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Police records and data gathered by Al Jazeera show close to 6,000 killed since new president took office on June 30.
*This story was first published on August 25. Last updated on December 13.
*Police records show 5,882 people were killed across the country since Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte took office on June 30. Of that number 2,041 drug suspects were killed during police operations from July 1 to December 6, while another 3,841 were killed by unknown gunmen from July 1 to November 30, according to a local website. Among the latest fatalities was a seven-year-old child on the island of Cebu, who was hit by a stray bullet on December 3, while unknown gunmen were chasing a teenage boy accused of selling drugs.
*Based on other sources collected by Al Jazeera, there have been an estimated 5,946 deaths. The number does not include cases still to be reported by police or news outlets in the provinces after December 6.
*Al Jazeera has gathered the information of 1,485 people who were killed and the cause of their deaths.
Almost six months into the presidency of Rodrigo Duterte, police records and data gathered by Al Jazeera show the death toll in his anti-drug war has almost reached 6,000.
Despite the mounting toll, Duterte was quoted as saying on Monday that fewer people were being killed, adding "most of them have been finished off anyway, I am not kidding".
On Tuesday, he announced the release of $20m to fund the medicine for patients undergoing drug rehabilitation.
Recently, human rights groups and activists have denounced the Philippine leader for "steamrolling the rule of law".
Top clerics of the Catholic Church have also stepped up criticism against Duterte's drug war policy, while expressing opposition to his plan to re-impose the death penalty on heinous crimes, including drug-related offences.
INFOGRAPHIC: Who's liable for the mounting death toll?
In August, Duterte hailed his anti-drug campaign saying of the three million suspected drug dependents in the country, 600,000 have turned themselves in to authorities.
While saying it does not condone extra-judicial killings, the office of the president said the country should "seize the momentum" in its campaign against illegal drugs.
Duterte took his oath as president on June 30 and has vowed to keep his campaign promise of solving the country's illegal drug problem, saying, "I don't care about human rights, believe me."
As of December 13, an Al Jazeera investigation has collected information from 1,485 people who were killed across the country. </s> An average of 44 people are being killed each day in Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's war on crime, according to police data released Tuesday that showed the death toll surging to nearly 3,000.
The new figures came after Duterte vowed on Monday to defy a wave of international condemnation and continue killing until every drug trafficker in the Philippines was dead.
"More people will be killed, plenty will be killed until the last pusher is out of the streets," said Duterte, who scored a landslide election victory in May largely on his promise to fight crime.
"Until the (last) drug manufacturer is killed, we will continue and I will continue."
Police have killed 1,033 people in anti-drug operations since Duterte was sworn into office just over two months ago, according to the national police update on Tuesday.
Another 1,894 people have died in unexplained deaths, police said, which rights groups believe are largely due to out-of-control security forces and hired assassins.
The total of 2,927 is more than 500 higher than the figure released by police on Sunday, and equates to an average of 44 a day since Duterte took office on June 30.
US President Barack Obama was planning to raise concerns about the war on crime with Duterte at a meeting in Laos on Tuesday afternoon.
But Obama cancelled the meeting after Duterte warned he would not be lectured to, and branded the US president a "son of a whore".
Philippine police insist they are killing only in self defence.
"They have guns, they are drug-crazed. Our policemen are just defending themselves," national police spokesman Dionardo Carlos told AFP.
Police chief Ronald dela Rosa has also regularly said the unexplained deaths are due to drug syndicates waging war against each other, rather than extrajudicial killings by vigilantes and others.
Still, Duterte has promised to protect police from prosecution if they are charged over the deaths and insisted human rights cannot get in the way of his war.
He has also urged ordinary Filipinos to kill drug addicts in their communities.
Dela Rosa last month called for drug addicts to kill traffickers and burn down their homes.
The United Nations special rapporteur on summary executions has warned incitement to kill is a crime under international law.
But Duterte has told the United Nations not to interfere and said he will use all means necessary to eradicate drugs in society, which he insists is the nation's biggest problem. </s> MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine police said Wednesday that an updated report shows anti-drug operations in a northern province this week left 32 alleged drug offenders dead — 11 more than earlier reported as the highest death toll in a single day since President Rodrigo Duterte launched his war on drugs a year ago.
Senior Superintendent Romeo M. Caramat Jr. said 66 police operations in various parts of Bulacan province Tuesday left 32 suspects dead in encounters with police, while 107 others were arrested.
Confiscated during the operations were more than 200 grams of methamphetamine, 786 grams of marijuana, assorted firearms, grenades and ammunition.
Police records show that since the nationwide crackdown started, more than 3,200 alleged drug offenders have been killed in gunbattles with law enforcers. More than 2,000 others died in drug-related homicides, including attacks by motorcycle-riding masked gunmen and other assaults.
Human rights groups report a higher toll and demand an independent investigation into Duterte’s possible role in the violence.
Copyright © 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed. </s> MANILA: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday vowed to forge on with his controversial war on drugs and said no amount of criticism or international pressure would deter him.
Delivering his annual State of the Nation address, Duterte said his critics at home and abroad should focus on using their influence to educate Filipinos of the ills of illicit drugs.
"No matter how long it takes, the fight against illegal drugs will continue because that is the root cause of so much evil and so much suffering," Duterte told lawmakers from both houses of Congress.
"The fight will be unremitting as it will be unrelenting," he said. "There is a jungle out there, there are beasts out there preying on the innocent, the helpless."
Duterte swept to victory in last year's presidential elections after promising an unprecedented crackdown on drugs in which tens of thousands of people would die.
Since he took office on Jun 30 last year, police have reported killing nearly 3,200 people in the drug war.
More than 2,000 other people have been killed in drug-related crimes, according to police data. Rights groups say many of those victims have been killed by vigilante death squads linked to the government.
Duterte on Monday also urged lawmakers to reintroduce the death penalty.
"I ask Congress to act on legislation to reimpose the death penalty on heinous crimes, especially illegal drug trafficking," Duterte said.
He emphasised that capital punishment was about "retribution" as much as deterrence.
"In the Philippines, it is really an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. You took a life, you must pay it to die. That is the only way to get even."
The lower house of Congress this year passed a bill to bring back the death penalty, but the Senate has yet to approve it. </s> Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said on Monday "plenty will be killed" before the end of his campaign against illegal drugs that has led to the death of about 2,400 people since he became president two months ago.
"Plenty will be killed until the last pusher is out of the streets. Until the (last) drug manufacturer is killed we will continue," Duterte told reporters before leaving for a regional summit on Laos. </s> More than 6,000 people have died in the seven months since President Rodrigo Duterte ordered an unprecedented war on drugs, which has drawn global criticism for alleged human rights abuses (AFP Photo/NOEL CELIS)
Manila (AFP) - Thousands of Catholic faithful gathered in the Philippine capital on Saturday for a "show of force" in the biggest rally yet to stop extrajudicial killings in President Rodrigo Duterte's drug war.
More than 6,000 people have died since Duterte took office seven months ago and ordered an unprecedented crime war that has drawn global criticism for alleged human rights abuses, but is popular with many in the mainly Catholic country.
Members of one of the nation's oldest and most powerful institutions chanted prayers and sang hymns as they marched to condemn a "spreading culture of violence".
"We have to stand up. Somehow this is already a show of force by the faithful that they don't like these extrajudicial killings," Manila bishop Broderick Pabillo told AFP before addressing the crowd.
"I am alarmed and angry at what's happening because this is something that is regressive. It does not show our humanity."
Duterte, 71, has attacked the Church as "the most hypocritical institution" for speaking out against a campaign that he says would save generations of Filipinos from the drug menace.
About eight in 10 Filipinos are Catholic, making the former Spanish colony of more than 100 million people Asia's bastion of Christianity.
The Church helped lead the revolution that toppled dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1986 and a 2001 uprising against then-president Joseph Estrada that saw him ousted over corruption charges.
It had initially declined to voice opposition publicly to Duterte's drug war but, as the death toll of mostly poor people mounted, it began late last year to call for the killings to end.
Saturday's event, called the "Walk for Life", gathered 20,000 people, according to the organisers. Manila police estimated the crowd at 10,000.
The rally also opposed Duterte's push to restore the death penalty, his top legislative priority as part of his crime war.
"It is obvious that there is a spreading culture of violence. It is saddening to see, sometimes it drives me to tears how violent words seem so natural and ordinary," said Manila Cardinal Luis Tagle, the country's highest-ranking Church official.
"In your surroundings, in your neighbourhood, there are so many lives that must be saved. They will not be saved by mere discussion."
The Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines had called on the faithful to gather at the Quirino Grandstand, where Duterte held a huge pre-election rally, from 4:30am.
"Why dawn? It's because it is during these hours that we find bodies on the streets or near trash cans. Dawn, which is supposed to be the hour of a new start, is becoming an hour of tears and fears," Archbishop Socrates Villegas, president of the bishops' conference, told the crowd.
Villegas this month issued the Church's strongest statement against the drug war, warning against a "reign of terror" in poor communities.
Among those who attended Saturday's event was Senator Leila de Lima, a former human rights commissioner and one of Duterte's most vocal opponents.
The government on Friday filed charges against her for allegedly running a drug trafficking ring using criminals in the country's largest prison when she was justice secretary in the previous administration.
De Lima, who has repeatedly insisted the charges against her are trumped up to silence her and intimidate other Duterte critics, said she attended Saturday's event as a show of solidarity.
"For as long as I can, I will continue to fight. They cannot silence me," De Lima, who is expecting to be arrested in the coming days, told AFP.
Bone cancer survivor Lucy Castillo, 56, turned up in a wheelchair along with dozens of other people with disabilities.
"When I was in so much pain, I could have taken my life but I did not. Only God can take it," she told AFP.
"I was diagnosed 40 years ago but I was given a chance to live. I want to give these drug addicts another chance." </s> Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, whose war on drugs has resulted in the deaths of over 12,000 people allegedly using and dealing drugs, has announced that the country will withdraw from the establishing treaty of the International Criminal Court.
His statement comes about a month after the ICC launched a preliminary investigation into those deaths. Human Rights Watch has called Duterte's term a "human rights calamity," as his administration "has rejected all domestic and international calls for accountability for these abuses, and instead has denied any government responsibility for the thousands of drug war deaths."
Duterte, whose term began in June 2016, promised to kill every drug dealer and user in the Philippines in his presidential campaign. Police officials and vigilantes alike have contributed to the killings.
The ICC launches investigations when a member state is unwilling to carry out investigations and prosecute suspected perpetrators themselves. Duterte claims this is not the case: "The deaths [have occurred] in the process of legitimate police operation" who didn't intend to kill, but acted in self-defense," he said.
"Police have planted guns, spent ammunition, and drug packets on victims' bodies to implicate them in drug activities," it reads. "Masked gunmen taking part in killings appeared to be working closely with police, casting doubt on government claims that most killings have been committed by vigilantes or rival drug gangs. No one has been meaningfully investigated, let alone prosecuted, for any of the 'drug war' killings."
