Dang Wangi OCPD Asst Comm Shaharuddin Abdullah said they received information that two people had died, while several others collapsed at the indoor market at around 1.58pm on Monday (Jan 28).

“We dispatched personnel to the scene and found two bodies motionless on the floor. “Initial checks revealed no foul play was involved,” he said.

He added that further investigations revealed that there was a food coupon program for elderly people there from 11am to 1pm.

“The organisers prepared 200 coupons but over a thousand people turned up. “The two deceased women were identified as Ah Poh, 85, and Law Ion Nang, 78.

“We believe that they had difficulty breathing when they were caught in the crowd,” he said, adding that their bodies have been sent to Hospital Kuala Lumpur for a post-mortem.

Siti Aisyah from Indonesia and Doan Thi Huong from Vietnam have been on trial since October 2017, accused of murdering Kim Jong-nam by smearing the nerve agent VX on his face at Kuala Lumpur airport.

The brazen assassination in February 2017 shocked the world, but the women have denied murder, saying they believed they were taking part in a prank and were tricked by North Korean agents.

Proceedings in the trial of the women, both in their 20s, have moved slowly due to the large number of witnesses and infrequent hearings. There have been no hearings since August, when the prosecution finished presenting its case.

The latest hold-up has been caused by an appeal from the defence, which is urging prosecutors to make key witness statements available. The prosecution argues the statements should not be made public.

With the appeal still ongoing, a series of hearings scheduled for this week were cancelled, and the trial will now resume on March 11 with Huong’s defence.

New information given out by the High Court in Shah Alam, outside Kuala Lumpur, showed hearings set until July 31, with the final verdict likely to come only after that date.

During the first months of the trial, the court saw CCTV footage of the accused attacking the relative of the North’s leader, Kim Jong-un, and prosecutors argued it was a well-planned hit.

South Korea has accused the North of ordering the assassination, an allegation denied by Pyongyang.

Under current laws, the women will be handed a death sentence if convicted of murder. Malaysia’s new government has vowed to abolish the death penalty, but parliament still needs to back the change.

Panama City – Pope Francis strongly condemned Sunday’s bombing of a Catholic church that killed at least 18 people on the southern Philippine island of Jolo.

“I reiterate my strongest reprobation for this episode of violence who is once again plunging the Christian community into mouning,” Francis said during an Angelus message as he wound up World Youth Day celebrations in Panama.

The first bomb tore through the Cathedral of Our Lady of Mount Carmel around 8:28 a.m. on Sunday as Mass was being celebrated, followed by the second bomb, which went off in the parking lot of the church as security forces were responding.

Pictures on social media showed debris and bodies lying on a busy street outside the cathedral, which had been hit by bombs in the past.

Troops in armored carriers sealed off the main road leading to the church while vehicles were transporting the dead and wounded to the hospital.

Some casualties were evacuated by air to nearby Zamboanga City.

Soldiers among fatalities

Citing a police report, Jolo Mayor Kherkar Tan said 25 people were killed in the attack and 81 were wounded. Police later reported 111 wounded.

Among the wounded were 90 civilians, 17 soldiers, two policemen and two coast guards.

Malacañang condemned the attack as “an act of terrorism and murder” and vowed no mercy for the perpetrators.

“We will pursue to the ends of the earth the ruthless perpetrators behind this dastardly crime until every killer is brought to justice and put behind bars. The law will give them no mercy,” presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a statement.

He said “the enemies of the state boldly challenged the government’s capability to secure the safety of citizens in that region. The (Armed Forces of the Philippines) will rise to the challenge and crush these godless criminals.”

BOL plebiscite

Sunday’s attack came nearly a week after minority Muslims endorsed a new and bigger autonomous region in Mindanao in hopes of ending nearly five decades of a separatist rebellion that had left more than 120,000 people dead.

Although most of the Muslim areas voted to approve the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL), the charter of the bigger and more powerful Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), Sulu, rejected it.

The rejection, however, will not allow Sulu to be excluded from the BARMM because under the law, the dominant ARMM vote prevails.

