deaths

AN ANIMAL charity has called out Katie Price with a brutal Halloween-themed costume and addressing what they deem the “grim fate” of pets in her care.

The shock seasonal dress-up attire, courtesy of PETA, comes against the backdrop of a petition designed at preventing the former glamour model from being a pet-mum, which has now reached more than 37,000 signatures.

It has also reared its head weeks after Katie, 47, welcomed a new puppy to her home.

Previously, the animal rights charity offered the mum of five a whopper £5,000 sum to stop her owning more animals – something which she rejected.

Now they have gone one step further to make their point, creating a £34.99 outfit mimicking KP.

It includes a mask resembling the I’m A Celeb star, a vest with the slogan Grim Reaper and a very eerie coffin filled with animals.

wrong step

Katie Price narrowly avoids stepping on her tiny new puppy

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To complete the spooky look, there’s a black and silver scythe included within the Grim Reaper for Pets get-up.

Talking of the significance of the October outfit, PETA Vice President for UK and Europe Mimi Bekhechi told MirrorOnline: “Too many animals have met a grim fate under Katie Price’s ‘guardianship.’

“This Halloween costume may be a joke – but the message is not: being responsible for lives and needs of animals who are entirely dependent on you is serious business.

“And anyone who doesn’t treat it as such needs to stick to stuffed toys.”

They added of the costume: “All proceeds support work to promote responsible animal guardianship, as well as spay/neuter surgeries to help fight the homeless-animal overpopulation crisis!”

Recently, Katie’s home life was thrown into chaos last month when her cat Doris had kittens, yet they became seriously unwell.

NEW POOCH

Earlier this month, Katie took to her Snapchat page to showcase her new tiny puppy cuddling on her shoulder as she told fans she was “so tired”.

In another slide, she spoke of her new family member purely to say: “And this little one just does not leave my side.

“I can’t wait for him to meet Rookie, he’s met all of the other animals.

“This is Rookie’s new little friend for when we go horse riding, walks, everything.”

Katie was recently slammed for allegedly putting black dog Rookie in danger as she headed on a horse ride.

Katie Price – court battles

KATIE Price has had her fair share of brushes with the law. Here we detail four of those:

It came just weeks after she was called out by the animal charity over a “dangerous” move which saw her dog hanging out of her car window.

PET BACKLASH

A petition was previously created to stop Katie from owning animals amid concern for their welfare in her care.

It came about after a number of complaints from fans over how she handles the multiple animals she has owned over the years.

Over the years, a number of tragic incidents involving Katie’s pets have been revealed.

This includes her German Shepherd guard dog being killed after being hit by a vehicle on the A24, which was close to Katie’s East Sussex home.

It happened just seven months after another of Katie’s dogs, Sharon, was killed on the same road.

Katie’s horse was also killed on the A24, after it broke free from her field.

In 2020, her French Bulldog Rolo suffocated after being squashed underneath a chair.

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Katie also had to give away an out-of-control Alsatian, Bear, for attacking other animals.

A small segment of her furious followers have then quizzed “how are you allowed to keep animals?” as they voiced their anger.

Netflix’s Wayward has left fans on the edge of their seats, with a number of characters meeting their end – but who dies in the Netflix series?

WARNING: THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS SPOILERS.

Wayward, a limited series on Netflix, is the brainchild of comedian and actor Mae Martin.

The miniseries features an impressive cast including Toni Collette as Evelyn Wade and John Daniel as Rory, a student at Tall Pines Academy.

Set in the fictional town of Tall Pines in Vermont, the plot revolves around two teenagers and a local police officer who uncover the town’s hidden secrets.

Leila (portrayed by Alyvia Alyn Lind) and Abbie (Sydney Topliffe) are the teenagers at the heart of the story, with Rory forming a friendship with Abbie, reports the Manchester Evening News.

Viewers are eager to find out if Rory, among other characters, meets his end in the series.

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Does Rory die in Wayward?

In the series finale, Leila and Abbie, along with Rory, execute their plan to escape from Tall Pines.

Despite successfully hiding themselves on a bus, their disappearance triggers alarm bells and they find themselves trapped.

Leila, tired of running, decides to stay behind while Abbie and Rory press on.

Unfortunately, they end up cornered, with Rory making the ultimate sacrifice so that Abbie can flee to the getaway car.

His fate remains uncertain – at the very least, he would have been recaptured by the school.

Who dies in Wayward?

Dwayne Andrews (Brandon Jay McLaren) is killed by Alex (Martin), who bludgeons him with a rock.

Martin revealed to Variety that the pair’s relationship was “all a front” and he never liked Alex.

The star revealed: “Maybe for a second he would entertain that this could be a new friendship, but I think he was a pretty territorial guy and it was always a front.”

Leila also confessed to killing her older sister Jess (Devin Cecchetto) during a flashback scene.

It emerged that Evelyn had persuaded Leila to confess she “hated” Jess, leading to Leila pushing her into the pool in a fit of rage, watching as her sister drowned from the sidelines.

Riley (Gage Munroe), despite being popular among the students of Tall Pines, was desperate to escape the school.

Tragically, he was accidentally killed by Alex at the start of the series in an act of self-defence, after Riley lunged at Alex with a kitchen knife.

Lastly, Maurice, the father of a former Tall Pines student, (Mark McKinney) met his demise at the hands of Dwayne, who made his death appear as a suicide.

Does Evelyn die in Wayward?

In the series finale, Evelyn was injected with her own poison by Alex and Rabbit (Tattiawna Jones) and was transported into a dream-like state.

She envisioned herself and a door at the back of her imagined self’s throat, with the doors continuing to multiply.

As Rabbit recited the mantra to Evelyn, her body lay lifeless in the water, but Martin told Variety Evelyn may not be dead yet.

