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Nine Arrested For Attack On French Police Station

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Nine people have been arrested over a firework attack on a police station near major venues for this summer’s Paris Olympics, the French capital’s top police official said Monday.

The Sunday evening attack in the northern suburb of La Courneuve came days after a teenager riding a moped was killed in a car chase with police, echoing a June killing that triggered days-long riots.

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“Around 50 people attacked the police station in La Courneuve, mostly with firework mortar shots” late Sunday, Paris police chief Laurent Nunez told broadcaster TF1.

READ ALSO: Man To Die By Hanging In Ekiti For Armed Robbery

Videos posted on social media showed groups of people firing a barrage of fireworks at the building’s facade.

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La Courneuve lies in Paris’ northern suburbs, in the Seine-Saint-Denis department that hosts Olympic venues including the flagship Stade de France stadium.

“We can tie this attack to the death” of the 18-year-old killed on Wednesday, named only as Wanys R., Nunez said.

“The young people clearly came from the neighbourhood” where Wanys lived, he added.

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Nunz said the arrested suspects included seven adults aged 18-21 and two minors.

Two police officers were “slightly hurt”, he added.

READ ALSO: FG, UK Firm Sign MoU For Port Harcourt–Abuja Rail Line

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Nunez said police reinforcements would be deployed in the area around midday on Monday.

Wanys R. was being chased by police Wednesday after refusing to stop for a check.

A video widely shared online showed how his scooter was struck by a police car, killing him and injuring his passenger.

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The lawyer representing Wanys’ family on Friday accused the police of hitting him on purpose, while the officers’ own representative insisted it was an accident.

In June, a video of a police officer shooting dead 17-year-old Nahel triggered nights of riots in gritty Paris suburbs and other deprived areas.

The policeman who fired the fatal shot has been charged with voluntary homicide.

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42 Killed In Israeli Attacks, Says Gaza’s Civil Defense

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Gaza’s civil defence agency reported at least 42 people killed in Israeli attacks on Sunday, as the Israeli army prepared for a new assault on the Palestinian territory’s largest city.

Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal said there had been several air strikes around Gaza City — which the military is gearing up to capture — including one in the Al-Sabra neighbourhood that killed eight people.

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Attacks were also reported elsewhere across the territory, he said, with the “total tally currently rising to 42 dead”.

READ ALSO:Russia, Ukraine Exchange Prisoners Of War, Civilians

The army did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the figure.

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The situation is extremely dangerous… Each day, each minute, there are bombings, martyrs, death and blood — we can’t take it anymore,” Al-Sabra resident Ibrahim Al-Shurafa told AFP, explaining strikes and shelling were ongoing.

We don’t know where to go. Death follows us everywhere,” he added.

READ ALSO:Russia Claims More Ukraine Land As Hopes For Summit Fade

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Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency or the Israeli military.

The October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel that sparked the war resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

Israel’s offensive has killed at least 62,686 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza that the United Nations considers reliable.

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Venezuela Frees Eight Opposition Leaders

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Venezuelan authorities released eight opposition leaders from jail early Sunday, including a former congressman and two Italian citizens, and granted house arrest to five others, an opposition politician said.

Most of those released had been charged with corruption in opposition-run mayoral offices.

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Also set free was Congressman, Amirico de Grazia, detained amid protests that erupted during President Nicolas Maduro’s reelection in 2024.

READ ALSO:Russia, Ukraine Exchange Prisoners Of War, Civilians

Today, several families are once again embracing their loved ones. We know there are many left, and we have not forgotten them; we continue to fight for everyone,” two-time former presidential candidate Henrique Capriles said on X.

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Opposition leaders Victor Jurado, Simon Vargas, Arelis Ojeda Escalante, Mayra Castro, Diana Berrio, Gorka Carnevalli, as well as Italian nationals Margarita Assenzo and de Grazia were released, Capriles said.

Nabil Maalouf, Valentin Gutierrez Pineda, Rafael Ramirez, Pedro Guanipa, and David Barroso were placed under house arrest.

READ ALSO:US Ambassador To Paris Slams Macron Over Rising Antisemitism

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The Italian government confirmed the release of de Grazia and Assenzo, who must appear in court to clarify the conditions of their release. It also vowed to continue working on securing the release of other detained Italians.

We have always said, and we maintain it: we will talk to whomever we need to talk to so that there is not a single political prisoner in our Venezuela!” Capriles added.

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Russia, Ukraine Exchange Prisoners Of War, Civilians

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Russia and Ukraine each sent back more prisoners of war on Sunday in the latest in a series of exchanges that have seen hundreds of POWs released this year, the two sides said.

Large-scale prisoner exchanges were the only tangible result of three rounds of talks between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul between May and July.

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They remain one of the few areas of cooperation between the two countries since Russia’s offensive began in 2022.

On August 24, 146 Russian servicemen were returned from the territory controlled” by Kyiv, the Russian defence ministry said on Telegram.

READ ALSO:Russia Returns Bodies Of 1,000 Ukrainian Soldiers

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In exchange, 146 prisoners of war of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were transferred” to Ukraine, it added. Ukraine did not confirm any figures for the release.

Russia also said that “eight citizens of the Russian Federation—residents of the Kursk region, illegally detained” by Kyiv were also returned.

Ukrainian forces launched a surprise incursion into Russia’s Kursk region in August last year, seizing hundreds of square kilometres (miles) of territory in a major setback for the Kremlin.

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Russia deployed thousands of troops from its ally North Korea as part of a counterattack but did not fully reclaim the region until April.

READ ALSO:Top Russian General Seriously Wounded In Ukraine – Officials

Among the Ukrainians released on Sunday was journalist Dmytro Khyliuk, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

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Khyliuk was kidnapped in the Kyiv region in March 2022. He is finally home in Ukraine,” Zelensky said on social media.

Also freed was former Kherson mayor Volodymyr Mykolayenko, “who spent more than three years in captivity,” Zelensky’s aide Andriy Yermak wrote on X.

In 2022, he was on the list for return, but Volodymyr voluntarily refused to be exchanged in favour of a seriously ill prisoner with whom he was sharing a cell in a Russian prison,” Yermak said.

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