Pedalling for Croatia
KALININGRAD: Some football fans will follow their teams anywhere to see them play in the World Cup. For five friends from Croatia, that meant cycling 1 500km from Zagreb to Kaliningrad in Russia.
The epic trek took 15 days, cycling for 10 hours a day as they pedalled through Slovenia, Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Poland.
As they reached their destination, they visited a bar and celebrated with a drink. Croatia played Nigeria last night.
For Frane Lukovic, a 46-yearold lawyer from Zagreb, the trip represented a personal comeback, having been diagnosed with skin cancer six years ago.
Dark web forum shut
PARIS: France has dismantled one of the biggest illegal online marketplaces on the dark web, French officials announced yesterday.
For more than two years, the Black Hand forum offered illegal items and services for sale, including drugs, weapons, falsified documents and stolen bank data, the French budget ministry said.
The main site administrators and several other people were arrested in several cities. Initial investigations showed that more than 3 000 people in the country had accounts on the website.
No knuckles rapped
DUSSELDORF: The state prosecutor in Dusseldorf has determined the controversial lyrics penned by two German rap artists are not grounds for prosecution, and that inquiries into the matter are now closed.
Though the song texts are full of vulgar, misogynistic and dehumanising fantasies about violence and sex, they are protected by the German constitution’s rules regarding artistic freedom, according to the prosecutor’s decision, which was sent to the parties involved.
The lyrics were written by rappers Kollegah and Farid Bang.