In the first incident which police qualified as a “terrorist attack,” the driver of a white van sped into a street packed full of tourists in central Barcelona on Thursday afternoon, knocking people out of the way and leaving 13 dead.

Some eight hours later in Cambrils, a city 120 kilometres south of Barcelona, an Audi A3 car hit pedestrians, injuring six civilians — one of them in a critical condition — and one police officer, said the government of the Spanish region of Catalonia where both cities are located.

Police shot dead four of the Cambrils attackers and a fifth later died of his injuries.

They said they were “working on the hypothesis that the terrorists shot dead in Cambrils are linked to what happened in Barcelona”.

While little more was known about the attack in Cambrils in the early hours of Friday morning, witnesses in Barcelona told of scenes of chaos and horror.

They recounted how bodies were strewn along the famous Las Ramblas boulevard where the driver went on a rampage as other people fled for their lives, screaming in panic.

The carnage in a city hugely popular with tourists from around the world is the latest in a wave of attacks in Europe where vehicles have been used as weapons of terror.

As world leaders united in condemning the carnage, the IS propaganda agency Amaq claimed that it was carried out by “soldiers” from the jihadist group.

Police announced the arrest of two suspects, identified as a Spaniard and a Moroccan, but said the driver was still on the run.

“We’re united in grief,” Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said in a televised address after rushing to Barcelona, the biggest city in Catalonia, a region in Spain’s northeast whose separatist government is defying Madrid with a drive for independence.

“Above all we’re united in the firm intention to defeat those who want to take our values and way of life from us.”

There were at least 18 nationalities among the Barcelona victims who came from countries as varied as France, Venezuela, Australia, Ireland, Peru, Algeria and China, according to Spain’s civil protection agency.

Belgium said one of its citizens had died in the Las Ramblas assault, while The Hague said three Dutch were injured and a Greek diplomat reported three nationals had been wounded — a woman and her two children.

‘Whole street started to run’

Las Ramblas is one of Barcelona’s busiest streets, lined with shops and restaurants and normally packed with tourists and street performers until well into the night.

“When it happened I ran out and saw the damage,” local shop worker Xavi Perez told AFP.

“There were bodies on the ground with people crowding round them. People were crying. There were lots of foreigners.”

Footage broadcast on Spanish television showed a white van, its front crushed, abandoned by its driver on a road surrounded by police cars.

Tom Gueller, who lives on a road next to Las Ramblas said he saw the vehicle speeding along the boulevard.

“It wasn’t slowing down at all. It was just going straight through the middle of the crowds in the middle of the Ramblas,” he told BBC radio.

Europe’s deadliest attack

Spain had until now been spared the kind of extremist violence that has rocked nearby France, Belgium and Germany.

But it was hit by what is still Europe’s deadliest jihadist attack in March 2004, when bombs exploded on commuter trains in Madrid, killing 191 people in an attack claimed by Al Qaeda-inspired extremists.

Police said Thursday that one of the arrested suspects in the Barcelona attack was a Spaniard born in Melilla, a Spanish territory on Morocco’s north coast, and the other a Moroccan named as Driss Oukabir.

The Spaniard was arrested in Alcanar, about 200 kilometres south of Barcelona, the scene of an explosion in a house late Wednesday that left one person dead and seven wounded and is believed to be linked to Thursday’s assault.

“We suspect that they (the occupants) were preparing an explosive device,” Josep Lluis Trapero of the regional Catalonia police told reporters.

Thursday’s attack drew condemnation from across the globe.

‘Revolting attack’

US President Donald Trump condemned the “terror attack” and said the United States “will do whatever is necessary to help”, adding: “Be tough & strong, we love you!”

France’s President Emmanuel Macron — whose country has witnessed a series of bloody jihadist atrocities including a truck rampage in Nice in July 2016 that killed 86 people — said his thoughts were with the victims of the “tragic attack”.

The Nice carnage and other assaults including the 2015 shootings and bombings on Paris nightspots were claimed by the Islamic State, but it is believed to be the first IS claim of an attack in Spain.

Catalonia has the highest concentration of radicalised Islamists in the country along with Madrid and the Spanish territories of Ceuta and Melilla in northern Morocco.

