WARSAW: Police cordoned off Warsaw’s Pilsudski Square and the surrounding area of the Polish capital on Saturday, with local media reporting that a man had climbed onto a monument in the square and threatened to blow himself up.
Private broadcaster Polsat News reported that at around 1130 GMT the man surrendered to police. Its footage showed him climbing down from the monument, taking off his jacket and walking away with his hands in the air.
The incident came a day before Poland holds a high-stakes parliamentary election.
A police officer at the scene had told a Reuters reporter: “No entrance, there is a bomb,” but a police spokesperson quoted by the state-run PAP news agency did not confirm the reports that the man was threatening to blow himself up.
Footage posted on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, had showed a man standing on top of the Smolensk monument, which commemorates the victims of a 2010 air disaster that killed 96 people including President Lech Kaczynski and his wife, Maria.
PAP said several hundred officers were involved in an operation around the square. A Reuters video journalist saw armed officers arriving nearby.
A guest at the Sofitel hotel, which faces the square, said they had been told to only leave the building by the back exit.
Polish police cordon off Warsaw square amid reports of bomb threat
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Polish police cordon off Warsaw square amid reports of bomb threat
- Private broadcaster Polsat News reported that at around 1130 GMT the man surrendered to police
- The incident came a day before Poland holds a high-stakes parliamentary election
South Korea court rejects arrest warrant for ex-President Yoon, Yonhap says
- South Korea’s special prosecutor had asked the court on Tuesday to issue an arrest warrant for Yoon Suk Yeol
- Former president facing a criminal trial on insurrection charges for issuing the martial law declaration
A spokesperson for the Seoul Central District Court and the prosecution office could not immediately be reached for comment.
South Korea’s special prosecutor had asked the court on Tuesday to issue an arrest warrant for Yoon as an investigation intensified over the ousted leader’s botched bid to declare martial law in December.
Yoon, who is already facing a criminal trial on insurrection charges for issuing the martial law declaration, was arrested in January after resisting authorities trying to take him into custody, but was released after 52 days on technical grounds.
The new warrant was on a charge of obstruction, a senior member of the special prosecutor’s team of investigators said on Tuesday.
Georgia tightens screws on opposition, jails more leaders
- Opposition figures and rights activists are being targeted in a wave of arrests and prosecutions
TBILISI: Georgia jailed two prominent opposition figures on Friday, the latest in a string of sentences that critics condemn as a crackdown on dissent that puts nearly all opposition leaders behind bars.
Georgia has faced political unrest since the ruling Georgian Dream party claimed victory in October’s parliamentary elections.
The opposition rejected the results, triggering mass protests that escalated after the government suspended negotiations on joining the European Union.
Protesters accuse the ruling party of drifting toward authoritarianism and aligning the country with Moscow — allegations the government denies.
Opposition figures and rights activists are being targeted in a wave of arrests and prosecutions.
On Friday, a Tbilisi court ordered Nika Melia — the co-leader of the key opposition Akhali party — to be jailed for eight months.
Another prominent opposition politician, Givi Targamadze, was sentenced to seven months in prison.
The two were also barred from holding public office for two years.
They were convicted of failing to cooperate with a divisive parliamentary enquiry probing alleged abuses under jailed ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili.
Saakashvili, a pro-Western reformer, is serving a 12.5-year sentence on charges widely condemned by rights groups as politically motivated.
Melia has been in pre-trial detention since late May.
Targamadze, a member of Saakashvili’s United National Movement (UNM), said he believed his sentence was “a Russian order.”
In 2016, he survived a bomb attack when his car exploded in central Tbilisi just days before parliamentary elections.
Nearly all of Georgia’s opposition leaders have been jailed this month on charges similar to those levelled at Melia and Targamadze.
They have dismissed the parliamentary commission as illegitimate and accused Georgian Dream of using it to silence dissent.
Ahead of last year’s elections, Georgian Dream announced plans to outlaw all major opposition parties.
Flash floods in Pakistan kill at least 7 and sweep away dozens of tourists
- The nationwide death toll from rain-related incidents rose to 17 over the past 24 hours
- Nearly 100 rescuers in various groups were searching for the missing tourists who were swept away
PESHAWAR, Pakistan: Flash floods triggered by pre-monsoon rains swept away dozens of tourists in northwest Pakistan on Friday, killing at least seven people.
The nationwide death toll from rain-related incidents rose to 17 over the past 24 hours, officials said.
Nearly 100 rescuers in various groups were searching for the missing tourists who were swept away while picnicking along the Swat River in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, said Shah Fahad, a spokesman for the provincial emergency service.
He said 16 members from the same family were among the dead or missing.
Fahad said divers had so far rescued seven people and recovered seven bodies after hours-long efforts and the search continued for the remaining victims.
Videos circulating on social media showed about a dozen people stranded on a slightly elevated spot in the middle of the Swat River, crying for help amid rapidly rising floodwaters.
Fahad urged the public to adhere strictly to earlier government warnings about possible flash flooding in the Swat River, which runs through the scenic Swat Valley – a popular summer destination for tens of thousands of tourists who visit the region in summer and winter alike.
Elsewhere, at least 10 people were killed in rain-related incidents in eastern Punjab and southern Sindh provinces over the past 24 hours, according to rescue officials.
