Japan deploys nearly 1,700 firefighters to tackle forest blaze

MANNHEIM: A car drove into a crowd of people in the western German city of Mannheim on Monday, killing at least one person, injuring several others and overshadowing carnival celebrations in the region where police had been on alert for security attacks.
Police detained the car’s driver and later said he had acted alone, with no broader threat seen for the public.
People were seen lying on the ground at the scene and at least two were being resuscitated, an eyewitness told Reuters. Bild newspaper reported that two people were killed and 25 injured, 15 of them seriously, citing security sources.
It was unclear whether the driver acted deliberately or if there was any connection to Germany’s carnival celebrations, which culminated on Rose Monday with a number of parades, although not in Mannheim, which held its main event on Sunday.
The Focus Online website reported that the man detained by police was a 40-year-old from the neighboring state of Rhineland-Palatinate and that he was receiving hospital treatment, citing security sources.
Police declined to comment on the suspect’s identity, saying this was a focus of their investigation.
Security has been a key concern in Germany following a string of violent attacks in recent weeks, including deadly car rammings in Magdeburg in December and in Munich last month, as well as a stabbing in Mannheim in May 2024.
Police were on high alert for this year’s carnival parades after social media accounts linked to Daesh called for attacks on the events in Cologne and Nuremberg.
German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser canceled her attendance at the parade in Cologne on Monday, Germany’s biggest, due to the events in Mannheim, a spokesperson for the minister said.
Rose Monday, the culmination of the annual carnival season celebrated in Germany’s mainly Catholic western and southern regions, features parades of floats that often include comical or satirical references to current affairs.
This year’s carnival has included floats featuring US President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin, tech billionaire Elon Musk and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky.
Dressed in traditional jester costumes and sporting colorful makeup, thousands of partygoers danced through the streets of Cologne, Dusseldorf and other cities in western and southern Germany ahead of the fasting season of Lent.

KABUL: Tensions were high at the main border crossing between Afghanistan and Pakistan on Monday after forces from both sides exchanged gunfire overnight, reportedly killing at least one person.

The Torkham border crossing, located in the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar and Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has been closed since Feb. 21 after Islamabad shut it down over concerns of Kabul’s construction of a border post.

The shootout started on Sunday night at the border and continued until 11 a.m., Abdul Mateen Qani, spokesperson from the Afghan Ministry of Interior, told Afghan broadcaster Tolo News. 

The incident took place after the neighboring countries failed to reach an agreement to reopen the Torkham border crossing, leaving stranded thousands of trucks and vehicles carrying goods that include fruits and vegetables.

Qani said Pakistani forces were the first ones to shoot, and that the incident had killed at least one Taliban officer and injured two other people. 

“The situation has been tense since last night. We are worried more firing can happen after the clashes,” Abdul Rahim, a Nangarhar resident who lives near the border crossing, told Arab News by telephone.

Cross-border fire and shootouts have occurred along the Afghan-Pakistan border for years. In the past, each side has closed Torkham and the Chaman border crossing in southwestern Pakistan for various reasons. For landlocked Afghanistan, the two crossings are vital for both trade and travel.

Thousands of people, mainly Afghans, use the crossing daily to seek medical treatment and work in Pakistan’s border areas.

As tensions rise between Afghanistan and Pakistan, the continued closure of Torkham is creating more uncertainties for Afghans at the border.

Hassan Khan, an Afghan student who studies in Pakistan, has been stuck in Nangarhar after renewing his documents.

“We thought we would spend a day or two with our families and then go back to our studies in Pakistan. But this incident happened, and it’s been two weeks that we are now stuck on this side of the border crossing,” Khan told Arab News.

“We want the gate to reopen soon so we can go to our studies. Many patients and their families spent nights at the crossing hoping for the gate to open.”

Ahmad Zia Rahimzai, a political analyst and an editor at the Gaheez Writers and Journalists’ Association, said that the initial border closure was a way for Pakistan “to maintain its pressure on Afghanistan” and impose its demands.

“From time to time, it finds excuses and closes the routes between the two countries … paving the way for military clashes on the border,” Rahimzai told Arab News.

“Pakistan’s goal is to force the Afghan rulers to accept their demands through such pressures.”