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  • Turkey Arrests Spider Smuggler Said to Be American Museum of Natural History Curator

    Turkey Arrests Spider Smuggler Said to Be American Museum of Natural History Curator

    ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkish police arrested a man suspected of trying to smuggle valuable poisonous spiders and scorpions out of the country, with state media identifying the suspect on Monday as a curator at New York’s American Museum of Natural History.

    Police arrested the suspect at Istanbul Airport on Sunday and seized dozens of bags from his luggage containing some 1,500 scorpions and spiders, including tarantulas, as well as dozens of plastic bottles containing unspecified liquids, police said.

    The state-owned Anadolu news agency reported the suspect was Lorenzo Prendini, a curator at the historic U.S. museum, without specifying a source.

    The American Museum of Natural History did not immediately respond to a request for comment and Prendini could not be reached.

    Police said the specimens seized were endemic to Turkey and that their DNA could be copied and their poisons milked for use in making medicines. The suspect faces charges under anti-smuggling law, it added without giving a name.

    “It is understood that these medicines have very high financial values and therefore taking these animal species abroad is strictly forbidden,” it said.

    It said research showed that the market value of one litre of medicine obtained from scorpion venom was worth $10 million.

    (Reporting by Omer Berberoglu and Daren Butler; Editing by Jonathan Spicer and Nick Macfie)

    Copyright 2024 Thomson Reuters.

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  • US Senator Robert Menendez’s Corruption Trial to Get Underway

    US Senator Robert Menendez’s Corruption Trial to Get Underway

    NEW YORK (Reuters) – Jury selection is expected to begin on Monday in the corruption trial of U.S. Senator Robert Menendez, a case that could affect the Democrat’s reelection prospects and help determine which party controls the Senate next year.

    Menendez, 70, and two New Jersey businessmen face charges in a bribery conspiracy case in Manhattan federal court, in a trial that could last five to eight weeks. The senator’s wife, Nadine Menendez, has also been charged but will be tried separately.

    All four have pleaded not guilty.

    Menendez, New Jersey’s senior senator, is up for re-election in November and if exonerated hopes to run for a fourth full term as an independent.

    But recent polls show Menendez is deeply unpopular among New Jersey voters, and many Democratic senators including New Jersey’s Cory Booker have called for him to resign. Democrats and independents who caucus with them hold a 51-49 Senate majority.

    Prosecutors said the Menendezes accepted cash, gold bars and a Mercedes-Benz convertible in exchange for the senator wielding his political influence in New Jersey and to help Egypt’s and Qatar’s governments.

    The senator allegedly promised to help Egypt obtain arms sales and other military aid, and helped defendant Wael Hana, an Egyptian American businessman, obtain a lucrative monopoly on the certification of halal meat exports to Egypt.

    Prosecutors also said Menendez tried to help defendant Fred Daibes, a prominent New Jersey developer, obtain millions of dollars from an investment fund linked to Qatar’s government, and sought to disrupt a federal criminal case against Daibes in New Jersey.

    Menendez and his wife also face obstruction of justice charges. The alleged crimes occurred between 2018 and 2023.

    A fifth defendant, Jose Uribe, pleaded guilty to bribery and fraud charges in March and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.

    Nadine Menendez’s trial is scheduled for July 8. Her case was separated after her lawyers said she developed a serious medical condition that required a lengthy recovery.

    Documents released last month showed that Robert Menendez, if he chose to testify, might blame his wife by disclosing marital communications that would “tend to exonerate” him but could incriminate her.

    His lawyers said Menendez could explain what they discussed during dinners with Egyptian officials and offer his wife’s explanation for why Hana and Uribe “provided her certain monetary items.”

    The senator’s corruption trial is his second.

    In 2017, a New Jersey federal judge declared a mistrial after jurors deadlocked on whether Menendez broke the law by providing help to a wealthy ophthalmologist, Salomon Melgen, in exchange for lavish gifts and political contributions.

    Menendez became a senator in 2006. He had chaired the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee but stepped down last September after first being indicted.

    Several other current and former members of Congress also face federal criminal charges, including Representative Henry Cuellar, a Texas Democrat, and former representative George Santos, a New York Republican.

    While New Jersey’s voting population leans Democratic, public support for Menendez collapsed following his indictment.

    Fewer than one in six voters polled in March by Monmouth University and Emerson College Polling/PIX11/The Hill said they approved of Menendez’s job performance. Even fewer said they would vote for him as an independent.

    Several Senate seats held by Democrats or independents may be closely contested in November. A seat now held by West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin, who is not seeking reelection, is expected to turn Republican.

    (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Diane Craft)

    Copyright 2024 Thomson Reuters.

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  • Armenian Police Detain 88 People During Anti-Government Protests

    Armenian Police Detain 88 People During Anti-Government Protests

    TBILISI (Reuters) – Armenian police detained 88 people at a protest in the capital Yerevan by demonstrators demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan over his decision to cede several border villages to Azerbaijan, Interfax news agency reported on Monday, quoting the Interior Ministry.

