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Ukraine and Russia pressed their wartime rhetoric Thursday, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressing confidence that Vladimir Putin would be convicted of war crimes, and the Kremlin alleging that the U.S. was behind what it called an assassination attempt against the Russian president. The countries' leaders have personally attacked each other multiple times during the war that Russia started by invading Ukraine in February 2022. The latest flare-up came Wednesday, with Russia's claim that Ukraine had attacked the Kremlin in Moscow with drones meant to assassinate Putin. Zelenskyy denied that Ukrainian forces were responsible for the purported drone attack. The Kremlin promised unspecified retaliation for what it termed a “terrorist” act, and pro-Kremlin figures called for the assassinations of senior Ukraine leaders. Uncertainty still surrounds exactly what happened in the purported attack. Putin’s spokesman on Thursday accused the United States of involvement. To generate domestic support for the war, Moscow has often tried to blame Washington for trying to destroy Russia through its help for Ukraine. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters during a daily conference call that the Kremlin was “well aware that the decision on such actions and terrorist attacks is not made in Kyiv, but in Washington.” “And then Kyiv does what it’s told to do,” Peskov said, without offering evidence for his claim. John Kirby, a spokesman for the U.S. National Security Council at the White House, described the claim as “ludicrous.” Zelenskyy, in the Netherlands, said he was “not interested” in the Kremlin’s opinion. U.S intelligence officials are still trying to determine who was behind the drone incident and are exploring various possibilities, including a false flag operation by Russia or that a fringe group with sympathies for Ukraine could have been involved, according to a U.S. official. But the official, who spoke Thursday on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter, said intelligence officials don’t yet have any definitive answers. The official added that the Biden administration “certainly would not support the strike against Mr. Putin." Zelenskyy’s top adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, claimed Thursday that Russia had “staged” the alleged drone attack. He cited the delay in Russian state media reporting it and “simultaneous video from different angles” that appeared to show the aftermath of the alleged 2:30 a.m. attack. The Washington-based Institute for the Study of War also saw evidence of staging. “Russia likely staged this attack in an attempt to bring the war home to a Russian domestic audience and set conditions for a wider societal mobilization,” the think tank said. Given recent Russian moves to bolster security, it’s “extremely unlikely that two drones could have penetrated multiple layers of air defense and detonated or been shot down just over the heart of the Kremlin in a way that provided spectacular imagery caught nicely on camera,” the ISW stated. In The Hague, where the International Criminal Court is based, Zelenskyy urged the global community to hold Putin accountable and told the ICC judges that Russia's leader “deserves to be sentenced for (his) criminal actions right here in the capital of the international law.” In March, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Putin for war crimes, accusing him of personal responsibility for the abductions of children from Ukraine. It was the first time the global court circulated a warrant for a leader of one of the five permanent U.N. Security Council members. Zelenskyy’s visit to the Netherlands came a day after he went to Finland, which doubled the size of NATO’s border with Russia when it joined the military alliance last month, largely out of its concerns about Moscow’s long-term ambitions. The Ukrainian president also used his trip to press the prime ministers of Belgium and the Netherlands to send advanced warplanes so his country can achieve “justice on the battlefield.” Zelenskyy has successfully assembled significant Western military and political support for Ukraine's defense since the war began. Zelenskyy traveled in a Dutch-supplied plane and an armored car, with security kept tight at his appearances. Next week, he is expected to go to Berlin, the capital of European Union economic powerhouse Germany, in the latest display of the Western might marshaled against Putin. Zelenskyy's trips have paid dividends. After traveling to Washington last December and then London, Paris and Brussels in February, Ukraine received heavy artillery and tanks. But the chances of Putin standing trial in The Hague are remote. The court, which puts individuals on trial for genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and aggression, doesn't have a police force to execute its warrants. The Russian leader is unlikely to travel to any of the ICC’s 123 member nations, which are under obligation to arrest him, if they can. On the battlefield, Ukraine’s military said that three Russian drones that hit the southern city of Odesa early Thursday had “for Moscow” and “for the Kremlin” written on them, seemingly implying they were sent in retaliation for the reported strike on the Kremlin. Ukraine's capital, Kyiv was the target of an air attack for the third time in four days — once Thursday morning, then a second time at night. Kyiv's air defense systems downed a drone in the central Pecherskyi district, sparking a fire in a four-story building, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. People sheltered in underground tunnels beneath Kyiv’s Maidan Square as air raid sirens wailed. Two defensive missiles streaked across the evening sky, and a loud explosion was heard. No casualties were immediately reported. In Russia, drones hit two oil facilities in southern regions of the country near Ukraine in what appeared to be a series of attacks on fuel depots behind enemy lines, Russian media reported Thursday. Four drones struck an oil refinery in the Krasnodar region, which borders the Russia-annexed Crimean Peninsula, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported, citing law enforcement sources. Another facility was reportedly hit in the Rostov region. The Netherlands has been a strong supporter of the Ukrainian war effort. Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s government has promised 14 modern Leopard 2 tanks it is buying together with Denmark. They are expected to be delivered next year. The Netherlands also joined forces with Germany and Denmark to buy at least 100 older Leopard 1 tanks for Ukraine. In addition, the Dutch government sent two Patriot air defense missile systems, promised two naval minehunter ships and sent military forensic experts to Ukraine to assist with war crime investigations.

