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Nine injured in Russian drone attack on Kyiv, Ukraine’s officials say

Nine injured in Russian drone attack on Kyiv, Ukraine’s officials say
Reuters witnesses heard a series of explosions in Kyiv in what sounded like air defense units in operation. (REUTERS)
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Updated 30 October 2024
Reuters
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Nine injured in Russian drone attack on Kyiv, Ukraine’s officials say

Nine injured in Russian drone attack on Kyiv, Ukraine’s officials say
  • Kyiv, its surrounding region and nearly the whole eastern half of Ukraine were under air raid alerts
Updated 30 October 2024
Reuters
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KYIV: At least nine people were injured, including an 11-year-old girl, and several apartments were on fire after a Russian drone attack on Kyiv, Ukrainian officials said on Wednesday.
Falling debris from a destroyed drone sparked a fire in a multi-story apartment building in the Solomianskyi district in Kyiv’s west, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on his Telegram messaging app.
“So far, nine people have been injured,” Klitschko said. “All of them were treated by medics on the spot.”
The military administration of Kyiv posted a photo of flames bursting out of a flat in an apartment building.
It also said that another fire broke out in a multi-story administrative building in the Solomianskyi district.
Reuters witnesses heard a series of explosions in Kyiv in what sounded like air defense units in operation.
Kyiv, its surrounding region and nearly the whole eastern half of Ukraine were under air raid alerts from around 0130 GMT.

Topics: Russia ukraine war

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On Christmas Eve, Pope Francis launches holy Jubilee year

On Christmas Eve, Pope Francis launches holy Jubilee year
Updated 21 sec ago
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On Christmas Eve, Pope Francis launches holy Jubilee year

On Christmas Eve, Pope Francis launches holy Jubilee year
Updated 21 sec ago
VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis opened the “Holy Door” of St. Peter’s Basilica on Christmas Eve on Tuesday, launching the Jubilee year of Catholic celebrations set to draw more than 30 million pilgrims to Rome.
The 88-year-old pontiff, who has recently been suffering from a cold, was pushed in a wheelchair up to the huge, ornate bronze door and knocked on it, before the doors opened.
In a ceremony watched on screens by thousands of faithful outside in St. Peter’s Square, the Argentine pontiff went through the door followed by a procession, as the bells of the Vatican basilica rang out.
Over the next 12 months, Catholic pilgrims will pass through the door — which is normally bricked up — by tradition benefiting from a “plenary indulgence,” a type of forgiveness for their sins.
Pope Francis then presided over the Christmas Eve mass in St. Peter’s, where he turned once again to the victims of war.
“We think of wars, of machine-gunned children, of bombs on schools and hospitals,” he said in his homily.
The pope had drawn an angry response from Israel at the weekend for condemning the “cruelty” of Israel’s strikes in Gaza that killed children.
He was due to deliver his traditional Christmas Day blessing, Urbi et Orbi (to the city and the world), at midday on Wednesday.


Some 700 security officers are being deployed around the Vatican and Rome for the Jubilee celebrations, with measures further tightened following Friday’s car-ramming attack on a Christmas market in Germany.
Much of Rome has also been given a facelift in preparation, with monuments such as the Trevi Fountain and the Ponte Sant’Angelo cleaned up and roads redesigned to improve the flow of traffic.
Many residents have questioned how the Eternal City — where key sites are already overcrowded and public transport is unreliable — will cope with millions more visitors next year.
Key Jubilee projects were only finished in the last few days after months of work that turned much of the city into a building site.
Inaugurating a new road tunnel at Piazza Pia next to the Vatican on Monday, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said it had taken a “little civil miracle” to get the project finished in time.
Over the course of the next few days, Holy Doors will be opened in Rome’s three major basilicas and in Catholic churches around the world.
On Thursday, Pope Francis will open a Holy Door at Rebibbia prison in Rome and preside over a mass in a show of support for the inmates.
Organized by the Church every 25 years, the Jubilee is intended as a period of reflection and penance, and is marked by a long list of cultural and religious events, from masses to exhibitions, conferences and concerts.
“It’s my first time in Rome and for me, to be here at the Vatican, I feel already blessed,” said Lisbeth Dembele, a 52-year-old French tourist visiting St. Peter’s Square earlier.
The Jubilee, whose motto this year is “Pilgrims of Hope,” is primarily aimed at the world’s almost 1.4 billion Catholics, but also aims to also reach a wider audience.
Traditions have evolved since the first such event back in 1300, launched by Pope Boniface VIII.
This year, the Vatican has provided pilgrims with online registration and multilingual phone apps to navigate events.

