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Five held in anti-terror operation in north France

Five held in anti-terror operation in north France
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin called on local authorities to “maintain extreme vigilance” over the Christmas and Epiphany festivities. (AFP)
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Updated 22 December 2023
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Five held in anti-terror operation in north France

Five held in anti-terror operation in north France
  • The arrests took place in Nancy and two other towns in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department of northern France
Updated 22 December 2023
AFP
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PARIS: Five people were arrested in northern France on Friday as part of an investigation into a criminal terrorist conspiracy, the national anti-terrorist prosecutor’s office said.
A source close to the case confirmed to AFP that they had been taken into police custody, but gave no further details of their suspected crimes.
The arrests took place in Nancy and two other towns in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department of northern France, the source said.
The suspects, picked up by the intelligence services, belong to an Islamist movement, according to another source.
On Friday, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin called on local authorities to “maintain extreme vigilance” over the Christmas and Epiphany festivities, due to the “very high level of terrorist threat that continues to exist.”
In October, France activated its highest level of emergency alert following the murder of Dominique Bernard, a French teacher stabbed to death by a radicalized former pupil in northern france.
The activation of the emergency level is also in place in the international context of the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.

Topics: France terror

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India flight from Frankfurt hit with latest fake threat

India flight from Frankfurt hit with latest fake threat
Updated 8 sec ago
AFP
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India flight from Frankfurt hit with latest fake threat

India flight from Frankfurt hit with latest fake threat
  • More than a dozen fake bomb threats have been made against flights operated by multiple Indian air services this week
  • Police had arrested ‘a minor responsible for issuing bomb threats’ against three flights
Updated 8 sec ago
AFP
BENGALURU, India: The latest in a string of hoax threats made against Indian airlines targeted a flight from Germany, the airline said Thursday, with the plane landing safely in Mumbai.
More than a dozen fake bomb threats have been made against flights operated by multiple Indian air services this week, prompting government and civil aviation authorities to warn that “very strict action” will be taken.
India’s Vistara airline said Thursday that its passenger jet flying from Frankfurt to Mumbai the day before had received a “security threat” on social media, but landed safely at its planned destination.
“We are fully cooperating with the security agencies to complete the mandatory security checks,” Vistara said in a statement.
India’s aviation minister Ram Mohan Naidu said late Wednesday that the police had arrested “a minor responsible for issuing bomb threats” against three flights.
“All others responsible for the disruptions will be identified and duly prosecuted,” Naidu added.
Flights impacted include an Air India plane from New Delhi to Chicago, forced to make an emergency landing in Canada on Tuesday.
On the same day, Singapore scrambled fighter jets to escort an Air India Express plane.

Russia attacks energy infrastructure in Ukraine’s Mykolaiv region overnight, governor says

Russia attacks energy infrastructure in Ukraine’s Mykolaiv region overnight, governor says
Updated 19 min 18 sec ago
Reuters
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Russia attacks energy infrastructure in Ukraine’s Mykolaiv region overnight, governor says

Russia attacks energy infrastructure in Ukraine’s Mykolaiv region overnight, governor says
Updated 19 min 18 sec ago
Reuters

KYIV: Russian forces attacked energy infrastructure in the southern region of Mykolaiv as they launched 56 drones and one missile in an overnight assault on Ukraine.
Mykolaiv regional governor Vitaliy Kim said the attack had cut power to some consumers and said there were no casualties in a statement on the Telegram messaging app.
The Ukrainian air force also reported five hits to infrastructure facilities in regions near the front line.
It said 22 drones were shot down and that it lost track of 27 drones that likely fell into Ukrainian territory following active electronic warfare measures. Two more drones went to Belarus.
Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said drone debris fell on the land of a kindergarten in the capital.
The authorities in Kyiv and the surrounding region reported no damage to critical infrastructure or casualties following the attack.
Regional authorities in the northeastern Sumy region said a drone attack caused a fire at an administrative building and damaged two cars.
Russian forces have pummelled critical infrastructure in Ukrainian cities ahead of the winter months, prompting Kyiv leadership to intensify pleas for additional air defense from its allies.
Russia denies targeting civilians, although it has killed thousands during more than 2 1/2 years of war.

Topics: Russia-Ukraine Conflict

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Australia gives 49 aging Abrams tanks to Ukraine
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Australia gives 49 aging Abrams tanks to Ukraine

Australia gives 49 aging Abrams tanks to Ukraine

Australia gives 49 aging Abrams tanks to Ukraine
Updated 34 min 7 sec ago
AP
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Australia gives 49 aging Abrams tanks to Ukraine

Australia gives 49 aging Abrams tanks to Ukraine
  • They will be replaced in Australia by a fleet of 75 next-generation M1A2 tanks
  • The tanks bring the total value of Australia’s military assistance to Ukraine to over $866 million
Updated 34 min 7 sec ago
AP

