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German police rule out attack after car kills one in Stuttgart

German police rule out attack after car kills one in Stuttgart

Sharjah 2403-05-2025

Increased security measures in Germany
German security services have been on high alert following several deadly car-ramming attacks in recent months, including incidents in the eastern city of Magdeburg and the southern city of Munich.
Police investigation in Stuttgart
Police in Stuttgart, however, stated on their X account that "based on our current investigations... our colleagues at the scene believe this was a tragic accident." The incident occurred in the central Olgaeck district and resulted in "eight injured, including three seriously hurt."
Casualty report
Tragically, one of those seriously hurt, a 46-year-old woman, later died in the hospital from her injuries. A police spokeswoman reported that "at around 5:50 pm a black G-class Mercedes drove into a group of people," and the driver was subsequently arrested.
Traffic disruptions and scene details
Authorities warned the public to avoid Stuttgart city center due to traffic disruptions. Images from the scene showed a mangled pushchair, with witnesses stating that a woman with a pushchair was among those hit by the car.

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How Germany's former foreign minister failed Gaza - then got a top UN job
How Germany's former foreign minister failed Gaza - then got a top UN job

Middle East Eye

time3 days ago

  • Middle East Eye

How Germany's former foreign minister failed Gaza - then got a top UN job

United Nations member states on Monday confirmed the nomination of Germany's former foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, as the next president of the General Assembly. As leader of its 80th session, Baerbock will oversee the work of the UN organ, which serves as a forum for all 193 member states to coordinate on international issues. Her nomination was controversial from the outset, as she was accused of snatching the job away from seasoned German diplomat Helga Schmid, who played a key role in the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. Germany had initially nominated Schmid for the job, but later replaced her with Baerbock, who lost her cabinet position after the February election. In her acceptance speech on Monday, Baerbock affirmed her respect for international humanitarian law and her commitment to safeguard 'a world in which every human can live in peace and dignity'. A look at her performance as foreign minister, however, does not reveal a track record of upholding human rights, but rather an utter failure on this front, amid German state complicity in the Gaza genocide. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters Baerbock assumed office in 2021 with a self-proclaimed 'feminist foreign policy' as her guiding principle, vowing that her efforts as foreign minister would focus on the 'rights, representation and resources' of women and marginalised groups. Protecting women in armed conflict was among her 10 key guidelines. Yet during her tenure as foreign minister, Israel waged its genocidal campaign in Gaza, now approaching its 20th month. More than 54,000 Palestinians have been killed, more than half of whom were women and children, according to local health officials. Amid this onslaught, Germany has continued to supply Israel with hundreds of millions of dollars in weapons. Between 7 October 2023 and mid-May 2025, the German government says it issued export licences for arms deliveries to Israel totalling 485.1 million euros ($554.3m), although the pace of exports was considerably higher in the first few months of the war, before international criticism began to mount. Complicity in genocide Under the banner of Germany's Staatsrason ('reason of state'), the controversial idea that Germany's national interest is contingent on Israel's security, former Chancellor Olaf Scholz led Germany into complicity in genocide once again. The mantra of 'standing firmly' by Israel's side has been repeated countless times by various German officials, becoming more painful with every step of Gaza's deepening humanitarian crisis. As foreign minister, Baerbock could have done much to oppose this. She chose not to. Follow Middle East Eye's live coverage of the Israel-Palestine war This is not to say that she expressed no concerns over Israel's actions in Gaza or the plight of civilians. Baerbock repeatedly stressed the importance of adhering to international humanitarian law, called for a ceasefire, and highlighted the need for more aid to enter the besieged territory. At the same time, however, she continuously reiterated Israel's right to 'self-defence', thus undermining her appeals to help the Palestinian population of Gaza and making her an easy target for allegations of hypocrisy. Her speech last October stands as a case in point. 'Self-defence means not only attacking terrorists but destroying them. When Hamas terrorists hide behind people, behind schools … civilian places lose their protected status because terrorists abuse it,' Baerbock said during a parliamentary session marking the anniversary of the 7 October 2023 Hamas-led attack on southern Israel. As she prepares to lead the 80th UN General Assembly, Baerbock has yet to acknowledge mistakes in her approach to Gaza She added: 'That's why I clearly conveyed to the UN that civilian areas could lose their protected status because they are being abused by terrorists.' Just days before her speech, Israeli forces had targeted another school and mosque sheltering displaced people in central Gaza, killing more than two dozen Palestinians. Between October 2023 and April 2024, Baerbock held seven meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. But she failed to publicly advocate for the rights of Palestinian women in armed conflict, a notion central to her 'feminist foreign policy' - even as countless women in Gaza have suffered miscarriages or watched their children starve. 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If Baerbock was serious about human rights and women's safety, then the right move would have been to step away from a government that has backed Israel's genocidal war on Gaza. No genuine 'feminist foreign policy' could be reconcilable with such atrocities. But to this day, as she prepares to lead the 80th UN General Assembly, Baerbock has yet to acknowledge mistakes in her approach to Gaza. What is behind Germany's complicity in Israel's Gaza genocide? Read More » Her government's lack of action is made even more tragic in light of the recent change of rhetoric towards Israel by Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who assumed office last month. Shortly after his February election victory, Merz vowed to find 'ways and means' for Netanyahu to visit Germany. 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UAE's used car buyers warned after woman buys 'clocked' Mercedes with 145,000km dialled back
UAE's used car buyers warned after woman buys 'clocked' Mercedes with 145,000km dialled back

