All injured in stable condition after stabbing at Hamburg train station in Germany

All injured in stable condition after stabbing at Hamburg train station in Germany
The Hamburger Abendblatt newspaper reported that two passersby managed to overpower the woman and take the knife from her. (File/AFP)
Updated 24 May 2025
Follow

All injured in stable condition after stabbing at Hamburg train station in Germany

All injured in stable condition after stabbing at Hamburg train station in Germany
  • The Hamburger Abendblatt newspaper reported that two passersby managed to overpower the woman and take the knife from her

BERLIN: More than a dozen people who were injured in a stabbing attack at the central train station in the German city of Hamburg were in stable condition, police said Saturday.
A 39-year-old woman, a German national, was arrested at the scene of Friday's attack without putting up resistance and police said they believe she acted alone.
The Hamburger Abendblatt newspaper reported that two passersby managed to overpower the woman and take the knife from her.
It quoted a fire department spokesman, Philipp Baumann, saying that the attack injured 18 people between the ages of 19 and 85. Three women aged 24, 52 and 85, and a 24-year-old man were critically injured. According to the police, however, all four were in stable condition on Saturday.
There was no immediate indication of any political motive, and police said that investigators were looking into whether the suspect may have been mentally ill.
The woman was expected to appear before a judge on Saturday and then placed in a psychiatric ward.
The attacker targeted people on the platform between tracks 13 and 14 in the station at around 6 p.m. Friday. The station in downtown Hamburg, Germany’s second-biggest city, is a major hub for local, regional and long-distance trains.
Carrying weapons, including knives, is banned at the station and on local transport in Hamburg.


Former Lebanese economy minister arrested on corruption charges

Former Lebanese economy minister arrested on corruption charges
Updated 14 sec ago
Follow

Former Lebanese economy minister arrested on corruption charges

Former Lebanese economy minister arrested on corruption charges
  • Former Economy Minister Amin Salam was detained after three-hour interrogation

BEIRUT: A former Lebanese Cabinet minister has been arrested and charged after an investigation into alleged financial crimes, judicial and security officials told The Associated Press.
Former Economy Minister Amin Salam was detained after a three-hour interrogation about illegal use of ministry funds and use of suspicious contracts. The three judicial officials and one security official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press.
Lebanon has been trying to reform its battered economy, which for decades has been rife with profiteering.
Salam has been charged with forgery, embezzlement, and misuse of public funds. Local media said it was related to alleged extortion of private insurance companies and using funds from a committee that supervises those companies for his own expenses.
Salam did not directly comment. On Monday, however, he shared a video on social media that denied the reports and asserted that his use of those funds was to increase the committee’s efficacy and transparency.
Salam was economy minister for over three years. He was appointed in 2021 at a time when Lebanon’s economy had plummeted and the country was plagued by severe power outages, fuel shortages and stark food inflation.


France says aid boat activists exploiting Gaza suffering

France says aid boat activists exploiting Gaza suffering
Updated 8 min 2 sec ago
Follow

France says aid boat activists exploiting Gaza suffering

France says aid boat activists exploiting Gaza suffering
  • Rima Hassan, a member of European Parliament, is among four French activists still detained in Israel
  • The French activits will be deported from Israel on Thursday or Friday, Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on X Wednesday
PARIS: France’s prime minister, Francois Bayrou, on Wednesday accused French activists who sailed on a Gaza-bound aid boat of capitalizing on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for political attention.
The activists — who hoped to raise awareness about the humanitarian situation in war-torn Gaza — included Rima Hassan, a member of European Parliament from the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) party who is of Palestinian descent.
She is among four French activists still detained in Israel, after Israeli forces intercepted the Madleen sailboat and its 12 crew members in international waters off the besieged Palestinian territory on Monday.
They will be deported from Israel on Thursday or Friday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on X Wednesday.
Another four, who are not French, were also taken into custody.
The remaining four, including two French citizens and Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg, agreed to be deported immediately after being banned from Israel for 100 years.
LFI leader in parliament Mathilde Panot accused the prime minister of failing to condemn Israel’s actions.
“These activists obtained the effect they wanted, but it’s a form of instrumentalization to which we should not lend ourselves,” Bayrou responded in the National Assembly.
It’s “through diplomatic action, and efforts to bring together several states to pressure the Israeli government, that we can obtain the only possible solution” to the conflict, he added.
Barrot also rejected Panot’s criticism, saying “the admirable mobilization” of French officials had made a rapid resolution of the situation possible “despite the harassment and defamation that they have been subjected to.”
France and Saudi Arabia are co-hosting a UN meeting later this month in New York on steps toward recognizing a Palestinian state and reaching a so-called two-state solution to the conflict.
Immediate ceasefire
Barrot had told parliament earlier the priority in Gaza should be “an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages held by Hamas, as well as immediate, unimpeded and massive humanitarian aid access to abridge the suffering of civilian populations.”
“In no way whatsoever do the gesticulations of Ms Rima Hassan, her instrumentalization of the suffering of Gazans, help to achieve these goals,” he added.
He said the French consul had visited all four French activists in Israeli detention.
The Israeli ambassador in Paris earlier said the Israeli authorities aimed to put them on to a plane back home “as soon as possible.”
Israel is facing mounting pressure to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza, whose entire population the United Nations has warned is at risk of famine.