Snowstorm cuts power to tens of thousands in Bosnia

Snowstorm cuts power to tens of thousands in Bosnia
Updated 24 December 2024
AFP
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Snowstorm cuts power to tens of thousands in Bosnia

Snowstorm cuts power to tens of thousands in Bosnia
  • At the same time, in the western part of Bosnia, a state of emergency was declared after severe weather blocked all entry and exit points to the municipality of Drvar, cutting off its 17,000 residents
Updated 24 December 2024
AFP

SARAJEVO: Parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina were cut off and more than 170,000 people were left without electricity on Tuesday due to a snowstorm gripping the region.
“Despite efforts and continuous work to repair the faults, the electricity supply situation worsened. Currently, 127,000 metering points are without power,” distributor Elektroprivreda BiH said.
Elektrokrajina, which covers the municipalities of the Serb entity in Bosnia, Republika Srpska, also announced that around 50,000 of its users are without power.
“All available field teams have been deployed and have been working since the early morning hours to repair the faults,” the company stated.
At the same time, in the western part of Bosnia, a state of emergency was declared after severe weather blocked all entry and exit points to the municipality of Drvar, cutting off its 17,000 residents.
“The situation is extremely difficult. The snow keeps falling. People are stranded in the snow,” Jasna Pecanac, the president of the Drvar Municipal Council, told local media.
Snowdrifts in some villages around Drvar are up to two meters high, and the heavy blizzard is making clearing efforts even more difficult.
“We are requesting assistance for snow clearing. All available machinery is already in the field,” said Pecanac.
The snow is heaviest in the western parts of the country, where a red weather alert is in effect.
In the hilly and mountainous areas of this region, the severe snowstorm has caused numerous faults in the electricity distribution network.
The Serbian official Hydrometeorological Institute has issued a warning that heavy snowfall will continue.

 

Topics: Bosnia

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1 dead after Russian missile hits Ukrainian apartment block

Rescuers carry the body of killed person at the site where apartment building was hit by a Russian missile strike in Kryvyi Rih.
Rescuers carry the body of killed person at the site where apartment building was hit by a Russian missile strike in Kryvyi Rih.
Updated 24 December 2024
AP
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1 dead after Russian missile hits Ukrainian apartment block

Rescuers carry the body of killed person at the site where apartment building was hit by a Russian missile strike in Kryvyi Rih.
  • Gov. Serhii Lysak said at least 11 other people were injured and more people could be trapped beneath the rubble of the four-story apartment block
Updated 24 December 2024
AP

KYIV: A Russian ballistic missile struck a residential building Tuesday in the Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih and at least one person was killed, local authorities said.
Gov. Serhii Lysak said at least 11 other people were injured and more people could be trapped beneath the rubble of the four-story apartment block.
Social media footage showed one side of the building had almost completely collapsed.
“Unfortunately, we are preparing for difficult news,” Mayor Oleksandr Vilkul wrote on his Telegram channel.
Minutes before his post, Ukraine’s air force alerted a “ballistic missile strike threat” for southern and central regions of Ukraine, later signaling a “high-speed” target flying in the direction of Kryvyi Rih.
The strike came as Ukraine prepared to officially celebrate Christmas for the second time on Dec. 25. President Volodymyr Zelensky signed legislation in July 2023 to bring Ukraine’s public Christmas holiday in line with the majority of other European countries, rather than the later date followed in Russia.
The shift sought to assert Ukraine’s national identity amid Russia’s full-scale invasion.
“While the rest of the world celebrates Christmas, Ukrainians continue to suffer from endless Russian attacks,” Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, wrote on social media.

Topics: Russia-Ukraine Conflict

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Bangladesh says ousted PM will face charges of ‘crimes against humanity’

Bangladesh’s ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. (AFP)
Bangladesh’s ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. (AFP)
Updated 24 December 2024
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Bangladesh says ousted PM will face charges of ‘crimes against humanity’

Bangladesh’s ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. (AFP)
  • Bangladeshi court issued arrest warrants for Sheikh Hasina and her ministers in October
  • In 2015, Dhaka returned Indian separatist leader under extradition treaty with Delhi
Updated 24 December 2024
SHEHAB SUMON

DHAKA: Ousted Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will face multiple charges of crimes against humanity, the country’s interim government said on Tuesday after sending an extradition request to India. 

Hasina travelled to New Delhi in August during the student-led demonstrations that ended her 15 years in power. The initially peaceful protests, which began in early July, were met with a violent crackdown by security forces, which left hundreds dead and sparked a nationwide uprising against Hasina, forcing her to flee the country. 

