6 people hurt in a knife attack on a bus in Germany. No political or religious motive seen

6 people hurt in a knife attack on a bus in Germany. No political or religious motive seen
Police officers stand in front of a bus on a special route to a city festival in Siegen, Germany, Friday, Aug. 30, 2024, after a suspect allegedly attacked other passengers on the bus with a knife. (AP)
Short Url
Updated 31 August 2024
Follow

6 people hurt in a knife attack on a bus in Germany. No political or religious motive seen

6 people hurt in a knife attack on a bus in Germany. No political or religious motive seen
  • The bus was on its way to a local festival in the town and at least another 40 people were on board

BERLIN: Police arrested a 32-year-old woman after six people were hurt in a knife attack on a bus headed to a festival in western Germany. Authorities said Saturday that there was no evidence of a political or religious motive.
Three of those attacked are in life-threatening condition, police said on Friday evening.
The knife attack took place in Siegen, east of Cologne. The bus was on its way to a local festival in the town and at least another 40 people were on board when the attack took place at about 7:40 p.m.
Police and prosecutors said the six people wounded were aged between 16 and 30 and all were from the region. By Saturday morning, three of them had left the hospital after outpatient treatment.
Local authorities planned to go ahead with the festival.
The stabbing in Siegen happened a week after a knife attack in Solingen, a city in the same state of North Rhine-Westphalia, in which a suspected Islamic extremist from Syria who had avoided being deported is accused of killing three people and wounding another eight.
The Solingen attack prompted the governing coalition to draw up plans to tighten knife laws and make deportations easier.
Police said the woman arrested in Siegen was a German citizen with no immigrant roots.


Ukraine ready to sign minerals deal: Zelensky

Ukraine ready to sign minerals deal: Zelensky
Updated 17 sec ago
Follow

Ukraine ready to sign minerals deal: Zelensky

Ukraine ready to sign minerals deal: Zelensky
  • The US leader had previously said the proposed minerals deal would be “very fair”

LONDON: Ukraine is ready to sign a minerals deal with the United States, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told UK media on Sunday.
“The agreement that’s on the table will be signed if the parties are ready,” he told a late-night huddle with some UK media after a landmark summit in London.
The deal, which was supposed to be a step toward helping to end the conflict in Ukraine, fell through on Friday after a televised Oval Office clash with US President Donald Trump.
“It is our policy to continue what happened in the past, we’re constructive,” Zelensky said, quoted by the BBC.
“If we agreed to sign the minerals deal, we’re ready to sign it.”
Zelensky had traveled to Washington for a full White House visit on Friday to sign a US-Ukrainian deal for the joint exploitation of Ukraine’s vast mineral resources, as part of a post-war recovery in a US-brokered peace deal.
But in their Oval Office meeting, Trump berated Zelensky, telling him to be more “thankful” for US support in the three-year war and that without US assistance Ukraine would have been conquered by Russia.
“You’re either going to make a deal or we’re out,” Trump added. “And if we’re out, you’ll fight it out and I don’t think it’s going to be pretty.”
The US leader had previously said the proposed minerals deal would be “very fair.”
The proposal was to give Washington financial benefits for helping Ukraine in a truce, even if Trump has repeatedly refused to commit any US military force as a back-up to European troops who might act as peacekeepers.
After the heated exchange, Zelensky drove off in his motorcade shortly after having been asked to leave, without holding a planned joint press conference. The resources deal was left unsigned, the White House said.
Ukraine’s allies rallied around Zelensky on Sunday at a summit hosted by UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer who said many European leaders had pledged to spend more on security and assemble a coalition to defend any truce.
French President Emmanuel Macron, flying back from the London summit, said in a newspaper interview that France and Britain wanted to propose a partial one-month truce with Russia.
 

