World

DRESDEN, Germany — A bridge partially collapsed in the eastern German city of Dresden early on Wednesday, with authorities saying no one was injured but that there was a risk of further sections crumbling.

A roughly 100 metre section of the Carola Bridge, which connects Dresden's historic old town to other parts of the city, plunged into the Elbe river around 03:00am (01:00 GMT), the Dresden fire brigade said.

The bridge and the surrounding area have been sealed off, causing major disruption to inner city traffic.

Officials warned that other parts of the bridge could yet come crashing down.

"There is still an acute danger to life and risk of collapse," fire brigade spokesman Michael Klahre said.

Nobody was on or under the bridge at the time of the incident.

The last tram had crossed the bridge at around 02:50am, mere minutes before the collapse and narrowly avoiding catastrophe.

"I am very, very happy that based on what we know, no one was hurt," Klahre said at a press conference alongside other officials.

Police spokesman Thomas Geithner said officers who happened to be stationed just 50 metres away "described hearing a loud, heavy noise, the ground shook".

Rescue services and other experts were deployed at the scene to assess the damage and secure the bridge.

The cause of the collapse is still being investigated.

The concrete structure may have suffered from corrosion caused by chloride contamination in the past, Holger Kalbe, head of the bridges and civil engineering structures department for the city of Dresden, told reporters.

But he added that this was just a first "assumption" and experts would have more certainty on what happened in the coming days.

Renovations due

The part of the bridge that fell down contained the section dedicated to tram lines and foot and cycling traffic. It was scheduled for maintenance work next year.

The other two sections of the bridge, for road vehicles, had already been renovated, Kalbe told reporters.

The partial collapse also damaged two major heating pipes, cutting off district heating in the city and temporarily leaving residents in some neighbourhoods without warm water, Klahre said.

Police said the partial collapse was being deemed an accident, and warned against spreading fake news on social media.

"There is zero indication" to suggest any criminal behaviour at this point, Geithner said.

On social media platform X, Saxony state police urged people not to share "any false reports" about the incident, adding that there "is no evidence so far of third-party interference".

The Carola Bridge is one of Dresden's main crossings. It was constructed when the region was part of communist East Germany and was completed in 1971. It is named after the wife of King Albert of Saxony.

Germany counts some 130,000 bridges, many of which were built decades ago when traffic was lighter.

Concerns have long been raised about the need for repairs and for more investment to modernise the ageing structures.

ANKARA — The body of an eight-year-old girl who had been missing in Turkey for 19 days has been found after an enormous manhunt, the interior minister said on Sunday.

The body of Narin Guran was found in a bag in a river in the southeastern province of Diyarbakir, around one kilometre from the village where she lived with her family, Diyarbakir governor Murat Zorluoglu told reporters.

“Unfortunately, the lifeless body of Narin, who went missing in the village of Tavsantepe... has been found,” Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

She disappeared on August 21, sparking a huge search effort in Turkey, with a number of well-known figures joining a social media campaign called “Find Narin”.

“Narin Guran was found dead wearing the same clothes as the last time she was seen,” said Zorluoglu.

“Based on the first observations, she was put into a bag after she was killed. The bag was then placed in the river, hidden under branches and rocks so as not to raise suspicion,” he added.

Diyarbakir prosecutors have detained 21 people, said Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc.

Narin’s parents and her eldest brother were among those taken in for questioning, according to Turkish news channel NTV.

The girl’s uncle was arrested last week on suspicion of murder and “deprivation of liberty”.

“We are profoundly hurt by the sad news about Narin, who was brutally killed,” said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on X.

“I will personally follow the judicial process to ensure that those who took Narin away from us receive the harsh punishment they deserve,” he added.

Turkey’s pro-Kurdish party DEM has called for a march to take place in Diyarbakir on Sunday evening.

“Narin was killed in an organised manner. Those responsible for this murder, which has saddened us all, must be revealed and held accountable before an impartial and independent justice system,” DEM wrote on X.

Tunc said on X that “those responsible for Narin’s death will be brought to justice”.

PARIS — French far-right leader Marine Le Pen on Sunday urged President Emmanuel Macron to hold a referendum on key issues such as immigration, suggesting that giving the French a direct vote might help break the political deadlock.

