NEWS OF THE DAY
_1 Niger killings: Armed forces from Niger and France have been deployed to pursue the gunmen who killed seven aid workers, mostly French citizens, and a guide in a Niger giraffe park. The group had been sightseeing Sunday when they were attacked, according to one of the aid groups they worked for, ACTED based in Paris. Niger’s Interior Minister Alkache Alhada said Monday that the area around Koure has been cordoned off by Niger’s army and French soldiers. French prosecutors said Monday they opened an investigation for “murders in relation to a terrorist undertaking.” Militants linked to Boko Haram, Islamic State and al Qaeda carry out attacks across the vast nation.
_2 Germany politics: The centerleft Social Democratic Party named Finance Minister Olaf Scholz on Monday as its candidate to become chancellor in the country’s national election next year. Scholz, 62, has won praise for his handling of the financial turmoil caused by the coronavirus pandemic. After serving as the mayor of Hamburg during 20112018, Scholz joined Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Cabinet two years ago in a government that pairs the Social Democrats in a “grand coalition” with her centerright Union bloc. Merkel has said she won’t run for a fifth term in the 2021 election. It’s not clear yet who her bloc, made up of the Christian Democratic Union and the Bavariaonly Christian Social Union, will field as a candidate for chancellor.
_3 Volcano erupts: Indonesia’s rumbling Mount Sinabung erupted Monday, sending a column of smoke and ash as high as 16,400 feet into the sky. Falling ash blanketed already abandoned villages on the volcano’s slopes on Sumatra Island. There were no fatalities or injuries from the eruption, Indonesia’s Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation Center said. Some 30,000 people have been forced to leave homes near Sinabung in the past few years. The volcano was dormant for four centuries before exploding in 2010, killing two people. Sinabung is among more than 120 active volcanoes in Indonesia, which is prone to seismic upheaval.
_4 Mediterranean tensions: Greece on Monday slammed a Turkish announcement that it will conduct energy exploration in the eastern Mediterranean in an area Athens says overlaps its continental shelf, as tension increased sharply in the region. Officials said Greece’s military was on alert, while Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis convened the government’s national security council after Turkey announced its research vessel Oruc Reis and two auxiliary vessels would be conducting seismic exploration in an area between Greece and Cyprus. “We call on Turkey to immediately end its illegal actions that undermine peace and security in the region,” Greece’s Foreign Ministry said. Last week, Ankara assailed a deal Greece and Egypt signed delineating maritime boundaries and the countries’ exclusive economic zones.
_5 Artifacts discovered: An amateur treasurehunter has uncovered one of the most significant Bronze Age hoards ever found in Scotland, including jewelry and a 3,000yearold sword, authorities said Monday. Metal detector Mariusz Stepien said he was “shaking with happiness” when he made the discovery in June in a field near the village of Peebles, about 22 miles south of Edinburgh. Stepien and his friends contacted the Scottish government’s Treasure Trove Unit and camped in the field for 22 days as archaeologists uncovered the assemblage of artifacts. They include a complete horse harness, buckles, rings, ornaments, a sword still in its scabbard and axle caps from a chariot. They, and the dirt around them, are now at the National Museums Collection Center in Edinburgh.