Gunmen shoot and kill policeman assigned to protect polio workers in restive NW Pakistan

Gunmen shoot and kill policeman assigned to protect polio workers in restive NW Pakistan

QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — Gunmen shot and killed a policeman assigned to protect polio workers in restive southwestern Pakistan on Tuesday before fleeing the scene, police and officials said. The attack occurred in Noshki, a district in Balochistan province, local police official Mohammad Hassan said, adding that the polio workers escaped unharmed in the attack. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the assault, but suspicion is likely to fall on separatist groups and Pakistani Taliban that have stepped up attacks on security forces and civilians in recent months. Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi in a statement denounced the assault and vowed stern action against those who are behind the attack, which came a day after Pakistan launched the nationwide campaign to vaccinate 45 million children from polio. Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan remain the only two countries where thepotentially fatal, paralyzing virushasn't been stopped, according to the World Health Organization. Since January, Pakistan has reported 10 polio cases from various parts of the country despite the launch of anti-polio drives. Last year, the South Asian country witnessed a surge in polio cases, which jumped to 74, though it reported only one polio case in 2021. Since the 1990s, more than 200 polio workers and the police assigned to protect them have been killed in attacks.

byRoger Fisher

in

May 27, 2025

Gunmen shoot and kill policeman assigned to protect polio workers in restive NW Pakistan

Gunmen shoot and kill policeman assigned to protect polio workers in restive NW Pakistan QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — Gunmen shot and killed a po...

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Putin and Turkish foreign minister discuss Ukraine peace efforts, source says

Putin and Turkish foreign minister discuss Ukraine peace efforts, source says

ANKARA (Reuters) -Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkey's foreign minister discussed at a meeting in Moscow efforts to end the war in Ukraine and developments since direct talks between the warring parties, a Turkish Foreign Ministry source said. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan is on a two-day visit to Moscow, where the source said he met Putin on Monday and also Russia's lead negotiator, Vladimir Medinsky. Fidan will meet his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday. While no timetable or location has been agreed for any future talks between Russia and Ukraine, NATO ally Turkey has repeatedly said it could host them. Delegates from Moscow and Kyiv met in Istanbul earlier this month for the first time since March 2022, a month after Russia invaded its neighbour. No ceasefire was agreed, but the sides agreed to trade 1,000 prisoners of war and deliver, in writing, their conditions for a possible ceasefire. In their meeting, Putin and Fidan discussed "the initiatives carried out recently to end the war between Ukraine and Russia, (and) developments following the negotiations held in Istanbul," the Turkish source said. Bilateral economy and energy issues were discussed as well, the source added. Russia said on Monday that the main topic of the talks would be bilateral relations, but that Ukraine would also be discussed. Ahead of the meeting, the Turkish source had said Fidan would reiterate Ankara's offer to host the sides and continue playing a "facilitator" role. Fidan is also expected to travel to Kyiv later this week to meet Ukrainian officials and follow up on the Istanbul talks. Russian sources have said they viewed Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Oman as potentially suitable venues for talks. (Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by Aidan Lewis)

byRoger Fisher

in

May 27, 2025

Putin and Turkish foreign minister discuss Ukraine peace efforts, source says

Putin and Turkish foreign minister discuss Ukraine peace efforts, source says ANKARA (Reuters) -Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkey...

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Ex-aide to Georgia's most powerful man detained after fleeing fraud trial

Ex-aide to Georgia's most powerful man detained after fleeing fraud trial

By Felix Light TBILISI (Reuters) -Georgian authorities said on Tuesday they had arrested an ex-aide to Georgia's most powerful man who fled the country earlier this year while on trial on charges of embezzling cryptocurrency worth more than $800 million from his former boss. Giorgi Bachiashvili, who says the charges were politically motivated, was sentenced in absentia to 11 years in prison for defrauding Bidzina Ivanishvili, a billionaire former prime minister who is widely seen as Georgia's de facto leader. Bachiashvili, who used to run Ivanishvili's investment fund, denies wrongdoing and has said the case aimed to punish him for breaking with Ivanishvili by publicly supporting Ukraine in its war with Russia. Georgia's State Security Service, in a statement published on Facebook, said it had arrested Bachiashvili near the country's southern borders with Armenia and Azerbaijan after receiving an anonymous tip-off. It said that Bachiashvili was under investigation for illegal border crossing. Authorities have said he fled Georgia in March by hiding inside a car before crossing into Armenia and then moving onto a third country. Robert Amsterdam, one of Bachiashvili's lawyers, said in a statement published on his firm's website that Bachiashvili had been returned to Georgia "forcibly" and that he was at risk of torture. The embezzlement charges related to a 2015 loan from Ivanishvili's Cartu Bank, which Bachiashvili had sought to establish a cryptocurrency mining business. The Georgian branch of anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International has said that there is a lack of evidence against Bachiashvili, and that the case appears to reflect Ivanishvili's financial interests. Ivanishvili, who is seen as controlling the ruling Georgian Dream party he founded, has steered traditionally pro-Western Georgia in a more pro-Russian direction since the outbreak of the Ukraine war, while clamping down on opposition at home. In December, he was sanctioned by the United States over a crackdown on protesters opposed to the Georgian government's freezing of European Union accession talks until 2028. The billionaire rarely appears in public, and has not commented on his former aide's flight or subsequent arrest. (Reporting by Felix Light;Editing by Helen Popper)

byRoger Fisher

in

May 27, 2025

Ex-aide to Georgia's most powerful man detained after fleeing fraud trial

Ex-aide to Georgia's most powerful man detained after fleeing fraud trial By Felix Light TBILISI (Reuters) -Georgian authorities said o...

