Canadian police on Monday found one of the suspects in a mass stabbing spree dead while the other suspect, his brother, was still on the run and may be injured, officials said.
The brothers Damien and Myles Sanderson are suspected of murdering 10 people and wounding 18 in a stabbing rampage that devastated an indigenous community in Saskatchewan on Sunday, in a country unaccustomed to outbreaks of mass violence.
The attacks were among the deadliest in Canada’s modern history. Police said some of the victims appeared to have been targeted, while others were apparently random.
The victims included a mother of two, a 77-year-old widower and a first responder.
In a manhunt involving hundreds of police officers, Damien Sanderson, 31, was found dead in a grassy area on the James Smith Cree Nation, possibly killed by his brother, who had been previously wanted for violent crimes.
The brother still at large, Myles Sanderson, 30, “may have sustained injuries” and could be seeking medical attention, said Rhonda Blackmore, commanding officer of the Saskatchewan Royal Canadian Mounted Police, at a news conference.
With the death of one Sanderson brother and the injury to the other, the casualty count now stood at 11 dead and 19 injured, Blackmore said.
“We can confirm he has visible injuries. These injuries are not believed to be self-inflicted at this point,” Blackmore said without specifying what caused the injuries.
Asked if Myles Sanderson was suspected of also killing his brother, Blackmore said, “It is an investigative avenue that we are following up on but we can’t say that definitively.”
She also warned that police still considered Myles Sanderson a danger to the public, even if he were injured.
“Myles has a lengthy criminal record involving both persons and property crimes. … We consider him armed and dangerous. Do not approach him,” Blackmore said.
Police in the Saskatchewan city of Saskatoon had been searching for Myles Sanderson since May, when he stopped meeting his parole officer after serving a sentence for assault, robbery, mischief and uttering threats, CBC News reported.
Ever felt a need to have a companion alongside you to do nothing in particular, but have trouble finding one? Shoji Morimoto, a 38-year-old man from Japan who goes by the moniker “Rental-Do-Nothing-Man”, might be the answer.
As his nickname goes, Morimoto provides a very unusual rental service to his clients in Tokyo, hiring himself out in order to, in his own words, do nothing.
“I am the ‘Rental-Do-Nothing-Man’. I provide a service where I can be rented to do nothing. This ‘Do-Nothing-Man’ is me and I rent myself out. I go to places where I am asked to, and I do nothing there,” he told Reuters.
While such rental services are not unheard of in Japan – there are agencies where one can rent actors to be your friend or even an entire family – Morimoto’s differentiating factor lies in his “effort-free” approach, while not playing any specific role.
“What I mean by doing nothing is, I eat and drink (with my clients), and I answer their simple questions with simple answers,” Morimoto clarified.
Since starting his business on a Twitter page in 2018 to offer his service, Morimoto claimed he has been hired over 4,000 times to do nothing more than to mostly dine with clients, attend events, and sometimes provide a listening ear. Morimoto now boasts nearly a quarter of a million followers on Twitter and approximately a quarter of his clients are repeat customers, including a woman who has hired him 270 times.
For the price of 10,000 yen ($71.20) per booking, Morimoto will offer his companionship. He won’t start a conversation, but will offer simple responses if asked, he said. On top of his fee, he also charges for transport and clients will pay for his food if the assignment is during meal times.
Despite what sounds like a niche service, Morimoto is in high demand and can sometimes schedule up to three assignments a day.
One such client is data analyst Aruna Chida, who found out about Morimoto when his business was trending on social media. The 27-year-old former Mumbai resident had bought a sari and was keen to wear it in public, but was hesitant to invite her friends because they “might be embarrassed”. She decided to hire Morimoto instead to join her for afternoon tea with her dressed in the Indian garment.
But that was not the only reason she paid for Morimoto’s time.
“When I’m with my friends, I kind of feel like I have to entertain them. But with ‘Mr. Rental’ (Morimoto), I feel like I don’t have to say much and I can just keep quiet (whenever I want),” Chida said.