When asked if she was definitely dead, the actor said: “I don’t think so. I think she’s a vegetable and, yeah, I’d be curious to see if she could ever come out of it, but she’s definitely a vegetable.”

Does the dog die in Wayward?

Viewers are also eager to find out if Toast – the dog belonging to Alex and Laura (Sarah Gadon) – survives until the end of the series. Thankfully, he does.

Wayward is on Netflix

At least 91 Palestinian people were killed on Saturday in relentless Israeli attacks throughout the Gaza Strip, including at least 45 in Gaza City, as the military intensified its widely criticised ground invasion.

Gaza’s Government Media Office slammed Israel for misleading the Palestinian people with threats to evacuate to the central and southern governorates by portraying them as “safe humanitarian zones”, while continuing to strike those same areas.

According to a statement issued on Saturday, 1,903 people have been killed in 133 attacks on central and southern Gaza since the forced displacement from Gaza City began on August 11, some 46 percent of all reported deaths across the enclave during that period.

The office said that this shows civilians are being directly targeted, despite being told to move south, and called on the international community to intervene, warning that continued global inaction amounts to a “green light” for further massacres.

Reporting from central Gaza, Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud said that since the early hours of Saturday, Israeli attacks have increased in Gaza City and more casualties have been arriving at al-Shifa Hospital.

“Just in the past few minutes, we had confirmation of a family evacuating on a road inside a vehicle when it was struck by a drone missile. Four people were reported killed on the spot,” he said.

“Hundreds of others have been on the move as Israeli drones and fighter jets chase them from one place to another,” he added.

Hospitals attacked

Some hospitals in Gaza City have shut down as Israeli attacks escalate, with plans to seize the city and displace more people each day.

Earlier on Saturday, people in one of the city’s main hospitals, the Jordan Field Hospital, were forced to evacuate all 107 patients and their entire staff after facing heavy bombardment.

Hospitals in Gaza have long been on the brink of collapse amid relentless Israeli strikes. Most are operating in horrific conditions, unable to provide even basic medical supplies, such as anaesthesia and antibiotics, while the doctors, who are going hungry themselves, struggle to treat starving patients.

The few hospitals still partially functioning in central Gaza have become overwhelmed with wounded and sick people fleeing bombardment in the north. Many arrive in need of urgent medical care that cannot be provided.

“Displacement has worsened the situation inside hospitals in the south,” a displaced Palestinian told Al Jazeera. “Now you can see that instead of one patient in one bed, medical staff tried to fit two patients in one bed.”

Dr Khalil Digran, who works at Al-Aqsa Hospital, said that Israeli forces deliberately attacked al-Rantisi Paediatric Hospital in Gaza City, the Strip’s only specialised medical facility for children.

“Gaza City and the north are left with just two health facilities that are barely functioning: al-Shifa and al-Ahli Hospital,” Digran told Al Jazeera.

“As for the remaining health facilities in central and southern Gaza, Israeli actions are already adding more pressure on these facilities and threatening to bring their service to a total halt.”

Mohammad Khoudary, a displaced Palestinian, told Al Jazeera: “Ever since we became displaced, my father has been impacted and has become very sad.

“This has affected his health; he has become dehydrated. I am hoping they will be able to transfer him to Al-Aqsa Hospital.”

Hamas says has not seen ceasefire plan

Meanwhile, on the global stage, protests calling for a ceasefire took place Saturday in Berlin, Germany, Liverpool in the United Kingdom, and elsewhere.

Hamas has said that it has not received United States President Donald Trump’s Gaza ceasefire plan, even as Trump this week repeatedly expressed optimism that a deal is close.

In comments to reporters on Friday, Trump said, “It’s looking like we have a deal on Gaza.” He offered no details and gave no timetable. Israel has not yet made any public response to Trump’s comments.

A Hamas official who spoke to Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity said the Palestinian group “has not been presented with any plan”.

Trump is due to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, whose hard-right governing coalition is opposed to ending the Gaza war until Hamas is destroyed.

The Chadian Ministry of Public Health and Prevention has announced there are over 2,100 recorded cases of cholera in the country, adding that the disease is spreading in three provinces. The announcement was made yesterday, Sept. 19.

Since announcing the discovery of the first suspected cases of the disease on July 13, followed by the confirmation of the Vibrio cholerae 01 Ogawa on July 24, Chad has been facing a persistent spread of the disease with 2,134 total cases recorded, including 74 confirmed cases after laboratory analysis.

There have been 137 deaths attributed to the outbreak, bringing the fatality rate to 6.8 per cent. Women are the most affected, with the age groups of 5–14 and 15–44 representing more than 64 per cent of the cases.

The provinces where the disease is very active are Ouaddai, Sila, and Guera, with nine health districts affected, notably Chokoyane, Hadjer Hadid, and Bitkine.

The national authorities, supported by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), and other partners, have been working on the installation of choleric beds and reinforcement of treatment units, distribution of doxycycline and the purification of water, and the disinfection of houses and community sensitisation in the affected zones. The authorities are also preparing to start a vaccination campaign in the districts of Abeche, Abdi and Goz Beida, with an extension envisaged to Bitkine.

In spite of these efforts, several obstacles complicate the response measures, including insufficient equipment such as tents, adapted beds, protection kits, a lack of qualified personnel, and weak participation of certain partners, defecation in open areas, insecure funerals and gatherings that favour the transmission of the disease, as well as difficult access to affected zones.

The Ministry of Public Health emphasised that cholera is transmitted through water or contaminated food, and to protect against it, the systematic washing of hands with water and soap, drinking only pipe-borne or boiled water, and washing fruits and vegetables before consumption are recommended. The population is also advised to avoid eating roadside food and to report cases of acute diarrhoea immediately to health facilities.

The California Department of Justice will sue the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and its sheriff, Robert Luna, for what Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta called a “humanitarian crisis” inside of the county jails.

