Fear grips east DR Congo as displaced await mpox vaccine

An ever-growing number of patients have been flocking to a Goma hospital in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo), where a rapidly-spreading epidemic of mpox has erupted in recent months.Between 5-20 people are walking each day into Nyiragongo General Referral Hospital in North Kivu to consult overburdened medical teams at an outdoor isolation centre, fearing they are ill with the virus.The disease can spread from animals to humans, but also human-to-human through sexual or close physical contact.Dr Tresor Basubi inspected the breathing and heartbeat of a calm little girl whose body was covered in skin lesions caused by the disease, which has killed 541 people so far this year.Cases have now surfaced in all provinces of the DR Congo , a country of 100mn people.“This is just the start, the child is not asthenic, she does not show severe symptoms, she can walk on her own,” said Basubi as he examined the girl.In benign cases, which make up the great majority of infections, treatments can help relieve the symptoms – including paracetamol to reduce fevers and a zinc oxide cream to soothe the lesions.“Patients get itchy but the scars go away with time,” the doctor added.While mpox cases have emerged previously, a new more deadly and more transmissible strain of the virus – Clade 1b – causes death in around 2.89% of cases, with infants and children being more at risk, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).The DR Congo, which has recorded around 16,000 cases so far this year, is the epicentre of an epidemic that led the WHO to trigger on Wednesday its highest level of international alert.The neighbouring province of South Kivu alone has been detecting some 350 new cases per week, said Justin Bengehya, an epidemiologist at the provincial health division of South Kivu.Goma, the capital of North Kivu, almost surrounded by an armed rebellion and where hundreds of thousands of displaced people are crammed into makeshift camps, fears a large-scale spread due to promiscuity.At the treatment centre, parents held their contagious children in their arms despite risks of skin-to-skin transmission, and as staff has been raising awareness about prevention measures.“My son was hospitalised here for mpox, and my daughter was looking after him,” said Deogracias Mahombi Sekabanza, a health worker who brought his daughter Confiance. “After they got out on a Sunday, my daughter began showing the same symptoms by Wednesday.”Sekabanza said his son was infected after playing with friends.Furaha Makambo has been living in a nearby tent with her three children, Ornella, Rachelle et Baraka – all contracted mpox on the camp where they have been displaced.“My children sleep on the same bed and they are constantly contaminated at the same time, and I didn’t have an extra bed to separate them,” said Makambo.After her husband passed away, she fled her home region of Masisi in eastern DR Congo, where violent armed groups are operating, and sought refuge in Goma.“We are scared. This disease needs to be eradicated so that it stops reaching the displaced because it can exterminate us,” she told AFP.While preventative measures and experience from previous epidemics are helping staff respond to suspected cases swiftly, children in particular struggle with social distancing.“This disease is very contagious. If you touch the sweat, urine or even clothes of a sick person, you are directly exposed,” said Basubi. “Washing hands with soap or ashes can help protect you but there is no guarantee.”In a tent she shares with three children from other families, Nyota Mukobelwa, a doughnut vendor who was displaced by fighting, sat on her bed, chuckling elegantly in front of cameras.“The vaccine needs to be available, otherwise the epidemic will continue to spread, many people will die and we will contaminate our children at home,” she said.The WHO has urged manufacturers to ramp up production of mpox vaccines to rein in the spread of Clade 1b cases, asking countries to donate stockpiles to countries with outbreaks.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/688808/international/fear-grips-east-dr-congo-as-displaced-await-mpox-vaccine

Japan’s PM Kishida plans US visit in late September

Outgoing Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is finalising plans to visit the US in late September for the UN General Assembly and a possible meeting with President Joe Biden, the Yomiuri newspaper reported yesterday.The visit may take place for several days starting on Sept 22, the report said, citing multiple government sources it did not identify. The Japanese Foreign Ministry, in response to a request for comment from Reuters, said “nothing has been decided yet”.Kishida on Wednesday dropped out of the leadership race for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, meaning he will step down as prime minister when his term as party leader ends in late September. The date of the LDP election is not yet set. It could be as early as Sept 20, in which case Kishida would likely address the General Assembly after Japan’s parliament, where the LDP has a majority, has chosen his replacement as prime minister, according to the Yomiuri.Some in the Japanese government think it best if Kishida’s successor does not develop close ties with Biden, who is due to leave office in January, the newspaper said. Biden, who dropped out of November’s US presidential election, was replaced as the Democratic Party nominee last month by Vice-President Kamala Harris. She faces the Republican candidate, former President Donald Trump.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/688795/international/japans-pm-kishida-plans-us-visit-in-late-september

Thousands march, doctors plan new strike over colleague’s brutal murder

Thousands of Indians marched through the streets of Kolkata on Friday demanding justice after the rape and murder of a doctor, channelling nationwide outrage at the chronic issue of violence against women.