Another client, who only wished to be identified by her nickname “Kusa” due to privacy reasons, said she was feeling down due to work and wanted to do something unusual to cheer herself up. The 33-year-old public servant thus hired Morimoto in October 2020 to accompany her for a curry meal while she was dressed in a Pikachu costume. She hired him again a second time to listen to her life story.
Morimoto’s rising popularity has brought with it some requests that he has turned down. Along with a blanket refusal on any requests of a sexual nature, Morimoto has previously rejected a prospective client who wanted to take him to Trinidad and Tobago, as well as one that asked him to help move a refrigerator “because it involved physical work”.
Morimoto got into the business after quitting his job at a publishing firm. Often criticised by bosses and colleagues for not doing anything, Morimoto said he was left with an inferiority complex which he tried to overcome.
“I then started wondering ‘what would happen if I try to make use of this ‘do nothing’ side of me, turn it into a selling point and provide that service to people. That was how I started as a Rental-Do-Nothing-Man,” he said.
When asked why he thinks his service has become so popular, Morimoto said his clients probably feel comfortable about the “temporal relationship’ they have with him. With friends, families and acquaintances, people tend to hesitate to ask for favours because they would feel like they have to do something in return for the sake of the relationship.
Beyond that, Morimoto believes his work can change the societal attitude that one needs to always be doing something productive in order to feel valued. Sometimes, just showing up for people and being there can be valuable too, he said.
“People might think that this ‘doing nothing’ service is valuable because it is also a form of being useful. That is what people often say about it (my service) too. I think this (opinion) is interesting, but I also think it is really fine to indeed not be doing anything.”
Britons on Monday said they hoped their new prime minister Liz Truss will enforce policy changes that will tackle the surging cost of living driven by soaring energy bills, industrial unrest, a looming recession and war in Ukraine.
Truss defeated former finance minister Rishi Sunak earlier on Monday, in a vote of Conservative Party members, winning by 81,326 votes to 60,399.
She takes the helm at a time when wholesale gas prices, driven higher by the Ukraine war, are hitting countries across Europe but Britain is particularly dependent on gas for electricity and heating, pushing its inflation rate above all other major economies.
During her campaign, Truss vowed to press ahead with promises of tax cuts and to deal with the growing energy crisis.
“In the north, we really need the help, I think. And she just says she’s going to help all that. Like she’s said she’s going to help with energy costs and living costs. And that’s what we really need,” said a waitress from Barnsley, Chelsea Duffy.
The announcement triggers the start of a handover from Boris Johnson, who was forced to announce his resignation in July after months of scandal saw support for his administration drain away.
He will travel to Scotland to meet Queen Elizabeth on Tuesday to officially tender his resignation. Truss will follow him and be asked to form a government by the monarch.
Two Russian embassy staff in Kabul were among six people killed when a suicide bomber detonated explosives near the entrance of the embassy, in a blast that injured at least 10 others, the Russian Foreign Ministry and Afghan officials said on Monday.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said that an unknown militant set off an explosive device near the entrance to the consular section of the embassy around at 10:50 a.m. Kabul time.
“Two our colleagues died… We will hope that the perpetrators of this terror attack and its executors will receive just punishment very soon”, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters in Moscow.
Police said the attacker was shot dead by armed guards as he approached the gate, in one of the first such attacks since the Taliban took power last year.
The four others killed were Afghan civilians, Khalid Zadran, a Kabul police spokesman said.
Russia is one of the few countries to have maintained an embassy in Kabul after the Taliban took over the country more than a year ago. Although Moscow does not officially recognise the Taliban’s government, they have been in talks with officials over an agreement to supply gasoline and other commodities.
The United Nations’ mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) condemned the blast.
During the decades-long Taliban insurgency against the western-backed Afghan government, bombings targeting foreign missions were a regular occurrence in Kabul, especially in recent years, with embassies and hotels fortifying themselves with razor wire and blast walls.
Such incidents have decreased dramatically since the insurgent group swept to power in August 2021.