Last week Macron appointed the centre-right Michel Barnier, a 73-year-old former foreign minister who acted as the European Union’s Brexit negotiator, as prime minister, seeking to move forward after June-July snap elections that resulted in a hung parliament.

But analysts say the country is set for a period of instability, with Barnier’s hold on power seen as fragile and dependent on support from Le Pen’s eurosceptic, anti-immigration National Rally (RN), which is the largest single party in the new national assembly.

The New Popular Front left-wing coalition, which emerged as France’s largest political bloc after the elections, although well short of an overall majority, is also piling pressure on Barnier.

More than 100,000 left-wing demonstrators rallied across France on Saturday to protest against his nomination and denounce Macron’s “power grab”.

‘Power to decide directly’ 

On Sunday, Le Pen urged Macron to conduct a referendum on key issues such as immigration, health care and security to give the people a direct vote.

The RN “will unreservedly support any approach aimed at giving people the power to decide directly”, Le Pen said, speaking in the northern town of Henin-Beaumont, the far-right’s stronghold.

“Emmanuel Macron himself, in the chaos he has created, has levers to keep our democracy live,” she added.

To prevent the RN from having an absolute majority and forming a government, around 200 candidates stood down ahead of the final round of the snap polls in July to avoid splintering the anti-RN vote, sparking the far-right’s outrage.

Le Pen indicated she would watch Barnier’s every move.

“If, in the coming weeks, the French are once again forgotten or mistreated, we will not hesitate to censure the government,” she added.

Speaking to reporters, Le Pen, 56, also said she expected France to hold new legislative elections “within a year”.

“This is good because I think that France needs a clear majority,” she said.

The left-wing coalition has also vowed to topple Barnier with a no-confidence motion.

The alliance wanted Lucie Castets, a 37-year-old economist, to become prime minister, but Macron quashed that idea, arguing that she would not survive a confidence vote.

Barnier, who is working to form a government, held consultations with some of the country’s key political players over the weekend.

On Sunday, he met with former prime minister Edouard Philippe, who has said he would seek to succeed Macron in 2027, and Francois Bayrou, a veteran centrist.

According to a poll released on Sunday, the French are largely satisfied with Macron’s choice of prime minister, but believe he will not last long in his new post.

Fifty 2 per cent of people polled said they were satisfied with the appointment of Barnier, according to the Ifop poll for the Journal du Dimanche.

By comparison, 53 per cent of respondents approved the nomination of Barnier’s predecessor, Gabriel Attal, when he was appointed prime minister in early January, becoming France’s youngest-ever premier at 34.

According to the poll, a majority of respondents see Barnier, the oldest prime minister in the history of modern France, as competent (62 per cent), open to dialogue (61 per cent) and likeable (60 per cent).

However, 74 per cent of respondents polled believe he would not last long in the post.

Ifop polled 950 adults online on September 5-6. The margin of error was up to 3.1 points.

SAO PAULO — Led by beleaguered ex-president Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’s political right rallied on Saturday amid a free speech tussle that has seen X, its preferred social platform, suspended in the country.

Bolsonaro called the demonstration for Latin America’s biggest city, Sao Paulo, on Independence Day — which was being celebrated in the capital Brasilia with a parade overseen by leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

In a video, Bolsonaro urged protesters to turn out en masse in green and yellow — the colors of the Brazilian flag but also coopted by his supporters.

“There is no point celebrating our independence if we are deprived of freedom,” the former president said in the post on Instagram.

At the rally scheduled for 2:00 pm (17:00 GMT) Bolsonaro will be hoping to show his political clout a month before municipal elections in the deeply divided country.

He left office nearly two years ago after a razor-thin election defeat to archrival Lula.

That prompted so-called Bolsonaristas to storm the presidential palace, congress and supreme court on January 8, 2023, calling for the military to oust Lula and claiming, without evidence, that the election was stolen.

Bolsonaro, dubbed the “Tropical Trump”, is under investigation for an alleged coup attempt over those events.