Inmates are housed in unsafe, dirty facilities infested with roaches and rats, Bonta said in a news conference Monday, and lack basic access to clean water and edible food. “More alarming, people are dying,” he said.

There have been over 205 in-custody deaths in four years, Bonta said, with 40% caused by suicide, homicides and overdoses. He called for comprehensive reform, but said the county forced his hand by refusing to comply.

“I’d prefer collaboration over litigation, but the county has left us with no choice, so litigation it is,” he said.

Bonta called for L.A. County and the sheriff’s department to provide inmates with adequate medical, dental and mental health care, protect them from harm, provide safe and humane confinement conditions. He also called on jail officials to better accommodate the needs of disabled inmates and those with limited English proficiency.

Bonta painted a dark portrait of L.A. County’s jails, describing filthy conditions, vermin and insect infestations, a lack of clean water and moldy and spoiled food. He said prisoners face difficulty obtaining basic hygiene items and are not permitted to spend enough time outside of their cells.

L.A. County, which houses the largest jail system in the country, has long been criticized for poor conditions. As it has expanded to hold around 13,000 people on any given day, decades — perhaps a century — of mistreatment and overcrowding have been documented.

The system lost a federal lawsuit in 1978 after decades of dirty, mold-ridden and overcrowded jails prompted inmates to fight back through the courts, and frequently faces suits alleging it fails to provide proper food, water and shelter.

The state’s lawsuit comes amid a years-long struggle to close and replace Men’s Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles, from which inspectors regularly document poor conditions: mold, mildew, insufficient food and water and, more recently, a report last year that said jailers were too busy watching an “explicit video” to notice a noose hung inside a cell.

“In June 2024, the Sybil Brand Commission reported that multiple dorms at Men’s Central were overcrowded with broken toilets, some containing feces that could not be flushed; a urinal that caused ‘effluence to emerge through the mid-floor drain’ when flushed; and ceilings that had been painted over to cover mold,” Bonta’s office wrote in its complaint.

In addition to Luna and the sheriff’s department, the county Department of Health Services, Correctional Health Services and its director, Timothy Belavich, were also named as defendants.

The lawsuit decried the “dilapidated physical condition of the facility and the numerous instances of violence and death within its walls.” It went on to explain that the county Board of Supervisors voted to close the chronically overcrowded Men’s Central Jail twice, including in 2020.

The sheriff’s department has said it would be difficult to close the jail because of the high volume of inmate admissions and lack of viable alternatives.

But in-custody deaths this year are on track for what Bonta’s office described as at least a 20-year high with 36 reported so far, or about one a week, according to the county’s website.

Inmates have been known to set fires in rooms with no smoke alarms — not to cause mischief, but to cook and supplement cold, sometimes inedible meals.

Some inmates — many of whom have been arrested recently and have not been convicted of crimes — are left to sleep on urine-soaked floors with trash bags as blankets and no access to medications and working plumbing. A 2022 lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union called the conditions “medieval.”

“The LASD jails,” the state attorney general’s office wrote in the complaint, “have a longstanding history of deplorable conditions and constitutional violations.”

A WOMAN has been charged after two children were killed in a horrific hit-and-run.

Roman Casselden, 16, and nine-year-old Darcie Casselden tragically died after a privately owned e-scooter they were riding on collided with a car in Pitsea, Essex, on February 1.

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Deimante Ziobryte, 21, appeared at Basildon Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, August 28, charged with failing to stop at the scene of a collision.

Essex Police said Ms Ziobryte remains on bail in connection with other driving offences, with an investigation ongoing into these.

More to follow… For the latest news on this story keep checking back at The Sun Online

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Kuwait bans the import of alcoholic beverages, but bootleg liquor is sold with no oversight or safety standards.

Kuwaiti authorities have arrested 67 people accused of producing and distributing locally made alcoholic drinks that killed 23 people in recent days, including a Bangladeshi national said to head the criminal network, the Interior Ministry has said.

In a statement on X late on Saturday, the ministry said it seized six factories and another four that were not yet operational in residential and industrial areas.

A Nepali member of the criminal group told authorities how the methanol was prepared and sold.

Kuwait, a Muslim nation, bans the import or domestic production of alcoholic beverages, but some are manufactured illegally in secret locations that lack oversight or safety standards, exposing consumers to the risk of poisoning.

The arrests come after the Ministry of Health said on Thursday that cases of methanol poisoning linked to the tainted drinks had reached 160, with 23 deaths, mostly among Asian nationals.

At least 51 people required urgent kidney dialysis while 31 needed mechanical ventilation, the ministry said.

The Embassy of India in Kuwait, which has the largest expatriate community in the country, said around 40 Indian nationals in Kuwait were hospitalised in the last few days, without specifying the cause.

“There have been some fatalities, some are in a critical condition while others are recovering,” it said in a statement on X.

Methanol, a toxic colourless alcohol used in industrial and household products, is hard to detect. Symptoms of poisoning are typically delayed and include nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, hyperventilation and breathing problems.

It is reported that thousands of people suffer from methanol poisoning every year, especially in Asia. If not treated, fatality rates are often reported to be 20 percent to 40 percent, according to the medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF).

Heartbeat was a staple of British television for nearly two decades. So what happened to the likes of Nick Berry, Tricia Penrose, and Mark Jordan after the North Yorkshire-based show ended?

The beloved ITV series spanned 18 seasons, and despite ending in 2010, the long-standing police period drama Heartbeat is still a cornerstone of British television to this day.

Airing for nearly two decades, the show spawned numerous spin-offs and one-off television specials, which is a true reflection of its popularity with viewers.

Fans followed the lives of those who lived in the fictional North Yorkshire village of Aidensfield during the 1960s and the well-respected local policemen and villagers as they grappled with crime, community tensions, and personal dramas.

