World
Islamic State land mines in central Syria kill 10 workers
Land mines left behind by the Islamic State group in central Syria went off in two different locations on Monday, killing 10 workers as they were collecting truffles in the countryside and wounding 12, state media reported.
According to Syria's state news agency SANA, the two mines exploded east of the central town of Salamiyeh. All the casualties were taken to a hospital in the town, the report added. It wasn't immediately clear what had triggered the explosions.
It is not uncommon for mines left behind years ago, when IS controlled large parts of Syria, to go off inadvertently, usually when stepped on, inflicting casualties.
IS was driven out of all the territory it once held in Syria and neighboring Iraq in 2019, but the extremists left behind countless bombs and booby traps, and large areas have yet to be cleared. The militant group’s sleeper cells still carry deadly attacks both in Syria and Iraq.
SANA said the first explosion on Monday killed nine people and wounded two while the second killed one person and wounded 10.
Read more: Israeli airstrikes kill 5 in Syria
Earlier this month, IS sleeper cells attacked workers collecting truffles near the central town of Sukhna, killing at least 53 people, mostly workers but also some Syrian government security forces.
The truffles are a seasonal delicacy that can be sold for a high price. Since the truffle hunters work in large groups in remote areas, IS militants in previous years have repeatedly preyed on them, emerging from the desert to abduct them, kill some and ransom others for money.
New quake hits Turkey, toppling more buildings: 1 killed
A magnitude 5.6 earthquake shook southern Turkey on Monday — three weeks after a catastrophic temblor devastated the region — causing some already damaged buildings to collapse and killing at least one person, the country’s disaster management agency, AFAD, said.
Another 69 people were injured as a result of the earthquake which was centered in the town of Yesilyurt in Malatya province, AFAD’s chief Yunus Sezer told reporters. More than two dozen buildings collapsed.
Yesilyurt’s mayor, Mehmet Cinar, told HaberTurk television that a father and daughter were trapped beneath the rubble of a four-story building in the town. The pair had entered the damaged building to collect belongings.
Elsewhere in Malatya, search-and-rescue teams were sifting through the rubble of two damaged buildings that toppled on top of some parked cars, HaberTurk reported.
Malatya was among 11 Turkish provinces hit by the magnitude 7.8 earthquake that devastated parts of southern Turkey and northern Syria on Feb. 6.
That quake led to more than 48,000 deaths in both countries as well as the collapse or serious damage of 173,000 buildings in Turkey.
AFAD’s chief urged people not to enter damaged buildings saying strong aftershocks continue to pose a risk. Close to 10,000 aftershocks have hit the region affected by the quake since Feb. 6.
Rescuers find 60th body off Italy after migrant shipwreck
Rescue crews searched by sea and air Monday for the dozens of people believed still missing from a shipwreck off Italy’s southern coast that drove home once again the desperate and dangerous crossings of migrants seeking to reach Europe.
At least 80 people survived Sunday’s shipwreck off the Calabrian coast, but rescue crews recovered 60 bodies, including those of several children and the corpse of a young man Monday morning. Dozens more were feared dead given survivor reports that the ship, which set off from Turkey last week, had carried about 170 people.
The beach at Steccato di Cutro, on Calabria’s Ionian coast, was littered with the splintered remains of the ship that broke up in stormy seas on the reefs offshore, as well as the belongings the migrants had brought with them, including a toddler’s tiny pink sneaker and a yellow plastic pencil case decorated with pandas.
There were only a few life jackets scattered amid the debris.
On Monday, two coast guard vessels searched the seas north to south off Steccato di Cutro while a helicopter flew overhead and a four-wheel vehicle patrolled the beach. A strong wind whipped the seas that still churned up splinters of the ship, gas tanks, food containers and shoes. A pickup truck came to take away the body of the latest victim.
Firefighter Inspector Giuseppe Larosa said what gutted the first rescue crews who arrived on the scene was how many children were killed, and that the bodies of the dead had scratches all over them, as if they had tried to hang onto the ship to save themselves.
