World News Quick Take

A major outage early yesterday hit parts of the railway system and the company that maintains the nation’s rail infrastructure said it was treating the cause as possible sabotage. The stoppages affected thousands of passengers mainly in the central and eastern areas of the country, but the problem also affected some services in the busiest western regions. Joke van der Cruysen, a spokesperson for infrastructure company Prorail, said there were disruptions at 24 locations. “Material has been found at several locations. It appears that this material was deliberately placed on the tracks. We suspect sabotage,” she said in a telephone interview. “The police are currently involved and are actively investigating the cause and the reasons behind this.” There was no immediate indication of who was suspected of being behind the apparent sabotage.

A police officer carries a bag along the tracks in Meppel, Netherlands, yesterday.

Photo: EPA

SWITZERLAND

Gaza bodies raise concerns

The recovery of hundreds of bodies from the rubble of buildings destroyed by Israeli strikes in Gaza during the war that began nearly three years ago has raised fresh concerns about possible war crimes, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said yesterday. The remains of what appeared to be entire families were being unearthed from sites destroyed during Israeli attacks, he said, adding that many victims were women and children. “It is heartbreaking that the loved ones of those missing for so long are only now having their worst fears confirmed,” he said in a statement. The discoveries have revived concerns raised in a 2024 UN report that found Israeli strikes on residential buildings and other civilian sites during the early weeks of the war might have violated international humanitarian law, he said.

AUSTRALIA

Serial killer to be released

The South Australia Court of Appeal yesterday ruled that one of three serial killers convicted over the murders of 11 people in one of the country’s most notorious criminal cases can be released from prison, rejecting a state government’s bid to block his parole. The victims were killed over seven years, and most of their bodies were found in 1999 in barrels of acid in Snowtown, a small town north of the state capital, Adelaide. The discovery led the crimes to become known as the “Bodies-in-Barrels” murders. Three judges upheld a parole board decision made last month to release the youngest of the three convicted murderers, James Vlassakis.Now 46, Vlassakis was 18 when his crimes began in 1998. He pleaded guilty to four murders, including those of a half brother and stepbrother. He became a star witness for the prosecution, and was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 26 years, which expired in August last year.

UNITED STATES

Weapons deployed in space

The Space Force on Monday said it has weapons deployed in space, confirming the presence of such capabilities in orbit for the first time. “The US has on-orbit space control weapons capable of defending the Joint Force against hostile adversary action,” a US Space Force spokesperson said in a statement that did not provide specifics on the weapons. China “develops and operates space and counterspace capabilities as part of a military modernization strategy,” while Russia “views space as a warfighting domain and believes space supremacy will be a decisive factor in future conflicts,” the Space Force said.