 


Drone hits apartment building in Ukraine’s Kharkiv, injures seven, mayor says

Drone hits apartment building in Ukraine’s Kharkiv, injures seven, mayor says
Updated 25 min 34 sec ago
Follow

Drone hits apartment building in Ukraine’s Kharkiv, injures seven, mayor says

Drone hits apartment building in Ukraine’s Kharkiv, injures seven, mayor says
  • Kharkiv resisted capture in the early days of Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine and has since been a frequent target of air attacks

A Russian drone struck a multi-story apartment building late on Sunday in Ukraine’s second largest city, Kharkiv, triggering a fire and injuring eight people, the city’s mayor said.
Kharkiv resisted capture in the early days of Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine and has since been a frequent target of air attacks. A medical center was damaged in one of several drone strikes in the city on Friday.
Mayor Ihor Terekhov, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said the fire triggered by Sunday’s attack spread to several apartments on the top floor of the building.
None of the injured had required hospital treatment, he said. Three other residential buildings were damaged, with well over 100 windows smashed.
Emergency crews were working at the site, the mayor added.


Anti-DOGE protests at Tesla stores target Elon Musk’s bottom line

Anti-DOGE protests at Tesla stores target Elon Musk’s bottom line
Updated 03 March 2025
Follow

Anti-DOGE protests at Tesla stores target Elon Musk’s bottom line

Anti-DOGE protests at Tesla stores target Elon Musk’s bottom line
  • Musk is taking direction from Trump to slash federal spending and sharply reduce the workforce

BOSTON: Demonstrators gathered outside Tesla stores across the US Saturday to protest the automaker’s billionaire CEO, Elon Musk, and his push to slash government spending on behalf of President Donald Trump.
The demonstrations are part of a growing backlash in North America and Europe to Musk’s disruptive role in Washington.
Critics of Trump and Musk hope to discourage and stigmatize purchases of Tesla, the electric car company that is the world’s most valuable automaker. Liberal groups for weeks have organized anti-Tesla protests in hopes of galvanizing opposition to Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency and energizing Democrats still demoralized by Trump’s November victory.
“We can get back at Elon,” said Nathan Phillips, a 58-year-old ecologist from Newton, Massachusetts, who was protesting in Boston on Saturday. “We can impose direct economic damage on Tesla by showing up at showrooms everywhere and boycotting Tesla and telling everyone else to get out, sell your stocks, sell your Teslas.”
Musk is taking direction from Trump to slash federal spending and sharply reduce the workforce, arguing that Trump’s victory gave the president and him a mandate to restructure the US government. DOGE officials have swiftly gained access to sensitive databases, directed thousands of federal job cuts, canceled contracts and shut down sections of the government, including the US Agency for International Development.
Musk’s critics say his actions defy Congress’s power to control the US budget and present a host of ways for him to enrich himself. Musk leads several other companies, notably SpaceX, which conducts launches for NASA and the intelligence community, and the social media platform X.
“Protests will not deter President Trump and Elon Musk from delivering on the promise to establish DOGE and make our federal government more efficient and more accountable to the hardworking American taxpayers across the country,” said White House spokesperson Harrison Fields.
Tesla did not respond to an emailed request for comment.
More than 50 demonstrations were listed Saturday on the website Tesla Takedown, with more planned later in March from coast to coast in the United States along with England, Spain and Portugal. News reports showed demonstrations in recent days in US cities including Tucson, Arizona; St. Louis; New York City; Dayton, Ohio; Charlotte; and Palo Alto, California.
Some Tesla owners have also reported their vehicles vandalized with spray painted swastikas amid what Jewish groups and observers fear is a rise in antisemitism.
Federal prosecutors charged a woman in connection with a string of vandalism against a Colorado Tesla dealership, which included Molotov cocktails being thrown at vehicles and the words “Nazi cars” spray painted on the building.
Saturday’s demonstration in Boston had a festive atmosphere, with a brass band playing music as protesters carried signs and chanted. Several of the signs mocked Musk and DOGE, with one reading: “Stop Elon and his despicable Muskrats.”
“This government led by Trump and Musk, it’s gone completely off the rails and we are here to stop that,” said Carina Campobasso, a retired federal worker. “And I hope they listen.”
About 300 demonstrators protested at a Tesla dealership in New York City on Saturday. Police said nine people were taken into custody but did not elaborate on the charges they faced.
Tesla’s share price has fallen by nearly a third since Trump took office, though it’s still higher than it was a year ago. Musk’s current net worth is an estimated $359 billion, according to Forbes, which calculated his 2024 net worth as $195 billion.


