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Third Arrest in Manhunt After Maldives Bomb Attack

Police have blamed "religious extremists" for Thursday's attempted assassination of Maldives' former president Mohamed Nasheed | AFP
Police have blamed "religious extremists" for Thursday's attempted assassination of Maldives' former president Mohamed Nasheed | AFP
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Third Arrest in Manhunt After Maldives Bomb Attack

Police have blamed "religious extremists" for Thursday's attempted assassination of Maldives' former president Mohamed Nasheed | AFP
Police have blamed "religious extremists" for Thursday's attempted assassination of Maldives' former president Mohamed Nasheed | AFP

A third man has been arrested following the attempted assassination of Maldives' former president Mohamed Nasheed, police said Sunday, as they renewed an appeal for more information about another suspect.

The democracy pioneer and climate activist was seriously hurt after a bomb attack in the capital Male on Thursday night that also injured a British national and two others, which police have blamed on "religious extremists".

"We can confirm that a third individual has been arrested in connection with the May 6 attack early today," police said in a statement.

No further details about the man were released.

Police also appealed for more information about another man seen in the area where a motorcycle that the bomb had been rigged to was parked.

The owner of the motorcycle as well as another man were arrested on Saturday.

The bomb detonated as Nasheed walked to his car.

Family members tweeted that the 53-year-old ex-president, now the parliament's speaker, remained in the intensive care unit of a hospital.

But he was able to speak to close relatives on Saturday after no longer needing life support, they added. There was no immediate update on his condition from the hospital.

Nasheed underwent 16 hours of surgery to remove shrapnel from his body and doctors said one shard narrowly missed his heart.

There has been no claim of responsibility for the attack, but officials from Nasheed's Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) have alleged that religious extremists and political interests could be involved.

The Indian Ocean archipelago of 340,000 people is Muslim majority and in October 2019 police arrested a suspected ISIS recruiter accused of sending dozens of Maldivians to Syria.

The same man was accused of setting off a homemade bomb that wounded 12 Chinese tourists in Male in September 2007.

Nasheed ended decades of one-party rule in the Maldives and became its first democratically-elected president in 2008, only to be toppled in a military-backed coup in 2012.

He is known internationally as a champion in the fight against climate change and rising sea levels that he says threaten to submerge the nation of 1,192 coral islands.

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PM Tusk: Poland to Send Emergency Aircraft to Budapest after Coach Crash

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk speaks during the Polish Armed Forces Day in Gdynia, northern Poland, 15 August 2026. EPA/Andrzej Jackowski POLAND OUT
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk speaks during the Polish Armed Forces Day in Gdynia, northern Poland, 15 August 2026. EPA/Andrzej Jackowski POLAND OUT
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PM Tusk: Poland to Send Emergency Aircraft to Budapest after Coach Crash

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk speaks during the Polish Armed Forces Day in Gdynia, northern Poland, 15 August 2026. EPA/Andrzej Jackowski POLAND OUT
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk speaks during the Polish Armed Forces Day in Gdynia, northern Poland, 15 August 2026. EPA/Andrzej Jackowski POLAND OUT

Poland will send an emergency aircraft to Budapest following a coach crash that killed 12 people and left at least 10 critically injured, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Sunday.

"I have made the decision to send a special Polish aircraft to Hungary with representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and medical services," Tusk said on social media. "All the injured will receive the necessary medical and consular assistance," he added.

World

Democrats Disagree over Abolishing or Reforming ICE at DNC Meeting

Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin speaks during a Labor Council meeting as part of the DNC Summer Meeting, Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Joel Angel Juarez)
Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin speaks during a Labor Council meeting as part of the DNC Summer Meeting, Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Joel Angel Juarez)
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Democrats Disagree over Abolishing or Reforming ICE at DNC Meeting

Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin speaks during a Labor Council meeting as part of the DNC Summer Meeting, Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Joel Angel Juarez)
Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin speaks during a Labor Council meeting as part of the DNC Summer Meeting, Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Joel Angel Juarez)

Democrats on Saturday approved dueling messages on whether US Immigration and Customs Enforcement should be abolished or reformed, reflecting sharp opposition to President Donald Trump's crackdown but revealing disagreement in the party ahead of the midterms.

