A Belarusian court on Monday sentenced the country's former champion swimmer and government critic Aliaksandra Herasimenia to 12 years in prison in absentia, a rights group said.. Separately, a court in Minsk sentenced several trade union representatives including Alexander Yaroshuk to prison violating public order, Viasna said. bur/yad
The death toll from a fuel tanker explosion in a South African city east of Johannesburg last week has climbed to 18, regional health authorities said on Monday.. A further eight people have since died of severe burns and injuries, the regional health department said in a statement.
A French pensioner suspected of fatally shooting three Kurds in Paris was due Monday before a judge who will decide on whether to charge him in the case that sparked angry protests.. Last year, he was charged with racist violence after allegedly stabbing migrants and slashing their tents with a sword in a park in eastern Paris.
Rescuers found the body of a woman in Spain's northwestern Galicia region on Monday, raising to seven the number who died after a bus plunged into a river on Christmas Eve, police said. . The regional La Voz de Galicia newspaper said the bus had plunged from a height of nearly 30 metres (nearly 100 feet) into the river.
Chinese President Xi Jinping urged officials on Monday to take steps to protect lives in his first public remarks on Covid-19 since Beijing dramatically loosened hardline containment measures this month.. "At present, Covid-19 prevention and control in China are facing a new situation and new tasks," Xi said in a directive, according to state broadcaster CCTV. "We should launch the patriotic health campaign in a more targeted way... fortify a community line of defence for epidemic prevention and control, and effectively protect people's lives, safety and health," Xi said.
A French pensioner suspected of fatally shooting three Kurds in Paris was due Monday before a judge who will decide on whether to charge him in the case that sparked angry protests.. Last year, he was charged with racist violence after allegedly stabbing migrants and slashing their tents with a sword in a park in eastern Paris.
Thousands rallied on Sunday in Azerbaijan, in the Nagorno-Karabakh region's largest city Stepanakert, to protest the blockade of the only land link to Armenia, an AFP journalist saw. . - 'Road of life' - The protests went smoothly, an AFP journalist said.
Family members spent Christmas morning on Sunday with Pele at the Sao Paulo hospital where the legendary footballer is battling worsening cancer as well as kidney and heart problems, according to a social media post by his daughter.. Shortly after midnight, at the start of Christmas Day, Pele's daughter Kely Nascimento posted a picture of the footballer's wife, Marcia Aoki, and other family members gathered at the Albert Einstein Hospital where he is being treated.
More than 200,000 Americans woke up without power on Christmas morning as a days-long winter megastorm that hammered several eastern US states Sunday left more than 20 people dead.. But the figure dropped substantially by Sunday, although more than 200,000 customers in eastern states still lacked power.
A French man suspected of killing three Kurds in a Paris shooting has confessed to a "pathological" hatred for foreigners, Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said on Sunday.. Beccuau said in a statement that the suspect was "depressive" and "suicidal" and said he "wanted to kill foreigners" after a burglary in his home in 2016.
