Day: May 23, 2023

An overnight fire raced through a dormitory in Guyana, killing at least 19 students who were trapped and injuring several others at a government boarding school as authorities probe whether it was intentionally set.

All but one of the victims were Indigenous girls, officials said Monday, the AP reported.

“This is a horrific incident. It’s tragic. It’s painful,” President Irfaan Ali said, adding that his government was mobilizing all possible resources as he requested help from the region to identify the remains of 13 bodies.

The fire broke out at about 10:50 p.m. Sunday in the dormitory building of a secondary school that serves remote, mostly Indigenous villages and is located in the border town of Mahdia, a gold and diamond mining community about 200 miles (320 kilometers) south of the capital, Georgetown, the government said in a statement.

Deputy Fire Chief Dwayne Scotland said “the fire was maliciously set” and began in the building’s southwest corner. However, Police Chief Clifton Hicken said “initial investigations suggest that it was maliciously set.” He also said that while the girls’ dorm had five doors, iron grill work trapped the students inside.

Authorities did not provide further details and did not share what evidence, if any, points to arson.

Source: Bahrain News Agency

South Korea positioned its homegrown space rocket Nuri on the launch pad at the Naro Space Center, a day ahead of its liftoff to send multiple satellites into orbit.

Nuri, also known as KSLV-II, reached the launch pad about an hour and a half after it left an assembly building at 7:20 am. and was erected at the launch pad at the space center in the southern coastal village of Goheung, according to the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), YONHAP reported.

The science ministry and KARI will hold a launch management committee meeting later in the day to decide whether to proceed with Wednesday’s scheduled launch.

Source: Bahrain News Agency

The Royal Guard of the Bahrain Defense Force (BDF) participates in the activities of the joint security exercise (Haris), which is implemented by Saudi Royal Guard in Riyadh.

The joint exercise is within the continuous cooperation between the BDF’s Royal Guard and the Saudi Royal Guard.

The exercise is supervised by Lieutenant General His Highness Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa National Security Advisor, Secretary General of the Supreme Defence Council, Royal Guard Commander and General Suheil Al-Mutairi Saudi Royal Guard Commander.

It aims to enhance cooperation and exchange of military and security expertise between the two countries and raise the efficiency of the participants in security tasks, personalities protection, weapons, shooting and special operations.

The joint exercise (Haris) is the first of its kind between the two sectors and it affirms bilateral relations between Bahrain and Saudi Arabia as model of unity which reflects the depth of historical and fraternal ties.

Source: Bahrain News Agency