Weather forecasters say rains will continue this week. Pakistan’s annual monsoon season runs from July through September.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed his deep sorrow and grief over the deaths of the tourists swept away by the floods in the Swat River. In a statement, he directed authorities to strengthen safety measures near rivers and streams.
Heavy rains have battered parts of Pakistan since earlier this week, blocking highways and damaging homes.
Still, weather forecasters say the country will receive less rain compared with 2022 when the climate-induced downpour swelled rivers and inundated one-third of Pakistan at one point , killing 1,739.
Moscow summons German envoy over ‘persecution’ of Russian media
- Relations between Moscow and Berlin have broken down since Russia sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022
- Russia has repeatedly accused Western countries of mistreating its journalists and imposing restrictions on its media abroad
MOSCOW: Moscow summoned German ambassador Alexander Graf Lambsdorff on Friday to protest Berlin’s “persecution” of Russian journalists, Russian state media reported.
The row began after Russia’s top media official in Berlin accused German police of confiscating his family’s passports, prompting Moscow to warn of retaliation.
“The German ambassador was summoned to the Russian foreign ministry today,” the ministry said, according to the state RIA news agency.
Relations between Moscow and Berlin have broken down since Russia sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022.
Germany has been one of Kyiv’s biggest supporters, supplying it with military and financial aid.
Earlier in June, the head of Russia’s state media company in Berlin, Sergei Feoktistov, said police had come to his family’s apartment and confiscated their passports.
He said police took the measure to prevent the family from going into hiding, after Feoktistov was ordered to leave the country, Russia’s RIA news agency reported.
Russia’s foreign ministry spokeswoman warned last week that Moscow was preparing countermeasures and urged German correspondents in Moscow to “get ready.”
Russia has repeatedly accused Western countries of mistreating its journalists and imposing restrictions on its media abroad.
The European Union banned Moscow’s flagship news channel Russia Today in 2022, accusing the Kremlin of using it to spread “disinformation” about its military campaign in Ukraine.
Russia has itself blocked access to dozens of Western media outlets and imposes reporting restrictions on the conflict.
It has barred several Western journalists from entering the country.
UK government climbs down on welfare cuts in latest U-turn
- The climbdown is the third U-turn that UK leader Keith Starmer has been forced into in less than a month
- Turnaround comes just before Starmer marks the first anniversary of what has been a rocky return to power for Labour
LONDON: The UK government backed down Friday on controversial plans to slash disability and sickness benefits after a major rebellion by MPs, in a blow to Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s authority.
The climbdown is the third U-turn that Starmer has been forced into in less than a month, leading to questions about his political acumen and direction of the ruling Labour party.
Only days after Starmer insisted he would plow ahead with the reforms, the government confirmed concessions had been made to 126 rebel MPs who had threatened to scupper the proposed changes.
The turnaround comes just before Starmer marks the first anniversary of what has been a rocky return to power for Labour after 14 years in opposition to the Conservatives.
A spokesperson for Number 10 said the government had “listened to MPs who support the principle of reform but are worried about the pace of change for those already supported by the system.”
It said a revised package of measures would preserve the welfare system for those “who need it, by putting it on a sustainable footing.”
The backtrack means the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment (Pip) Bill, which contains the welfare reforms, will likely make it through a parliamentary vote due on Tuesday.
“It’s always best to concede and then get it through in some way, shape or form. This is sort of damage limitation,” political scientist Steven Fielding said.
The concessions, due to be set out in parliament later on Friday, include a “staggered approach” to the reforms, care minister Stephen Kinnock said.
This means that the narrower eligibility criteria proposed will only apply to new claimants, not those already receiving the benefit payments.
Starmer’s government had hoped to make savings of £5.0 billion ($6.9 billion) as a result of the changes that have now been partly abandoned, meaning finance minister Rachel Reeves will need to find them elsewhere.
It has been a bumpy 12 months in office for Starmer during which Reeves has struggled to generate growth from a sluggish UK economy.
On June 9, the government declared it had reversed a policy to scrap a winter heating benefit for millions of pensioners, following widespread criticism, including from its own MPs.
Less than a week later Starmer announced a national enquiry focused on a UK child sex exploitation scandal that had attracted the attention of US billionaire Elon Musk.
Starmer had previously resisted calls for an enquiry into the so-called “grooming gangs” – that saw girls as young as 10 raped by groups of men mostly of South Asian origin – in favor of a series of local probes.
The prime minister has a massive majority of 165 MPs, meaning he should be able to force whatever legislation he wants through parliament.
But many of his own MPs complain of a disconnect between Starmer’s leadership, which is focused on combatting the rise of the far-right Reform UK party, and Labour’s traditional center-left principles.
“Labour is meant to stand for fairness, and those two flagship mistakes are all about being unfair,” Fielding said of winter fuel and the disability cuts.
The furors are also overshadowing Labour’s tightening of employment rights, and investment in housing and green industries, he added.
A YouGov poll of more than 10,000 Britons released this week found that while Labour is losing voters to Reform, it is also forfeiting supporters to the Liberal Democrats and the Greens on the left.
“They’ve been making so many unforced errors,” said Fielding, a politics professor at Nottingham University.
“I think there is now being a very reluctant recalibration of things.”