“It was a chilling scene. Bodies spread out on the beach, so many bodies, so many children," he said on the beach Monday morning. He said he had focused on the recovery efforts, but he was struck by what he found in the survivors.
“What struck me was their silence," he said. “Terror in their eyes, but mute. Silent."
Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi, who has spearheaded Italy’s crackdown on migration, visited the scene Sunday and met with local officials in Crotone. At a news conference, he insisted the solution was to put an end to migrant crossings at their origin.
“I ask myself how it’s possible that these crossings are organized, pushing women and children to make the trips that end up tragically dangerous,” he said.
Italy's government under Premier Giorgia Meloni has focused on trying to block migrant ships from departing, while discouraging humanitarian rescue teams from operating in the Mediterranean. Meloni said Sunday that the government was committed to that policy “above all by insisting on the maximum collaboration with the countries of origin and departure.”
Italy has complained bitterly for years that fellow European Union countries have balked at taking in migrants, many of whom are aiming to find family or work in northern Europe. Italy is a prime destination, especially for smuggling operations launching boats from Libyan shores.
But Italy is also a destination for smugglers leaving from Turkey. According to U.N. figures, arrivals from the Turkish route accounted for 15% of the 105,000 migrants who arrived on Italian shores last year, with nearly half of those fleeing from Afghanistan.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called for a redoubling of efforts to deal with the problem.
“The resulting loss of life of innocent migrants is a tragedy,” she said.
Meloni’s government has concentrated on complicating efforts by humanitarian boats to make multiple rescues in the central Mediterranean by assigning them ports of disembarkation along Italy’s northern coasts. That means the vessels need more time to return to the sea after bringing migrants aboard and taking them safely to shore.
Humanitarian organizations have lamented that the crackdown also includes an order to the charity boats not to remain at sea after the first rescue operation in hopes of performing other rescues, but to head immediately to their assigned port. Violators face stiff fines and confiscation of rescue vessels.
Official: Taliban forces kill 2 IS members in Kabul raid
Taliban security forces killed two militants from the Islamic State group and detained a third in an overnight raid in the Afghan capital of Kabul, the spokesman for the Taliban government said Monday.
The regional affiliate of the Islamic State group — known as the Islamic State in Khorasan Province — is a key rival of the Taliban. The militant group has increased its attacks in Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover of the country in August 2021. Targets have included Taliban patrols and members of Afghanistan’s Shiite minority.
According to Zabihullah Mujahid, the main Taliban government spokesman in Kabul, the operation took place in a residential neighborhood, targeting IS militants who were planning to organize attacks in the Afghan capital. He said the Kher Khana neighborhood is an important IS hideout.
There was no immediate comment from the IS.
Mujahid said two IS members were killed and one was arrested, and ammunition and military equipment were seized in the raid. There were no casualties among the Taliban forces during in the operation, he added.
In a separate operation this month, Taliban intelligence forces killed three IS militants and arrested one in an overnight operation in eastern part of Kabul, in Karti Naw neighborhood. The Taliban had claimed that IS was behind organized recent attacks in the capital.
Overnight, posts on on social media reported several explosions and small-arms fire in the area of Kher Khana.
The Taliban swept across the country in mid-August 2021, seizing power as U.S. and NATO forces were in the last weeks of their final withdrawal from Afghanistan after 20 years of war. The international community has not recognized the Taliban government, wary of the harsh measures they have imposed since their takeover, restricting rights and freedoms, especially for of women and minorities.
Afghanistan’s economy has been sent into a tailspin since the takeover, with millions driven into poverty and hunger. Foreign aid stopped almost overnight. Sanctions on Taliban rulers, a halt on bank transfers and frozen billions in Afghanistan’s currency reserves abroad have already restricted access to global institutions and the outside money that supported the country’s aid-dependent economy before the U.S. and NATO pullout.