Alongside the fury of ordinary Indians, doctors stepped up their own demonstrations and strikes on Friday, with protests also held in the capital New Delhi and other cities over the brutal killing.

The discovery of the 31-year-old’s bloodied body on August 9 at a state-run hospital in the eastern city of Kolkata sparked nationwide protests. “We want justice,” doctors chanted during the protests in Kolkata, waving handwritten signs that read: “No safety, no service!”

Protester Sumita Datta, 59, said she was disgusted that such a brazen and violent attack could have been carried out “in a well-known hospital in the heart of the city”. “So many people are out here to take part in the protests,” Datta added. “It feels like hope is being reignited.”

Those in government hospitals across several states on Monday halted elective services “indefinitely” in protest. Multiple medical unions in both government and private systems have backed the strikes. “We are intensifying our protests...to demand justice for our colleague,” Suvrankar Datta said on Friday at the government-run All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) hospital in New Delhi.

The Indian Medical Association has called for a “nationwide withdrawal of services” for 24 hours starting Saturday, with suspension of all non-essential procedures at private hospitals. Doctors are demanding the implementation of the Central Protection Act, a bill to protect healthcare workers from violence. Members of the wider public have also marched in several cities this week, including at a candlelight midnight rally in Kolkata that coincided with the start of India’s independence day celebrations on Thursday. Indian media has reported that the murdered doctor was found in the teaching hospital’s seminar hall, suggesting she had gone there for a rest during a long shift. An autopsy confirmed sexual assault, according to Indian broadcaster NDTV, and in a petition to the court the victim’s parents said they suspected their daughter was gang-raped.

Though police have detained a man who worked at the hospital helping people navigate busy queues, state government officers have been accused of mishandling the case.

The man, his head covered in a white sack, was taken Friday for a health checkup, escorted by dozens of armed police.

Sexual violence against women is a widespread problem in India - an average of nearly 90 rapes a day were reported in 2022 in the country of 1.4bn people. For many, the gruesome nature of the hospital attack has invoked comparisons with the horrific 2012 gang rape and murder of a young woman on a Delhi bus.

That woman became a symbol of the socially conservative country’s failure to tackle sexual violence against women. Her death sparked huge, and at times violent, demonstrations in Delhi and elsewhere. Under pressure, the government introduced harsher penalties for rapists and the death penalty for repeat offenders.

Several new offences were also introduced - including for stalking - and officials who refuse to register rape complaints can now be jailed. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday demanded swift punishment for those who commit “monstrous” deeds against women. “There is anger for atrocities committed against our mothers and sisters,” Modi said. “Monstrous behaviour against women should be severely and quickly punished,” he said.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/688764/international/thousands-march-doctors-plan-new-strike-over-colleagues-brutal-murder

4 arrested after Spanish teen star’s father stabbed

Four people have been arrested after a knife attack on the father of young Spanish football star Lamine Yamal in Catalonia, local police told AFP yesterday.The attack took place at 1910 GMT on Wednesday in a car park in the Catalan town of Mataro, around 30km from Barcelona, in the Rocafonda neighbourhood where Lamine Yamal is from, said a spokesman for the Mossos d’Esquadra, the Catalan regional police force.Yamal’s father Mounir Nasraoui was stabbed several times the police said, and is being treated at the Can Ruti hospital, who could not be reached by AFP for comment.“Thanks to everyone for your support, I’m already doing better, a big hug for everyone,” wrote Nasraoui in a post on Instagram yesterday afternoon.A source close to the family told AFP that Nasraoui is now “out of danger” and “remains under observation” but in a “stable” condition.Asked about the events and the victim’s possible release date from hospital, the source did not wish to say more.Yamal was pictured leaving the hospital in a car after visiting his father. Three people were arrested Wednesday night and were being questioned at Mataro police station, while a fourth was taken into custody at 0900 GMT yesterday morning.Investigators must also interview the victim “as soon as possible”, as well as witnesses, to uncover the circumstances of the attack, said the police.Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia said the incident occurred after an argument in the street with some men who had approached him while he was walking his dog and later returned to assault him.Yamal made his Barcelona debut aged 15 in April 2023 and burst into the limelight last season, becoming a key player for the Catalan giants.The winger, now 17, played a key role for his country as Spain triumphed at Euro 2024 for a record fourth time, becoming the youngest ever footballer to play and score in the competition’s history.Yamal’s father and grandmother still live in Rocafonda and he tends to celebrate goals by making a ‘304’ gesture with his hands, referring to the postcode of his neighbourhood.Nasraoui became famous during the European Championship for his social media presence and media appearances, frequently posting content showing his support for his son.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/688695/international/4-arrested-after-spanish-teen-stars-father-stabbed