NPR reported on the scope of Duterte's war on drugs last November:
"Inside the Philippines, President Rodrigo Duterte has maintained support for his bloody war on drugs, despite the thousands of lives lost and criticism by human rights groups. "Duterte has remained popular because most people in the country aren't directly affected by deadly drug war, which is mostly being waged in the inner cities. "Since taking office last year, Duterte continues to carry out his pledge to kill every drug dealer and user in the country. Human rights groups say the deadly extra-judicial war has left more than 13,000 people dead. "... Duterte has a much-maligned history of cracking down on drugs. When he won the presidential election last year, Duterte touted his 20 years as mayor of Davao in Mindanao in his promise to rid the country of drugs and crime. But as The Guardian reports, Davao still has the highest murder rate in the country and the second highest number of rapes. "The scope of Duterte's vicious war in the Philippines echoes that first violent campaign in Davao. When he ordered the first death squad to target drug dealers and users in 1989, he allegedly told police officers: "Throw them in the ocean or the quarry. Make it clean. Make sure there are no traces of the bodies."
The ICC uses preliminary investigations to determine if there's "a reasonable basis to proceed with an investigation pursuant to the criteria established by the Rome Statute," said ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda.
In Oct. 2016, Bensouda said she was "deeply concerned about these alleged killings and the fact that public statements of high officials of the Republic of the Philippines seem to condone such killings."
"An international law cannot supplant, prevail or diminish a domestic law," reads Duterte's statement. "I therefore declare and forthwith give notice, as President of the Republic of the Philippines, that the Philippines is withdrawing its ratification of the Rome Statute effective immediately."
Withdrawing from the Rome Statue doesn't let the Philippines off the hook to a more comprehensive ICC investigation or human rights abuse charges, however. "A State shall not be discharged, by reason of its withdrawal, from the obligations arising from the Rome Statute while it was a party to the Statute," reads the document's Article 127.
The same article also states that withdrawals from the Rome Statute shall take place one year or later after a state notifies the United Nations of its intent to withdraw.
"There appears to be fraud in entering such agreement," counters Duterte's statement. The president dared the ICC to jail him last month, saying, "If you haul me into a rigmarole of trial and trial, no need. Go ahead and proceed in your investigation. Find me guilty, of course. You can do that."
"Looks like they are really afraid. Why? They feel that this will proceed to an investigation," Jude Sabio, an ICC lawyer, told Reuters. The withdrawal "will have no binding legal effect," he said.
There are no strict timelines on ICC preliminary investigations, which have taken years to establish whether crimes have taken place. </s> PanARMENIAN.Net – Thousands of Catholic faithful gathered in the Philippine capital on Saturday, February 18 for a ‘show of force’ in the biggest rally yet to stop extrajudicial killings in President Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war, AFP reports.
More than 6,000 people have died since Duterte took office seven months ago and ordered an unprecedented crime war that has drawn global criticism for alleged human rights abuses, but is popular with many in the mainly Catholic country.
Members of one of the nation’s oldest and most powerful institutions chanted prayers and sang hymns as they marched to condemn a “spreading culture of violence”. </s> Manila: The number of drug-related killings in the Philippines since Rodrigo Duterte became president two months ago on a pledge to wipe out the illegal drug trade, has reached around 2000, according to data released on Tuesday.
There has been popular support for his campaign, but the wave of killings unleashed since his election victory has alarmed rights groups and brought expressions of concern from the US, a close ally of Manila.
As officials readied a publicity campaign to explain his fight against narcotics, the Philippines national police said that close to 900 drug traffickers and users had been killed in police operations from July 1 to August 20. That was an increase of 141 people over a week, on average 20 people a day.
Last week the police said 1100 other drug-related killings that were not classified as police operations were also being investigated. No new number for that category was given on Tuesday but, together with the new figure for police encounters, the total came to around 2000.
Duterte won the presidency of the Southeast Asian nation in a May election on a promise to wipe out drugs.
Two UN human rights experts recently urged the Philippines to stop extra-judicial killings, drawing a furious response from Duterte, who threatened to pull his country out of the UN. His foreign minister later rowed back on the threat.
Duterte’s communications secretary, Martin Andanar, said on Monday that a 30-second advertisement explaining the anti-drug campaign would be aired over the next week by commercial and public TV stations and in movie theatres.
“The government is not spending a single centavo on these ads and TV stations are carrying them for free,” Andanar told reporters at an event in a Manila hotel.
This is a war
He said his office would also publish a 40-page pamphlet to explain the rising body count. This would be issued on the president’s first trip abroad next week, first to Brunei and then to an East Asia summit in Laos.
“Some people abroad have to understand why many people are getting killed in the anti-drug campaign. They must understand, this is a war and there are casualties,” Andanar said.
“The pamphlet will inform and explain that the government was not killing people at random, that these killings are not extrajudicial in nature but as part of the anti-crime campaign. Some of those killed were police officers who are involved in criminal activities.”
The White House said on Monday that US President Barack Obama is expected to meet Duterte in Laos on September 6 and plans to touch on human rights as well as security concerns.
Duterte’s crackdown on drugs and some strongly worded criticism he has made of the US, present a dilemma for Washington, which has been seeking to forge unity among allies and partners in Asia in the face of an increasingly assertive China, especially in the strategic South China Sea.
There have been few signs in the Philippines itself of a backlash against the war on drugs.
However, on Tuesday a newly formed group called the ‘Stop the Killings Network’ announced a #Lightforlife campaign that would start with simultaneous candle-lighting events on Wednesday evening at six venues across Manila.
(Reuters) | The death toll in Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs reaches 1,900 people killed. |
The German government is facing calls to halt arms exports to Turkey after reports emerged that German-made Leopard tanks were being used in an offensive against the Kurdish YPG.
Some German politicians have requested that any moves to approve a tank upgrade deal be halted.
Turkish-led forces began an assault in Syria’s north-west on Saturday.
The row comes just weeks after the two countries’ foreign ministers vowed to improve bilateral ties.
Relations between the two Nato members have soured dramatically in recent years.
Reports on Friday suggested Berlin was moving to approve a request from Turkey for German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall to upgrade its Leopard 2 tanks, to make them less vulnerable to explosives.
The tanks are thought to have been used by Turkey against the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria. However, defence experts have claimed in German media that recent images from Turkey’s “Operation Olive Branch” appear to show them being used against Kurdish groups.
Politicians from both the left and right have spoken out against the tank upgrade deal, and asked the government to clarify its position on the Turkish offensive in the Afrin region of northern Syria.
Norbert Röttgen, a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party and chairman of the parliamentary foreign affairs committee, said it was “completely obvious” that Germany should not provide the upgrades.
He told BBC Radio 4’s World Tonight programme the intervention by Turkish forces was “illegal, contrary to international law and counter-productive with regard to fighting ISIS”.
He said Turkey could not claim to be acting in self-defence because “there have not been any attacks on Turkey by Kurdish forces in Syria”.
Mr Röttgen praised the US for speaking out against the Turkish offensive, saying: “The Americans are the only Nato allies who are clear about what is happening. We quite often criticise the Trump administration but at this point they are more clear and more courageous than the others, and we should follow.”
German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said on Monday that he had called his Turkish counterpart to express concerns about the humanitarian impact of the Afrin offensive.
Turkey’s president has vowed to “crush” the People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia, which controls Afrin and more than 400km (250 miles) of Syria’s northern border.
On Tuesday the United Nations said an estimated 5,000 people have been displaced so far in the clashes in the Afrin region. </s> German government's spokesperson confirmed the report by Spiegel which stated that German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel reached an agreement that only a possible new government formed by a coalition of the Christian Democrats (CDU) and and Social Democrats (SPD) should decide on any arms deliveries to Turkey.
"Concerning the current discussions about arms exports, the Federal Government is clear about the fact that Germany can not send arms in conflict areas and is not going to do so," Gabriel told Spiegel.
Suspending of arms deliveries to Turkey is believed to be a move aimed at easing tension in German society, as images of German Leopard tanks being used by the Turkish army in its offensive in Syria are making the German public feel increasingly uncomfortable.
The aim of the Turkish operation in the Syria's North, which continues for the sixth day already, is to eliminate Kurdish groups which Ankara considers to be terrorists, in particular the Kurdish militia YPG (People's Protection Units). However, Germany as well as the US consider the YPG units to be an effective force in fighting Daesh in the region.
READ MORE: Turkish Foreign Minister Expects US to Back Ankara in Syria, 'Not Terrorists'
Ankara's operation, dubbed Olive Branch, started after the US announced it is going to train a 30,000-strong border force at Syria's northern borders, which will largely consist of the Kurdish militias considered to be terrorist organizations by Turkey.
Turkey expressed its resentment over Washington's plans, with President Erdogan vowing to "strangle" the "terrorist army," which the US creates near its borders.
This position echoed the US stance, as Pentagon's spokesman stated that America understands Turkey's legitimate concern over security at its borders.
Russia, in its turn, noted responding to the situation in Syria, that the principle of preserving Syria's territorial integrity and sovereignty is fundamental. </s> KARKAMIS, Turkey — Turkey sent more tanks into northern Syria on Thursday and demanded Kurdish militia fighters retreat within a week as it seeks to secure the border region and drive back the Daesh terror group with its first major incursion into its neighbour.
Syrian rebels backed by Turkish special forces, tanks and warplanes on Wednesday entered Jarablus, one of Daesh’s last strongholds on the Turkish-Syrian border. Gunfire and explosions echoed around hills in the region on Thursday.
Some of the blasts were triggered as Turkish security forces cleared mines and booby traps left by retreating Daesh militants, according to Nuh Kocaaslan, the mayor of Karkamis, which sits just across the border from Jarablus.
Three Syrian rebels were killed during the operation to take Jarablus, one of them when he opened the door of a house rigged with explosives, Kocaaslan told reporters. There were no casualties among the Turkish troops.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and senior government officials have made clear the aim of “Operation Euphrates Shield” is as much about stopping the Kurdish YPG militia seizing territory and filling the void left by Daesh as about eliminating the radical group itself.
Turkey, which has NATO’s second biggest armed forces, demanded that the YPG retreat to the east side of the Euphrates River within a week. The Kurdish militia had moved west of the river earlier this month as part of a US-backed operation, now completed, to capture the city of Manbij from Daesh.
Ankara views the YPG as a threat because of its close links to Kurdish militants waging a three-decade-old insurgency on its own soil. It has been alarmed by the YPG’s gains in northern Syria since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011, fearing it could extend Kurdish control along Turkish borders and fuel the ambitions of Kurdish insurgents in Turkey.
Turkey’s stance has put it at odds with Washington, which sees the YPG as a rare reliable ally on the ground in Syria, where Washington is trying to defeat Daesh while also opposing President Bashar Assad’s government in a complex, multi-sided five-year-old civil war.
The Syrian Kurdish force is one of the most powerful militias in Syria and regarded as the backbone of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a US-backed alliance formed last October to fight Daesh.
Turkish Defence Minister Fikri Isik said preventing the Kurdish PYD Party — the political arm of the YPG — from uniting Kurdish cantons east of Jarablus with those further west was a priority.
“Daesh should be completely cleansed, this is an absolute must. But it’s not enough for us.... The PYD and the YPG militia should not replace Islamic State [Daesh] there,” Isik told Turkish broadcaster NTV.
“The PYD’s biggest dream is to unify the western and eastern cantons. We cannot let this happen,” he said.
US Secretary of State John Kerry told Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu by phone on Thursday that YPG fighters were retreating to the east side of the Euphrates, as Turkey has demanded, foreign ministry sources in Ankara said.