France, UK propose one-month Ukraine truce; European allies rally around Zelensky amid US row

France, UK propose one-month Ukraine truce; European allies rally around Zelensky amid US row
Updated 03 March 2025
Follow

France, UK propose one-month Ukraine truce; European allies rally around Zelensky amid US row

France, UK propose one-month Ukraine truce; European allies rally around Zelensky amid US row
  • Urges European countries to raise their defense spending to between 3.0 and 3.5 percent of GDP
  • European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen warned the continent urgently had to rearm to “prepare for the worst”

PARIS: France and Britain are proposing a one-month truce in Ukraine “in the air, at sea” after crisis talks in London, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday.
In an interview with France’s Le Figaro newspaper, he also suggested that European countries should raise their defense spending to between 3.0 and 3.5 percent of GDP to respond to Washington’s shifting priorities.
“For three years, the Russians have spent 10 percent of their GDP on defense,” he told the paper. “So we have to prepare for what’s next.”

Macron announced the proposal as he flew back to France from a summit in London on Sunday, during which European leaders closed ranks in support of Kyiv at a London summit, pledging to spend more on security and assemble a coalition to defend any truce in Ukraine.

Bringing together 18 allies, the talks came just two days after US President Donald Trump berated Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky at a live White House news conference.
And UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that Britain, France “and others” would work with Ukraine on a plan to stop the fighting, which they would then put to Washington.

 

The London meeting came at a delicate moment for war-battered Ukraine, which faces uncertain backing from Trump and is on the back foot against Russia’s three-year invasion.
And Trump’s row with Zelensky raised fresh questions over the US commitment to Ukraine and NATO.
Starmer said Europe found itself “at a crossroads in history.”
“This is not a moment for more talk — it’s time to act. It’s time to step up and lead and unite around a new plan for a just and enduring peace,” the premier said.
With no guarantee of US involvement, “Europe must do the heavy lifting,” Starmer said. Several countries were ready to help defend any truce, he added — without naming them.

Zelensky was warmly embraced by many of the summit’s attendees, including Starmer, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and NATO chief Mark Rutte.
Outside the UK leader’s home, demonstrators gathered to show their support for Ukraine, some dressed in the country’s blue and yellow national colors.
His reception in London was in stark contrast to his reception at the White House two days earlier.
There, Trump accused Zelensky of not being grateful enough for US aid and not being “ready” for peace with Russia.
Their argument, played out in front of the world’s news cameras, raised fears that Trump wanted to force Kyiv into a peace deal giving Russian President Vladimir Putin what he wants.
Starmer insisted the United States was “not an unreliable ally.” Any deal “must have strong US backing” to succeed, he added.
But after the leaders gathered on Sunday, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen warned the continent urgently had to rearm to “prepare for the worst.”
And Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk called for the United States and Europe to show Putin “that the West has no intention of capitulating before his blackmail and aggression.”

 

Starmer and Macron have said they are prepared to deploy British and French troops to Ukraine to help preserve any truce.
But Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni — whose hard-right coalition government includes Moscow-friendly politicians — appeared to play down the possibility of Italy contributing soldiers.
“I see this as a solution that risks being very complex and probably less decisive than others,” she said.
Rutte pointed to promises from more European countries to “ramp up defense spending,” while insisting that Washington remained committed to the transatlantic alliance.
In addition to attending the security summit, Zelensky also met King Charles III at his Sandringham estate.

