Israeli police seal home of synagogue attacker

JERUSALEM, JAN 29

(AP): Israeli police on Sunday sealed up the east Jerusalem home of a Palestinian attacker who killed seven people and wounded three outside a synagogue, one of several punitive measures approved by Benjamin Netanyahu’s Cabinet overnight.

Officers who were terminated after their involvement in a traffic stop that ended with the death of Tyre Nichols. (Reuters)

Nichols’s family welcomed the decision in a statement from their lawyers, calling it “both appropriate and proportional to the tragic death of Tyre Nichols, and also a decent and just decision for all citizens of Memphis.”

“We hope that other cities take similar action with their saturation police units in the near future to begin to create greater trust in their communities,” the family added.

Police Chief Cerelyn Davis, who created the unit, had previously told CNN it was at least initially successful, with reduced crime in 2022 following a record number of 345 homicides the prior year, a number which she said had prompted “an outcry from

At least 24 dead in Peru bus accident: police

LIMA, JAN 29 (AGENCIES): At least 24 people died Saturday when a bus carrying 60 passengers, including an unknown number of Haitians, plunged over a cliff in northwestern Peru, police said, reports AFP. They had earlier stated the count in Piura province as 25, before correcting it to 24.

The bus, belonging to the Qorianka Tours company, departed from Lima and was en route to Tumbes, on the border with Ecuador, when it went off the road near the town of Organos, according to police. Police at the scene told local media that the accident occurred at a difficult spot known as “Devil’s Curve,” but they said the cause remained under investigation. the community.”

An unknown number of injured passengers were transported to hospitals in El Alto and Mancora, popular resorts some 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) north of Lima. Several passengers were thrown from the bus while others were trapped inside.

The unit, which stands for Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhoods, had been intended “to reduce gun violence, to be visible in communities, and to also impact the rise in the crime,” she said.

Despite nationwide calls for police reform following Floyd’s death, the number of people who died during interactions with police hit a 10-year high in 2022, at 1,186 fatalities, according to the website Mapping Police Violence.

The officers involved in Nichols’s death face second-degree murder charges as well as indictments for aggravated assault and aggravated kidnapping.

The move came following a deadly weekend in which seven people were killed and five others wounded in two separate shootings in Jerusalem, in one of the bloodiest months in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem in several years.

The measures threatened to further raise tensions and cast a cloud over a visit next week by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The weekend shootings followed a deadly Israeli raid in the West Bank on Thursday that killed nine Palestinians, most of them militants.

In response, Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired a barrage of rockets into Israel, triggering a series of Israeli airstrikes in response. In all, 32 Palestinians have been killed in fighting this month.

Addressing the Cabinet on Sunday morning, Netanyahu said that “we sealed the home of the ter-

PARIS, JAN 29 (AP):

France’s prime minister insisted Sunday that the government’s plan to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 is “no longer negotiable,” further angering parliamentary opponents and unions who plan new mass protests and disruptive strikes this week. Raising the pension age is one part of a broad bill that is the flagship measure of President Emmanuel Macron’s second term. The bill is meeting widespread popular resistance — more than 1 million people marched against it earlier this month — and misunderstanding about what it will mean for today’s French workers.

In an interview with France-Info radio broadcast Sunday, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said the age “is no longer negotiable.”

Retirement at 64 and a lengthening of the number

NEW DELHI, JAN 29 (AGENCIES): Amid a rapidly tumbling economy, the writing on the wall for Pakistan’s future is clearthat the country faces another monumental crisis in its history.

Following the State Bank’s removal of a cap on Pakistan’s foreign currency exchange rate, the steep drop in the value of the rupee is bound to add to an already high rate of inflation.

The change came shortly after the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) raised its interest rate to 17 per cent as it sought to battle inflation hovering around 30 percent, The News re-

‘Assets

ported. In a sharp departure from Finance Minister Ishaq Dar’s publicly repeated claims of keeping domestic fuel prices unchanged, Pakistanis must now brace for a hike in petrol and diesel prices in the coming days, The News reported.

Besides, a jump in the price of diesel will inevitably add to the cost of production in agriculture and of years needed to earn a full pension “is the compromise that we proposed after having heard employers’ organizations and unions,” she said.

A union-led online petition against the retirement plan saw a surge in new signatures after Borne’s comments. France’s eight leading unions are in discussions Sunday about a joint response to her remarks, according to officials with the FO and CFDT unions.

Lawmaker Manuel Bompard, whose France Unbowed party is leading the parliamentary push against the reform, called for “the biggest possible” turnout for upcoming strikes and protests. “We have to be in the streets Tuesday,” he said on BFM television Sunday. The government says the reform is necessary to keep the pension system solvent as France’s life ex-

The police on Sunday released footage of Israeli army engineers welding metal plates over the windows and welding the front door shut as part of the operation in response to Friday night’s deadly shooting. Police said the attacker, identified as a 21-yearold east Jerusalem resident, was killed in a shootout with officers after fleeing the scene in the predominantly

France must raise pension age to 64: PM

pectancy has grown and birth rates have declined.

“Our aim is to ensure that in 2030 we have a system that’s financially balanced,” Borne said.

Unions and left-wing parties want big companies or wealthier households to pitch in more to balance the pension budget instead.

Borne suggested openness to adjustments on how the reform addresses time that people take out of their careers to bear children or pursue education. The plan’s critics say women are unfairly targeted; Borne disagreed, but said, “We are in the process of analyzing the situation.”

The bill goes to a parliamentary commission on Monday, and to a full debate in the National Assembly on Feb. 6. Opponents have submitted 7,000 proposed amendments that will further complicate the debate.