Since then, attacks – some of them claimed by Islamic State – mainly targeted the Taliban and civilian targets such as mosques.
Liz Truss was named as Britain’s next prime minister on Monday, winning a leadership race for the governing Conservative party at a time when the country faces a cost of living crisis, industrial unrest and a recession.
Britain’s Conservative Party has chosen Foreign Secretary Liz Truss as the party’s new leader, putting her in line to be confirmed as prime minister.
Truss’s selection was announced Monday in London after a leadership election in which only the 180,000 dues-paying members of the Conservative Party were allowed to vote. Truss beat rival Rishi Sunak, the government’s former Treasury chief, by promising to increase defence spending and cut taxes, while refusing to say how she would address the cost-of-living crisis.
Truss received 81,326 votes to Sunak’s 60,399.
Queen Elizabeth II is scheduled to formally name Truss as Britain’s prime minister on Tuesday. The ceremony will take place at the queen’s Balmoral estate in Scotland, where the monarch is vacationing, rather than at Buckingham Palace.
The two-month leadership contest left Britain with a power vacuum at a time when consumers, workers and businesses were demanding government action to mitigate the impact of soaring food and energy prices. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has had no authority to make major policy decisions since July 7, when he announced his intention to resign.
With household energy bills set to increase by 80% next month, charities warn that as many as one in three households will face fuel poverty this winter, leaving millions of people to choose between eating and heating their homes. The Bank of England has forecast that inflation will reach a 42-year high of 13.3% in October, threatening to push Britain into a prolonged recession.
“The new prime minister is facing a very, very difficult inheritance,” said Tim Bale, a political analyst and professor at Queen Mary University of London.
Johnson was forced to resign after a series of ethics scandals that peaked in July when dozens of cabinet ministers and lower level officials resigned over his handling of allegations of sexual misconduct by a senior member of his government.
Under Britain’s parliamentary system of government, the center-right Conservative Party was allowed to hold an internal election to select a new party leader and prime minister, without going to the wider electorate. A new general election isn’t required until December 2024.
Members of staff and civilians were killed when a blast went off outside the Russian embassy in the Afghan capital of Kabul on Monday.
At least two embassy workers and at least one civilian died, a Russian state news agency and a local police official said.
A higher death toll was expected, with conflicting reports saying between eight and 10 people had been killed.
The RIA Novosti news agency said the explosion went off when a Russian diplomat came out to people waiting outside to call out the names of candidates for visas.
Citing Moscow’s Foreign Ministry, the agency later reported that two members of the embassy staff were killed.
A spokesman for the Kabul police chief said at least one civilian was killed and that 10 others were wounded.
He said a suicide attacker tried to detonate a bomb in the crowd, but was identified by security forces who shot him.
It was not immediately clear if he was able to detonate the explosives.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the explosion, the latest to strike the country in the year since the Taliban seized power.
The Islamic State group’s local affiliate has stepped up attacks against the Taliban and civilians since the former insurgents took over the country last year.
Strong winds and high waves pounded the port on South Korea’s Jeju Island on Monday as the country raised its typhoon-alert level to its highest with the nearing of typhoon Hinnamnor.
Travelling northward at a speed of 24 km per hour (15 mph), Hinnamnor is expected to make landfall southwest of the port city of Busan early on Tuesday (September 6), after reaching waters off Jeju Island later on Monday.
Warnings have been issued across multiple southern cities including the island of Jeju, while the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters on Sunday (September 4) upgraded its typhoon alert level to the highest in its four-tier system, for the first time in five years.
Korean Air Lines and Asiana Airlines have cancelled most of their Monday flights to Jeju Island, according to their websites, while budget airlines such as Air Seoul and Jin Air have cancelled some of their flights.
A rapidly moving fire in Northern California called the Mill Fire had burned about 4,254 acres (1,721 hectares) of land by Sunday with 25% containment according to California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
Video obtained by Reuters shows sky-high smoke clouds rising from the burning forest and darkening the sky on Friday (September 2).
