Month: June 2023

An 11-year-old British girl was shot dead Saturday in France.   Her father and mother also were injured in the incident at the family’s home in the village of Saint-Herbot in Brittany. The Guardian, a British newspaper, reports the father is in critical condition after being shot in the head.   The girl’s 8-year-old sister escaped unharmed, running to neighbors to tell them what happened.   Public prosecutor Carine Halley said a 71-year-old Dutch national, a resident of the same village, was detained after the shootings.   “The motives for this tragedy are not yet known,” Halley said. “It appears there had been a …

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In a move that many hailed as a salve for the historic wounds between Europe and Africa, Germany last December returned 22 artifacts looted during the Colonial Era to what is now Nigeria. But five months on, questions are being asked in Germany as to whether cultural guardians were wise to hand back the priceless treasures, known as the Benin bronzes. Controversy erupted after Nigeria’s outgoing president, Muhammadu Buhari, suddenly declared in March that the artifacts would be returned to a traditional ruler — and not to the Nigerian state, as Germany had expected. The recipient named by Buhari is …

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Forensic scientists will on Monday begin the exhumation of 128 victims of the Spanish Civil War from a vast burial complex near Madrid, El Pais newspaper reported. It will be the first exhumation of its kind involving people whose bodies were moved from elsewhere after the 1936-1939 war and reburied without their families’ permission in the Valley of Cuelgamuros, which was formerly known as Valley of the Fallen. El Pais reported that forensic scientists have installed a laboratory inside the vast burial site, which includes a monument and 150-meter-high cross, on the outskirts of Madrid prior to the exhumation work …

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David Smith, a retired print technician from the north of England, was pursuing his hobby of looking for interesting shapes when he stumbled onto one unlike any other in November.   When Smith shared his shape with the world in March, excited fans printed it onto T-shirts, sewed it into quilts, crafted cookie cutters or used it to replace the hexagons on a soccer ball — some even made plans for tattoos. The 13-sided polygon, which 64-year-old Smith called “the hat,” is the first single shape ever found that can completely cover an infinitely large flat surface without ever repeating …

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Iran’s supreme leader said Sunday a deal with the West over Tehran’s nuclear work was possible if the country’s nuclear infrastructure remained intact, amid a stalemate between Tehran and Washington to revive a 2015 nuclear pact. Months of indirect talks between Tehran and Washington to salvage the nuclear accord with six major powers have stalled since September, with both sides accusing each other of making unreasonable demands. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s guarded approval comes days after both Tehran and Washington denied a report that they were nearing an interim deal under which Tehran would curb its nuclear program in return for …

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Latest developments: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a decree Sunday, sanctioning 178 Russian nationals, including Constitutional Court judges, for five years. The sanctions include asset freezes, trade restrictions, travel bans and other measures. Russia launches Iranian-made Shahed “kamikaze” drones on Ukraine during the night to detect and “exhaust” Ukrainian air defenses and to fire missiles from its aircraft or missile carriers. Air Force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat said in an interview with Ukrainska Pravda, The Kyiv Independent Reports. Wagner chief Yevgeny Prighozin said Sunday that his mercenary fighters would not sign any contract with the Russian ministry of defense after Russian …

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A U.S. musician and former paratrooper has been arrested in Moscow on drug dealing charges and his court appearance, locked in a metal cage, has been shown on state television. Russia’s court system named the detained American as Michael Travis Leake, 51, who was formerly a songwriter and musician in the Russian “Lovi Noch” (“Catch the night”) rock band. Rossiya 24 state television showed him standing in a court cage while REN TV showed a picture of him being detained on June 6 in Moscow, lying on the floor in his underpants and a T-shirt with his hands restrained behind …

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The world has moved on from former British prime minister Boris Johnson and the governing Conservative Party and the rest of the country do not miss the drama of his period in office, energy minister Grant Shapps said on Sunday. Johnson quit parliament late on Friday in protest against an investigation by lawmakers into his conduct as prime minister during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when lockdown-breaking parties were held in Downing Street. Asked about criticism from Johnson and his allies that he was forced out, Shapps told Sky News: “The world has moved on. He is the one …

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Montenegro was holding an early parliamentary election Sunday, a vote that could put an end to deep political divisions and years of instability that have hampered the small NATO-member country on its route to joining the European Union. Some 542,000 voters are eligible to choose among 15 parties and coalitions fielding candidates, ranging from groups that are staunchly pro-Western to ones that are pro-Serbian and pro-Russian. Unlike in previous elections, when the focal point of campaigning was whether the country should be leaning toward the EU or closer to Russia and Serbia, the economy and living standards dominated the issues …

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Romania has recalled its ambassador to Kenya after Dragos Tigau allegedly compared Africans to monkeys. Tigau is reported to have said, “The African group has joined us,” when a monkey appeared outside a window during a meeting in April at a United Nations building in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital. CNN reports it has obtained documents showing that African diplomats formally condemned the Romanian diplomat’s remarks during a meeting with Eastern European envoys at an April meeting. CNN reports that it has also seen two letters of apology Tigau sent to the diplomats. Romania said Saturday that it had just recently learned …

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