News in Brief

Date: 20 September 2021 - 21:51

News ID: ۹۴۶۰۷

MOSCOW (AFP) -- A student opened fire on a university campus in central Russia on Monday killing at least eight people, investigators said, in the second mass shooting at an education facility this year. Russia’s Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, said several people were also injured in the attack at Perm State University and that the suspect had been wounded while being detained. Russia has relatively few school shootings due to normally tight security in education facilities and because of difficulty of buying firearms legally, although it is possible to register hunting rifles. Videos circulating on social media showed students throwing belongings from windows from buildings on campus before jumping to flee the shooter. State media played amateur footage reportedly taken during the attack showing an individual dressed in black tactical clothing, including a helmet, carrying a weapon and walking through the campus.

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MANILA (AFP) -- Philippine boxing superstar Manny Pacquiao declared he will run for president in 2022, vowing to tackle poverty and corruption as he seeks to win over voters with his rags-to-riches story. “The time is now -- we are ready to rise to the challenge of leadership,” Pacquiao -- currently a senator -- said, as he accepted the nomination of a rival faction in President Rodrigo Duterte’s ruling party. The eight-division world champion and beloved national hero made the announcement weeks after losing what could be his last professional fight, against Cuban Yordenis Ugas in Las Vegas. Pacquiao, who entered politics in 2010 as a congressman before being elected to the Senate, has long been expected to make a tilt for the country’s highest office. Pacquiao’s star power in a country famed for its celebrity-obsessed politics will put him in a strong position in the presidential race. Reaction to his announcement has been mixed, with some questioning the boxer’s suitability for the presidency.

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BAMAKO (Reuters) -- France’s Armed Forces Minister arrived in Mali to pressure the military junta to end talks to bring Russian mercenaries into the country. Diplomatic and security sources have told Reuters that Mali’s year-old military junta is close to recruiting the Russian Wagner Group, and France has launched a diplomatic drive to thwart it, saying such an arrangement is “incompatible” with a continued French presence. On Sunday, Mali’s foreign ministry called objections from neighbor Niger to the prospect of a deal with Wagner “unacceptable, unfriendly and condescending”. The visit by Florence Parly to Mali is the highest-level trip by French officials since the talks with Wagner emerged. An official from the French Armed Forces Ministry told reporters ahead of the visit that Parly would stress “the heavy consequences if this decision were to be taken by the Malian authorities.”

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VAVORIV, Ukraine (Reuters) -- Ukraine began joint military exercises with U.S. and other NATO troops on Monday, at a time when neighboring Russia and Belarus have been holding large-scale drills that alarmed the West. A Ukrainian defense ministry spokesman said 4,000 Ukrainian troops and 2,000 foreigners would participate in the “RAPID TRIDENT - 2021” drill, due to run until Oct. 1. The U.S. military said in a statement the drill involved a brigade combat team of the Washington National Guard, deployed in Ukraine since April as part of a multi-national training force. Troops from 12 countries in total would be involved, “to enhance interoperability among allied and partner nations” and demonstrate readiness. The exercise comes on the heels of huge war games staged by Moscow near NATO and EU borders of Russia and Belarus in recent weeks, which Russia says involved 200,000 troops. Kyiv and NATO also accuse Russia of having deployed extra troops this year near Ukraine’s frontiers. read more On Monday, around 20 Russian warships began large-scale live fire exercises in the Black Sea.

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PARIS (AFP) -- French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday asked “forgiveness” on behalf of his country for abandoning Algerians who fought alongside France in their country’s war of independence. More than 200,000 Algerians fought with the French army in the war that pitted Algerian independence fighters against their French colonial masters from 1954 to 1962. At the end of the war -- waged with extreme brutality, including widespread torture -- the French government left the loyalist fighters known as Harkis to fend for themselves, despite earlier promises that it would look after them. Thousands of others who escaped to France were interned in camps, often with their families, in degrading and traumatizing conditions. “I’m asking for forgiveness. We will not forget,” Macron said at a ceremony at the Elysee Palace attended by around 300 people, mostly surviving Harkis and their families, adding that France had “failed in its duty towards the Harkis, their wives, their children”.

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Conakry (Reuters) -- Two trains operated by Russian aluminium giant Rusal collided in Guinea’s capital Conakry on Monday, killing at least one person and injuring several others, witnesses told Reuters. The world’s third-largest aluminium producer operates three bauxite mines and an alumina refinery in the coastal West African nation. The Guinea mines currently account for 42% of Rusal’s total bauxite capacity. read more Images shared on social media showed multiple derailed train cars piled on top of each other and thick, grey smoke. The Russian firm has been a strong presence in Guinea since the Soviet era, and recently said it would maintain its operations there despite a military coup on Sept. 5 that overthrew longtime president Alpha Conde.