The World Health Organization says it has fired the scientist who led a high-profile delegation from the U.N. health agency to China two years ago to jointly look into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, citing sexual misconduct. Peter Ben Embarek, who led the WHO side of a joint team with scientists in China, was dismissed last year, the health agency said. WHO says it has stepped up efforts to root out sexual abuse, exploitation and harassment in recent months after a string of cases and incidents were reported in the press. “Peter Ben Embarek was dismissed following findings of sexual misconduct against him and corresponding disciplinary process,” said spokeswoman Marcia Poole said in an email. “The findings concern allegations relating to 2015 and 2017 that were first received by the WHO investigations team in 2018.” She said other allegations could not be fully investigated as the “victim(s) did not wish to engage with the investigation process.” Ben Embarek did not immediately respond to a call or text message to his mobile phone on Thursday. The news was first reported by The Financial Times. Ben Embarek led an international team picked by WHO that traveled to China in early 2021, visited the Huanan market in Wuhan — the city where the first human cases appeared — and worked closely with Chinese scientists to try to identify how the virus first began sickening people. The team issued a report in March that year that said the most likely scenario was that COVID-19 jumped from bats to humans via another animal, dismissing a lab leak as “extremely unlikely.” WHO officials, including Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, have since said that the origins remain unclear and the lab-leak theory cannot be ruled out. Ben Embarek, a Danish expert on disease transmission from animals to humans, told a TV program in Denmark later in 2021 that he had concerns about a Chinese lab near the market later in 2021. The impact of Ben Embarek’s dismissal on efforts to solve that lingering enigma remains unclear. The joint WHO-China team has since been disbanded, and a separate panel of experts drafted by WHO has taken up the role of trying to find the origins of the coronavirus. Word of the dismissal comes as WHO is convening an expert group this week to decide if COVID-19 remains an international health emergency, after sharp declines in case counts and deaths from the pandemic in recent months — even if pockets of cases continue. WHO says it has been working to root out sexual abuse, exploitation and harassment in its ranks after press reports first arose in 2020 about systemic abuse of dozens of women during the agency’s response to an Ebola outbreak in Congo. More than 80 staffers under the direction of WHO and partners were alleged to have raped women and young girls, demanded sex in return for jobs and forced some victims to have abortions, in the biggest known sex abuse scandal in the U.N. health agency’s history. Not a single senior manager connected to the Congo abuse has been dismissed, despite documents showing WHO leaders were aware as it was happening. An internal U.N. report submitted to WHO earlier this year found that despite senior managers being informed of the sexual abuse, no misconduct was committed.

