Interior Minister Talal Chaudhry added that 19 people, including seven children, were pulled from the burning building by rescue teams. Authorities have traced the origin of the fire to a faulty air conditioning unit. Health Minister Mustafa Kamal told reporters that closed-circuit camera footage captured a spark from the unit igniting surrounding materials, with the blaze spreading across the entire ward in less than 60 seconds.

    A critical safety gap has already been exposed in the aftermath: despite firefighters deploying 26 fire extinguishers to combat the flames, the ward had no functional water sprinkler system installed, a shortcoming that hampered early containment efforts.

    Witness accounts paint a harrowing picture of chaos, panic and systemic failure during and after the blaze. Multiple witnesses, including grieving parents, described thick choking black smoke that filled hallways within minutes, shattered glass from forced exits, and dangerously slow response times from emergency services. Khurram Mehmood, a 40-year-old father, told AFP he lost his three-day-old daughter in the fire, saying rescuers took multiple hours to reach the affected ward. “My wife was in the ward. They took everyone out. We were sitting on the road waiting for help,” Mehmood said.

    Jaweria, another mother who lost her newborn child, told reporters the door to the neonatal intensive care unit where her baby was being treated was locked during the blaze. “I do not believe this. Give me my child back… Why did the doctors leave the children there?” she questioned through tears.

    Witness Abdul Ghafoor, who entered the hospital to help evacuate patients, said he was unable to reach the maternity ward due to the rapid spread of flames. “There were babies as young as one day old. There was thick black smoke inside and patients were trapped… Rescue teams arrived after almost two hours (after the fire started),” Ghafoor said. One anonymous witness added that hospital security personnel blocked exits and prevented people from evacuating, forcing many to break down doors to escape, while rescue teams had to smash windows to access the burning ward.

    Official accounts contradict these witness claims of delayed response. Islamabad Chief Commissioner Sohail Ashraf said the first emergency call was received just before 7:00 a.m. local time (0200 GMT), and responders reached the scene “immediately” to bring the fire under control. Chaudhry also denied that response was slowed by the public holiday, saying rescue teams arrived at the hospital within six minutes of the call. “What happened is sad, but there was no negligence when it came to the rescue operations,” Chaudhry said, adding that an official inquiry would examine gaps in hospital facilities.

    Outside the hospital, AFP reporters documented scenes of overwhelming grief and frantic anxiety as grieving families waited for news of their loved ones. One nurse was seen calling out the names of infants who had died in the blaze, while evacuated patients streamed out of the building with soot covering their faces. Shagufta Parveen, a mother who escaped with her 10-day-old baby, said: “People were screaming. There was black smoke. We ran for our lives. Thank God my baby is safe.”

    Following Islamic tradition that requires burials within 24 hours of death, the first funerals for the deceased infants began Wednesday afternoon. AFP journalists witnessed a tiny shrouded body carried through the streets of nearby Rawalpindi, followed by a quiet procession of mourning family members ahead of the funeral prayer.

    In response to the tragedy, Prime Minister Sharif has ordered a full independent investigation and promised the “strictest possible action” against any person found responsible for safety failures. A statement from his office confirmed that he has already sacked federal Health Secretary Aslam Ghori, the nation’s top civil servant for the health department. Chaudhry confirmed that all 14 bodies have been released to their families for burial.

    The United Nations children’s agency UNICEF issued a statement saying it was “deeply saddened” by the preventable deaths, and called for an “urgent review and strengthening of fire prevention and safety standards across health facilities” nationwide.

    This tragedy is not an isolated incident in Pakistan: deadly fires in large public and commercial buildings are a recurring crisis, widely attributed to lax safety regulations, outdated building codes and poor enforcement of existing rules. In January of this year, a fire at a Karachi shopping center killed more than 65 people. Another 2023 shopping mall fire in Karachi killed 11 people, and a 2012 garment factory blaze in the same city killed more than 250 workers.

  • Door was locked at Pakistan hospital where fire killed 14 babies, witnesses say

    Door was locked at Pakistan hospital where fire killed 14 babies, witnesses say

    Just moments after dawn broke over Islamabad on a Wednesday morning, a catastrophic fire tore through the maternity ward of one of Pakistan’s largest state-run medical facilities, leaving 14 newborn infants dead and igniting widespread public anger over systemic safety failures. The blaze originated in a faulty air conditioning unit on the third floor of the mother and child wing at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), a flagship public hospital in the Pakistani capital. Of the 15 babies present in the ward when the fire started, only one survived.

