19/05/2025

MONDAY | MAY 19, 2025

9

Severe storms, tornadoes kill more than 25

LONDON (Kentucky): Severe storms that tore through Missouri, Kentucky and Virginia left more than 25 people dead, levelling homes and businesses while knocking out power for tens of thousands, authorities said. At least 18 people were killed in Kentucky in the storms on Friday night, state governor Andy Beshear posted on X, while officials in Missouri said another seven were dead there. Two people were also killed by falling trees in Virginia, local media reported. Jamie Burns, 38, who lives with her husband and son in a trailer home in the town of London, Kentucky, fled to the basement of her sister’s brick house while the storm destroyed 100 to 200 houses in the area. “Things that have been here longer than I have, things that have been here for 30-plus years are just flat,” Burns said. “It’s wild, because you look at one area and it’s just smashed.” Drone footage shared by local media showed scenes of devastation in London, with houses levelled and reduced to splinters and tree trunks standing bare, shorn of branches. More than 108,000 people were still without power across the three states on Saturday. Eastern Kentucky, an area historically known for its coal mines, is one of the poorest regions in the country. “A lot of us live in manufactured homes that aren’t safe for tornado weather,” said Burns. In Missouri, five people were killed in St Louis, in what authorities said was one of the worst storms in its history, and two in Scott County, the State Highway Patrol said. More severe weather was forecast for today. Mayor Cara Spencer said: “I would describe this as one of the worst storms ... absolutely. The devastation is truly heartbreaking.” She said 38 people in the city were injured and some 5,000 buildings damaged. In one St Louis neighbourhood, a church was heavily damaged, according to CBS footage, and rescue workers continued to treat victims near the building on Saturday. – AFP BASEL: Austria’s JJ won the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest yesterday, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel, whose participation drew protests, on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose real name is Johannes Pietsch, said after his triumph in the Swiss city of Basel. “Love is the strongest force in the world. Let’s spread more love,” the Austrian-Filipino singer said. Wasted Love saw him hit the high notes while mixing opera and techno. His Eurovision song, about the experience of unrequited love, blends lyricism and balladry, before ending with a techno flourish. His performance, broadcast in black and white in 4:3 ratio, captivated viewers around Europe. “What a fantastic success! My warmest congratulations on your victory,” said Austria’s Chancellor Christian Stocker, adding: “JJ is making Austrian music history.” The Philippine Consulate General in Frankfurt also congratulated JJ on Facebook. “What an incredible moment – Filipino pride on the European stage!” it said. – AFP Austria’s JJ wins Eurovision 2025

Palestinians and concerned citizens in Hamburg, Germany, mark the 77th anniversary of the ‘Nakba’, or ‘catastrophe’ on Saturday. – REUTERSPIC

US embassy denies report on relocating Palestinians

Palestinians vehemently reject any plan involving them leaving Gaza, comparing such ideas to the 1948 “Nakba”, or “catastrophe”, when hundreds of thousands were dispossessed of their homes in the war that led to the creation of Israel. When Trump first floated his idea after taking the presidency, he said he wanted US allies Egypt and Jordan to take in people from Gaza. Both states rejected the idea, which drew global condemnation, with Palestinians, Arab nations and the UN saying it would amount to ethnic cleansing. In April, Trump said Palestinians could be moved “around to different countries, and you have plenty of countries that will do that”.

Israel expanded its offensive in the enclave and ramped up bombing that has killed hundreds of people over the past 72 hours. Medics said the latest strike also killed women and children, wounded dozens of other people and set several tents ablaze. The Gaza Health Ministry said airstrikes the past few days had killed hundreds of Palestinians despite a visit by Trump. Hamas described the strike as a “new brutal crime” in a statement yesterday and blamed the US administration for the escalation. The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the latest strikes but it said in an earlier statement that it was conducting extensive strikes in areas of Gaza as part of its plan to reach its war objectives. Egypt and Qatar mediators, backed by the United States, began a new round of indirect ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas on Saturday, officials from both sides said. Sources close to the negotiation told Reuters there has been no breakthrough reported in the talks in the Qatari capital, Doha, as each of the sides remained committed to its stance. – Reuters minutes and yielded an agreement to trade 1,000 prisoners of war on each side. The two countries have not specified when that would happen. Zelensky called on Saturday for stronger sanctions on Moscow after a Russian drone killed nine bus passengers in the Sumy region of northeastern Ukraine, calling it “a deliberate killing of civilians”. Russia, which denies targeting civilians, said it struck a military target in Sumy. Its Defence Ministry said Russian troops had captured another settlement in eastern Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke by telephone with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and said he welcomed the “positive role” of the United States in helping to secure a resumption of talks between Russia and Ukraine. A Russian Foreign Ministry statement quoted Lavrov as saying contacts would continue. – Reuters

TRIPOLI: The US embassy in Libya denied yesterday a report that the US government was working on a plan to relocate Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to Libya. NBC News reported on Thursday that the Trump administration was working on a plan to permanently relocate as many as one million residents from the Gaza Strip to Libya. NBC News cited five people with knowledge of the matter, including two people with direct knowledge and a former US official. “The report of alleged plans to relocate Gazans to Libya is untrue,” the US embassy said on X. The Tripoli-based internationally recognised Government of National Unity was not available for immediate comment. Trump has previously said he would like the United States to take over the Gaza Strip and its Palestinian population resettled. o Trump keen to turn Gaza into ‘freedom zone’ ISTANBUL: US President Donald Trump said on Saturday he would speak to the presidents of Russia and Ukraine today following talks between the two sides at which a Ukrainian official said Moscow’s negotiators voiced new demands before a ceasefire could be agreed. In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian news agencies preparations were underway for talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Trump. The talks in Turkiye on Friday were the first time the sides had held face-to-face talks since March 2022, weeks after Russia’s full-scale invasion of its smaller neighbour. A senior Ukrainian official familiar with the talks said Russian negotiators demanded Ukraine pull its troops out of all Ukrainian regions claimed by Moscow before they would agree to a ceasefire. Trump said he would speak with Putin to discuss stopping the war.

During a visit to Qatar this week, Trump reiterated his desire to take over the territory, saying he wanted to see it become a “freedom zone” and that there was nothing left to save. In Gaza, an Israeli airstrike killed at least 24 Palestinians in a tent encampment housing displaced families in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, local health authorities said yesterday, as mediators hosted a new round of talks between Israel and Hamas. Trump to speak to Russian, Ukrainian leaders

“The subjects of the call will be stopping the ‘bloodbath’ that is killing, on average, more than 5,000 Russian and Ukrainian soldiers a week, and trade,” he said. He said he would speak afterward with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and several members of Nato. “Hopefully, it will be a productive day, a ceasefire will take place, and this a very violent war, a war that should have never happened, will end.” Trump had offered to travel to Turkiye for the talks while in the Gulf last week if Putin would also attend, but Putin sent a team of negotiators instead. The president has been pressuring Putin and Zelensky to agree to a ceasefire in the more than three-year-old war. The Kremlin declined to comment on the terms that Russia had put forward at Friday’s meeting. The talks lasted only one hour and 40