Flights suspended as climate activists launch protests at several German Airports

Flights were suspended at two airports after an environmental activist group launched protest actions at several German airports on Thursday.The activists infiltrated the airports of Berlin-Brandenburg, Stuttgart, Nuremberg, and Cologne-Bonn, with an average of two activists per airport.According to a German police spokesman, air traffic at Nuremberg Airport has been suspended until further notice.For his part, a spokesman for Cologne-Bonn Airport announced that air traffic at the airport had been halted due to the protest, explaining that unauthorized persons had managed to reach the flight area on the airport grounds.On Aug. 1, cargo flights were halted for about three hours at Leipzig-Halle Airport in Germany, due to a protest by climate activists.The Last Generation movement has listed several countries across Europe and North America where similar disruptions are planned as part of a protest campaign calling for the German government to pursue a global agreement to exit oil, gas and coal by 2030

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/688676/international/flights-suspended-as-climate-activists-launch-protests-at-several-german-airports

Japan cancels hundreds of flights, halts train services as typhoon Ampil approaches

Japan announced Thursday the cancelation of hundreds of flights to and from Tokyo's Haneda airport and Narita airport, close to the capital.Days after Tropical Storm Maria dumped record rains, Typhoon Ampil was set late Thursday to skirt the capital, which has a population of almost 40 million, before sweeping the Pacific coast on Friday and Saturday.East Japan Railway Co. said parts of the Tohoku, Joetsu, Hokuriku and Yamagata shinkansen services will be suspended Friday, as will operations between Nagoya and Tokyo stations on the Tokaido Shinkansen Line.In the 24 hours from Thursday morning, the typhoon is forecast to bring up to 150 mm of rain to the Kanto-Koshin region, which includes Tokyo, 100 mm in the Tokai region, and 80 mm in the Tohoku region, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said.The JMA warned residents of eastern regions of possible severe storms, flooding, river overflows, and landslides.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/688674/international/japan-cancels-hundreds-of-flights-halts-train-services-as-typhoon-ampil-approaches