The Democratic National Committee, gathered for a summer meeting, also signed off on a raft of policy positions, including one that calls for “concrete reforms” of ICE and another for abolishing the agency that's been at the center of several fatal encounters.

ICE has been at the heart of a progressive rallying cry since 2018 during the first Trump administration, and has been renewed among some in the party after two recent fatal shootings by the agency in July.

Saturday’s vote isn't binding and doesn't set the party's platform, which will be determined at the 2028 convention, but it reflects the party's differing views on a major issue. Candidates and lawmakers will continue to determine their own positions on the issue.

Michele Johnson, a DNC member from Louisiana who proposed the measure to abolish ICE, said it's time for Democrats to take a stand and pointed to the dissolution of ICE's predecessor agency, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, as a precedent.

“I think one of the reasons why people are not trusting the party is because we sound so academic," she said. “We sound focus group tested, we sound poll tested because we’re worried about saying the wrong thing or doing the wrong thing and not just like, just stand on business, like take a position.”

Not every DNC member was convinced, though. Yvonne Reeves-Chong voted against the measure, saying it would only gain support from a part of the party's base, while drawing “fire” from another group of voters.

“I would strongly suggest we get to the business of winning races so we can make the policies that make a difference,” she said.

DNC Chairman Ken Martin, who's from Minnesota, where Renee Good and Alex Pretti were fatally shot amid the immigration crackdown earlier this year, said in an interview that the takeaway is that Democrats find the administration’s handling of immigration, including by US Customs and Border Protection, unacceptable.

“Clearly, the one thing that unites Democrats, regardless of their position on reform versus abolish or whatever other ways to change what’s happening, is people believe that what ICE is doing right now — and CBP and the federal government — should stop,” he said. “There has to be a better way.”

Immigration remained a stronger issue for Trump than the economy or Iran, according to a poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research released this month, even after three people were killed in encounters with Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the span of under a week in July.

Overall, the survey found that only 39% of US adults approve of his performance on immigration, down from 49% at the beginning of his second term.

World

Vietnam Airlines Boeing 787 Returned to Munich after Takeoff Incident

FILE PHOTO: A Vietnam Airlines Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner airplane prepares for landing at Noi Bai international airport in Hanoi, Vietnam March 7, 2017. REUTERS/Kham/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A Vietnam Airlines Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner airplane prepares for landing at Noi Bai international airport in Hanoi, Vietnam March 7, 2017. REUTERS/Kham/File Photo
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Vietnam Airlines Boeing 787 Returned to Munich after Takeoff Incident

FILE PHOTO: A Vietnam Airlines Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner airplane prepares for landing at Noi Bai international airport in Hanoi, Vietnam March 7, 2017. REUTERS/Kham/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A Vietnam Airlines Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner airplane prepares for landing at Noi Bai international airport in Hanoi, Vietnam March 7, 2017. REUTERS/Kham/File Photo

A Vietnam Airlines flight bound for Hanoi returned to Munich Airport on Saturday following technical problems after takeoff, the airline and airport said.

The Boeing 787 plane circled for more than two hours to burn fuel after reportedly ‌overrunning the runway ‌during takeoff, according to flight-tracking ‌website ⁠Flightradar24.

Video aired by ⁠US-based ABC News showed the jet taking off with a large cloud of dust trailing behind it, Reuters said.

Vietnam Airlines said in a statement the flight had returned to its departure airport after takeoff ⁠due to a "technical issue". It did ‌not provide ‌further details about the problem.

Munich Airport said after ‌landing, the plane was unable to taxi ‌off the north runway under its own power and remained stranded.

That forced the closure of the north runway and a rerouting of ‌air traffic via the south runway, the airport said in ⁠a statement.

Vietnam ⁠Airlines said the flight crew had followed all required procedures and landed safely at Munich Airport.

"The passengers and cabin crew members are safe," the airline said.

Vietnam Airlines said it was coordinating with the relevant authorities and parties to inspect the aircraft and it would provide further updates as soon as the inspection results and specific operational plans were available.