UNITED KINGDOM
Police arrest three suspects
Police arrested three men in south Wales over last week’s bombing of a busy commuter train in west London, meaning five people are now being questioned by detectives over the attack that injured 30 people. A 25-year-old man was arrested on Tuesday evening in Newport, while two others, aged 48 and 30, were detained at another address in the Welsh town early yesterday, London police said. “This continues to be a fast-moving investigation. A significant amount of activity has taken place since the attack on Friday,” said Dean Haydon, head of the Metropolitan Police Service’s Counter Terrorism Command.
RUSSIA
Lavrov laughs off ‘paranoia’
Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov on Tuesday scoffed at the suggestion that the US might have to defend Sweden against a Russian attack, even though Sweden is not a member of NATO. In an interview with The Associated Press, Lavrov was asked about a statement made by US Secretary of Defense James Mattis in May that the US would “stand with Sweden” in the event of Russian aggression in Europe. “I cannot address paranoidal statements... I heard that the Swedish government is afraid of something, that the German government is keeping its fingers crossed and is thankful to us that one week before the election we haven’t yet meddled with the election. There are so many fantasies that it’s a waste of time to pay attention to. It’s so fake,” Lavrov said.
UNITED STATES
Mueller talks to Rosenstein
Special counsel Robert Mueller’s office has interviewed Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein about President Donald Trump’s firing of former FBI director James Comey, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday. Citing unnamed people familiar with the investigation, the newspaper said the interview occurred in June or July. Mueller is looking into allegations of Russian meddling in last year’s presidential election; possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia; and whether Trump might have obstructed justice by firing Comey in May. Mueller ultimately reports to Rosenstein, because Attorney General Jeff Sessions has recused himself from the probe.
UNITED STATES
Nursing home resident dies
Police said a ninth person has died nearly a week after the evacuation of a Florida nursing home that Hurricane Irma left without air-conditioning. Hollywood Police Department spokesman Miranda Grossman said in a news release that a 93-year-old man who had been a patient at the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills died on Tuesday. A total of 145 patients had to be moved out of the facility. Authorities have launched a criminal investigation to figure out what went wrong and who, if anyone, was to blame.
UNITED STATES
Clinton pokes fun at Putin
When former secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton on Tuesday night took the guest’s seat on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, she was in a mood to put Russian President Vladimir Putin on the psychiatrist’s couch. Clinton said Putin interfered in the presidential election in part because of her work as secretary of state, which brought the two into conflict on various occasions. That evolved into a grudge on his part, she said, adding that the fact she is a woman “does seem to get him agitated.” She mocked Putin for “manspreading” at one meeting, referring to an aggressive posture where a man sits with legs splayed.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
UNREST: The authorities in Turkey arrested 13 Turkish journalists in five days, deported a BBC correspondent and on Thursday arrested a reporter from Sweden Waving flags and chanting slogans, many hundreds of thousands of anti-government demonstrators on Saturday rallied in Istanbul, Turkey, in defence of democracy after the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu which sparked Turkey’s worst street unrest in more than a decade. Under a cloudless blue sky, vast crowds gathered in Maltepe on the Asian side of Turkey’s biggest city on the eve of the Eid al-Fitr celebration which started yesterday, marking the end of Ramadan. Ozgur Ozel, chairman of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which organized the rally, said there were 2.2 million people in the crowd, but
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