But in neighboring Iran, authorities on Sunday handed over control of Afghanistan’s Embassy in Tehran to envoys of the Taliban government.
Previously, the embassy had been staffed with appointees from the former, U.S.-backed Afghan government. The development was a win for the Taliban administration, which is expected to now fly the Taliban flag over the mission in the Iranian capital, not the Afghan flag.
There was no official comment from Tehran on the transfer of authority and it was unclear if that constituted an official recognition of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, as the Taliban call their administration.
In Kabul, the Taliban Foreign Affairs Ministry in a statement said embassy “activities will continue in Tehran following the dispatching" of a new chargé d’affaires and diplomats from Afghanistan. The statement further stresses that changing mission diplomats abroad is the legitimate right of every country.
“The new appointments," it said, would ensure “transparency in the affairs of the embassy as well as expanded relations in various fields between the two Muslim and brotherly.
France to unveil new economic, military strategy in Africa
French President Emmanuel Macron will unveil on Monday his country’s changing economic and military strategy in Africa in the coming years, as France’s influence substantially declines on the continent.
Macron is expected to call for a more balanced partnership with African nations, in a speech at the Elysee presidential palace before he begins an ambitious Africa trip on Wednesday to Gabon, Angola, the Republic of Congo and Congo.
Monday’s speech comes at a time when France’s influence on the continent is facing more challenges than it has in decades.
In less than a year, French troops had to withdraw from Mali, which turned instead to Russian military contractors, and most recently from Burkina Faso, which also appears to increasingly look towards Moscow.
A growing anti-France sentiment has led to street protests in several West and North African countries against the former colonial power.
In addition, historical economic ties that France had with the region are being challenged by the growing commercial presence of Russia, China and Turkey.
“It’s not a trip that aims at getting into the race to regain a regretted influence,” a top official at the French presidency said. The trip isn’t aimed to “try to get back to the past. It’s more to respond to a demand for partnership, for relations, but with new methods and a new approach,” he said.
The official was speaking on condition of anonymity in line with the French presidency’s customary practices.
Macron is notably expected to detail changes that France will bring in its military deployment in the Sahel region.
Last year, he announced the formal end of the so-called Barkhane military force after France withdrew its troops from Mali. French operations to help fight Islamic extremists in the Sahel region are now focusing mostly on Niger and Chad, where the country still has about 3,000 troops.
Macron in recent years insisted any French presence in Africa should be based on “partnership” in efforts to move away from post-colonial interference.
“Faced with the strategic threats ahead, whether it’s war in Ukraine, economic shock, pandemic shock, it’s crucial that Europe and Africa are as aligned as possible and get, let’s say, as intimate as possible in their dialogue,” the French official said.
Macron, 45, is the first French president born after the colonial era. He has previously sought to extend France’s cooperation with English-speaking countries, like Ghana and Kenya, and increase French investments in Africa’s private sector.
During this week’s tour, he will notably visit Portuguese-speaking Angola, with the aim to develop links especially in the fields of agriculture and food industry as well as energy, including oil and gas.
Yet Macron’s tour this week in central Africa already faces questions.
Some opposition activists in Gabon have denounced his visit, which they perceive as bringing support to President Ali Bongo Ondimba, whose family has ruled since the 1960s, before the presidential election scheduled later this year.
Similar questions have been raised in Congo before a December presidential election.
“Before, during and after this trip, the president of the republic, like all French authorities, will show strict neutrality regarding these elections,” the French top official said.
The Elysee stressed that Macron is coming to Gabon mostly to attend a major climate-related summit focusing on the preservation of forests.
He will also seek to show France’s attachment to improving economic and cultural relations with two French-speaking countries, neighbouring Republic of Congo and Congo, not only via talks with authorities, but also by establishing links with local populations, entrepreneurs, artists and activists, according to the Elysee.
‘Love doesn’t exist’: Immigrants defy forced marriage abroad
From the day of her birth in Pakistan, Iram Aslam was betrothed to a cousin 17 days older. But to the young woman, who emigrated as a teenager to this Italian farm town on the Po River plain, the cousin felt like a brother. So on a visit to her homeland, she played for time, telling her aunts she wasn’t ready for marriage.
