Month: April 2023

A Swedish court Tuesday overturned a police move to ban two Quran burning protests, as five suspected Islamists were arrested for plotting a “terrorist act” over a similar demonstration. The burning of Islam’s holy book outside Turkey’s embassy in Stockholm in January angered the Muslim world, sparking weeks of protests and calls for a boycott of Swedish goods, and holding up Sweden’s NATO membership bid. Sweden’s Supreme Administrative Court overturned a police decision to ban two subsequent Quran burning protests in February, saying security risk concerns were not enough to limit the right to demonstrate. The “police authority did not …

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At least one person was killed and 30 injured, many seriously, when a passenger train carrying about 50 people derailed in the Netherlands early on Tuesday after hitting construction equipment on the track, Dutch emergency services said.  Rescue teams were at the scene of the accident at Voorschoten, a village near The Hague, the emergency services said.  A fire department spokesman told Dutch radio that 19 people were taken to hospital. Others were being treated on the spot, the emergency services said.  The front carriage of the night train from Leiden city to The Hague derailed and ploughed into a field …

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There are growing concerns among top U.S. military and intelligence officials that Russia’s use of cyberattacks during its war against Ukraine is ushering in a new era of combat in which the line between virtual and real-life battlefields is being erased, along with the notion that any targets will remain off limits. Instead, top officials are warning that U.S. adversaries are likely to look at Moscow’s efforts to topple Kyiv and conclude that not only do they need to coordinate cyber strikes with conventional, kinetic military tactics, but that a cyberattack may be the best first-strike option. “The [Russian] operation …

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After an extensive warmup, the dance students break into groups. The most experienced children — from 12 to 16 years old — show off complex jazz-funk and hip-hop routines to songs like K7’s “Come Baby Come.” Outside the technical college hosting the class, snow falls over the mostly abandoned and heavily damaged city. Russian forces who occupied Izium were driven out in September, but the area is still laden with bombs and other explosives. Most families fled and haven’t returned. During the occupation, the dance team didn’t practice, and all academic schools were closed. Water and electricity were cut off …

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As bloody, stalemated battles in Ukraine grind on, young dancers in the eastern city of Izium are training again, hoping to resume competition despite the destruction of their theater. VOA’s Heather Murdock reports from Izium, Ukraine. Camera: Yan Boechat. …

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Germany could follow in Italy’s footsteps by blocking ChatGPT over data security concerns, the German commissioner for data protection told the Handelsblatt newspaper in comments published on Monday. Microsoft-backed MSFT.O OpenAI took ChatGPT offline in Italy on Friday after the national data agency banned the chatbot temporarily and launched an investigation into a suspected breach of privacy rules by the artificial intelligence application.  “In principle, such action is also possible in Germany,” Ulrich Kelber said, adding that this would fall under state jurisdiction. He did not, however, outline any such plans.  Kelber said that Germany has requested further information from …

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