Greece counts cost as firefighters master fires around Athens

Greece yesterday counted the cost of devastating fires outside Athens that claimed one life, forced thousands to flee their homes and took three days to control.With the smoke still to clear, civil protection officials said the fire devoured 10,000 hectares, destroying about 100 homes as well as many other buildings and cars.While isolated fires still burned, there were no major active blazes, but some 570 firefighters and 174 vehicles were monitoring events, said the fire service.“We are still in the area but there is no (threat). Some pockets of fire spring up but are dealt with,” a fire service spokesman told AFP.The fire broke out on Sunday at Varnavas, near the historic town of Marathon, 40km northeast of Athens.Investigators think a faulty electricity pole may have been the cause, the Kathimerini newspaper reported.Strong winds fed the flames, turning it into the worst wildfire this year in Greece.As the flames approached the suburbs of the capital, teams from France, Italy, the Czech Republic, Romania, Serbia and Turkiye mobilised through an EU scheme to help Greece master the fires.A Turkish helicopter and two Italian planes have already joined the effort in Athens while a Serbian helicopter saw action against a fire in Serres, northern Greece, the spokesman said.The largest force, over 160 firefighters and 55 fire engines sent by France, was expected later.With thousands of people forced to flee their homes, several stadiums were opened up to receive them. Some 650 people were hosted in hotels, the civil protection ministry said.The government has already earmarked €4.7mn ($5.2mn) for the eight towns hit by the fires, with pay-outs for households and individuals affected by the disaster.But there was growing anger over what critics say was a lack of preparedness.“Under-staffed, under-equipped and totally uncoordinated,” said Stefanos Kasselakis, leader of the left-wing Syriza opposition party, referring to the civil protection service, blaming Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.“We’re doing our best to improve every year,” said Mitsotakis after an emergency cabinet meeting on Tuesday. “But conditions are unfortunately becoming more difficult.”The Greek socialist party PASOK yesterday formally requested a parliamentary debate on the fire when the chamber reopens at the end of the month.The government has vowed to hold a discussion in September, after the end of the fire season.Around 200 people demonstrated outside parliament on Tuesday evening to denounce what they called the government’s “crimes”.Yesterday, as Mitsotakis visited a military base to thank pilots who had flown firefighting planes, he highlighted that the government had ordered seven new aircraft.The first two DHC-515 water bombers will be delivered in 2027.“The solution won’t just come from the air,” he added: preventative work was also essential.But the toll of annual fires is growing. According to the meteo.gr website of the National Observatory, 37% of forests around Athens have been consumed by fire over the past eight years.Scientists say that human-caused fossil fuel emissions are increasing the length, frequency and intensity of heatwaves across the world, raising the risk of wildfires.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/688644/international/greece-counts-cost-as-firefighters-master-fires-around-athens

Bangladesh court opens murder case against former PM Hasina

A court in Bangladesh opened a murder investigation into ousted ex-premier Sheikh Hasina and six top figures in her administration yesterday over the police killing of a man during civil unrest last month. Hasina, 76, fled by helicopter to neighbouring India a week ago, where she remains, as protesters flooded Dhaka’s streets in a dramatic end to her iron-fisted tenure.More than 450 people were killed during the weeks of unrest leading up to her toppling. “A case has been filed against Sheikh Hasina and six more,” said Mamun Mia, a lawyer who brought the case on behalf of a private citizen. He added that the Dhaka Metropolitan Court had ordered police to accept “the murder case against the accused persons”, the first step in a criminal investigation under Bangladeshi law.Mia’s filing with the court also named Hasina’s former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan and Obaidul Quader, the general secretary of Hasina’s Awami League party. It also names four top police officers appointed by Hasina’s government who have since vacated their posts.The case accuses the seven of responsibility for the death of a grocery store owner who was shot dead on July 19 by police violently suppressing protests.The Daily Star newspaper reported that the case was brought on behalf of Amir Hamza Shatil, a resident of the neighbourhood where the shooting happened and a “well-wisher” of the victim.Hasina’s government was accused of widespread human rights abuses, including the extrajudicial killing of thousands of her political opponents.Nobel laureate Mohamed Yunus returned from Europe three days after Hasina’s ouster to head a temporary administration facing the monumental challenge of steering democratic reforms. The 84-year-old won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his pioneering work in microfinance, and is credited with helping millions of Bangladeshis out of grinding poverty.He took office as “chief adviser” to a caretaker administration - all fellow civilians bar home minister Sakhawat Hossain, a retired brigadier general - and has said he wants to hold elections “within a few months”.Hossain said on Monday that the government had no intention of banning Hasina’s Awami League, which played a pivotal role in the country’s independence movement.“The party has made many contributions to Bangladesh - we don’t deny this,” he told reporters on Monday. “When the election comes, (they should) contest the elections.” AFP has contacted the caretaker administration for comment.The new administration has stressed it wants to put Bangladesh on a different path. Its foreign minister Touhid Hossain told a briefing of more than 60 foreign diplomats late Monday it was “very serious about human rights”, and vowed not to “allow any violence or damages to occur”, he said.“All those committing such crimes will be investigated,” Hossain added.The unrest and political change have also shaken Bangladesh’s critical garment industry, but he assured diplomats that foreign investments would be protected. Bangladesh’s 3,500 garment factories account for around 85% of its $55bn in annual exports, supplying many of the world’s top brands as the world’s second biggest exporter of clothing by value after China.“This is a temporary crisis,” Hossain added. “Everything will come back in the right way, as competent people are in charge.”