“They did everything possible to make me marry him,″ said Aslam, now 29. She said she told them: ”‘I don’t want to marry him and please don’t ask me anymore.’”
Her family, in both Italy and Pakistan, kept scheming to have her wed a man of their choice — and their caste. Aslam dismissed around 30 potential husbands.
“In the end, I made everyone angry, and no one talks to me anymore,” she said of her relatives in Pakistan.
In two murder trials this month, Italian prosecutors are seeking justice for Pakistani immigrant women allegedly killed because they refused marriages imposed by their parents. The cases highlight differences, often misconstrued as religion-based, between centuries-old immigrants’ cultural traditions and Western values prizing individualism.
Also Read: Nearly 1 million asylum requests in the EU in 2022
“I liked another person, wanted another one,″ Aslam said of her own situation. “But they didn’t want it, because among us, love doesn’t exist.” Love is viewed “as a sin,” she added, her thick, wavy brown hair covered by a multicolored headscarf. She asked that her face not be fully shown for fear of further antagonizing Pakistani neighbors in Guastalla, a town of 15,000 where they are the dominant immigrant community.
To escape marriage-obsessed relatives, Aslam went for a time to live in Germany.
But there was no escape for 18-year-old Saman Abbas.
Like Aslam, she emigrated as a teenager from Pakistan to an Italian farm town, Novellara, 11 kilometers (seven miles) from Guastalla.
In what appears to be an identity card photo taken shortly after her arrival, Abbas’ face is framed by a black hijab, or headscarf. But the young woman quickly embraced Western ways, appearing in social media posts with her hair tumbling out from under a bright red headband. In one, she and her Pakistani boyfriend were shown kissing on a street in the regional capital, Bologna.
According to Italian investigators, that kiss enraged Abbas’ parents, who wanted their daughter to marry a cousin in Pakistan.
Also Read: Italy contributes €3mn to UNHCR for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh
In November, her body was dug up in the ruins of a Novellara farmhouse. She had last been seen alive a few hundred yards away on April 30, 2021, in surveillance camera video as she walked with her parents on the watermelon farm where her father worked. A few days later, her parents caught a flight from Milan to Pakistan.
Abbas had reportedly told her boyfriend she feared for her life, because she refused to be married to an older man in her homeland.
An autopsy revealed a broken neck bone, possibly caused by strangulation.
An uncle and a cousin were extradited from France, and another cousin from Spain. They are now on trial in Reggio Emilia, the provincial capital with jurisdiction over Novellara, accused of Abbas’ murder.
Also indicted is her father, Shabbir Abbas, arrested in his village in eastern Punjab. The whereabouts of her mother, who is also charged, are unknown.
A lawyer for her father, Akhtar Mahmood, told Italian state television that the young woman’s family is innocent. He disputed prosecutors’ allegations, contending that she had wanted to return with her family to Pakistan to flee Western ways.
Asked about Italy’s request for Shabbir Abbas’ extradition, Pakistan’s ambassador to Italy, Ali Javed, told The Associated Press that the Pakistani government would “not hesitate” to do so. However, Italy has no extradition treaty with Pakistan.
Javed blamed “individual ignorance″ for forced marriage, which is illegal in Pakistan.
In 2019, Italy made coercing an Italian citizen or resident into marriage, even abroad, a crime covered under domestic violence laws.
Late this month, police in Spain detained the father of two sisters who were allegedly murdered while visiting family in Pakistan. The women had reportedly refused to have their husbands come to Spain after being forced to marry their cousins.
In the United Kingdom, home to Europe’s largest Pakistani community, the government’s Forced Marriage Unit cautioned that the problem of forced marriage isn’t “specific to one country, religion or culture” and said statistics don’t reflect “the full scale of the abuse” since forced marriage is a “hidden crime.”