According to the interior ministry, more than 190 “jihadist terrorists” have been arrested since 2015, most of them for propaganda, recruitment for extremist groups or “glorifying terrorism”.

Officers in Spain’s second-largest city said the ramming on Las Ramblas was a “terrorist attack” and a police source said one suspect had left the scene and was “holed up in a bar”.

A local security source told AFP that at least two people had died in the van attack and around 20 were wounded.

The police source said they were hunting for a total of two suspects.

The famous Las Ramblas boulevard is one of Barcelona’s busiest streets, normally thronged with tourists and street performers until well into the night.

“Huge collision on Las Ramblas in Barcelona by an individual driving a van, many injuries,” a police statement said.

The area around the incident was cordoned off, with several ambulances and police vehicles on the scene, an AFP correspondent said.

“Don’t go near the affected zone,” Catalan police tweeted.

Injured people react after a van crashed into pedestrians in Las Ramblas, downtown Barcelona, Spain, 17 August 2017. // EPA PHOTO

Witness Aamer Anwar told Britain’s Sky News television that he was walking down Las Ramblas, which he described as “jam-packed” with tourists, when the attack happened.

“All of a sudden, I just sort of heard a crashing noise and the whole street just started to run, screaming. I saw a woman right next to me screaming for her kids.

“Police were very, very quickly there, police officers with guns, batons, everywhere. Then the whole street started getting pushed back.”

Vehicles have been used in several terror attacks in Europe in recent years, including a jihadist massacre that claimed 86 lives in the French Riviera city of Nice.

Spain had so far been spared the kind of extremist violence that rocked nearby France, Belgium and Germany.

– ‘Real chaos’ –

But it was hit by what is still Europe’s deadliest jihadist attack in March 2004, when bombs exploded on commuter trains in Madrid, killing 191 people in an attack claimed by Al Qaeda-inspired extremists.

Ethan Spibey, a charity director on holiday in the city, said he had taken shelter in a nearby church with several others after Thursday’s van ramming.

“All of a sudden it was real kind of chaos… people just started running screaming,” he told Sky. “There was kind of a mini stampede.

“It seems like a lot of people have taken refuge in shops and local cafes.”

The Nice onslaught in July last year and other similar attacks including the carnage in Paris 2015 were claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group.

In July 2015, a hooded attacker opened fire outside a hotel in downtown Barcelona near Las Ramblas, leaving two people injured, police said.

Spain has emerged as a potential target for jihadists, with extremist websites mentioning it for historical reasons, since much of its territory was once under Muslim rule.

Generally, authorities in Spain — the world’s third largest tourism destination — remain discreet on the terror threat.

But they publicise every arrest of alleged jihadists, most of them detained for propaganda, recruitment for extremist groups or “glorifying terrorism.”

According to the interior ministry, more than 180 “jihadist terrorists” have been arrested since June 2015 when Spain raised the terror alert level to four out of a maximum of five, in domestic and foreign operations.

Mossos d’Esquadra Police officers and emergency service workers set up a security perimeter near the site where a van crashes into pedestrians in Las Ramblas, downtown Barcelona, Spain, 17 August 2017.// EPA PHOTO

 Mossos d’Esquadra Police officers and emergency service workers move an injured after a van crashes into pedestrians in Las Ramblas, downtown Barcelona, Spain, 17 August 2017. // EPA PHOTO

As part of Vietnam M&A Forum 2017, the awards were voted for and judged by independent and renowned mergers-and-acquisitions experts through the nominations of consultation organisations and researchers.

Vietjet’s IPO was judged by the panel to have been very professionally conducted via consultation with world-renowned law firms and financial institutions, taking a total of around 800 days following the international IPO standards of regulations.

The judge panel also lauded the airline for its information disclosure. Vietjet was perceived to have done a good job building investor relations, attracting attention from investment funds and the public, and bringing transparent, detailed and internationally standardized information to investors and the public.

Vietnam M&A Forum, an annual event for companies and investors from Vietnam and other countries was held in Ho Chi Minh City on August 10, 2017 under the auspices of the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

Nguyen is on an official visit to Thailand aimed to strengthen the two countries bilateral relationship and enhancing the cooperation in economics, trade and investment sectors.