Millions of people in England were voting Thursday in local elections that are the first test of electoral opinion since Prime Minister Rishi Sunak took over a fractious and exhausted Conservative Party six months ago. The Conservatives say they expect to lose ground in elections for more than 8,000 seats on 230 local councils across England as voters punish them for the turmoil that engulfed the party under former Prime Minister Boris Johnson. He resigned amid multiple scandals and was replaced by Liz Truss, whose rash tax-cutting plans spooked financial markets, hammered the value of the pound and roiled the wider British economy. The party chose Sunak, a smooth former banker, to try to restore stability to the economy and the government. Sunak said Wednesday that his party was expecting the election to be “hard for us,” but vowed the Conservatives were leaving behind the “box set drama” of the Johnson and Truss eras. “I’ve only been prime minister for six months but I do believe we’re making good progress,” he told a think-tank event. “Just think about where we were then and where we are now.” The left-of-center main opposition Labour Party hopes the results will confirm its front-runner status for the next national election, due by the end of 2024. University of Strathclyde polling expert John Curtice said if Labour secured more than a 10% lead in the projected national vote share based on the local results, it would signal a likely general election victory for the party. The election is the first to be held since the government changed the law to require voters show photo identification at all U.K. polling stations. The government says ID is required to vote in many democracies, and the move will help prevent voter fraud. Critics say there is little evidence electoral fraud is a problem in Britain. Acceptable forms of ID include passports, driver’s licenses and senior citizens’ travelcards – but not transit passes for young people. The government says getting an older person’s travelcard requires proof of age, unlike other transit passes. But the discrepancy has brought allegations the change will disproportionately prevent young people – the group least likely to support the Conservatives – from voting. Poor people are also less likely to have photo ID than the more affluent. University of Exeter political scientist Rebecca Baker said “there will very likely be voters who turn up on the day unable to use the polling booth.” “We may also see much longer queues to vote, in light of the extra elements needed and poor tempers, placing additional strain on the already overloaded polling staff.” Polls opened at 7 a.m. (0600GMT) and close at 10 p.m. (2100GMT). Most results are due Friday. There are no elections in Scotland or Wales, while Northern Ireland will vote May 18. London, the U.K.’s largest city, will not elect its mayor and council until next year.  

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday he was convinced that Russian President Putin would face an international war crimes court when Ukraine wins the war that has been raging for over a year. In a speech titled “No Peace without Justice for Ukraine” given in The Hague, the city that hosts the International Criminal Court, Zelenskyy said that Putin “deserves to be sentenced for these criminal actions right here in the capital of the international law.” “And I’m sure we will see that happen when we win. And we will win,” he said. The ICC has issued an arrest warrant for Putin for alleged war crimes in Ukraine, relating to the abduction of children. The ICC cannot prosecute the crime of war aggression itself. Zelenskyy’s speech was an appeal for a full-fledged tribunal to prosecute that overarching crime, a heart-felt plea for a special tribunal for aggression. “If we want true justice, we should not look for excuses and should not refer to the shortcomings of the current international law but make bold decisions that will correct that shortcomings that unfortunately exist in international law.” Zelenskyy’s speech came a day after he denied that Ukrainian forces were responsible for what the Kremlin called an attempt to assassinate Putin in a drone attack on Moscow. The Kremlin promised retaliation for what it termed a “terrorist” act. Putin’s spokesman on Thursday accused the United States of being behind the alleged attack. Dmitry Peskov told reporters during a daily conference call that the Kremlin was “well aware that the decision on such actions and terrorist attacks is not made in Kyiv, but in Washington.” “And then Kyiv does what it’s told to do,” Peskov said, without offering evidence for his claim. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s military claimed three Russian drones that hit the southern city of Odesa early Thursday had “for Moscow” and “for the Kremlin” written on them, seemingly referring to the strikes in Moscow. Also, Kyiv was the target of an air attack for the third time in four days. In total, Ukraine’s Air Forces intercepted 18 out of 24 Iranian-made drones launched by Russian forces in various regions. No casualties were reported. Zelenskyy was welcomed outside the ICC building by the court’s president, Poland’s Piotr Hofmański. Staff crowded at windows to get a glimpse of Zelenskyy’s arrival and raised a Ukrainian flag next to the court’s own flag outside the building. Judges at the ICC last month announced they had found “reasonable grounds to believe” that Putin and his commissioner for children’s rights were responsible for the unlawful deportation and transfer of children from occupied areas of Ukraine to Russia. But the chances of Putin standing trial in The Hague are remote. The court does not have a police force to execute its warrants, and the Russian leader is unlikely to travel to any of the ICC’s 123 member states that are under an obligation to arrest him if they can. The ICC said in a March 18 statement that Putin “is allegedly responsible for the war crime of unlawful deportation of (children) and that of unlawful transfer of (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.” ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan has made repeated visits to Ukraine and is setting up an office in Kyiv to facilitate his ongoing investigations. However, the ICC does not have jurisdiction to prosecute Putin for aggression — the unlawful invasion of another sovereign country. The Dutch government has offered to host a court that could be established to prosecute the crime of aggression and an office is being established to gather evidence. The new International Center for Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression should be operational by summer, the European Union’s judicial cooperation agency, Eurojust, said in February. The Netherlands has been a strong supporter of the Ukrainian war effort since Russia’s invasion last year. Among military equipment Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s government has promised are 14 modern Leopard 2 tanks it is buying together with Denmark. They are expected to be delivered next year. The Netherlands also joined forces with Germany and Denmark to buy at least 100 older Leopard 1 tanks for Ukraine. Among other military hardware, it also sent two Patriot air defense missile systems and promised two naval minehunter ships as well as sending military forensic experts to assist war crime investigations. Zelenskyy’s visit came on the day the Dutch remember their war dead. Questions continued to swirl around Russia’s claim that it foiled an attack by Ukrainian drones on the Kremlin early Wednesday. Putin wasn’t in the Kremlin at the time and was at his Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, Peskov told Russia’s state news agency RIA Novosti. There was no independent verification of the purported attack. Russian authorities said it occurred overnight but presented no supporting evidence. Questions also arose as to why it took the Kremlin hours to report the incident and why videos also surfaced later in the day White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the U.S. was “unable to confirm the authenticity” of Russia’s claims of a Ukrainian attack on Moscow. Asked whether the U.S. believed Putin was a lawful target of any potential Ukrainian strike, Jean-Pierre said that since the start of the conflict, the U.S. was “not encouraging or enabling Ukraine to strike beyond its border.” Asked whether the U.S. was concerned that the accusation might have been a false flag operation by Russia to serve as a pretext for more aggressive military action on Ukraine, Jean-Pierre said she didn’t want to speculate, but added, “Obviously Russia has a history of doing things like this.” Two Russian oil facilities in southern regions of the country near Ukraine were attacked by drones in what appeared to be a series of attacks on fuel depots behind enemy lines, Russian media said Thursday. Four drones struck an oil refinery in the Krasnodar region, which borders the Russian-annexed Crimean peninsula, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported, citing law enforcement sources. Another facility was reportedly hit in the neighboring Rostov region.  

Israeli troops on Thursday killed three Palestinian wanted in connection with a shooting attack that killed a British-Israeli woman and two of her daughters, the Israeli military said, the latest bloodshed in a relentless wave of violence. In a rare daytime incursion launched as residents were starting their day, the military said forces entered the heart of the flashpoint city of Nablus and raided an apartment where the men were located. Troops and the suspects exchanged fire and the three men were killed. The military said the men were behind an attack last month on a car near a Jewish West Bank settlement that killed Lucy Dee, the British-Israeli mother and two of her daughters, Maya and Rina. Leo Dee, the woman's widower, told The Associated Press he was “comforted” by the news of their death. In a statement after the raid, Hamas group said the three men, identified as Hassan Qatnani, Moaz al-Masri and Ibrahim Jabr, were its members and the group claimed responsibility for the April attack. In a separate incident Thursday near the West Bank town of Hawara, a 26-year-old Palestinian woman who lightly wounded a 20-year-old Israeli in a stabbing attack was killed by Israeli fire. In Nablus, Israeli shells ripped through the roof of the gunmen’s safe house in the heart of Nablus' Old City, leaving nothing but twisted metal, cement blocks and torn mattresses still stained with blood scattered over the rubble. A couple of hours after the army withdrew, young men collected scores of ejected bullet shell casings from the narrow alleys. Nablus, the West Bank's commercial capital and second-largest city, has been the scene of repeated Israeli raids over the past year, but few have been conducted during the day because of the increased risk of friction with local