At Least 50 Killed in Las Vegas Shooting Spree
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Iran Daily offers condolences on the martyrdom anniversary of Iran, Oman discuss energy, Imam Sajjad (PBUH), the fourth Shia Imam. transit, developments in region 2 Number 5744 ● Tuesday October 3, 2017 ● Mehr 11, 1396 ● Muharram 12, 1439 ● Price 5,000 Rials ● 12 Pages ● www.irandailyonline.ir Spain in crisis At least 50 killed after Catalan in Las Vegas shooting spree independence vote Spain vowed Monday to stop Catalonia from declaring independence after a banned referendum that saw riot police use batons and rubber bullets, as the country grappled with its deepest crisis in decades. The government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy held emergency talks after Catalan President Carles Puigdemont declared Sunday that the region had won the right to break away from Spain, AFP wrote. Images of riot police beating up would-be voters with batons and firing rubber bullets to disperse crowds during Sunday’s referendum in the wealthy northeastern region shocked many in Spain and its neighbors in Europe. Puidgemont appealed on Monday for international mediation to help solve the crisis, and called for all police sent in to Catalonia for the vote to be removed. “It is not a domestic matter,” Puigdemont told a news conference on Monday. “It’s obvious that we need mediation.” In its first reaction on Monday, the European Union urged all sides to “move very swiftly from confrontation to dialogue” and said vio- lence should not be part of politics. A jubilant Puigdemont said late Sunday that 90 percent of voters taking part in the referendum had voted for independence for Cata- lonia, defying the police crackdown and the fierce opposition from Madrid. The regional government said 2.26 million people actually took part in the vote, or just over 42 percent of the electorate in Catalonia. Puigdemont said his people had “won the right to an independent state” in Catalonia, a region of 7.5 million people which accounts for one fifth of Spain’s economic output. But any attempt to unilaterally declare independence is likely to be opposed not just by Madrid but also a large section of the Catalan population which is deeply split on the issue. His declaration sets the restive region on course for a deeper split GETTY IMAGES with the Spanish government, after Rajoy reiterated his govern- A body lies under a sheet on The Strip in Las Vegas as police secure the area after at least 50 people were killed on Sunday. ment’s position that the vote was an illegal act, to which the state had reacted “with firmness and serenity”. gunman perched on the 32nd terest by police, is believed to have been The gunman paused and then fired jammed with victims. floor of a Las Vegas hotel located, Lombardo added. another volley, the muzzle flashes vis- “It’s a devastating time,” the sheriff unleashed a hail of bullets Country music star Jason Aldean ible from the casino, as more victims said. A on an outdoor country music was performing Sunday night in front fell to the ground while others fled in President Donald Trump tweeted: festival below, killing at least 50 peo- of a crowd of more than 22,000 when panic. Some hid behind concession “My warmest condolences and sympa- ple as tens of thousands of concertgoers the gunman opened fire from inside the stands, while others crawled under thies to the victims and families of the screamed and ran for their lives, officials Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino across parked cars. terrible Las Vegas shooting. God bless said Monday. It was the deadliest mass the street. Witnesses told how Paddock opened you!” shooting in modern US history. The gunman was identified as Ste- fire with an initial long burst, and then Although the final toll has yet to be More than 400 other victims were tak- phen Craig Paddock, 64, of Mesquite, appeared to reload as he continued his confirmed, it is already the deadliest en to the hospital, AP reported. Nevada. He had checked into the hotel spree. shooting in the United States. SWAT teams using explosives room on Thursday, authorities said. “We heard what sounded like glass The previous deadliest shooting came stormed the gunman’s hotel room and The suspect had both hunting and breaking, so you looked around to see in June 2016 when 49 people were killed found he had killed himself, authorities fishing licenses according to public re- what’s going on and then heard a pop, at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Flor- said. He had as many as 10 guns with cords, as well as his pilot’s license, but pop, pop,” Monique Dekerf told CNN. ida. him, including rifles, they said. no criminal