In October, a Bangladeshi domestic criminal tribunal issued arrest warrants for Hasina and more than 40 other people linked to the protest killings. 

Bangladesh’s foreign affairs adviser, Md. Touhid Houssain, said on Monday that his country had sent a diplomatic note to India’s Foreign Ministry asking for Hasina’s return in order to begin a “judicial process.”

“We expect (India) will respond as soon as possible,” Azad Majumder, deputy press secretary of the head of Bangladesh’s interim government Muhammad Yunus, told Arab News. 

There are multiple charges against Hasina, including that she bears responsibility for forced disappearances, and for ordering the killings that took place during the protests, he added. 

“She will face multiple charges against her regarding crimes against humanity, and investigations are underway in this regard,” Yunus said.

India has confirmed reception of the request from Bangladesh. Bangladesh has an extradition treaty with India, which serves as a “commitment that both parties will comply with this instrument,” said Jyotirmoy Barua, a lawyer at the Bangladesh Supreme Court and a human rights activist. 

In 2015, Bangladesh handed over Anup Chetia, a separatist rebel leader whose group had fought Indian rule in the northeastern state of Assam. He was arrested in 1997 for illegal entry into Bangladesh and for possession of large amounts of foreign currency. 

Though Bangladesh expects that India will return Sheikh Hasina in respect of their bilateral treaty and the precedent that was set in Chetia’s case, there are concerns that New Delhi may not comply. 

“India may (refer to) this clause of the treaty that Sheikh Hasina may face ‘political vengeance’ in the trial process and may not receive justice. On these grounds, India may not eventually comply with Bangladesh’s request,” Barua said. 

“So, there is a fear that India may not follow the diplomatic norms here in returning Sheikh Hasina. It depends on the good judgement of Indian leadership.” 

Topics: Sheikh Hasina Bangladesh

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Five convicted over Amsterdam violence against Israelis

Five convicted over Amsterdam violence against Israelis
Updated 34 min 30 sec ago
AFP
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Five convicted over Amsterdam violence against Israelis

Five convicted over Amsterdam violence against Israelis
Updated 34 min 30 sec ago
AFP

AMSTERDAM: A Dutch court on Tuesday convicted five men for their part in last month’s violence against Israeli football fans in Amsterdam that shocked the world and sparked accusations of anti-Semitism.
The Amsterdam district court found them guilty for a range of crimes from kicking fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv in the street to inciting violence in chat groups.
The heaviest sentence imposed was six months in prison, for a man identified as Sefa O. for public violence against several people.
The Maccabi Tel Aviv fans came under “hit-and-run” style attacks in the early hours of November 8 after their European League match against Amsterdam giants Ajax.
Images of the violence, which left five fans briefly hospitalized, went around the world and sparked a furious reaction in Israel including accusations of a “pogrom.”
The most serious case under consideration Tuesday was O., who prosecutors said played a “leading role” in the violence.
The court saw images of a man identified as O. kicking a person on the ground, chasing targets, and punching people in the head and the body.
The prosecutor said the beatings had “little to do with football” but added that “in this case, there was no evidence of... a terrorist intent and the violence was not motivated by anti-Semitic sentiment.”
“The violence was influenced by the situation in Gaza, not by anti-Semitism,” said the prosecutor.
The attacks followed two days of skirmishes that also saw Maccabi fans chant anti-Arab songs, vandalize a taxi and burn a Palestinian flag.
Police said they were investigating at least 45 people over the violence, including that carried out by fans of the Israeli club.

Another man identified as Umutcan A., 24, received a sentence of one month for assaulting fans and violently ripping a Maccabi scarf from one of them.
Prosecutors had called for heavier sentences against the men — of up to two years in the case of O.
The judge said that people convicted of such crimes would normally have to serve community service.
“But the court finds that, given the seriousness of the offense and the context in which it was committed, only imprisonment is appropriate,” she said.
Only one of the five men was in court to hear the verdicts, an AFP reporter saw.
A 22-year-old identified as Abushabab M., 22, faces a charge of attempted murder but his case has been postponed while he undergoes a psychiatric assessment.
He was born in the Gaza Strip and grew up in a war zone, his lawyer told the court, while M. sat sobbing as his case was being heard.
A further six suspects are set to appear at a later stage.
Three of these suspects are minors and their cases will be heard behind closed doors.
At an emotionally charged news conference the morning after the riots, Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema said the city had been “deeply damaged” by “hateful anti-Semitic rioters.”
However, Halsema later said she regretted the parallel she had drawn between the violence and “memories of pogroms,” saying this word had been used as propaganda.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the violence at the time as a “premeditated anti-Semitic attack.”

Topics: Amsterdam

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