Under the Italian justice system, civil plaintiffs can attach lawsuits for damages to criminal trials, and two organizations representing Islamic communities in Italy are among those suing in the Abbas trial.
Other plaintiffs include women’s advocacy organizations.
Tiziana Dal Pra, whose group, Trama delle Terre, promotes intercultural relations, said that while violence surrounding forced marriage “gets interpreted as religious,” what’s really at play is “patriarchal control” of women’s bodies.
In December, a court in the northern city of Brescia convicted and gave five-year prison sentences to three Pakistani immigrants — the parents and older brother of four girls — for beating them and keeping them out of school.
According to court documents, the parents threatened their daughters that if they refused arranged marriages, they would end up like that “girl in Pakistan.”
The court said that threat referred to 25-year-old Sana Cheema, who was slain when she returned from Italy to Pakistan in 2018, allegedly at her parents’ insistence.
By her friends’ accounts, Cheema, who had taken Italian citizenship, loved her life in Brescia, where she worked out at a gym, went out for coffee with girlfriends and danced with them at a disco. She was proud of her job teaching at a driving school in the northern city.
Brescia prosecutors are now trying Cheema’s father and brother in absentia on a novel charge: murder in violation of the political right to marry one’s own choice.
In 2019, a court in Pakistan acquitted the two on murder charges, citing insufficient evidence. But Italy’s justice ministry ruled the Brescia trial could go forward since Pakistan and Italy have no agreement governing cases involving so-called judicial double jeopardy.
Cheema’s family initially told Pakistani authorities that she died of a heart attack the day before she was supposed to fly back to Italy. Two friends testified in Brescia this month that Cheema told them her parents wanted her to marry a cousin in Pakistan.
They also quoted from Facebook messages in which Cheema said her parents had confiscated her passport and phone in Pakistan.
With the Italian Embassy closely following the case, Cheema’s body was exhumed. An autopsy indicated she was likely strangled.
Prosecuting the case in Italy sends the message that “exercising the right of who you want to live with, above all, who you want to marry, is a political right” to be guaranteed “with utmost firmness,” Brescia Prosecutor General Guido Rispoli told the AP.
At the edge of a field near the farmhouse where Saman Abbas’ body was found, mourners have left a stuffed toy squirrel and bunches of flowers at an improvised shrine.
“It will continue to happen, I tell you, that’s how it is,″ Aslam said of violence linked to forced marriage.
What progress has been made with trials like the ones in Reggio Emilia and Brescia isn’t enough, she added: “It’s like salt in flour.”
Serbia, Kosovo leaders weigh EU proposals to improve ties
The leaders of Serbia and Kosovo are holding talks on Monday on European Union proposals aimed at ending a long series of political crises and setting the two on the path to better relations and ultimately mutual recognition.
Tensions have simmered between Serbia and its former territory since Kosovo unilaterally broke away in 2008; a move recognized by many Western countries but opposed by Serbia, with the backing of Russia and China.
Recently, those tensions flared over seemingly trivial matters like vehicle license plate formats, or the arrest of an ethnic Serb police officer, triggering renewed concern among Western leaders that a new Balkan conflict might break out just as Russia’s war in Ukraine enters its second year.
At meetings in Brussels, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti are expected to discuss ways to put the European proposals into action. Both leaders have already discussed the plan, which hasn't been made public, and EU officials are confident of progress.
A senior EU official said before the talks that “we need to break the vicious circle of crisis.” He said the proposals are “not the end of the road” when it comes to normalizing ties between Belgrade and Pristina, but that given recent tensions, the EU plan is the “maximum achievable at this point.”
The official briefed reporters on the condition that he not be named because of the highly sensitive nature of the meetings. Previous talks between Vucic and Kurti have degenerated into arguments and mutual recrimination, but this time both leaders have already endorsed the proposals “in principle,” he said.
Vucic said Sunday, before the meetings supervised by EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, that he’s “ready to work on the concept and implementation of the proposed plan with clearly defined limitations.”
