Denmark airport reopens after bomb threat, man arrested

Denmark airport reopens after bomb threat, man arrested
A man was arrested in Denmark on Saturday in connection with a bomb threat at Billund Airport, the country's second largest aviation hub, police said in a statement. (X)
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Updated 20 April 2024
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Denmark airport reopens after bomb threat, man arrested

Denmark airport reopens after bomb threat, man arrested
  • Police arrested a man in his thirties and removed an object “likely to contain explosives“
  • The airport reopened at 7:00 pm

STOCKHOLM: Denmark’s second largest airport reopened late Saturday after a man was arrested in connection with a bomb threat that forced its evacuation, police said.
During the search in Billund airport in central Denmark, police arrested a man in his thirties and removed an object “likely to contain explosives.”
Chemical tests will be carried out for confirmation.
Danish police arrested the man after he “himself informed the police at the airport that the object he had dropped off contained explosives,” they said in a statement.
The airport reopened at 7:00 p.m. (0500 GMT), but several flights were canceled or delayed during its closure.
Police are also investigating whether there is a link between this bomb threat and the bombing of an ATM in Billund at around 4:00 am on Saturday.
Billund airport is near the headquarters of the manufacturer of Lego toy bricks and the Legoland theme park.


Macron names key centrist ally Francois Bayrou as new prime minister

Macron names key centrist ally Francois Bayrou as new prime minister
Updated 6 sec ago
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Macron names key centrist ally Francois Bayrou as new prime minister

Macron names key centrist ally Francois Bayrou as new prime minister
  • Centrist French politician Francois Bayrou is seen as one of Macron’s possible picks for prime minister
  • Macron confronted with the complex political equation that emerged from snap parliamentary elections this summer

PARIS: President Emmanuel Macron has named key centrist ally Francois Bayrou as new prime minister.

Bayrou, leader of the centrist MoDem party, earlier the president at 8:30 a.m. (0730 GMT), sources close to the talks, asking not to be named, said.

Macron has been confronted with the complex political equation that emerged from snap parliamentary elections this summer — how to secure a government against a no-confidence vote in a bitterly divided lower house where no party or alliance has a majority.

Barnier was ousted in a historic no-confidence vote on December 4 and there had been expectations Macron would announce his successor in an address to the nation even a day later.

But in a sign of the stalemate after inconclusive legislative elections this summer, he did not name his successor then and has missed a 48-hour deadline he gave at a meeting of party leaders on Tuesday.

On Thursday, Macron left France on a day-long trip to Poland but cut his visit short in an apparent bid to finalize the appointment.

“The statement naming the prime minister will be published tomorrow (Friday) morning,” an aide to the president, asking not to be named, said late Thursday just after Macron touched down from the trip to Poland.

“He is finishing his consultations,” the aide added, without giving further details.

The announcement is likely to come in a written statement, with the new cabinet to be revealed at a later date.

Each prime minister under Macron has served successively less time in office and there is no guarantee the new premier will not follow this pattern.

All the candidates widely floated so far have encountered objections from at least one side of the political spectrum.

“They are stuck,” said a person close to Macron, asking not to be named, adding that “each name gets blocked.”

“No one is in agreement around the president,” added the source, expressing hope that Macron would surprise everyone with an unexpected choice.

Macron’s apparent top pick, veteran centrist Bayrou, raises hackles on the left — wary of continuing the president’s policies — and on the right, where he is disliked by influential former president Nicolas Sarkozy.

Beyond Bayrou, prime ministerial contenders include former Socialist prime minister Bernard Cazeneuve, current Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu, a Macron loyalist, and former foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian.

Another name being discussed in the media is Roland Lescure, a former industry minister, but the nomination of the former Socialist risks inflaming the right.

These “are names that have been around for years and haven’t seduced the French. It’s the past. I want us to look to the future,” Greens leader Marine Tondelier said Thursday.

“The French public want a bit of enthusiasm, momentum, fresh wind, something new,” she told France 2 television.

Opinion polls indicate the public is fed up with the crisis, with just over two-thirds of respondents to an Elabe poll published on Wednesday saying they want politicians to reach a deal not to overthrow a new government.

In a separate IFOP poll, far-right National Rally (RN) figurehead Marine Le Pen was credited with 35 percent support in the first round of a future presidential election — well ahead of any likely opponent.

In a critical moment, Le Pen on March 31, 2025 faces the verdict in an embezzlement trial on charges she denies. If convicted, she could lose the chance of standing in the 2027 elections and with it her best chance yet of winning the Elysee Palace.


‘Lives at risk’: Women’s medical training ban threatens Afghan health sector

‘Lives at risk’: Women’s medical training ban threatens Afghan health sector
Updated 13 December 2024
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‘Lives at risk’: Women’s medical training ban threatens Afghan health sector

‘Lives at risk’: Women’s medical training ban threatens Afghan health sector
  • From her private hospital in Afghanistan’s capital, doctor Najmussama Shefajo predicts a rise in maternal mortality rates “within three or four years“

KABUL: From her private hospital in Afghanistan’s capital, doctor Najmussama Shefajo predicts a rise in maternal mortality rates “within three or four years,” following the latest restrictions on women’s education.
The Taliban’s supreme leader is reportedly behind a ban on women studying midwifery and nursing at training institutes across the country, already among the worst in the world for deaths in childbirth.
“We may not see the impact very quickly but after three to four years we will see the maternal mortality rate go up and up,” said Shefajo.
“People will for sure have more babies at home. But what about complications? What about operations? Many procedures cannot be done at home.”
Since the Taliban government banned women from universities two years ago, Shefajo has been giving on-the-job medical training, including in midwifery and nursing.
But she said she doesn’t have the capacity or facilities to take on every woman keen to learn in her hospital, despite no shortage of volunteers.
“Midwifery and nursing are like the two wings of the doctors; if the bird doesn’t have wings, it cannot fly,” she added, ducking behind curtains to treat patients.
Already Afghanistan is facing a “desperate shortage of trained health care workers, especially women,” according to the UN children’s agency UNICEF.
No official notice has been issued by the Taliban government, but health ministry sources and managers of training institutes said this month that they had been told to block women from classes.


