Briefly

INDIA

US carrier Nimitz joins naval exercises

Indian navy ships held joint exercises with US aircraft carrier Nimitz in the Indian Ocean, the US navy said, in a sign of growing cooperation between the two naval forces in the region. Rear Admiral Jim Kirk, commander of the Nimitz Carrier Strike Group, said in a statement that Monday's joint drills with the Indian navy helped improve interoperability of the two forces. The drills were carried out near the Andaman and Nicobar islands which sit near the Malacca Straits, one of the world's busiest shipping routes for trade and fuel, an Indian source said. India has a military base on the islands. Later this year, India will host joint naval exercises with the United States and Japan in the Bay of Bengal and there is a proposal to invite Australia also into those exercises, Reuters reported.

UKRAINE

10 bus passengers taken hostage

An armed man seized a bus and took nearly 10 people hostage in northwestern Ukraine on Tuesday. Police officers sealed off the center of Lutsk, a city nearly 400 kilometers west of Kiev. The assailant was armed and carrying explosives, they said in a statement. The man called the police himself at 9:25 am after taking control of the bus and introduced himself as Maksim Plokhoy, Deputy Interior Minister Anton Gerashchenko said on Facebook. Ukrainian media reported that gunshots were heard at the scene. It wasn't immediately clear whether anyone has been injured. By press time, the hostage crisis had not been solved.

GERMANY

Man goes on trial for synagogue attack

A German man was expected to go on trial on Tuesday for a Yom Kippur attack on a synagogue that is considered one of the worst anti-Semitic assaults in the country's post-war history. The trial comes at a time when anti-Semitic crimes have reached their highest level since Germany started tracking such crimes in 2001, amid an overall increase in right-wing extremist criminality. Stephan Balliet, 28, posted an anti-Semitic screed before the Oct 9 attack in the eastern German city of Halle, and broadcast the shooting live on a popular gaming site. The attacker tried but failed repeatedly to force his way into the synagogue as 52 worshippers were inside. He then shot and killed a 40-year-old woman in the street outside and a 20-year-old man at a nearby kebab shop.

FRANCE

Govt to finance repair of Nantes cathedral

The French government is ready to finance work to repair the 15th-century cathedral in the city of Nantes which was damaged in a fire last weekend, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Monday. "The state is ready to respond financially," Le Maire told BTM TV. French police cleared a 39-year-old Rwandan refugee of all suspicion on Sunday and released him after questioning the man about the fire at the cathedral. The fire engulfed the inside of the Gothic structure in flames on Saturday, destroying a grand organ, stained-glass windows and a painting. Authorities are continuing to investigate the incident.

SWEDEN

Thunberg donates award to green groups

Climate activist Greta Thunberg was on Monday awarded a Portuguese rights award and promptly pledged the million-euro ($1.1 million) prize to groups working to protect the environment and halt climate change. She was awarded the Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity for the way she "has been able to mobilize younger generations for the cause of climate change and her tenacious struggle to alter a status quo that persists", said Jorge Sampaio, chair of the prize jury.

Agencies - Xinhua