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He didn't specify the “limitations,” but he has repeatedly said that they include the refusal to recognize Kosovo as an independent state as well as agree to it becoming a U.N. member.
The EU has mediated negotiations between Serbia and Kosovo since 2011, but few of the 33 agreements that have been signed were put into action. The EU and the U.S. have pressed for faster progress since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year.
Earlier this month, hundreds of Serbian nationalists gathered in Belgrade to demand that Vucic reject the EU plan and pull out of the talks.
Shouting “Treason” and carrying banners reading “No surrender,” the right-wing protesters blocked traffic as they gathered near the Serbian presidency building. The protesters are also strongly pro-Russia, and one banner read: “Betrayal of Kosovo is betrayal of Russia!”
In recent months, U.S. and EU envoys have visited Pristina and Belgrade regularly to encourage them to accept the new proposals, and the two leaders met with senior EU representatives on the sidelines of a major security conference in the German city of Munich earlier this month.
5 die in SW China mine as hope fades for 47 trapped in north
At least five workers were killed in a roof collapse at a mine in southwestern China, as hope appeared to be fading for 47 miners trapped under tons of rubble after a mining disaster last week in northern China.
Deadly mine disasters occur regularly in China, although authorities have reduced their toll greatly by emphasizing safety and closing smaller operations that lacked necessary equipment.
In the mine in Sichuan province, 25 miners were underground when part of the roof collapsed Sunday morning. Five were killed, three were badly injured and the others escaped, the provincial Department of Emergency Management said. Reports said the mine did not produce coal, but gave no details.
Meanwhile, rescue efforts were continuing at the open-pit mine in the Inner Mongolian region’s Alxa League. The death toll remains six with six others pulled from the rubble alive. The cause for the collapse of a mine wall six days ago is under investigation and an unknown number of people have been detained.
Also Read: 9 workers found dead in China mine explosion; toll now 10
Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for an “all-out” search-and-rescue effort and local authorities have ordered inspections and safety improvements at other mines in Inner Mongolia that produce much of the coal, metals and rare earths the Chinese economy depends on.
Calls to the Ministry of Emergency Management rang unanswered on Monday. The last official report on the rescue effort Saturday said two corridors had been cleared to bring in more equipment and ground-penetrating radar had also been deployed.
Previously, more than 1,000 rescuers were sent to the scene, using heavy machinery, along with life-detection equipment and rescue dogs.
Hours after the initial cave-in, another landslide halted rescue efforts for several hours during the crucial period for rescuing survivors. Since then, crews were carefully excavating by layers to avoid causing more landslides.
‘A time bomb’: India’s sinking holy town faces grim future
Inside a shrine overlooking snow-capped mountains, Hindu priests heaped spoonful of puffed rice and ghee into a crackling fire. They closed their eyes and chanted in Sanskrit, hoping their prayers would somehow turn back time and save their holy — and sinking — town.
For months, the roughly 20,000 residents in Joshimath, burrowed in the Himalayas and revered by Hindu and Sikh pilgrims, have watched the earth slowly swallow their community. They pleaded for help that never arrived, and in January their desperate plight made it into the international spotlight.
But by then, Joshimath was already a disaster zone. Multistoried hotels slumped to one side; cracked roads gaped open. More than 860 homes were uninhabitable, splayed by deep fissures that snaked through ceilings, floors and walls. And instead of saviors they got bulldozers that razed whole lopsided swaths of the town.
The holy town was built on piles of debris left behind by years of landslides and earthquakes. Scientists have warned for decades, including in a 1976 report, that Joshimath could not withstand the level of heavy construction that has recently been taking place.
“Cracks are widening every day and people are in fear. We have been saying for years this is not just a disaster, but a disaster in the making… it’s a time bomb,” said Atul Sati, an activist with the Save Joshimath Committee.