The National

time4 days ago

  • The National

UAE's used car buyers warned after woman buys 'clocked' Mercedes with 145,000km dialled back

A woman who was sold an imported car with a tampered mileage clock has warned other used car buyers to complete a full history check before purchasing a second-hand vehicle. In March 2023 Emilia Cosbuc, a personal trainer from Romania, bought her dream car, a Mercedes C200 from a dealership in Sharjah. The 2016 model vehicle had 92,000km on the clock and was offered with a one-year warranty. After a smooth test drive, Ms Cosbuc handed over Dh90,000 for the luxury saloon. There was no indication of any serious mechanical faults until January 2025, when she started to experience engine problems, thinking the car had 150,327km on the clock at this point. When a mechanic assessed the vehicle, the full reality of the car's chequered history became clear. Records showed the it had been involved in several accidents, and a major collision in August 2022. Further online records showed the car's previous history – that it was imported from South Africa and sold on at auction in the UAE for $1,700 in November 2022. Then it had 236,748km on its odometer, but four months later, when the car was sold to Ms Cosbuc, the clock showed nearly 145,000km fewer than that. Rather than the car having travelled 150,327km when it began to have engine problems, as Ms Cosbuc thought, it had actually done 295,027km - a significant and dangerous difference, as 250,000km is generally considered to be the point at which a vehicle has gone through significant wear and tear. 'Initially the car looked great, the test drive was smooth, and the seller gave me a one-year warranty contract - I trusted them and happily bought the car,' Ms Cosbuc, who lives in Abu Dhabi, told The National. 'When my car engine needed a major repair, the garage discovered its real history. I spoke to the auction house, which verified the car was sold to an individual in November 2022. "The photos of the car's odometer show 236,748km, which means it had been tampered with by the time I bought it. Selling a vehicle with an altered odometer reading and a concealed accident history puts unsuspecting buyers at serious financial and safety risks.' Victims of fraud have the right to seek compensation for damages, which can cover financial losses and emotional distress. Ms Cosbuc is facing a repair bill of Dh30,000 to get the car back on the road. As the vehicle is considerably more used than she believed, she asked for compensation from the dealership that sold the vehicle and lodged a complaint with the Ministry of Economy. The company said it was an honest mistake, and admitted they should have completed a more thorough check of the car's history. It has since changed its policy to ensure all cars purchased to be sold on are fully researched. The company has since paid Ms Cosbuc Dh40,000 in compensation. Fines Car-sale fraud is a criminal offence in the UAE, with legal penalties including imprisonment and fines governed by the UAE's Consumer Protection Law and Commercial Transactions Law. Odometer tampering is the practice of rolling back a car's odometer to make it appear to have a lower mileage, to artificially inflate its value. There is huge demand for used cars across the UAE, with each emirate operating its own safety checks and records for imported vehicles. According to Credence Research, the UAE's used car market was worth $20.15 billion in 2022, and is expected to climb to $48.14 billion by 2030. Numerous e-commerce sites used to advertise second-hand vehicles for sale are improving their transparency when it comes to a car's history. Despite that, experts say buyers should conduct their own checks on any used vehicle before handing over their cash. 'This market can be a bit of a minefield, so buyers need to be careful,' said Ryan Hughes, co-owner of RMA Motors in Dubai. 'If the car is from the GCC it's usually a bit easier to track its history, if it's imported it can be more difficult. "There are a lot of imported cars that are crash repaired from America, Europe and Canada, and also stolen cars from Canada. A lot of these cars have mileage manipulation, with clocked cars usually coming from North America and Europe.' Pre-purchase safety checks As the traffic departments in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah are not connected, it can be difficult to maintain consistency in export papers to show any discrepancies in a vehicle's mileage. To check for any mileage manipulation, buyers can check a car's control unit with a mechanic to ensure its chassis number matches what is printed on the car. That can help ensure the mileage matches up with what's on each control unit on the odometer. 'On some cars you can access what is called a service reset counter to make sure that the amount of service resets match the kilometres recorded,' said Mr Hughes. 'On a Mercedes you can see if the service intervals have been once a year or every 15,000km. If it was a three or four-year-old car, you could see it would have had three or four service resets in that time, so you could make an estimate of what the kilometres should be. "But if a car had 25 service resets, for example, you would know it should have 250,000km or more. It's really about just doing your due diligence from the paperwork you have on the vehicle's history, as well as a standard inspection and technical evaluation.'

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