By Yadnom Awu/Asaba
France
Louvre Heist: Police Pick More Suspects
The French Police say they have nabbed five more suspects in the probe into the heist at the Louvre Museum in Paris.
The daylight penultimate Sunday heist, the second in the history of the busiest museum in the world since the 1911 theft of the iconic Mona Lisa, led to the theft of nine jeweleries, crowns and tiara.
Some of the stolen items were said to have been given to his Queen by the legendary French Emperor, Napoleon Bonaparte.
The stolen items were estimated to cost $102million ( more than N150billion,) by street value.
After the four-minute heist , the police nabbed two suspects , one of whom was held at Charles De Gaulle Airport as he made to head for Algeria.
The second of the two initial suspects was arrested in a Paris suburb, according to the police.
The two were arraigned yesterday for alleged criminal conspiracy and theft.
The five new arrests were made last night , according to police sources, who, however, failed to divulge details of their identities or where they were picked.
Under French law, the police are obliged to hold suspects and persons of interest for not more than four days before arraignment.
South Korea
Trump Hails Breakthrough in Talks With Xi Jinping
The President of America, Donald Trump, has been upbeat about the outcome of his trade and tariff talks with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping.
The talks held in Gyeongju, South Korea, on the sidelines of the APEC meeting.
Fielding questions from reporters aboard his official aircraft, Air Force One, Trump hyperbolically rated the outcome of the talk at 12 over 10 marks.
He said that while he had lowered the tariff regime on China from 47 per cent to 37 per cent, China had agreed to resume the purchase of soyabean from America, and to resume the export of rare Earth Minerals to America.
He hailed the Chinese leader as a strong negotiator.
China holds 70 per cent of the global tally of rare Earth Mineral deposits, and is responsible for the processing of more than 90 of its products across the globe.
The minerals are required in high end technological sectors, including the defence industry.
Sudan
Allegations of Mass Killings Dog RSF Al- Fasher Operations
Allegations of mass Killings have dogged the military operations of Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in and around Darfur Region.
Emergency workers and other sources in the area say that there had been massacres of unarmed civilians in Al- Fasher, the capital city in Darfur which is now in the hands of the RSF.
Al- Fasher had been under intense siege for 17 months before it was taken from the Sudanese Army by the RSF, which is now accused of the massacre of innocent civilians in the area.
One source said that no fewer than 2,000 civilians had been killed in the city and its suburbs in the past few days.
The sources said that bodies were strewn over the streets of the city and that troops of the RSF appeared to have killed their victims for religious and ethnic differences.
Other sources said that the actual tally of those killed, many by execution, could be much higher .
The RSF had vowed to probe the Killings, though many doubt it would be objective and far- reaching.
The Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, has called out the RSF over the alleged massacres.
The Sudanese Army Chief, General Abdel Fattah- Al Burhan, had confirmed the loss of Al- Fasher following what he called the tactical withdrawal of its troops.
The Netherlands
D66, Freedom Party In Neck- And – Neck Victory Race
The centrist D66 Party and the right wing ruling Freedom Party are in a battle royale in the parliamentary polls held yesterday in the Netherlands.
With less than 10 percent of the items to count, the D66 has leapt into the lead by less than 2,000 votes.
If the lead holds through, it would mean a shift from the last general elections which the ruling party won to form the subsisting government of the Freedom Party, a racist white supremacist group with strong bias against
liberal migration , Islam and the European Union (EU) membership.
However, with a hung Parliament in the offing, and with no party willing to join the Freedom Party in a coalition, experts say the D66 would have to begin a hard talk with other liberal parties to form a coalition government .
