26/09/2025

FRIDAY | SEPT 26, 2025

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Trump demands probe into UN ‘triple sabotage’

Drones flown over Danish airports

COPENHAGEN: Drones flew over multiple airports across Denmark and caused one of them to close for hours, police said yesterday after a similar incident this week prompted Copenhagen Airport to shut. The latest incidents in Danish skies follow similar events in Poland and Romania, and a violation by Russian fighter jets of Estonia’s airspace, which have raised tensions in light of Russia’s war with Ukraine. Drones were spotted at Denmark’s airports in Aalborg, Esbjerg, Sonderborg and at the Skrydstrup air base before leaving on their own, police said. Aalborg Airport, located in northern Denmark and one of the country’s biggest after Copenhagen, was shut down before reopening several hours later. The Esbjerg and Sonderborg airports were not closed because no flights were scheduled there until yesterday. Police there said the drones “flew with lights and were observed from the ground, but it has not yet been clarified what type of drones they were or what the motive was”. An investigation is underway with the Danish intelligence service and armed forces to “clarify the circumstances”, police said. Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on Tuesday described the Copenhagen incident as the “most serious attack on Danish critical infrastructure”. Moscow has denied being involved in that incident, and rejected accusations from the governments of Poland, Estonia and Romania over drones or airspace violations. – AFP Scant efforts to curb violence against women BELGRADE: Serbia’s faltering efforts to address violence against women are being further hampered by a conservative backlash and “alarming levels” of digital abuse, experts from Europe’s human rights watchdog said yesterday. Despite Serbia signing up to the Council of Europe’s Istanbul Convention on women’s rights five years ago, the report found little change despite the adoption of gender equality laws and a national strategy on addressing the violence. The report by Group of Experts on Action Against Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence, which monitors the convention, comes after a string of incidents targeting women taking part in the wave of anti-government demonstrations sweeping the Balkan country. A government clampdown on civil society groups and human rights activists by President Aleksandar Vucic’s right-wing government has also left women’s rights groups “under significant strain, facing both limited resources and persistent attacks”, the experts said. The report also found law enforcement lacking, with reports of officers acting without “sensitivity, professionalism and effectiveness” when victims reported violence. – AFP

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump demanded an investigation on Wednesday into what he called a “triple sabotage” after an escalator, teleprompter and sound system malfunctioned as he addressed the United Nations (UN). The UN has said the events that happened while Trump was at its headquarters in New York on Tuesday were accidental, and partly blamed them on White House staff. In a long, angry social media post, Trump described the string of incidents as “very sinister”, and called for people to be arrested, adding that the Secret Service was probing. “This was not a coincidence. This was triple sabotage at the UN. They ought to be ashamed of themselves. “I am sending a copy of this letter to the secretary-general and I demand an immediate investigation. No wonder the UN o President says Secret Service investigating, labels incidents as sinister and calls for arrests to be made

has not been able to do the job they were put in existence to do.” Footage showed the 79-year-old and First Lady Melania Trump getting on the escalator at UN headquarters before it stopped with a lurch, forcing them to walk up. Then, as he began his speech, he noted that his teleprompter was not working. He spent much of the rest of the speech bashing the world body, accusing it of funding illegal migration that was turning Western countries into “hell” and failing to support his peace efforts in Gaza and Ukraine. But while Trump struck a mostly joking tone about the escalator, his mood hardened a day later. “A real disgrace took place at the UN yesterday. Not one, not two, but three very sinister events!” He said the escalator stop could have been a “real disaster”. “It is amazing that Melania and I did not fall forward onto the sharp edges of these steel steps, face first.” Trump complained that his teleprompter for his speech was “stone cold dark” for the first 15 minutes and the sound in the UN auditorium was “completely off”. He called for the security tapes for the escalator to be saved and said: “The Secret

Service is involved.” UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric on Tuesday issued a statement addressing the uproar, saying a videographer from the US delegation “may have inadvertently triggered the safety function” on the escalator. “Regarding the teleprompter, we have no comment since the teleprompter for the US president is operated by the White House.” A Secret Service official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that the agency is “looking into what the UN said to corroborate it”. Regarding the alleged sound issues, a UN official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: “The sound system was designed to allow people in their seats to hear speeches being translated into six different languages through earpieces.” Newly installed US ambassador Mike Waltz said he has formally demanded the “complete results” of the UN probe of the escalator incident, as well as a “detailed explanation of the teleprompter failure root cause, along with immediate plans to implement robust preventive measures”. “The United States will not tolerate threats to our security or dignity at international forums. We expect swift cooperation and decisive action,” he added. – AFP

SWEPT AWAY ... A Guangfu village resident riding past a damaged car in Hualien on Wednesday following the bursting of a lake barrier during the passing of Super Typhoon Ragasa . – AFPPIC

Detainee killed, two wounded in sniper attack on ICE facility DALLAS: A detainee was killed and two others were wounded in a sniper attack on Wednesday on a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in the Texas city of Dallas, officials said. Trump blamed the attack on “radical left Democrats constantly demonising law enforcement, calling for ICE to be demolished and comparing ICE officers to Nazis”. released by authorities but multiple media reports identified him as Joshua Jahn, 29. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem also blamed the attack on rhetoric directed at ICE.

targeting ICE, the agency chiefly responsible for carrying out President Donald Trump’s pledge to expel millions of undocumented migrants. “Early evidence that we have seen from rounds that were found near the suspected shooter contain messages that are anti-ICE in nature,“ said FBI agent Joe Rothrock. FBI director Kash Patel published a photo on X of five unspent bullets, one of which was marked with the words “anti-ICE”, and denounced what he called “politically motivated attacks against law enforcement”.

Democrats and Republicans following Kirk’s Sept 10 assassination. ICE’s prominent role in the Trump immigration crackdown has sparked widespread criticism over its use of armed, masked agents to conduct raids in public places against undocumented migrants. Another ICE facility in Texas was the target of an attack in July that left a police officer wounded in the neck. At least 10 people have been charged for their roles in the attack on the ICE centre in the town of Alvarado. – AFP

“The continuing violence from radical left terrorists, in the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, must be stopped,“ he said in a reference to the conservative influencer murdered earlier this month. The Mexican Foreign Ministry said one of those wounded is a Mexican citizen. The gunman’s name has not been

The gunman, who opened fire “indiscriminately” on the ICE field office from the roof of a nearby building, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, the Homeland Security Department said. The shooter’s precise motive is under investigation but the FBI said he appears to have been directly

“We have been warning politicians and the media to tone down their rhetoric about ICE law enforcement before someone was killed. These horrendous killings must serve as a wake-up call to the far-left that their rhetoric about ICE has consequences.” There have been calls to tone down the political rhetoric from