Asylum-Seeker Goes on Trial in Germany over Knife Attack

Police investigators work at the crime scene after a knife attack in a supermarket in Hamburg, Germany, July 28, 2017. (Reuters)
Police investigators work at the crime scene after a knife attack in a supermarket in Hamburg, Germany, July 28, 2017. (Reuters)
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Asylum-Seeker Goes on Trial in Germany over Knife Attack

Police investigators work at the crime scene after a knife attack in a supermarket in Hamburg, Germany, July 28, 2017. (Reuters)
Police investigators work at the crime scene after a knife attack in a supermarket in Hamburg, Germany, July 28, 2017. (Reuters)

The trial of a Palestinian asylum-seeker, charged with killing a man with a knife in a supermarket, got underway in the German city of Hamburg on Friday.

Ahmad Alhaw, 26, risks life in prison. Hearings began after he was deemed psychologically fit for trial.

Investigators found no link between him and ISIS terror group. So he has gone on trial on murder and not terror-related charges.

Alhaw took a 20-centimeter knife from the shelves of a supermarket last July, using it to kill one and wound six in the assault. He was arrested after passers-by overpowered him.

The trial is expected to last until March 2, with the six wounded invited to the hearings only from January 26.

Germany has been on high alert over the threat of a militant assault since Tunisian Anis Amri drove a truck into crowds at a Berlin Christmas market in December 2016, killing 12 and injuring 48.

Like Amri, Alhaw was to have been deported after his asylum application was rejected by authorities at the end of 2016, but the process was held up by a lack of identity documents.

The attacks have piled pressure on Chancellor Angela Merkel over her decision to allow in more than a million asylum seekers since 2015.



Russia's Rosatom to Lead Consortium to Build First Nuclear Power Plant in Kazakhstan

A long time exposure picture shows the nuclear power plant in Grohnde, Germany, March 5, 2013. Picture taken March 5, 2013. REUTERS/Fabian Bimmer 
A long time exposure picture shows the nuclear power plant in Grohnde, Germany, March 5, 2013. Picture taken March 5, 2013. REUTERS/Fabian Bimmer 
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Russia's Rosatom to Lead Consortium to Build First Nuclear Power Plant in Kazakhstan

A long time exposure picture shows the nuclear power plant in Grohnde, Germany, March 5, 2013. Picture taken March 5, 2013. REUTERS/Fabian Bimmer 
A long time exposure picture shows the nuclear power plant in Grohnde, Germany, March 5, 2013. Picture taken March 5, 2013. REUTERS/Fabian Bimmer 

Russia's state nuclear corporation Rosatom and state-owned China National Nuclear Corporation have been tapped to lead separate consortiums to build the first nuclear power plants in Kazakhstan, the country's atomic energy agency said on Saturday.

Other proposals came from the state-owned China National Nuclear Corporation, as well as French and South Korean companies.

It was not immediately clear which other companies would participate in the Rosatom-led consortium, nor the cost and timeline of Rosatom’s proposal.

The two-reactor plant will be built in the village of Ulken, about 400 km northwest of Almaty, the commercial capital.

In October, Kazakhstan voted in a referendum, backed by its president, in favor of constructing nuclear power plants. The country says it plans to have 2.4 gigawatts of nuclear capacity by 2035.

The oil- and gas-rich nation of 20 million has not had any nuclear power generation capacity since 1999, when the BN-350 reactor on the shores of the Caspian Sea was decommissioned.

The Kazakh atomic energy agency, established this March, said it had reviewed various proposals for reactor technologies and assessed them based on nuclear power plant safety, personnel training and other criteria.

The agency “determined that the most optimal and advantageous proposals for the construction of a nuclear power plant in Kazakhstan were those received from the Russian company Rosatom,” it said.

“Currently, in accordance with Rosatom’s proposals, work has begun on the issue of attracting state export financing from the Russian Federation.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Kazakhstan in November and discussed boosting energy and industry ties with the country, which exports most of its oil through Russia but is exploring alternatives.

In an article for the Kazakhstanskaya Pravda newspaper, Putin wrote that Rosatom, already involved in some projects in Kazakhstan, “is ready for new large-scale projects.”

In October, Kazakhstan voted in a referendum in favor of constructing its first nuclear power plant.

The plan, backed by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, faced criticism from some Kazakhs.

Kazakhstan is one of the world’s biggest uranium producers but currently relies mostly on coal-powered plants for its electricity, supplemented by some hydroelectric plants and the growing renewable energy sector.

Rosatom, created by a presidential decree in 2007, says it is the only company in the world that has all technologies of the nuclear fuel cycle, from uranium mining and nuclear research to building, fueling and running nuclear power plants.