Israel urges Egypt to block Gaza-bound activist convoy

Israel urges Egypt to block Gaza-bound activist convoy
Updated 18 min 2 sec ago
Follow

Israel urges Egypt to block Gaza-bound activist convoy

Israel urges Egypt to block Gaza-bound activist convoy
  • Pro-Palestinian activist convoy, bound for Gaza, arrived in the Libyan capital of Tripoli on Wednesday

JERUSALEM: Israel’s defense minister on Wednesday called on Egypt to block a hundreds-strong pro-Palestinian activist convoy from reaching Gaza, as the group arrived in the Libyan capital of Tripoli.
“I expect the Egyptian authorities to prevent the arrival of jihadist protesters at the Egypt-Israel border and not to allow them to carry out provocations or attempt to enter Gaza — an act that would endanger the safety of (Israeli) soldiers and will not be allowed,” Israel Katz said in a statement.


Saudi, Egyptian foreign ministers discuss Gaza crisis at Oslo Forum

Saudi, Egyptian foreign ministers discuss Gaza crisis at Oslo Forum
Updated 22 min 58 sec ago
Follow

Saudi, Egyptian foreign ministers discuss Gaza crisis at Oslo Forum

Saudi, Egyptian foreign ministers discuss Gaza crisis at Oslo Forum
  • Meeting came as death toll from ongoing Israel-Hamas war in Gaza reportedly climbed above 55,000

OSLO: Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs Prince Faisal bin Farhan held talks on Wednesday with his Egyptian counterpart, Badr Abdelatty, on the sidelines of the Oslo Forum 2025 in Norway.

The two ministers discussed Saudi-Egyptian relations as well as key regional developments, with a particular focus on the worsening situation in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

The meeting came as the death toll from the ongoing Israel-Hamas war climbed above 55,000, according to figures released Wednesday by the Gaza Health Ministry.

The ministry, which does not differentiate between civilians and fighters, said women and children accounted for more than half of the fatalities.

Prince Faisal and Abdelatty reviewed the efforts being made to de-escalate the crisis and support humanitarian relief.


Charity accuses Israel of deadly strike on Gaza office building

Charity accuses Israel of deadly strike on Gaza office building
Updated 21 min 7 sec ago
Follow

Charity accuses Israel of deadly strike on Gaza office building

Charity accuses Israel of deadly strike on Gaza office building
  • Medical charity Medecins du Monde says Israel violated international law with drone strikes on building housing one of its offices

PARIS: Medical charity Medecins du Monde Wednesday accused Israel of violating international law with drone strikes on a building housing one of its offices in war-torn Gaza that killed eight people, none of them staff.
The France-based aid group said in a statement the attack on Tuesday “constitutes a serious violation of international humanitarian law, which protects both civilian populations and humanitarian organizations operating in conflict zones.”
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“Yesterday morning, at around 11:00 am local time, a building in Deir el-Balah housing a Medecins du Monde office was attacked by drones,” the aid group said.
Its staff had not been present as they had been off as part of the Eid Al-Adha holiday, it added.
“At least eight people were killed in the bombardment. All were on the last floor of the building,” it said, without providing more details on those killed.
“Medecins du Monde had informed the Israeli military of the presence of its office, which had officially been declared ‘deconflicted’, or shielded from Israeli military attacks under humanitarian coordination agreements,” it said.
“However, as during previous Israeli attacks, the team received no forward warning that would have allowed it to evacuate the building or take measures to protect anyone inside,” it added.
Several other non-governmental organizations as well as Palestinians displaced by the war are based in the same area, it said.
Israel is facing mounting pressure to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza, whose entire population the United Nations has warned is at risk of famine.
Medecins du Monde last month, after more than two months of a total blockade on Gaza, accused Israel of using hunger as “a weapon of war” in the Palestinian territory.
Israel recently allowed some deliveries to resume through the newly formed, US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
But the United Nations refuses to work with it, citing concerns over its practices and neutrality.
Dozens of people have been killed near GHF distribution points since late May, according to Gaza’s civil defense agency. It said Israeli forces killed 31 people waiting for aid early on Wednesday.
Palestinian militant group Hamas on October 7, 2023 attacked Israel, resulting in the deaths of 1,219 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official figures.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says the retaliatory Israeli military offensive has killed at least 54,981 people, the majority civilians. The United Nations considers these figures to be reliable.
Out of 251 taken hostage during the Hamas attack, 54 are still held in Gaza including 32 the Israeli military says are dead.