In the very beginning, we were met with the charming PC Nick Rowan, played by Nick Berry, who was attempting to adapt to his new rural lifestyle after moving from London and joining the Yorkshire force.

With the show off air for more than 15 years now, we couldn’t help but wonder what the actors of the much-loved programme are doing today.

PC Nick Rowan

Nick Berry portrayed the renowned London police constable who relocated to the fictional town of Aidensfield, North Yorkshire, to live a more peaceful life after fleeing bustling London.

He moved to the village alongside his wife, Dr. Kate Rowan, and the pair very quickly became vital members of the town, helping to tackle crime and assisting with medical emergencies.

Notably, Nick also performed the show’s iconic theme tune, a cover of the Buddy Holly hit that shared its title with the show also helped to rocket his fame with the track reaching number two in the UK singles charts in 1992.

In 1998, viewers were left gutted when his character was written out of the beloved programme. The policeman decided to flee for Canada to join the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, which formed the basis for the one-off special Heartbeat: Changing Places.

He went on to further his acting career, taking on a vital role in the 1999 drama series Harbour Lights and starring in the 2001 crime drama In Deep.

After In Deep finished in 2003, Nick announced he’d be taking a break from acting to focus on his family and other ventures, including his own production company.

Prior to landing his role as Nick Berry on the popular ITV series, he’d actually played the part of Simon Wicks on BBC One’s hit soap EastEnders.

Despite taking a break from acting, he did go on to make a special appearance as his former character, Simon, in 2012, which was his last and final TV stint since being on screens from 1976.

It is well documented that Nick married Rachel Robertson in 1994. The pair like to keep their private lives out of the spotlight. They share two sons and live in Epping, Essex.

Gina Bellamy

The landlady of the Aidensfield Arms, Gina Bellamy, was played by Tricia Penrose from 1993 until the ITV drama came to its end in 2010.

Tricia played a vital role and was the show’s longest-serving female cast member. Not only was Gina a popular fixture on the programme for 60s fashion and her incredible acting skills, but she also gave fans some amazing vocal performances during her long-standing career

In 2002, Tricia followed the path of her co-star Nick Berry and tried her hand in the singing world. She placed second on the show A Song For Europe, the UK’s competition to select their Eurovision entry.

Despite her song DJ Romeo being a huge hit with fans and judges, she was pipped to first place by Jessica Garlick, who represented Great Britain that year in the Eurovision Song Contest.

Her last notable acting role was in the popular legal drama Justice in 2011, but she has also appeared in series 11 of Celebrity Big Brother and ITV’s Who’s Doing the Dishes in 2014.

Tricia also got engaged to her on-screen love interest, PC Phil Bellamy, and the twosome recently announced their engagement on social media.

The actress shared: “My lovely Chris has proposed on our 7 year anniversary! Off to Tenerife now with my lovely fiancé to celebrate Mark Jordon.”

PC Phil Bellamy

Mark Jordan played the charming, laid-back PC Phil Bellamy, who worked alongside Nick Berry and fell in love with Gina, not only on screen but also in real life.

He joined the show for its first series in 1992 and remained in the cast for fifteen years. A one-off documentary commemorating his departure, Heartbeat – Farewell Phil, was broadcast on Christmas Day in 2007.

After his departure, Mark took up roles in medical drama Casualty in 2009 and joined Hollyoaks in 2012.

He also became a series regular in Emmerdale in 2017, taking the role of Staff Sergeant Daz Spencer.

In his spare time, Mark is devoted to his charity work for Usher syndrome and often uses his social media pages to raise awareness, in the hope of finding a cure

Alf Ventress

William Simons landed the accolade for the longest-standing member of the Heartbeat tribe, delighting viewers with his portrayal of the retired policeman for a complete 18-season journey.

Before his role on the ITV drama, William appeared in the police drama Cribb in 1979 and the detective series The Inspector Alleyn Mysteries in 1990.

His acting contributions also included various cameo appearances on programmes such as Coronation Street, The Darling Buds of May, Casualty, and Enemy at the Door.

In 2019, it was announced that William had tragically died at the age of 79 of “natural causes” with his management agency paying tribute.

They said: “He was a wonderful, kind, warm, witty, lovely human being and anyone who ever worked with him or knew him will be devastated.”

Claude Jeremiah Greengrass

Every Heartbeat fan had a love-hate relationship with the charming scoundrel Claude Jeremiah Greengrass, played by the talented Bill Maynard.

He joined the programme from its very inception and remained a valued part of the cast until 2000, when his character returned for the Royal spin-off series in 2002.

Before his days on Heartbeat, Bill had already been somewhat of a TV legend as an actor and comedian and having starred in Great Scott – It’s Maynard! the 50s with Terry Scott, and featured in five pictures from the Carry On comedy series.

In 2018, we saw Bill in his last TV appearance, taking part in the Celebrity Pointless, before his tragic death in the same year.

Bill’s last TV appearance was on an episode of Celebrity Pointless in 2018, before he suffered a tragic fall, breaking his hip, and later sadly died that same year in hospital.

Dr. Kate Rowan

Niamh Cusack played the lovable Dr. Kate Rowan, the village doctor and first wife of heartthrob Nick Berry. But after three years on the show, she fell pregnant and decided to leave the ITV drama to focus on becoming a new mum.

In real life, Niamh was born into a family with deep roots within the performing arts industry and is affiliated to the Royal Shakespeare Company, she played Desdemona in Othello and Juliet in Romeo and Juliet during the 80s.

She also landed the role of Lady Macbeth in 2018 alongside Christopher Eccleston in Macbeth. She has recently appeared in We Live in Time, last year, 2024, alongside Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield, as well as the dark comedy series Big Mood, also in 2024.

Heartbeat is still available to stream on ITVX.

The fatal blaze rocked Guatemala and highlighted widespread abuse in the government’s shelter system.

