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Man surrenders and confesses to Germany stabbing attack

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• Solingen residents feel 'great solidarity' after knife attack
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A 26-year-old man has given himself up and confessed to a mass knife attack at a street festival in Germany, police said on Sunday.

“The involvement of this person is currently under intensive investigation,” prosecutors and Düsseldorf police said.

He is under investigation for murder, attempted murder and membership of a foreign terrorist organisation, Germany’s federal prosecutor told the BBC.

Three people were killed and another eight injured in the city of Solingen during a festival to celebrate its 650-year history, in what Chancellor Olaf Scholz described as a “horrific act”.

The Islamic State group on Saturday claimed responsibility for the bloodshed, but did not immediately provide any evidence of a relationship with the attacker.

Those killed were two men aged 56 and 67, and a 56-year-old woman, officials said. Four of the injured are still in a serious condition. All of the victims were stabbed in the neck, police have said.

“The man we’ve really been looking for the whole day has just been taken into custody,” Herbert Reul, the interior minister of North Rhine-Westphalia state, told ARD public TV late on Saturday.

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Germany’s Bild and Spiegel news websites reported that the suspect surrendered himself in dirty blood-stained clothes.

Police described him as Syrian, and German media reported that he arrived in Germany in December 2022, after leaving the war-torn country.

Bild reported that special task force (SEK) officers stormed a refugee centre that the suspect was associated with, detaining another person there.

Police also arrested a 15-year-old boy who is alleged to have known about the attack in advance.

The refugee centre is located about 300m (984ft) from Fronhof – Solingen’s central market square where people were stabbed on Friday night – according to Bild.

 EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock Police officers stand guard in front of a refugee centre in Solingen, Germany. Photo: 24 August 2024
• Police raided a refugee centre in Solingen which the attack suspect was associated with

Solingen – a city famous for its steel industry – has about 160,000 inhabitants. It lies about 25km (15 miles) east of Düsseldorf.

The city’s authorities asked people to leave the Fronhof area after the attack at about 22:00 local time (21:00 BST) on Friday.

The planned three-day celebrations of the city anniversary – for which about 75,000 people had been expected – were cancelled after the attack.

Solingen Mayor Tim Kurzbach later said that “all of us in Solingen are in shock, horror and great sadness.

“It breaks my heart that an attack has happened in our city. I have tears in my eyes when I think of those we’ve lost.

“I pray for all those still fighting for their lives. Also my greatest sympathy for all those who had to experience this, these images must have been horrific.”

People have been bringing flowers and candles to the site of the attack that shocked the entire country.

Players from Germany’s top Bundesliga football league wore black armbands during Saturday’s matches.

The attack may fuel an already fraught debate about immigration and asylum in Germany.

It comes ahead of key regional elections in the country’s east next week, where the far right is eyeing gains.

BBC

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Security Alert: CCTV Footage of White House shooting suspect released By Trump goes viral

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The suspect
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The President of the United States, Donald Trump, has released CCTV footage and images of a suspect linked to a shooting incident at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in Washington.

The released video, shared shortly before the President spoke to the press, reportedly shows the suspect entering the ballroom of the Washington Hilton and bypassing a security metal detector before armed security personnel moved in to intercept him.

Trump described the individual as a “would-be assassin,” alleging that he was heavily armed and managed to breach a key security checkpoint.

According to BBC reporting, the President said the suspect forced his way past screening procedures while carrying multiple weapons.

Photographs also released by the President show a shirtless man lying face down in a lobby area with his hands restrained behind his back, believed to be the suspect involved.

Authorities confirmed that the suspect is now in custody. Trump also stated that a law enforcement officer was shot during the incident but survived due to wearing a bulletproof vest.

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The shooting occurred on Saturday night during the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, an annual event attended by journalists, government officials, and other dignitaries.

The incident caused panic at the venue, leading to the evacuation of guests and officials.

Investigations are ongoing to determine the motive behind the attack and how the security breach occurred.

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U.S., Iran agree two-week ceasefire as Iran reopens Strait of Hormuz

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Strait of Hormuz
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Iran has confirmed a two-week ceasefire announced by U.S. President Donald Trump, the Tasnim news agency, which is close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), reported early on Wednesday.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz would be possible for two weeks in coordination with Iran’s armed forces “and with due consideration of technical limitations.”

Trump had made reopening the waterway a condition for the ceasefire and had threatened to target Iran’s energy sector and infrastructure, including bridges, if Tehran failed to comply, setting a deadline of 0000 GMT.

The Strait of Hormuz, crucial to global oil and gas trade, has been largely closed since the United States and Israel launched large-scale attacks on Iran on Feb. 28.

According to a senior U.S. official, Israel will also adhere to what Trump described as a “double sided CEASEFIRE.”

Pakistan, which has mediated between Tehran and Washington, said that an immediate ceasefire between Iran and the US had taken effect.

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Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif wrote on X that the Islamic Republic of Iran and the U.S., along with their allies, had agreed to an “immediate ceasefire everywhere,” including in Lebanon.

“I warmly welcome the sagacious gesture and extend deepest gratitude to the leadership of both the countries and invite their delegations to Islamabad on Friday … to further negotiate for a conclusive agreement to settle all disputes,” Sharif said.

Trump earlier said Sharif had asked him to refrain from carrying out the threatened attacks.

The U.S. has received a 10-point proposal from Iran and believed it offered a “workable basis” for negotiations, Trump wrote on his platform Truth Social.

According to The New York Times, the plan calls for lifting all sanctions imposed on Iran. (dpa/NAN)

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Earthquake kills 8 members of same family in Afghanistan

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An earthquake that struck Afghanistan overnight killed eight members of the same family in Kabul province, the health ministry said on Saturday.

The 5.8-magnitude quake struck at 8.42 pm (1612 GMT) on Friday at a depth of 186 kilometres (115 miles) at the epicentre in northeastern Badakhshan province, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).

Shaking was felt in multiple parts of the country, including the capital Kabul, according to AFP journalists.

“In the Gosfand Dara area of Kabul Province, eight members of a family died as a result of the earthquake,” Health Ministry spokesman Sharafat Zaman said in a message to media.

He added that a child aged around two years old was the only survivor from the household and the country’s disaster management agency said the boy had been injured in the tremor.

Afghanistan is frequently jolted by earthquakes, particularly along the Hindu Kush mountain range near where the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates meet.

In August, a shallow magnitude 6 earthquake wiped out mountainside villages and killed more than 2,200 people in eastern Afghanistan, making it the deadliest tremor in the country’s recent history.

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AFP

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