    Eyewitness accounts paint a chaotic, terrifying picture of delayed response, inadequate safety infrastructure, and locked exits that trapped vulnerable patients as smoke and flames spread rapidly. Hivsa Walid, who was at the hospital visiting her sister-in-law — who had given birth just days earlier — was nearby when the fire began. She initially mistook panicked shouts for news of a natural patient death, before spotting thick smoke billowing through the hallway. The pair managed to escape with their unnamed newborn, fleeing bare of any belongings.

    “We didn’t even think about our things. We just grabbed the baby and ran down the stairs,” Walid told reporters. “Some women had given birth just hours before. Everything happened so fast, it was all a blur.”

    Grieving relatives have decried a hours-long wait for emergency responders and a lack of emergency preparedness at the hospital. Khurram Mehmood, a 40-year-old father who lost his three-day-old daughter in the fire, told reporters that rescue teams took far too long to arrive. Jaweria, another grieving mother, said the maternity ward door was locked from the outside, leaving her waiting outside in agony for help. “I cried and screamed for two hours,” she said. “Police showed up after four hours just to start an investigation. Why did the doctors leave those babies locked inside? To hell with all of you — rescue teams, police — babies burned to death and no one came to save them.”

    Hospital administration has pushed back against claims that the door was locked. Rana Imran Sikander, PIMS’s executive director, told the BBC that the door was staffed, not locked, and that the controlled access policy was in place to prevent infant abductions — a known issue at public hospitals across Pakistan.

    Multiple witnesses, however, confirm that emergency safety measures were virtually non-existent at the facility. Walid noted that even as a leading government hospital, PIMS lacked functioning fire safety equipment and clear emergency evacuation protocols. “There should have been fire extinguishers, there should have been procedures, but no one did anything — everyone just ran,” she said. One bereaved father, who had been visiting the ward for eight days prior to the fire, told Reuters the building had no functional fire security systems and no accessible emergency exits. “Most doors were kept locked. They only left one door open for visitors, because they worried we would come to see our babies too often,” he said.

    Witnesses also reported that on-duty medical and security staff were absent when the fire broke out. Trapped relatives had to break down interior doors to escape, while rescue teams had to smash exterior windows to reach the blaze and evacuate patients, one anonymous witness told AFP. Abdul Ghafoor, another witness, said he tried to enter the building to rescue trapped patients but was turned back by dense toxic smoke. “Patients were trapped inside with all that black smoke, and rescue teams didn’t get here for almost two hours,” he said.

    Islamabad’s Chief Commissioner Sohail Ashraf has disputed claims of delayed response, telling AFP that emergency teams arrived on scene “immediately” after the first emergency call was placed.

    The tragedy is the latest in a string of deadly fire incidents across Pakistan in recent years, where lax enforcement of building codes, weak safety regulations, and chronic underinvestment in public infrastructure have repeatedly led to high death tolls. Earlier this year in January, a fire at a shopping mall in Karachi killed dozens of people, with survivors reporting that locked emergency exits dramatically increased the number of fatalities.

    In response to the PIMS fire, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif issued a statement expressing “deep sorrow and heartfelt regret” over the loss of the newborns. He ordered federal authorities to launch an immediate full investigation into the cause of the blaze and the response failures, and has already suspended Federal Health Secretary Aslam Ghauri, the top-ranking official in Pakistan’s national health department. “The loss of these children is an irreparable tragedy,” the prime minister’s statement read.

  • How Dolly Parton helped the world – from children’s books to supporting Covid vaccine

    How Dolly Parton helped the world – from children’s books to supporting Covid vaccine

    Dolly Parton, the globally beloved country music icon whose name is synonymous with chart-topping hits and warm Southern charisma, leaves behind far more than a legendary entertainment career: a decades-long legacy of grassroots philanthropy that has transformed millions of lives across the United States and beyond. Though Parton passed away recently, her team’s request that fans honor her memory by donating to her signature initiative, the Imagination Library, ensures her work will continue lifting up communities for generations to come.

    Born the fourth of 12 children in a cramped one-bedroom cabin in Tennessee’s Smoky Mountains, Parton grew up immersed in working-class poverty. Her father, Robert Lee Parton, a hardworking tobacco farmer, was unable to read or write—a barrier that the young Dolly watched prevent him from achieving all his dreams. That experience would shape the core of her charitable work for the rest of her life. “He was the smartest man I have ever known but I know in my heart his inability to read probably kept him from fulfilling all of his dreams,” Parton once wrote. In 1988, she turned that motivation into action, founding the Dollywood Foundation to expand access to life-changing educational opportunities for children.