A Guatemalan court has convicted six people in connection with the deaths of 41 girls at a state-funded youth shelter in 2017.

On Tuesday, Judge Ingrid Cifuentes gave the former officials, who had all pleaded not guilty, sentences of between six and 25 years for charges ranging from abuse of authority to manslaughter.

Two of the people convicted were ex-police officers, while the other four were ex-child protection officials.

Prosecutors had sought sentences of up to 131 years for some of those on trial.

The judge said she did not have the jurisdiction to make a ruling against a seventh defendant, who used to be the children’s prosecutor at the attorney general’s office.

As well as handing down the prison terms, Cifuentes also ordered an investigation into former President Jimmy Morales, who was Guatemala’s leader at the time of the blaze.

Emily del Cid Linares, 25, a survivor of the fire who suffered burns, said she was satisfied with the verdict.

“I feel like a weight has been lifted from me,” she said. “What I most feel is that they [the victims] will be able to rest in peace. [Those responsible] are going to pay for what they did.”

The tragedy at the Virgen de la Asuncion youth shelter, which is located 22km (14 miles) east of the capital, Guatemala City, shook the country and went on to highlight the widespread abuse in the government’s shelter system.

The fire broke out on March 8, 2017, a year after the home, which housed hundreds more children than its legal capacity, was ordered to close by a court.

The blaze started in a classroom in which 56 girls had been locked after their attempt to escape the shelter the previous day. After being brought back to the site by the police, they were shut in a room with no access to a toilet.

Witnesses said that one of the girls set fire to their foam mattresses to protest against their treatment at the home, which is alleged to have included sexual abuse.

Nineteen girls died on March 8 from their injuries, with a further 22 later succumbing to their injuries. The fire also severely injured 15 others.

Boxers Shigetoshi Kotari and Hiromasa Urakawa died following fights on the same card in Tokyo last week.

Japanese boxing officials will hold an emergency meeting on Tuesday as the sport in the country faces intense scrutiny following the deaths of two fighters in separate bouts at the same event.

Super featherweight Shigetoshi Kotari and lightweight Hiromasa Urakawa, both 28, fought on the same card at Tokyo’s Korakuen Hall on August 2 and died days later following brain surgery.

The Japan Boxing Commission (JBC), gym owners and other boxing officials are under pressure to act and will hold an emergency meeting on Tuesday.

They are also expected to have talks about safety next month, local media said.

“We are acutely aware of our responsibility as the manager of the sport,” Tsuyoshi Yasukochi, secretary-general of the JBC, told reporters on Sunday.

“We will take whatever measures we can.”

Japanese media highlighted the risks of fighters dehydrating to lose weight rapidly before weigh-ins.

“Dehydration makes the brain more susceptible to bleeding,” the Asahi Shimbun newspaper said.

That is one of the issues the JBC plans to discuss with trainers.

“They want to hear from gym officials who work closely with the athletes about such items as weight loss methods and pre-bout conditioning, which may be causally related (to deaths),” the Nikkan Sports newspaper said.

In one immediate measure, the commission has decided to reduce all Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation title bouts to 10 rounds from 12.

“The offensive power of Japanese boxing today is tremendous,” Yasukochi was quoted by the Asahi Shimbun as telling reporters.

“We have more and more boxers who are able to start exchanges of fierce blows from the first round. Maybe 12 rounds can be dangerous.”

Aug. 8 (UPI) — The suspect in a shooting that killed four people at a bar in rural western Montana was arrested Friday, seven days after a multiagency manhunt.

Michael Paul Brown, a 45-year-old Army veteran, was arrested at 2 p.m. local time in the search area in Anaconda, the Montana Department of Justice said.

The shooting occurred on Aug.1 in Anaconda, which is 130 miles east of Idaho and 198 miles west of Bozeman, Mont.

He is in the custody of the Anaconda-Deer Lodge authorities.

“Incredible response from law enforcement officers across Montana,” Gov. Greg Gianforte posted on X. “May God continue to be with the families of the four victims still grieving their loss.”

During a news conference, he appeared with several involved in the search. “These brave men and women in uniform sacrificed their lives and time away from family to ensure this killer was brought to justice,” he said.

Gianfort said the search was lengthy because the search terrain was rugged as personnel spent hours climbing over these mountains looking for this criminal.”

Brown was on the run in what authorities describe as the “biggest shooting” in the state in a decade.

Surveillance video captured Brown fleeing Old Owl Bar where he lived next door. His white Ford F150 was found on the day of the shooting.

“We think that was directly correlated to flushing him out today — getting him down into an area that we know we had searched before,” Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen said. “It was not someplace he’d been hiding. He was flushed out.”

He was armed.

Authorities with 38 agencies — local, state and federal — were searching for him, including in the western Montana wilderness.

“I am proud of the unrelenting law enforcement effort this week to find and arrest Michael Paul Brown,” Knudsen said at the news conference. “The support we’ve seen for the community of Anaconda from across the state and the nation has also been remarkable.”

Killed were bartender Nancy Kelley, 64; and three patrons: Daniel Baillie, 59; Nancy Kelley, 64; David Leach, 70, and Tony Palm, 74.

“It just isn’t real. It’s totally overwhelming,” said Cassandra Dutra, a bartender at the Owl Bar who wasn’t working at the time, said in a CNN report.

He was a known regular at the bar.

Brown served in the Iraq war and the Montana National Guard.

Gaza’s already battered healthcare system is in a state of collapse as blood banks run dry and Israeli forces continue targeting clinics and facilities housing patients and displaced families while maintaining an aid blockade.

Healthcare officials in the besieged enclave reported on Wednesday that there is a severe shortage of blood as many would-be donors are too malnourished due to a severe Israeli-induced hunger crisis that has so far claimed the lives of 193 Palestinians, including five in the past 24 hours.

Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Gaza City, said blood donations are desperately needed across the remaining operational medical facilities in Gaza – al-Shifa Hospital, Al-Aqsa Hospital, and Nasser Hospital.

“We’ve seen at the blood banks many people who were begging doctors to allow them to give blood donations to save their loved ones, but they had to be turned away because they were not fit to donate blood due to the enforced dehydration and starvation,” Mahmoud said.

Amani Abu Ouda, head of the blood bank at al-Shifa Hospital, said most would-be donors who arrive are malnourished, which affects the safety and quality of blood donations.

As a result, she said, “when they donate blood they could lose consciousness within seconds, which not only endangers their health but also leads to the loss of a precious blood unit.”

More than 14,800 patients in Gaza are still in urgent need of specialised medical treatment, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned, calling on the international community to act swiftly.

“We urge more countries to step forward to accept patients and for medical evacuations to be expedited through all possible routes,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in a statement posted on X on Wednesday.

Israeli attacks have continued to pound Gaza, killing at least 44 people on Wednesday.

An overnight attack in Gaza City’s Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood injured dozens of people. The attack targeted the Sheikh Radwan Health Centre, previously run by the UN refugee agency for Palestinians.

“Last night, while we were having dinner, we suddenly heard people shouting, calling for evacuation. There was no time to take anything no food, no clothes, no bedding. We just ran,” Ghaleb Tafesh, a displaced Palestinian resident, told Al Jazeera.

Among those killed Wednesday were 18 hungry aid seekers, who were shot dead as they approached UN aid trucks and aid distribution sites operated by the United States and Israeli-backed GHF.

So far, more than 1,560 Palestinians seeking aid have been killed by Israeli forces while trying to receive food since GHF began operating in late May.

This week, a group of UN special rapporteurs and independent human rights experts called for the GHF to be disbanded, saying it is “an utterly disturbing example of how humanitarian relief can be exploited for covert military and geopolitical agendas in serious breach of international law”.

Israel’s air and ground assault has also destroyed nearly all of Gaza’s food production capabilities, leaving its people reliant on aid.

A new report by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization and the UN satellite centre found that just 8.6 percent of Gaza’s cropland is still accessible following sweeping Israeli forced evacuation orders in recent months. Just 1.5 percent is accessible and undamaged, it said.

Israel blockade extends to medical supplies and fuel

Hamas, meanwhile, called for protests across the world against the starvation in Gaza.

“We call for continuing and escalating the popular pressure in the cities, capitals and squares on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and all the upcoming days with marches, protests and demonstrations in front of the Zionist and US embassies,” Hamas said in a statement.

Israel’s blockade extends to medical supplies and much-needed fuel – shortages that have forced several medical facilities to shut down in recent months.

Farhan Haq, deputy spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, warned that Israel’s continued blockade on the entry of fuel into Gaza is affecting “lifesaving” operations.

“In the past two days, the UN collected some 300,000 litres from the Karem Abu Salem [Kerem Shalom] crossing,” Haq told reporters.

“This is far less than what is needed to sustain operations,” he said. “For example, our partners working in health warned today that the lives of more than 100 premature babies are in imminent danger due to the lack of fuel.”

Haq also said that, since March, more than 100 health workers, including surgeons and specialised staff, had been denied entry into the Strip.

Fears mount over possible plans for expanded military offensive in Gaza

The latest deaths came as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was expected to announce further military action – and possibly plans for Israel to fully reoccupy Gaza. Experts say Israel’s ongoing offensive and blockade are already pushing the territory of some 2 million Palestinians into famine.

The UN has called reports about a possible expansion of Israel’s military operations in Gaza “deeply alarming” if true.

Despite international pressure for a ceasefire, efforts to mediate a truce between Israel and Hamas have collapsed.

An expansion of the military offensive in heavily populated areas would likely be devastating.

“Where will we go?” said Tamer al-Burai, a displaced Palestinian living at the edge of Deir el-Balah in central Gaza.

“Should people jump into the sea if the tanks rolled in, or wait to die under the rubble of their houses? We want an end to this war; it is enough, enough.”

More than 61,158 Palestinians, including at least 18,430 children, have been killed in Gaza since the war began in October 2023, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

Forty-nine captives, including 27 who are believed to be dead, are still being held by Hamas, according to Israeli authorities.

The US special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, has visited aid distribution sites in Gaza amid mounting global outrage over deepening famine in the Strip. The aid sites, run by the controversial US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, have been linked to over 1,000 deaths since May. Witkoff said his visit aims to help President Donald Trump shape a plan “deliver food and medical aid to the people of Gaza”.

July 27 (UPI) — “All available resources are being used” to find the suspect in the deaths of a couple hiking on a trail at a northwest Arkansas state park, Col. Mike Hagar of the Arkansas State Police said Sunday.

Clinton David Brink, 43, and his wife, Cristenb Amanda Brinks, 41, were killed at Devil’s Den State Park near Fayetteville in Washington County on Saturday afternoon, state police said. The couple, who recently moved to Prairie Grove from another state, were hiking with their daughters, 7 and 9, who were not injured.

They are safe and in the custody of relatives, police said.

“I want to thank the public and our media partners for their support as we pursue the man responsible for this heinous crime,” Hagar said in a statement. “We are using all available resources to apprehend this suspect and bring him to justice.”

Assisting are local, state and federal law enforcement.

The 2,500-acre park is in a remote and rural area, including rugged terrain with thick vegetation and no cellphone service. The park includes several trails and 20 miles for horseback riding.

The park is in Lee Creek Valley of the Boston Mountains, which are part of the Ozarks. It was selected as a state park in the 1930s, and developed by the Civilian Conservation Corps, a work relief program established during the Great Depression.

Devil’s Den also includes caves, an 8-acre man-made lake for fishing and boating, as well as a swimming pool. Campsites and cabins are also available.

