Bulgarians mourn for slain journalist
SOFIA, Bulgaria -- Hundreds of relatives, friends and colleagues of slain Bulgarian journalist Viktoria Marinova said their goodbyes at a funeral Friday in her hometown, just after German police announced that a suspect has acknowledged attacking her.
People queued at the Holy Trinity Cathedral in the northern border town of Ruse to pay tribute and lay flowers at the coffin of the 30-year-old, whose body was found last Saturday in a park near the Danube River.
Ruse Mayor Plamen Stoilov told reporters that "the brutal slaying has cast a shadow over the peaceful city."
Bulgarian prosecutors have identified the suspect as 21-year-old Severin Krassimirov. He has been charged in absentia in Marinova's rape and killing, and Bulgaria has sought his extradition from Germany, where he was arrested on an international warrant.
German prosecutors earlier said Krassimirov told them he had not meant to kill Marinova, and he denied raping or robbing her.
The Celle prosecutor's office said the suspect confessed to being under the influence of alcohol and drugs when he got into an argument with a woman he did not know in a park. They say he told them he hit her in the face and threw her into bushes but "denied the intent to kill."
Prosecutors said Krassimirov will be extradited within the next 10 days.
Australia boosts sanctions enforcement
CANBERRA, Australia -- Australia has assigned a guided missile frigate to the East China Sea to boost international efforts to enforce sanctions against North Korea, an Australian officer said Friday.
The Australian Defense Force chief of joint operations, Air Marshall Mel Hupfeld, said the warship with a crew of 230 will be supported by two Australian AP-3C Orion surveillance aircraft based in Japan.
"Despite the easing of tensions on the Korea Peninsula, Pyongyang continues with its nuclear weapons and ballistic weapons programs in defiance of ... United Nations Security Council resolutions," Hupfeld told reporters.
"The occasional deployment of ... maritime patrol aircraft and surface vessels to the region ... adds weight to Australia's ongoing economic and diplomatic pressure on North Korea and enhances the capacity of ongoing multinational enforcement efforts," he added.
The Australians would work in cooperation with Japan, the United States, Canada and South Korea to enforce sanctions, Hupfeld said.
He likened detecting illegal ship-to-ship transfers of goods from among the many legitimate transactions in the East China Sea to finding a needle in a haystack.
Hupfeld would not say whether the frigate HMAS Melbourne's role would be intercepting suspect cargo ships.
6 Gaza Palestinian protesters shot dead
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- Israeli forces shot dead six Palestinians on Friday, four of them in a single incident, in one of the deadliest days in months of mass protests along the security fence separating Gaza and Israel, Gaza's Health Ministry said.
The ministry said four were killed in one location, where the Israeli military said it opened fire on a crowd of Palestinians who breached the fence and approached an army post. No Israeli troops were harmed, the army added.
Two other Palestinians were killed in other protest locations, the ministry said, adding that at least 140 Palestinians were wounded by live bullets.
The Israeli military said 14,000 Palestinians thronged the border fence areas, burning tires and throwing rocks, firebombs and grenades at soldiers stationed atop earth mounds on the other side of the barrier.
Since March, Hamas has orchestrated near-weekly protests along the fence, pressing for an end to a stifling Israel-Egyptian blockade imposed since the militant group wrested control of Gaza in 2007.
More than 150 Palestinians participating in or present at the marches have been killed since they began. In May, about 60 protesters were killed in a single day, making it one of the deadliest since a 2014 war between the two sides.
Uganda mudslides kill at least 34 people
KAMPALA, Uganda -- At least 34 people died in mudslides triggered by torrential rains in a mountainous area of eastern Uganda that is prone to such disasters, a Red Cross official said Friday.
More victims are likely to be discovered when rescue teams access all the affected areas in the foothills of Mount Elgon, said Red Cross spokesman Irene Nakasiita.
People were killed by boulders and chunks of mud rolling down hills after a sustained period of heavy rains Thursday afternoon in the district of Bududa. Houses were destroyed in at least three villages, and in some cases only body parts of the victims have been recovered from the mud, she said.
A river that runs through the area burst its banks, destroying a bridge and threatening settlements nearby, according to Martin Owor, a government commissioner in charge of disaster management.
At least 31 bodies had been identified, Owor said.
-- Compiled by Democrat-Gazette staff from wire reports
A Section on 10/13/2018