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/688585/international/bangladesh-court-opens-murder-case-against-former-pm-hasina

British govt vows to ‘prioritise’ mental health after report on fatal stabbings

The UK government yesterday pledged to prioritise mental health as a report into a fatal stabbing rampage by a psychotic patient identified a litany of errors by medical authorities. Students Grace O’Malley-Kumar and Barnaby Webber and school caretaker Ian Coates died in the attacks in the central English city of Nottingham last June.Health Minister Wes Streeting said it was time to put a greater focus on mental health, amid growing public concern about treatment waiting times and big increases in demand. “It’s time we prioritise mental health so we will be updating the Mental Health Act to bring care into the 21st century to ensure that care is appropriate, proportionate and compassionate - while keeping the public safe,” he wrote in The Sun daily.Victims’ relatives said the report revealed “a catalogue of continual failures” lasting years in the handling of paranoid schizophrenic Valdo Calocane who carried out the killings.“It’s really hard to actually pinpoint one particular point, because the failings are so systemic and they’re so gross,” said Emma Webber whose son Barnaby died. And she warned that what happened in Nottingham was “not a one-off tragedy”.“There are more Valdo Calocanes out in our community,” she said.According to the report, repeated medical assessments of Calocane underplayed the serious risk he posed to others. Key details were “minimised or omitted” such as his refusal to take his medication, violent behaviour and persistent symptoms of psychosis. “Poor decision-making, omissions and errors of judgments contributed to a situation where a patient with very serious mental health issues did not receive the support and follow-up he needed,” said Chris Dzikiti of the Care Quality Commission which produced the report.Sanjoy Kumar, the father of Grace O’Malley-Kumar, said doctors had to take greater responsibility for releasing “dangerous” patients. “It’s not about depriving people of their liberty. It’s about holding clinicians responsible who put people like that out on our streets,” said Kumar, a practising doctor.“We have lost the absolute love of our life, our lovely, beautiful and brave daughter, Gracie, and at the end of the day what we want to see is that the public are safe,” he said. “I think the nation is crying out for safety from these crimes,” he added.Calocane was given an indefinite hospital order in January after admitting manslaughter due to diminished responsibility. Prosecutors accepted his not guilty pleas to murder after multiple medical experts concluded he had paranoid schizophrenia.Streeting, a member of the UK’s new Labour government, said the state-funded National Health Service (NHS) had accepted the recommendations about improvements to the care of patients with serious mental illness.Measures already in place include £2.3bn ($2.9bn) a year increase in funding “to transform services”.“Action is already underway to address the serious failures,” he said in a statement, adding that he wanted to “assure myself and the country” that the errors seen in Nottingham “are not being repeated elsewhere”.There has been growing alarm in the UK at the state of mental health provision over recent years as the NHS struggles with increased demand, a post-Covid backlog and staffing and funding issues.The NHS says some 5.3mn children and young people were in contact with mental health services in 2023/24, up 8.1% on the previous year and over 25% on 2021/22.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/688583/international/british-govt-vows-to-prioritise-mental-health-after-report-on-fatal-stabbings

