Category: News

  • Syrian stabs people on street in Austrian town, killing one, police say

    ZURICH – A 23-year-old Syrian stabbed several people on a street in the centre of the Austrian town of Villach on Saturday, killing a 14-year old boy and injuring four other people, police said, adding that the suspected attacker had been arrested.

    Further details, such as whether the attacker knew any of the victims, remained unclear, a spokesperson for the police in the southern state of Carinthia said. The injured were aged between 14 and 32, he added.

    REUTERS

  • Thousands rally in Serbia as anger over corruption swells

    Demonstrators light flares and wave flags during a protest over the fatal November 2024 Novi Sad railway station roof collapse, in Kragujevac, Serbia February 15, 2025. REUTERS

    KRAGUJEVAC, Serbia – Tens of thousands of students marched into the central Serbian city of Kragujevac on Saturday, demanding justice after a deadly railway disaster, in one of the biggest shows of anger against the government.

    In the three months since 15 people were killed when a roof collapsed at a newly-renovated train station in Serbia’s second-biggest city of Novi Sad, mass demonstrations have grown into the biggest threat yet to President Aleksandar Vucic’s decade-long grip on power.

    Joined by teachers, farmers and other workers, the students have drawn support from the wider public as many Serbians have blamed the tragedy on corruption within the government.

    On Saturday, students braved near-freezing temperatures to travel to Kragujevac from across Serbia, by bus and even on foot from the capital Belgrade, some 140 kilometres (87 miles) away, beating drums, blowing whistles and waving the country’s flag. Locals greeted them with cheers.

    The protesters planned to blockade one of the city’s main boulevards for 15 hours and 15 minutes in a symbolic tribute to the 15 victims. They also held 15 minutes of silence.

    “We are here to fight for a better tomorrow, against corruption,” said 20-year-old Jovan, who drove from Belgrade with friends.

    By noon, all roads leading to Kragujevac were jammed with traffic. As the numbers swelled, locals brought the protesters homemade pies and hot tea.

    Verica, a 52-year-old professor from the city, joined the protest with her teenage daughter.

    “I have not been so happy and proud for a long time,” she said.

    Vucic’s government has said it will launch an anti-corruption campaign, and has also denied allegations of corruption.

    Vucic on Saturday assembled supporters from the Republika Srpska in neighbouring Bosnia, as well as from Serbia, at a rally in the town of Sremska Mitrovica, in the country’s northwest.

    “Their goal is not to topple Vucic, but to bring down Serbia,” Vucic said of the protesters, adding that they were backed by unspecified Western countries.

    STUDENT DEMANDS

    Prime Minister Milos Vucevic and two other ministers have resigned over the protests and prosecutors have charged 13 people in connection with the roof collapse.

    Daily protests, however, have continued and students have taken over university buildings and blocked highways and squares.

    “We want to be able to continue our studies but only when our demands are met,” said Djordje Vujovic, 22, a mechanical engineering student.

    The students are demanding that authorities publish documents relating to the station roof collapse, justice for those responsible, the dismissal of charges against protesting students, and an increased budget for higher education.

    Ivan and Ivana, 23-year-old mathematics students, were among a group of around 400 people who had walked for four days to reach Kragujevac from Belgrade.
    “We wanted to show the people living in the country that we support them,” Ivan said. “We do not think only about the people in Belgrade.”

    REUTERS

  • Mother and child die from injuries after car ramming attack in Munich

    MUNICH – A 37-year-old woman and her 2-year-old daughter died on Saturday from injuries they sustained when an Afghan national drove a car into a crowd in Munich on Thursday, German police said on Saturday, the first fatalities from the incident.

    Prosecutors had said on Friday that at least 39 people were injured, some of them critically, when the car ploughed into trade union activists demonstrating for higher pay.

    Authorities said they were treating the incident as a religiously motivated attack.

    REUTERS

  • Lebanon says 25 arrested after attack on UN peacekeepers

    BEIRUT – Lebanese authorities said Saturday that more than 25 people had been arrested following an attack on a United Nations convoy the day before that wounded two peacekeepers, including the force’s outgoing deputy commander.

    UN and Lebanese officials have condemned Friday’s attack, which came as Hezbollah supporters for a second night blocked the road to the country’s only international airport over a decision barring two Iranian planes from landing there.

    “More than 25 people have been arrested by Lebanese army intelligence,” with another person detained by the security services, Interior Minister Ahmad Al-Hajjar told reporters after an emergency security meeting Saturday.

    “This does not mean these detainees carried out the attack… but the investigations will show who is responsible,” he said.

    The army and security agencies would bolster measures to “maintain security and stability,” Hajjar added, and violations would be treated “with all seriousness.”

    The UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has demanded an investigation after one of its vehicles was set on fire during the incident, which wounded outgoing deputy force commander Chok Bahadur Dhakal, a Nepalese national who was heading home after ending his mission.

    UNIFIL deputy spokesperson Kandice Ardiel told AFP a second Nepalese peacekeeper was also wounded and hospitalized.

    President Joseph Aoun vowed “the attackers will receive their punishment,” and said “security forces will not be lenient with any party that tries to upset stability and civil peace,” according to a statement from the presidency on X.

    Prime Minister Nawaf Salam strongly condemned the “criminal attack” and promised to arrest the perpetrators during a conversation with UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert and UNIFIL Commander General Aroldo Lazaro.

