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Poland denies involvement in Nord Stream sabotage

Poland denies involvement in Nord Stream sabotage
Gas bubbles from the Nord Stream 2 leak reaching surface of the Baltic Sea in the area shows disturbance of well over one kilometer diameter near Bornholm, Denmark, on Sep. 27, 2022. (Reuters/File)
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Updated 16 August 2024
AFP
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Poland denies involvement in Nord Stream sabotage

Poland denies involvement in Nord Stream sabotage
  • “Poland did not take part in anything. It has to be said clearly that this is a lie,” the minister, Krzysztof Gawkowski, said
  • Gawkowski was speaking after former German intelligence chief August Hanning accused Poland of working with Ukraine on the sabotage
Updated 16 August 2024
AFP
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WARSAW: A Polish deputy prime minister on Friday denied his country’s involvement in the sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea in September 2022.
“Poland did not take part in anything. It has to be said clearly that this is a lie,” the minister, Krzysztof Gawkowski, told TV channel Polsat News.
Gawkowski was speaking after former German intelligence chief August Hanning, who held the post between 1998 and 2005, accused Poland of working with Ukraine on the sabotage.
Kyiv has also strongly denied any role.
“It looks like it was a Ukrainian team that acted, according to the results of the investigation,” Hanning said in an interview with the Die Welt daily.
“It is quite obvious that Polish authorities were involved,” he said, calling for Germany to demand compensation from Kyiv and Warsaw.
Gawkowski firmly denied the accusation.
“I think this is Russian disinformation resonating through the words of German politicians,” he said.
“Either they are acting under the influence” of Moscow “or they know that this will lead to divisions between NATO member states,” he said.
Polish prosecutors on Wednesday told AFP they had received an arrest warrant issued by Berlin for a Ukrainian diver residing in Poland accused of involvement in the blasts.
But Warsaw said he left the country before he could be detained.
On Thursday, Ukraine said the accusation of its involvement was “absolute nonsense” after a detailed report in the Wall Street Journal.
Nord Stream’s twin gas pipelines, which ran from Russia to Germany under the Baltic Sea, came under intense scrutiny when Moscow invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
Several large gas leaks were discovered emanating from the pipelines in September 2022, with seismic institutes recording underwater explosions just before.

Topics: Russia-Ukraine Conflict Poland Nord Stream 2

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At least 38 die in bus accident in southeastern Brazil

At least 38 die in bus accident in southeastern Brazil
Updated 25 sec ago
AFP
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At least 38 die in bus accident in southeastern Brazil

At least 38 die in bus accident in southeastern Brazil
Updated 25 sec ago
AFP
SAO PAULO: At least 38 people were killed in a bus crash in southeastern Brazil on Saturday, officials said, in what President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva called a “terrible tragedy.”
The accident in Minas Gerais state, involving a bus that caught fire in the collision, is the worst seen on Brazil’s federal highways since 2007, according to police data cited by local media.
In their latest report, civil police confirmed 38 fatalities with eight people hospitalized.
Conflicting accounts of the accident have emerged: firefighters initially said the bus at around 3:30 am had blown a tire near the town of Lajinha, causing the driver to lose control of the vehicle and hit a truck. Another vehicle also hit the bus from behind, officials said, but its occupants survived.
However, firefighters later cited witnesses as saying that a granite block being transported by the truck fell onto the bus, causing the accident.
After the crash, the bus, which had been making its way from Sao Paulo to Vitoria da Conquista, in the northeastern Bahia state, caught fire.
The death toll has crept upward throughout the day, with a spokeswoman for the local fire department earlier telling AFP that “it was not yet possible to specify the exact number due to the state of the bodies.”
The fire department, upon removing charred remains, said earlier that some of the victims had been trapped inside.
In a video released Saturday morning, Lt. Alonso Vieira Junior, with the Minas Gerais fire department, said a crane would be needed to clear the wreckage, and that “there are still more victims to be removed.”
Among the dead are the bus driver and at least one child.
Lula took to social media to offer his prayers for “the recovery of the survivors of this terrible tragedy.”
“I am deeply sorry,” he said, offering condolences to the families of the victims.
The governor of Minas Gerais said he was working “so that the families of the victims are cared for, to deal with this tragedy in the most humane way possible.”
At the end of November, a bus accident in the state of Alagoas, in the northeast, left 17 dead when it plunged into a ravine while traveling on a remote mountain road.