For the next week, up to her spectacular funeral, Britain was plunged into an unprecedented outpouring of popular grief which shook the monarchy.

Here is how the week unfolded:

High speed crash

Divorced for the past year from heir to the throne Prince Charles, Diana, 36, and her new millionaire lover, Egyptian Dodi Al-Fayed, are stalked by a posse of press photographers over the summer as they holiday in the Mediterranean.

They arrive in the afternoon of August 30 in Paris and dine in the evening at the Hotel Ritz, in the luxurious Place Vendome. They try to leave discreetly shortly after midnight in a Mercedes.

Chased by paparazzi on motorcycles, the powerful sedan careers at high speed into a pillar in an underpass near the Alma Bridge opposite the Eiffel Tower on the north bank of the River Seine.

Diana is pulled out of the Mercedes, which has been reduced to twisted metal, by rescue workers.

Al-Fayed and their chauffeur, who the probe shows had a high level of alcohol in his blood, die instantly. Their bodyguard is seriously injured.

Seven photographers are arrested. From the next day, photographs of the crash will be offered to magazines for a million dollars each.

Diana is taken to Pitie-Salpetriere university hospital where at 4:00 am (0200 GMT) she dies of massive chest injuries after two hours of desperate surgery.

France’s ambassador to Britain telephones Queen Elizabeth II’s aides at Balmoral, in Scotland, where the Queen, her husband the Duke of Edinburgh, Charles as well as the couple’s two children, William, 15 and Harry, 12, are holidaying over the summer.

The ‘people’s princess’

Britain awakes in mourning. Under a grey sky hundreds of tearful Londoners start to lay flowers in front of Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace, the princess’s residence.

A tearful young Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair pays homage to “the people’s princess”.

The world reacts with dismay. US president Bill Clinton says he is “profoundly saddened”.

In India Mother Teresa prays for Diana, just days before her own death, and US rock star Michael Jackson cancels a concert in Belgium in shock.

The press is the first to be accused. Diana’s brother Charles Spencer says newspapers have blood on their hands.

Embarrassed, the British tabloid press elevates Diana to the status of an icon.

“Born a Lady. Became our Princess. Died a Saint,” writes the Daily Mirror.

Popular grief

The popular fervour grows. At Saint James’s Palace, where Diana’s body is taken, it takes eleven hours to reach condolence books.

“The vision of the bouquets of flowers is amazing: a veritable sea, almost a hundred metres long,” AFP writes.

The organisation of the funeral proves complex.

Since her divorce Diana is no longer known as “Her Royal Highness” and does not have the right to a state funeral, although she still had the title of princess.

But Britons call for a tribute worthy of their “queen of hearts”.

Royal silence

Anger mounts at the silence of the royal family, still holed up in Balmoral.

Newspapers, furious that the Union Jack flag is not flying at half-mast over Buckingham Palace, call on the Queen to address her subjects.

The Sun tabloid asks : “Where is our Queen ? Where is our flag ?” It says not flying the flag is a “stark insult to Diana’s memory “.

The Queen decides on September 5 to pay homage to her former daughter-in-law, whom she did not like, in a televised speech for only the second time in her reign. She then publicly bows before Diana’s coffin.

“If they (the royals) fail to heed her lesson, they will bury not just Diana on Saturday — but their future too,” The Guardian broadsheet warns, as nearly a quarter of Britons call for the abolition of the monarchy in a poll.

Billions watch funeral

The next day, nearly a million people watch as the funeral procession passes in a deep silence punctuated by sobs and tolling bells.

Their heads bowed, the two princes follow the coffin, accompanied by Prince Charles, the Duke of Edinburgh and her brother Earl Spencer, under the eyes of 2.5 billion television viewers around the world.

At Westminster Abbey, 2,000 invitees, including US First Lady Hillary Clinton, Blair, opera singer Luciano Pavarotti, former Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and US film star Tom Cruise attend the ceremony.

Elton John adapts his song “Candle in the Wind”, rewriting the lyrics in homage to Diana.

