London mosque attacker gets life sentence
LONDON • A man who deliberately drove a van into a group of worshippers near a London mosque, killing one, was yesterday handed a life sentence with a minimum 43-year term.
Darren Osborne, 48, from the Welsh capital Cardiff, was found guilty of murdering 51-year-old Makram Ali and trying to kill others in the Finsbury Park area of north London in the June 19 attack.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Russian warplanes to use disputed isle near Japan
MOSCOW • Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has approved the deployment of Russian warplanes on a disputed island near Japan, accelerating the area's militarisation at a time when Moscow's ties with Tokyo are strained over the roll-out of a US missile system.
In a decree on Thursday, Mr Medvedev allowed the Defence Ministry to use a civilian airport on Iturup as it is known by Russia, or Etorofu as it is known by Japan, for its warplanes.
The island was one of four seized by Soviet forces at the end of World War II and is located off the north-east coast of Hokkaido, Japan's biggest prefecture.
REUTERS
Five dead after French army helicopters crash
CABASSE (France) • Five people were killed yesterday after two army training helicopters crashed into each other near a lake in southern France, police said, one of the deadliest such accidents involving the country's armed forces in recent years.
The collision was near the lake of Carces, about 50km from the resort of Saint-Tropez. "The helicopters collided. There were three army personnel in one and two in the other. All are dead," police said. The cause of the collision was still unclear.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Trump accuses FBI of politicising probes
WASHINGTON • US President Donald Trump yesterday accused the FBI and the Justice Department's top officials of politicising probes as the White House prepared to approve the release of a controversial secret memo alleging FBI bias against him in its Russia investigation.
The FBI has expressed "grave concerns about material omissions of fact" in the Republican memo, seen as having the potential to prompt high-level resignations in US law enforcement agencies if released. There has been speculation that FBI director Christopher Wray might resign if the memo is released.
REUTERS
