Germany: The hostage situation at Hamburg Airport ends with a man in custody and 4-year-old daughter safe

BERLIN (AP) — The hostage situation at Hamburg Airport ended Sunday afternoon, around 18 hours after a man drove his vehicle through the gates of the airport with his 4-year-old daughter inside, authorities said. The man was arrested and the girl appears to be unharmed.

Hamburg police posted to X, formerly known as Twitter, that “the hostage situation is over. The suspect has left the car with his daughter. ... The child appears to be unharmed.”

Police also said that “the man was arrested by the emergency services without resistance.”

Russia's Jewish region offers refuge to Palestinians, Israelis amid conflict

VLADIVOSTOK, Nov. 5 (Xinhua) -- The Jewish Autonomous Region (JAR) in Russia's Far East is ready to accept refugees from both sides of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, JAR Governor Rostislav Goldstein said Sunday.

"For us, every life is important. And we are ready to accept in the Jewish Autonomous Region those who come with peace. Refugees from both sides of the conflict can benefit from all the support measures," he wrote on Telegram. "Anyone who needs help will be able to find shelter in the Jewish Autonomous Region."

Moldova is voting in local elections as authorities accuse Russia of meddling

CHISINAU, Moldova (AP) — Moldovans are casting ballots in nationwide local elections on Sunday as authorities say that Russia has been conducting “hybrid warfare” to undermine the vote in the European Union candidate country.

While local elections in Moldova, a country of about 2.5 million people situated between Romania and Ukraine, wouldn’t usually garner much international attention, ongoing accusations of Russian meddling add a geopolitical dimension to the vote.

Afghanistan's opium poppy cultivation down 95 pct following drug ban

KABUL, Nov. 5 (Xinhua) -- The opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan has dropped by an estimated 95 percent since the country's caretaker government imposed a drug ban in April 2022, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime said Sunday.

According to the organization's report, the opium cultivation of the once world's biggest opium producer fell from 233,000 hectares to just 10,800 hectares in 2023, leading to a 95-percent drop in the supply of opium, from 6,200 tonnes in 2022 to 333 tonnes in 2023.

French power supplier says technician killed as it battles damage from Storm Ciarán

PARIS (AP) — French power network operator Enedis said Sunday that one of its technicians was killed as it battles to restore electricity to hundreds of thousands of homes in the wake of major storms.

The 46-year-old man killed Saturday was working in a rapid-reaction force deployed in the Brittany region of northwest France that was battered Thursday by Storm Ciarán. Packing record-breaking winds and rain, the storm killed 14 people across Europe.

Israel’s fortified underground blood bank processes unprecedented amounts as troops move into Gaza

RAMLA, Israel (AP) — Hours after Hamas militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, the country’s new fortified, subterranean blood bank kicked into action. Staffers moved equipment into the underground bunker and started saving lives.

The Marcus National Blood Services Center in Ramla, near Tel Aviv, had been scheduled to open within days, but with more than 1,400 people in Israel killed since the Hamas raids — most killed during the initial attack — the timeline changed.

USA: Millions of dollars of psychedelic mushrooms seized in a Connecticut bust

Burlington, New Jersey (AP) —Law enforcement officials came across a staggering find after being tipped off about possible drug-dealing: dozens of dog-food-size bags of psychedelic mushrooms worth an estimated $8.5 million at a home in rural Connecticut.

A drug task force including federal, state and local authorities raided the property Thursday in Burlington, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) west of Hartford, and charged a 21-year-old man with operating a drug factory and possession with intent to sell/distribute narcotics.

USA: Ex-State Department official sentenced to nearly 6 years in prison for Capitol riot attacks

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Marine Corps veteran who served as a politically appointed State Department official in former President Donald Trump’s administration was sentenced on Friday to nearly six years in prison for attacking police officers during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.

Jordan: Blinken tries to cajole wary Arabs on support for post-conflict Gaza as Israel’s war intensifies

AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken stepped up his frantic diplomacy on Saturday, trying to build support for planning a post-conflict future for Gaza as he continued his second urgent mission to the Middle East since the Israel-Hamas conflict began.

USA: Biden tells residents of Maine city reeling from mass shooting: ‘You’re not alone’

LEWISTON, Maine (AP) — President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden stood for a moment of silence and placed a bouquet of white flowers at a makeshift memorial outside Schemengees Bar and Grille, one of the scenes of the state’s deadliest mass shooting.

Biden then bent to hug Kathy Lebel, owner of the bar where eight people died in the Oct. 25 massacre. Seven more died at the nearby Just-In-Time Recreation bowling alley, three others at hospitals.

USA: Supreme Court will rule on ban on rapid-fire gun bump stocks, used in the Las Vegas mass shooting

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court agreed on Friday to decide whether a Trump era-ban on bump stocks, the gun attachments that allow semi-automatic weapons to fire rapidly like machine guns, violates federal law.

The justices will hear arguments early next year over a regulation put in place by the Justice Department after a mass shooting in Las Vegas in 2017.

Federal appeals courts have come to different decisions about whether the regulation defining a bump stock as a machine gun comports with federal law.

USA: The Trump-DeSantis rivalry grows more personal and crude as the GOP candidates head to Florida

KISSIMMEE, Fla. (AP) — For Sat PMs Former President Donald Trump is expanding his support in Florida as he seeks to bury the presidential ambitions of Gov. Ron DeSantis in their shared home state.

Trump in recent days was endorsed by U.S. Sen. Rick Scott and state lawmaker Randy Fine, a longtime DeSantis ally who has advised him on Israel. He’d already secured the support of the majority of the state’s Republicans in Congress. And more Florida Republicans may soon follow.

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