15/12/2025

MONDAY | DEC 15, 2025

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Gunman kills two, wounds nine at US university

Ukrainian fugitive running US firm

MOSCOW: Oleksandr Gorbunenko, a fugitive Ukrainian businessman whose arrest in April by US authorities led to questions regarding his connection to the high-level corruption scandal in Ukraine involving close associates of Volodymyr Zelensky, has been living a luxury life in a high-end condominium unit in Florida and managing a US-registered company, according to Sputnik/RIA Novosti’s analysis of public records. Gorbunenko arrived in the United States in February 2022 and soon received temporary protected status. In March 2023, he received notice from the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) of charges brought against him in connection with the embezzlement of funds from the Odesa Port Plant chemical company. However, in the fall of 2023, when applying for an extension of his status in the US, he failed to inform US authorities of his criminal prosecution. According to US court papers, in September last year, NABU notified US authorities that Gorbunenko was wanted. In October, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents interrogated him in Florida. His temporary protected status was revoked early this year, and in April, he was detained at an airport before attempting to flee to Dubai. Ukrainian media have reported that US law enforcement asked Gorbunenko questions about Zelensky’s key associate Timur Mindich, a Ukrainian businessman and the main defendant in a recent corruption case in the Ukrainian energy sector. Mindich had seized informal control of the Odesa Port Plant well before the conflict started in 2022, according to information from the Ukrainska Pravda newspaper’s November report. Despite facing a federal indictment and confirmed status as a fugitive from Ukrainian anti-corruption authorities, Gorbunenko still maintains an active US business presence. He is the registered agent and principal for Gorvina.world, Corp, a Florida corporation filed in January 2023 that remains active following an official reinstatement on April 10. – Bernama United plane turns back after engine fails NEW YORK: A United Airlines Boeing 777 bound for Tokyo had to turn back to Washington Dulles International Airport on Saturday after an engine failed during takeoff, igniting a brush fire near the runway, officials said. No injuries were reported among the 275 passengers and 15 crew members aboard the wide-bodied jet, which had to make an emergency landing. “Shortly after takeoff, United Flight 803 returned to Washington Dulles and landed safely to address a power loss issue with one of its engines,” the airline said. The engine failed as the 777-200ER departed for Tokyo’s Haneda Airport just after noon on Saturday, sources told AFP. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on X that a piece of the engine cover “separated and caught fire, sparking a brush fire on the ground”. “The fire was extinguished and the flight returned to Dulles, landing safely, when it was checked by airport fire responders,” an airport spokesperson said. According to the official, the affected runway had to be closed for a short time, “but Dulles has multiple runways and other flight operations were not affected.” The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said it would investigate the incident. Aircraft manufacturer Boeing referred questions to United Airlines. According to specialist site AirLive, the plane dumped its fuel over the city of Fredericksburg in Virginia. United Flight 803 took off in a different plane later, six-and-a-half hours after its original departure time, bound for Haneda, Japan. – AFP

physics departments, on the campus of the Ivy League university. Two exams had been scheduled to take place in the building at the time of the shooting, the university said. Law enforcement described the suspect as a man dressed all in black. “We’re using every resource possible to find this suspect. The shelter in place is still in order and I urge people to take that very seriously. Please do not come to the area,” Deputy Police Chief Timothy O’Hara said. The gunman was last seen leaving the building and no weapon had been recovered, authorities said. Brown sent an emergency alert at 4.22pm (5.22am in Malaysia) reporting “an active shooter near Barus and Holley Engineering”. “Lock doors, silence phones and stay hidden until further notice,” it said. Law enforcement and first responders swarmed the scene, with local news station WPRI reporting clothing and blood on the sidewalk. The FBI was providing “all capabilities necessary”, Director Kash Patel said on X. – AFP

from FBI agents to campus cops swarmed the quaint New England campus. “I can confirm that there are two individuals who have died this afternoon, and there are another eight in critical status, though stable,” Providence, Rhode Island Mayor Brett Smiley told a news conference. A ninth person who “received fragments from the shooting” was later taken to the hospital, authorities said. Police released 10 seconds of footage of the suspect walking briskly down a deserted street, seen from behind after opening fire inside a first-floor classroom. University officials said that the campus was still in lockdown as midnight approached. Ten of the 11 victims were students, Brown University President Christina Paxson said in a late night briefing. “My heart breaks for the students who were looking forward to a holiday break and instead are dealing with another horrifying mass shooting,” Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse posted on X. The shooting took place at the Barus and Holley building, home to the engineering and

o Suspect on the run

PROVIDENCE: A gunman killed two people and wounded nine others on Saturday at Brown University, plunging the eastern US campus into lockdown as hundreds of police hunted the suspect late into the night. The streets around the university in the state of Rhode Island were filled with emergency vehicles hours after the gunfire at a building where exams were taking place. The shooting is the latest in a long line of school attacks in the United States, where attempts to restrict access to firearms face political deadlock. Witness Katie Sun told the Brown Daily Herald student newspaper she was studying in a nearby building when she heard gunfire. She ran to her dorm, leaving all her belongings behind. “It was terrifying. The shots seemed like they were coming from ... where the classrooms are,” she said. Six hours after the shooting, the gunman was still at large, and some 400 police ranging

Students are evacuated in a public bus after the shooting at Brown University on Saturday. – AFPPIC

Hamas confirms death of military leader DOHA: Hamas Gaza chief Khalil al-Hayya confirmed yesterday that the head of the group’s weapons production was killed in an Israeli strike in the Gaza Strip on Saturday. killed in the Tel al-Hawa district, southwest of Gaza City.

reserve soldiers were lightly injured “as a result of an explosive device that detonated during an operation to clear the area of terrorist infrastructure in southern Gaza”. Mahmud Bassal, a spokesman for Gaza civil defence which operates under Hamas authority, said five people were killed after “a civilian jeep-type vehicle was targeted near the Nabulsi roundabout in Tel al-Hawa”. Bassal said the “charred” bodies were taken to Al-Shifa hospital after “Israeli warplanes targeted the civilian vehicle”. The hospital’s emergency department confirmed the arrival of the five bodies and said that more than 25 people were injured in the strike. – AFP

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz said in a joint statement that “in response to the detonation of a Hamas explosive device that wounded our forces today in the Yellow Area of the Gaza Strip... (they) instructed the elimination of the terrorist Raad Saad”. Under the US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, Israeli troops have withdrawn to positions behind the so-called Yellow Line, though they are still in control of more than half the territory. Family sources confirmed his death to AFP. Israel’s military earlier on Saturday said two

Speaking in a televised address on the group’s Al-Aqsa TV, Hayya said:“The Palestinian people are going through difficult times and suffering greatly ... with the martyrdom of more than 70,000 people, the latest of whom was the mujahid commander Raed Saad and his companions.” Israel announced on Saturday that it had killed Saad, describing him as “one of the architects” of the Oct 7, 2023 attack. The civil defence agency and medical sources in earlier reported five people were