NEWS OF THE DAY
From Around the World
1 Austria killing: A Russian man shot dead near Vienna over the weekend had declined police protection, Austrian police said Monday. Local media have reported that the killing of the 43yearold, an ethnic Chechen who had lived in Austria for more than a decade, is being treated as a possible assassination. A 47yearold Russian man was detained in Linz late Saturday, shortly after the killing. Police said that the victim had declined police protection, but did not say when or specify why it was offered. The Russian website Kavkazski Uzel, which covers issues throughout the Caucasus region, said the victim ran a YouTube channel containing critical commentary about Russia’s Chechnya region under authoritarian leader Ramzan Kadyrov.
2 Nigeria attack: Suspected Islamic extremists opened fire on a U.N. aid helicopter in northeastern Nigeria over the weekend, killing two civilians in an escalation of hostilities in the long troubled region. President Muhammadu Buhari blamed the attack on militants linked to the extremist group Boko Haram, and warned it “would not go without severe consequences.” Security has long been a concern for aid groups operating in northeastern Nigeria, where humanitarian workers have been been kidnapped and killed amid Boko Haram’s decadelong insurgency. Edward Kallon, the U.N.’s humanitarian coordinator in Nigeria, said the victims included a 5yearold child. The crew members were not hurt and there were no aid workers on board when bullets hit the helicopter in Borno state.
3 Oil spill: More than 400 people have been evacuated from a coastal village in the central Philippines after about 66,000 gallons of bunker fuel spilled from a powergenerating barge into the sea, an official said Monday. “The stench was so bad we have to move people away to two schools and last night there was a request for a third evacuation site,” Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Trenas said. The spill began Friday when an accidental explosion on the barge blasted a hole in its hull. There were no reported injuries.
4 Journalist fined: A Russian journalist on Monday was convicted on charges of condoning terrorism and ordered to pay a fine in a case that has been widely criticized as an attack on freedom of speech. The court in Pskov found Svetlana Prokopyeva guilty of “justifying terrorism” and ordered her to pay a fine of 500,000 rubles (about $6,950). The case of Prokopyeva stems from a commentary she published in the wake of an October 2018 suicide attack, in which three Federal Security Service agents were injured. Prokopyeva had criticized repressive government policies. Prokopyeva said she would appeal the verdict. The European Union criticized Prokopyeva’s prosecution as “testimony to the evershrinking space for independent journalism and civil society in the Russian Federation over recent years.”
5 Dominican Republic: A businessman who has never held office has won the presidency of the Dominican Republic, according to results Monday, ending a 16year run in power by a centerleft party. Luis Rodolfo Abinader won 53% of Sunday’s vote with most of the polling places reporting, topping Gonzalo Castillo of the Dominican Liberation Party, which has governed since 2004. Trailing far behind was threetime President Leonel Fernandez. The elections took place as the coronavirus pandemic is sweeping across the Caribbean nation of some 10.5 million people. Abinader himself spent most of the past month in isolation after testing positive for COVID19. Abinader, 52, is part of a family with extensive business holdings, including hotels.