record in the state of Ne- “You’d think for a moment, okay It was also the latest in a series of re- There was no immediate word on the vada. we’re fine, there’s no more gunfire, then cent deadly attacks at concert venues. motive for the bloodshed. “What we are going to try to do as it starts again.” Twenty-two people were killed while Sheriff Joseph Lombardo said au- best we can is to get our first responders Her sister Rachel said it sounded like leaving an Ariana Grande concert in the thorities believe this was a “lone wolf” back on their feet and responding and “the shots were coming from the right northern English city of Manchester in attack. And the US Homeland Security conducting a proper investigation to en- side… it sounded like they were right May when a suicide bomber detonated a Department said there was no “specific sure that we have the safety of this com- beside us too ... it was right there.” nail bomb in the foyer. credible threat” involving other public munity at heart,” the sheriff said. Police shut down busy Las Vegas Ninety people were killed in Novem- venues in the US. Video then showed Aldean stopping Boulevard, while federal and state au- ber 2015 at the Bataclan venue in Paris Paddock’s female companion, who and the crowd getting quiet as if it were thorities converged on the scene. during a concert by the US band the Ea- had earlier been named as a person of in- unsure of what had just happened. Hospital emergency rooms were gles of Death Metal. Asia’s Iran oil Myanmar ‘makes proposal’ RAYMOND ROIG/AFP/GETTY IMAGES imports reach to take back Rohingya refugees Spanish Guardia Civil guards drag a man outside a polling station in Sant Julia de Ramis, where Catalan president was supposed to vote, Myanmar has proposed taking back late August the world’s fastest-devel- Kofi Annan to draw up recommenda- on October 1, 2017, on the day of a referendum on independence for five-month high the hundreds of thousands of Roh- oping refugee emergency, and says tions on solving problems in Rakh- Catalonia banned by Madrid. ingya who have fled to Bangladesh Buddhist-majority Myanmar is en- ine. Imports of Iranian crude by major buyers in Asia rose in recent weeks, the Bangladeshi for- gaging in ethnic cleansing against its The commission presented its Puigdemont has said he would now present the results to the region’s for a second month in a row in August to hit their high- eign minister said after talks Monday Rohingya Muslim minority. recommendations on Aug. 24, a day parliament, which has the power to adopt a motion of independence. est level since March, helped by a spike in purchases by with a senior Myanmar representa- The Rohingya are denied citizen- before the insurgent attacks, among Pro-separatist lawmakers have a narrow majority of 72 seats in the China and South Korea. tive. ship, despite having roots in My- them a review of a law that links 135-seat Catalan parliament. A.H. Mahmood Ali said the rep- anmar that go back centuries, with citizenship and ethnicity and leaves resentative of de facto leader Aung communities marginalized and sub- most Rohingya stateless. ‘Shameful page’ San Suu Kyi had agreed to set up a jected to bouts of communal violence The panel also recommended that working group to coordinate the re- over the years. Problems of stateless- the government punish rights viola- Reacting to the scenes of violence, Puigdemont said Spain’s cen- patriation. He gave no details, AFP ness had to be tackled, the UN High tions, ensure the right to freedom of tral government had “written a shameful page in its history with Cat- reported. Commissioner for Refugees Filippo movement and invest in infrastruc- alonia” while several top figures in the far-left party Podemos called “The talks were held in a friendly Grandi told a meeting in Geneva. ture to lift the state out of poverty. for Rajoy to resign. atmosphere and Myanmar has made “Nowhere is the link between Suu Kyi, in her address to the na- At least 92 people were confirmed injured, two of them seriously, a proposal to take back the Rohingya statelessness and displacement more tion last month, said she was com- out of a total of 844 who needed medical attention, Catalan authori- refugees,” the minister told report- evident than with the Rohingya com- mitted to the recommendations. ties said. ers after meeting Kyaw Tint Swe in munity,” he said. There were already about 300,000 Shocking videos posted on social media showed police dragging Dhaka. But many refugees are gloomy Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh be- voters from polling stations by their hair, throwing people down “The two sides have agreed to a about the prospects of going back, fore the latest influx.