NewsOvernight turmoil: Bombings, floods, arrests, and political shifts
Overnight turmoil: Bombings, floods, arrests, and political shifts
This happened while you were sleeping. Here's what the world agencies reported overnight from Wednesday to Thursday.
- At least one person was killed due to two explosions that occurred late Wednesday evening near the headquarters of Brazil's Federal Supreme Court in the country's capital, Brasília. Local authorities assessed it as a suicide bombing. The explosions occurred at the Three Powers Plaza, where the Supreme Court and Planalto Palace, the president's office, are located. The Congress building is nearby. Local firefighters confirmed that a man was killed, but they did not disclose his identity.
- Over 4,000 people were evacuated in Andalusia due to further floods caused by heavy rainfall. In Málaga and Valencia, the highest possible red alerts were issued. The internet is flooded with recordings, including those showing the assistance residents provided to each other.
- At least 30 residents of Cuba were detained over the past week by special services during anti-government protests in response to restrictions on electricity supplies, independent Cuban media reported on Wednesday. Opposition activists reported that among those detained in recent hours is the well-known writer Jose Gabriel Barrenechea. According to police, he led a group of people in a protest in the town of Encrucijada, in the central part of the island. The writer has already been imprisoned in a facility in Santa Clara. Among those detained recently is also the leader of the Cuban women's opposition organisation Ladies in White, Berta Soler. Her whereabouts are unknown.
- A road bridge collapsed over railway tracks in the city of Dzhankoy in Russian-occupied Crimea on Wednesday. Due to the disaster, rail freight transport between Crimea and the Zaporizhzhia region is temporarily suspended, reported the Russian agency Tass.
- The Republican Party will maintain a majority and control in the U.S. House of Representatives - NBC and CNN reported on Wednesday, based on the results so far of the race for House seats. Republicans also decided on Wednesday to re-elect Mike Johnson as Speaker. According to forecasts by both television networks, Republicans have already secured the required majority of 218 seats. However, not all electoral races have been decided so far, and it is uncertain what the margin of their control in the House will be. So far, the party has secured 218 seats, while Democrats have secured 208. The results of votes in nine districts, including in California and Alaska, are still undecided. In the current congress, Republicans have 221 seats and will likely maintain or increase that number by one vote. However, the situation may be complicated by appointments to Donald Trump’s cabinet, which has already announced the selection of three Republican congressmen, which at least temporarily could reduce the Republican majority to minimal sizes.
- Former Bosnian Serb army general Radislav Krstić, sentenced by the Hague tribunal for aiding in the massacre in Srebrenica, admitted that genocide indeed took place there in 1995. For the first time, a Serbian participant in these events has described them using the term recognised by international jurisprudence. Convicted of war crimes and genocide, Krstić, one of the closest associates of the Serbian forces' commander Gen. Ratko Mladić, wrote this in a letter to the UN tribunal attached to his request for early release from prison, where he is serving a 35-year sentence. "I assisted and supported genocide. My name is mentioned because I committed an unimaginable and unforgivable crime. I do not ask for forgiveness, justification, or understanding, as I know that I neither can nor should receive them," wrote Krstić in a letter made available at his request by the United Nations Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals (MICT) to which it was addressed.