    (Writing by Maxim Rodionov, Editing by Timothy Heritage)

    Copyright 2024 Thomson Reuters.

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  • Eight People Reported Killed in a Shooting on the Southern Edge of Mexico City

    Eight People Reported Killed in a Shooting on the Southern Edge of Mexico City

    MEXICO CITY (AP) — Eight people were reported killed in a mass shooting just south of Mexico City.

    Local and state officials confirmed Sunday that the attack occurred and there were some deaths, but didn’t give a number of victims. Local media reported that eight people died.

    The government of the state of Morelos, which borders Mexico City, said the attack occurred late Saturday in Huitzilac.

    The forested mountain township has been plagued by illegal loggers, kidnappers and drug gangs, in part because it provides the closest rural hideout near the capital.

    The town’s mayor, Rafael Vargas, called the attack “a terrible violent act” and said that “several people” were killed.

    “Right in the center of town, several people were attacked and killed,” Vargas said. Apparently aware of the town’s rough reputation, Vargas said “The violence should stop. We will denounce all types of slander that seek to damage our people.”

    Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • US Marine Pilot Arrested in Australia Worked With Chinese Hacker, Lawyer Says

    US Marine Pilot Arrested in Australia Worked With Chinese Hacker, Lawyer Says

    SYDNEY (Reuters) – A former U.S. Marine pilot fighting extradition from Australia on U.S. charges of training Chinese military pilots to land on aircraft carriers, unknowingly worked with a Chinese hacker, his lawyer said.

    Daniel Duggan, 55, a naturalised Australian citizen, feared requests by Western intelligence agencies for sensitive information were putting his family at risk, the lawyer said in a legal filing seen by Reuters.

    The lawyer’s filing supports Reuters reporting linking Duggan to convicted Chinese defence hacker Su Bin.

    Duggan denies the allegations that he broke U.S. arms control laws. He has been in an Australian maximum security prison since his 2022 arrest after returning from six years working in Beijing.

    U.S. authorities found correspondence with Duggan on electronic devices seized from Su Bin, Duggan’s lawyer Bernard Collaery said in the March submission to Australian Attorney General Mark Dreyfus, who will decide whether to surrender Duggan to the U.S. after a magistrate hears Duggan’s extradition case.

    The case will be heard in a Sydney court this month, two years after his arrest in rural Australia at a time when Britain was warning its former military pilots not to work for China.

    Su Bin, arrested in Canada in 2014, pleaded guilty in 2016 to theft of U.S. military aircraft designs by hacking major U.S. defence contractors. He is listed among seven co-conspirators with Duggan in the extradition request.

    Duggan knew Su Bin as an employment broker for Chinese state aviation company AVIC, lawyer Collaery wrote, and the hacking case was “totally unrelated to our client”.

    Although Su Bin “may have had improper connection to (Chinese) agents this was unknown to our client”, Duggan’s lawyer wrote.

    ‘OVERT INTELLIGENCE CONTACT’

    AVIC was blacklisted by the U.S. last year as a Chinese military-linked company.

    Messages retrieved from Su Bin’s electronic devices show he paid for Duggan’s travel from Australia to Beijing in May 2012, according to extradition documents lodged by the United States with the Australian court.

    Duggan asked Su Bin to help source Chinese aircraft parts for his Top Gun tourist flight business in Australia, Collaery wrote.

    The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) and U.S. Navy criminal investigators knew Duggan was training pilots for AVIC and met him in Australia’s Tasmania state in December 2012 and February 2013, his lawyer wrote.

    ASIO and the U.S. Navy Criminal Investigation Service did not respond to Reuters requests for comment on the meetings. ASIO has previously said it would not comment as the matter was before the court.

    “An ASIO officer suggested that while carrying on his legitimate business operations in China, Mr Duggan may be able to gather sensitive information,” his lawyer wrote.

    Duggan moved to China in 2013 and was barred from leaving the country in 2014, his lawyer said. Duggan’s LinkedIn profile and aviation sources who knew him said he was working in China as an aviation consultant in 2013 and 2014.

    He renounced his U.S. citizenship in 2016 at the U.S. embassy in Beijing, backdated to 2012 on a certificate, after “overt intelligence contact by U.S. authorities that may have compromised his family safety”, his lawyer wrote.

    His lawyers oppose extradition, arguing there is no evidence the Chinese pilots he trained were military and that he became an Australian citizen in January 2012, before the alleged offences.

    The United States government has argued Duggan did not lose his U.S. citizenship until 2016.

    (Reporting by Kirsty Needham in Sydney; Editing by William Mallard)

    Copyright 2024 Thomson Reuters.

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  • Campus Gaza Rallies May Subside, but Experts See Possible ‘Hot Summer of Protest’

    Campus Gaza Rallies May Subside, but Experts See Possible ‘Hot Summer of Protest’

    DENVER, Colorado (Reuters) – About a dozen students arrested by police clearing a sit-in at a Denver college campus emerged from detainment to cheers from fellow pro-Palestinian protesters, several waving yellow court summons like tiny victory flags and imploring fellow demonstrators not to let their energy fade.