A spokesman for the US-led coalition against Daesh also said the SDF had withdrawn across the Euphrates, doing so “to prepare for the eventual liberation” of Raqqa, the radical group’s stronghold in northern Syria, which is to the east.
Isik said the retreat was not yet complete and Washington had given assurances that this would happen in the next week.
“We are closely following this... If the PYD does not retreat to east of the Euphrates, we have the right to do everything about it,” he said.
The offensive is Turkey’s first major military operation since a failed July 15 coup shook confidence in its ability to step up the fight against Daesh. It came four days after a suicide bomber suspected of links to the group killed 54 people at a wedding in the southeastern city of Gaziantep.
US Vice President Joe Biden, who met Erdogan during a trip to Turkey on Wednesday, said Turkey was ready to stay in Syria for as long as it takes to destroy the radical Islamist group.
“I think there has been a gradual mind shift... in Turkey, with the realisation that ISIL [Daesh] is an existential threat to Turkey,” he told reporters during a visit to Sweden.
A Turkish official said the ground incursion had been in the works for more than two years but had been delayed by US reservations, resistance from some Turkish commanders, and a stand-off with Russia which had made air cover impossible.
Turkey had made the case more strongly to Washington over the past few months, had patched up relations with Russia, and had removed some of the Turkish commanders from their posts after finding they were involved in the coup attempt, paving the way for the operation to go ahead, the official said.
The incursion comes at a testing time for Turkish-US relations. Erdogan wants the United States to extradite Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish cleric who has lived in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania for 17 years and whose religious movement Turkey blames for staging last month’s failed coup.
Washington says it needs clear evidence of Gulen’s involvement and that it is a matter for the courts, a position that has sparked an outpouring of anti-Americanism from Turkey’s pro-government media. Gulen denies any role in the coup attempt.
The sound of gunfire, audible from a hill on the Turkish side of the border overlooking Jarablus, rang out early on Thursday and a plume of black smoke rose over the town. Warplanes flew overhead.
A senior Turkish official said there were now more than 20 Turkish tanks inside Syria and that additional tanks and construction machinery would be sent in as required. A Reuters witness saw at least nine tanks enter on Thursday, and 10 more were waiting outside a military outpost on the Turkish side.
“We need construction machinery to open up roads... and we may need more in the days ahead. We also have armoured personnel carriers that could be used on the Syrian side. We may put them into service as needed,” the official said.
Erdogan said on Wednesday that Daesh had been driven out of Jarablus and that it was now controlled by Turkish-backed Syrian rebels, who are largely Arab and Turkmen.
“The myth that the YPG is the only effective force fighting Daesh has collapsed,” Erdogan’s spokesman Ibrahim Kalin wrote on Twitter, reflecting Turkish frustration at how closely Washington has been working with the Kurdish militia.
Saleh Muslim, head of the Kurdish PYD, said on Wednesday that Turkey was entering a “quagmire” in Syria and faced defeat there like Daesh. Redur Xelil, spokesman for the YPG, said the intervention was a “blatant aggression in Syrian internal affairs”.
After seizing Jarablus, the Turkish-backed rebels have advanced up to 10km south of the border town, rebel sources and a group monitoring the war said.
But the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also said Kurdish-backed forces opposed by Ankara had gained up to 8km of ground northwards, apparently seeking to pre-empt advances by the rebels. </s> Turkey says it has suffered its deadliest day yet in northern Syria since launching its offensive against YPG Kurdish fighters there more than two weeks ago.
On Saturday, eight Turkish soldiers were killed, according to a Turkish army statement.
Some died after their tank came under fire from Syrian Kurdish forces.
Turkey wants to push the YPG, which it says are "terrorists", out of Afrin to create a buffer zone along its southern border.
YPG fighters targeted the Turkish army tank in Sheikh Haruz, northeast of Afrin, killing five soldiers. Three other soldiers were killed in fighting elsewhere in Afrin.
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim promised to retaliate in a statement on Twitter.
"They will pay for this twice as much. We have given the necessary response instantly, and we continue to do so," Yildirim said.
Immediately after the attack at Sheikh Haruz, an air operation targeting YPG positions and weapon storages in the area was launched, the army said.
Turkey's Operation Olive Branch began on January 20 along with the Free Syrian Army (FSA) to clear armed Kurdish groups and Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) fighters from Afrin in northwestern Syria.
Since the start of the operation, Kurdish fighters have carried out cross-border attacks by firing rockets into southern Turkey.
According to the Turkish army, the operation aims to establish security and stability along Turkish borders and the region as well as to protect Syrians from what Ankara called "terrorist oppression and cruelty".
Meanwhile, Syrian rebels shot down a Russian warplane in northwestern Idlib province on Saturday, the Russian defence ministry said.
The pilot of the aircraft, a Sukhoi 25, used his ejection seat after his plane was hit by a man-carried portable air defence missile.
He was later killed when rebels tried to capture him.
"The pilot managed to report the ejection in the area controlled by the militants of Jabhat al-Nusra, but later he died fighting the terrorists," a statement by the Russian ministry of defence said.
The downing of the aircraft has been claimed by Hay'et Tahrir al-Sham, commonly known as Tahrir al-Sham. The group is spearheaded by the former al-Nusra Front, which used to be al-Qaeda's branch in Syria.
Moscow has retaliated with dozens of attacks in which at least 10 civilians were killed, according to local activists. Russia says it has killed 30 fighters.
There has been heavy fighting in Idlib for weeks. The UN says about 100,000 civilians have been displaced. </s> The German government has been dealing with recent debates in the German media regarding the Leopard tanks that are currently being used in Operation Olive Branch against the PKK terrorist organization's Syrian affiliate, the Democratic Union Party's (PYD) People's Protection Units (YPG) militia, which has received heavy military support from the United States.
The debates include claims that the Turkish military is using the tanks illegally. Ankara is a NATO ally of Berlin that has long been fighting the PKK, a group recognized as a terrorist group by the U.S. and the EU. Germany has also ignored the YPG's response to Turkey's attacks with German weapons as well.
Following the debates and demands of some German politicians to put an immediate halt to arms sales to Turkey, Der Spiegel claimed yesterday that Germany has stopped the modernization of German tanks that were sold to Turkey. However, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu immediately denied the claims yesterday, saying that there has been no cancellation of the upgrades of the German-made tanks in Turkey.
"A commission was going to meet regarding the tanks. That meeting is delayed. There is no cancellation of the modernization of the tanks," Çavuşoğlu said in a joint press conference in Istanbul with Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl.
Meanwhile, German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said Berlin had put a temporary halt on arms deals with Turkey and that he had "asked the secretary-general of NATO to also discuss within NATO the situation in Syria and in the country's north."
A government spokesman said Chancellor Angela Merkel from the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Gabriel, from the Social Democratic Party (SDP), had agreed Berlin would not decide on the Turkish request before both parties had sealed a new coalition deal, Reuters reported.
Gabriel said in a statement that arms exports would be a big topic for discussion in negotiations on forming a new German coalition government, which are due to begin today. "For this reason, we in the caretaker government agree we don't want to anticipate the results of the current coalition negotiations, and we will wait for the formation of a new government before weighing up critical projects."
Gabriel said that Germany, the world's third-biggest arms exporter, is very concerned about the military conflict in northern Syria and had asked the NATO secretary-general to advise NATO members on the situation there.
On Tuesday, Stefan Liebich, a deputy from the Left Party, said they must stop weapons sales to Turkey since "this is no longer a war we should play any part in." Agnieszka Brugger, a lawmaker and defense expert for Germany's Green Party, also said that the German government must not look away again and needs to clearly state its position on the Turkish offensive against Kurds in Syria.
The sale of Leopard tanks to Turkey started 35 years ago. According to information gathered from the federal government, between 1982 and 1993, 391 Leopard and 1 archetype tanks were sold to Turkey. The sale of German tanks to Turkey continued with upgraded models in the following years. In between 2006 and 2011, Berlin sold 354 Leopard 2A4 tanks to Ankara. In 2005, Germany prohibited Turkey from delivering the tanks to a third country or party without its permission in accordance with the agreement between the two countries. The agreement did not have any other restrictions and removed the restriction that the tanks "can be used only in case of defense," which was valid for the Leopard 1 models for the upgraded versions of the tanks. The tanks were used in Operation Euphrates Shield against the Daesh terrorist organization, as well.
According to Die Welt, however, while Turkey is using German-made Leopard tanks against the YPG, the YPG also uses German weapons in response to the Turkish attacks."The fact that Turkey uses German Leopard tanks for their Operation Olive Branch and the Kurds oppose them with German weapons that were originally delivered to the peshmerga in northern Iraq, finally puts the fighting in the sphere of German domestic politics and the arms export debate," a Die Welt article said. However, this does not change that the PKK, which is recognized as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the EU and U.S., is using Western weapons against Turkey.
However, this is not the first time the PKK's affiliates have been supported with Western weapons.
Germany has sold many Milan anti-tank missiles to the YPG, which were also displayed in the pages of Der Spiegel magazine.
Not only Germany, but also other European states have sold weapons to the YPG. For instance, Italy has sold mines, and France was supporting the YPG with military equipment.
The PKK has been using Russian-made DShK 1938s, a Soviet heavy machine gun firing 12.7x108 millimeter cartridge, mortars of various sizes, improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and other explosives.
It also uses Kalashnikovs, U.S.- made M16 infantry rifles, Austrian-made handguns and Russian- and Chinese-made RPG 7s – portable, unguided, shoulder-launched, anti-tank rocket-propelled grenade launchers.
Most recently, the U.S. started to send weapons to the YPG, claiming that it is its partners in the fight against Daesh, as if these weapons would never be used against NATO ally Turkey. Despite Ankara's protests, the U.S. continued its support to the YPG for two years, referring to it as a reliable ally, which deeply affected relations between the two countries. On Jan. 16, spokesman for the United States-led coalition against Daesh Col. Ryan Dillon said that Syria's northern Afrin region is not a part of the U.S.'s area of operations against Daesh and that it does not support YPG elements in the area.
According to security officials in Turkey and Syria, the formation of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) more than two years ago also provided the U.S. with an opportunity to deepen its relationship with the PYD and YPG.
The SDF was formed in October 2015 when the YPG incorporated several armed groups.
The SDF is used as a fig leaf to disguise U.S. support for the YPG. The Pentagon said last week that U.S. forces are operating in close proximity with SDF fighters in northern Syria, including near the Turkish border. Images from Syria shared on social media often show militants wearing SDF and YPG insignias fighting alongside each other. </s> HASSA, Turkey (Reuters) - Turkey shelled targets in northwest Syria on Monday and said it would swiftly crush U.S.-backed Kurdish YPG fighters in an air and ground offensive on the Afrin region beyond its border.
The three-day-old campaign has opened a new front in Syria’s multi-sided civil war, realigning a battlefield where outside powers are supporting local combatants.
While Washington and other Western capitals expressed concern, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said he had secured a go-ahead for the campaign from Russia, principal backer of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, long Turkey’s foe.
Turkey sees the YPG presence on its southern border as a domestic security threat.
