News in brief
By The Associated Press
U.S. secures release of 135 Nicaraguan political prisoners
GUATEMALA CITY | The United States government says it has secured the release of 135 Nicaraguan political prisoners who have arrived in Guatemala. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said in a statement that they were released on humanitarian grounds. Among the Nicaraguans were 13 members of a Texas-based religious charity, Catholic laypeople, students and others.
Guatemala President Bernardo Arévalo agreed to host the Nicaraguans while they apply for entry to the U.S.
The development comes just two days after Nicaragua’s National Assembly approved changes to the criminal code allowing the government to try Nicaraguans and foreigners in absentia.
U.S. charges former Trump campaign adviser
WASHINGTON | The U.S. government has charged a Russian-born U.S. citizen and former adviser to Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign with working for a sanctioned Russian state television network and laundering the proceeds.
Indictments announced Thursday by the Department of Justice allege that Dimitri Simes and his wife received over $1 million dollars and a personal car and driver in exchange for work they did for Russia’s Channel One since June 2022.
The state television network was sanctioned by the U.S. in 2022 over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Simes is a U.S. citizen who owns a house in Virginia. Authorities say they believe the couple is in Russia. If convicted, they could face up to 20 years in prison.
Munich police fatally shoot man they believe was planning to attack Israeli Consulate
MUNICH | Police in Munich have exchanged fire with a gunman near the Israeli Consulate in Munich, fatally wounding him. Authorities say they believe he was planning to attack the consulate on the anniversary of the attack on the 1972 Munich Olympics.
No one else was hurt in the shootout shortly after 9 a.m. in an area near the consulate and a museum on the city’s Nazi-era history. Officers had been alerted to a person carrying a “long gun” in the Karolinenplatz area, near downtown Munich, at around 9 a.m. and returned fire when he shot at them.
The suspect, an 18-year-old from Austria, died at the scene.
Macron names Barnier France’s new prime minister
PARIS | President Emmanuel Macron has named EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier as France’s new prime minister after more than 50 days of caretaker government.
Thursday’s appointment of the 73-year-old Barnier follows weeks of intense efforts by Macron and his aides to find a candidate who might be able to build loose groupings of backers in parliament and survive promised attempts by Macron’s opponents to quickly topple the new government. Barnier is the oldest of the 26 prime ministers that have served modern France’s Fifth Republic.
He replaces the youngest, Gabriel Attal, who was 34 when he was appointed just eight months ago.
—From AP reports