    Seven years later, in 1995, the foundation launched the Imagination Library, Parton’s most far-reaching philanthropic project. Designed to foster early literacy, the program mails a free, personalized book every month to every child under the age of five, starting from birth. What began as a small local initiative limited to Sevier County, Parton’s hometown, quickly expanded across the U.S., then crossed borders to reach Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Australia. To date, the program has distributed more than 332.4 million free books, putting a personalized, owned book into the hands of children who have never had a book of their own before. “They get this little book with their little name on it in the mail, and they feel special… they know that somebody out there is thinking of them,” Parton explained of the program’s quiet power.

    The Imagination Library has earned widespread praise from educators, authors, and community leaders around the world. Scottish councillor Lee Mills, a lifelong Parton fan who brought the program to Dundee after his election, noted: “Dolly’s legacy will last with every page turned of a children’s book. I will do my utmost best to ensure that this is delivered to every child in Scotland.” For British author Selina Brown, whose children’s book *My Rice is Best* was selected for distribution, the program does more than boost literacy—it advances critical representation in children’s publishing. “For my book in particular, the protagonist is black. It helps with representation, it helps with real life situations and having a book that speaks directly to you and speaks to a different world is important,” Brown told the BBC.

    Early literacy was far from Parton’s only educational focus. In the early 1990s, she launched an innovative high school graduation incentive program in Sevier County: every 12- to 14-year-old student who stayed in school to graduate would receive $500, with a peer buddy system to keep students accountable. Though Parton joked the initiative was a “bribe,” it delivered transformative results: the county’s high school dropout rate plummeted from 35% to just 6%, according to foundation data. More recently, in 2022, Parton extended educational support to adult learners, announcing that all Dollywood employees—seasonal, part-time, and full-time alike—would have 100% of their college tuition and textbook costs covered if they chose to pursue further education. The foundation also runs an annual scholarship program that awards $15,000 to five graduating high school seniors pursuing personal and professional dreams.

    Beyond education, Parton’s giving extended to medical research, disaster relief, and wildlife conservation. When the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the world in 2020, Parton donated $1 million to Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, funding early-stage research that was critical to the development of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, which ultimately reached 95% efficacy against severe disease. To encourage vaccine uptake, she even reworked the lyrics to her iconic hit *Jolene*, famously singing, “vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, I’m begging of you, please don’t hesitate,” before sharing a video of herself receiving the injection. This contribution was just one of many major gifts to medical causes: a 2007 benefit concert raised $1 million for a new Sevier County hospital and cancer center that includes the Dolly Parton Center for Women’s Services; in 2017, after her niece received leukemia treatment at Nashville’s Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital, she donated $1 million to the facility, followed by a second $1 million gift years later to fund pediatric infectious disease research. Earlier this year, East Tennessee Children’s Hospital announced it would be renamed the Dolly Parton Children’s Hospital in recognition of her decades-long partnership and support.

    When disaster struck her home state, Parton was always one of the first to step up. After a devastating 2016 wildfire destroyed hundreds of homes in Sevier County, she organized a star-studded telethon that raised more than $13 million, then pledged $1,000 a month for six months to nearly 900 displaced families. When Middle Tennessee suffered catastrophic flooding in 2021, she helped raise $700,000 to support affected residents. She has also partnered with the American Eagle Foundation to host the world’s largest sanctuary for non-releasable bald eagles at her Dollywood amusement park. The sanctuary’s breeding and rehabilitation work contributed to the recovery of the species, which was removed from the U.S. endangered species list in 2007.

    Throughout her life, Parton earned widespread recognition for her generosity, including the 2022 Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy, which honored her as “one of the entertainment world’s most generous philanthropists.” For Parton, giving was not just a public gesture—it was a core part of who she was. “I’m kind of addicted to the feeling of giving,” she once said. “Knowing that I’m doing something good for someone else.” She often spoke of her hope that her work would outlive her, writing that her father, who inspired the Imagination Library, was prouder of that initiative than he ever was of her entertainment career. When announcing her death, her team echoed that vision, asking fans to forgo sending flowers and instead donate to the Imagination Library to carry her work forward. “When I’m done, I can rest in peace knowing I’ve done my best,” Parton once said. “I hope that when my time comes, I’ll leave something behind that others can use to lift themselves up.” That vision, it seems, is already secured.

