News in Brief (2023-10-17)

Arab paramedic who treated Israelis injured by
Hamas militants remembered as hero
JERUSALEM, Oct 16 (AP): When Hamas unleashed its attack on thousands of Jews attending a music festival in southern Israel earlier this month, an Israeli Arab paramedic insisted on staying at the scene to try to save lives. In the end, he gave his own. Awad Darawshe was 23, single, handsome - but he wasn't at the Tribe of Nova festival to dance. He worked for Yossi Ambulances and was among a team of paramedics assigned to work the festival in a tent on the site's periphery. Shortly after dawn on Oct. 7, rockets pierced the skies. — AP
Three migrants dead in boat capsize
ATHENS, Oct 16: Greece's coastguard late on Sunday said it had found three bodies during a search for survivors after a migrant boat sank off the eastern Greek island of Symi. According to a statement, eight people were found alive during the rescue operation that is underway with ships and a helicopter. The weather conditions off the Dodecanese island are good. Sources told AFP that at least two more people are thought missing while. — AFP
Laprov will visit North Korea this week
MOSCOW, Oct 16: Russia's foreign minister will visit North Korea this week, the Foreign Ministry said Monday, days after the United States claimed Pyongyang had delivered munitions and military equipment to Russia for use in the fighting in Ukraine. Sergey Lavrov will be in North Korea on Wednesday and Thursday, the ministry said in a brief statement that did not specify whom he would meet or the aims of the trip. The White House said Friday that more than 1,000 containers of equipment and ammunition have been sent to Russia from North Korea. — AP
Russian jet stops US drone
MOSCOW, Oct 16: A Russian Su-27 jet has stopped a US RQ-4B Global Hawk surveillance drone from crossing into Russian airspace over the Black Sea, the Russian Defense Ministry said. According to the ministry, Russian airspace surveillance equipment detected an air target approaching the Russian state border over the Black Sea on October 15. A Su-27 fighter jet was scrambled to prevent it from entering Russian airspace, it said. — TASS
Norway foreign minister sacked
OSLO, Oct 16: Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store on Monday sacked Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt following a share purchasing scandal and as part of a broader reshuffle of his centre-left government. Huitfeldt, long considered Store's protege, admitted on August 30 that her husband had bought shares "in much bigger volumes than (she) previously believed" after she became foreign minister in 2021. — AFP