A demolition worker was shot dead in his truck in front of children on a busy street in east Belfast, in Northern Ireland on Friday, sparking fears of a new feud between rival loyalist paramilitary gangs.
Yards of red, white and blue bunting lay in tatters on the staunchly protestant Newtownards Road where families had been preparing for an Orange parade to commemorate the anniversary of the battle of the Somme. It was the first day of the schools' summer holiday.
As local politicians cautioned against a return to the violent feuds that had once marred the area, children stood impassively eating sweets and watching officers pick over the crime scene outside a demolished pub that was once the headquarters of the paramilitary Ulster Defense Association (UDA).
PHOTO: EPA
The murdered man was not named by police but he was in his mid-20s and from north Belfast.
He had been sitting in the cab of a truck outside the demolished Avenue One pub where he had been clearing rubble. At 10:15am, a gunman ran out in front of the truck and fired a number of shots into the window, killing the man, before fleeing into a nearby street.
A second worker escaped from the truck uninjured, but the truck veered into a lamp post yards from terraced houses decorated for the marching season with union flags and pictures of Queen Elizabeth II.
The murdered man was known to police and last November he had been shot at while driving a van.
His name and accusations that he was a "tout" had appeared in graffiti on the Shankill Road -- the loyalist bush telegraph -- after he went to police over the attack.
Talk began yesterday of tensions between the loyalist paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force and a splinter group, the Loyalist Volunteer Force.
Detective Chief Superintendent Phil Wright said: "There has been a lot of speculation about a feud starting. That is something we would look at."
The Avenue One pub, which had recently been sold to developers and demolished, was previously owned by the notorious former east Belfast UDA commander, "Brigadier of Bling" Jim Gray.
Gray, also known as "Doris Day" for his year-round Florida tan, bleach-blond bouffant hair and pastel knitwear, is currently awaiting trial on charges of money laundering and concealing the proceeds of criminal activity.
In April he was ousted from the UDA amid concerns about his lifestyle of flashy cars and tropical holidays.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of