Turkish forces and their Syrian anti-Assad rebel allies began their push on Saturday to clear the northwestern border enclave of Kurdish YPG fighters. Ankara considers the YPG to be allies of insurgents that have fought against the Turkish state for decades. The United States, meanwhile, has armed and aided the YPG as its main ground allies against Islamic State.
Senior U.N. officials briefed the United Nations Security Council behind closed doors on Monday, at the request of France, on the humanitarian and political situation in Syria.
“With respect to the situation in Afrin, it was of course part of the conversation,” said French U.N. Ambassador Francois Delattre after the meeting, adding that it was mentioned by most of the 15 council members. “France calls on Turkey for restraint in the volatile environment that we all know in Syria.”
But Erdogan said Turkey was determined to press ahead. “There’s no stepping back from Afrin,” he said in a speech in Ankara. “We discussed this with our Russian friends, we have an agreement with them, and we also discussed it with other coalition forces and the United States.”
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Washington had proposed working with Turkey and forces on the ground in Afrin to “see how we can stabilise this situation and meet Turkey’s legitimate concerns for their security.”
But Turkey said Washington must end its support for the Kurdish YPG militia before any proposal for cooperation: “If they want a cooperation, we are ready for this cooperation. As the first step to take, they can stop arming terror groups and take back weapons already given,” Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag told reporters after a cabinet meeting.
Syria has objected to the Turkish incursion, and Moscow, which controls parts of Syrian air space on behalf of its allies in Damascus, has not confirmed giving a green light to it. But Russia does not appear to be acting to prevent it, and has pulled its own troops out of the Afrin area.
Iran, Assad’s other main military supporter, called for a halt to the operation. Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi said the Afrin campaign could lead to “the return of regional terrorism and extremism”, according to state television.
The YPG’s Afrin spokesman, Birusk Hasaka, said there were clashes between Kurdish and Turkish-backed forces on the third day of the operation, and that Turkish shelling had hit civilian areas in Afrin’s northeast.
Afrin would be a “quagmire from which the Turkish army will only exit after suffering great losses”, said a statement from the YPG-led Syrian Democratic Forces umbrella group.
The YPG said Afrin had already been reinforced in anticipation of the Turkish offensive, and there were discussions over whether to send more reinforcements from other YPG-held territory, which is separated from Afrin by areas held by Syrian government forces.
The United Nations has said it is deeply concerned for the more than 300,000 people in Afrin. Spokeswoman Linda Tom said there were reports of people displaced within Afrin by the fighting, and of smaller numbers heading to nearby Aleppo.
Ankara has been infuriated by U.S. support for the YPG, one of several issues that have brought relations between the United States and its Muslim NATO ally close to breaking point.
Erdogan has also pledged to drive the SDF from the town of Manbij to the east, part of a much larger area of northern Syria controlled by the YPG-led SDF. That raises the prospect of protracted conflict between Turkey and its allied Free Syrian Army factions against the U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters.
Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek played down the long-term risks: “Our investors should be at ease, the impact will be limited, the operation will be brief and it will reduce the terror risk to Turkey in the period ahead,” he said.
A senior Turkish official declined to give a timeframe but said the operation would “move fast”, adding that Turkey believed there was some local support for its action in both Afrin and Manbij.
YPG official Nouri Mahmoud said Turkish-backed forces had not taken any territory in Afrin. “Our forces have to this point repelled them and forced them to retreat,” he told Reuters.
A Turkish official said Turkish troops and allied Free Syrian Army fighters had begun to advance on Afrin’s eastern flank, taking control of a hill northwest of the town of Azaz. An FSA commander later told Reuters YPG forces had recaptured the summit of Barshah hill.
A Reuters cameraman near Hassa, across the border from Afrin, saw Turkish shelling on Monday morning. Dogan news agency said Turkish howitzers opened fire at 1 a.m. (2200 GMT), and that YPG targets were also being hit by Turkish warplanes and multiple rocket launchers.
Defeating the YPG in Afrin would reduce Kurdish-controlled territory on Turkey’s frontier and link up two regions controlled by insurgents opposed to Assad - Idlib province and an area where Turkey fought for seven months in 2016-17 to drive back Islamic State and the YPG.
The Turkish-backed FSA factions, which have come together under the banner of a newly branded “National Army”, also want to see an end to YPG rule in Afrin. They accuse the YPG of displacing 150,000 Arab residents of towns including Tel Rifaat and Menigh to the east of Afrin, captured in 2016.
“This is a historic moment in our revolution,” Mohammad al-Hamadeen, a senior officer in the FSA forces, told fighters in Azaz on Sunday as they prepared to join the ground offensive.
“God willing, very soon we will return to our region that we were driven from two years ago.” </s> Turkey has ended the “Euphrates Shield” military operation it launched in Syria last August, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on Wednesday, but suggested there might be more cross-border campaigns to come. Turkey sent troops, tanks and warplanes to support Free Syrian Army (FSA) rebels, push Islamic State fighters away from its border and stop the advance of Kurdish militia fighters.
“Operation Euphrates Shield has been successful and is finished. Any operation following this one will have a different name,” Yildirim said in an interview with broadcaster NTV. Under Euphrates Shield, Turkey took the border town of Jarablus on the Euphrates river, cleared Islamic State fighters from a roughly 100-km (60-mile) stretch of the border, then moved south to al-Bab, an Islamic State stronghold where Yildirim said “everything is under control”.
Turkish troops are still stationed in the secured regions and along the border. The number of Turkish troops involved in Euphrates Shield has not been disclosed. One aim was to stop the Kurdish YPG militia from crossing the Euphrates westwards and linking up three mainly Kurdish cantons it holds in northern Syria.
Turkey fears the Syrian Kurds carving out a self-governing territory analogous to Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region, a move that might embolden Turkey’s own large Kurdish minority to try to forge a similar territory inside its borders. It views the YPG as the Syrian extension of the Kurdish PKK militant group, which has fought an insurgency in Turkey’s southeast since 1984 and is considered a terrorist group by both the United States and European Union.
With the second largest army in NATO, Turkey is seeking a role for its military in a planned offensive on Raqqa, one of Islamic State’s two de facto capitals along with Mosul in Iraq -but the United States is veering towards enlisting the YPG. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has said Turkey is saddened by the U.S. and Russian readiness to work with the YPG in Syria.
For all the latest World News, download Indian Express App now </s> ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish troops and tanks carried out military exercises on the border with Syria on Saturday, state-run media reported, while a monitoring group said a Turkish convoy had crossed the frontier into northern Syria.
Turkey’s military sent tanks and armored vehicles to the border in the second day of reinforcements near the province of Idlib, the last major rebel stronghold in Syria.
On Friday, a Turkish security source said the Turkish army had been rotating forces in and out of the region, and declined to say whether the latest movement was in preparation for an operation inside Syria itself.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a U.K.-based monitoring group, said a Turkish convoy had entered Syria.
Islamist fighters have tightened their control over the Idlib region following more than a week of fighting with Turkey-backed Syrian rebels.
The rise of the jihadist Hayat Tahrir al Sham has raised doubt over the future of a deal agreed in September between Turkey - which has several military observation posts in Idlib - and President Bashar al-Assad’s main ally Russia to avert a Syrian government army assault. The agreement requires banned Islamist groups to be expelled from a frontline buffer zone.
The escalation in Idlib comes as U.S. forces prepare to withdraw from a separate region of northern and eastern Syria.
Earlier on Saturday, the Turkish defense minister, chief of general staff and the intelligence agency head visited border military units and discussed “measures to establish peace and stability in the region,” the ministry said in a statement.
“We are making every effort to preserve the ceasefire and stability in Idlib, in line with the Sochi agreement. Our close cooperation with Russia continues,” Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said.
Akar’s comments came a day after Russia said it remained committed to the agreement it had struck with Turkey to stabilize a de-escalation zone in Idlib, but said Moscow was worried by an increase in the number of ceasefire violations. </s> BEIRUT/ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey warned on Monday it would confront Syrian government forces if they entered Syria’s northwestern Afrin region to help the Kurdish YPG militia repel a Turkish offensive.
Turkey began its Afrin operation with allied Syrian rebels last month against the YPG, which Ankara sees as a threat along its border with links to the Kurdish PKK insurgency at home.
Ankara’s onslaught has further scrambled the matrix of rivalries and alliances in northern Syria among Kurdish forces, the Syrian government, insurgent factions, Turkey, Iran, the United States and Russia.
Monday’s comments by Turkey’s president and two of his ministers came after a senior Kurdish official said on Sunday that a deal had been struck for the Syrian army to go into Afrin soon to help fight the assault.
But YPG spokesman Nouri Mahmoud denied on Monday reaching such an agreement with the Damascus government.
Syrian state media said in the morning that pro-government militia would enter Afrin “within hours” but by sunset there were no signs of a deployment there. Turkey also said the report that Syrian troops were entering the region was “not true”.
“If (the Syrian army) comes in to defend the YPG, then nothing and nobody can stop Turkish soldiers,” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in Jordan. Turkey would have no issue with Syrian troops entering Afrin if they did so to “cleanse” it of the Kurdish fighters, he added.
President Tayyip Erdogan later said in a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin that Damascus would face consequences if it struck a deal with the YPG and said the Afrin operation would continue, CNN Turk reported. [L8N1Q93JQ]
There was no immediate comment from the Syrian military or from Moscow.
Erdogan also spoke to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani about developments in Syria’s Idlib and Afrin, a Turkish source said.
Badran Jia Kurd, an adviser to the Kurdish-led autonomous administration in north Syria, said on Sunday there was a military understanding between Damascus and Kurdish forces for the Syrian army to enter Afrin. But he added that it faced opposition which could derail it.
Another Syrian Kurdish political official said on Monday that pressure from Russia, the key ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, had prevented the deal from going ahead so far.
YPG spokesman Nouri Mahmoud said there was only ”a call from us for the Syrian army to come in and protect the borders.
“This is its duty,” he said. “So far, the Syrian army has not fulfilled its duty towards Afrin.”
Deals between the Syrian government and the Kurdish forces, which each hold more territory than any other side in Syria, could prove pivotal for the future course of the war.
Since the onset of Syria’s conflict in 2011, the YPG and its allies have set up three autonomous cantons in the north, including Afrin bordering Turkey. Their sphere of influence expanded as they seized territory from Islamic State militants with U.S. help, though Washington opposes their political ambitions as does the Syrian government.
While Assad’s government and the YPG espouse different visions for Syria’s future and their forces have clashed at times, they have mostly avoided direct conflict.
Jia Kurd told Reuters on Sunday that Syrian army troops would deploy along some border positions under the deal between the Kurdish fighters and Damascus. He said the deal was only on military aspects and any political or other agreements would have to wait for further talks.
“Popular forces will arrive in Afrin in the next few hours to support the steadfastness of its people in confronting the aggression,” Syrian state news agency SANA said earlier.
Ankara regards the YPG as indistinguishable from the PKK, though the groups say they are independent from each other. Turkey, the United States, and Europe classify the PKK, a leftist Kurdish movement that has mounted a three-decade insurgency inside Turkey, as a terrorist organisation.
The Afrin offensive has strained the complex ties between the warring sides in northern Syria and their external supporters.
Turkey’s NATO ally the United States has armed the YPG as part of an alliance it backs in Syria against Islamic State, which has infuriated Ankara.
But while Washington has a military presence in the much larger swathes of Syria that the YPG and its allies control further east, it has not given support to the YPG in Afrin.
