RUSSIA: The Foreign Ministry summoned the Czech charge d’affaires yesterday to protest at the arrest of a cleric of the Russian Orthodox Church in Karlovy Vary.
Czech police say they discovered suspicious white powder in Metropolitan Hilarion’s car. The prelate caters for the city’s sizeable Russian diaspora.
Russia says the raid was a set-up and part of the persecution of Orthodox clergy loyal to the Moscow patriarchate, which the UN has identified as a threat to religious freedom in Ukraine.

BELGIUM: Four people were killed including two children and five children badly hurt when a train hit a minibus near Buggenhout, about 20 miles north-west of Brussels.
The minibus appeared to drive through the barriers preventing road traffic from crossing the tracks. The driver and their escort were killed, so it is unclear why.
Authorities say the signalling and crossing were not at fault and the train driver had no time to brake.

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: The Gulf state containing Dubai and Abu Dhabi was accused of training Colombian mercenaries and sending them to fight in the Sudanese civil war yesterday.
Human Rights Watch levelled the charge in a new report, saying the UAE — which has long been accused of providing significant military support for the insurgent Rapid Support Forces in their brutal conflict with the Saudi-backed Sudanese army — hired private military contractors from the South American country and provided extra training for them at a military base in Al Dhafra.

SENEGAL: Sacked prime minister Ousmane Sonko was elected parliamentary speaker yesterday in a setback for President Bassirou Diomaye Faye.
Mr Faye sacked Mr Sonko on Friday. But Mr Sonko’s ally El Malick Ndiaye resigned as speaker on Monday to pave the way for his election to the powerful parliamentary post, from which the president can’t fire him. It may impede President Faye’s ability to get legislation passed.