PARIS: French yellow vest protest organizers are trying to tamp down violence and anti-Semitism in the movement's ranks as they launch a 15th straight weekend of demonstrations.
Hundreds of people gathered Saturday at the Arc de Triomphe monument for a march through well-off neighborhoods to protest government policies they see as favoring the rich. It was among multiple actions planned Saturday around Paris and in other cities.
Support for the movement has ebbed in recent weeks as it has splintered and outbreaks of violence continue. Online announcements for Saturday's marches appealed for peaceful action, and one of the weekend protests aims to stand up against anti-Semitism.
Extremist views of some protesters have erupted in a torrent of anti-Semitic insults at a noted philosopher on the sidelines of last weekend's Paris protest.
Yellow vest protesters try to keep up momentum on week 15
Yellow vest protesters try to keep up momentum on week 15
- Hundreds of people gathered Saturday at the Arc de Triomphe monument for a march through well-off neighborhoods to protest government policies they see as favoring the rich
- Support for the movement has ebbed in recent weeks as it has splintered and outbreaks of violence continue
Germany in talks to buy Patriot missiles for Ukraine after US pause
Germany has sent three of the US-made systems from its military stocks to Ukraine
BERLIN: Germany is in talks on buying Patriot air defense systems for Ukraine to help it counter some of the heaviest Russian attacks since the war began in 2022, a government spokesperson said on Friday.
The US has paused shipments of certain critical weapons to Ukraine including 30 Patriot air defense missiles, sources told Reuters this week, due to low stockpiles, prompting warnings by Kyiv this would weaken its ability to defend itself.
“There are various ways to fill this Patriot gap,” the spokesperson told a news conference in Berlin, adding that one option being considered is buying the Patriot missile batteries in the United States and then sending them on to Kyiv.
“I can confirm that intensive discussions are indeed being held on this matter,” he said.
Germany has sent three of the US-made systems from its military stocks to Ukraine, and Defense Minister Boris Pistorius last month launched an initiative to chase down more of them at the Ramstein group of some 50 nations.
Pistorius will travel to Washington later this month for talks with his US counterpart about his initiative as well as production capacities, said a defense ministry spokesperson.
“Of course these issues will also be on the agenda,” said the spokesperson.
The US Embassy in Berlin was not immediately available for comment.
Pistorius has floated the idea of buying Patriot systems that could be freed up to bypass long industrial delivery times and ensure they get to Ukraine quickly.
Ukraine is increasingly desperate for the systems that it relies on to destroy fast-moving ballistic missiles.
Russia pummelled Kyiv with the largest drone attack of the war, injuring at least 23 people, just hours after US President Donald Trump spoke to Russia’s Vladimir Putin on Thursday.
Germany, Ukraine’s second largest donor after the United States, has sought to take on more of a leadership role in ensuring backing for Kyiv as US support has been thrown into question under Trump.
While Europe could sustain Ukraine’s resistance without US military support, according to a senior German military official, the challenges would be immense.
Germany has provided a total of 38 billion euros ($43 billion) worth of military aid to Ukraine, including funds earmarked for the coming years, according to the defense ministry.
A Bloomberg News report on Friday said Germany is preparing a 25-billion-euro tank order to ramp up its NATO brigades. The defense ministry had no immediate comment.
Regulators warned Air India Express about delay on Airbus engine fix, forging records
- India’s aviation watchdog reprimanded Air India’s budget carrier in March for not timely changing engine parts of an Airbus A320
- Air India has been under intense scrutiny since Boeing Dreamliner crash, killing all but one of the 242 people onboard
NEW DELHI: India’s aviation watchdog reprimanded Air India’s budget carrier in March for not timely changing engine parts of an Airbus A320 as directed by European Union’s aviation safety agency, and falsifying records to show compliance, a government memo showed.
In a statement, Air India Express told Reuters it acknowledged the error to the Indian watchdog and undertook “remedial action and preventive measures.”
Air India has been under intense scrutiny since the June Boeing Dreamliner crash in Ahmedabad which killed all but one of the 242 people onboard. The world’s worst aviation disaster in a decade is still being investigated.
The engine issue in the Air India Express’ Airbus was raised on March 18, months before the crash. But the regulator has this year also warned parent Air India for breaching rules for flying three Airbus planes with overdue checks on escape slides, and in June warned it about “serious violations” of pilot duty timings.
Air India Express is a subsidiary of Air India, which is owned by the Tata Group. It has more than 115 aircraft and flies to more than 50 destinations, with 500 daily flights.
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency in 2023 issued an airworthiness directive to address a “potential unsafe condition” on CFM International LEAP-1A engines, asking for replacement of some components such as engine seals and rotating parts, saying some manufacturing deficiencies had been found.
The agency’s directive said “this condition, if not corrected, could lead to failure of affected parts, possibly resulting in high energy debris release, with consequent damage to, and reduced control of, the aeroplane.”
The Indian government’s confidential memo in March sent to the airline, seen by Reuters, said that surveillance by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) revealed the parts modification “was not complied” on an engine of an Airbus A320 “within the prescribed time limit.”
“In order to show that the work has been carried out within the prescribed limits, the AMOS records have apparently been altered/forged,” the memo added, referring to the Aircraft Maintenance and Engineering Operating System software used by airlines to manage maintenance and airworthiness.