In the afternoon, the princess is buried discreetly on a small island at Althorp, Diana’s ancestral home.//AFP

“The Internet has become crucial in every aspect of the world and Myanmar people, especially those from rural areas, need to be aware of the importance of the Internet, how to stay safe on the Internet and how the Internet can be utilised to improve themselves, said Min Thu, head of business sustainability for Telenor’.

The nation’s largest Internet network is hoping that the video series helps children and teenagers understand the pros and cons of using the Internet.

Each of the video series’ six episodes would be posted weekly on Telenor Myanmar’s Facebook page and on Youtube. The first episode, launched last week, explored benefits found online and how to fully utilize them.

Future episodes will explore online safety awareness, responsible use of the Internet, and profile Telenor’s safe-Internet initiatives.

The videos are part of Telenor’s “Safe Internet for School” programme which began in August, 2016. Under the initiative, Telenor had conducted Safe Internet talks at a number of government and private high schools in Yangon, and private and monastic schools in Mandalay during 2016.

Moreover, Telenor educated children, teenagers and parents in rural areas about safe use of the Internet through 61 Light House Digital Education Centres across the country

Telenor Myanmar also surveyed 12,368 people in 2016 aiming to understand how digital bullying is perceived or experienced in its markets in 13 countries including Myanmar.

Telenor’s “Safe Internet” education initiative has already reached over 50,000 Myanmar people including children and teenagers in rural areas – over 24,000 in 2016, and 26,000 in 2017 to date. They hope that number will rise to 50,000 people by year-end.

Telenor is Myanmar’s largest and fastest growing mobile data network with about 8,000 sites and close to 100,000 points-of-sale, serving 19 million customers nationwide.

Wong, Nathan Law and Alex Chow were sentenced to six months, eight months and seven months respectively after the Court of Appeal upped their previous non-custodial sentences.

Activists say the case is more proof that Beijing is tightening its grip on the semi-autonomous city.

Wong shouted: “Hong Kong people, don’t give up!” as he was led away by security.

Hong Kong enjoys much greater freedoms than on the mainland, with its liberties enshrined in the handover agreement made when the city was given back to China by Britain in 1997.

But there are growing concerns Beijing is trampling the deal.

All three defendants were found guilty last year on unlawful assembly charges for storming a fenced-off government forecourt known as “Civic Square” as part of a protest calling for fully free leadership elections in September 2014.

Their arrests sparked wider rallies which exploded two days later when police fired tear gas on the crowds, triggering mass demonstrations that brought parts of Hong Kong to a standstill for more than two months in an unprecedented challenge to Beijing.

Wong and Law received community sentences and Chow a three-week suspended sentence at magistrates’ court last August over the Civic Square protest.

Nathan Law (R) greets a distraught supporter ay Hong Kong’s High Court in Hong Kong, China, 17 August 2017. EPA PHOTO

But Hong Kong’s justice department then sought to overturn those terms, with prosecutors arguing they should receive harsher punishment.

In emotional scenes before the judgement, tearful supporters hugged the three and chanted: “Shame on political persecution!”

Around 20 pro-Beijing supporters shouted back through loudspeakers, chanting “Pay the price in jail!”

Ahead of the judgement Thursday, the department of justice said there was “absolutely no basis to imply any political motive” on its part in relation to the case.

Hanson wore the Islamic garment in the chamber to highlight what she said were the security issues it posed, linking it to terrorism as fellow senators heckled her.

“Will you work to ban the burqa in Australia in light of what is happening with national security?” she said after whipping off the garment to question Attorney-General George Brandis.

She added: “Terrorism is a true threat to our country, many Australians are in fear of it.”

Brandis said his conservative government had no such plans, warning Hanson she risked offending the Muslim community by wearing a burka when she was not a follower of Islam.

“To ridicule that community, to drive it into a corner, to mock its religious garments is an appalling thing to do, and I would ask you to reflect on what you have done,” he said.

Brandis, his voice cracking with emotion, also said that being a strict adherent Muslim, such as those who wear the burka, was “absolutely consistent” with being a law-abiding citizen.

