Tag Archives: oceania

Meet the Gaza refugee who started the first lifesaving club in the Middle East

A refugee who established the first lifesaving club in Gaza says Palestinians still "dream" of returning home after US President Donald Trump vowed to take over the region.

Mohammad Saleh escaped from Gaza in May last year, but not before he helped establish the first surf lifesaving club in the Middle East, operating out of the Gaza Strip.

Saleh trained with the North Steyne Surf Lifesaving Club on Sydney's Northern Beaches in 2020 before returning to his home in Palestine and establishing his own Nippers club.

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A refugee from Gaza has spoken to 9News about what it was like living in Palestine during the war between Israel and Hamas before he managed to escape to Australia with his family. Refugee Mohammad

"The quality of life in Gaza isn't like here in Australia but there's a lot of people like me trying to make life better for the community," Saleh said.

"We started to establish a surf lifesaving club, a club in Gaza.

"We succeeded in that, it was successful.

"[For] around 11 weeks every Saturday, a lot of children participated in it." 

He says things in the region quickly turned following the October 7 attacks carried out by Hamas and Israel's response.

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GAZA NIPPERS CLUB

"Sadly everyone knows what happened on the 7th of October," Saleh said.

"There were a lot of airstrikes against innocent peoples, against civilians, buildings, even hospitals.

"Unfortunately, we lost a lot of people … especially people who were participating in the Nippers program in Gaza.

"We lost about 10 per cent of our team and participating children, we lost four children – their ages between six years old and 12 years old.

"They had dreams.

"One of them, he wanted to be a robot engineer, he was nine years old … and his sister, unfortunately, both of them were killed with their entire family."

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GAZA NIPPERS CLUBGAZA NIPPERS CLUB

Before he was granted a protection visa to Australia, Saleh and his family moved from region to region within Gaza, searching for somewhere safe.

"The home is everything for us, we were forced to leave our home and everything inside it, our memories, our stuff, our clothes," Saleh said.

"The IDF mentioned many times there are safe places in Gaza, 'Go to these places'.

"I witnessed there was no safe place in Gaza in the period of time before I escaped.

"For seven months, there was no safe place."

Now back in Australia, Saleh spoke out about Trump's alarming announcement that the US would take over the Gaza Strip.

This week, Trump said the US would take over the region and "level it" with the goal of relocating more than 2 million people to other countries.

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GAza refugee Mohammad Saleh and his family

Saleh said Palestinians deserved the right to return to their home and land, and despite the destruction, they dream of returning home.

"The Palestinian issue, it's not real estate … the Palestinian people are not projects," he said.

"We're supposed to return to our homes, our lands, our historical lands.

"Palestine can hold every person to live there – Jewish, Christian, Muslim, atheist, any person can live in Palestine.

"For hundreds of thousands of years, we lived together."

"I assure you … every Palestinian who had to take refuge, it's their dream to come back to their homes."

Small plane slams into Sao Paulo street, killing two passengers

A small aircraft crashed on an avenue in Sao Paulo on Friday morning (Friday night AEDT) shortly after taking off from a nearby private airport, killing the pilot and the plane's owner, authorities said. The two were the only people on board.

The plane went down in the busy Barra Funda neighbourhood on the west side of the Brazilian city, near its downtown.

A piece of the plane hit a bus, injuring one woman inside, while a motorcyclist was struck by another piece of wreckage, the firefighters' statement said. Both were receiving medical care.

READ MORE: Search underway in Alaska for plane carrying 10 people

Sao Paulo, Brazil, plane crash

A later statement said that four more people who were injured were taken to hospitals in the area with minor injuries.

Gov. Tarcísio de Freitas said on X that the two dead were the pilot, Gustavo Medeiros, and the owner of the aircraft, Márcio Carpena.

A CCTV video obtained by the local television network TV Globo showed the moment of the crash.

The plane slammed into the avenue a few metres past an intersection, where a line of cars was waiting to move forward.

Sao Paulo, Brazil, plane crashSao Paulo, Brazil, plane crash

Images on local media showed the plane's fuselage and the bus on fire, with firefighters working to extinguish the blaze.

The avenue is home to office buildings and there is a key bus, train and subway station nearby.

There was no word as to what had caused the plane to lose altitude less than 5 kilometres from the private airport from where it had departed a few minutes earlier.

It was bound to Porto Alegre, in the southern Rio Grande do Sul state.

Sao Paulo, Brazil, plane crash

The Brazilian Air Force said it would investigate the accident as fast as possible.

Brazil has had a number of deadly, small aircraft crashes in recent years, including one last August in Vinhedo, near Sao Paulo that was particularly shocking.

Images from that crash showed a passenger plane falling in a flat spin before crashing into the backyard of a home in a gated community, killing all 72 people on board.