The mandatory modification was required on Air India Express’ VT-ATD plane, the memo added. That plane typically flies on domestic routes and some international destinations such as Dubai and Muscat, according to the AirNav Radar website.
The lapse “indicates that the accountable manager has failed to ensure quality control,” it added.
Air India Express told Reuters its technical team missed the scheduled implementation date for parts replacement due to the migration of records on its monitoring software, and fixed the problem soon after it was identified.
It did not give dates of compliance or directly address DGCA’s comment about records being altered, but said that after the March memo it took “necessary administrative actions,” which included removing the quality manager from the person’s position and suspending the deputy continuing airworthiness manager.
The DGCA and the European safety agency did not respond to Reuters queries.
Airbus and CFM International, a joint venture between General Electric and Safran, also did not respond.
The lapse was first flagged during a DGCA audit in October 2024 and the plane in question took only a few trips after it was supposed to replace the CFM engine parts, a source with direct knowledge said.
“Such issues should be fixed immediately. It’s a grave mistake. The risk increases when you are flying over sea or near restricted airpsace,” said Vibhuti Singh, a former legal expert at the India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau.
The Indian government told parliament in February that authorities warned or fined airlines in 23 instances for safety violations last year. Three of those cases involved Air India Express, and eight Air India.
The Tata Group acquired Air India from the Indian government in 2022 and the Dreamliner crash has cast a shadow on its ambitions of making it a “world class airline.”
While Air India has aggressively expanded its international flight network over the months, it still faces persistent complaints from passengers, who often take to social media to show soiled seats, broken armrests, non-operational entertainment systems and dirty cabins.
Russia, Ukraine announce fresh prisoner swap
- The warring sides have swapped POWs throughout Russia’s more than three-year invasion
- Russia is believed to hold thousands of Ukrainian prisoners, many of whom were captured in the first year of Moscow’s offensive
KYIV: Russia and Ukraine announced a fresh prisoner swap on Friday as part of agreements reached between them during talks in Istanbul last month.
The warring sides have swapped POWs throughout Russia’s more than three-year invasion. At recent talks in Istanbul, they agreed to free all heavily wounded, ill and under 25-year-old captive troops.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky published photographs of freed Ukrainian troops, wrapped in blue and yellow flags.
“Our people are home. Most of them had been held in Russian captivity since 2022,” he said on social media.
Zelensky said they included servicemen from the army, national guard, border service and transport service, adding: “And also civilians.”
He did not say how many Ukrainians had been returned.
“Ukraine’s goal is to free all our people from Russian captivity,” Zelensky said.
Russia’s defense ministry also reported the swap, saying Kyiv handed over a group of its servicemen who were currently in Moscow-allied Belarus.
It also did not say how many troops were exchanged.
Russia is believed to hold thousands of Ukrainian prisoners, many of whom were captured in the first year of Moscow’s offensive when Russian troops advanced deep into the country.
Kyiv also holds many Russian captives, although that number is believed to be considerably smaller.
Kremlin says it pays close attention to Trump statements after he voices disappointment with Putin call
- Kremlin leader had told Trump that Russia expects to agree a date for a third round of peace talks with Ukraine
- Russia would prefer to achieve its goals in Ukraine by political and diplomatic means
MOSCOW: The Kremlin said on Friday that Russia closely follows all of Donald Trump’s statements after the US president said he was “very disappointed” with his latest conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin about the war in Ukraine.
Trump, who had confidently stated last week that Putin was “looking to settle” the conflict, said after Thursday’s phone call that he did not think the Russian leader was looking to stop it.
Asked about the comments, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters: “Of course, we are paying very close attention to all of President Trump’s statements.”
He did not address Trump’s implied criticism of Putin.
Trump, who returned to the White House in January with a promise to swiftly end the “bloodbath” in Ukraine, said after Thursday’s call: “I didn’t make any progress with him at all.”
Peskov said Putin had told Trump that Russia would prefer to achieve its goals in Ukraine by political and diplomatic means, but in the meantime would continue what it calls its “special military operation.”
He said the Kremlin leader had told Trump that Russia expects to agree a date for a third round of peace talks with Ukraine, following earlier talks in May and June.
At least five dead in Pakistan building collapse: police
- Up to 100 people had been living in the building
- Roof and building collapses are common across Pakistan
KARACHI: A five-story building collapse in Pakistan on Friday killed at least five people and left six injured, with more victims trapped under the rubble, police said.
Rescuers and residents in the mega port city of Karachi worked together to pull people from the debris after the incident at around 10:10 a.m. (0510 GMT).
“We have so far retrieved five dead bodies and six injured people,” a senior local police official, Arif Aziz, said.
Up to 100 people had been living in the building, he added.
Saad Edhi, of the Edhi welfare foundation that is leading the rescue operation, said there could be “at least eight to 10 more people still trapped,” describing it as a “worn out building.”
He put the death toll at four.
Roof and building collapses are common across Pakistan, mainly because of poor safety standards and shoddy construction materials in the South Asian country of more than 240 million people.
But Karachi, home to more than 20 million, is especially notorious for poor construction, illegal extensions, aging infrastructure, overcrowding, and lax enforcement of building regulations.
