The world in brief | Fatal bus crash in Egypt, conviction of ex-Stasi agent in Berlin

Published at 10:40 a.m.

Updated at 6:21 p.m.

Bus crash kills 12, injures 33 in Egypt

A bus carrying university students crashed and overturned on a highway in northeastern Egypt on Monday, killing 12 people and injuring 33 others, the Health Ministry said in a statement. Students from Galala University in Suez were on board. Local media reported that they were returning from classes to their dormitory in the resort of Ain Soukhna, using the new Galala highway, when the accident occurred, and the driver was arrested in connection of an investigation into the accident. The ministry did not reveal the cause of the accident. The Monday evening statement said 28 ambulances rushed to the scene and transported the injured to the Suez Medical Complex, but did not reveal their condition. Fatal road accidents claim thousands of lives each year in Egypt, a country with a poor transport safety record. Speed, poor road conditions and poor enforcement of the Highway Code are the main causes of collisions.

Associated Press

Ex-Stasi agent convicted 50 years later

German justice on Monday sentenced a former agent of the Stasi, the political police of the communist GDR, to 10 years in prison for the murder of a Pole who wanted to flee to the West 50 years ago, a far-reaching judgment historical. The Berlin court has the “undoubted conviction” that Martin Naumann, 80, is the author of the shots which cost the life of the 38-year-old man as he tried to escape through the border post of Friedrichstrasse in Berlin in 1974, said court president Bernd Miczajka. Even if the shooter, aged 31 at the time of the events, did not act “for personal reasons”, he “mercilessly executed” an act “planned by the Stasi”, the fearsome East German secret police during the Cold War, detailed the judge. The person concerned rejected the accusation through his lawyers, who called for his acquittal, considering the evidence according to which he was the shooter insufficient. Mr. Naumann never spoke before the judges. According to the head of the secret police archives in Berlin, Daniela Münkel, with Monday’s verdict he becomes the first former secret police agent in the former communist East Germany to be convicted of murder.

Agence France-Presse

21 years in prison for a man accused of collaboration with Ukraine

A resident of Sevastopol, in Ukrainian Crimea annexed by Moscow, was sentenced in Russia to 21 years in prison for “high treason” in favor of Ukraine, the Russian security services (FSB) said on Monday, in a context of All-out repression against dissident voices in the conflict. Recruited by the Ukrainian special services (SBU) in 2022, the individual was found guilty of having transferred to Ukraine information on the location of Russian military units in Sevastopol, home port of the Russian Sea Fleet Black, according to the regional branch of the FSB, cited by Russian news agencies. According to investigators, the man, whose age has not been revealed, was also preparing to burn down an administrative building in this city and underwent training for this purpose, before being arrested by the FSB. For these reasons, the Southern Regional Military Court in Rostov-on-Don (South) sentenced him to 21 years in prison, the FSB press release said.

Agence France-Presse

Ballistic missiles to Russia: the EU in turn sanctions Iran

The European Union announced on Monday that it had in turn decided to take sanctions against Iran, accused of delivering ballistic missiles to Russia in its war against Ukraine. EU foreign ministers, meeting in Luxembourg, decided to sanction 14 entities and individuals in Iran, including the airline Iran Air, for having delivered or facilitated the delivery of ballistic missiles to Moscow, the 27 said in a press release. The United States, the United Kingdom, France and Germany had already adopted sanctions of this type in mid-September.

Agence France-Presse

Italy transfers first group of migrants to Albania

Italy transfers the first group of migrants to the centers it manages in Albania on Monday, a first for a member country of the European Union, under a controversial agreement. The Italian navy patrol boat Libra left on Monday with a first group of 16 men on board, a government source told AFP, without specifying the number or origin. This unprecedented transfer takes place under a controversial agreement signed at the end of 2023 between the government of Giorgia Meloni, Italian far-right Prime Minister, and Tirana, and which provides for the creation of two centers in Albania, from where migrants will be able to an asylum application. This agreement, in force for five years, whose cost for Italy is estimated at 160 million euros per year, concerns adult men intercepted by the Italian navy or coast guard in their search and rescue zone in the international waters. The migrants will be detained on a former military base in Gjaderen under an administrative detention measure decided by the prefect of Rome, in 12 m prefabs² surrounded by high walls and cameras and monitored by the police, while waiting for their asylum applications to be processed.

Agence France-Presse