BRUSSELS/BERLIN. More than 400 million voters in 28 countries - the big election in Europe is coming to an end. At the end of the four-day European elections, Germany and 20 other countries will today elect their new members of the European Parliament. The final stage of the elections has been dominated by concerns that right-wing EU critics will succeed in important countries. How will the citizens decide?

SIEGBURG. A tragic accident on the A 3 on Saturday claimed the life of a 57-year-old Cologne woman. Near the Siegbrücke (Sieg Bridge), a white van hit the woman’s compact car, pushing it under a truck. In the white van was a male driver, a woman in the passenger seat and a child in the rear seat. Initial investigations indicate that the driver may have turned his head to the back seat for a moment, overlooking the car of the Cologne woman. The 60-year-old truck driver from Turkey suffered a shock, along with a group of young men celebrating a bachelor’s outing who witnessed the accident. They were cared for by emergency services. Police say there had been no traffic jam at the time of the accident. Firefighters, paramedics and a rescue helicopter were all dispatched to the scene of the accident. Police had to close off the Cologne bound A 3 until shortly before 9 pm. Traffic backed up over seven kilometers. (Orig. text: Michael Wrobel)

BONN. The Bonn Fire Department was dispatched to the Rhine on Saturday afternoon to rescue a dog from the river. It was around 12:49 pm and apparently a dog had been spotted adrift in the Rhine in approximately the area where the Kameha Hotel is located. A large number of emergency personnel were involved in the search, which included the use of boats. After a one-hour search, the operation ended without success. So far, there is no information available about what kind of dog it was or a possible owner. (Orig. text: Thomas Faßbender)

COLOGNE/BONN. In the first four months of the year, the number of passengers at Cologne/Bonn Airport fell by 7.1 per cent to 3.2 million. While there were more passengers on domestic flights, European traffic fell by 4.2 percent to 2.1 million, according to figures from the airport association ADV. Intercontinental traffic fell by almost 65 per cent to 117,418 passengers after Eurowings withdrew flights from Cologne/Bonn. The total number of passengers at all German airports rose by 4.7 percent to 71.4 million.

Air freight at all German airports fell by 2.9 percent to 1.58 million tons. In Cologne/Bonn, the volume of freight fell by 4.8 percent in the first four months of the year to almost 300,000 tons. (Orig. text: raz)

MÖNCHENGLADBACH/BONN. One year after the rape of a 19-year-old girl from Bonn on a special train for football fans, a 31-year-old man has been sentenced to three years and nine months in prison. The man, who has a criminal record, raped the young woman in a restroom on the train, the Mönchengladbach district court stated on Friday. According to the verdict, after that, he hit and injured another fan with an object for no apparent reason. The man had previously been convicted for rape and "many cases" of assault. Alcohol had played a role. The behavior of the "considerably drunk" woman contributed to the situation, the presiding judge Uta Cramer stated on Friday. But the young woman from Bonn had said that she did not want "that" when the accused had started sexual activities.

The defense attorney initially left open whether an appeal would be filed. (Orig. text: dpa)

BONN. The organizing team of Astronomy on Tap Bonn will be holding another event this month. Open to the public and free of charge, the astronomy talk this month will feature Dr. James McKee, speaking about “Pulsars - Astronomical Clocks” and Prof. Dr. Thomas Reiprich on “Dunkle Energie ist überall und bestimmt unser Schicksal” (“Dark energy is everywhere and determines our destiny”). Astronomy on Tap takes place in a relaxed atmosphere at The Fiddlers Pub in Bonn-Endenich (Frongasse 9). The upcoming event is on Tuesday, May 28 at 7pm and everyone is welcome.

(Translations: Carol Kloeppel)