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Four people injured in Liverpool parade crash 'very, very ill,' mayor says

Four people injured in Liverpool parade crash 'very, very ill,' mayor says

By Phil Noble and Sachin Ravikumar LIVERPOOL, England (Reuters) -Four people were "very, very ill in hospital" after a car ploughed into a crowd of Liverpool fans during a Premier League title parade, the city's mayor said on Tuesday, adding that he hoped they would "pull through." British police believe the incident, in a packed Liverpool city centre on Monday, was isolated and not an act of terrorism, but have not said why or how a man was able to drive at crowds celebrating in the streets on Monday evening. Videos posted online showed a grey people-carrier driving through a crowded street that was closed to cars, sending several flying into the air and dragging at least four under its wheels. When the car stopped, angry fans converged on it and began smashing the windows as police officers battled to prevent them from reaching the driver. Police said late on Monday that 20 people were treated at the scene and 27 were taken to hospital, including children. Liverpool City Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram told the BBC there were "still four people who are very, very ill in hospital". "We are hoping of course that they pull through". With most people off work for the Spring Bank Holiday, officials estimated that around one million people descended on the 10-mile parade route to watch the Liverpool team and its staff travel through the city centre on an open-top bus with the Premier League trophy. Liverpool last won the league during the COVID pandemic when celebrations were not permitted due to lockdowns. Police said the car hit the spectators as the event was winding down. In the aftermath, a Reuters photographer saw emergency services carrying victims on stretchers and in their arms to nearby ambulances. Police were unusually quick to provide a description of the man they arrested, saying around two hours after the incident that they had arrested a "53-year-old white British man from the Liverpool area." Former police officers and local politicians said that statement was needed to cool social media speculation that the episode was an Islamist attack. "That was one of my first concerns, that we needed to get the story out quickly," mayor Rotheram told the BBC. "If there's a vacuum, we know there are some elements that will try to inflame the situation and to create that speculation and to put misinformation out there." The same police force oversaw the response to the murder of three young girls in the nearby town of Southport last year, an incident which sparked days of rioting, fuelled initially by speculation online over the identity of the attacker. Prime Minister Keir Starmer thanked the emergency services for their swift response, saying: "Everyone, especially children, should be able to celebrate their heroes without this horror". (Writing by Kate Holton: additional reporting by Sachin Ravikumar in LONDON; Editing by Bernadette Baum)

byRoger Fisher

in

May 27, 2025

Four people injured in Liverpool parade crash 'very, very ill,' mayor says

Four people injured in Liverpool parade crash 'very, very ill,' mayor says By Phil Noble and Sachin Ravikumar LIVERPOOL, England (R...

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Ohio boy, 13, killed by float in freak accident during Memorial Day parade

Ohio boy, 13, killed by float in freak accident during Memorial Day parade

A 13-year-old boy died Monday after he was run over by a parade float he had fallen from during a Memorial Day procession in Ohio, authorities said. The North Canton teen — whose identity hasn't been released — was participating in the holiday parade in the town of Green around 11:23 a.m. when he tumbled off the front of the festive trailer and was struck by the platform's dual tires, The annual event came to a sudden halt as the youngster, who sustained severe injuries, was rushed to Akron Children's Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. "It's really a tragedy that this happened today," Sgt. Corin Usinskitold WEWS. "They had numerous people on the float and alongside the float. I've been doing this for 25 years as a police officer and I've never heard of this happening ever before." The nearly two-mile-long parade kicked off from Green High School Monday morning around 10 a.m.,according to the city's website. The patriotic wooden float — on which the boy was standing — was being pulled by a gray Ford F-150 pickup truck when he tragically fell, . "Our hearts go out to the family at this time of terrible loss," Green Mayor Rocco Yeargintold reportersfollowing the heartbreaking incident, the outlet reported. "We look to support them as a Green community any way that we can. Our school district has reached out to the school district of North Canton to offer counselors that will be in action to help their students walk through this issue." The North Canton City Schools District also released a statement notifying families that a crisis management team will be on hand to help grieving students and staff. "We are deeply saddened to have been informed of the passing of one of our North Canton City Schools students," the statement read. "There is no greater tragedy than the death of a young person, and we offer our sincere condolences and support to the family." The fatal incident remains under investigation.

byRoger Fisher

in

May 27, 2025

Ohio boy, 13, killed by float in freak accident during Memorial Day parade

Ohio boy, 13, killed by float in freak accident during Memorial Day parade A 13-year-old boy died Monday after he was run over by a parade f...

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