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CCTV has been released showing a member of the public disarming a gunman in California – just minutes after he fatally shot 11 people at a nearby Chinese New Year celebration.

Brandon Tsay, 26, has been hailed as a hero for disarming Huu Can Tran at the Lai Ballroom in Alhambra.

In the footage, Mr Tsay can be seen confronting the gunman in what appears to be an empty lobby in the dance hall.

An armed man, dressed in dark clothing and a hat, walks out of the picture and about 30 seconds later is seen struggling with Mr Tsay.

He manages to take the gun away from the attacker who then punches him in the head.

The men continue to struggle before Mr Tsay pushes Tran off him – leaving the assailant with no option but to escape.

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Hero who disarmed gunman says he ‘froze up’

‘This was the moment to disarm him’

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Speaking to NBC News, Mr Tsay said the attacker entered the venue and pointed the gun directly at him.

“There was a moment I actually froze up, because I was, I had the belief that I was gonna die, like my life was ending here, at that very moment.

“But something amazing happened, a miracle actually.

“He started to try to prep his weapon so he could shoot everybody, but then it dawned on me that this was the moment to disarm him.

“I could do something here that could protect everybody and potentially save myself.

“I was thinking about my family and my friends – what their life would be like without me.”

Governor Gavin Newsom met Mr Tsay on Monday describing him as a “true hero”.

“This remarkable young man who without any hesitation – though with moments of fear – took it upon himself to save countless lives.

“Who knows how many lives he saved.”

Just 20 minutes earlier, 72-year-old Tran had entered the Star Ballroom Dance Studio in Monterey Park – killing 11 people and wounding nine others.

All but one of the victims were 60 or older, according to the Los Angeles Coroner’s Office.

A total of 42 rounds were fired in Monterey Park, Mr Luna said, adding that a large capacity magazine was found at the scene.

Eyewitness: A community beginning to grieve

The Star Dance Studio has become the focal point for Monterey Park as a community begins to grieve. At regular intervals people, young and old, come to lay flowers at the front door.

Since it opened 30 years ago it has been a place where people are taught all different styles of dance – including ballroom, waltz and samba – by highly qualified instructors, some of them champions in their discipline.

Most of the people who trained here are retirees in their 50s, 60s and 70s – including Jenny, who has been coming here for several years.

“I was going to be here on Saturday night but because it was New Year I had a dinner with my family,” she says. “I woke up on Sunday to hundreds of texts saying ‘Are you okay? Are you alive?'”

One of those killed in the shooting was a long-time instructor at the studio, a man known as Mr Ma.

“It was a very family-oriented place because Mr Ma treated us as family members and best friends,” says Jenny, who declined to give her surname. “We really like to come here to dance and to socialise to get to know people. It is good because it keeps us fit and healthy. I am trying not to think about what happened because I am so sad.”

Lauren Woods, a Tango instructor, saw Mr Ma for the final time on Saturday afternoon as many people celebrated the Lunar New Year in Monterey Park.

“I got to see Ma for the last time as he helped me find parking since the Monterey Park streets were packed in celebration to the Lunar New Year festivities,” she wrote on Facebook. “I will always remember Mr Ma and the way we communicated to each other.

“His English was not great, but he’d always say, ‘My teacher! My teacher!’ Always kiss my cheeks and say ‘Love You! Love you!’ He was so adorable to me and I could tell he was the heart of Star Ballroom.”

A suspect is arrested after a mass shooting at two locations in the coastal northern California city of Half Moon Bay. Pic: ABC Affiliate KGO via REUTERS
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A suspect is arrested after a mass shooting at two locations in the coastal northern California city of Half Moon Bay. Pic: ABC affiliate KGO via Reuters

Seven killed in Half Moon Bay shooting

Meanwhile, a suspect is in custody after seven people were killed in two related shootings at a mushroom farm and a trucking firm in a coastal community south of San Francisco.

Officials said four people were killed at the farm and three at the trucking business on the outskirts of Half Moon Bay, a city about 30 miles south of San Francisco.

The police have arrested 67-year-old Zhao Chunli in connection with the shooting.

It was not immediately clear how the locations were connected, though it is believed the suspect worked for one of the businesses.

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Four more arrests made over Louvre heist as £76m haul remains missing

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Four more arrests made over Louvre heist as £76m haul remains missing

Four more arrests have been made by French police investigating the Louvre museum heist.

Two men and two women from the Paris region were detained on Tuesday, prosecutor Laure Beccuau said.

Ms Beccuau’s statement did not say what role the quartet are suspected of having played in the robbery. The two men are aged 38 and 39, and the two women are aged 31 and 40.

They are being interrogated by police, who can hold them for questioning for 96 hours.

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Louvre: How ‘heist of the century’ unfolded

The latest arrests come after investigating magistrates filed preliminary charges against three men and one woman who were arrested last month.

Some of the French Crown Jewels, worth an estimated £76m, were stolen in the audacious October raid.

The haul – which included a diamond and emerald necklace Napoleon gave to Empress Marie-Louise, jewels linked to 19th-century Queens Marie-Amelie and Hortense, and Empress Eugenie’s pearl and diamond tiara – has not been recovered.

The heist was pulled off in mere minutes last month – and took place while the Louvre was open to visitors, raising doubts over the credibility of the world’s most-visited museum as a guardian for its priceless works.

On Sunday 19 October, two men used a stolen furniture lift to access the second floor Galerie d’Apollon.

They then cracked open display cases with angle grinders before escaping with their loot and fleeing on the back of two scooters driven by accomplices.

Read more:
Louvre director offers to resign
Gallery closed as structure in ‘dire state’

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Moment thieves escape Louvre in jewel heist

The Paris prosecutor previously said the robbery appeared to be the work of small-time criminals rather than professional gangsters.

