Man turns himself in over German knife attack: Police
Solingen, Aug 25: A 26-year-old man has turned himself into police, saying he was responsible for the Solingen knife attack that left three dead and eight wounded at a festival marking the city’s 650th anniversary, German authorities announced early Sunday. Duesseldorf police said in a joint statement with the prosecutor’s office that the man “stated that he was responsible for the attack.” “This person’s involvement in the crime is currently being intensively investigated,” the statement said. Federal prosecutors said they were investigating on suspicion of murder, attempted murder and membership in a foreign terrorist organisation. The suspect was to make a first appearance before a judge later Sunday. The suspect is a Syrian citizen who had applied for asylum in Germany, police confirmed. The dpa news agency reported, without citing a specific source, that his asylum claim had been denied and that he was to have been deported last year. (AP)
French police arrest suspect in an explosion at synagogue
Nice, Aug 25: French police have apprehended and detained a suspect in an arson attack on a synagogue in a southwestern Mediterranean town that injured a police officer, the country’s acting interior minister said Sunday. Two cars parked at the Beth Yaacov synagogue complex in the seaside resort town of La Grande Motte, near Montpellier, were set ablaze just after 8 am Saturday. Firefighters discovered additional fires at two entrances to the synagogue. A police officer who walked up to the site was injured after a propane gas tank placed near the burning vehicles exploded. French prosecutors said the man was arrested in the southern city of Nimes shortly before midnight Saturday. “He opened fire on the police intervention unit, which returned fire, injuring (the suspect) in the face,” the National Antiterrorism Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement Sunday. Two other people linked to the suspect were also taken into custody, it added. (AP)
China opposes US sanctions over alleged ties to Russia’s war effort
Beijing, Aug 25: China on Sunday expressed its opposition to the latest US sanctions on Chinese companies over their alleged ties to Russia’s war in Ukraine, saying it will adopt necessary measures to safeguard the rights and interests of the country’s businesses. The US on Friday announced sweeping sanctions on hundreds of firms in Russia and across Europe, Asia and the Middle East, accusing them of providing products and services that enable Russia’s war effort and aiding its ability to evade sanctions. The US Department of State said it was concerned by “the magnitude of dual-use goods exports” from China to Russia. The Ministry of Commerce in China in its statement firmly opposed the US putting multiple Chinese companies on its export control list. The move bars such companies from trading with US firms without gaining a nearly unobtainable special license. The ministry said the US action was “typical unilateral sanctions.” (AP)