    Just how much staying power the student demonstrations over the war in Gaza that have sprung up in Denver and at dozens of universities across the United States will have is a key question for protesters, school administrators and police, with graduation ceremonies being held, summer break coming and high-profile encampments dismantled.

    The student protesters passionately say they will continue until administrators meet demands that include permanent ceasefire in Gaza, university divestment from arms suppliers and other companies profiting from the war, and amnesty for students and faculty members who have been disciplined or fired for protesting.

    War in Israel and Gaza

    Academics who study protest movements and the history of civil disobedience say it’s difficult to maintain the people-power energy on campus if most of the people are gone. But they also point out that university demonstrations are just one tactic in the wider pro-Palestinian movement that has existed for decades, and that this summer will provide many opportunities for the energy that started on campuses to migrate to the streets.

    Dana Fisher is a professor at American University in Washington, D.C., and author of several books on activism and grassroots movements who has seen some of her own students among protesters on her campus.

    She noted the college movement spread organically across the country as a response to police called onto campus at Columbia University on April 18, when more than 100 people were arrested. Since those arrests, at least 2,600 demonstrators have been detained at more than 100 protests in 39 states and Washington, D.C., according to The Appeal, a nonprofit news organization.

    “I don’t see enough organizational infrastructure to sustain a bunch of young people who are involved in a movement when they are not on campus,” Fisher said. “Either the movement has to evolve substantially or it can’t continue.”

    Following the initial arrests at Columbia, students there occupied a classroom building, an escalation of the protest that led to even more arrests. Similarly in Denver, police on April 26 arrested 45 people at an encampment protest at the Auraria campus – which serves the University of Colorado-Denver, Metropolitan State University and the Community College of Denver.

    Then on May 8, Auraria protesters staged a short-lived sit-in inside the Aerospace and Engineering Sciences building, developed in part with a $1 million gift from arms manufacturer Lockheed Martin.

    Students in Denver say the movement’s spread from the coasts to the heartland and to smaller universities shows it has staying power. Student protests also have flared outside the U.S.

    “We’re keeping our protests up and our encampment going until our demands are met, however long that takes,” said Steph, a 21-year-old student on the Auraria campus who declined to give their full name for fear of reprisals. “We’ll be here through summer break and into next fall if needed.”

    Fisher, the academic, said the police response to protests has helped ignite a sense of activism in a new generation of students. She thinks the current campus demonstrations foreshadow a “long, hot summer of protest” about many issues, and that the Republican national convention in July and the Democratic national convention in August will be ripe targets for massive protest.

    “The stakes have gotten much higher, and that’s very much due to the way that police have responded in a much more aggressive and repressive way than they did even back in the 1960s,” Fisher said, referring to student-led protests against the Vietnam War.

    “And then you just plop right down in the middle of all that the presidential election?” she said. “It’s a crazy recipe for one hell of a fall.”

    AFTER GRADUATION, A GHOST TOWN

    Michael Heaney, a American lecturer in politics at the University of Glasgow in Scotland whose research and books have focused on U.S. protest movements said the campus demonstrations are just one tactic in the wider movement to support Palestinians, an ongoing effort that goes back decades.

    Heaney said that the geographical diffusion of the university encampments to places like Denver is an opportunity to bring the message of the wider movement to places where it may not have been before.

    Heaney added that “protests for any movement are episodic” and pointed to the various manifestations of the African-American Civil Rights movement in the U.S., going back 200 years. Just because one moment of protest ends does not foretell its overall demise.

    He said pro-Palestinian protests in American cities this summer could grow if Israel’s offensive in Gaza continues, and that such demonstrations would have been stoked by the widespread university activism.

    On Denver’s Auraria campus, while students were cleared from the classroom building, about 75 tents remain on a grassy quad, where protesters say they serve 200 meals each day in a mess hall tent. One of the student protest organizers, Jacob, 22, said he’s convinced the facts on the ground in Gaza are what will sustain the encampment.

    “After graduation it may be a ghost town on this campus – but we’ll still be here,” he said. “We’re not going anywhere.”

    (Reporting by Brad Brooks in Denver; editing by Donna Bryson and Aurora Ellis)

    Copyright 2024 Thomson Reuters.

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  • Gunmen Kidnap Nine Students From Nigerian University

    Gunmen Kidnap Nine Students From Nigerian University

    MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (Reuters) – At least nine students were kidnapped from their classrooms by gunmen at a university in Nigeria’s northern state of Kogi, the state government said on Friday, as Africa’s most populous nation grapples with widespread insecurity.

    Armed gangs have been causing havoc in northern Nigeria, where they kidnap villagers, students and motorists for ransom, with security forces unable to end the practice.

    Kingsley Femi Fanwo, Kogi’s information commissioner, said the students were studying when gunmen attacked the Confluence University of Science and Technology on Thursday night.

    He said a search and rescue operation by security agents and hunters who know the local terrain was underway.

    Kidnappings at schools in Nigeria were first carried out by jihadist group Boko Haram, who seized more than 200 students from a girls’ school in Chibok in Borno state a decade ago.