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Trump effigies burned after deportees ‘shackled’ on 40-hour flight

US officials kept around 100 deported Indian migrants in shackles for their 40-hour flight home, including during bathroom breaks, in the latest incident to spark anger overseas at President Donald Trump's migration crackdown.

Indian lawmakers demonstrated outside parliament on Thursday (local time), some wearing shackles and others mocking the much-touted friendship between Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Elsewhere in New Delhi, members of the youth wing of India's main opposition party burned an effigy of Trump.

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Police stand guard at the gate as vehicles transporting the deported migrants leave the airport in Amritsar, India.

Last month, the spectacle of Colombian deportees being shackled as they boarded a US deportation flight sparked a bitter dispute between the two countries, with Colombian president Gustavo Petro initially refusing the military plane permission to land.

The anger in India comes days ahead of an expected visit by Modi to meet Trump – whom he has called a "true friend" – at the White House.

S. Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, a government minister in the western state of Punjab, where the deportation flight landed, urged Modi to "now use his friendship to resolve the issue."

Dhaliwal also questioned "the usefulness of this friendship if it cannot help Indian citizens in need," his office said in a statement.

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US Border Patrol Chief Michael W. Banks posted a video of the Indian deportees being put onto a plane on X.

The flight to India was the longest in distance since the Trump administration began deploying military aircraft for migrant deportations, according to a US official.

"Our hands were cuffed and ankles tied with chains before we took the flight," said 23-year-old Akashdeep Singh, who arrived in Punjab on Wednesday with 103 other deportees.

"We requested the military officials to take it off to eat or go to the bathroom but they treated us horribly and without any regard whatsoever," Singh added.

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"The way they looked at us, I'll never forget it… We went to the bathroom with the shackles on. Right before landing, they removed (the shackles) for the women.

"We saw it. For us, they were removed after we landed by the local police officials."

US Border Patrol Chief Michael W. Banks posted a video of the Indian deportees being put onto a plane on X.

https://twitter.com/USBPChief/status/1886946028185682347?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

In the video, shackles are seen on the wrists and ankles of several men who shuffle slowly up the ramp.

CNN has reached out to the Pentagon and US Customs and Border Protection for comment on whether the deportees were held in shackles for the duration of the flight.

'Better life, better future'

Deportee Sukhpal Singh, 35, also said the shackles were kept on throughout the flight, including during a refuelling stopover on the Pacific island of Guam.

"They treated us like criminals," he said.

"If we would try to stand because our legs were swelling due to the handcuffs they would yell at us to sit down."

Young Indians looking for work opportunities have made up a sizeable portion of undocumented migrants in the US, many after making the dangerous trek through Latin America to reach the US southern border.

Many say they see no future at home where a jobs crisis is stifling young hopes in the world's most populous country.

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Demonstrators burn an effigy of US President Donald Trump, during a protest organized by the Indian Youth Congress against the deportation of undocumented Indian migrants by the US, in New Delhi, India, on February 6

In just four years, the number of Indian citizens entering the US illegally has surged dramatically — from 8,027 in the 2018-19 fiscal year to 96,917 during 2022-23, government data showed.

Families have previously told CNN how they sold off land to raise the tens of thousands of dollars charged by "travel agents" to take migrants on the risky journey to the US.

"I had gone for work, for better life, for a better future," said Sukhpal Singh, who has a son and daughter and hoped to better provide for them by getting a job in the US.

"You see it in movies and you hear from people around you that there's work there and people are successful there so that's why I also wanted to go."

Pizza shop owner ‘everybody knew’ stabbed to death outside business

A pizza shop owner "everybody knew" was working alone when he was allegedly stabbed to death in a random attack outside his business in western Sydney.

Father and husband Sonmez Alagoz, 58, was found on the Great Western Highway, near Kingswood, just after 10pm with a single stab wound to his chest near his Pizza Stop store.

He was just 40 minutes from closing up the shop when seven teenagers as young as 13 allegedly set upon him.

READ MORE: Trump announces US will 'take over' Gaza Strip and level it

Sonmez Alagoz

Emergency services treated Alagoz at the scene before he was taken to Westmead Hospital, where he died around 12.30am today.

His nephew Akin Alagoz, said "everybody knew" his uncle.

"He fed Kingswood and Penrith for a long time," he told 9News.

The younger man said he didn't recall driving to Westmead Hospital after the alleged attack.

"It just happened that quickly. We were there and after a while, it sunk in," he said.

A pizza shop owner "everybody knew" who was stabbed to death outside his business in western Sydney was working alone when he was allegedly killed in an apparent random attack.

The family then returned to the shop to finish the night's work and clean up after the attack.

"We had to come back, finish up what he started last night, finish his last pizzas and kebabs, clean up the shop for him, mop up the blood off the floor," he said.

