News in Brief
ADDIS ABABA (Dispatches) -- Gunmen have killed at least 32 people and set fire to homes in a "horrendous” attack in western Ethiopia, officials say. Local authorities said the rebel Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) was to blame for the attack in Oromia state. Residents said dozens were rounded up and killed and livestock was stolen. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed suggested the attacks may have been identity-based. Ethnic violence has increased since he took office in April 2018.
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ALGIERS (Press TV) -- Algerians have approved a revised version of the North African country’s constitution with two thirds of votes cast, the electoral commission says, after record low turnout in the previous day’s referendum. The vote had widely been seen as a regime maneuver to neutralize the Hirak protest movement, which at its peak had swept long-time president Abdelaziz Bouteflika from power. The Hirak had called for a boycott of the referendum.
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AMSTERDAM (AFP) -- A runaway Dutch metro train was saved from disaster on Monday after it smashed through a stop barrier but then came to rest on a giant sculpture of a whale’s tail. Instead of crashing into the water 10 metres (30 feet) below, the front carriage ended up suspended dramatically in the air, propped up only by the silver cetacean. The driver of the train, which had no passengers on board, was unharmed in the fluke incident which happened just after midnight at Spijkenisse, near the port city of Rotterdam. In a twist of fate, the fortuitously positioned artwork is called "Saved by the Whale’s Tail”.
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MOSCOW (Dispatches) -- A group of masked assailants killed a Russian businessman dubbed the "Sausage King” with a crossbow at his country residence in the Moscow region, Russia’s Investigative Committee and state media has reported. The victim, who owns large meat-processing plants, was in a sauna with his wfe when the attack happened, the Investigative Committee said. The committee did not name the man -- but state media identified him as Vladimir Marugov, citing his ex-wife Tatyana Marugova, who confirmed his death.
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ALGIERS (Press TV) -- Algerians have approved a revised version of the North African country’s constitution with two thirds of votes cast, the electoral commission says, after record low turnout in the previous day’s referendum. The vote had widely been seen as a regime maneuver to neutralize the Hirak protest movement, which at its peak had swept long-time president Abdelaziz Bouteflika from power. The Hirak had called for a boycott of the referendum.
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AMSTERDAM (AFP) -- A runaway Dutch metro train was saved from disaster on Monday after it smashed through a stop barrier but then came to rest on a giant sculpture of a whale’s tail. Instead of crashing into the water 10 metres (30 feet) below, the front carriage ended up suspended dramatically in the air, propped up only by the silver cetacean. The driver of the train, which had no passengers on board, was unharmed in the fluke incident which happened just after midnight at Spijkenisse, near the port city of Rotterdam. In a twist of fate, the fortuitously positioned artwork is called "Saved by the Whale’s Tail”.
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MOSCOW (Dispatches) -- A group of masked assailants killed a Russian businessman dubbed the "Sausage King” with a crossbow at his country residence in the Moscow region, Russia’s Investigative Committee and state media has reported. The victim, who owns large meat-processing plants, was in a sauna with his wfe when the attack happened, the Investigative Committee said. The committee did not name the man -- but state media identified him as Vladimir Marugov, citing his ex-wife Tatyana Marugova, who confirmed his death.