International
Hawaii: Maui Fire Death Toll Reaches 106
August 16|
A mobile morgue unit arrived Tuesday to assist Hawaii officials working hard to identify remains, while Maui County released the names of people who died in the wildfire that nearly incinerated the historic town of Lahaina a week ago and brought the death toll to 106.
The county named two victims, Lahaina residents Robert Dyckman, 74, and Buddy Jantoc, 79, and added in a statement that three other victims were identified.
Those names will be released once the county has identified next of kin.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services deployed a team of medical examiners, pathologists and technicians along with examination tables, X-ray units and other equipment to identify the victims and process the remains, said Jonathan Greene, the agency’s deputy assistant secretary for response.
“It’s going to be a very, very difficult mission,” Greene said. “And patience is going to be incredibly important because of the number of victims.”
A week after a fire swept through historic Lahaina, many survivors began moving into hundreds of hotel rooms set aside for displaced locals as donations of food, ice, water and other essentials arrived.
Crews using rescue dogs have scoured about 32 percent of the area, Maui County said in a statement Tuesday. Hawaii Gov. Josh Green asked for patience as authorities were overwhelmed with requests to visit the burned area.
Maui Police Chief John Pelletier renewed an appeal for families with missing relatives to provide DNA samples. So far 41 samples have been submitted, the county release said, and 13 DNA profiles have been obtained from the remains.
The governor warned that many more bodies could be found. The wildfires, some of which have yet to be fully contained, are already the deadliest in the US in more than a century. Their cause was under investigation.
Asked by Hawaii News Now if children were among the missing, Green said Tuesday, “Tragically, yes…. When the bodies are smaller, we know it’s a child.”
He described some of the sites being searched as “too much to share or see from a human perspective.”
Another complicating factor, Green said, is that thunderstorms with rain and high winds are forecast for the weekend. Officials are considering whether or not to “preemptively shut down for a short period of time, because right now the entire infrastructure is weaker.”
A week after the fires began, some residents were still dealing with intermittent electricity, unreliable cell phone service and uncertainty about where to get help. Some people periodically walked to a seawall, where phone connections were stronger, to make calls. Flying low off the coast, a single-propeller plane used a loudspeaker to broadcast information about where to get water and supplies.
Victoria Martocci, who lost her diving business and a boat, planned to travel to her storage unit in Kahalui from her home in Kahana on Wednesday to hide documents and mementos given to her by a friend whose house burned down. “These are things she grabbed, the only things she could grab, and I want to keep them safe for her,” Martocci said.
The local power company has already faced criticism for not shutting off power when high winds hit a parched area with a high risk of fire. It is unclear whether the utility’s equipment played any role in igniting the flames.
Hawaiian Electric Co. Inc. president and CEO Shelee Kimura said many factors played into the decision to shut off power, including the impact on people who rely on specialized medical equipment and concerns that an outage in the area of the fire would have knocked out water pumps.
Green has said the flames reached a speed of 1.6 kilometers per minute in one area, fueled by dry grass and driven by strong winds from a passing hurricane.
The fire that swept through century-old Lahaina last week destroyed nearly every building in the town of 13,000 people. That fire has been 85% contained, according to the county. Another fire known as the Upcountry fire was 60 percent contained.
International
Authorities Say Teotihuacán Gunman Was Obsessed With Mass Shootings and Extremist Symbolism
Julio César Jasso Ramírez, identified by authorities as the gunman behind the armed attack at the archaeological site of Teotihuacán, had allegedly spent years building a personal narrative shaped by an obsession with historical mass shootings, extremist symbolism, and an increasing detachment from reality.
According to preliminary findings from the Fiscalía General de Justicia del Estado de México, the 27-year-old suspect, originally from the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, acted alone and appeared to have carefully planned the attack.
Investigators also pointed to signs of a severe psychological or psychiatric disorder. One official involved in the case stated that the suspect seemed to live in “his own reality,” disconnected from the world around him.
“I would not speak of a motive; I would speak of psychopathy, a condition, an illness,” the official said while discussing the ongoing investigation.
Authorities reported that Jasso Ramírez was allegedly fixated on mass violence incidents that occurred outside Mexico, particularly in the United States.
Among the items found in his possession were writings, images, and materials reportedly linked to the Columbine High School massacre, the school shooting that took place on April 20, 1999.
The investigation remains ongoing as authorities continue analyzing evidence connected to the suspect’s background and mental state.
International
Iran refuses to reopen strait of Hormuz amid ongoing U.S. Naval blockade
Iran reaffirmed on Wednesday that it will not reopen the Strait of Hormuz while the United States maintains its naval blockade against Iranian ports and vessels, amid rising geopolitical tensions in the region.
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohamad Baqer Qalibaf warned that reopening the crucial maritime route depends on Washington honoring the ceasefire agreement. According to Qalibaf, Iran considers the deal to be violated due to ongoing U.S. actions.
The Iranian official accused the United States of carrying out a “naval blockade and the hijacking of the global economy,” while also pointing to Israeli military operations in Lebanon as part of the broader conflict affecting the region.
Qalibaf stated that military and economic pressure would not force Iran to change its position. “The United States and Israel failed to achieve their goals through military aggression, and they will not succeed through intimidation. The only path forward is to recognize the rights of the Iranian nation,” he said.
His remarks come amid stalled negotiations between Iran and the United States following direct talks held on April 11 and 12 in Islamabad.
The discussions, led by U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Iranian representatives, have shown little progress in recent days, increasing uncertainty over whether dialogue between the two sides will resume.
U.S. President Donald Trump recently announced an extension of the ceasefire but decided to keep the naval blockade in place, a move Tehran considers incompatible with ongoing negotiations.
Meanwhile, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps intensified operations in the area by seizing two vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, accusing them of operating without the required permits and escorting them into Iranian territory.
The Strait of Hormuz remains one of the world’s most critical oil trade routes, and any prolonged disruption could have significant consequences for global energy markets.
International
Maradona’s daughter accuses medical team of “horrible manipulation” in court
One of the daughters of Diego Maradona testified in court this Tuesday, breaking down in tears as she denounced what she described as “absolute and horrible manipulation” by her father’s medical team, during an emotional hearing in Argentina.
Gianinna Maradona stated that she and her siblings agreed to home hospitalization after doctors presented it as the best option following the neurosurgery Maradona underwent on November 3, 2020.
The football icon died on November 25 of that year, and the ongoing trial seeks to determine whether the conditions of his home care were appropriate.
According to Gianinna, what the family found at the residence where Maradona was recovering did not match what had been promised. She testified that there was no adequate medical equipment, constant monitoring, or even an ambulance available, despite assurances of continuous care.
“The manipulation was absolute and horrible,” she said during the hearing in San Isidro, near Buenos Aires.
She accused members of the medical team, including neurosurgeon Leopoldo Luque, psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov, and psychologist Carlos Díaz, of misleading the family.
“I trusted these people, and all they did was manipulate us and leave my son without a grandfather,” she added.
Later in her testimony, recalling that six years have passed since her father’s death, she became emotional and said she struggled deeply with grief in the aftermath.
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