Month: November 2022

Reports say the man, a store manager, opened fire then turned the gun on himself and is now dead.

The City of Chesapeake tweeted “police confirm an active shooter incident with fatalities at the Walmart”.

There are few details, but a police officer spoke of “less than 10” killed and multiple injured. No motive has emerged yet in the US east coast city.

West Java governor Ridwan Kamil told the BBC that the region had experienced around 140 shocks since Monday’s quake.

At least 268 people, including many children, have died so far. Around 151 people remain missing and more than 1,000 are injured.

Hundreds of responders have been sent to Cianjur to accelerate the rescue.

But their efforts have been stymied by torn-up roads and continuing tremors.

Mr Kamil told the BBC’s Newsday programme that the local community was still exposed to these aftershocks, which have in some cases put responders at risk.

“The follow-up earthquake [sic] is still happening,” he said, but added that he hoped these would come to a stop by Friday. “Currently we are coordinating [our mission] to focus on search and rescue…[as] many people are still missing mostly in remote [hilly] areas [and] mountain tops.”

Mr Kamil told the BBC rescue teams are still traversing the ground on foot and motorbike, with road paths not always accessible, but that they also had helicopters on standby to transport found victims to hospital.

The 5.6 magnitude earthquake struck near the heavily populated town shortly after lunchtime on Monday, reducing scores of buildings to rubble.

Many people were crushed or trapped when walls and roofs caved in. Children are among the victims – with about 80 schools in the area affected, officials said.

“Most of the casualties are children because at 1pm, they were still at school,” said Henri Alfiandi from the National Search and Rescue Agency.

Aprizal Mulyadi was at school when the quake hit, and was trapped after “the room collapsed”.

The 14-year-old said his “legs were buried under the rubble”, but he was pulled to safety by his friend Zulfikar, who later died after himself becoming trapped.

At least 58,000 people have been evacuated with dozens of refugee camps set up around the area, the governor said. He cited the National Disaster Mitigation Agency which has estimated 22,000 homes have been damaged.

The quake triggered landslides which buried entire villages in the mountainous West Java region.

In the village of Cibereum, a family said their eldest son, 28, had died when the house collapsed on him. His relatives and younger siblings had survived because they were on a higher floor.

“We have to dig through the concrete of the second floor that crushed the victim. But we have seen the body,” a military official, Sergeant Payakun told the BBC earlier on Tuesday.

President Joko Widodo had earlier visited the remote disaster zone where he was pictured with responders.

“My instruction is to prioritise evacuating victims that are still trapped under rubble,” he said, adding that he had pledged compensation to affected communities.

Mr Kamil said the government would repair damaged houses, adding that residents living in “vulnerable” areas would be told not to build future houses there.

Earthquakes are common in Indonesia, which sits on the “ring of fire” area of tectonic activity in the Pacific.

The country has a history of devastating tremors and tsunamis, with more than 2,000 people killed in a 2018 earthquake on the island of Sulawesi.

More than 11 million pensioners will receive regular winter fuel payments boosted by an extra £300 this year.

A million people on tax credits can also expect to see a second cost-of-living payment arrive in their bank accounts over the next week.

However, recipients were warned to look out for fraudsters who may exploit the situation.

Anyone contacting people directly about cost-of-living payments could be con artists attempting to steal personal details, the tax authority is warning.

The latest payments are in addition to the £400 being distributed to every household, and the Energy Price Guarantee, which caps the price that suppliers can charge.

“We want to do everything we can to support pensioners who are often the most exposed to higher costs,” said Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride.

“As we deal with the impact of Putin’s illegal war in Ukraine and the aftermath of the pandemic, we will continue to stand by the most vulnerable, with further cost-of-living payments coming next year,” he added.

For the vast majority of pensioners, the extra support with winter energy bills will be automatically paid into their accounts within the next two months. However people who do not receive benefits or the state pension will need to make a claim.

The money will appear on bank statements with the payment reference starting with the customer’s national Insurance number followed by ‘DWP WFP’ for people in Great Britain, or ‘DFC WFP’ for people in Northern Ireland.

About one million people in receipt of tax credits will receive their second cost-of-living support payment of £324, also aimed at helping with higher energy bills.

Another seven million people on low incomes who receive certain benefits were given cost-of-living support in recent weeks.

A range of cost-of-living payments are being provided to eligible households by the government during the second half of the year, on top of the £400 discount for all billpayers.

Those on low-incomes and receiving various benefits are being paid £650 in two instalments. The second payment went out to the vast majority of them in recent weeks.

People who qualify through their tax credits award, rather than through other benefits, received their first payment between 2 and 7 September. The payment being rolled out now is their second.

The latest payment reference in their account will be “HMRC COLS”.

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), which administers tax credits and this specific payment, has warned everyone to be aware of fraudsters taking the opportunity it provides to steal personal details.

It warned that anyone contacting you out of the blue about cost-of-living payments saying they are from HMRC, could be part of a scam.

HMRC said it would never ask for bank details by text message or email.

Further cost-of-living payments will be sent out next year, including:

The government, which made the announcement during the Autumn Statement, said it would publish information about the timing of the payments in due course.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon wants a referendum to be held on 19 October next year.

But the UK government has so far refused to give formal consent for the vote to go ahead.

The court was asked to clarify whether the Scottish Parliament can legislate for a referendum without that consent.

