Days after an assassination attempt, Slovakia’s prime minister Robert Fico remains in serious condition, but the worst may be over, according to his deputy. A suspect remains in custody. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has more. …
Cairo — Islamic State on Sunday claimed responsibility for an attack by gunmen on tourists in Afghanistan’s central Bamiyan province, the group said on its Telegram channel. Three Spanish tourists were killed and at least one Spaniard was injured in the attack, Spain’s foreign ministry said on Friday. Taliban interior ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qaniee four …
Read more “Islamic State claims attack in Afghanistan that killed 3 Spaniards”
London — The final report of the U.K.’s infected blood inquiry will be published Monday, nearly six years after it began looking into how tens of thousands of people contracted HIV or hepatitis from transfusions of tainted blood and blood products in the 1970s and 1980s. The scandal is widely seen as the deadliest to afflict …
Read more “What happened in the UK’s infected blood scandal? Inquiry report due Monday”
Budapest, Hungary — Police say two people have died and five are missing following a boat collision on the Danube River in Hungary. Hungarian police received a report late Saturday night that a man had been found with a head injury on the shore of the Danube near the town of Veroce, around 50 kilometers north …
Read more “2 dead, 5 missing after Danube River boat collision in Hungary”
Beijing — China’s commerce ministry on Sunday launched an anti-dumping probe into POM copolymers, a type of engineering plastic, imported from the European Union, United States, Japan and Taiwan. The plastics can partially replace metals such as copper and zinc and have various applications including in auto parts, electronics, and medical equipment, the ministry said in …
Read more “China launches anti-dumping probe into EU, US, Japan, Taiwan plastics”
Madrid — Europe’s far-right political parties unofficially launched their campaign Sunday for European Union elections in Spain with strong messages against illegal migration and the bloc’s climate policy while declaring their support for Israel in its war against Hamas. French National Rally party leader Marine Le Pen and Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni tried to rally …
Read more “Europe’s far-right groups launch unofficial campaign for EU elections”
Paris — Armed robbers who used a motorbike as a battering ram made off with “several million euros’” [dollars’] worth of valuables in a heist of the luxury Paris boutique of self-declared “Jeweler to the Stars” Harry Winston, the French prosecutor’s office overseeing the police probe said. Having refused Saturday to confirm that Harry Winston was …
Read more “Armed robbers take ‘several million dollars’ of Harry Winston jewels in Paris “
VIENNA — A court in the Russian city of St. Petersburg has ordered the seizing of assets of Germany’s Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank in the country, the Russia state news agency Tass says. The order is in response to a lawsuit over the planned construction of a liquefied natural gas terminal in the Baltic Sea. The …
Read more “Russian court freezes assets of two German banks in gas project dispute “
Bratislava — Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico’s life is no longer in danger following an assassination attempt, Deputy Prime Minister Robert Kalinak said on Sunday. A lone gunman, who appeared in court Saturday, shot Fico four times and he was at one stage said to be fighting for his life. “He has emerged from the immediate …
Read more “Slovak PM’s life no longer in danger after shooting “
London — The host of a news conference about WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s extradition fight wryly welcomed journalists last week to the “millionth” press briefing on his court case. Deborah Bonetti, director of the Foreign Press Association, was only half joking. Assange’s legal saga has dragged on for well over a decade but it could come …
MOSCOW — Russian officials said on Sunday that Ukraine fired nine U.S. ATACMS at Crimea and attacked Russian regions with at least 60 drones in a major attack which forced one oil refinery in southern Russia to halt operations. Russian air defenses shot down nine U.S. ATACMS missiles over Crimea along with 57 drones over Russia’s …
RIETI, Italy — Ella Anthony knew it was time to leave her native Nigeria when she escaped an abusive, forced marriage only to face angry relatives who threatened to turn her in to police because she was gay. Since Nigeria criminalizes same-sex relationships, Anthony fled a possible prison term and headed with her partner to …
Read more “As countries tighten anti-gay laws, more LGBTQ+ seek safety and asylum in Europe”
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Even before kicking off a three-day visit to Madrid on Friday, Argentina’s libertarian President Javier Milei stirred controversy, accusing the socialist government of bringing “poverty and death” to Spain and weighing in on corruption allegations against the prime minister’s wife. In such circumstances, a typical visiting head of state may strive to …
Read more “In Spain, Argentine president snubs officials, courts far-right”
BERLIN — Six climate activists broke through a security fence at the Munich airport Saturday and glued themselves to access routes leading to runways, temporarily halting flights. The activists from the group Last Generation were protesting flying as the most polluting form of transportation, said the German news agency dpa. Police detained the six. Some 60 …
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WARSAW, Poland — Poland is investing about $2.5 billion to step up security and deterrence on its border with Russia and its ally Belarus, the prime minister said Saturday. Donald Tusk said work on the Shield-East project, which includes building military fortifications, has already begun. Poland is on the eastern flank of NATO and the European …
Read more “Poland invests $2.5 billion to fortify border with Russia, Belarus”
TBILISI, Georgia — Georgia’s president on Saturday vetoed the so-called “Russian law” targeting media that has sparked weeks of mass protests. The law would require media and nongovernmental organizations to register as “pursuing the interests of a foreign power” if they receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad. Critics of the bill say that …
Read more “Georgia’s president vetoes media law that provoked weeks of protests”
ISLAMABAD — The Taliban government said Saturday that the death toll from an overnight gun attack on Western tourists in central Afghanistan had risen to at least six, including three Spaniards. Interior Ministry spokesperson Abdul Mateen Qani said in a video statement that the Friday evening shooting in Bamiyan city by unknown assailants left three Afghans …
Read more “Taliban raise death toll to 6 in gun attack on Western tourists”
PEZINOK, Slovakia — The man accused of attempting to assassinate Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico was ordered to remain behind bars Saturday. Fico is in serious but stable condition after surviving multiple gunshots, officials said. Slovakia’s Specialized Criminal Court ordered the detention of the suspect after prosecutors said they feared he could flee or carry out …
Read more “Court orders suspect in Slovak PM shooting be detained”
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LONDON — A scenic fishing village in southwestern England was under instructions to boil its tap water for a third day on Friday after a parasite sickened more than 45 people in the latest example of Britain’s troubled water system. Around 16,000 homes and businesses in the Brixham area of Devon were told to boil water …
Read more “English fishing village told to boil water after a parasite outbreak”
washington — Hundreds of Syrian mercenaries have been sent by Turkey to Niger in recent months to protect Ankara’s economic and military interests in the West African nation, a rights group and experts said. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has researchers throughout Syria, reports that recruitment of Syrian fighters for deployment to Niger …
Read more “Turkey sends Syrian mercenaries to Niger to secure strategic interests”
Diyarbakir, Turkey / Washington — A Turkish court gave several lengthy prison sentences to pro-Kurdish politicians for instigating protests in southeastern Turkey in 2014 when the Islamic State group attacked the Syrian border town of Kobani. Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag, the former co-leaders of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), on Thursday received the longest …
Read more “Turkish court hands pro-Kurdish politicians lengthy sentences over deadly protests”