    The tactic has since been adopted by criminal gangs without any ideological affiliation seeking ransom payments.

    (Reporting by Ahmed Kingimi, writing by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by Michael Erman)

    Copyright 2024 Thomson Reuters.

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  • UN Mission Cites Evidence of ‘Racial Bias’ Among Italian Police

    UN Mission Cites Evidence of ‘Racial Bias’ Among Italian Police

    ROME (Reuters) – U.N.-backed human rights experts called on Italy to combat racial profiling in law enforcement on Friday after collecting evidence of discrimination by officers.

    They also expressed concern about overcrowding in Italian prisons and its impact, highlighting the disproportionate incarceration of Africans and people of African descent.

    The U.N. International Independent Expert Mechanism to Advance Racial Justice and Equality in Law Enforcement was established in 2021 after the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer.

    Floyd’s death unleashed a wave of protests worldwide against police brutality and racism after the white policeman knelt on the handcuffed Black man’s neck for more than nine minutes.

    With the approval of the government, the panel undertook an eight-day mission across Italy, visiting Rome, Milan, Catania and Naples to assess the intersection of race and law enforcement practices.

    Talking to the foreign press in Rome, they said they had heard testimonies on racial profiling as a basis for identity checks and stop-and-search by different law enforcement agencies in Italy, under the assumption either that the person was not an Italian citizen or on the presumption of criminality.

    “This racial bias, stereotypes and profiling create harmful and spurious associations of Blackness with criminality and delinquency,” said Akua Kuenyehia, chairperson of the group.

    “The legitimate task to promote citizens’ safety and security should not be construed as a licence to engage in racial profiling. This practice erodes trust in law enforcement and, as a result, reduces law enforcement effectiveness,” she said.

    Among the panel’s findings was a lack of comprehensive race-based data hampering Italy’s efforts to address racial disparities.

    It also noted instances of torture and ill-treatment, including at a Milan juvenile prison where 13 guards were arrested last month on charges of serious ill-treatment of inmates.

    The panel will draft a full report to be presented to the UN Human Rights Council in September.

    (Reporting by Giselda Vagnoni, editing by Nick Macfie)

    Copyright 2024 Thomson Reuters.

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  • Two Britons to Face Trial Next Year Accused of Spying for China

    Two Britons to Face Trial Next Year Accused of Spying for China

    LONDON (Reuters) – Two Britons, including a former researcher for a prominent British lawmaker in the governing Conservative Party, were told on Friday they would go on trial next year accused of spying for China.

    The men, ex-researcher Christopher Cash, 29, and Christopher Berry, 32, were charged last month with providing prejudicial information to China in breach of the Official Secrets Act.

    Cash and Berry, who have not yet entered a plea, appeared for a brief hearing at London’s Old Bailey Court on Friday where they spoke only to confirm their names and date of birth.

    They were told their trial would take place in the spring or summer of next year, and both were released on bail until a hearing on Oct. 4.

    Anxiety has mounted across Europe about China’s alleged espionage activity – which Beijing has repeatedly denied – and Britain has become increasingly vocal about its concerns in recent months.

    In a speech last month in Warsaw, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said Chinese state-affiliated actors had conducted “malicious cyber campaigns” against British lawmakers.

    Earlier this week, Sunak said a “malign actor” had probably compromised the payments system used by the British armed forces, with British media saying China was believed to be behind the cyber attack, accusations Beijing described as absurd.

    (Reporting by Michael Holden; editing by Sarah Young)

    Copyright 2024 Thomson Reuters.

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  • India Top Court Grants Temporary Bail to Opposition Leader Kejriwal to Campaign in Elections

    India Top Court Grants Temporary Bail to Opposition Leader Kejriwal to Campaign in Elections

    NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India’s top court gave temporary bail to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in a graft case on Friday, allowing him to campaign in the ongoing general elections, boosting the opposition alliance of which he is a key leader.

    The court said the temporary bail would last until June 1, the last day of the seven-phase vote, and Kejriwal would have to surrender on June 2.

    The poll has been marred by charges that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is using investigating agencies to hurt rivals, accusations the government denies.

    The Enforcement Directorate, India’s financial crime-fighting agency, arrested Kejriwal – a staunch critic of Modi and a key opposition leader – on March 21 in connection with corruption allegations related to the capital territory’s liquor policy.

    Kejriwal’s government and his Aam Aadmi Party have denied the corruption allegations. Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party say that the investigating agencies are only doing their job and the government is not influencing them.

    Kejriwal has been in pre-trial detention since April 1, and his wife Sunita has stepped in to campaign for his decade-old party in his absence.

    India began voting on April 19 and elections to more than half the total 543 seats were completed with the third phase on May 7. The national capital territory will vote on May 25.

    Voting concludes on June 1 and counting is set for June 4.

    The Supreme Court, while hearing an appeal against Kejriwal’s arrest last week, said that it “may” consider granting “interim bail” or temporary bail to the high-profile leader “because of the elections” as the appeal against his arrest could take a while to conclude.