More than 30 dead in Brazil bus and truck collision

More than 30 dead in Brazil bus and truck collision
Updated 21 December 2024
Reuters
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More than 30 dead in Brazil bus and truck collision

More than 30 dead in Brazil bus and truck collision
  • The exact death toll remains uncertain due to the condition of the bodies, which were burned beyond recognition
  • Initially, firefighters reported the bus, carrying 45 passengers, had a tire blowout, causing driver to lose control
Updated 21 December 2024
Reuters

A packed bus collided with a truck and burst into flames early on Saturday in Brazil, killing more than 30 people, the fire department said.
After completing the removal of victims from a major highway near the town of Teofilo Otoni in Minas Gerais, the state’s fire department estimated the number of fatalities between 32 and 35, including at least one child.
The exact death toll remains uncertain due to the condition of the bodies, which were burned beyond recognition.
Confirmation will likely depend on forensic work by the Civil Police, the department said in a statement.
A forensic investigation will also be required to determine the accident’s cause, as differing accounts were gathered from witness testimonies, it added.
Initially, firefighters reported the bus, carrying 45 passengers, had a tire blowout, causing the driver to lose control before colliding with an oncoming truck on the BR-116 federal highway, a major route connecting Brazil’s densely populated southeast to the poorer northeast.
However, witnesses also reported that a granite block the truck was transporting came loose, fell on the road and caused the collision with the bus, said the fire department.
“Only the forensic investigation will confirm the true version,” it added.
The bus departed from Sao Paulo and was headed to the state of Bahia.
Firefighters said they rescued 13 passengers from the wrecked bus. Three occupants of a car that also collided and was trapped under the truck survived the accident.

Topics: brazil bus accident

Indian man denies hospital rape and murder of doctor

Indian man denies hospital rape and murder of doctor
Updated 21 December 2024
AFP
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Indian man denies hospital rape and murder of doctor

Indian man denies hospital rape and murder of doctor
  • The discovery of the doctor’s bloodied body at a government hospital in Kolkata on August 9 sparked nationwide anger
  • The gruesome nature of the attack drew comparisons with the 2012 gang rape and murder of a young woman on a Delhi bus
Updated 21 December 2024
AFP

KOLKATA: An Indian man on trial for raping and murdering a 31-year-old doctor has pleaded not guilty, his lawyer said Saturday, a crime that appalled the nation and triggered wide-scale protests.
The discovery of the doctor’s bloodied body at a government hospital in the eastern city of Kolkata on August 9 sparked nationwide anger at the chronic issue of violence against women.
Sanjoy Roy, 33, the lone accused in the case, pleaded not guilty before the judge in a closed court on Friday in Kolkata, his lawyer Sourav Bandyopadhyay told AFP.
“I am not guilty, your honor, I have been framed,” Roy told the court, Bandyopadhyay said, repeating his client’s words.
Roy, a civic volunteer in the hospital, was arrested the day after the murder and has been held in custody since.
He would potentially face the death penalty if convicted.
The court began hearings on November 11, listening to evidence from some 50 witnesses, but it was on Friday that Roy took the stand.
“Judge Anirban Das questioned him with more than 100 questions during the six-hour-long in camera deposition, that continued until late in the evening,” Bandyopadhyay said.
Roy had earlier proclaimed his innocence to the public while screaming from a prison van outside the court before a hearing in November.
Doctors in Kolkata went on strike for weeks in response to the brutal attack.
Tens of thousands of ordinary Indians joined in the protests, which focused anger on the lack of measures for female doctors to work without fear.
India’s Supreme Court has ordered a national task force to examine how to bolster security for health care workers, saying the brutality of the killing had “shocked the conscience of the nation.”
The gruesome nature of the attack drew comparisons with the 2012 gang rape and murder of a young woman on a Delhi bus, which also sparked weeks of nationwide protests.
The trial continues. The next hearing is set for January 2, 2025.

Topics: Kolkata rape kolkata rape case

Russia’s UK embassy denounces G7 loans to Ukraine as ‘fraudulent scheme’

Russia’s UK embassy denounces G7 loans to Ukraine as ‘fraudulent scheme’
Updated 21 December 2024
Reuters
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Russia’s UK embassy denounces G7 loans to Ukraine as ‘fraudulent scheme’

Russia’s UK embassy denounces G7 loans to Ukraine as ‘fraudulent scheme’
  • Britain said in October it would lend Ukraine 2.26 billion pounds as part of a much larger loan from the Group of Seven nations backed by frozen Russian central bank assets
Updated 21 December 2024
Reuters