    In a meeting with Hajjar on Saturday, Salam emphasized the importance of maintaining security across the country, a statement from his office said.

    The premier was set to meet other “relevant ministers” later in the day.

    The presidency’s statement said Aoun had stressed that the incident “cannot be allowed to be repeated,” adding that the judiciary “has begun investigations on the ground.”

    The army said Friday that several areas around the airport had seen “demonstrations marked by acts of vandalism and clashes, including assaults on members of the armed forces and attacks against vehicles.”

    Videos circulating on social media showed demonstrators, some hooded and carrying Hezbollah flags, attacking a man in military garb and another in civilian clothes near the torched UNIFIL vehicle.

    It remains unclear who was responsible for the attack.

    There was no immediate official comment from Hezbollah, but its television channel Al-Manar late Friday blamed unidentified “masked men.”

    It said the protesters expressed “their rejection of the attack on the UNIFIL convoy,” adding their goal was “to secure the return of citizens stuck in Iran.”

    The group’s ally the Amal movement, led by powerful parliament speaker Nabih Berri, said “the attack on UNIFIL is an attack on south Lebanon” and that “blocking roads anywhere is an assault on civil peace.”

    Several countries have condemned the incident, as did UN chief Antonio Guterres.

    “Such attacks are absolutely unacceptable… The safety and security of UN personnel and property must be respected at all times,” his spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, said in a statement.

    “Attacks against peacekeepers are in breach of international law… and may constitute war crimes,” the statement said, adding that “UNIFIL must be allowed unrestricted freedom of movement throughout Lebanon.”

    Israel has repeatedly accused Hezbollah of using Beirut airport to transfer weapons from Iran, claims Hezbollah and Lebanese officials have denied.

    Iran-backed Hezbollah has a large popular base in Lebanon, though a year of hostilities with Israel and the ousting of its ally Bashar Assad in neighboring Syria have left the group weakened.

    Lebanon’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation said Thursday it had “temporarily rescheduled” some flights, including from Iran, until February 18 as it was implementing “additional security measures.”

    The date coincides with the deadline for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from south Lebanon and for Hezbollah to vacate positions there, under a ceasefire deal that began on November 27.

    AN-AFP/Feb 15, 2025

  • Kremlin thanks Hamas for freeing Russian-Israeli hostage: state media

    MOSCOW – The Kremlin on Saturday said it was grateful to Palestinian militant group Hamas for freeing a Russian-Israeli hostage from Gaza in another prisoner exchange with Israel.

    “Moscow welcomes the freeing of Alexander Trufanov (identified by Israel as Sasha Trupanov) and expresses its gratitude to the Hamas leadership for taking this decision,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to the RIA Novosti news agency.

    AN-AFP/ Feb 15, 2025

  • Lebanon official media report Israeli drone strike in south

    BEIRUT – Lebanese official media said an Israeli drone struck the country’s south on Saturday, without reporting casualties, days before a deadline in a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.

    “An Israeli enemy drone carried out a strike” targeting the outskirts of the town of Ainata, the state-run National News Agency (NNA) said, adding that “nobody was hurt” and that “drones and surveillance aircraft are still flying over the area at low altitude.”

    AN-AFP/Feb 15, 2025

  • Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad hand over 3 hostages to Red Cross

    GAZA – Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad on Saturday handed over three Israeli hostages to the International Committee of the Red Cross in Khan Younis in southern Gaza Strip, as part of the sixth batch of the first phase of the ceasefire agreement.

    XINHUA

  • Strong earthquake strikes Russia’s Altai region

    VLADIVOSTOK – A 6.4 magnitude earthquake struck Russia’s southern region of Altai early Saturday morning, said local authorities, adding that there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

    The quake was recorded at 04:48 a.m. local time (0148 GMT). The epicenter is located approximately 282 km southeast of the capital of the Altai Republic, about 28 km west of the village of Kosh-Agach, according to the Russian Academy of Sciences.

    The Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations in the Altai Republic noted that the quake was felt throughout the Altai Republic.

    XINHUA

  • 5.0-magnitude quake hits Western Texas – GFZ

    BEIJING – An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.0 jolted Western Texas at 05:23:23 GMT on Saturday, the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences said.

    The epicenter, with a depth of 10.0 km, was initially determined to be at 31.68 degrees north latitude and 104.03 degrees west longitude.

    XINHUA

  • 14 dead in 2 separate road accidents in India

    NEW DELHI – At least 14 people have died and around 27 were injured in two separate road accidents in north India, confirmed the police on Saturday.

    Ten persons died and nearly 19 were injured when the vehicle they were traveling in collided head-on with a bus coming from the opposite direction in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh near the Prayagraj district.

    The mishap occurred on the Mirzapur-Prayagraj highway at around midnight.

    The dead belonged to the central state of Chhattisgarh, and were heading towards Prayagraj to take the holy dip in “Triveni Sangam”, which is the confluence of three rivers namely Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati in Prayagraj district during the ongoing spiritual festival “Maha Kumbh”.

    The bus carrying around 25 passengers hailing from another central state of Madhya Pradesh was coming from Prayagraj when the accident took place.

    In another mishap, four persons died and eight others were seriously injured in the western state of Gujarat when their vehicle collided with a stationary bus late on Friday night in the Dahod district. Those injured were admitted to a local hospital.

    XINHUA