residents. Residents have been caught up in previous fighting. Manal Abu Safiyeh, 57, said she woke up at 7 a.m. to the sounds of the Israeli army vehicles rumbling through the city. Although it wasn’t new to her after a year of intense violence in the Old City, the gunfire sounded closer than she’d ever heard it before. An explosion suddenly blew up her neighbor’s house, she said, killing three people. She said she didn’t know much about her neighbors other than that Ibrahim Jabr had cancer. A man who identified himself only as Kareem for fear of reprisals said that he spotted older men and a woman in a long overgarment worn by Muslim women who he had never seen before walking through the limestone alleys and knew instantly they were Israeli special forces. He ran to his house and sheltered there until he heard the gunfire stop. “So many men from the city have been killed,” he said. “We are used to these raids. That’s the story of life in Nablus.” After the military pulled out, dozens of masked men paraded through the city while shooting into the air, waving Palestinian flags as onlookers honked in support. A sea of mourners at the men's funeral chanted “God is great.” The violence in Nablus comes at a particularly sensitive time in the region, days after a prominent Palestinian prisoner who was staging a lengthy hunger strike over his detention died in Israeli custody. His death set off a volley of rockets in Gaza and Israeli airstrikes in the coastal enclave that killed one man. The deadly attack last month on the Israeli car shocked Israelis because in an instant it reduced the Dee family from seven members to four. Hundreds of people packed the funerals and the family's father, Leo, has been a recurring figure in Israeli media, saying he bears no hatred toward the killers of his family and calling for national unity amid a deep societal rift. “We’re grateful to God that this was done in a way that protected the lives of the soldiers and caused minimal if no civilian casualties, as far as we know. And of course, that’s very important to us that innocent Palestinians were not injured in this operation,” Leo Dee told The Associated Press from his home in the Jewish West Bank settlement of Efrat. Israeli officials said the raid showed attackers would be hunted down eventually. “Our message to those who harm us, and those who want to harm us, is that whether it takes a day, a week or a month – you can be certain that we will settle accounts with you,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement. Israel has been staging near-nightly arrest raids into West Bank villages, towns and cities for more than a year in an operation prompted by a wave of Palestinian attacks against Israelis last year. Israel says the raids are meant to dismantle networks and thwart future attacks. The Palestinians see the attacks as further entrenchment of Israel's 56-year, open-ended occupation of lands they seek for a future independent state. Israel captured those territories — the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip — in the 1967 Mideast war. Some 250 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the raids were launched, but stone-throwing youth and people not involved in the confrontations have also been killed. The raids have been met by a surge in Palestinian attacks. Since last spring, nearly 50 people have been killed in Palestinian attacks against Israelis.

The US Federal Reserve voted unanimously on Wednesday to hike interest rates by a quarter point, the ninth rate hike since the central bank began combating inflation in March. The move comes amid persistent banking sector weakness, worsened in part by increasing interest rates, and after the collapse of three local banks, reports CNN. The quarter-point increase raises the federal funds rate to 5%-5.25%, the highest level in more than 15 years, it said. The Federal Reserve’s post-meeting statement re-emphasized the central bank's commitment to lowering inflation, but it did not contain the preceding release's remark that “some additional policy firming may be appropriate.” This absence raises the prospect of a future slowdown in interest rate hikes. Concerning the timing of that pause, Federal Reserve Board Chairman Jerome Powell stated during his post-meeting press conference that the central bank would "approach that question at the June meeting." Powell stated that support for the interest rate hike was "very strong across the board," although there was some debate about ultimately stopping rate hikes, the CNN report also said. “People did talk about pausing, but not so much at this meeting. There’s a sense that we’re much closer to the end of this than to the beginning,” Powell said. “If you add up all the tightening that’s going on through various channels, we feel like we’re getting close or maybe even there, but again that is going to be an ongoing assessment.” This discussion among Federal Reserve members may heat up in the coming weeks as borrowing becomes more difficult and the US economy approaches the widely anticipated recession. Powell, on the other hand, voiced some confidence about the US economy's resiliency, citing a sharp decline in jobs available without a large increase in the unemployment rate, added the report. There were 9.59 million job openings in March, down from a high of 12 million in March 2022, and the unemployment rate has not risen beyond 3.7% since the Federal Reserve began raising interest rates last year.