  • Butter me up: Paris gets its first boutique devoted to France’s favorite fat

    Butter me up: Paris gets its first boutique devoted to France’s favorite fat

    A one-of-a-kind retail concept has touched down in central Paris, just steps from the iconic Eiffel Tower: Le Butter Shop, the French capital’s first boutique exclusively dedicated to all things butter, opened its doors to the public last month. Founded by 34-year-old entrepreneur Erwan Leo, who also operates a local wine-tasting business, the small shop curates 30 distinct butter varieties sourced entirely from small, family-owned dairy producers across Brittany, the Loire Valley and northern France’s prime dairy regions.

    France’s long and complicated relationship with butter has long presented a curious paradox to outside observers. Official data from France’s agriculture ministry puts national annual per capita butter consumption at roughly 8 kilograms, or 18 pounds — one of the highest rates in the world. Yet despite this enthusiasm for the rich dairy staple, France’s obesity rate sits at just 14%, well below the 19% average for developed member nations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Leo says the answer to this contradiction is simple, and rooted in Parisian cultural tradition: moderate consumption paired with an active, walk-centric lifestyle. “We don’t go beyond four tartines a day,” he notes, explaining that mastering the use of butter, rather than overindulging in it, is the core of French culinary culture. “The Italians choose olive oil, we choose butter. We learn how to master it.”

    Unlike the limited selection of plain sweet, lightly salted and fully salted butter found at most neighborhood French supermarkets, Le Butter Shop reimagines butter as a versatile, flavor-forward tasting experience. Customers sample spoonfuls of each variety before purchasing any amount, from a 10-gram tasting pat to a full 2.2-pound block. Beyond classic plain butter varieties, the boutique offers infused flavors ranging from savory options including shallot, cracked pepper, seaweed, wild garlic, fine herbs and lemon-green pepper to sweet variations such as vanilla, raspberry, strawberry and chocolate. Leo frames the tasting experience similar to wine appreciation: “You have to grab your spoon, you put it on your palate, on your tongue, it has to melt a little bit, and then the flavors are going to start coming one by one. The goal isn’t to overconsume — it’s to make the whole meal better, just like wine does.” Most first-time customers are shocked by the range of flavors, he says: “Most people don’t expect to like a raspberry butter or to like chocolate butter. And when they try it, this is where they’re just like, ‘Oh wow, OK.’”

    The shop’s unique premise has quickly drawn attention from both locals and international visitors, many of whom plan their trips around a stop at the boutique. Two tourists from Dublin, a country famous for its own rich golden butter, traveled to the shop specifically after seeing it featured in social media videos back home. “We came here just to taste the butter,” explained Salman Bin Ehsan, who visited alongside fellow traveler Mehreen Himayat. A local Parisian resident, Alexandra Incolano, visited the boutique with a very specific celebratory goal: she is getting married at the end of the week and planned to add curated Le Butter Shop selections as a surprise accompaniment to her wedding’s cheese centerpiece for guests. Even professional food industry workers have made a point to visit: Estonian chef Aleksandr Balaban, who works in Norway where salted butter is a local favorite, stopped by to sample renowned French butter firsthand and bring back a selection for a friend.

    Butter has deep cultural and historical roots across northern and western France, particularly in Brittany. Before modern refrigeration, salt was used to preserve butter, and Brittany’s historic exemption from the gabelle — France’s centuries-old salt tax — allowed the region to keep its traditional salted butter recipe intact even as much of the rest of the country shifted to unsalted varieties. That culinary legacy endures today in iconic Breton dishes including crêpes, salted caramel and kouign-amann, the buttery layered cake whose name translates directly to “butter cake” in the local Breton language.

    All of the butters sold at Le Butter Shop are churned from higher-fat milk sourced from selected dairy herds, with Leo noting that an extra 2 to 3 percentage points of milk fat makes a dramatic difference in richness and flavor. Fueled by viral social media attention, the tiny boutique has drawn large crowds since opening its doors, with Leo hiring four additional staff to keep up with demand. “From day one, it’s been crazy,” he said. “Most people come in with wanting to try one or two butters, they end up trying 25 butters because they’re just so curious.” Looking ahead, Leo plans to expand the shop’s flavor lineup, with a croissant-infused butter already in development and violet-flavored butter under consideration. For the founder, the possibilities for specialty butter are endless: “This is limitless,” he said.