Banksy lifts curtain on London animal mural series

Elusive street artist Banksy’s ninth animal-themed mural in nine days, unveiled yesterday on a shutter outside London Zoo, depicted a gorilla releasing animals from the zoo, tying together the series of artworks. Claimed by the artist on Instagram, the mural outside London Zoo showed a gorilla lifting the shutter to free birds and a seal, with some animals staring out from the inside.It is the latest in Banksy’s series populating the British capital with animals, starting with a goat revealed last week Monday, followed by two elephants the next day and then monkeys, a wolf, pelicans, a cat, piranhas and a rhinoceros in subsequent days.The frequency of artworks is unusual for Banksy - whose identity is publicly unknown - and who usually spaces out his pieces over months, leaving fans speculating about the meaning of the different animals and awaiting a “big” reveal. The latest mural was “an absolute shock and surprise to all of us here at London Zoo”, Karl Penman, commercial operations manager at the zoo said.“If it is the full stop, what a great full stop to end on,” Penman told AFP.The BBC reported the that piece was the last in the series.“You can see the watchful eyes, which to me look a little bit uncertain about whether they want to be free,” said doctor Sharmela Darne about the eyes of animals staring from behind the shutter in the latest artwork.“But the seal’s clearly going away and so are the birds flying free...so maybe it’s about freedom and being unsure about freedom,” Darne told AFP. For many, the animal safari has added some positivity to their week, as the country reeled following the death of three girls in a stabbing and ensuing violent riots.Speaking in front of two pelicans painted over a fish shop in Walthamstow, northeast London, Peter McCarthy said it had been “very nice to have it in this particular week”. “Very nice that he’s been around the country when there’s been such trouble. Doing these wonderful things.”For others, the choice of animals has meaning, with some finding the goat similar to a Palestinian mountain gazelle and others pointing out the artist’s previous work on the climate crisis. Three of the artworks have already been removed or stolen, and the rhino revealed on Monday was defaced the same day.A satellite dish painted with the wolf was stolen within hours of being claimed by Banksy, with the cat on a billboard removed by contractors and a police box painted with swimming piranhas removed by the local authority to ensure it was “properly protected”.Speaking in front of the cat on Saturday before it was removed, dentist Mitul Patel said he wished “people would leave his work alone so that other people could enjoy it as well”. Locals and tourists alike have been enjoying the artworks that are still up. Taking a brief pause from his job, construction worker Owen said the three monkeys in east London’s Shoreditch area were “very exciting” and a “big talking point”.Kevin Mazur, a photographer visiting from the US, said he had been “running around photographing all” the artworks, and was “bummed” about having to return to New York.Retiree Don Gould lives around the corner from the goat in southwest London’s Kew Green, and saw the artwork after it was revealed online last week. “It’s very good excuse for a stroll on the green and a pint, isn’t it?”

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/688582/international/banksy-lifts-curtain-on-london-animal-mural-series

Govt welcomes ‘de-escalation’ of riots, remains on ‘high alert’

The UK government welcomed yesterday the “de-escalation” of disorder and rioting in English towns and cities following a knife attack that killed three children, but insisted officials remain on “high alert”. “We welcome that there has been a de-escalation this weekend. But we’re certainly not complacent and remain on high alert,” a spokeswoman for Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office said.The violence, blamed on the far right, came after misinformation spread about the alleged perpetrator of a mass stabbing on July 29 at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport, northwestern England. Three girls - Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven - died in the attack. Ten others were injured including eight children.The stabbings sparked a riot in Southport the following evening, on July 30, and violence in more than a dozen English towns and cities as well as in Northern Ireland over the ensuing week. Starmer’s spokeswoman said authorities had acted decisively to quell the unrest but that there was no room for complacency.“We also recognise that the job is not done until people feel safe in their communities, but thanks to the work of our police officers, prosecutor and judiciary, we have seen a swift response from the justice system,” she said. “Within a matter of days, we’ve seen criminals involved arrested, charged, sentenced and behind bars,” she added.Officials blamed the violence on far-right agitators and opportunist “thugs” accused of using the tragedy to further their anti-immigration, anti-Muslim agenda. Misinformation spread online in the immediate aftermath of the stabbing spree, claiming that the perpetrator was a Muslim immigrant.British-born Axel Rudakubana has been charged with murder and attempted murder over the attack. His parents hail from Rwanda, which is overwhelmingly Christian.A motive for the attack has not been disclosed, but police have said it is not being treated as terrorism-related.Man arrested after stabbing twoA woman and an 11-year-old girl were hospitalised on Monday after being stabbed in central London’s Leicester Square, police said, adding that a man had been arrested.“Officers are at the scene of a stabbing in Leicester Square. A man has been arrested and is in custody,” said a police statement. “Two victims, an 11-year-old girl and a 34-year-old woman, have been taken to hospital and we await an update on their condition,” it added.Police did not give any further details about the suspect.Boy remanded for riotingA 12-year-old boy yesterday admitted throwing a missile at a police van during far-riot inspired riots after a knife attack in a northern England town that killed three young girls.District Judge Joanne Hirst said the boy - who cannot be named due to his age - had been more involved in the violence than any other accused person she had seen “coming through these courts, adult or child”.The boy pleaded guilty to two charges of violent disorder at a court in Manchester, northwestern England. The violence, blamed by officials on the far right, came after misinformation spread about the alleged perpetrator of a mass stabbing on July 29 at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class led to rioting in English towns and cities.Prosecutors said the boy was part of a group that gathered two days later outside a Manchester hotel housing asylum seekers. He was remanded to local authority custody and will be sentenced on September 2.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/688499/international/govt-welcomes-de-escalation-of-riots-remains-on-high-alert