LONDON: The Russian embassy in London on Saturday described Britain’s planned transfer to Ukraine of more than 2 billion pounds ($2.5 billion) backed by frozen Russian assets as a “fraudulent scheme.”
Britain said in October it would lend Ukraine 2.26 billion pounds as part of a much larger loan from the Group of Seven nations backed by frozen Russian central bank assets to help buy weapons and rebuild damaged infrastructure.
The loans were agreed in July by leaders of the G7 — Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the US — along with top officials from the European Union, where most of the Russian assets frozen as a result of the war are held.
“We are closely following UK authorities’ efforts aimed at implementing a fraudulent scheme of expropriating incomes from Russian state assets ‘frozen’ in the EU,” the Russian embassy in London said on social media.
British Defense Minister John Healey said the money would be solely for Ukraine’s military and could be used to help develop drones capable of traveling further than some long-range missiles.
The embassy added: “The elaborate legislative choreography fails to conceal the illegitimate nature of this arrangement.”
Russia’s Foreign Ministry last week described the US transfer to Ukraine of its share of the G7’s $50 billion in loans as “simply robbery.”

Topics: Russia-Ukraine Conflict UK G7 countries

Suspect in deadly Christmas market attack which killed 5 railed against Islam and Germany

Suspect in deadly Christmas market attack which killed 5 railed against Islam and Germany
Updated 25 min 5 sec ago
Reuters
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Suspect in deadly Christmas market attack which killed 5 railed against Islam and Germany

Suspect in deadly Christmas market attack which killed 5 railed against Islam and Germany
  • Source: Saudi Arabia had warned German authorities about the attacker
  • Germany’s domestic intelligence agency declined to comment on the ongoing investigation
Updated 25 min 5 sec ago
Reuters

MAGDEBURG, Germany: At least five people were killed in a car-ramming attack at a German Christmas market in the city of Magdeburg that also left more than 200 injured, officials said, and a Saudi man was arrested on suspicion of driving a car into the crowd.

The Friday evening attack on market visitors gathered to celebrate the pre-Christmas season comes amid a fierce debate over security and migration during an election campaign in Germany, where the far right is polling strongly.

“What a terrible act it is to injure and kill so many people there with such brutality,” Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in the central city, part of the former East Germany, where he laid a white rose at a church in honor of the victims.

“We have now learnt that over 200 people have been injured,” he added. “Almost 40 are so seriously injured that we must be very worried about them.”

German authorities are investigating a 50-year-old Saudi doctor who has lived in Germany for almost two decades in connection with the car-ramming. Police searched his home overnight.

The motive remained unclear and police have not yet named the suspect. He has been named in German media as Taleb A.

Officials said on Saturday he held strongly anti-Islam views and was angry with Germany’s migrant and asylum policy.

A Saudi source told Reuters that Saudi Arabia had warned German authorities about the attacker after he posted extremist views on his personal X account that threatened peace and security.

Der Spiegel reported that the suspect had sympathized with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. The magazine did not say where it got the information.

Germany’s domestic intelligence agency declined to comment on the ongoing investigation.

Germany’s FAZ newspaper said it interviewed the suspect in 2019, describing him as an anti-Islam activist.

“People like me, who have an Islamic background but are no longer believers, are met with neither understanding nor tolerance by Muslims here,” he was quoted as saying. “I am history’s most aggressive critic of Islam. If you don’t believe me, ask the Arabs.”

Andrea Reis, who had been at the market on Friday, returned on Saturday with her daughter Julia to lay a candle by the church overlooking the site. She said that had it not been for a matter of moments, they may have been in the car’s path.

“I said, ‘let’s go and get a sausage’, but my daughter said ‘no let’s keep walking around’. If we’d stayed where we were we’d have been in the car’s path,” she said.

Tears ran down her face as she described the scene. “Children screaming, crying for mama. You can’t forget that,” she said.

Scholz’s Social Democrats are trailing both the far-right AfD and the frontrunner conservative opposition in opinion polls ahead of snap elections set for Feb. 23.

The AfD, which enjoys particularly strong support in the former East, has led calls for a crackdown on migration to the country.

Its chancellor candidate Alice Weidel and co-leader Tino Chrupalla issued a statement on Saturday condemning the attack.

“The terrible attack on the Christmas market in Magdeburg in the middle of the peaceful pre-Christmas period has shaken us,” they said.

A leading Social Democrat lawmaker in the Bundestag parliament warned against jumping to conclusions and said it appeared the attacker did not have an Islamist motive.

“Now we have to wait for the investigations. It seems that things are different here than was initially assumed,” Dirk Wiese told the Rheinische Post newspaper.

Topics: Germany attack

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Saudi Arabia condemns Magdeburg attack, expresses condolences to victims
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Suspect in German Christmas market attack was ‘not quite what many rushed to assume’, veteran British journalist says

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