  • Robert Mantini pleads guilty to killing missing friend Adrian Romeo in accidental shooting

    Robert Mantini pleads guilty to killing missing friend Adrian Romeo in accidental shooting

    A bitter $400 dispute over unpaid speeding fines between two long-time close friends ended in a fatal accidental shooting, followed by an extensive attempt to cover up the crime, Victoria’s Supreme Court has been told this week.

    On Wednesday, 61-year-old Robert Mantini appeared for sentencing submissions after entering a guilty plea to a charge of homicide by firearm. His co-accused, 66-year-old Shane Dalton, also pleaded guilty to acting as an accessory after the fact, for aiding Mantini’s efforts to evade law enforcement in the months following the 2024 killing.

    The victim, 42-year-old Adrian Romeo, was described in court as a devoted family man caring for his aging parents when he disappeared in February 2024, shortly after leaving his parents’ home in his father’s gold Toyota Camry. Months after his disappearance, search teams located partially burned human remains near a creek bank on a Wildwood farm, on Melbourne’s outer northwestern fringe, which were later confirmed to belong to Romeo.

    Crown prosecutor Erin Ramsey outlined to the court that the friendship between Romeo and Mantini collapsed in October 2023, when a financial disagreement erupted over two speeding fines totaling roughly $400. According to Ramsey’s account, Romeo had hired a vehicle for Mantini, but Romeo told associates Mantini had refused to cover the cost of the speeding infringements issued to the car. The dispute simmered for months, until February 10, 2024, when Romeo drove to Mantini’s Greenvale residence armed with the fine documents and his phone to confront Mantini.

    Witnesses told the court that when Romeo arrived, Mantini told him to be silent, snatched the infringement paperwork, and left the room. He returned minutes later holding a loaded pump-action shotgun, screaming and calling Romeo a derogatory term. Romeo begged Mantini not to act recklessly, then complied when Mantini ordered him to leave. As Romeo turned his back toward the exit and walked away, the shotgun discharged accidentally, striking him in the back and killing him instantly, Ramsey said.

    In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, Mantini recruited his son Luca Mantini – who has not been charged with any criminal wrongdoing in connection with the case – to help clean blood from the property and drag Romeo’s body to the gold Toyota Camry. Mantini then contacted Dalton, who arrived quickly at the property and the pair drove in convoy to the Wildwood farm. Once there, Mantini cut up both the vehicle and Romeo’s body, burned the remains, and later sold the charred wreckage of the car as scrap metal. Only 0.47 percent of Romeo’s remains have been recovered and returned to his family, a detail that members of Romeo’s family heard confirmed publicly for the first time during Wednesday’s court proceedings.

    Ramsey argued that Mantini took deliberate, extraordinarily brutal steps to cover up his responsibility for the shooting. “The disposal of the vehicle and body was particularly callous,” she told the court.

    Dalton’s role in the cover-up included supplying a commercial-grade saw for Mantini to use, providing false information to law enforcement, and making two trips to the Wildwood farm to support Mantini. Prosecutors have not alleged that Dalton personally took part in destroying Romeo’s body or the vehicle.

    Romeo’s older brother told the court that within days of his brother’s disappearance, he suspected foul play and reported his concerns to police, who asked him to keep the investigation confidential. For six months leading up to the recovery of remains, he said he carried the secret burden of knowing harm had come to his brother, while his elderly parents continued to wait, worry, and hope that their son would return home safely.

    Defense barrister Michael McGrath, representing Mantini, acknowledged that the loss of Romeo has left a permanent, devastating impact on the victim’s family. McGrath noted that his client experienced a severely disadvantaged childhood, and lived for years under the weight of a potential murder charge before prosecutors accepted that the shooting was accidental. He urged Justice Kerri Judd not to allow Mantini’s actions after the shooting to overshadow the fact that the killing itself was accidental. “We don’t dispute the facts of what occurred after the incident, but we caution against the court placing excess weight or undue weight on post offence conduct,” McGrath said. “This is a case where Mr Mantini has clearly undertaken efforts to distance himself from this incident, accidental as it was.”