Torrential rains caused flooding in western and northern Rwanda, killing at least 129 people, a public broadcaster said Wednesday. The death toll “continues to rise,” the Rwanda Broadcasting Agency said Wednesday. “This could be the highest disaster-induced death toll to be recorded in the country in the shortest period, according to available records from recent years,” the government-backed New Times newspaper reported. Also read: Turkey floods kill 10 in earthquake-affected provinces Francois Habitegeko, governor of Rwanda’s Western province, told reporters that a search for more victims was underway following heavy rain Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. Strong rainstorms started last week, causing flooding and mudslides that swept away several houses across the country and left some roads inaccessible. The Rwanda Meteorology Agency has warned that more rain is coming. The government has in the past asked residents living in wetlands and other dangerous areas to relocate. The western and northern provinces and Kigali, the capital, are particularly hilly, making them vulnerable to landslides during the rainy season. The Ministry of Emergency Management reported last month that from January to April 20, weather-related disasters killed 60 people, destroyed more than 1,205 houses and damaged 2,000 hectares (around 5,000 acres) of land across Rwanda. Parts of East Africa, including Uganda’s southwest, also are seeing heavy rainfall. At least three people drowned in floods last week after a river burst its banks in the remote Ugandan district of Rukungiri.

Police on Wednesday evening arrested a man accused of opening fire inside the waiting room of an Atlanta medical practice, killing one woman and wounding four others earlier in the day. Authorities had swarmed the city’s bustling midtown neighborhood shortly after noon in search of the suspect, who fled after the shooting. Police said in a statement that the gunman, who they identified as 24-year-old Deion Patterson, was captured in Cobb County, just northwest of Atlanta. Authorities said Patterson shot five women on the 11th floor of a Northside Medical building, which is in a commercial area filled with office towers and high-rise apartments. News of the shooting prompted workers and lunchgoers to shelter in place for hours. Patterson had an appointment at the medical practice and shortly after arriving shot the first victim, law enforcement officials said at a news conference Wednesday night. The shooting lasted approximately two minutes before Patterson left the building and went to a Shell gas station and took a pickup truck that had been left running and unattended, authorities said. Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said a 39-year-old woman was pronounced dead at the scene of the shooting. The Fulton County medical examiner’s office identified her as Amy St. Pierre. Also read: Suspected gunman caught after 5 dead in Texas mass shooting The four wounded victims were also women, aged 25, 39, 56 and 71. Atlanta Police Deputy Chief Charles Hampton Jr. said they remained in critical but stable condition Wednesday night. Their names were not immediately released. Hampton declined to discuss any details of the investigation or possible motive, saying, “Why he did what he did, all of that is still under investigation.” Patterson’s mother, Minyone Patterson, who police said had accompanied her son to the medical office, told The Associated Press by phone that her son, a former Coast Guardsman, had “some mental instability going on” from medication he received from the Veterans Affairs health system that he began taking on Friday. She said her son had wanted Ativan to deal with anxiety and depression but that the VA wouldn’t give it to him because they said it would be “too addicting.” She’s a nurse and said she told them he would only have taken the proper dosage “because he listened to me in every way.” “Those families, those families,” she said, starting to sob. “They’re hurting because they wouldn’t give my son his damn Ativan. Those families lost their loved ones because he had a mental break because they wouldn’t listen to me.” She ended the call without saying what medication her son had been taking. “We are horrified and saddened to hear of the active shooter situation in Atlanta today,” Veterans Affairs Press Secretary Terrence Hayes said in an emailed statement. “Due to patient privacy, we cannot discuss the Veteran’s personal information without written consent.” In a statement, the U.S. Coast Guard said Patterson had joined the service in 2018 and was discharged from active duty in January. He was an electrician’s mate second class at the time. Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens applauded the fact that Patterson was arrested and taken into custody alive so he can be prosecuted. “Right now, we’ve had a successful end to a traumatic day,” Dickens said, while also advocating for tougher gun laws and stressing the importance of police training. “I hope the city, the region, rests easy that he is in custody, but I also hope that we will stay vigilant to continue to look at a future where individuals who shouldn’t have a gun in possession won’t have one, and also that individuals are brought to justice, and also that we deal with these things that are mental health or easy access to guns,” Dickens said. Gov. Brian Kemp said in a statement that he was “heartbroken” by the shooting and praying for victims, going on to praise law enforcement, saying officers “demonstrated yet again their professionalism, courage and unwavering dedication.” Cobb County Police Chief Stuart VanHoozer said technology played a huge role in finding the suspected shooter, saying even as recently as four years ago they may not have been able to find him so quickly. He said the department had acquired some technology tools and those along with the Department of Transportation’s cameras and community members calling with information, led to the arrest. “Those tools are really what got us the clues that we we needed to make this successful — and the people getting those clues,” VanHoozer said. The pickup truck was found in a parking garage near the Battery, a mixed-use development that is next to the stadium where the Atlanta Braves play. Video aired by WSB-TV showed Patterson was arrested near a tennis court and swimming pool in a wooded condominium complex about a half-mile (less than a kilometer) to the north. Around the time of the shooting, Cassidy Hale, a medical device representative, said she was driving to the facility to check on a machine in the building’s 12th floor outpatient surgery center. Hale saw firetrucks but didn’t realize anything was wrong until after she parked and found the elevator wasn’t working. Hale said she called the operating room manager, who told her there was an active shooter and she should go back to her car. Hale said police kept her from leaving the parking garage and later checked each car and escorted her out to be interviewed. She gathered with other employees and patients in a building across the street, where she said “everyone was really in shock” and “trying to process what was going on.” The shooting comes as cities around the U.S. have been wracked by gun violence and mass shootings in 2023. Shortly after the shooting, U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia took to the Senate floor to decry gun violence and to urge his colleagues to advance gun reform. “There have been so many mass shootings ... that, tragically, we act as if this is routine,” the Democrat said during a 12-minute speech. “We behave as if this is normal. It is not normal.” The Atlanta pastor added: “I shudder to say it, but the truth is, in a real sense, it’s only a matter of time that this kind of tragedy comes knocking on your door.” Georgia’s other U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, also a Democrat, echoed his colleague in a statement: “The level of gun violence in America today is unconscionable and unacceptable, and policymakers at all levels have a responsibility to ensure public safety and implement long-overdue reforms.”

The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Wednesday issued a new strategic plan for COVID-19 focusing on the transition from emergency response to long-term COVID-19 disease management. The Global Strategic Preparedness, Readiness and Response Plan (SPRP) 2023-2025 is the WHO's fourth strategic plan for COVID-19. The document is a guide for countries on how to manage COVID-19 over the next two years in the transition from an emergency phase to a longer-term, sustained response. “Although we are in a much stronger position in facing the COVID-19 pandemic, the virus is here to stay and countries need to manage it alongside other infectious diseases,” WHO said in a statement. “The SPRP 2023-25 will be useful in guiding countries in managing COVID-19, whether or not the pandemic remains a public health emergency of international concern,” the statement added. The updated two-year strategy expands on the goals of the 2022 SPRP and aids nations as they move from critical emergency response to sustainable long-term COVID-19 disease prevention, control, and management, according to the press release. Meanwhile, the International Health Regulations Emergency Committee on COVID-19 will meet for the 15th time on Thursday to advise the WHO Director-General on whether the pandemic is still a public health emergency of international concern.  

World Population Review recently published a list of 136 countries in the world with highest crime rates in 2023. According to the list, the top 10 countries with highest crimes rates in 2023 are: Venezuela (83.76), Papua New Guinea (80.79), South Africa (76.86), Afghanistan (76.31), Honduras (74.54), Trinidad and Tobago (71.63), Guyana (68.74), El Salvador (67.79), Brazil (67.49) and Jamaica (67.42). Bangladesh stood 17th on the list, according to wordpoplulationreview.com. The overall crime rate is calculated by dividing the total number of recorded crimes of any sort by the entire population and multiplying the result by 100,000 (crime rate is typically reported as X number of crimes per 100,000 people). Crime rates vary widely between countries and are impacted by a variety of variables, it said. High levels of poverty and unemployment, for example, tend to exaggerate a country’s crime rate. There is also a substantial association between age and crime, with most crimes, particularly serious crimes, perpetrated by those aged 20 to 30. The 10 countries with the least crime rates in 2023 are: Qatar (12.13), United Arab Emirates (15.23) Taiwan (15.46), Isle of Man (19.25), Oman (20.34), Switzerland (21.62), Hong Kong (22), Japan (22.19), Slovenia (22.28) and Armenia (22.79).