Its decision is due to be delivered at 09:45 on Wednesday, with the result potentially having huge implications for the future of the UK.

Pro-independence rallies will be held in several Scottish towns and cities after the ruling is announced, and Ms Sturgeon is also expected to give her response to the decision.

The first minister has previously said she wants to reach an agreement with the UK government similar to the one that was in place ahead of the referendum in 2014, when Scottish voters backed staying in the UK by 55% to 45%,

She has said this would ensure the result is seen as being legitimate and is recognised by the international community, and has accused Westminster of having no respect for democracy by opposing a referendum.

But a series of prime ministers – including Rishi Sunak – have argued that the country’s focus should be on dealing with issues such as the cost of living crisis and the war in Ukraine rather than independence, and that the result of the 2014 referendum should be respected.

There have also been suggestions that the pro-UK side could boycott a referendum even if the court rules in favour of the Scottish government.

This ruling could have a huge bearing on the debate about Scottish independence and on whether there is to be a referendum next October.

But it is also not going to put the issue to bed on its own. Regardless of the outcome, an almighty political row is going to follow the case.

A Scottish government win would pave the way for a referendum which in their own words would be “advisory” and “consultative”.

There would still need to be negotiations with Westminster to actually deliver independence, and Nicola Sturgeon would still want both sides to sign up to a full-throated campaign to make sure the result is internationally recognised.

If the UK government wins, Ms Sturgeon is not going to simply give up on independence. She has been clear that she would paint such an outcome as another roadblock in the path of Scottish democracy, and would hope that the perceived unfairness of being denied a say would prompt a wave of public support.

There would also be significant questions for UK ministers about how exactly the constitutional question is ever going to be resolved, given it continues to dominate Scottish politics.

Judges can rule on what the law tells us, but in the end only politicians can settle this issue once and for all.

The case was referred to the Supreme Court by Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain KC, the Scottish government’s top law officer.

Ms Bain said she did not have the “necessary degree of confidence” that Holyrood would have the power to pass legislation for a referendum without UK government consent.

She said the issue was of “exceptional public importance” and asked the UK’s top court to provide a definitive ruling.

The court heard two days of legal arguments from both the UK and Scottish governments last month, with its ruling being delivered just six weeks later – earlier than many experts had expected.

Issues relating to the constitution, including the union between Scotland and England, are reserved to the UK Parliament in London under the rules that created the devolved Scottish Parliament in 1999.

The UK government told the court it was therefore clear that “legislating for a referendum on independence would be outside the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament”.

It lawyers also urged the court to refuse to rule on the case, arguing that the question is purely hypothetical at this stage because Holyrood had not yet passed a referendum bill.

But Ms Bain said any referendum would be “advisory” and would have no legal effect on the union, with people simply being asked to give their opinion on whether or not Scotland should become an independent country.

Recent opinion polls have suggested that Scotland is essentially split down the middle on the independence question, but with a very narrow majority in favour of staying in the UK.

Ms Sturgeon has said she will use the next general election as a “de facto referendum” if the court ruling goes against her, with the SNP fighting the election on the single issue of independence.

The 5.6 magnitude quake struck Cianjur town in West Java, at a shallow depth of 10km (6 miles), according to US Geological Survey data.

Scores of people were taken to hospital, with many treated outside.

Rescuers have worked through the night to try to save others thought to still be trapped under collapsed buildings.

The area where the quake struck is densely populated and prone to landslides, with poorly built houses reduced to rubble in many areas.

The exact number of people killed so far remains unclear. Indonesia’s National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) has said their official death toll was 103, adding that another figure given by regional governor Ridwan Kamil – 162 – remains unverified.

BNPB said another 390 people were wounded and that 7,000 people had taken shelter in various locations in the area.

Mr Kamil has claimed that a total of 13,000 had been displaced by the disaster, and that more remained “trapped in isolated places”. He said officials were “under the assumption that the number of injured and deaths will rise with time”.

Herman Suherman, the head of administration in Cianjur town, said most injuries were bone fractures sustained from people being trapped by debris in buildings.

“The ambulances keep on coming from the villages to the hospital,” he was quoted by AFP news agency as saying earlier in the day. “There are many families in villages that have not been evacuated.”

Many of the injured were treated outside in a hospital car park after the hospital was left without power for several hours following the quake, West Java’s governor said.

On Monday night, Mr Kamil wrote on Twitter that it could take up to three days for power to be fully restored to the area. He added that mobile phone reception remained poor and was causing “a lot of problems” for officials.

The tremor could also be felt in the capital Jakarta about 100km away, where people were evacuated from high-rise buildings.

Office workers rushed out of buildings in the civic and business district during the tremor, which started at 13:21 Western Indonesian time (WIT) on Monday, the agency said.

“I was working when the floor under me was shaking. I could feel the tremor clearly. I tried to do nothing to process what it was, but it became even stronger and lasted for some time,” lawyer Mayadita Waluyo told AFP.

An office worker named Ahmad Ridwan told news agency Reuters: “We are used to this [earthquakes] in Jakarta, but people were so nervous just now, so we also panicked.”

Earthquakes are common in Indonesia, which sits on the “ring of fire” area of tectonic activity in the Pacific. The country has a history of devastating earthquakes and tsunamis, with more than 2,000 killed in a 2018 Sulawesi quake.