3 American women found dead at Belize beach resort: Police
STOCK IMAGE/Getty Images
(BELIZE) — Police in Belize are investigating after three young American women were found dead in their hotel room at a luxury beachfront resort last weekend.
The women — identified as 23-year-old Koutar Naqqad, 24-year-old Imane Mallah and 26-year-old Wafae El-Arar — were found dead at the Royal Kahal Beach Resort in San Pedro on Saturday morning.
The investigation into the cause of their deaths is underway, but Belize’s police commissioner said on Tuesday that carbon monoxide poisoning and possible overdoses are being considered.
Officials noted that alcohol and gummies were found in the hotel room. “We’ve had issues with gummies in the past being resold and sending people to the hospital,” the commissioner said in a statement.
An autopsy is being conducted Tuesday, according to police.
The commissioner said authorities reviewed surveillance footage from the resort that showed the women entering the hotel Thursday evening and they were not seen leaving the room again.
Additionally, nobody was seen entering the women’s room in the footage, according to the police.
The hotel told authorities that nobody answered the door when housekeeping arrived on Friday, so they left.
Police said the women could have been dead in the hotel for approximately 20 hours before they were found.
The women, originally from Morrocco, lived in Revere, Massachusetts.
“The City of Revere extends our heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of the three local women who tragically and unexpectedly passed away in Belize,” the city wrote on Facebook on Monday.
(JERUSALEM) — Two Palestinian men found themselves handcuffed and in shackles, detained by Israeli police in a Jerusalem courtroom. To an outside observer, they may have appeared to be criminals; however, the reality of their situation was far more troubling. Their so-called “crime”? Simply selling books.
Mahmoud Muna and his nephew Ahmad were arrested after Israeli police raided their family-owned Educational Bookshop in East Jerusalem and confiscated books.
“Jerusalem District police officers have arrested two residents of East Jerusalem suspected of selling books containing incitement and support for terrorism at bookstores in Jerusalem,” Israeli police said in a statement.
The statement continued: “During a focused operation by detectives from the David subdistrict, searches were conducted at two bookstores suspected of selling books with inciting content. The suspects who allegedly sold the books were taken into custody by police detectives. As part of the investigation, detectives discovered numerous books containing inciteful material with nationalist Palestinian themes, including a children’s coloring book titled ‘From the River to the Sea.'”
Ahmad and Mahmoud are both in their 30s. While they are no longer under house arrest, they are still banned from entering the bookstores they know and love, despite not being charged with any crimes.
“It was heartbreaking for me,” Ahmad said. “And I mean, I really mean it, every time he chucks the books out, I was like, ‘for God’s sake, like, why are you doing this?'”
Security footage from the store shows the moment when plainclothes officers raided the men’s well-known bookstore in predominantly Muslim East Jerusalem. The officers sifted through the shelves, took photos, and stuffed some books into plastic bags.
Ahmad and Mahmoud were placed under house arrest for five days, following approximately 48 hours in police custody.
“Google Translate became handy,” Ahmad said. “Each of them opened their phone and started taking photos of the books and trying to Google translate it. Does it have the Palestinian flag? Does it have a drawing, does it have the image of the [West Bank] wall? Then the search became about the contents. But the decision was made according to the cover and the design of the book rather than what’s inside it.”
The children’s coloring book titled “From the River to the Sea,” cited in the police statement, serves as a rallying cry for some activists advocating for the liberation of Palestinians from the Mediterranean to the Jordan River, an area that includes modern-day Israel. Many consider it offensive code for wiping Israel off the map, as Hamas has vowed to do.
The owners claim that the book was not on display; it was in the back where they review all submitted books before putting them up for sale.
“Nothing has changed about the books,” Ahmad said. “Nothing has changed about the bookshop. But what has changed is the place that we live in. That’s what have changed. We live in a place that in the last few years have become more radical.”
Ahmed and Mahmoud are only one floor apart, but for a period were not allowed to interact due to the terms of their arrests. Their bookshops, which have been operating for more than 40 years, have become vital hubs for the community.
People gather at their local bookshop, including residents, foreigners, journalists and diplomats, to learn more about this region and beyond.
While there are many books about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the shop also offers a diverse selection of literature from around the world, including classics, encyclopedias, cookbooks and books on architecture.
“The bookshop represents success, lights, (and) beauty,” Mahmoud said. “Some sort of happiness in the midst of bleakness. And once you step into the bookshop, it’s very colorful, it’s very bright, there’s lots of light, there’s lots of knowledge, there’s lots of good conversations. So for the community, the way they describe it often is that this is almost a refuge. This is a place to escape to.”
Family member Murad Muna is now running the store after it was briefly closed. He says the Israeli police took a lot of merchandise, about 100 books.
“They try to shut down the Palestinian voices,” Murad Muna said. Regarding some of the confiscated books, he said, “You can find them at the library of the Hebrew University. You can find them at the bookshops on the other side of the city. So they just target the Palestinian culture and try to shut it down.”
(NEW YORK) — SpaceX postponed a mission on Wednesday to bring the next crew set to work on the International Space Station (ISS) and begin the return of a pair of astronauts back to Earth.
The launch’s postponement was announced on Wednesday evening ahead of what would have been the scheduled launch time.
There was an issue with the hydraulic system on the launch side. It is a ground issue with the launch tower and not a problem with the spacecraft, according to SpaceX.
SpaceX said it’s now targeting a launch on Friday at 7:03 p.m. ET.
Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams have been in space since June 2024 after they performed the first crewed test flight of Boeing’s Starliner. When they launched, they were only supposed to be on the ISS for about a week.
However, NASA and Boeing officials decided to send the uncrewed Starliner back to Earth in September after several issues and keep Wilmore and Williams onboard until early 2025 when Crew-10 was ready to launch on the Dragon spacecraft. Wilmore and Williams are set to return in the Crew-9 capsule.
The pair integrated with the ongoing Crew-9 mission aboard the ISS and could not return to Earth until Crew-9 completed its six-month mission and were replaced by Crew-10.
Wilmore and Williams assisted the crew with research and other responsibilities. However, NASA officials said the pair were using up more supplies meant for the ISS crew.
Steve Stich, program manager for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, said that NASA teams spent all summer looking over the data on Starliner and felt there was too much risk with regard to the vehicle’s thrusters.
During a press conference in September, Wilmore said he and Williams did not feel let down by anything during the mission.
“Let down? Absolutely not,” Wilmore said. “It’s never entered my mind. It’s a fair question. I can tell you, I thought a lot about this press conference … and what I wanted to say and convey.”
“NASA does a great job of making a lot of things look easy,” he said, adding, “That’s just the way it goes. sometimes because we are pushing the edges of the envelope in everything that we do.”
If the mission is successful, it’s unclear when exactly Wilmore and Williams will return to Earth on Crew-9.
The crew consists of two NASA astronauts, an astronaut from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and an astronaut from Russia’s Roscosmos.
SpaceX will share a live webcast of the mission beginning one hour and 20 minutes prior to liftoff on its website and on its X account. NASA will also air coverage on its X account.
“During their time on the orbiting laboratory, the crew will conduct new research to prepare for human exploration beyond low-Earth orbit and to benefit humanity on Earth,” SpaceX said on its website.
SpaceX’s contracted missions are part of the larger Commercial Crew Program at NASA, which are certified to perform routine missions to and from the ISS.
(LONDON) — Russian President Vladimir Putin “stole” another week of war in Ukraine with his vague response to a 30-day ceasefire proposed by Washington and Kyiv last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday.
Both Ukraine and Russia are seeking to avoid blame for prolonging Moscow’s 3-year-old war and undermining nascent U.S.-led ceasefire and peace talks. American negotiators have now met with representatives from both Kyiv and Moscow in their bid to formulate a deal.
Following the U.S.-Ukraine meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, last week, the two sides proposed a full 30-day ceasefire as a springboard for a wider peace agreement. Putin said he was “for” the would-be freeze in fighting, though set out additional conditions for its implementation and suggested a pause would benefit Ukraine.
Zelenskyy has since released several statements framing Putin as intentionally hindering ceasefire talks.
“After the talks in Jeddah and the American proposal for a ceasefire on the frontline, Russia stole almost another week — a week of war that only Russia wants,” the Ukrainian president wrote on social media on Sunday.
“We will do everything to further intensify diplomacy,” he added. “We will do everything to make diplomacy effective.”
Andriy Yermak, the head of Zelenskyy’s presidential office, wrote on Telegram, “Russia continues to attack, Ukraine is responding to the attacks and will respond until Putin stops the war.”
Zelenskyy and his top officials are striving to present Ukraine as ready for peace, seemingly hoping to neutralize repeated — and at times misleading — criticism from President Donald Trump’s administration that Kyiv, rather than Moscow, is the main obstacle to a deal.
Trump said Sunday he expects to speak with Putin by phone on Tuesday.
“A lot of work” on a potential deal was done over the weekend, Trump said. “We’ll see if we have something to announce. Maybe by Tuesday.” He said that his administration wants “to see if we can bring that war to an end.”
“Maybe we can. Maybe we can’t, but I think we have a very good chance,” the president said, speaking onboard Air Force One as he returned to Washington, D.C., on Sunday night.
Fighting continues at key points along the front as the parties maneuver for advantage in further ceasefire talks.
Particular attention has been paid to the western Russian region of Kursk, where Ukrainian forces seized territory in a surprise August 2024 offensive. Russian officials have said there can be no peace talks while the area remains partially occupied.
Recent weeks have seen Ukrainian positions there collapse under intense Russian attacks, with Putin visiting the region last week and saying that Kyiv’s troops there could choose to “surrender or die.”
Both sides have also continued their long-range cross-border strikes. On Monday, Ukraine’s air force said it shot down 90 of 174 Russian drones launched into the country overnight, with another 70 drones lost in flight without causing damage. Seven regions were impacted by the attack, the air force said.
Russia’s Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said Monday its forces shot down 72 Ukrainian drones since Sunday evening.
Some drones attacked the Astrakhan region of southern Russia, around 500 miles from the closest Ukrainian-controlled territory.
Igor Babushkin, the regional governor, said Ukraine “attempted a massive drone attack on facilities located in the region, including the fuel and energy complex.”
Babushkin said falling drone debris sparked a fire at one facility, though did not specify where. “The situation is under control,” the governor wrote on Telegram. “One person was injured during the attack. The victim has now been taken to the hospital.”
Andriy Kovalenko, the head of the Counter-Disinformation Center operating as part of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, said on Telegram that “unknown drones struck a fuel and energy complex” in Astrakhan. “The intensity of the work of unknown drones is increasing,” he added.
ABC News’ Nicholas Kerr and Kevin Shalvey contributed to this report.