Police were dispatched at 2:40 p.m. local time Saturday.

Investigators have not released the circumstances of the situation but have launched a double homicide investigation.

They are asking for the public’ help in identifying the suspect.

“Investigators are asking those who visited the park on Saturday to check cellphone photos and videos or GoPro camera footage for images of the suspect,” according to the police statement.

Also, people nearby are asked to check their home security camera footage.

The state police believe he is a White man with a medium build who was carrying a backpack.

Police said he was driving toward a park exit in a black, four-door sedan, possibly a Mazda.

The vehicle may have been going on State Highway 170 to State Highway 220 near the park.

There is increased law enforcement in all of the state parks.

“We are praying for the family and friends of the victims, and know that law enforcement will not rest until the perpetrator is brought to justice,” Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders posted on X.

At least 10 more Palestinians have starved to death in the besieged Gaza Strip, health officials say, as a wave of hunger crashes over the enclave.

The latest starvation deaths bring the death toll from malnutrition since Israel’s war began in October 2023 to 111, most of them in recent weeks.

At least 100 other Palestinians, including 34 aid seekers, were killed in Israeli attacks over the past 24 hours, Gaza’s Ministry of Health said on Wednesday.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said that 21 children under the age of five were among those who died of malnutrition so far this year. It said it had been unable to deliver any food for nearly 80 days, between March and May, and that a resumption of food deliveries was still far below what is needed.

In a statement, 111 organisations, including Mercy Corps, the Norwegian Refugee Council and Refugees International, said that “mass starvation” was spreading even as tonnes of food, clean water and medical supplies sit untouched just outside Gaza, where aid groups are blocked from accessing them.

Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, said that “hunger has become as deadly as the bombs. Families are no longer asking for enough, they are asking for anything”.

He said that Gaza residents have described “a slow, painful death playing out in real time, an engineered famine that the Israeli military has orchestrated”.

Israel cut off all goods from entering the territory in March, but has allowed in a trickle of aid starting in May, mostly distributed by the controversial United States-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

The United Nations and aid groups trying to deliver food to Gaza say Israel, which controls everything that comes in and out, is choking delivery, while Israeli troops have shot dead hundreds of Palestinians close to aid distribution points since May.

“We have a minimum set of requirements to be able to operate inside Gaza,” Ross Smith, the director of emergencies at the UN World Food Programme, said. “One of the most important things I want to emphasise is that we need to have no armed actors near our distribution points, near our convoys.”

Recurring attacks on aid seekers have turned the few remaining hospitals in Gaza “into massive trauma wards”, Rik Peeperkorn, the WHO’s representative for the occupied Palestinian territory, said.

The food scarcity is so extreme that people cannot do their work, including journalists, teachers and even their own staff, Peeperkorn added.

Nour Sharaf, an American doctor from al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, also warned that people “haven’t eaten anything for days and are dying of hunger”.

“Doctors sometimes don’t get food, but they still do their jobs,” she told Al Jazeera, adding that medical workers often work long hours.

Two more journalists killed

Israeli strikes have continued to pound various parts of the enclave, including Gaza City, where the Israeli army said it was “intensifying operations”.

The area has come under intense bombardment in recent days.

Gaza’s Government Media Office also announced the Israeli killing of two Palestinian journalists, Tamer al-Za’anin and Walaa al-Jabari, raising the number of media workers killed in the enclave since October 2023 to 231.

The statement said that al-Za’anin was a photojournalist with various media organisations, while al-Jabari worked as a newspaper editor with several media outlets.

Meanwhile, US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff is heading to Europe for “very sensitive negotiations” over a Gaza ceasefire and captive release deal, the White House said.

During the visit, Witkoff “will meet with key leaders from the Middle East to discuss the ongoing ceasefire proposal to end this conflict in Gaza and to release the hostages”, White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt told reporters.

Talks on a proposal for a 60-day ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which would include the release of more of the 50 captives still being held in Gaza, are being mediated by Qatar and Egypt, with Washington’s backing.

A Palestinian official close to the Gaza ceasefire talks and the mediation efforts said that Hamas had handed its response on the ceasefire proposal to mediators, declining to elaborate further.

Successive rounds of negotiations have achieved no breakthrough since Israel broke a ceasefire in March.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog told soldiers during a visit to Gaza that “intensive negotiations” about returning the captives held there were under way and that he hoped that they would soon “hear good news”, according to a statement.

A senior Palestinian official earlier said that Hamas might give mediators a response to the latest proposals in Doha later on Wednesday, on the condition that amendments be made to two major sticking points: details on an Israeli military withdrawal and how to distribute aid during a truce.

Israeli forces killed at least 115 Palestinians across Gaza on Sunday, most as they waited for desperately needed food aid in one of the deadliest single incidents involving aid seekers since May.

Dozens more Palestinians have been wounded, according to health officials.

In northern Gaza, at least 67 people were killed near the Zikim crossing when an Israeli strike hit crowds gathering for aid. Another six people were killed near a separate distribution site in the south. The day before, 36 Palestinians were killed in similar circumstances.

The death toll brings the total number of people killed while trying to access food relief to more than 900 since May.

Ahmed Hassouna, who attempted to collect food from an aid site of the United States-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), described the moment Israeli forces opened fire.

“There was a young man with me, and they started firing gas at us. They killed us with the gas. We barely made it out to catch a breath,” he told Al Jazeera.

Another man, Rizeq Betaar, carried a wounded elderly man away from the gunfire.

“We were the ones who carried him on the bicycle… There are no ambulances, no food, no life, no way to live any more. We’re barely hanging on. May God relieve us,” he said.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said a convoy of 25 trucks carrying aid came under gunfire shortly after entering Gaza.

“WFP reiterates that any violence involving civilians seeking humanitarian aid is completely unacceptable,” the agency said in a statement.

