ARGENTINA – One person is reportedly dead and a number of others believed trapped in debris after a hotel collapsed in Argentina. The 10-storey Dubrovnik hotel, in the coastal city of Villa Gesell, collapsed early on Tuesday, said Reuters news agency, quoting the local municipality.

Up to 15 people are believed to have been inside the hotel, which had recently been undergoing renovation. Rescue teams are working at the scene attempting to free those thought to be trapped. Local media report that a man in his 80s died as a result of the incident and one woman has so far been rescued. Local authorities said building work at the hotel had been halted in August on the orders of the municipality, because the renovations were being carried out without the proper permits.

However, neighbours told journalists that work on the building had been continuing in defiance of the suspension order. Argentina’s national security minister, Patricia Bullrich, posted on X that two specialised teams had been sent to the scene, which is in Buenos Aires province.

She said that structural engineers, rescue specialists and a dog team trained in collapsed buildings were attending, as well as personnel equipped with specialist machinery and resources to help the rescue effort. The province’s own security minister, Javier Alonso, told local radio that four bricklayers working on the site had escaped the collapse and had been detained by police. Alonso added that neighbours told him that repairs might have been taking place in the hotel’s basement and that the building then collapsed on itself. (BBC)…[+]

Photo: It’s thought that the 10-storey hotel collapsed on itself in the early hours. (Reuters)

MANILA  –  Former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte has admitted that he kept a “death squad” to crack down on crime while mayor of one of the country’s largest cities.

In his first testimony before an official investigation on his so-called war on drugs, the 79-year-old said the squad was made of gangsters, adding that he would tell them “kill this person, because if you do not, I will kill you now”.

Duterte won the presidency by a landslide in 2016 on the promise of replicating his anti-crime campaign in Davao city on a national scale.

The nationwide drug war saw thousands of suspects killed in controversial police operations and is now being investigated by the International Criminal Court.

During the senate hearing last Monday, Duterte also said he told police officers to “encourage” suspects to fight back so officers could justify the killings.

“Do not question my policies because I offer no apologies, no excuses. I did what I had to do, and whether or not you believe it… I did it for my country,” said Duterte in his opening statement.

“I hate drugs, make no mistake about it.”

However, he denied that he gave his police chiefs permission to kill suspects, adding that his “death squad” was made of “gangsters… not policemen”.

“I can make the confession now if you want. I had a death squad of seven, but they were not police, they were gangsters.”

Duterte also remained defiant, claiming that many criminals had resumed their illegal activities after he stepped down as president.

“If given another chance, I’ll wipe all of you,” he said.

His appearance on Monday was the first time he had showed up at an inquiry into his anti-drug campaign since his term ended in 2022.

It was also the first time he directly faced some of his accusers, including families of victims of the drug war and former senator Leila de Lima, a Duterte critic who was jailed for seven years on a drug-dealing charge that was eventually dropped.

The Philippine government estimates that more than 6,252 people have been gunned down by the police and “unknown assailants” in Duterte’s “war on drugs”. Rights groups say the numbers could actually run into the tens of thousands.

An earlier report by the UN’s High Commisioner for Human Rights found that Duterte’s drugs crackdown had been marked by high-level rhetoric that could be seen as giving police officers “permission to kill”.

Police said many of their victims, who they claimed were drug lords or peddlers, were often killed in “self-defense” during shoot-outs. But many families claim their sons, brothers or husbands were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The war on drugs campaign was controversial and drew huge international criticism, but it also had its share of supporters in a country where millions use drugs, mostly methamphetamine, known locally as “shabu”. (BBC)

Photo: Former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte. (Getty Images) …[+]

KUALA LUMPUR  –  Malaysia’s former leader Mahathir Mohamad has been discharged from hospital after being admitted with a respiratory infection, his office has said.

Mahathir, who turned 99 in July, was hospitalised for a lower respiratory tract infection on October 15.

The veteran politician has a history of heart problems and has been hospitalised on several occasions in recent years.

His admission to the National Heart Institute in Kuala Lumpur had prevented him from attending a court hearing for a defamation case he filed against the country’s deputy prime minister.

Malaysia’s longest-serving leader, Mahathir did two stints as prime minister between 1981 and 2003, and again from 2018 until 2020.

During his first stint in office, Mahathir won plaudits for helping to transform the country into a top exporter of high-tech goods but faced accusations of undermining democracy and stifling dissent.

Mahathir lost his parliamentary seat in the island resort of Langkawi in 2022 in a shock outcome that marked his first electoral defeat in more than half a century.

Since leaving parliament, he has continued to weigh in on the Southeast Asian nation’s politics, emerging as a prominent critic of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, his former protege-turned-rival. (Al Jazeera)

Photo: Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad speaks during an interview in Putrajaya. (Reuters) …[+]

MICHIGAN  –  Democratic candidate Kamala Harris urged young Americans to take up the fight for democracy from generations who had fought for freedom in the past and vote for her over Republican candidate Donald Trump

Harris was in Ann Arbor, Michigan, for a Monday evening rally after spending the day campaigning in the crucial swing state. Her pitch to an audience of young voters, many of who were students from the nearby University of Michigan, was to use their vote in the upcoming United States election to protect their rights. “Generations of Americans before us fought for freedom and now the baton is in our hands,” Harris said. “The baton is in our hands.”

Harris said their generation was the one that grew up with climate change as a reality, with active shooter drills in schools, and with now fewer reproductive rights than their mothers or grandmothers. “It is your lived experience. I see you and I see your power,” she said to the cheering crowd bundled in hats and coats against the cold autumn weather. “You are rightly impatient for change.”

Harris was introduced by her vice-presidential running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, who used his folksy style to appeal to a packed crowd. “When you are old and grey like me and you’re sitting on the porch and you’re rocking in that chair and your grandchildren asked you ‘What did you do in 2024 to save democracy’,” he said. “And you are going to be able to tell them every damn thing you could, every damn thing.”

Harris and Walz are trying to reach young voters, many of whom are casting ballots for the first time. They had help onstage from singer-songwriter Maggie Rogers who is an ardent abortion rights supporter. Rogers performed and gave an emotional plea to the audience.

“As I’m standing here with you today, I can’t ignore the headlines I have been seeing on my phone any longer,” Rogers said. “It is terrifying. I don’t always know what to do with that feeling but there is something to me that is greater than fear, and that is action. Voting is the key to the future,” she said. (Al Jazeera)

Photo: Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris and running mate Tim Walz at a rally in Ann Arbor Michigan. (AP) …[+]