Homicide detectives investigating under Strike Force Narrira arrested six teenagers – four boys and two girls – from homes in Werrington, South Penrith, and Penrith.

The teenagers in custody and being questioned over the man's death include two girls aged 13 and 16 and three boys, two aged 15, and one aged 17.

A 19-year-old man was also arrested. 

A pizza shop owner "everybody knew" who was stabbed to death outside his business in western Sydney was working alone when he was allegedly killed in an apparent random attack.

A 15-year-old boy was later arrested at St Marys Police Station.

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NSW Police Superintendent Trent King said the pizza restaurant owner was well-known in the community and described the incident as a "tragedy".

"It was a confronting scene for emergency responders, he had suffered a gruesome injury and required immediate assistance," King said.

"This gentleman was very closely connected to this community for a very long time, including owning this business for over 14 years.

"This is an absolute tragedy, there's no other way of describing it."

Locals told 9News that Alagoz was a "lovely" and "very kind" man who always greeted his customers with a smile.

"He was really friendly, he treated people how he loved to be treated," one woman said.

"He was a nice, genuine guy."

The grandmother of one of the arrested teenagers said it was a "horrible" situation.

"It's horrible, I feel sorry for the family," she said.

The dead man's family was "distraught", King said.

He said the teenagers were cooperating in custody and police had not ruled out any motives so far.

It is alleged the attack was random.

Police could not confirm if a weapon had been found.

"This is a tragedy that we can't ignore," King added.

A crime scene was established with detectives from Nepean Police Area Command commencing an investigation with the assistance of the State Crime Command's Homicide Squad.

Anyone with information, CCTV or dashcam footage of the area is urged to contact St Marys Police or CrimeStoppers.

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Mysterious paw prints found in Blue Mountains reignite panther mystery

Mysteriously large paw prints found in New South Wales' Blue Mountains have reignited local theory that there is a panther among the forestry.

In what could be the latest chapter in a story that has bubbled for decades, landscaper Dan Studders stumbled upon the prints in Kenthurst on Sunday.

The prints were embedded in the ground that had been compacted and prepared for turf.

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Large paw prints found in NSW Blue Mountains.

"Compacted enough that I could walk on it and not leave a mark," he told 9News. 

Studders said the prints did not appear to be those of a domestic dog or cat.

One of the prints was bigger than the other and there was a roughly two-metre distance between each print.

Studders placed his hand next to the prints for a visual comparison. 

READ MORE: 'Unimaginable time of sorrow': Parents mourn one-year-old girl found dead in car

Large paw prints found in NSW Blue Mountains.

"It's something else quite big and it definitely drew my attention," he said.

Over the past few decades, many have claimed they have seen a panther from Lithgow to the Great Dividing Range but the sightings were never confirmed.

"There's been a few nights down the back where you hear things, and it's not exactly right," Studders said. 

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‘Unimaginable time of sorrow’: Parents mourn one-year-old girl found dead in car

The parents of a one-year-old girl who was found dead inside a car outside a childcare centre yesterday have said they are trying to deal with the "unimaginable" tragedy.

Emergency services were called to Marana Road in Earlwood in the Inner West at 5.35pm yesterday after the girl was found unresponsive inside the car.

Today the parents of the girl released a statement as police continue the investigation.

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"It is an unimaginable time of sorrow for us," it read.

They described the toddler as a sweet and beautiful baby, who was "the light of their lives".

Local Amin Moussa told 9News the father of the girl started screaming when he found his baby unresponsive in the back of the car.

"My parents lived next door and they were first on the scene when they heard the howls of the father screaming… they were just shocked when they saw the father holding the lifeless body of the one-year-old child."

Moussa said the local community had been rocked by the death.

"Look it's very traumatic, very confronting, very stressful, any parent would be absolutely distressed by what happened," Moussa said.

"The father was beside himself, I think, upon the realisation that the child was left in the car.

"It's sent a shockwave through the community, through the street."

Local Amin Moussa told 9News that the father of the child started screaming when he found his baby unresponsive in the back of the car.

A neighbour rushed to the childcare centre to render first aid to the child while waiting for paramedics.

Locals today left flowers at the scene.

Executive officer at Kids Safe NSW Christine Erskine said the often deadly mistake of leaving a child inside a car happens all too often.

"Nobody intends for this to happen, it's just an awful, preventable tragedy," she said.

"We find that this happens when there's an interruption or a change in plan.

"The NRMA last year reported about 1900 near misses – that's a lot."

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She said temperatures inside cars can increase to deadly conditions extremely quickly.

"Even in cooler times or under a tree, that temperature in a car can escalate very, very quickly," she said.

"It might be 30 degrees outside – well, it would be 70 degrees in the car very quickly."

The girl's father was taken to hospital suffering shock.

The child's mother is also helping police.

Police said they were looking into the timeline of what happened and would speak to the child's father when they were able to.