Israel’s military said its forces fired “warning shots” at what it called “an immediate threat”, but denied deliberately targeting aid convoys.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned on Sunday the situation in Gaza has reached “catastrophic” levels, with children “wasting away” and some dying before aid reaches them.

“People are risking their lives just to find food,” OCHA said, calling the conditions “unconscionable”.

The US-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) also denounced Israel’s continuous attacks on aid seekers.

“The escalating massacres of starving Palestinian women, children and men murdered with US-supplied weapons and with the complicity of our government as they desperately search for food to feed their families is not only a human tragedy, it is also an indictment of a Western political order that has enabled this genocide through inaction and indifference,” said Nihad Awad, CAIR’s national executive director, in a statement.

“Western governments cannot claim ignorance. They are watching in real time as innocent civilians are intentionally starved, forcibly displaced, and slaughtered – and are choosing to do nothing. History will long remember the Western world’s indifference to the forced starvation, ethnic cleansing and genocide in Gaza.”

Man-made starvation

Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said staff in Gaza are sending desperate messages about the lack of food.

“All man-made, in total impunity. Food is available only a few kilometres away,” he wrote on X, adding that UNRWA has enough supplies at the border to feed Gaza for three months. But Israel has been blocking aid since March 2.

Dr Mohammed Abu Afash, the director of the Palestinian Medical Relief Society in Gaza, told Al Jazeera women and children are collapsing from hunger.

“We are heading into the unknown. Malnutrition among children has reached its highest levels,” he said, warning of a looming disaster if aid is not allowed in immediately.

Gaza’s Ministry of Health echoed that warning, saying hundreds of Palestinians suffering from malnutrition and dehydration could soon die.

“We warn that hundreds of people whose bodies have wasted away are at risk of imminent death due to hunger,” a spokesperson said.

Palestinian families say basic staples such as flour are impossible to find. The ministry said at least 71 children have died of malnutrition since the war began in 2023, while 60,000 others show signs of severe undernourishment.

On Sunday alone, it reported 18 deaths linked to hunger.

Food prices have soared beyond the reach of most people in Gaza, where 2.3 million are struggling to survive under siege conditions implemented by Israel.

Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary, reporting from central Gaza, said a 35-day-old baby in Gaza City and a four-month-old child in Deir el-Balah had died of malnutrition at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.

“The mother was touching her body, saying, ‘I am sorry I could not feed you,’” Khoudary said.

“Parents go to the GHF distribution sites to risk getting killed or leave their children starving. We met a mother who is giving her children water just to fill their stomachs. She can’t afford flour – and when she could, she couldn’t find it.”

More forced evacuations

Meanwhile, more Palestinians are being forced to flee. After Israel dropped leaflets containing evacuation threats over neighbourhoods in Deir el-Balah, residents reported air attacks on three homes in the area, prompting families to leave with what little they could carry.

Israel’s military said it had not yet entered those districts but promised to continue targeting what it called “terrorist infrastructure”.

Reporting from Deir el-Balah, Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud said: “We are face to face with another misleading evacuation order. People are told to move to al-Mawasi, a so-called safe zone, but since day one, Palestinians have been killed there.

“This is not a safe zone. There is no safe zone in a war zone. Palestinians know that walking into al-Mawasi is like walking into a death trap – they’ll be killed in days, hours, or even minutes.”

United Nations 2025 Global AIDS Update says if funding not replaced, Trump’s cuts may reverse ‘decades’ of progress on HIV/AIDS.

Unless funding is replaced, the halt to foreign aid by the administration of US President Donald Trump could reverse “decades of progress” on HIV, the United Nations warns in its annual report on HIV/AIDS.

The United States’ decision to make cuts to the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) could result in six million extra HIV infections and four million more AIDS-related deaths by 2029, according to the 2025 Global AIDS Update released on Thursday.

“HIV programmes in low- and middle-income countries have been rocked by sudden, major financial disruptions that threaten to reverse years of progress in the response to HIV,” the UNAIDS report said.

“Wars and conflict, widening economic inequalities, geopolitical shifts and climate change shocks – the likes of which are unprecedented in the global HIV response – are stoking instability and straining multilateral cooperation,” it added.

According to the report, people acquiring HIV and those dying from AIDS-related causes were at their lowest levels in “more than 30 years”.

However, by the end of 2024, the decline in numbers was “not sufficient” to end AIDS as a public threat by 2030.

Still, the report found that an estimated 1.3 million people acquired HIV in 2024, 40 percent less than in 2024.

In new infections, there was a 56 percent decline in sub-Saharan Africa, which is home to half of all people who “acquired HIV globally in 2024”.

“Five countries, mostly from sub-Saharan Africa, were on track to achieve a 90 percent decline in new infections by 2030 compared with 2010,” the UN added.

However, the significance of Trump’s cut to the programme is immense, as the US was the largest donor of humanitarian assistance worldwide.

“The sudden withdrawal of the single biggest contributor to the global HIV response disrupted treatment and prevention programmes around the world,” the report said.

While many countries still have enough life-saving antiretroviral drugs and clinics that support those most vulnerable to the infection – including gay men, sex workers and teenage girls – the cut in funding has forced the facilities to close down and prevention programmes to peter out.

UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima told the Reuters news agency that “prevention was hit harder than treatment” by the cuts.

“Key populations were the worst affected … they depended on tailored services by community leaders, and those were the first to go,” Byanyima said.

However, even before Trump made the decision to scale back the support shortly after coming into office in January, donors, mainly European countries, were scaling back development assistance.

“They’ve told us that it has to do with defence spending,” she said, adding that figures showed “global health [spending] peaked and then it also started declining with the Ukraine war”.

PEPFAR was launched in 2003 by US President George W Bush, and is the biggest-ever commitment by any country focused on a single disease. UNAIDS called the programme a “lifeline” for countries with high HIV rates.