This month, the United States said it had killed hundreds of pro-government troops in strikes in eastern Syria because they were attacking the militia alliance that the YPG spearheads. | Turkey sends more tanks into northern Syria to continue its offensive against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG). |
MANILA (Reuters) - The Philippines will suspend more of the country’s mines for violating environmental regulations after already halting operations at 10 sites, the mining minister said on Monday, as the government wrapped up a seven-week review.
The Southeast Asian nation, the world’s top nickel ore supplier, launched a review of the country’s 40 metallic mines on July 8. Eight of the 10 suspended so far produced nickel ore, and the closures and the risk of more mines being shuttered lifted nickel prices to a one-year high last month.
Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Regina Lopez declined to say how many more mines will be suspended but told Reuters that “there will absolutely be more suspensions”.
“All the suspensions are absolutely due to environmental reasons, and my particular interest is the wellbeing of the community, that’s my benchmark,” Lopez said in a text message.
“There will be large-scale mines to be suspended,” she told reporters later at a congressional hearing, without disclosing any names.
Three-month nickel on the London Metal Exchange was trading just above $10,000 a tonne on Monday, up about a third from February’s $7,550, its lowest since 2003.
Instead of this week as she had said earlier, Lopez said the additional mine suspensions will be announced next week.
“The audit is done. And it’s important to say that even as we suspend mines, we have put up an area development program. The commitment is in any suspended mines the people there will not lose work,” she said at the congressional hearing.
‘GAPING OPEN HOLES’
Lopez’s stance on mining is backed by President Rodrigo Duterte, who has previously warned miners to strictly follow tighter environmental rules or shut down, saying the nation could survive without a mining industry.
“We have had mining in this country for over a hundred years. And until now we don’t even have one rehabilitated mine site, not one,” Lopez said in the text message.
“Just gaping open holes, destroyed rivers, children with brain disease, so very sad,” she said, referring to sick children in the province of Marinduque, where a 1996 tailings leak at Canadian-owned Marcopper Mining Corp’s copper mine contaminated rivers.
Miners have claimed that the government’s environmental crackdown is a “demolition campaign” against them and have sought a meeting with Duterte.
The Philippines is the top nickel ore supplier to China, shipping 34 million tonnes in 2015. </s> The Southeast Asian nation, the world's top nickel ore supplier, launched a review of the country's 40 metallic mines on July 8 and has so far suspended 10, eight of them producing nickel ore. The closures and the risk of more mines being shuttered lifted nickel prices to a one-year high last month.
Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Regina Lopez declined to say how many more mines will be suspended but told Reuters that "there will absolutely be more suspensions".
"All the suspensions are absolutely due to environmental reasons, and my particular interest is the wellbeing of the community, that's my benchmark," Lopez said in a text message.
Three-month nickel on the London Metal Exchange was trading just above $10,000 a tonne on Monday.
"We have had mining in this country for over a hundred years. And until now we don't even have one rehabilitated mine site, not one," Lopez said in the text message.
"Just gaping open holes, destroyed rivers, children with brain disease, so very sad," she said, referring to sick children in the province of Marinduque where a 1996 tailings leak at Canadian-owned Marcopper Mining Corp's copper mine contaminated rivers.
Her stance on mining is backed by President Rodrigo Duterte who has previously warned miners to strictly follow tighter environmental rules or shut down, saying the nation could survive without a mining industry.
Miners have claimed that the government's environmental crackdown is a "demolition campaign" against them and have sought a meeting with Duterte.
The Philippines is the top nickel ore supplier to China, shipping 34 million tonnes in 2015. </s> MANILA (Reuters) - The Philippines has ordered a review of more than 100 proposals for small-scale mining sites across the country following a landslide that killed 62 people including illegal gold miners, its environment minister said on Tuesday.
The Southeast Asian nation has designated about 18 mining areas for small-scale mining locally known as Minahang Bayan. The areas are subject to rules regulating small-scale mineral extraction to ensure taxes are paid and environmental breaches are prevented.
“We will be stricter in approving Minahang Bayan sites, and affirm whether they conform to standards that are safe especially for the miners,” Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Roy Cimatu said in a statement.
There are more than 100 pending applications for Minahang Bayan, Wilfredo Moncano, the head of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau, told reporters.
The order comes a day after Cimatu halted all small-scale mining in the Cordillera region in northern Philippines after heavy rains from super typhoon Mangkhut triggered landslides on Saturday which some government officials and large miners said were exacerbated by illegal small-scale mining.
In the village of Ucab in the town of Itogon in the Cordillera, the death toll has reached 62 with more than 40 people still missing, said Francis Tolentino, an advisor to President Rodrigo Duterte and head of the government’s disaster coordination.
Some of those who died were illegally extracting for gold around the areas where Benguet Corp operated a mine that suspended operations in the 1990s.
Benguet Corp said in a statement to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Tuesday that the illegal mining and gold processing activities there “are without the permission” of the company.
The Philippines is the world’s No. 2 nickel ore supplier after Indonesia. The government’s focus on small-scale mining follows an earlier crackdown on larger miners many of which were ordered closed or suspended for environmental infractions.
Last month, a government panel said 23 of 27 mines reviewed for compliance with state regulations will continue to operate, while the remaining four that failed the audit could face closure. </s> MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte repeated his call on Monday to shut all mines in the country following deadly landslides, hours after his minister halted all small-scale mining in a mountainous gold-rich region.
“If I were to try to do my thing I will close all mining in the Philippines,” he said, presiding over a televised meeting of the government’s disaster response team two days after a powerful typhoon struck.
Duterte has often criticized the mining industry, saying the environmental damage far outweighs any benefit to the economy.
His latest comments followed an order earlier by Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Roy Cimatu to stop all small-scale mining in the Cordillera region, where landslides killed 24 people.
“We have a problem with our mining industry. It has not contributed anything substantial to the national economy,” Duterte said. Shortly after he assumed office in 2016, he warned all miners to follow tighter environmental rules or to shut down, saying the nation could survive without a mining industry.
Mining accounts for less than 1 percent of the country’s gross domestic product, although only 3 percent of the 9 million hectares identified by the state as having high mineral reserves is being mined.
Mining has been a contentious issue in the Philippines, the world’s No. 2 nickel ore supplier after Indonesia, due to cases of environmental mismanagement.
The government estimates that 60-70 percent of small-scale miners in the country operate illegally, many of them digging for gold, silver and chromite.
Cimatu said he was also revoking temporary mining permits given to 10 associations in the Cordillera region in the wake of the landslides.
FILE PHOTO: President Rodrigo Duterte speaks after his arrival, from a visit in Israel and Jordan at Davao International airport in Davao City in southern Philippines, September 8, 2018. REUTERS/Lean Daval Jr.
Typhoon Mangkhut, which tore across the northern tip of the Philippines early on Saturday, killed at least 54 people, many of them due to landslides which some government officials and large miners said were exacerbated by illegal small-scale mining.
Some of those who died were illegally mining for gold near an abandoned bunkhouse owned by gold miner Benguet Corp, according to the Chamber of Mines of the Philippines.
The chamber, of which Benguet Corp is a member, said mining operators there had been repeatedly told to leave the area because of the threat of landslides. </s> MANILA, Sept 17 (Reuters) - Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday repeated his desire to shut all mines in the country following deadly landslides that some government officials and large miners said have been exacerbated by illegal small-scale mining.
“If I were to try to do my thing I will close all mining in the Philippines,” Duterte said, presiding over a televised meeting of the government’s disaster response team two days after a powerful typhoon struck.
Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Roy Cimatu earlier on Monday ordered all small-scale mining stopped in the Cordillera region, where landslides killed 24 people. </s> Philippine President, Rodrigo Duterte has repeated his call to shut all mines in the country following deadly landslides.
His comments come hours after his minister halted all small-scale mining in a mountainous gold-rich region and two days after a powerful typhoon slammed into the northern Philippines.
Duterte has often criticized the mining industry, saying the environmental damage far outweighs any benefit to the economy.
His latest comments followed an order earlier by Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Roy Cimatu to stop all small-scale mining in the Cordillera region, where landslides killed 24 people.
Typhoon Mangkhut, which tore across the northern tip of the Philippines early on Saturday (September 14), killed at least 54 people, many of them due to landslides which some government officials and large miners said were exacerbated by illegal small-scale mining. </s> President Rodrigo Duterte's warning on mining comes after Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu suspended small-scale mining operations in the Cordillera Administrative Region
MANILA, Philippines – President Rodrigo Duterte's anger over mining resurfaced as he visited Benguet where dozens perished in landslides near mining areas, prompting him to float the idea of "closing" the country's mining industry.
"One day, I will just have to confront Congress. Sabihin ko talaga sa kanila (I'll really tell them), we have to close the mining industry or better still, plan a period then give Mother Earth a respite [from] the continued endless digging," he said on Monday, September 17, during a situation briefing in La Trinidad, Benguet.
In the same meeting, he said stopping mining nationwide would require Congress to repeal the Philippine Mining Act. Since the start of his presidency, Duterte has opposed open-pit mining and agreed to a temporary open-pit mining ban.
He has also ordered mining companies to repair environmental damage and compensate farmers and fishermen whose livelihoods are affected by mining operations.
Earlier that day, Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu suspended all small-scale mining operations in the Cordillera Administrative Region as a response to the deaths of miners who died due to a landslide while trapped in a mining bunkhouse at the height of Typhoon Ompong (international name Mangkhut).
Duterte expressed approval of Cimatu's decision during the situation briefing.
But Itogon Mayor Victorio Palangdan appealed to Cimatu to allow certain small-scale operations to continue as long as they are not done in hazard-prone areas.
Local reporters had pointed out the loss of livelihoods of thousands who depend on the industry. – Rappler.com </s> The whir of choppers and the buzz of chain saws were all that was heard on Monday near the mining town of Itogon as workers looking for bodies dug through the mud using shovels and their bare hands — the ground too wet for heavy machinery.
Francis Tolentino, a senior adviser to President Rodrigo Duterte, estimated that nationwide 5.7 million people had been affected by the storm, which hit the country at the height of its powers, with wind speeds topping 150 miles per hour.
The authorities said the prospectors, some of whom are believed to be children, were working illegally at the mine site, which was shut down in the 1990s amid concerns of environmental degradation.
After Benguet Corp., the company that previously operated the mine, halted operations, thousands of individuals flocked to the site, known as Antamok, to work the tunnels started by the company.
“Before Ompong came, I asked them to leave,” Victorio Palangdan, the mayor of Itogon, said of the miners, using Typhoon Mangkhut’s local name. He said the workers at the camp told him that they had permission from Benguet Corp. to work the abandoned mine, a claim the company denied.
By some estimates, as many as 400,000 small-scale miners operate throughout the Philippines, digging in areas where such activity is outlawed and using banned toxic substances, including mercury, to process their finds.
Mr. Duterte inspected part of the disaster area on Sunday, and met with top officials in Tuguegarao City for a televised briefing on the damage and the recovery effort.
“I share the grief of those who lost their loved ones,” the president said.
At least 4 dead in China </s> Itogon Mayor Victorio Palangdan appeals to the Environment Secretary not to stop all the operations and to consult local governments and mining stakeholders first
MANILA, Philippines – Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu ordered a stop to all small-scale mining operations in Itogon, Benguet following the death and entrapment of miners due to landslides in the town caused by Typhoon Ompong (Mangkhut).