The Cal Fire firefighting fleet was seen deploying loads of long-term fire retardants in air tankers and helicopters.
The blaze started on Friday nearly 230 miles (370 km) north of Sacramento.
About 100 homes and buildings were reported destroyed by the fire, authorities said.
California Governor Gavin Newsom proclaimed a state of emergency for Siskiyou County. The emergency declaration will help residents access federal aid and unlock state resources.
Another fire called the Mountain Fire was also simultaneously spreading in Gazelle, located 10 miles (16 km) northwest of Weed.
More than two decades of drought and rising temperatures, exacerbated by climate change, have made California more vulnerable than ever to wildfires. The two most devastating years on record were 2020 and 2021, by the number of acres burned.
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Sunday described the 50 years it took to reach a compensation agreement about the 1972 Munich Olympics attack as ‘shameful’.
Steinmeier spoke alongside Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who is visiting Germany ahead of the 50th anniversary of the attacks which led to the death of 11 Israelis, one German police officer and five Palestinian gunmen in 1972.
Germany and Israel reached an agreement only last Wednesday.
“That it took 50 years to reach this understanding of the last days, that is indeed shameful,” Steinmeier told a news conference.
At the end of last month, Germany reached an agreement on further compensation for the families of the Israeli athletes murdered at the games.
The families had said they were unhappy with the latest German compensation offers and that they planned to boycott the ceremony on Monday marking the 50th anniversary of the attack in protest.
The Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper, citing Germany’s news agency DPA, said compensation of 28 million euros ($28.02 million) had been discussed, of which the federal government would cover 22.5 million euros.
The German government did not confirm the amounts, saying the talks with the victims’ representatives were confidential.
Steinmeier and Herzog are scheduled to lay wreaths in Munich on the anniversary of the attacks. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will also meet Herzog during his three-day state visit. Herzog’s late father, Chaim Herzog, was the first president of Israel to officially visit Germany in 1987.
Herzog also addressed the threat his country feels is posed by the Iran nuclear deal, which is currently being re-negotiated in Vienna after the US withdrew in 2018. Israel opposes the deal.
Canadian police hunted for two suspects in a stabbing spree that killed 10 people and wounded at least 15 mostly in a sparsely populated indigenous community early Sunday.
The stabbings across 13 crime scenes were among the deadliest mass killings in modern Canadian history and certain to reverberate throughout the country, which is unaccustomed to bouts of mass violence more commonly seen in the United States.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a message posted on Twitter that the attacks were ” horrific and heartbreaking.”
Police named the two suspects as Damien Sanderson, 31, and Myles Sanderson, 30, providing photos and descriptions but no further details about their motive or the victims.
The two were seen travelling in a black Nissan Rogue and spotted in the city of Regina, about 320 km (200 miles) south of the attacks in the James Smith Cree Nation and the village of Weldon, police said.
Rhonda Blackmore, commanding officer of the Saskatchewan Royal Canadian Mounted Police, told a news conference that establishing motive was very difficult at this point.
There may be additional injured victims who transported themselves to various hospitals, police said.
James Smith Cree Nation is an indigenous community with a population of about 3,400 people largely engaged in farming, hunting and fishing. Weldon is a village of some 200 people.
The nation’s elected elders declared a state of emergency “in response to the numerous murders and assaults on members of the James Smith Cree Nation,” and established two emergency operations centres, the nation said in a statement.
The first stabbings were reported at 5:40 a.m. (1140 GMT) and within three hours police issued a province-wide dangerous person alert. By the afternoon, similar alerts were also issued in Saskatchewan’s neighbouring provinces Alberta and Manitoba.
Police bulletins urged people to report any suspicious people and to take precautions including sheltering in place while warning against picking up hitchhikers or approaching suspicious people.
A police alert issued shortly after midday said they may be in Regina, one of the province’s largest cities, where a large police presence was already mobilized because of a Canadian football game at Mosaic Stadium near the centre of town.
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