‘Toga-clad dictator’ 

Bolsonaro and the far- right are at war with Judge Alexandre de Moraes, who presided over the TSE electoral tribunal when it banned the ex-president from running for office until 2030 over his attempts to discredit Brazil’s electoral system.

Moraes, who has taken on the mantle of an anti-disinformation crusader, is leading several other investigations into Bolsonaro, and it was he who ordered the suspension in Brazil of X for breaching local laws.

The right hates Moraes and accuses him of censorship and abuse of office.

Bolsonaro has described his ruling against X as a “blow to our freedom and legal security, which will drive away foreign investors and have adverse consequences in all spheres of public life in Brazil”.

Lula, for his part, has come out in support of the fight against “fake news”.

Saturday’s demonstration was called before Moraes blocked the platform formerly known as Twitter.

One of the rally’s organisers, evangelical pastor Silas Malafaia, urged followers to come out in numbers to demand “the removal of the toga-clad dictator Alexandre de Moraes”.

Members of the right-wing opposition in Brazil’s senate have said they will file for Moraes’s impeachment next week — a move welcomed by X owner Elon Musk.

Bolsonaro has travelled the country widely in recent months to boost allies who will be seeking office in October local elections.

On Saturday, “We will see the true extent of Bolsonarism,” Geraldo Monteiro, a political scientist with the University of Rio de Janeiro, told AFP, in reference to the turnout.

In his social media appeal, Bolsonaro asked supporters to “not take part in the independence ceremonies organised by the government”.

In February, a pro-Bolsonaro rally also in Sao Paulo gathered an estimated 185,000 people, according to researchers at the University of Sao Paulo.

Another in Rio in April gathered fewer.

In Brasilia, Lula — with Moraes seated near him on the official podium — presided over a parade featuring 30 military athletes who competed in the Paris Olympic Games.

Before taking his seat, Lula waved as he rode through town in the presidential Rolls-Royce.

PARIS — Thousands of left-wing demonstrators on Saturday took to the streets across France to protest against the nomination of the centre-right Michel Barnier as prime minister and denounce President Emmanuel Macron’s “power grab”.

Police said that around 26,000 people demonstrated in Paris, while the left claimed a much higher turnout.

Smaller rallies took place in other cities across France including Nantes in the west, Nice and Marseille in the south and Strasbourg in the east.

Macron on Thursday appointed Barnier, a 73-year-old former foreign minister who acted as the European Union’s Brexit negotiator, as prime minister, seeking to move forward after July snap elections in which his centrist alliance came second.

Barnier said on Friday night that he was open to naming ministers of all political stripes, including “people from the left”.

But a left-wing coalition, which emerged as France’s largest force after the June-July elections, although without enough seats for an overall majority, has greeted Macron’s appointment of Barnier with dismay.

The left-wing alliance wanted Lucie Castets, a 37-year-old economist, to become prime minister, but Macron quashed the idea, arguing that she would not survive a confidence vote in the hung parliament.

On Saturday, many demonstrators directed their anger at Macron, 46, and some called on him to resign.

‘Old elephant’ 

“The Fifth Republic is collapsing,” said protester Manon Bonijol. “Expressing one’s vote will be useless as long as Macron is in power,” added the 21-year-old.

Hard-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon, whose France Unbowed party (LFI) and allies belong to the left-wing bloc, has charged that the election had been “stolen from the French” and called on French people to take to the streets.

On Saturday, he urged supporters to prepare for battle.

“There will be no pause,” he vowed.

“Democracy isn’t just the art of accepting that you’ve won, it’s also the humility of accepting that you’ve lost,” Melenchon said at the protest.

Project manager Alexandra Germain, 44, accused Macron of riding roughshod over the wishes of voters.

“Demonstrating is my only way of saying that I don’t agree, even if I am well aware that it is useless,” said Germain.

Abel Couaillier, a 20-year-old student, said he was stunned by the appointment of Barnier whom he called an “old elephant”.

“I am still young, I want to believe that we can change things,” added Couaillier.

Leading LFI figure Mathilde Panot claimed on X, formerly Twitter, that 160,000 demonstrators protested in Paris and 300,000 people across France.

Five people were detained in Paris, police said.

