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German manhunt after deadly car ramming

220,000 evacuated over French forest fire BORDEAUX: French authorities said yesterday that more than 220,000 people have been evacuated from the area of the main forest fire raging in the southwest of the country that has also forced the closure of highways and rail lines. More than 50,000 additional people have been ordered to leave villages around Bordeaux, which is now under threat from the flames, bringing the total evacuated from the single fire to above 220,000. Tens of thousands more have been evacuated from other wildfires in France and central Spain. Because of the spread of the flames in high winds, 60km of the main A63 highway from Bordeaux to the Spanish border has been closed because of the fires, regional authorities said. The SNCF rail company said it had also halted train traffic south of Bordeaux. The fire “will take a long time to bring under control” and until it is contained “there will be no return” for evacuated residents and tourists, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said in an interview published yesterday by La Tribune . The regional prefecture said the fire has now scorched some 42,000ha of land, making it one of the biggest in France since World War II. A 1949 fire devastated some 50,000ha. The French army has sent 1,500 soldiers to help hundreds of exhausted firefighters who have been battling the flames for nearly a week. Heat from the flames was causing whirlwinds that had made the wildfire “erratic and unmanageable”, said firefighter captain Nicolas Braz, one of the leaders of the operation. – AFP Uganda politician joins race to lead UN NEW YORK: The race to become the next leader of the United Nations added a seventh candidate: Uganda’s Olara Otunnu, a former opposition presidential candidate and onetime high-ranking UN official. The world body informed member states of the candidacy of the 75-year-old Otunnu, which was presented by his home nation. Otunnu served as UN under-secretary general and special representative for children and armed conflict from 1997 to 2005 under then UN chief Kofi Annan. He also served as Uganda’s UN envoy and as his country’s foreign minister for a brief period. Otunnu stood as the presidential candidate for the opposition Uganda People’s Congress in the 2011 election, losing to longtime leader Yoweri Museveni, in office since 1986. Chile’s Michelle Bachelet, Ecuador’s Maria Fernanda Espinosa, Rafael Grossi of Argentina, Costa Rican Rebeca Grynspan, Guyana’s Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett and Senegal’s Macky Sall are all in the running to succeed outgoing Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who leaves office on Dec 31. The six candidates took part in a televised debate on Thursday. On July 30, the 15 members of the UN Security Council are due to hold their first closed-door, anonymous vote on their preferences among the candidates. That first “straw poll” will be followed by an unspecified number of similar votes until one candidate can secure the required nine votes without a veto from any of the five permanent members: the United States, Britain, China, France and Russia. The name of the selected candidate will then be sent to the General Assembly for formal appointment to the position. He or she will take office on Jan 1. – AFP

BERLIN: German police searched yesterday for a 21-year-old man after a car ploughed into crowds near a parade, killing one person and wounding 16 others on Saturday. The incident shattered what had been a day of celebration for hundreds of thousands attending Christopher Street Day. Revellers fled Berlin’s most famous park as sirens echoed through the night. Police said the suspect’s vehicle was found abandoned near the Tiergarten park. They launched a manhunt involving helicopters and officers from several German states across the capital. Police and prosecutors appealed for information on a 21-year-old man identified as Abdul B., warning he may be armed and dangerous. A vehicle like a mini-van or an SUV “entered the Tiergarten park and hit several people”, police said. One person died and 16 others were injured, including three with life-threatening injuries, according to Berlin fire department spokesman Dominik Pretz. About 30 more people were treated for shock at the scene. Police described the suspect as slender, about 1.90m tall, with black hair, wearing a black hoodie and white trousers. Investigators said several people were believed to have been wounded with stabbing weapons and that one or more people were seen leaving the vehicle after the incident. One witness, who had been near the main stage at the Brandenburg Gate, told AFP that celebrations abruptly ended when police instructed people to leave. “Go home, please,” officers told crowds as emergency crews rushed to treat victims. The attack revived memories of a series of car rammings and attacks on markets that have shaken Germany in recent years and fuelled a fierce debate over security. Chancellor Friedrich Merz vowed that those responsible for the latest incident would face justice. Police had deployed more than 2,000 officers to secure the event. Following the attack, additional personnel from across Germany joined the search, supported by helicopters equipped with thermal-imaging cameras. Hundreds of thousands of people took part o Police warn suspect may be armed and dangerous

The vehicle used in the attack was abandoned near the scene in Berlin. – REUTERSPIC

will face a stiff challenge from the far-right Alternative for Germany and the far-left Linke parties. Berlin mayor Wegner said this month he would not run for re-election after months of criticism over his handling of a major blackout in January apparently caused by sabotage. – AFP

in the Christopher Street Day event, which draws crowds from across Europe. The march ended next to the Brandenburg Gate, which has hosted concerts since Friday. Saturday’s incident came two months before voters in Berlin elect a new state assembly. Polls indicate that Merz’s centre-right CDU

Burnham prepared to call out Trump LONDON: New UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham (pic) “will always put Britain’s interests first”, he told the BBC when asked in an interview, parts of which were released yesterday, whether he was willing to call out US President Donald Trump. Burnham’s predecessor Keir minister in a decade last Monday. In his first major interview since taking office, BBC journalist Laura Kuenssberg asked Burnham if he was willing to call out Trump if he thought it was the right thing to do.

promised to Nato partners. “The first challenge facing us both is to ensure that the defence investment plan is fully funded, and that’s the thing that’s right in front of us, and we need to work that through as we go towards the budget later this year”, he said. Burnham’s newly appointed Chancellor John Healey resigned as defence minister in the previous government after saying that unless a commitment was made to spend 3% of GDP on defence by 2030, Britain would not be safe. “We’ve got to work out the way of doing that,” Burnham said when pressed on the 3% of GDP commitment. The full interview will air on the BBC’s Panorama programme today. – Reuters

“All leaders have to do that. You have to defend your own national interest before anything else. That’s what you’re required to do if you’re to do this job properly,” he said. Burnham also said he would not call a general election before 2029.

Starmer, who announced he was stepping down last month, had a fraught relationship with Trump, who criticised him due to differences over the US-Israeli war on Iran, immigration, energy and tech regulation. While Trump initially described Starmer’s successor as “extremely liberal”, he said this week he had a “very good conversation” with Burnham, who became Britain’s seventh prime

“I’m going to rule it out. Yeah, there’s no early general election. I don’t think people want it,” he said. On Britain’s national defence, Burnham said he was “absolutely committed” to what was