Day: May 7, 2024

Rescue teams in South Africa are searching for survivors after a five-storey building under construction collapsed, killing five people and leaving at least 50 trapped, the BBC reports.

Officials in the city of George, Western Cape province, say 24 people have been pulled from the wreckage and taken to hospital.

Some 75 crew were on the site when the building collapsed on Monday afternoon.

The cause of the incident in the coastal city is being investigated.

Emergency services rushed to the scene after the building collapsed at 14:09 local time (12:09 GMT).

Two of the 22 people pulled from the wreckage died of their injuries. Another three deaths were reported later.

“Our thoughts are with the families and all those affected who continue to wait for word of their loved ones,” said George Mayor Ald Van Wyk.

At a daily press briefing on May 6, the U.S. State Department’s Spokesperson Matthew Miller said that the foreign agents law that is being considered by the Georgian government “would put Georgia on a precarious path, […] jeopardize Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic path, and undermine the U.S.-Georgia relationship.” Spokesperson Miller said the U.S. will continue to press these points, but he also added that it is up to the Georgian government to decide whether to pass such a law.

Spokesperson Miller declined to comment on any sanctions that State Department might be considering with respect to Bidzina Ivanishvili, the founder and honorary chairman of Georgian Dream, or other Georgian lawmakers who support the controversial bill. 

He also drew a distinction between the U.S. Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) and Georgia’s Kremlin-inspired law, stressing that while FARA applies to people acting on behalf of foreign governments, it does not target the work of non-governmental organizations, humanitarian work, and civil society work, which the Georgian legislation does. He reiterated that the two laws are completely different in nature and rejected any “false equivalencies” being drawn between them.

Despite constant appeals from the West that the foreign agents law will undermine the country’s Euro-Atlantic prospects, the ruling majority remains determined to see the law through to the end and put it into effect. The parliamentary majority has already passed the law in its second reading. The final, third reading is scheduled for mid-May.

Also Read:

• 02/05/2024 – U.S. State Department Condemns Kremlin-Inspired “Foreign Influence” Law
• 11/04/2024 – US FARA vs. Georgian Foreign Agents Law: Three Major Differences