World
Dutch leader apologizes for Netherlands’ role in slave trade
5 minute read Monday, Dec. 19, 2022THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte apologized Monday on behalf of his government for the Netherlands’ historical role in slavery and the slave trade, despite calls for him to delay the long-awaited statement.
“Today I apologize,” Rutte said in a 20-minute speech that was greeted with silence by an invited audience at the National Archive.
Rutte went ahead with the apology even though some activist groups in the Netherlands and its former colonies had urged him to wait until July 1 of next year, the anniversary of the abolition of slavery 160 years ago. Activists consider next year the 150th anniversary because many enslaved people were forced to continue working in plantations for a decade after abolition.
“Why the rush?” Barryl Biekman, chair of the Netherlands-based National Platform for Slavery Past, asked before the prime minister's address. Some of the groups went to court last week in a failed attempt to block the speech.
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Greece: Bail set for policeman who shot Roma teenager
2 minute read Monday, Dec. 19, 2022THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — A Greek court has decided that a police officer accused of fatally injuring a Roma teenager during a car chase over an allegedly unpaid gas station bill should be released on bail pending trial.
The Dec. 5 shooting of 16-year-old Kostas Frangoulis, a father of one, triggered days of protests which often turned violent, despite calls for restraint by the teenager’s family and Roma community leaders. Frangloulis died last week, after spending several days in critical condition in hospital with a gunshot wound to the head.
A panel of judges issued the decision Monday, ordering the 34-year-old officer to be released pending trial. The only bail condition set was that the officer is banned from leaving the country.
Police have said the teenager tried to ram the police motorbikes chasing him after he allegedly drove off from a gas station without paying a 20 euro ($21) bill. The officer accused of shooting him has said he fired because he feared his colleagues’ lives were in danger.
Germany’s Merkel offers her thoughts on Wagner’s Ring cycle
3 minute read Preview Monday, Dec. 19, 2022Court: UK plan to send asylum-seekers to Rwanda is legal
5 minute read Preview Monday, Dec. 19, 2022South African president reelected leader of ruling ANC party
5 minute read Preview Monday, Dec. 19, 2022Shootout in southern Jordan kills 3 officers, suspect
2 minute read Monday, Dec. 19, 2022AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — Three police officers were killed in a restive area of southern Jordan on Monday while trying to arrest suspects in last week’s slaying of a police commander. The main suspect was also killed in the gunbattle, authorities said.
The shootout took place near the town of Maan, where Abdul Razzaq Abdel Hafez Al Dalabeh, a local deputy police director, was killed last week. The region is an impoverished and marginalized area of the country with high unemployment. In the past, there were expressions of support for the militant Islamic State group in the area.
Jordanian police said nine suspects were arrested, allegedly members of what they called a terrorist cell with “takfiri ideology,” a term used to describe Islamic extremists.
The Public Security Directorate said officers surrounded the location of the suspects in the killing of the commander. One suspect “fired heavy bullets from an automatic weapon,” and the officers returned fire, the statement also said. It added that officers seized “automatic firearms and a large amount of ammunition.”
Nighttime drone attack hits Kyiv as Putin heads to Belarus
6 minute read Preview Monday, Dec. 19, 2022Thai navy searching for 31 sailors in water after ship sank
3 minute read Preview Monday, Dec. 19, 202211 people seriously injured amid turbulence on Hawaii flight
4 minute read Preview Monday, Dec. 19, 2022Messi wins World Cup, Argentina beats France on penalties
7 minute read Preview Sunday, Dec. 18, 2022‘Avatar 2’ makes waves with $134 million domestic debut
5 minute read Preview Sunday, Dec. 18, 2022Cecily Strong leaves Saturday Night Live after 11 seasons
2 minute read Preview Sunday, Dec. 18, 2022N Korea fires 2 ballistic missiles in resumption of testing
4 minute read Preview Saturday, Dec. 17, 2022Oppenheimer wrongly stripped of security clearance, US says
3 minute read Preview Saturday, Dec. 17, 2022Iran authorities arrest actress of Oscar-winning movie
4 minute read Preview Saturday, Dec. 17, 2022Woman injured in London concert crowd crush dies in hospital
2 minute read Saturday, Dec. 17, 2022LONDON (AP) — A woman injured in a crush outside a London concert venue has died, police said Saturday.
London resident Rebecca Ikumelo, 33, was one of eight people hospitalized after being caught in mayhem outside the O2 Brixton Academy on Thursday night, where Nigerian singer Asake was due to perform.
The Metropolitan Police force said she died on Saturday morning. Two other women, aged 21 and 23, remain in critical condition.
Asake said he was “overwhelmed with grief" at Ikumelo's death.
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