News in Brief

Date: 10 October 2022 - 21:59

News ID: ۱۰۷۶۴۳

NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Two people were shot on Sunday outside the home of New York congressman and Republican New York gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin, who has made addressing crime and violence a key point of his campaign, he said in a statement. The shooting appeared to have no connection to the Zeldin family, CNN and the Wall Street Journal reported, citing police and officials familiar with the ongoing probe. Zeldin said he did not know the identities of the two individuals who were shot, but said they had been laying down under his front porch and the bushes in front of it. Zeldin said only his two daughters were at home at the time of the shooting. Further details of the shooting and its motives were not clear. Suffolk County Police said the two people injured in the incident were transported to area hospitals for treatment.

***

BERLIN (Reuters) -- German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser wants to dismiss the country’s cybersecurity chief due to possible contacts with people involved with Russian security services, German media reported late on Sunday, citing government sources. Arne Schoenbohm, president of the BSI federal information security agency, could have had such contacts through the Cyber Security Council of Germany, various outlets reported. Schoenbohm was a founder of the association, which counts as a member a German company that is a subsidiary of a Russian cybersecurity firm founded by a former KGB employee, they wrote. Schoenbohm did not immediately reply to a message sent to him via social media. Neither the interior ministry nor the BSI immediately replied to requests for comment. “These accusations must be decisively investigated,” said Konstantin von Notz, the head of the parliamentary oversight committee for Germany’s intelligence agencies.

***

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — India’s External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said Russia’s war on Ukraine “does not serve the interests of anybody,” but declined to say whether his government would support a United Nations General Assembly motion condemning Moscow’s annexation of Ukrainian territories. Jaishankar was speaking at a joint news conference Monday with Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong after a bilateral meeting at Parliament House where the Ukraine war was discussed. “We have been very clearly against the conflict in Ukraine. We believe that this conflict does not serve the interests of anybody. Neither the participants nor indeed of the international community,” Jaishankar said. “As a country of the Global South, we have been seeing firsthand how much it has impacted low-income countries, the challenges that they are facing in terms of fuel and food and fertilizers,” he added. Asked if India would support the UN motion this week condemning Moscow’s annexation of four Ukraine regions, Jaishankar replied: “As a matter of prudence and policy, we don’t predict our votes in advance.” India is a major market for Russian-manufactured weapons. India’s relationship with Russia had “certainly served our interests well,” Jaishankar said.

***

MADRID (Reuters) -- A group representing victims of Spanish dictator Francisco Franco’s regime has asked prosecutors to investigate a song performed at a rally by the far-right Vox party for allegedly calling for a return to civil war. The song, written by youtuber Isaac Parejo and performed with the band Los Meconios, starts with the line “We’re going back to ‘36”, a reference to the year Spain’s civil war began and a suggestion Spain’s Association for the Recovery of Historical Memory said could be akin to a hate crime. The lyrics include verses such as “we are ‘fachas’” - a slang term for “fascist” - and comparisons between Spain’s current centre-left coalition government and the Popular Front that held power in the lead-up to the civil war. Several politicians linked to right-wing populist movements sent video messages supporting Vox at the event, including former U.S. President Donald Trump, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Italy’s Giorgia Meloni. Since its founding in 2013, Vox has grown to become the third largest party in the lower house, currently holding 52 of 350 seats.

***

TEJERIAS (Reuters) -- At least 25 people died and 52 were missing after five small rivers in central Venezuela flooded due to heavy rains, Citizen Security Vice President Remigio Ceballos said in a televised address. The downpour on Saturday night swept large tree trunks and debris from surrounding mountains into the community of Tejerias, 40 miles (67 kilometers) southwest of Caracas, damaging businesses and farmland, Vice President Delcy Rodriguez said earlier in the day. Rodriguez said that a month’s worth of rain had fallen in just eight hours and pumps used to power the community’s drinking water system were carried away in the flood waters. Rodriguez said the priority was to locate people still trapped under mud and rocks throughout the town, while military and rescue personnel also searched the riverbanks for survivors. “We have lost boys, girls,” the vice president said from a flooded street in Tejerias. “What has happened in the town of Tejerias is a tragedy.” President Nicolas Maduro said in a tweet that he had designated the area a disaster zone and had declared three days of mourning.