MELBOURNE: Australia will give 49 of its aging M1A1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine months after Kyiv requested the redundant fleet, Defense Minister Richard Marles said Thursday.
The Australian government was giving Ukraine most of its American-made M1A1 tanks, which are valued at 245 million Australian dollars ($163 million), Marles said. They will be replaced in Australia by a fleet of 75 next-generation M1A2 tanks.
In February, Marles said that giving Ukraine the tanks as they were phased out was not on his government’s agenda. But on Thursday he said he did not regard the donation as a backflip on his government’s previous position.
“We talk with the Ukrainian government consistently around how best we can support them,” Marles told Australian Broadcasting Corp.
“We look at the material that we have; its effectiveness, ... the shape that it’s in, to be frank, whether it would be able to make a difference, whether it can be sustained and maintained so that it can be kept in the fight. And the Abrams tanks fit all of those criteria,” he added.
Ukraine’s Ambassador to Australia, Vasyl Myroshnychenko, would not be drawn on opposition lawmakers’ criticisms that the tanks should have been donated earlier.
“This is a very timely, a very substantial and very fit-for-purpose announcement,” Myroshnychenko said. “We respect the decision of the government. It was not an easy one and I’m very happy that it was a positive one.”
The tanks bring the total value of Australia’s military assistance to Ukraine since Russia’s 2022 invasion to over AU$1.3 billion ($866 million).
The United States agreed to send 31 Abrams tanks to Ukraine in January 2023 after an aggressive monthslong campaign by Kyiv arguing that the tanks were vital to its ability to breach Russian lines.

Topics: Russia-Ukraine Conflict Ukraine Australia

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India slams ‘cavalier’ Trudeau in Sikh separatist murder row

India slams ‘cavalier’ Trudeau in Sikh separatist murder row
Updated 17 October 2024
AFP
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India slams ‘cavalier’ Trudeau in Sikh separatist murder row

India slams ‘cavalier’ Trudeau in Sikh separatist murder row
  • Canada has alleged that India arranged the killing of a Sikh separatist, naturalized Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar
  • He had been wanted by Indian authorities for alleged terrorism and conspiracy to commit murder
Updated 17 October 2024
AFP

NEW DELHI: India slammed Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday as “cavalier” over his handling of the disastrous diplomatic fallout following the 2023 killing of a Sikh separatist in Canada.
New Delhi held firm its defiant stance toward Ottawa — an approach in sharp contrast to its compliant attitude this week toward the United States, where India is also accused of directing a separate assassination plot.
Canada has alleged that India arranged the killing of a Sikh separatist, naturalized Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar, murdered in the parking lot of a Sikh temple in Vancouver in June 2023.
India has called the allegations “preposterous.”
But Trudeau, at a parliamentary inquiry on Wednesday, said Canada had “clear... indications that India had violated Canada’s sovereignty.”
Canada’s top envoy to New Delhi, Stewart Wheeler, who India has ordered to leave by Saturday night, has said Ottawa had provided “credible, irrefutable evidence of ties between agents of the Government of India and the murder of a Canadian citizen.”
India’s foreign ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal on Thursday said they had not seen that evidence.
“Canada has presented us (India) no evidence whatsoever in support of the serious allegations that it has chosen to level against India and Indian diplomats,” he said in a statement.
“The responsibility for the damage that this cavalier behavior has caused to India-Canada relations lies with Prime Minister Trudeau alone.”
Nijjar — who immigrated to Canada in 1997 and became a citizen in 2015 — had advocated for a separate Sikh state, known as Khalistan, carved out of India.
He had been wanted by Indian authorities for alleged terrorism and conspiracy to commit murder.
Four Indian nationals have been arrested in connection with Nijjar’s murder.
Last year, the Indian government briefly curbed visas for Canadians and this week both countries expelled each other’s ambassadors.
New Delhi’s response to Washington has been very different, with the US State Department on Wednesday saying India had told it that an intelligence operative accused of directing an assassination plot on US soil was no longer in government service.
US prosecutors charged an Indian citizen last November over a foiled attempt in New York to kill an advocate for a separate Sikh homeland.
The indictment described an “Indian government employee,” who was not publicly named, as recruiting the hitman and directing the assassination plot remotely, including by arranging the delivery of $15,000 in cash.
India’s Hindustan Times, quoting an unnamed US official, said Monday that India not only removed but arrested the employee on “local charges.”
The State Department did not confirm the arrest.

Topics: Diplomacy India Canada Justin Trudeau

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Hong Kong policemen jailed over harassment of homeless

Hong Kong policemen jailed over harassment of homeless
Updated 17 October 2024
AFP
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Hong Kong policemen jailed over harassment of homeless

Hong Kong policemen jailed over harassment of homeless
  • Judge Kathie Cheung sentences police officers to prison terms ranging from 25 to 41 months
  • The charges are related to a 2020 incident in which the officers raided the tents of two homeless Vietnamese men
Updated 17 October 2024
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HONG KONG: A judge in Hong Kong jailed six policemen on Thursday for harassing homeless people, following a rare criminal conviction of law enforcement in the Chinese financial hub.
Judge Kathie Cheung sentenced the police officers to prison terms ranging from 25 to 41 months over multiple charges of “perverting the course of justice.”
The charges are related to a 2020 incident in which the officers raided the tents of two homeless Vietnamese men, Nguyen Van Son and Le Van Muoi, arresting them on suspicion of possessing a knife as well as illegal drugs.
In a judgment issued last month, Cheung found that the officers had deliberately covered surveillance cameras near the tents.
Footage of the incident showed the empty hands of one of the homeless men during his arrest, contradicting the written account by police that he had been holding illegal drugs.
“I found the sole reasonable inference is that they had decided to trump up a charge against [Le],” Cheung said in her judgment.
The judge said the officers had “abused their powers ... breached the public trust in the police and damaged the public confidence in the judicial system.”
Following his arrest, Le was held in a psychiatric center, where he died.
Homelessness is a growing problem in the wealthy city, with the official number of people living on the streets rising from 595 to 1,470 over the past decade.
Being chased away or having their belongings seized were among the major concerns of homeless people, according to a 2021 survey, but officials were seldom held accountable.

Topics: Hong Kong

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