World news in brief
Tributes paid to ex-Afghan MP killed in Kabul
Tributes were paid to the ex-Afghan politician who was shot and killed by gunmen in her home on Sunday. Mursal Nabizada was among the few female parliamentarians who stayed in Kabul after the Taliban seized power in August 2021. Police say one of her bodyguards was also killed in the attack. Nabizada’s brother was also wounded in the assault, according to Khalid Zadran,
spokesperson for the Kabul police chief in the Taliban administration. A police investigation was underway, he added.
Karen Decker, the US charge d’affaires for Afghanistan, tweeted: “Angered, heartbroken by murder of Mursal Nabizada – a tragic loss. I offer Mursal’s family my condolences and hope to see them receive justice for this senseless act.” Hannah Neumann, a member of the European parliament, also tweeted her condolences. “I am sad and angry and want the world to know! She was killed in darkness, but the Taliban build their system of Gender Apartheid in full daylight,” Ms Neumann said.
Earlier, local police chief Hamidullah Khalid said another security guard had fled the scene with money and jewelry. Nabizada was elected in 2019 to represent Kabul and stayed in office until the Taliban takeover. She was originally from eastern Nangarhar province. She also worked at a private nongovernmental group, the Institute for Human Resources Development and Research. AP
Film legend Gina Lollobrigida dies at age 95
The Italian film legend Gina Lollobrigida died in Rome at the age of 95. She achieved international stardom during the 1950s and was dubbed “the most beautiful woman in the world” after the title of one of her movies’ “Lollo” began making movies in Italy just after the end of the Second World War. Besides The World’s Most Beautiful Woman in 1955, career highlights included Golden Globe-winner Come September, with Rock Hudson; Trapeze; Beat the Devil, a 1953 John Huston film starring Humphrey Bogart and Jennifer Jones; and Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell, which won Lollobrigida Italy's top movie award, a David di Donatello, as best actress in 1969. AP
Germany’s defence minister quits
Germany’s defence minister resigned after growing doubts about her ability to revive the country’s armed forces against the backdrop of the Ukraine war. The decision by Christine
Lambrecht is a blow to the chancellor Olaf Scholz at a time when Germany is under pressure to approve an increase in international military support for Kyiv, and Germany’s defence capabilities have been called into question after several Puma infantry tanks were put out of service during a recent military drill.
Ms Lambrecht has been blamed by critics for failing to get the German armed forces, known as the Bundeswehr, back in shape quickly, despite a €100bn (£89bn) special fund being agreed for that purpose after Russia invaded Ukraine. The pressure for Mr Scholz to find a successor to Ms Lambrecht is acute, with the US secretary of defence, Lloyd Austin, expected in Berlin on Thursday to attend a conference on Friday at the US military base in Ramstein, in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, to discuss further support for Ukraine, including whether to send Germanbuilt tanks. AP
Thousands turn out to bid farewell to Greece’s former king
Thousands gathered at the Metropolitan Cathedral of Athens to pay their final respects to Greece’s former and last king, Constantine, who died last week at the age of 82. Greece’s monarchy was definitively abolished in a referendum in 1974, and Constantine spent decades in exile, living mainly in London, before returning to settle in his home country once more in his waning years. The government announced after his death that Constantine would be buried as a private citizen, without the honours reserved for former heads of state, in Tatoi, the former royal estate north of Athens, next to where his parents and ancestors are buried.
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