    Moya O’Brien, representing Dalton, told the court that her client’s actions stemmed from “misguided loyalty” to his friend, and that Dalton was struggling with active methamphetamine addiction at the time of the crime. “(He) thinks what happened to Adrian was disgusting. Mr Dalton is ashamed for his own conduct in this matter,” O’Brien said. She added that Dalton also faced a traumatic, deprived childhood, and had worked for years to escape poverty before succumbing to substance use disorder that led to his involvement in the crime. O’Brien urged the justice to consider the limited scope of Dalton’s role when determining his sentence.

    Justice Judd has announced she will deliver her sentencing decision at a future date.

  • Indian jewellery ad pulled after backlash over actor’s outfit

    Indian jewellery ad pulled after backlash over actor’s outfit

    A controversy over sartorial freedom and cultural sensitivity has erupted in India after a major jewellery brand withdrew its Rakshabandhan festival advertisement, triggering a fierce national debate over women’s autonomy over their clothing choices. The pulled campaign for domestic jewellery brand Giva centered on popular Bollywood star Kriti Sanon, who was featured marking the traditional Hindu festival — where sisters tie a sacred rakhi thread around their brothers’ wrists to symbolize mutual protection and affection. The backlash against the ad focused on two points of criticism: Sanon’s modern cropped top and draped skirt ensemble, and a separate scene that showed her tying a rakhi to her pet dog.
    The controversy ignited early this week when actor and ruling Bharatiya Janata Party Member of Parliament Kangana Ranaut publicly condemned the spot, describing it as “intentionally creepy” and questioning why a woman would tie a rakhi in what she framed as bikini-adjacent undergarments. Though Ranaut did not name Sanon directly, her social media post left no ambiguity about the target of her criticism. “It is a wonderful time to be a woman, our closets are full of a variety of clothes… From all the options that are available to us today why would you tie your brother a Rakhi in your bikini/under garments? Where are all your styling options?” Ranaut wrote.
    Ranaut’s remarks quickly went viral, drawing both agreement and fierce pushback across Indian social media. Conservative social media users echoed her criticism, arguing that Sanon’s outfit was inappropriate for a sacred traditional festival. One commentator referred to Sanon’s top as a bralette, writing on X that “there is a clear line between modern styling and basic sensitivity towards Hindu festivals,” adding that pairing the garment with a Rakshabandhan campaign felt “completely out of touch and unnecessary.” Critics also raised objections to the scene of Sanon tying a rakhi to her pet, arguing it diluted the festival’s focus on sibling bonds.
    But Sanon quickly hit back at her critics, issuing a defiant defense of her choices that quickly won widespread support from advocates of women’s rights. In an Instagram story posted Tuesday night, the actor called out the pervasive cultural mindset that judges women’s respect for tradition solely based on their clothing. “The essence of festivals is not in the clothes you wear, it is in the emotions and meaning you hold for the traditions… When will we stop telling women what to wear?? Ethnic fashion has evolved over the years, but still a woman’s respect for her culture is measured with just her clothes!! Culture & Traditions are in her heart, not in her neckline!” Sanon wrote.
    Addressing the controversy over tying a rakhi to her pet, Sanon added that the core spirit of Rakshabandhan is protecting all loved ones, a category that extends to furry family members for many modern people. Sanon’s stance received high-profile backing, including from opposition Congress party MP Rahul Gandhi, who affirmed that a woman’s clothing choice is entirely her own. Other critics hit back at Ranaut for what they called moral policing, also pointing out that Ranaut frequently wore short and Western-style outfits throughout her early acting career, shifting to more conservative clothing only after entering politics.
    Despite Sanon’s spirited defense, Giva announced Wednesday that it would withdraw the advertisement from all media platforms. In a public statement posted to Instagram, the brand emphasized its longstanding respect for Indian culture and traditions, noting that it had intended to expand the spirit of Rakshabandhan celebration to include pets as beloved family members. “If our recent advertisement has inadvertently hurt the sentiments of some segments of society, that was not our intent at all. Out of respect, we have withdrawn the advertisement from all media,” the brand added.
    The incident is far from unprecedented for Indian brands: in 2020, leading jewellery brand Tanishq pulled an advertisement featuring an interfaith couple after facing widespread backlash from right-wing social media groups. The current controversy also reflects a years-long pattern of charged national debates over women’s clothing in India. In 2021, a 19-year-old student was forced to wrap a curtain around her legs to sit an exam after a teacher objected to her wearing shorts, sparking national outrage. Later that same year, thousands of women shared photos of themselves in ripped jeans on social media after the chief minister of the northern state of Uttarakhand publicly shamed a woman for wearing the garment. Last year, a beauty pageant contestant won national praise after pushing back against a group of men who bullied contestants for wearing skirts and Western dresses.