"I officially ordered cease and desist of illegal small-scale minng operations in the whole of Cordillera Administrative Region," said Cimatu on Monday, September 17 in a press briefing in Benguet.
Cimatu also ordered the revocation of small-scale mining permits issued for mining areas in Itogon.
"By virtue of what happened, I am revoking those permits, effective today," he said.
Cimatu's order comes after at least 30 people died after getting buried by landslides inside a mining bunkhouse owned by Benguet Corporation in the middle of landslides, according to a PhilStar report.
Itogon Mayor Victorio Palangdan said local police had tried to force those who took shelter in the bunkhouse to leave because of the precarious location of the building – near a mountain slope. But they resisted.
"The people laughed and showed their bunkhouse. Small-scale miners made it into a chapel and they said they will evacuate there if Ompong comes," said Palangdan in Filipino.
He also said the local government previously tried to keep the small-scale miners away from the area but they refused, claiming Benguet Corporation has allowed them to mine there and use the bunkhouse.
But Mayor Palangdan appealed to Cimatu not to stop all the small-scale mining operations since not all areas are as dangerous as the Benguet Corporation area.
"I am appealing to the Secretary that we should have first a technical conference to determine the areas that are dangerous and not to stop all the mining operations of the small scale [miners] because if you will visit the area, there area places where people can work without any harm to their health or life," said the local chief.
He stressed that the area is not covered by any small-scale mining permit because and that the Benguet Corporation mining tunnel there is "abandoned."
Palangdan asked Cimatu to hold a meeting with local government officials and mining stakeholders first.
Cimatu was asked at least thrice by local reporters if the government would provide alternative livelihood to those miners who would lose their source of income due to his order.
He, however, did not give a direct response, only saying that the miners, who he claims mostly come from Ifugao, would be returned to that province.
"Many of them are from Ifugao, we will see if we can bring them back to Ifugao," said Cimatu.
Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque later on said the miners could benefit from the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) or work in the agricultural sector.
Cimatu emphasized that the government must ensure small-scale miners are not allowed to live in areas identified as landslide-prone by the geohazard maps.
As of Monday morning, 54 people have died in the Cordillera region due to Ompong. – Rappler.com | Miners in the Philippines criticize the government after a crackdown on mining closed more nickel and copper mines. |
Death toll rises to 267 as hopes for survivors begin to dim.
Strong aftershocks rattled residents and rescue crews alike Friday as hopes began to dim that firefighters would find any more survivors from Italy’s earthquake. The first funerals were scheduled to be observed for some of the 267 dead.
Some of hard-hit Amatrice’s crumbled buildings suffered more cracks after the biggest aftershock of the morning struck at 6-28 a.m. The U.S. Geological Service said it had a magnitude of 4.7, while the Italian geophysics institute measured it at 4.8.
The aftershock was preceded by more than a dozen weaker ones overnight and was followed by another nine in the subsequent hour some of the nearly 1,000 aftershocks that have rocked the seismic area of Italy’s central Apennine Mountains in the two days since the original quake Wednesday.
Rescue efforts continued through the night, but more than a day-and-a-half had passed since the last person was extracted alive from the rubble. While Premier Matteo Renzi hailed the fact that 215 people had been rescued since the quake, civil protection officials reported only a steadily rising death toll that stood early on Friday at 267.
Nevertheless, civil protection operations chief Immacolata Postiglione insisted that the rescue effort continued in full, “in search of other people trapped in the rubble.”
Italian news reports said the first funerals were to be observed on Friday for some of the victims -- in Rome, for the son of a local police chief; in Pomezia Terme for two grandmothers and their two grandchildren </s> Italian authorities say the death toll in central Italy's devastating earthquake has risen to 278.
Civil protection officials gave the updated toll at a briefing Friday afternoon, adding that 238 other people caught up in the quake were rescued.
The death toll in the Arquata area of the earthquake zone has stabilized with 49 dead hailing from the region. Firefighting official Bruno Frattasi says there are no more people there unaccounted for, and efforts now were making sure all the dead were returned to their loved ones.
The situation remains more uncertain in the Amatrice area, where the vast majority of earthquake dead have come from. The mayor estimates at least 15 more people remain unaccounted for there.
Romania says at least 21 of its citizens are still missing in the earthquake zone.
Destruction from Italy quake a grave warning for California's old brick buildings
Crews find living among the dead as search goes on for survivors of Italy quake that killed hundreds </s> A powerful earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.6 has rocked central Italy, sending already quake-damaged buildings crumbling after a week of tremors that have left thousands homeless.
There were no immediate reports of injuries or death.
Residents already rattled by a constant trembling of the earth rushed into piazzas and streets after being roused from bed by yesterday’s 7:40 am quake.
Nuns rushed out of their church in Norcia as the clock tower appeared about to crumble.
“We are definitely seeing some damage [already],” journalist Seema Gupta, reporting from Rome, told Al Jazeera.
“We are seeing images of smoke covered over buildings that have crumbled to the ground,” she added. “Many are centuries-old buildings not built to modern standards.”
The quake measured 6.6 according to the US Geological Survey and was centred close to the Umbrian town of Norcia, where the historic Basilica of St. Benedict was badly damaged.
The Survey also said the quake was centred 132 km northeast of Rome and 68 km east of Perugia, near the epicentre of last week’s trembols.
It reportedly had a depth of 1.5 km, a relatively shallow quake near the surface but in the norm for the quake-prone Apennine Mountain region.
The earthquake was the biggest since almost 300 people were killed in central Italy on August 24 by a quake that levelled several small towns.— Al Jazeera. </s> ROME (Sputnik) — The death toll in central Italy avalanche rises to 17 after discovery of one more body, local media reported Tuesday, citing a source in the rescue team.
Earlier in the day, the rescue team found the bodies of two people.
A total of 12 people remain unaccounted for, while 11 people were found alive.
On January 18, central Italy was shaken by a series of earthquakes, with the biggest jolts ranging from 5.1 to 5.7 in magnitude and felt in Rome. On the same day, the avalanche in the region of Abruzzo buried the Rigopiano di Farindola hotel with dozens of guests and staff inside. </s> A powerful 6.6-magnitude earthquake struck central Italy on Sunday morning close to the area where nearly 300 people were killed by a quake in August.
The USGS said the quake was centered 6 km (3.7 miles) north of Norcia, a town in the province of Perugia.
The ancient town of Norcia has been left in ruins following the powerful earthquake which knocked its historical 13th century Basilica of St Benedict and other buildings to the ground.
No deaths have been reported, but Civil Protection says a number of people have been injured.
The medieval basilica of St Benedict in Norcia, the town closest to the epicentre, was among buildings destroyed.
An evacuation of buildings in the region deemed vulnerable to seismic activity last week, following strong aftershocks from August’s quake, may have saved lives.
Tremors from this latest earthquake were felt in the capital Rome, where the Metro system was shut down, and as far away as Venice in the north.
The head of the national civil protection agency, Fabrizio Curcio, said there had been extensive damage to many historic buildings but no deaths had been registered.
“About 20 people are injured. As far as people are concerned, the situation is positive, but many buildings are in a critical state in historic centres and there are problems with electricity and water supplies,” he added.
Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has promised that everything will be rebuilt, saying resources will be found.
“We are going through a really tough period,” he said. “We must not allow the profound pain, fatigue and stress that we have now to turn into resignation.”
Pope Francis mentioned the quake in his Sunday blessing in Rome’s St Peter’s Square.
“I’m praying for the injured and the families who have suffered the most damage, as well as for rescue and first-aid workers,” he said to loud applause.
According to Ansa the cathedral of Saint Maria Silver and the town hall were also reported to have been damaged along with the 4th century church in Rome commonly known as ‘St Paul’s Outside the Walls’.
The news agency reported that cornices fell and cracks appeared in the walls after the quake struck central Italy and shook many buildings in the capital. </s> ROME (CNN) — At least one person has died and many others are feared dead after an avalanche buried a hotel in central Italy following a series of earthquakes.
At least 22 guests and several staff members were at the Hotel Rigopiano at the foot of the Gran Sasso mountain when it was hit by the avalanche on Wednesday, Antonio Crocetta, a rescue group leader in the area told Italian state media.
Two people have been rescued from the site, the head of Italy’s Civil Protection Department, Fabrizio Curcio, said in a media briefing. Weather conditions are making the rescue operation difficult, he said.
Rescue workers had not been able to reach the area until the early hours of Thursday as heavy snowfall hit central Italy for several days. The area is a popular ski destination, mostly with Italian tourists.
Central Italy was rocked by more than 10 tremors on Wednesday, four of them above a magnitude of 5, according to the US Geological Survey.
An initial 5.3-magnitude quake hit in the morning near the town of of Amatrice, a town devastated by powerful temblors last year, and the tremors continued for more than six hours, including one as strong as 5.7.
While the epicenter was 90 kilometers northeast of Rome, the quake was felt strongly in the capital, sending people running from buildings in a panic.
All the aftershocks have hit around Amatrice, in the mountainous regions of Marche, Lazio and Abruzzo.
Nearly 300 people died in central Italy in quakes around Amatrice in August, and the town center, once popular with tourists, was reduced to rubble. </s> A 4.7-magnitude aftershock has hit the Italian town of Amatrice as rescuers and emergency teams continue their search of three flattened hilltop towns and Italy declares a state of emergency in the region.
With the provisional death toll from Wednesday’s 6.2-magnitude quake standing at 267, including several foreigners, the Italian prime minister, Matteo Renzi, authorised a preliminary €50m (£43m) in emergency funding for the stricken zone.
The powerful aftershock, the latest of more than 500 since the initial quake, hit the area shortly after dawn on Friday, sending up plumes of thick grey dust, shaking buildings that were still standing and fuelling fears of fresh collapses which could hamper the rescue operation.
In a first raft of emergency relief measures, Renzi cancelled residents’ taxes in and around the hardest-hit towns of Amatrice, Accumoli, Arquata del Tronto and Pescara del Tronto, between 60 and 90 miles (95-145km) north-east of Rome.
Most of the confirmed deaths were in Amatrice, where 193 people had died, includingthree Britons: Marcos Burnett, 14, who was on holiday with his parents and sister, and 55-year-old Will Henniker-Gotley and his wife Maria, 51, from south London. Marco’s parents are being treated for minor injuries in hospital.
The UK foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, said on Thursday that extra staff had been sent to the region. Six Romanians, a Canadian, a Spaniard and a Salvadoran were also killed.
The 2,500-strong population of the medieval hilltop town, voted one of Italy’s most beautiful historic towns last year, was swollen with summer visitors, many from Rome, in anticipation of its popular annual food festival this weekend.
But while 215 people had been pulled alive from the rubble since Wednesday and more than 360 were being treated in hospital, questions were mounting as to why there had been so many deaths in an area known for decades to be the most seismically hazardous in Europe.
After a 2009 earthquake in nearby L’Aquila left 300 people dead, authorities released €1bn to upgrade buildings in the region, but takeup has been low. Despite eight devastating earthquakes in 40 years, experts estimate 70% of Italy’s buildings do not meet seismic standards.
