Swiss police are investigating a crash in which a pensioner was seriously injured when his car was hit by a Lamborghini sports car being driven by a young Russian man who was allegedly racing three others along the banks of Lake Geneva.
The driver of the Lamborghini Murcielago was one of a group who set off from a Geneva hotel at 11.20pm last Thursday in four luxury cars including a 1.4 million euro (US$2 million) Bugatti Veyron. They were said to have driven at speeds in excess of 200kph on the road between Geneva and Lausanne. Swiss police said the drivers were frantically overtaking each other.
“It was like a grand prix,” one witness said.
The unnamed 22-year-old driver of the Lamborghini eventually plowed into a Volkswagen Golf, pitching it 50m across the road. Its driver, a 70-year-old German pensioner, was severely injured.
The Russian was said to have then staggered out of his wrecked car, after which his friends picked him up and fled the scene. Police later arrested all four drivers. The Swiss newspaper Tribune de Geneve reported that tests showed the driver of the Lamborghini was drunk.
The case has thrown a spotlight on Russia’s so-called “golden youth” — the children of Russian politicians, diplomats and mega-rich oligarchs. On Monday Moscow’s newspapers pondered why these young Russians were so much more appalling than their Western counterparts.
Dmitry Rogozin — Moscow’s outspoken ambassador to NATO — said that the reported antics of the four young Russians had severely dented the country’s reputation abroad.
“The first generation of our ‘new Russians’ are behaving like complete prats,” he said.
A Chinese scientist was arrested while arriving in the US at Detroit airport, the second case in days involving the alleged smuggling of biological material, authorities said on Monday. The scientist is accused of shipping biological material months ago to staff at a laboratory at the University of Michigan. The FBI, in a court filing, described it as material related to certain worms and requires a government permit. “The guidelines for importing biological materials into the US for research purposes are stringent, but clear, and actions like this undermine the legitimate work of other visiting scholars,” said John Nowak, who leads field
Brazil, the world’s largest Roman Catholic country, saw its Catholic population decline further in 2022, while evangelical Christians and those with no religion continued to rise, census data released on Friday by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) showed. The census indicated that Brazil had 100.2 million Roman Catholics in 2022, accounting for 56.7 percent of the population, down from 65.1 percent or 105.4 million recorded in the 2010 census. Meanwhile, the share of evangelical Christians rose to 26.9 percent last year, up from 21.6 percent in 2010, adding 12 million followers to reach 47.4 million — the highest figure
Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg was deported from Israel yesterday, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, the day after the Israeli navy prevented her and a group of fellow pro-Palestinian activists from sailing to Gaza. Thunberg, 22, was put on a flight to France, the ministry said, adding that she would travel on to Sweden from there. Three other people who had been aboard the charity vessel also agreed to immediate repatriation. Eight other crew members are contesting their deportation order, Israeli rights group Adalah, which advised them, said in a statement. They are being held at a detention center ahead of a
‘THE RED LINE’: Colombian President Gustavo Petro promised a thorough probe into the attack on the senator, who had announced his presidential bid in March Colombian Senator Miguel Uribe Turbay, a possible candidate in the country’s presidential election next year, was shot and wounded at a campaign rally in Bogota on Saturday, authorities said. His conservative Democratic Center party released a statement calling it “an unacceptable act of violence.” The attack took place in a park in the Fontibon neighborhood when armed assailants shot him from behind, said the right-wing Democratic Center, which was the party of former Colombian president Alvaro Uribe. The men are not related. Images circulating on social media showed Uribe Turbay, 39, covered in blood being held by several people. The Santa Fe Foundation
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