NEWS OF THE DAY
From Around the World
_1 World War II probe: Finland has commissioned an investigation to find out whether a Finnish volunteer battalion serving within Nazi Germany’s notorious Waffen-SS committed atrocities during World War II. The government said Thursday the probe is being launched following a request by the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Jerusalem to Finland’s President Sauli Niinisto. Following the bitter Winter War during 1939-40 against the Soviet Union, Finland became part of an alliance with Nazi Germany. Finnish troops fought alongside Wehrmacht soldiers following the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941.
_2 Missing persons: Mexico is sending its national commissioner for missing persons to the northern border city of Nuevo Laredo after the United Nations said it documented the disappearance of 23 people there — likely at the hands of a security force. Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office also opened an investigation after the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights asked about the situation. The United Nations says there are strong indications a federal security force was responsible for the disappearances. Human rights advocates and victims’ families blame marines.
_3 Fake murder: The Russian journalist who worked with Ukrainian authorities to fake his own death says he was smeared with swine blood and taken to the morgue as part of his elaborately staged murder. Arkady Babchenko detailed the deception to reporters Thursday for the first time since Ukrainian authorities revealed they had staged his death to foil an alleged plot on his life by Moscow’s security services. Kiev police said Tuesday that the 41-year-old Babchenko had been shot to death inside his apartment building, but announced the next day that he was alive and they had detained a suspect in the case. _4 Anticorruption march: Carrying signs saying “Kenya is bleeding” and “Stop These Thieves,” hundreds of people marched Thursday in Nairobi to protest against widespread corruption and to deliver a petition to the office of President Uhuru Kenyatta. Kenyatta is under increasing pressure as outrage grows over a number of corruption scandals revealed in recent weeks around the ministries of health, energy, agriculture, public service and youth. This week, 24 officials were charged with corruption-related offenses in a probe linked to the alleged diversion of nearly $80 million. Kenyatta has long been criticized for not acting against corrupt officials. Kenya is considered among the world’s most corrupt countries, ranked 143th out of 180 nations by Transparency International in its annual corruption index. _5 Diesel ban: Drivers of older diesel-powered trucks are now prohibited from using two road sections in Hamburg, the first German city to implement such a ban. A German court ruled earlier this year that authorities could ban dirty diesel vehicles as part of measures to limit nitrogen oxide emissions and protect public health. The case was brought by environmental groups angry at the government’s failure to take measures to meet European air pollution limits, and was spurred by revelations about German automakers’ cheating on exhaust tests. The ban in Hamburg covers two busy roads for a total length of 1.4 miles. Greenpeace said it hoped Hamburg and other German cities would follow the lead of nearby Copenhagen and Amsterdam in rethinking transportation policy.