“Here, in the middle of a seismic zone, nothing has ever been done,” Dario Nanni, of Italy’s architects’ council, told Agence France-Presse. “It does not cost that much more when renovating a building to make it comply with earthquake standards. But less than 20% of buildings do.”
The culture minister said 293 historical buildings had been damaged or destroyed by the quake and public prosecutors announced an investigation into whether anyone could be held responsible.
Meanwhile, Renzi announced plans to help the country prepare better and address poor building standards, saying Italy should “have a plan that is not just limited to the management of emergency situations”.
But the prime minister said suggestions that the country could easily construct quake-proof buildings were “absurd”. It was difficult to imagine, he said after a cabinet meeting, that the level of destruction from Wednesday’s quake “could have been avoided simply by using different building technology. We’re talking about medieval-era towns.”
In Amatrice and the surrounding small towns and villages hopes of finding more survivors were fading; no one had been recovered alive since Wednesday night. The focus was now on helping the more than 1,200 people left homeless.
About 5,400 emergency workers, firefighters, soldiers and volunteers, helped by 50 sniffer dogs, continued to sift through piles of cement, rock and twisted metal, many pointing out that the last survivor from the L’Aquila quake was found 72 hours after it struck.
“We will work relentlessly until the last person is found, and make sure no one is trapped,” said one rescue team spokesman, Lorenzo Botti.
Some survivors, having slept in their cars or in tent cities set up outside the towns, were allowed to pick up essential items from their homes on Thursday accompanied by rescue workers.
“Last night we slept in the car. Tonight, I don’t know,” said Nello Caffini, carrying his sister-in-law’s belongings on his head through Pescara del Tronto, which was almost completely destroyed.
Italy’s older buildings are not obliged to conform to anti-seismic building codes, and experts estimate it could cost more than €90bn to reinforce all the country’s historic buildings. Targeted improvement work, though, could be effective.
Compounding the problem is the fact that many more modern buildings do not comply with regulations when they are built, and often prove deadlier than older constructions when an earthquake strikes.
News reports in Amatrice said investigators were looking in particular into the town’s Romolo Capranica school, which was restored in 2012 using funds provided after the L’Aquila quake. It all but collapsed on Wednesday, while the town’s 13th-century clock tower remained standing.
“We are able to prevent all these deaths,” Armando Zambrano, of the national council of engineers, told the Associated Press. “The problem is actually doing it. These tragedies keep happening because we don’t intervene. After each tragedy we say we will act but then the weeks go by and nothing happens.” </s> A powerful earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.6 has rocked central and southern Italy.
It has sent already damaged buildings crumbling after a week of quakes in the area that have left thousands homeless.
There were no immediate reports of injuries or death.
Residents already rattled by a constant trembling of the earth rushed into piazzas and streets after being roused from bed by the quake which struck at 7.40am local time.
Nuns rushed out of their church in Norcia as the clock tower appeared about to crumble.
The European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre put the magnitude at 6.6 or 6.5 with an epicentre of 132 kilometres north-east of Rome and 67 kilometres east of Perugia, near the epicentre of last week’s quakes.
The US Geological Survey put the magnitude at 6.6.
The German Research Centre for Geosciences put the magnitude at 6.5 and said it had a depth of 10 kilometres, a relatively shallow quake near the surface but in the norm for the quake-prone Apennine Mountain region. </s> Italy has been rocked by a magnitude 6.6 earthquake, hitting the central Italian region already reeling from a series of large quakes.
The epicentre of the quake, according to initial reports, was about 68km south-west of Perugia and close to the town of Norcia, which had been hit by two successive quakes on Wednesday night that caused extensive damage.
There were no initial reports of fatalities but the head of the civil protection agency, Fabrizio Curcio, said “a dozen” people were injured, with one person described as being in a serious condition.
Emergency services pulled out three people alive from the rubble in the town of Tolentino in Marche.
While there was relief that the area seemed to have been spared mass causalities - in large part because affected areas had already been abandoned after the previous quake - the damage wreaked on ancient structures across the hilly region of Marche and Umbria underscored that the landscape of this historic region would never be the same again.
The quake, which was felt in Rome and Naples, levelled historic structures that had already sustained major damage, including a tower and St Augustine church in Amatrice - the town devastated by a major earthquake in August that killed about 300 people.
In Norcia, a town in Umbria, the basilica of San Benedetto was destroyed, as was the town’s cathedral, where only remnants of the church’s facade still stood.
On Sunday morning, live television images showed firefighters in Norcia’s main square helping people running down small alleyways seeking safety. They included many monks and nuns in their habits from a nearby monastery.
Authorities were also reporting extensive damage in other towns of the region. Apart from Rome and Naples, tremors were also felt in neighbouring countries including Slovenia and Croatia.
“It all came down. Now there is no more town,” said the mayor of Arquata del Tronto, Aleandro Petrucci. There had already been “red zones” in place, abandoned after the previous quakes. “The few people who remained have gone out to the streets and are embracing. Now we’re going around to see what happened,” he said.
Cesare Spuri, the head of civil protection in Marche, said: “There are collapses everywhere. We report collapses in Muccia, Tolentino and in the areas surrounding Macerata. We’re trying to establish if people are underneath the rubble. There was also a strong shock in Ancona.”
“Everything’s collapsed. I see plumes of smoke, it’s a disaster,” said Marco Rinaldi, the mayor of Ussita, a town in the Marche region that was among the worst hit in a 6.1-magnitude quake that struck Italy on Wednesday night.
In Rome, the quake caused far more concern than Wednesday’s as it was felt much more strongly and for a longer period. The city’s metro was shut down for safety checks in case of damage.
“I was woken up by the earthquake,” Gianpaolo Giovannelli, who lives in the Flaminio area of Rome, told the Guardian. “The apartment started to shake. We feel them here in Rome, but we never get used to them so each time we feel fear.”
Assia Staffoli, a mother of two from Rome, said her husband put their six-year-old daughter under the table when they felt the earthquake, which caused their bedrooms, on a mezzanine level, to shake badly.
“That’s what you’re told to do when there’s an earthquake, go under the table,” Ms Staffoli said. “I was feeding my son [aged seven months] when it happened. We then quickly left the apartment.” | The search continues for survivors in central Italy with the death toll now 241. An aftershock of 4.7 MMS hits further east in the province near Norcia. |
Toronto police confirm there is a link between the three deaths involving a crossbow in east Toronto and a suspicious package found in the downtown area of the city. No further details were provided.
Earlier Thursday, police revealed that three people are dead, all of whom were found with apparent crossbow injuries, in the Scarborough area of Toronto on Thursday afternoon. A source with knowledge of the investigation said it's believed all three deceased are related, CBC News has learned.
Police said the bodies of two men and a woman were found in a garage. Two people were found with no vital signs, and one person died after officers arrived, police confirmed.
Toronto police were investigating a suspicious package on Queens Quay they say is linked to a deadly crime scene in Scarborough. (Marjorie April/CBC) "We have a lot of work to do," Det. Sgt. Mike Carbone said four hours into the police investigation. "We still have a ways to go."
The identities of the victims are not being released until next of kin are notified, Carbone said.
Paramedics said another man was taken to hospital with injuries that were not serious. "He was another victim," spokesman Evert Steenge revealed.
Police have also confirmed that a 35-year-old male suspect, who has injuries, is being held in custody.
Three people are dead, including at least one who was found with an apparent crossbow injury in Scarborough. 0:24 Police responded to a report of a stabbing at around 1 p.m. ET on Lawndale Road near Markham Road and Eglinton Avenue East, Const. David Hopkinson told CBC News.
"Indications were that [a] person had been stabbed — their injuries were fairly serious," Hopkinson said. "When officers arrived, they found that person and two others suffering from injuries from what we believe to be a crossbow bolt."
Police said a crossbow was found on the floor of the garage.
"We don't have any idea with regards to why this may have happened," said Hopkinson.
Scarborough crossbow deaths scene through neighbour's backyard <a href="https://t.co/2a0CtAYQpT">pic.twitter.com/2a0CtAYQpT</a> —@trevorjdunn Const. Jenifferjit Sidhu said there were other "things" found in the area that could have been used as weapons.
Neighbour Jerome Cruz told CBC News that he heard screams before things went silent and said it sounded like a fight in the garage.
"It was going on for about five minutes — the screaming," he explained. "After that, all quiet."
Cruz said he's lived in the area for the past two years and said the people who reside in the house where the incident took place are normally "very quiet."
Neighbour near crossbow attack heard screams, then silence. <a href="https://t.co/1RwalICnsZ">pic.twitter.com/1RwalICnsZ</a> —@trevorjdunn "It was very strange to hear a big noise and screaming," Cruz said.
"We are looking to speak to anyone that may have information," Hopkinson said.
Nearby streets, including Knowlton Drive, Lockleven Drive and Glenda Road, are closed and the police homicide unit has taken over the investigation.
A bolt is a crossbow projectile that is under 40.6 centimetres (16 inches) in length, according to A bolt is a crossbow projectile that is under 40.6 centimetres (16 inches) in length, according to Phillip Bednar of TenPoint Crossbow Technologies , adding that anything longer is considered an arrow.
Dale Lounsbury, who sells crossbows at a sporting goods store in Waterloo, Ont., and owns one himself, said they can be dangerous due to their power and accuracy, but they are not suited to firing multiple shots in quick succession.
"I can probably fire two shots a minute, maybe three," Lounsbury said.
Unlike guns, no licence is required to buy or own a crossbow.
Toronto Police on Lawndale Rd in Scarborough. 3 people dead. <a href="https://t.co/yiaoPxdoEf">pic.twitter.com/yiaoPxdoEf</a> —@trevorjdunn
This isn't the first time a person has been killed by a crossbow bolt in the city. In December 2010, a man fired a bolt into his father's back at a Toronto Public Library branch before crushing the 52-year-old man's skull with a hammer.
Zhou Fang was charged with first-degree murder but accepted a plea for second-degree murder after it was revealed that he was the victim of long-term abuse by his father. Fang, then 26, was sentenced to life in prison in 2012. </s> Three people have been killed in an attack involving a crossbow in Toronto on Thursday.
A man was taken into custody and police later evacuated a building over a suspicious package in a related incident, Detective Mike Carbone said, without giving further details.
In the initial incident, police responding to a report of a stabbing to find three people who appeared to have been injured by crossbow bolts, said police spokesman David Hopkinson. Two men and a woman were pronounced dead.
“We don’t have any idea with regards to why this may have happened,” said Hopkinson.
CTV News, citing emergency services, said two other people were seriously injured.
An undentified man, 35, was taken into custody, police said.
Television footage showed police tape surrounding part of a residential street in Scarborough, a suburban area east of the city’s downtown area.
In 2010, a man shot his father in the back with a crossbow in a Toronto public library before smashing his skull with a hammer. Zhou Fang, who had suffered domestic abuse, was convicted of a lesser charge of second-degree murder. </s> A 35-year-old man has been arrested after three people were killed in an attack involving a crossbow in Toronto's east end on Thursday.
Police responding to a call about a stabbing found two men and a woman who appeared to have been injured by a crossbow bolt, spokesman David Hopkinson said. All were pronounced dead.
'We don't have any idea with regards to why this may have happened,' said Hopkinson.