    Kejriwal argued that he was arrested just before the vote to stop him from campaigning against Modi, who opinion polls suggest will win a comfortable majority and secure a rare third straight term.

    His lawyer said Kejriwal is a serving chief minister, not a “habitual offender”.

    ED lawyers argued that giving bail to a politician just to campaign will send a wrong message that there are different standards for them and other citizens. Kejriwal had to be arrested as he refused nine ED summons over six months to appear for questioning, they added.

    The INDIA alliance of more than two dozen opposition parties has called the action against Kejriwal and other opposition leaders politically motivated to deny them a level playing field in the polls, accusations Modi and BJP reject.

    Kejriwal’s arrest had drawn international attention, with Germany and the United States calling for a “fair” and “impartial” trial.

    (Reporting by Sakshi Dayal; Editing by YP Rajesh)

    Copyright 2024 Thomson Reuters.

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  • French Minister Vows Better Protection of Military Sexual Abuse Victims -Le Monde

    French Minister Vows Better Protection of Military Sexual Abuse Victims -Le Monde

    PARIS (Reuters) – French Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu is putting in place a special task force to better protect victims and punish perpetrators of sexual violence in the army, he announced in an op-ed published by newspaper Le Monde.

    The task force, which is asked to review disciplinary proceedings and “come up with concrete recommendations to guide commanders”, will be headed by the Inspector General of the Armed Forces and the Gendarmerie.

    The initiative aims to address the issue of sexual harassment and abuse within the military, an institution traditionally marked by silence around such issues which has come under increasing pressure after female soldiers this year started to call out sexual violence in local media.

    “A soldier joins the armies of France to protect, never to attack. So, yes, being sexually assaulted or harassed, even when you are a soldier, makes you a victim,” Lecornu wrote in the op-ed.

    This move comes amid a broader cultural reckoning with sexism and gender-related violence in France, highlighted by recent high-profile cases with well-known figures across politics, show business, sports and academia facing allegations.

    The task force will assess prevention measures, protection of victims, and sanctions against aggressors by the end of May. The findings and recommendations will be presented to Parliament.

    (Reporting by Tassilo Hummel; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)

    Copyright 2024 Thomson Reuters.

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  • Analysis-Why German Politicians Are Facing Growing Violence

    Analysis-Why German Politicians Are Facing Growing Violence

    By Sarah Marsh and Kate Abnett

    BERLIN (Reuters) – The black-clad attackers beat up Matthias Ecke so badly as he put up posters in Dresden that he needed surgery. In Nordhorn, a man threw eggs at a lawmaker then punched him in the face. In Berlin, a pensioner hit a senator on the head with a bag.

    Just three of the assaults that German politicians have suffered over the past week as campaigns get underway for European Parliament and district council elections.

    Tensions have always risen ahead of votes. But something has shifted, say parties and analysts. Assaults causing physical injury have surged – 22 on politicians so far in 2024, compared with 27 for all of 2023, the Federal Criminal Police Office said this week.

    The atmosphere has also changed, coarsened by the all-out shouting matches stoked by social media and the divisions and rhetoric of populist politics.

    “We are observing an affective polarization. When dissenters become ‘enemies’,” said Stefan Marschall, a political scientist at the University of Duesseldorf.

    Reuters spoke to a dozen politicians who described physical and verbal attacks. One of the main risks, most said, was that the hostile climate would scare off candidates or campaigners and ultimately skew the outcome of elections.

    “It makes you feel you are not wanted here and should disappear,” said Michael Mueller, a candidate for the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) in district elections in the eastern state of Thuringia.

    Attackers set his house on fire after he organised a protest against extremism in February.

    “Giving up is now an option, although I would have never have thought it before.”

    Overall, verbal and physical attacks on politicians in Germany have more than doubled since 2019, according to government data.

    The party that has come off the worst is the Greens, the junior partner in Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition. Its members reported 1,219 incidents last year, up sevenfold from 2019.

    Second on that count is the resurgent far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party with 478 incidents, then Scholz’s SPD on 420.

    Members of the SPD, the Greens and other parties closer to the centre of the political spectrum blamed the overall souring of the mood and rise in confrontations on AfD rhetoric.

    “If you have politicians that officially (say) ‘let’s hunt them down’ … words shape actions,” said Niklas Nienass, a member of the European Parliament for the Greens. In a 2017 speech, former AfD leader Alexander Gauland said the party would hunt down then Chancellor Angela Merkel.

    “Nowadays, three men shouting at me that I’m a paedophile or a criminal or ‘we will see where the future leads us’ or we all belong in front of a wall, is almost I would say business as usual,” Nienass added.

    The AfD has rejected such accusations outright. Co-leader Alice Weidel said last week that attempts to use the news of attacks for political gains were “vile and irresponsible”, and that AfD politicians and members were themselves frequently attacked.

    Politicians for the Greens said many of the insults directed at them increasingly had Nazi inflections.

    “People will say: go to Buchenwald, for example, or when we get into power we will deal with you,” said Max Reschke, head of the Greens in Thuringia.