The province is home to a faction of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) led by Nur Misuari that opposed the peace agreement signed with the government in 2014 by its rival, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the key force in the Mindanao secessionist war.

Jolo attack plan

But Sulu is also home to the Abu Sayyaf bandit group, blacklisted by the US and Philippine governments as a terrorist organization because of years of bombings, kidnappings and beheadings of foreign captives.

Octavio Dinampo, a peace advocate and professor at Mindanao State University, said on Sunday the Abu Sayyaf could have carried out the attack in retaliation for losses suffered in clashes with government forces.

Dinampo, a victim of Abu Sayyaf kidnapping in 2008, said military intelligence intercepted plans five months ago for an Abu Sayyaf attack in downtown Jolo.

He said the military then closed the street along which the cathedral was located but reopened it after about 20 days following public complaints.

“Now we have this very brutal and grisly attack inside a church. This is an act of reprisal and plain and simple terrorism to sow fear among civilians,” Dinampo said.

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) condemned the attack as “an act of terrorism.”

“We condole with the families of the several soldiers and civilians who were killed by the explosions. We also express our sympathies with those who were wounded and extend our solidarity with the rest of the churchgoers inside the cathedral and the rest of the church community in the Apostolic Vicariate of Jolo,” Archbishop Romulo Valles, the CBCP president, said in a statement.

Witnesses said the first blast inside the cathedral sent churchgoers, some of them wounded, to stampede out of the main door.

Army troops and police posted outside were rushing in when the second bomb went off about a minute later in the parking lot near the main entrance, causing more deaths and injuries.

The military was checking a report that the second bomb might have been placed in the utility box of a parked motorcycle.

Full force of the law

The initial explosion scattered the wooden pews in the nave and blasted window glass panels. The second bomb hurled human parts and debris across the square fronting the cathedral.

“I have directed our troops to heighten their alert level, secure all places of worship and public places at once, and initiate proactive security measures to thwart hostile plans,” Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said in a statement.

“We will use the full force of the law to bring to justice the perpetrators behind this incident,” Lorenzana said.

Von Al Haq, spokesperson for the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces, the armed wing of the MILF, condemned the bombing as “a terrible act of terrorism.”

Al Haq appealed for calm and said the MILF would do its own investigation.

Security officials were looking “at different threat groups” and could not say immediately whether the attack had something to do with last week’s plebiscite, the chief of the Philippine National Police said in a radio interview.

Lamitan bombing

PNP Director General Oscar Albayalde said investigators were looking at possible Abu Sayyaf responsibility, including links to the vehicle bomb that went off near a military checkpoint in Lamitan City on July 31 last year that killed 11 people, including militiamen and their relatives.

That explosion was attributed to the Abu Sayyaf faction led by the bandit Furuji Indama, and the driver of the bomb-rigged van was reported to be a Moroccan.

“[Sunday’s attack] is possibly related to the Lamitan bombing because, based on intelligence information gathered by our ground forces, the threat coming from [Indama’s] group is high,” Albayalde said.

ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman condemned the attack.

“This bomb attack was done in a place of peace and worship, and it comes at a time when we are preparing for another stage of the peace process in Mindanao,” Hataman said.

“Human lives are irreplaceable,” he added, calling on Jolo residents to cooperate with the authorities to find the perpetrators of this “atrocity.”

‘Pray for us’

Fr. Jefferson Nadua, the parish priest of Mount Carmel, appealed for prayers and called for justice.

“We pray for the safety of those who are wounded and we pray that there’ll be no more casualties among our parishioners who were attending Mass when the incident happened. Pray for us,” Nadua said on Church-run Radio Veritas.

He called on the authorities to find the perpetrators and bring them to justice. Jolo Mayor Tan was angry over the security breach.

“We have been reporting to the military and the police about bomb threats and I cannot understand why a highly secured place like the cathedral could be bombed by the Abu Sayyaf. The cathedral is surrounded by security forces,” Tan said.