Restricting medical training is the latest action against women’s education since the Taliban authorities swept to power in 2021, imposing rules the United Nations has called “gender apartheid.”
“In a country where women and children depend on female health professionals for culturally sensitive care, cutting the pipeline of future health providers would put lives at risk,” UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said in a statement.
Training institutes had ensured women would continue to learn health care skills, such as midwifery and nursing, or laboratory work, pharmacy and dentistry.
The ban would impact about 35,000 women studying at medical training centers, according to a figure from a health ministry source.
“We are concerned about the effects on the already fragile health care system,” said Achille Despres, spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Afghanistan, where the organization offers health services and training.
International NGO Doctors Without Borders (MSF), which runs some of its busiest maternity hospitals in Afghanistan, also warned of the consequences of the ban, given that the nation’s “medical needs... are huge.”
“There is no health care system without educated female health practitioners,” country representative Mickael Le Paih said in a statement.
Afghanistan and MSF already face a dearth of obstetrician-gynaecologists (OB-GYNs) in a country with high fertility rates where women often have children from a young age, Le Paih told AFP.
And demand is only likely to increase, he added, as almost half of Afghanistan’s population is under 15 years old, according to a 2022 health ministry report.
“You can imagine the impact in several years’ time when you will have a large number of women reaching childbearing age,” he said.
The ban will undoubtedly further strain access for the 70 percent of the population living in rural areas.
After news of a ban spread last week, some training facilities closed their doors immediately, while others rushed to hold final exams and graduations, as still others said they would open as normal after the winter break unless they received a written order.
Shefajo and others want to provide online lessons, but say the lack of practical experience would be detrimental to learning.
Hadiya, 22, recently finished her first year studying midwifery, after having been forced to quit computer science studies at university and English courses.
“We may have midwives now, but medicine is changing every day... and it is clear that the situation in Afghanistan in the field of child and mother health is getting worse,” Hadiya told AFP.
“It’s like we’re in a cage, all the girls are thinking of finding a way to leave here so we can at least continue our studies and reach our goals,” she said.
“When I see the situation in Afghanistan, I think no child should be born here.”


Six dead, 30 injured in hospital fire in India 

Six dead, 30 injured in hospital fire in India 
Updated 13 December 2024
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Six dead, 30 injured in hospital fire in India 

Six dead, 30 injured in hospital fire in India 
  • Fire broke out late Thursday night in the southern state of Tamil Nadu and its cause is still being investigated
  • Building fires are common in India due to lack of firefighting equipment, routine disregard for regulations

NEW DELHI: A fire at a private hospital in southern India killed at least six people, police said Friday, with more than two dozen others injured in the blaze.

Building fires are common in India due to a lack of firefighting equipment and a routine disregard for safety regulations.

The fire broke out late Thursday night in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, and its cause is still being investigated.

All six victims were found unconscious inside a lift at the hospital in the city of Dindigul, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.

Police superintendent A. Pradeep told AFP that around 30 people had been injured but all were “stable.”

The fire started at the reception area on the ground floor and rapidly spread to the other floors, the Times of India newspaper reported.

The blaze came just weeks after 10 newborns were killed when a fire engulfed a hospital in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.

Earlier this year, a similar fire broke out at a children’s hospital in New Delhi that killed six infants.

At least 27 people were killed, including several children, when a fire broke out at a packed amusement park arcade in May in the western state of Gujarat.


Russia says strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure in retaliation for ATACMS attack

Russia says strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure in retaliation for ATACMS attack
Updated 13 December 2024
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Russia says strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure in retaliation for ATACMS attack

Russia says strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure in retaliation for ATACMS attack
  • Russian defense ministry says air- and sea-based long-range precision weapons and drones were used

MOSCOW: Russia has carried out a massive attack on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in retaliation for Kyiv’s use of US-supplied ATACMS missiles, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Friday.
The ministry said that air- and sea-based long-range precision weapons and drones were used against “critical facilities of Ukraine’s fuel and energy infrastructure that support the military-industrial complex.”
Earlier on Friday Ukraine said that Russia had launched a large-scale missile attack on Ukrainian energy facilities during the morning rush hour on Friday.


Indian police say probing bomb threat to central bank in Mumbai

Indian police say probing bomb threat to central bank in Mumbai
Updated 13 December 2024
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Indian police say probing bomb threat to central bank in Mumbai

Indian police say probing bomb threat to central bank in Mumbai
  • Warning was sent to official email address of newly appointed RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra
  • Schools, railway stations, airports, airlines have been subject this year to hundreds of hoax bomb threats

MUMBAI: Police in India’s financial capital Mumbai said on Friday that they were investigating a bomb threat to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) after it received an email in Russian warning of an explosive attack.

The warning was sent to the official email address of newly appointed RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra, a senior Mumbai police officer said.

“We have registered a case, and the investigation is ongoing,” the officer said.

Schools, railway stations, airports and airlines in India have been subject this year to hundreds of bomb threats that have turned out to be hoaxes.

At least 40 schools in Delhi received a bomb threat by email on Monday, while airlines and airports in India got nearly 1,000 hoax threats until November this year, nearly ten times more than in the whole of 2023.