Friday’s row in Washington marked a change from Zelensky’s previous treatment there, where he was hailed as a Churchillian figure by the previous US administration.
Trump and his Vice President JD Vance angrily accused Zelensky of not being “thankful” and refusing to accept their proposed truce terms.
On Sunday, top Washington Republicans doubled down on their criticism of the Ukrainian leader, suggesting he may have to step down, underscoring Trump’s stunning shift in approach to the war with Russia.
“We need a leader that can deal with us, eventually deal with the Russians, and end this war,” Mike Waltz, Trump’s national security adviser told CNN.
Republican Mike Johnson, speaker of the House of Representatives, said: “Either he needs to come to his senses and come back to the table in gratitude, or someone else needs to lead the country.”
Trump has cast himself as a mediator between Putin and Zelensky, sidelining Kyiv and Europe while pursuing rapprochement with Putin.
Zelensky, though he did not apologize after the White House clash, indicated that he was still open to signing a deal on Ukraine’s mineral wealth — coveted by Trump.
The US president on Sunday shared a reposting on his Truth Social platform arguing that the mineral agreement itself would give Ukraine the security it was seeking and that “in the end, Zelensky will have no choice but to concede.”
Moscow meanwhile branded the Ukrainian leader’s Washington trip a “complete failure” and said that Trump’s changed stance “aligns” with its vision.
 

 


Ugandan army deploys to town in northeast Congo

Ugandan army deploys to town in northeast Congo
Updated 03 March 2025
Follow

Ugandan army deploys to town in northeast Congo

Ugandan army deploys to town in northeast Congo
  • The deployment was requested by the Congolese army following alleged massacres of civilians carried out by a militia known as Codeco

KAMPALA: The Ugandan army confirmed Sunday it has sent troops to another town in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo to fight local armed groups, amid fears a raging conflict could spiral into a wider war.

“Our troops have entered Mahagi town and we are in control,” Uganda’s defense and military affairs spokesman Felix Kulayigye said Sunday.

The deployment was requested by the Congolese army following alleged massacres of civilians carried out by a militia known as the Cooperative for the Development of Congo, or Codeco, he said, without providing further details.

Mahagi is in Ituri province, which borders Uganda, where at least 51 people were killed on Feb. 10 by armed men affiliated with Codeco, according to humanitarian and local sources.

Codeco claims it defends the interests of the Lendu community, mainly composed of farmers, against the Hema community, mainly herders.

Uganda already has thousands of troops in other parts of Ituri under an agreement with the Congolese government.

Last month, Uganda announced its troops had “taken control” of the provincial capital, Bunia.

Ituri is just north of the provinces of North and South Kivu, which at the end of January fell under the control of the anti-government M23 armed group, which is backed by neighboring Rwanda.

Analysts fear that Uganda and Rwanda’s growing presence in eastern Congo could lead to a repeat of the so-called Second Congo War, which lasted from 1998 to 2003, involving many African countries and resulting in millions of deaths from violence, disease and famine.

Meanwhile, Congo’s army denied on Sunday that 20 fighters linked to the Rwandan genocide had been captured on its territory, calling a video of their handover to Rwanda “faked.”

The statement came after the Rwanda-backed M23 armed group in eastern Congo said on Saturday it had captured fighters from the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, or FDLR, a militia founded by ethnic Hutus who took part in the genocide of Tutsis in Rwanda in 1994.

Rwanda has long pointed to the alleged presence of the FDLR in eastern Congo to justify its support for the M23.

With Rwanda’s backing, the M23 has seized swaths of the Congo’s troubled, mineral-rich east in recent months, including the key provincial capitals of Goma and Bukavu.

The M23 released a video showing its forces handing over 20 alleged FDLR fighters to Rwanda at a border post between the two countries.

“This is a faked incident in poor taste orchestrated with the sole aim of discrediting our army,” the Congolese armed forces chiefs of staff said in a statement.

“This is part of the Rwandan strategy to justify the invasion of parts of the DRC’s territory,” it added.

“The Rwandan authorities, who specialize in the art of lies and manipulation, took old FDLR detainees, dressed them in new military fatigues, and passed them off as FDLR fighters newly captured in Goma.”

The Congolese high command also accused the Rwandan army of “summary executions” of wounded and ill soldiers at a field hospital in Goma, which “constitutes a war crime and crime against humanity,” it said.