  • Teenage cyclist dies after hit-and-run collision

    Teenage cyclist dies after hit-and-run collision

    A fatal hit-and-run incident has claimed the life of a teenage cyclist in County Meath, Republic of Ireland, leaving local law enforcement appealing for public assistance to track down the responsible driver.

    Gardaí, Ireland’s national police service, confirmed that the collision between a white van and a bicycle took place at approximately 20:05 local time on Tuesday in the rural area of Nugentstown, just outside Kells. First responders who arrived at the scene pronounced the victim, a male in his late teens, dead at the site.

    In a departure from standard protocol for traffic collisions, the driver of the van involved in the crash fled the area immediately after the incident, failing to stop at the scene as required under Irish road traffic law. As of Wednesday morning, the road where the collision occurred remained fully closed to all through traffic, as officials from the Garda’s forensic collision investigation unit carry out a detailed examination of the site.

    The office of the coroner, which oversees investigations into sudden and unexpected deaths in Ireland, has already been notified of the fatality.

    Investigating officers have issued a public appeal for anyone who was in the Nugentstown area around the time of the incident to come forward with information. Specifically, Gardaí are asking any motorists who were traveling through the area that have dash camera footage, or any members of the public who captured mobile phone recordings of the van or the collision scene before officers arrived, to share that material with investigators. Anyone with information can contact the local Garda station in Kells to provide details anonymously or on the record.

  • At least 14 babies die in Pakistan hospital fire

    At least 14 babies die in Pakistan hospital fire

    A devastating early-morning fire at a leading state-run hospital in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad has claimed the lives of at least 14 newborn infants, leaving one infant rescued and triggering urgent official investigations into the preventable tragedy, authorities confirmed this week.

    The blaze erupted on the third floor of the maternal and child care wing at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) — the largest public health facility in the capital — just after dawn on Wednesday. Hospital spokespersons confirmed the fire originated from a faulty air conditioning unit in the neonatal ward, where 15 babies were being cared for at the time. Most of the infants were placed in incubators or connected to oxygen support, a combination that turned a small electrical fire into an uncontrollable inferno: while pure oxygen is not flammable, it dramatically accelerates combustion, making surrounding materials burn hotter and spread flames far faster than in normal conditions.

    Emergency response teams rushed to the scene after the fire was reported, evacuating more than two dozen people trapped in the building. Alongside the 14 neonatal fatalities, responders successfully pulled 19 other people — including 10 women, seven children, and two men — to safety. Only one newborn from the affected ward survived the blaze.

    The toll of the disaster has left families grieving and officials scrambling to untangle what went wrong. Police officials confirmed all 14 deceased infants suffered extensive burn damage, meaning formal DNA testing will be required to positively identify the remains before they can be released to grieving family members for burial.

    Grief-stricken family members gathered outside the hospital’s main entrance in the hours after the fire, many openly weeping as they waited for updates on their loved ones. One father told reporters his three-day-old child, born just days earlier, was among those killed. Hivsa Walid, who was at the hospital visiting her recently delivered sister-in-law, described the chaotic moment the fire broke out. She and her family were in a nursery across the hall from the burning AC unit when they heard shouts that were initially mistaken for a report of a natural patient death. When they spotted thick smoke filling the corridor, they grabbed the unnamed newborn and fled for their lives.

    In the aftermath of the blaze, broken glass from shattered hospital windows littered the sidewalk outside the facility, mixed with discarded medical masks, as police maintained a perimeter to control access to the site.

    PIMS, which operates a 156-bed maternal and child health division, is one of the most relied-upon public hospitals in Islamabad. This tragedy is far from an isolated incident for Pakistan: the country has seen a string of deadly large-scale fires in recent years, almost all linked to inadequate fire safety regulations, outdated building codes, and consistent lax enforcement of existing safety rules. Just eight months earlier, a massive fire tore through the Gul Plaza shopping mall in Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city, killing 67 people in one of the country’s deadliest commercial fires in recent history.

    In a statement released hours after the fire, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed profound grief and sincere regret over the loss of the infants, calling the loss of young children an irreparable tragedy. He ordered national and local authorities to launch an immediate full investigation into the cause of the blaze. A fact-finding committee was quickly convened by Islamabad’s District Magistrate, which has been ordered to submit a full investigative report within 24 hours of the fire.