A combined picture shows One Nation Senator Pauline Hanson taking off a full Islamic burqa veil during Senate Question Time at Parliament House in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia, 17 August 2017. // EPA PHOTO

“We have about half a million Australians in this country of the Islamic faith and the vast majority of them are law-abiding, good Australians,” he said.

Brandis’ remarks prompted a standing ovation from his political opponents in the Labor and Greens parties.

Independent senator Derryn Hinch labelled Hanson’s conduct “disgusting”.

“Pauline Hanson mocked the religion of some Australians… she made a mockery of an honourable place (the Senate),” he told Sky News.

Labor senator Sam Dastyari accused Hanson of stoking extremism in a poorly timed bid for “a cheap headline”.

“In the same week that we saw white nationalism rear its ugly head in the country of our closest ally — in that week a stunt like this gets pulled in the Australian Senate,” he said.

“It is hurtful, it is offensive, it is wrong,”

Hanson first gained prominence in the 1990s, when she warned Australia was in danger of being “swamped by Asians”.

After a 12-year hiatus from politics she returned in 2014, this time targeting Muslims and was elected to the Senate two years later as leader of the right-wing One Nation party.

In her first speech after returning to parliament, she said Islam was “a culture and ideology that is incompatible with our own”.

Hanson was unrepentant after her latest stunt, telling commercial radio: “Is it extreme? Yes. Is it getting my message across? I hope so.”

The mass pictorial purge was sparked by a controversial new law banning any political party from “using the voice, images or written documents” of anyone convicted of a crime.

The opposition Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP) believes the law was specifically designed to neuter the influence of Rainsy ahead of next year’s national elections.

The 68yearold politician lives in self-imposed exile in France to escape a string of convictions he says are politically motivated.

CNRP member Bunleng said he tore down his former boss’s image from a large party banner erected in front of his home outside of capital Phnom Penh last week.

“If we don’t remove his image, there will be a trouble for us, they would dissolve our party,” the 59yearold, who requested that only his first name be used, told AFP.

“Sam Rainsy is still inside people’s hearts…. His image will not fade away from people’s hearts very quick,” he added.

Cambodia has been ruled for the last 32 years by Hun Sen, one of the world’s longest serving leaders.

He portrays himself as a premier who has brought growth and stability to an impoverished country ravaged by decades of war.

But critics say corruption, inequality and rights abuses have flourished under his watch.

Next year’s elections are viewed by the opposition as perhaps the best opportunity they have ever had to unseat the strongman.

Under Rainsy’s leadership, they made significant gains at polls in 2013 and did well in local elections earlier this year.

But the CNRP has also been hit by a slew of court cases as Hun Sen and his Cambodian People’s Party ramp up efforts to thwart their opponents.

Speaking from overseas, Rainsy hit out at the new law which has led to his face being purged from the Cambodian landscape.

“Such a clumsy attempt at censorship will only make the party more popular, and improve its chances of winning in 2018,” he told AFP.

“I remain a symbol of resistance to the current regime and, in that sense, involved in politics,” he added.

In February Rainsy resigned as official leader of the party but remains its most prominent and influential figure.

Sebastian Strangio, author of a biography of Hun Sen, said there was “a personal element to Rainsy’s erasure from the Cambodian political scene”.

“For a quarter century, Rainsy has buzzed around, prodding at the CPP’s legitimacy and questioning the benefits of Hun Sen’s rule. I think Hun Sen simply got tired of it,” he told AFP.

“But it seems unlikely that removing Sam Rainsy from CNRP signs will remove him from the memories of Cambodian voters,” he added.//AFP

“First of all, answered prayers our hosting of the SEA Games will push through,” Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said in a press conference.

“Glory to God that our athletes would have the chance not only to showcase their sports, their talents, but also the new Philippines, which we expect in the next two years,” he added.

Cayetano shared the news together with Philippine Sports Commission Chair William “Butch” Ramirez and Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) President Jose “Peping” Cojuangco Jr.

Earlier Philippines’ President Duterte, through the Philippine Sports Commission, said the country will not host the regional sports meet so the government can use the money intended to fund the Games for projects aimed at rehabilitating war-torn areas in Mindanao.

The 29th biennial multi-sport event participated in by Southeast Asian nations will be held in Malaysia from Aug. 19 to 30 this year.