‘Under surveillance’ 

Marine Le Pen, who leads far-right National Rally (RN) lawmakers in parliament, has said her Party would not be part of the new cabinet, and would wait for Barnier’s first policy speech in front of parliament to decide whether or not to back him.

On Saturday, National Rally party head Jordan Bardella, who had hoped to be France’s next prime minister, indicated that the far-right would be watching Barnier’s every move.

“Mister Barnier is a prime minister under surveillance,” said Bardella, 28.

Barnier immediately shot back, saying he had a responsibility towards French people, not the far-right.

“I am under the surveillance of all French people,” he said on the sidelines of a visit to the Necker children’s hospital in Paris.

Barnier will be in charge of the budget, security, immigration and healthcare and will have to take the interests of the National Rally, the single largest party in a fragmented legislature, into account to avoid a motion of no confidence in parliament.

Barnier — who is likely to have only minority support in the assembly — will face the urgent task of presenting the 2025 budget by early October.

MOSCOW — Russia said on Saturday it had seized another village in eastern Ukraine, where Moscow's troops are continuing to advance. 

The defence ministry said Russian forces "have liberated the village of Kalynove" in the Donetsk region and near the key logistics hub of Pokrovsk held by Kyiv's forces.

Ukraine's security services said Saturday they had struck a Russian ammunition factory in a border region, as Moscow's forces claimed yet another advance on the battlefield. 

Ukraine also said it had thwarted a "massive" overnight Russian aerial attack that saw drones launched towards the capital Kyiv. 

The attacks come after a week of intense Russian bombardments across Ukraine that killed at least 55 in the central city of Poltava, and seven in Lviv -- hundreds of kilometres from the frontlines and close to Ukraine's western border with EU and NATO members.

A large fire and several explosions were reported overnight in the Russian region of Voronezh, which borders Ukraine, prompting officials to evacuate locals living near the blaze.

Russian anti-air defence systems "detected and neutralised a drone" early on Saturday morning over the western part of the region, under 150 kilometres from Ukraine, Voronezh governor Alexander Gusev wrote on Telegram. 

"No-one was injured" but when the drone fell, it sparked a large fire "that spread to explosive devices and caused them to detonate", Gusev continued, without providing details of which facility was hit. 

"A decision was taken to evacuate residents of a village" because of the blaze, he said. 

Russian Telegram channels said the fire broke out in a local munitions depot.

Ukraine's SBU security services later claimed it had hit a Russian ammunition depot.

A source in the SBU told AFP that Kyiv was targeting "military airfields, ammunition depots and infrastructure facilities" in order to "create a demilitarised zone in the regions of Russia adjacent to Ukraine."

It called them all "legitimate targets".

Ukraine's air force said Russia fired 67 drones at the country overnight, adding that it shot down 58 of them.

AFP reporters in Kyiv heard loud explosions overnight.

"There are almost no nights when Russian attack drones do not attack the territory of Ukraine. And today was another night, massive drone attack," the Kyiv city administration said in a social media post on Saturday.

Debris from one downed drone landed near the Ukrainian parliament in the centre of the city.

In the east of the country, three people were killed in Russian shelling on Kostyantynivka -- in the Donetsk region where Russian troops are advancing -- the local governor said.

Russia's military said Saturday it had seized the village of Kalynove, around 25 kilometres  southeast of the key logistics hub of Pokrovsk, which Russia is seeking to capture. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week that Russia's "primary objective" in the conflict was to capture the entire Donbas region -- which consists of Ukraine's Donetsk and Lugansk regions.

Moscow claimed to have annexed them, along with the southern Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions in 2022, months after it launched its full-scale military offensive and despite not having full control over them.

The head of Ukraine's neighbouring Dnipropretovsk region said the number of wounded in a missile attack on the city of Pavlograd a day earlier had increased to 82, including seven children. 

"Sixty people remain in hospital," Governor Sergiy Lysak said.

On the diplomatic front, Ukrainian President Volodymyr met Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on the sidelines of an economic forum in the country on Saturday.

Meloni reaffirmed her strong support for Kyiv.

Zelensky was using the brief trip to Europe, which also included meetings with Germany's Olaf Scholz and an address to the Ramstein defence summit, to press allies for more weapons supplies.