World news in brief
Police officer dies after shots fired near the Pentagon
The Pentagon went into lockdown after a shooting was reported at a nearby Metro station. Multiple shots reportedly occurred outside the station at a bus platform. A spokesperson for Pentagon Force Protection Agency said that a gunman had been shot by police by the bus platform, while one officer was injured by gunfire in the process. CNN reported yesterday afternoon that the officer had died from his injuries.
Thousands of looted ancient artefacts returned to Iraq
More than 17,000 looted ancient artefacts recovered from the US and other countries have been handed to Iraq’s Culture Ministry, a restitution described by the government as the largest in the country’s history. The majority of the artefacts date back 4,000 years to ancient Mesopotamia and were recovered from the US in a recent trip by the prime minister, Mustafa al-Kadhimi. Other pieces were also returned from Japan, the Netherlands and Italy, the foreign minister, Fuad Hussein, said. “There's still a lot of work ahead in this matter. There are still thousands of Iraqi artefacts smuggled outside the country,” he said.
Acropolis in Greece closes in the afternoon due to heat wave
Authorities in Greece closed the Acropolis and other ancient sites during afternoon hours starting yesterday as a heatwave scorched the eastern Mediterranean. Temperatures reached 42C in parts of the Greek capital, and the extreme weather fuelled deadly wildfires in Turkey and blazes in Greece, Italy and across the region. Greek authorities have described the heatwave as the most intense in more than 30 years. The Acropolis, which is normally open in the summer from 8am to 8pm, will have reduced hours through Friday, closing from midday to 5pm.
German fined over wartime weapons collection including tank
A German court has convicted an 84-year-old man of illegal weapons possession for having a personal arsenal that included a Panther tank, an anti-aircraft cannon and other items of Second World War-era military equipment. The state district in the northern city of Kiel handed the man a suspended prison sentence of 14 months and ordered him to pay a fine of 250,000 euros (£213,000), according to reports. During the raid of the defendant's property, authorities also seized machine guns, automatic pistols and more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition.
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