    One of four people investigated after the assault on the SPD’s European Parliament member Matthias Ecke in Dresden on Friday had right-wing material in his home, police said.

    The gang that assaulted him, damaging his cheekbone and eye socket, had earlier attacked another Greens campaigner who was also putting up posters.

    “It reminded me of the stormtroopers of the 1930s,” said Anne-Katrin Haubold, a second Greens campaigner who witnessed the attack, referring to the original paramilitary wing of the Nazis.

    Some said they were avoiding publicizing campaign events ahead of time and had stopped branding their vehicles to avoid being targeted.

    “It’s not good because our party members feel insecure if we tell them we now need a police protection in order to do political rallies,” said German Green MEP Michael Bloss.

    Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said this week she wanted to increase legal penalties for attacks on politicians and activists and have more police protection for campaigners.

    But the police are already struggling with their current workload, said the head of Germany’s largest police union Jochen Kopelke.

    Politicians on the campaign trail in eastern Germany said they were taking their own precautions and holding more security workshops.

    “We say we have to have at least three people manning information stands,” said Luis Schaefer, head of the Greens in the eastern town of Gera.

    “And if you see someone damaging posters, then don’t put yourself at risk trying to save them.”

    (Reporting by Sarah Marsh; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

    Copyright 2024 Thomson Reuters.

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  • Zelenskiy Dismisses Head of State Guard After Two Members Accused of Assassination Plot

    Zelenskiy Dismisses Head of State Guard After Two Members Accused of Assassination Plot

    (Reuters) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy dismissed the head of the state guards on Thursday, two days after two of its members were accused of plotting to assassinate the president.

    Zelenskiy issued a decree dismissing Serhiy Rud. No successor was identified.

    The state security service (SBU) said this week it had caught two men, colonels in the state guard service, accused of plotting the assassination of Zelenskiy and other top officials.

    The SBU said the assassinations were to have been a “gift” for Vladimir Putin as he was sworn in for a new term in the Kremlin on Tuesday.

    It said the men were recruited by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) who leaked classified information to Moscow.

    The men, the SBU said, were tasked with finding someone close to the presidential guard who would take Zelenskiy hostage and later kill him. There was no indication at what point the alleged plot had been foiled.

    Moscow issued no comment on the SBU’s statement.

    The president, the very prominent leader of his country’s defence more than two years into the Russian invasion, said last year that his security services had foiled at least five Russian plots to assassinate him.

    The Latest Photos From Ukraine

    The SBU said the spy group also planned to kill SBU head Vasyl Maliuk and Kyrylo Budanov, the military intelligence agency’s head.

    (Reporting by Ron Popeski; Editing by Chris Reese and Bill Berkrot)

    Copyright 2024 Thomson Reuters.

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    TOPSHOT - The Green Man and his Queen perform during the Celtic fire festival Beltain in Waterlooville, southern England on May 4, 2024. The festival, a modern annual participatory arts event, celebrates the Gaelic May Day festival and marks the beginning of summer. Historically it was widely observed in Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man. Rituals were performed to protect cattle, people and crops, and to encourage growth. Special bonfires were kindled, whose flames, smoke and ashes were deemed to have protective powers. The people and their cattle would walk around or between bonfires, and sometimes leap over the flames or embers. All household fires would be doused and then re-lit from the Beltane bonfire. (Photo by HENRY NICHOLLS / AFP) (Photo by HENRY NICHOLLS/AFP via Getty Images)

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  • India Says Canada Yet to Provide Evidence of Its Involvement in the Killing of a Separatist Leader

    India Says Canada Yet to Provide Evidence of Its Involvement in the Killing of a Separatist Leader

    NEW DELHI (AP) — India said Thursday that Canada has informed it about the arrest of three Indian men who have been charged with the murder of a Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia last year, but insisted that no relevant information or specific evidence about Delhi’s involvement has been shared by the Canadian authorities till date.

    India’s External Affairs Ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal told reporters that the two countries were discussing the issue but accused Canada of providing shelter to those who are advocating violence against India.

    He said that Delhi had complained to the Canadian authorities that the people associated with organized crime in India had been allowed entry and residency in Canada. “Many of our extradition requests are pending.”

    “Our diplomats have been threatened with impunity and obstructed in their performance of duties,” Jaiswal added. We are having discussions at the diplomatic level on all these matters,” he said.

    The killing of the Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar last year set off a diplomatic spat after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that there were “credible allegations” of Indian involvement. India rejected the accusations.

    The three arrested Indian men in Canada haven’t yet sought any access to the Indian diplomats there, Jaiswal said.

    The three — Kamalpreet Singh, 22, Karan Brar, 22, and Karanpreet Singh, 28 — appeared in court Tuesday via a video link and agreed to a trial in English. They were ordered to appear in British Columbia Provincial Court again on May 21.

    They were arrested last week in Edmonton, Alberta. They have been charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.

    Canadian Mounted Police Superintendent Mandeep Mooker said Friday that the investigation into whether the men had ties to India’s government was ongoing.

    The three suspects had been living in Canada as non-permanent residents.

    Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • ‘Eunuch Maker’ Ringleader Jailed for Penis, Testicles Amputations

    ‘Eunuch Maker’ Ringleader Jailed for Penis, Testicles Amputations

    LONDON (Reuters) – The ringleader of an extreme body modification conspiracy who cut off men’s genitals and uploaded videos to his “Eunuch Maker” website was jailed for a minimum of 22 years in a London court on Friday.

    Norwegian Marius Gustavson was involved in several highly dangerous procedures which included removing the penis or testicles of men who had consented, British prosecutors said.

    The practice is linked to a subculture of men seeking to become so-called “nullos”, short for genital nullification, by having their penis or testicles removed.

    Some of the procedures were filmed and the footage uploaded to Gustavson’s pay-per-view website, which had nearly 23,000 users and made more than $300,000 between 2017 and 2021.

    Gustavson pleaded guilty last year to 13 offences, including conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm, causing grievous bodily harm, and possessing criminal property relating to the money made from the website.

    Photos You Should See – April 2024

    Prosecutor Caroline Carberry said that all the men who were subjected to the operations had consented to the amputations.

    But, as a person cannot legally consent to the infliction of an injury causing bodily harm, the procedures amounted to a criminal offence even with consent.

    Carberry also said that many of the victims were vulnerable and had been put under pressure by Gustavson and his co-defendants.

    Gustavson himself willingly had his penis cut off at his London home in 2017 and later had his left leg amputated after deliberately submerging it in dry ice in 2019. Two men were jailed in January for their part in those procedures.

    Prosecutors said Gustavson kept some amputated body parts in his freezer and that messages suggested he had offered some for sale.

    Gustavson was “very much the mastermind behind this grisly and gruesome enterprise”, Judge Mark Lucraft said, adding that some of the procedures were “little more than human butchery”.

    He was sentenced at the Old Bailey court on Thursday alongside six other men, four of whom had also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm.

    (Reporting by Sam Tobin; Editing by Mark Potter)

    Copyright 2024 Thomson Reuters.

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  • Gunmen in Pakistan Kill Seven Labourers Near Gwadar Port, Say Police

    Gunmen in Pakistan Kill Seven Labourers Near Gwadar Port, Say Police

    QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) – Gunmen shot and killed seven labourers near southwestern Pakistan’s Gwadar port early on Thursday, police said.

    Police official Mohsin Ali said the gunmen stormed into a house some 25 km (15 miles) east of the port city and shot and killed the labourers in their sleep.

    The port city is located in troubled southwestern Balochistan province, which borders Afghanistan and Iran.

    No one has claimed responsibility.

    Baloch separatist militants have in the past targeted labourers from eastern Punjab province, like the ones in the latest shooting.

    Last month, the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) claimed the killing of nine labourers from Punjab province, who were abducted and then shot at close range after gunmen stopped a bus.

    Photos You Should See – April 2024

    The separatists have long been fighting the government to demand a greater share in the mineral-rich province’s natural resources.

    Gwadar is the site of several Beijing-backed projects under the $65 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor investment as part of the Belt and Road Initiative.

    (Reporting by Saleem Ahmed; Writing by Asif Shahzad)

    Copyright 2024 Thomson Reuters.

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  • Northern Ireland Police Obtained Reporters’ Phone Data, Tribunal Hears

    Northern Ireland Police Obtained Reporters’ Phone Data, Tribunal Hears

    LONDON (Reuters) – Northern Ireland’s police force regularly obtained reporters’ telephone billing data to find out if police officers had been leaking information, lawyers representing two investigative journalists told a London tribunal on Wednesday.

    Trevor Birney and Barry McCaffrey, who are suing the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), say they have been provided with documents suggesting the PSNI targeted reporters in the province to obtain their sources.

    The PSNI’s lawyers did not respond to the allegations at Wednesday’s hearing and agreed to provide evidence in response ahead of another preliminary hearing in July. The force did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

    Birney and McCaffrey made a documentary, which was released in 2017, that alleged police collusion in the 1994 murder of six Catholic soccer fans by loyalist paramilitaries.

    The pair claim they were subject to covert surveillance before and after the release of the film.

    Photos You Should See – April 2024

    They were arrested in 2018 over the alleged theft of material used in the documentary from Northern Ireland’s police ombudsman.

    However, England’s Durham Constabulary – which carried out the investigation into the alleged theft for the PSNI – later dropped the case against the pair after they won a legal challenge over their arrests.

    Birney and McCaffrey brought a separate case at London’s Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) in 2019.

    McCaffrey’s lawyer Ben Jaffey told the IPT on Wednesday that recently-disclosed documents suggest the PSNI was in 2017 targeting unnamed journalists in Northern Ireland.

    A minute of a 2017 meeting with Durham Constabulary recorded a PSNI detective sergeant saying he was “proactive in conducting what he described as “defensive operations” by cross referencing billing with police telephone numbers on a six-monthly basis”.

    Jaffey said the targets appeared to be a group of “troublemaker journalists” in Northern Ireland who had written critical articles about the PSNI.

