BERLIN – German investigators suspect a Berlin doctor of killing eight elderly patients under his care, and setting fire to some of their homes to cover up his crimes, prosecutors said yesterday. The unnamed suspect, 40, who worked in palliative care for a nursing service, was remanded in custody in August on suspicion of killing...
International
Putin says Ukraine barrage was ‘response’ to strikes on Russia
ASTANA – Russian president Vladimir Putin yesterday said a massive air attack against Ukraine was Moscow’s “response” to Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory with Western missiles. He has previously railed at Ukraine’s allies granting permission for Kyiv to use Western-supplied weapons to strike targets on Russian territory, warning of retaliation. “We carried out a comprehensive...
Iran’s Khamenei says ICC warrant for Netanyahu ‘not enough’
TEHRAN – Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Monday that a war crimes case against Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the Gaza war was insufficient, and that he deserved a “death sentence”. In his first remarks since the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu last week, Khamenei told...
20 Ugandans win damages in Covid era LGBTQ arrests
KAMPALA – A Ugandan court awarded damages to 20 people, who were arrested, paraded in public and tortured on suspicion of being homosexuals, in a decision hailed by rights groups on Monday. Uganda passed one of the world’s harshest anti-gay laws last year.But the case relates to the arrest of a group of youth in...
France ‘deliberately’ obscured WWII Senegal massacre
DAKAR – Senegal will on Sunday commemorate the massacre of dozens of African soldiers who had fought for then colonial ruler France by French troops in a Dakar suburb on 1 December 1944. France has deliberately tried to erase from memory the mass killings of soldiers, known as “tirailleurs” (riflemen), from its various former African...
Developing nations slam climate deal
BAKU – The world approved a bitterly-negotiated climate deal yesterday, but poorer nations most at the mercy of worsening disasters dismissed a US$300 billion-a-year pledge from wealthy historic polluters as insultingly low. After two exhausting weeks of chaotic bargaining and sleepless nights, nearly 200 nations banged through the contentious finance pact in the early hours...
Tight security as Kenya’s embattled Ruto to address nation
NAIROBI – Kenya deployed a heavy police presence Thursday ahead of president William Ruto’s state of the nation speech, which comes as he faces criticism over abductions, corruption and unpopular economic policies. There were some calls online to protest his speech to parliament. But the energy behind the mass demonstrations between June and August, sparked...
Lumumba’s tooth ‘secure’ after vandalism
KINSHASA – The tooth of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)’s independence hero, Patrice Lumumba, said to be kept in a mausoleum which was vandalised earlier this week, is “secure”, the interior minister said yesterday. «The relic has been secured, and it is protected,» Jacquemain Shabani said in a recorded statement sent to AFP. The...
Nations race to land climate deal as COP29 draft rejected
BAKU – A fresh draft of a climate pact unveiled yesterday at COP29 failed to break an impasse between nations, with negotiators racing against the clock to broker a trillion-dollar finance agreement. The UN climate summit is scheduled to conclude on Friday but the latest draft deal released by hosts Azerbaijan was spurned by rich...
Israeli strikes toll reaches 44 000 mostly women, children
GAZA CITY – A hospital director yesterday said dozens were dead or missing after an Israeli strike in northern Gaza, while rescuers said another strike in the Palestinian territory killed 22 people.One strike was reported in a residential area near the Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza, which according to hospital director Hossam Abu Safiya...