Speaking shortly after the heist, art detective Arthur Brand told Sky News that detectives faced a “race against time” to recover the stolen treasure.

“These crown jewels are so famous, you just cannot sell them,” Mr Brand said. “The only thing they can do is melt the silver and gold down, dismantle the diamonds, try to cut them. That’s the way they will probably disappear forever.

“They [the police] have a week. If they catch the thieves, the stuff might still be there. If it takes longer, the loot is probably gone and dismantled. It’s a race against time.”

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Zelenskyy is racing to beat Donald Trump’s peace plan deadline – but what will Russia do?

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Zelenskyy is racing to beat Donald Trump's peace plan deadline – but what will Russia do?

Washington woke up this morning to a flurry of developments on Ukraine.

It was the middle of the night in DC when a tweet dropped from Ukraine’s national security advisor, Rustem Umerov.

He said that the US and Ukraine had reached a “common understanding on the core terms of the agreement discussed in Geneva.”

He added that Volodymyr Zelenskyy would travel to America “at the earliest suitable date in November to complete final steps and make a deal with President Trump”.

Ukraine latest: ‘Delicate’ deal details must be sorted, White House says

By sunrise in Washington, a US official was using similar but not identical language to frame progress.

The official, speaking anonymously to US media, said that Ukraine had “agreed” to Trump’s peace proposal “with some minor details to be worked out”.

More on Donald Trump

In parallel, it’s emerged that talks have been taking place in Abu Dhabi. The Americans claim to have met both Russian and Ukrainian officials there, though the Russians have not confirmed attendance.

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Peace deal ‘agreement’: What we know

“I have nothing to say. We are following the media reports,” Dmitry Peskov, Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson, told Russian state media.

Trump is due to travel to his Florida resort Mar-a-Lago tonight, where he will remain until Sunday.

He set a deadline of Thursday – Thanksgiving – for some sort of agreement on his plan.

We know the plan has been changed from its original form, but it’s clear that Zelenskyy wants to be seen to agree to something quickly – that would go down well with President Trump.

Read more:
US hails ‘tremendous progress’ on Ukraine peace plan

In full: Europe’s 28-point counter proposal

My sense is that Zelenskyy will try to get to Mar-a-Lago as soon as he can. Before Thursday would be a push but would meet Trump’s deadline.

It will then be left for the Russians to state their position on the revised document.

All indications are that they will reject it. But maybe the secret Abu Dhabi talks will yield something.

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Controversial US and Israeli-backed aid operation the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation to close

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Controversial US and Israeli-backed aid operation the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation to close

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a controversial US and Israeli-backed aid distribution group, has said it will permanently cease operations.

Set up as an alternative to United Nations aid programmes in May, GHF’s executive director John Acree said on Monday that it “succeeded in our mission of showing there’s a better way to deliver aid to Gazans”.

The foundation had already closed down aid distribution sites after US President Donald Trump’s ceasefire plan was agreed by Hamas and Israel in October.

The GHF which began operations in Gaza after an Israeli blockade of food deliveries, lasting nearly three months, was criticised by Palestinians, aid workers and health officials who said it forced people to risk their lives to reach the sites.

File pic: Reuters
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File pic: Reuters

According to witnesses and videos posted to social media, Israeli soldiers repeatedly opened fire at the sites, killing hundreds. The IDF denied this, saying it only fired warning shots as a crowd-control measure or if its troops were in danger.

In July, analysis from Sky News’ Data and Forensics team found that aid distributions by GHF were associated with a significant increase in deaths.

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Gaza deaths increase when aid sites open

MSF – also known as Doctors Without Borders – said in a report in August that the GHF sites “morphed into a laboratory of cruelty,” and described scenes there as “orchestrated killing”.

More on Gaza

‘We are proud,’ says GHF director

Mr Acree said in a statement through the GHF’s website that “from the outset, GHF’s goal was to meet an urgent need” and to hand over a successful aid operation to “the broader international community”.

The GHF would hand over its work to the US-led Civil-Military Coordination Center in Israel overseeing the Gaza ceasefire.

“We are winding down our operations as we have succeeded in our mission of showing there’s a better way to deliver aid to Gazans,” Mr Acree said.

File pic: Reuters
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File pic: Reuters

The GHF director added: “At a critical juncture, we are proud to have been the only aid operation that reliably and safely provided free meals directly to Palestinian people in Gaza, at scale and without diversion.

“From our very first day of operations, our mission was singular: feed civilians in desperate need. We built a new model that worked, saved lives, and restored dignity to civilians in Gaza.”

According to the GHF website, the group distributed more than three million food boxes, totalling 187 million meals, and supplied 1.1 million packs of Ready-to-Use Supplementary Food (RUSF) for malnourished children.

Read more:
Sky’s Adam Parsons sees Gaza destruction
Israel launches strikes on Gaza
Israel strikes Beirut for first time in months

Hamas welcomes GHF closure

In a statement, Hamas welcomed the closure of GHF and accused it of being a project that “engineered starvation” in partnership with Israel.

A Hamas spokesperson said: “Since its entry into the Gaza Strip, this foundation was part of the occupation’s security system, which adopted distribution mechanisms entirely disconnected from humanitarian principles, and created dangerous and degrading conditions for the dignity of the starving Palestinian people during their attempts to obtain a piece of bread, resulting in the killing and injury of thousands, through sniper operations and deliberate killing.”

They also called on international legal bodies to hold “this foundation and its officers accountable for their crimes against our people”.

US state department deputy spokesperson Tommy Piggot also said on X that the aid group “shared valuable lessons learned with us and our partners”.

“GHF’s model, in which Hamas could no longer loot and profit from stealing aid, played a huge role in getting Hamas to the table and achieving a ceasefire,” he added.

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