Read also : Jolo twin blasts death toll reaches 20, with 81 others injured

Watching the list of fatalities, the teary-eyed Fr. Saniel said Romy Reyes and his wife Leah were among the regular Mass-goers who perished.

Most of those who died were our regular Mass-goers, they are here every Sunday attending the 8 a.m. Mass,” Fr. Saniel said of Reyes, president of PPC. “They are my personal friends,” he added.

Daisy Barade Delos Reyes, former PPC president and the Reyes couple regularly sit in the middle of the cathedral.

“They bravely stayed in Jolo in spite of the threats and insecurities. I believed they have died for their Christian faith,” Saniel, also president of Notre Dame of Jolo College (NDJC), said.

“No words can describe the sorrow and pain that we feel these days.  May they be given justice in God’s time. I know that the friends of the victims (both Muslims and Christians) are mourning and in deep sorrow today,” he added.

“Please pray for all the victims, including the soldiers,” he said.

Saniel and Jolo Bishop Angelito Lampon, OMI, were attending the CBCP 118^th plenary conference in Manila when they heard the sad news.

Pope Francis named Saniel as vicariate administrator last December 16 to replace Bishop Lampon who the Pope named as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Cotabato.

The decision was made by the IPC governing board at its meeting in London, England on Sunday (Jan 27), after the Home Ministry said it would not allow Israeli para swimmers to enter the country and participate in the event.

In a statement, IPC president Andrew Parsons said that all World Championships must be open to all eligible athletes and nations to compete safely and free from discrimination.

“When a host country excludes athletes from a particular nation, then we have no alternative but to look for a new host.

“The Paralympic Movement has, and always will be, motivated by a desire to drive inclusion, not exclusion. Regardless of the countries involved in this matter, the IPC would take the same decision again if it was to face a similar situation involving different countries,” he said.

According to Parsons, in September 2017, when the IPC signed the contract with the Paralympic Council of Malaysia (NPC Malaysia) to host the World Para-Swimming Championships, they were assured that all eligible athletes and countries would be allowed to participate in the event with their safety guaranteed.

“Since then, there has been a change of political leadership and the new Malaysian government has different ideas. Politics and sport are never a good mix, and we are disappointed that Israeli athletes would not have been allowed to compete in Malaysia.

“As a result of the Board’s decision today, we are now looking for a new host for this vital World Championships, which acts as a qualifier for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.”

Around 600 swimmers from 60 nations were expected to take part in Kuching with more than 160 world titles up for grabs.

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said Malaysia would not allow Israeli Paralympic swimmers to enter the country for the championships.

In addition to its focus on nature conservation in the parks, the ministry also intends to enhance tourism from now on.

For that purpose, it will take advantage of about ¥5 billion in revenue from the International Tourist Tax, which was introduced this month.

The number of foreign visitors to the parks has been increasing year by year. The ministry aims at doubling its figures from around 4.9 million in 2015 to 10 million by 2020.

In the area around Shiretoko National Park in Hokkaido, the number of passengers on sightseeing ships from which they can enjoy watching Steller’s sea eagles has increased by eight times to nearly 30,000 in the last 10 years. The birds are very popular among birdwatchers in the United States and Europe. The ships have carried many foreign tourists, so the ministry intends to arrange observation tours featuring birdwatching.

Read also: Japan sees record 30 million-plus foreign visitors in 2018

In the parks, tours focusing on wildlife observation have been limited in number so far. If such tours are realized for observing tancho Japanese cranes in Hokkaido’s Kushiro Shitsugen National Park, or Asian black bears in Joshinetsu Kogen National Park, which straddles the borders of Gunma, Niigata and Nagano prefectures, the number of visitors to the parks can be expected to rise.

The ministry plans to improve information boards to introduce the attractions of parks in English, Chinese and other languages. It is also considering setting up virtual reality facilities where visitors can experience simulations of the lives of wild animals or scenery.

However, it is possible that such tours could be a burden on wild animals. “[The ministry] should make rules to prevent harmful impact on wild animals before launching tours,” said Prof. Futoshi Nakamura of Hokkaido University, who specializes in ecosystem management.