Author: DW

Police in France were questioning two men after authorities grounded a flight to Nicaragua carrying more than 300 Indian passengers over suspected “human trafficking,” prosecutors said on Friday. According to a statement from the Paris prosecutor’s office, an anonymous tip-off signaled that the flight, which had flown in from the United Arab Emirates was carrying people who could be victims of human trafficking.  Two passengers have been detained so far as part of a special investigation into suspected human trafficking by an organized criminal group, according to the Paris prosecutor’s office. Those aboard included children and families. The youngest passenger is a…

Serbian police said Monday they had detained at least 38 people who participated in anti-government demonstrations over reported irregularities during a recent election. The governing populist SNS party emerged as the winner of the parliamentary and local council ballot. The SNS won about 46% of the vote in the parliamentary elections, while the leading opposition coalition Serbia Against Violence (SPN) received 23.5%, according to official results. But opposition groups have questioned the validity of the contest, accusing the government of allowing unregistered voters from neighboring Bosnia to vote illegally in the capital. Serbia Against Violence has been staging protests since the December 17 elections, claiming foul play in…

Jailed Russian politician Alexei Navalny has been tracked down to one of the country’s toughest prisons, after supporters lost touch with him for more than two weeks.Mr Navalny – seen as a leader for those in Russia who oppose President Vladimir Putin – is in the IK-3 prison in Kharp, about 1,200 miles (1,900km) northeast of Moscow and north of the Arctic Circle, his spokeswoman said. Known as the Polar Wolf colony, the prison is where those convicted of the most serious crimes are kept, with harsh winters and temperatures expected to soon drop to -28C.It was founded as part…

Skip next section Polish farmers to suspend a protest at Medyka border crossing over Christmas break12/23/2023December 23, 2023Polish farmers to suspend a protest at Medyka border crossing over Christmas breakPolish farmers will suspend a protest at the border crossing with Ukraine at Medyka from Sunday morning until January 2 or 3, PAP news agency reported. The truckers will continue blockades at three other crossings over Christmas allowing even fewer trucks to pass than earlier.. Truckers have been demanding that an agreement last year between the EU and Ukraine on relaxing rules on moving goods by trucks be scrapped. They want the older system…

Two people have been detained after a plane carrying 303 Indian citizens was grounded in France over human trafficking allegations.Those on board the charter flight run by Romanian company Legend Airlines – including a 21-month-old toddler – were travelling from Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates to Managua, Nicaragua. But the A340 plane was grounded at Vatry Airport, a small hub in Champagne, northeastern France, on Thursday, following a tip-off that the passengers may be the victims of people smugglers.The two passengers were detained as part of an investigation by French police into suspected human trafficking by an organised crime…

Hackers shut down internet connections in Russian-occupied parts of eastern Ukraine in late October. In some areas, it took Russian telecom providers days to restore connectivity. Soon after, the IT Army of Ukraine took credit for the cyberattack. The hacker group is the most prominent example of several volunteer “hackivist” groups that have mobilized to support Ukraine in cyberspace. The covert nature of their operations, many of which are illegal, makes it impossible to fully assess the scope of such groups. But cybersecurity researchers agree that their activities have impacted the war since Russia began its full-scale invasion in February 2022. “The…

A charter plane grounded in France for a human trafficking investigation departed Monday for India. The exceptional ordeal had stranded about 300 Indians en route to Central America inside a rural French airport for four days.  Of the original passenger list, 276 people were on the flight that departed France for India. The plane is expected to land at the Mumbai airport, according to Indian Express newspaper. Two other passengers were still being interrogated by French officials and were still in France, though they had been released, the AFP news agency reported. A group of others has sought asylum in France, the AFP report added.   Why…

A plane carrying hundreds of Indian citizens that was grounded in France for a human trafficking investigation is heading for India. Some 300 passengers spent four days blocked inside a rural French airport after a tip-off that the passengers may be the victims of people smugglers. The Legend Airlines A340 plane was travelling from Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates to Managua, Nicaragua and stopped in Vatry in the Champagne region to refuel.French authorities are still investigating the aim of the original flight and two passengers have been detained.Prosecutors wouldn’t comment on the nature of the human trafficking allegations or whether…

India’s parliament passed three new bills last week to replace colonial-era criminal laws in what has been billed as the biggest overhaul of the country’s criminal justice system since the country was under British rule. The new laws — which were rushed through in the absence of over 40 opposition MPs who had been suspended for protesting an unrelated issue — replace the colonial-era Indian Penal Code, the Code of Criminal Procedure and the Indian Evidence Act. India’s Home Affairs Minister Amit Shah, who introduced the bills to parliament, said they were aimed at removing archaic references to the Brtitish…

Alexei Navalny’s spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said on Monday that the Russian opposition figure had been located in a penal colony in Russia’s far north, in the Yamalo-Nenets region of western Siberia.  “We have found Alexey Navalny. He is now in IK-3 settlement of Kharp in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District,” Yarmysh wrote on social media, using alternative spellings for Navalny and the region’s names.  “His lawyer visited him today. Alexey is doing well,” she said.  Navalny’s whereabouts had been unknown for weeks, with friends and family unable to reach him, and court appointments in the various cases against him had been…