Joshimath’s future is at risk, experts and activists say, due in part to a push backed by the prime minister’s political party to grow religious tourism in Uttarakhand, the holy town’s home state. On top of climate change, extensive new construction to accommodate more tourists and accelerate hydropower projects in the region is exacerbating subsidence — the sinking of land.
Located 1,890 meters (6,200 feet) above sea level, Joshimath is said to have special spiritual powers and believed to be where Hindu guru Adi Shankaracharya found enlightenment in the 8th century before going on to establish four monasteries across India, including one in Joshimath.
Visitors pass through the town on their way to the famous Sikh shrine, Hemkund Sahib, and the Hindu temple, Badrinath.
“It must be protected,” said Brahmachari Mukundanand, a local priest who called Joshimath the “brain of North India” and explained that “Our body can still function if some limbs are cut off. But if anything happens to our brain, we can’t function. … Its survival is extremely important.”
The town’s loose topsoil and soft rocks can only support so much and that limit, according to environmentalist Vimlendu Jha, may have already been breached.
“You can’t just construct anything anywhere just because it is allowed,” he said. “In the short term, you might think it’s development. But in the long term, it is actually devastation.”
At least 240 families have been forced to relocate without knowing if they would be able to return.
Prabha Sati, who fled Joshimath in a panic last month when her home began to crack and tilt, came back to grab the television, idols of Hindu gods and some shoes before state officials demolished her home.
“We built this house with so much difficulty. Now I will have to leave everything behind. Every small piece of it will be destroyed,” she said, blinking back tears.
Authorities, ignoring expert warnings, have continued to move forward with costly projects in the region, including a slew of hydropower stations and a lengthy highway. The latter is aimed at further boosting religious tourism, a key plank of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party.
Slain Hong Kong model’s in-laws, ex-husband appear in court
The ex-husband and former in-laws of a slain Hong Kong model and influencer appeared in court Monday on a joint murder charge after police found her body parts in a refrigerator.
The ex-husband Alex Kwong, his father Kwong Kau and his brother Anthony Kwong were charged with murdering model Abby Choi. His mother Jenny Li faces one count of perverting the course of justice. The four were placed in custody without bail.
Choi, 28, was a model and influencer who shared her glamorous life of photo shoots and fashion shows with more than 100,000 followers on Instagram. Dressed in a tulle floor-length gown, she had just attended a Dior show at Paris Fashion Week.
Her last post was more than a week ago, featuring a photoshoot she had done with L’Officiel Monaco, a fashion publication.
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Choi had financial disputes involving tens of millions of Hong Kong dollars with her ex-husband and his family, police said earlier, adding that “some people” were unhappy with how Choi handled her financial assets.
Her friend, Bernard Cheng, said she has four children: two sons ages 10 and 3 and two daughters ages 8 and 6. The elder two were with Kwong, 28, and the younger children were with her current husband, Chris Tam.
Tam said he was very thankful to have had Choi in his life and praised her for being supportive, friend Pao Jo-yee relayed in a Facebook post.
“When Abby was alive, she’s a very kind person and always wanted to help people,” he was quoted in the post. “I feel anyone who could be her family and friends are blessed.”
Pao, who is married to Cheng, told The Associated Press that she has known Choi for over seven years and Choi treated people around her well.
“She is that type of person that wouldn’t have enemies,” she said.
Cheng said Choi had very good relationships with her family members and would travel with the families of her current and former husbands together.
Choi had been missing for several days when police found her dismembered body and documents Friday, including her legs in a refrigerator, in the house in Lung Mei Tsuen, a suburban part of Hong Kong about a 30-minute drive from the border with mainland China.
The gruesome killing of Choi has gripped many in Hong Kong as the southern Chinese city is widely considered safe with a very low level of violent crime. Across the border in mainland China, online discussion over her case went viral on social media.
On Sunday, authorities discovered a young woman’s skull believed to be Choi’s in one of the cooking pots that was seized. Officials believe that a hole on the right rear of the skull is where the fatal attack struck her.
The hearing of the murder case was adjourned to May.