    The full hearing of Birney and McCaffrey’s case is due to take place in October.

    Copyright 2024 Thomson Reuters.

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  • Maltese Central Bank Governor, Deputy PM Face Fraud Charges

    Maltese Central Bank Governor, Deputy PM Face Fraud Charges

    VALLETTA (Reuters) – Malta’s attorney general has filed charges of fraud and misappropriation of funds against Central Bank of Malta Governor Edward Scicluna and Deputy Prime Minister Chris Fearne, court documents show.

    More serious corruption charges have also been levelled against former prime minister Joseph Muscat, his chief of staff and a former health minister – all in connection with a hospital privatisation scandal dating back to 2015.

    The charges follow a four-year inquiry instigated by the opposition Nationalist Party over a deal which handed management of three state hospitals to a previously unknown group, which had no experience in the medical sector.

    The 30-year deal, which was conservatively valued at 4 billion euros ($4.23 billion), was annulled by Malta’s highest court in February after it found fraud.

    Scicluna was finance minister and Fearne was a junior health minister at the time of the deal. Scicluna, who is a member of the European Central Bank’s Governing Council, has not commented on the accusations, but has previously denied any wrongdoing. Fearne has rejected the charges.

    “I have absolutely no doubt that the court will find nothing other than my complete innocence,” he said in a statement.

    Photos You Should See – April 2024

    Muscat, chief of staff Keith Schembri and former minister Konrad Mizzi face charges of money laundering, corruption, bribery, trading in influence and setting up a criminal association. All three men have denied the accusations.

    Muscat resigned in January 2020 after media revealed that he and Schembri had a close friendship with businessman Yorgen Fenech, who is awaiting trial for complicity in the 2017 car bomb murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.

    Muscat has not been linked to the murder investigation.

    Prime Minister Robert Abela has criticised the way the inquiry was conducted and has defended Fearne, saying he would remain in office and had no doubt about his integrity.

    However, he has not confirmed whether he will press ahead with previously announced plans to nominate him next month as Malta’s next European Commissioner.

    No date had been announced for the formal court arraignments when the accused will be asked to file a plea.

    (Reporting by Christopher Scicluna; Editing by Crispian Balmer and Angus MacSwan)

    Copyright 2024 Thomson Reuters.

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  • Italy Seizes $140 Million From Airline Owners Compensated for 1980 Crash

    Italy Seizes $140 Million From Airline Owners Compensated for 1980 Crash

    MILAN (Reuters) – Italian police seized 130 million euros ($140 million) from two directors of an airline that went bankrupt following a 1980 air disaster that killed 81 people above the southern Italian island of Ustica, Milan prosecutors said on Wednesday.

    The ‘Ustica massacre’ is one of the unsolved mysteries of recent Italian history. Despite 40 years of investigations and trials, the cause of the in-flight explosion on the DC 9 airliner that took off from Bologna and was headed for Palermo has never been clarified.

    The seizure carried out on Wednesday by the Guardia di Finanza police, relates to civil judicial proceedings that had ended in 2023 with the transport and defence ministries ordered to pay 330 million euros to the defunct airline company Itavia.

    The compensation was aimed at satisfying the creditors of the company, which had closed six months after the disaster.

    According to the Milan prosecutors’ statement, two unnamed businessmen, who had become majority shareholders in Itavia while the company was in extraordinary administration, stripped the company of its assets and used 130 million euros for their own private interests.

    “They almost wiped out the remaining company assets from the compensation payments,” prosecutors said.

    Photos You Should See – April 2024

    “In particular, the 130 million euros funding was also partly used to pay off the bank loan used by the two to acquire the majority stake in Itavia,” they added in their statement.

    (Reporting by Emilio Parodi; Editing by Keith Weir, Alexandra Hudson)

    Copyright 2024 Thomson Reuters.

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  • Berlin Senator Struck on Head as Concern Grows Over Attacks on Politicians

    Berlin Senator Struck on Head as Concern Grows Over Attacks on Politicians

    BERLIN (Reuters) – Berlin senator and former city mayor Franziska Giffey became the latest victim in a string of attacks on German politicians when a man struck her from behind with a heavy object in a local library, according to a police statement on Wednesday.

    Giffey, local minister for the economy and a member of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats (SPD), was slightly injured in the attack, police and the local prosecutor’s office said.

    A man hit her on the head and neck with a bag containing something hard before running off, the statement said, adding that Giffey went to hospital for a short time to treat the pain.

    The attack follows calls for greater police protection of politicians in Germany after a number of high-profile verbal and physical attacks against them.

    Four teenagers are under investigation after a German member of the European Parliament was beaten and hospitalised while putting up SPD election posters in the eastern city of Dresden.

    Prominent members of the Greens, who are in coalition with Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s SPD at federal level, have also faced angry protests this year, when Germany holds a string of state elections against a backdrop of rising support for the far right.

    Photos You Should See – April 2024

    (Reporting by Rachel More, editing by Kirsti Knolle)

    Copyright 2024 Thomson Reuters.

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