A police source told CTV News that two bodies were discovered in the garage at the Scarborough home and the third was found in a driveway.
Police say the man who placed the call to 911 is one of the deceased.
Two other people were seriously injured.
A 35-year-old man has been taken into custody. There are reportedly no other suspects outstanding.
Television footage showed police tape surrounding part of a residential street near Markham Road and Eglinton Avenue East, a suburban area east of the city's downtown area.
Resident Jerome Cruz told CTV News Channel that he heard someone screaming for several minutes before everything went silent.
He also heard a commotion and what sounded like 'banging' in his neighbor's backyard. </s> TORONTO (AP) — A 35-year-old Toronto man is facing murder charges in the deaths of three people suffering from what appeared to be crossbow wounds.
Brett Ryan is facing three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths that shocked a quiet residential neighborhood in the city's east end. The slayings were discovered on Thursday. Police found two men and one woman lying in the driveway suffering from serious wounds with a crossbow lying nearby.
The names of the victims have not released but an autopsy is scheduled.
Ryan is due to appear in court Friday morning.
Police said there was a link between the crossbow scene and a suspicious package investigation in a condo on Toronto's waterfront. The condo was evacuated as police cordoned off the area but the package was later cleared. </s> Jerome Cruz was gardening in the backyard when suddenly he heard a man “screaming and banging” at a neighbouring house.
At the time, the 69-year-old had no idea three people were being brutally slain with a crossbow bolt. Nor could he know that in a bizarre twist, the triple murder in Scarborough would end up being linked to a suspicious package found downtown.
“It was angry screaming,” Cruz recalled Thursday from his yard, which backs onto the yard of the Lawndale Rd. home where the murders unfolded.
“It went on for about five minutes and then I heard another man trying to calm him down. He was saying, ‘Calm down, be quiet.’”
With his view blocked by a shed, Cruz was unable to see the two men.
But soon after he caught a glimpse of a woman running along the driveway at the side of the house.
Within a few minutes, it got deathly “quiet,” but Cruz just figured the commotion had ended peacefully.
“I thought maybe the young man was drunk or something and now everything was OK,” he said.
But when his neighbourhood was soon filled with the flashing lights of emergency crews, Cruz knew something bad had happened.
Toronto Police say they initially received a 911 call around 1 p.m. for a man bleeding heavily from a suspected stab wound on the residential street near Markham and Kingston Rds.
“When our officers from 43 Division arrived, they found the lifeless bodies of three individuals,” Det.-Sgt. Mike Carbone said at the scene. “They also took one person into custody.”
A fourth victim was taken to hospital, he added.
Carbone refused to reveal if there was any sort of relationship between those involved.
Toronto EMS confirmed two men and one woman were killed and the fourth victim suffered only minor injuries.
Carbone also refused to comment on reports a crossbow or bolts, the arrows fired from a crossbow, were involved in the killings.
However, in the immediate aftermath of the murders, police said the victims suffered what appeared to be fatal injuries from a crossbow bolt. Police couldn’t say Thursday night whether the bolts were fired from a crossbow or used like a knife to stab the victims.
About 90 minutes after the triple murder, cops received a call for a suspicious package inside a condo at Queens Quay and Lower Simcoe St. that is thought to be tied to the attack.
Traffic was shut down in the area and 218 Queens Quay was evacuated while bomb disposal officers were called in.
“We have cleared the package and there is no threat to public safety,” Supt. Bill Neadles said. “Homicide detectives have now taken over the scene.”
While it’s unclear what was contained within the package, Carbone confirmed the downtown incident was tied to the Scarborough murders.
“I’m not going to discuss what was found at the scene other than to say there is a link between our scene here and the one down on the Queens Quay,” he said.
Residents of the Scarborough neighbourhood were stunned by the mayhem that occurred in their community.
“This is a quiet area ... I’m very surprised by this,” Ragu Sangaramoorthy, 41, said.
The family man, who rents a basement apartment two doors down from where the victims were found, recalled having seen three children, maybe 7 to 13, and a woman possibly in her 50s coming and going from the home at times.
“I’m very upset because I have two kids,” Sangaramoorthy said.
Another resident, Sadiya Haque, said her sense of shock and fear is based partly on the many unanswered questions.
When it comes to buying a crossbow in Toronto or across Canada, it turns out that bigger is better, legally speaking.
According to the Canadian Firearms Program as published by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, crossbows with an overall length of 500 mm or less are prohibited across the country.
However, the program states that no licence or registration is required for crossbows longer than 500 mm and that Criminal Code provisions making it an offence to acquire a crossbow without a valid licence were never brought into force.
Here are more guidelines for crossbows, according to Paul Hunkin, from Al Flaherty’s Outdoor Store on Dufferin St. in Toronto:
— You must be 18 years of age or older to purchase one.
— Crossbows may not be fired anywhere inside the boundaries of the City of Toronto.
Different types of crossbows that are available in stores:
— There are only two types: Prohibited and non-prohibited.
— Prohibited are crossbows that are 500 mm in length or smaller, which can be held and fired with one hand, similar to a handgun.
— Both are classified as “firearms” for legal purposes.
Locations where crossbows are sold and how much they cost:
— Retailers such as Al Flaherty’s, Canadian Tire, Sail, and Bass Pro Shops all sell a wide range of crossbows.
— Prices range from around $400 to well over $1,000.
— Commonly used for a wide variety of hunting.
— The crossbow hunting seasons do not overlap rifle and shotgun seasons and typically run for a longer period, making them popular among hunters.
— Moose, deer, bears, and sometimes turkeys are hunted with crossbows.
-- In December 2010, 24-year-old Zhou Fang shot his father in the back with a crossbow then crushed his skill with a hammer, at a public library in Toronto's east end.
-- In July, a Mission, B.C., father was charged with attacking his son who was shot in the forearm with a crossbow.
-- In November 2007, a 26-year-old man was charged with murder and attempted murder after his mother was killed and father was injured by a crossbow in St-Cesaire, Que.
-- In October 2002, a dairy farmer was shot in the back and injured with a crossbow in St.-Bonaventure.
-- In August 1998, a man asleep in his Hamilton home was shot in the head and injured by a man who fired a crossbow.
-- In 1998, Edward Stuart Walker shot a pregnant Stephanie Celestine Thomas with a crossbow, then stabbed her 46 times in Central Saanich on Vancouver Island.
-- In September 1994, Yvon Gosselin was driven to a gravel pit near Terrace, B.C., where he was killed with two bolts from a crossbow.
-- In May 1995, a man armed with a crossbow entered the Winnipeg Convention Centre shortly before then-prime minister Jean Chretien arrived to deliver a speech. The suspect was arrested.
-- In January 1993, B.C. Institute of Technology student Silvia Leung, 22, bled to death in the campus parking lot in Burnaby after being hit in the shoulder by a crossbow.
-- In November 1991, Ottawa lawyer Patricia Allen was killed with a crossbow by her estranged husband Colin McGregor. </s> Man charged after three die in Toronto crossbow attack -police
TORONTO, Aug 26 (Reuters) - Toronto police have charged a man with three counts of first-degree murder after three people were killed in a crossbow attack on a quiet suburban street, police in Canada's largest city said on Friday.
Brett Ryan, 35, was slated to appear in court later on Friday, police said.
Two men and a woman died at the house in the city's east end on Thursday. Police responding to a stabbing found the three bleeding on the driveway outside a nearby garage.
One of the victims made a 911 call before dying, according to a local newspaper report, and the suspect was also wounded. </s> A 35-year-old Toronto man is facing murder charges in the deaths of three people suffering from what appeared to be crossbow wounds.
Brett Ryan is facing three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths that shocked a quiet residential neighborhood in the city's east end.
The slayings were discovered on Thursday when police found two men and one woman lying in the driveway suffering from serious wounds with a crossbow lying nearby.
All three died at the scene, according to CBC News.
The names of the victims have not released but an autopsy is scheduled.
Ryan is due to appear in court Friday morning.
Police said there was a link between the crossbow scene and a suspicious package investigation in a condo on Toronto's waterfront.
However, officials would not say what the link was between the package and the attack.
The condo was evacuated as police cordoned off the area but the package was later cleared.
Ryan was arrested in 2008 in relation to 14 bank robberies committed throughout Toronto and Durham Region, CP24 Go reported.
At the time he wore a fake beard as a disguise and was called the 'fake beard bandit' by officials.
He was sentenced to three years in prison in 2009.
Ryan was also listed as living at the address of the crime scene when he filed for bankruptcy in 2010, City News reported.
'We don't have any idea with regards to why this may have happened,' police spokesman David Hopkinson said.
A police source told CTV News that two bodies were discovered in the garage at the Scarborough home and the third was found in a driveway.
Police say the man who placed the call to 911 is one of the deceased.
There are reportedly no other suspects outstanding.
Television footage showed police tape surrounding part of a residential street near Markham Road and Eglinton Avenue East, a suburban area east of the city's downtown area.
Resident Jerome Cruz told CTV News Channel that he heard someone screaming for several minutes before everything went silent.
He also heard a commotion and what sounded like 'banging' in his neighbor's backyard. </s> The assailant used bolts, a shorter and thicker version of an arrow, police spokesman Officer David Hopkinson said.
A 35-year-old man at the scene was treated for injuries and taken into custody. Police did not say what his connection to the victims might be.
The incident occurred about 1 p.m. in the Scarborough neighborhood. Officers responding to a call found all three victims dead.
About 90 minutes later, authorities heard from an unidentified caller about the package, Hopkinson said.
Police discovered the package in downtown Toronto, but said it is "no longer a threat." It's unclear whether it was destroyed. </s> TORONTO — A man clad in black fired a handgun into restaurants and cafes in a lively Toronto neighborhood, killing a 10-year-old girl and an 18-year-old woman and wounding 13 others in an attack that has shaken the confidence of many in the normally safe city.
Authorities identified the suspect as Faisal Hussain, 29, of Toronto, who died after an exchange of gunfire with police. It was not immediately clear whether he killed himself or was killed by police.
The mass shooting late Sunday in Toronto's Greektown district came just three months after a van struck and killed 10 people in an apparent attack directed toward women.
Police Chief Mark Saunders said he would not speculate on a motive but did not rule out terrorism.
"It's almost inconceivable that these things can happen," said Mayor John Tory. "We were so used to living in a city where these things didn't happen and as we saw them going on in the world around us (we) thought they couldn't happen here."
"This is an attack against innocent families and our entire city."
The slain 18-year-old was identified as Reese Fallon, a recent high school graduate who volunteered for Canada's Liberal party and was due to attend McMaster University in the fall. Her family said in a statement they were devastated.
"She was ... smart, passionate and full of energy. It is a huge loss," said Canadian Member of Parliament Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, who knew Fallon.
Flags at Toronto City Hall as well as at Fallon's former high school, Malvern CI, and at school board buildings were lowered to half-staff.
" An engaging student, Reese Fallon graduated from Malvern CI just last month and was highly regarded by staff and loved by her friends," the school board said in a statement, adding that support was being offered to students.
The 13 wounded ranged in age from 10 to 59, and suffered injuries ranging from serious to minor, Saunders said. He did not name the victims, who included eight women and girls, and seven men.
Dr. Najma Ahmed of St. Michael's Hospital said five patients had been admitted in serious or critical condition and that three of the five underwent immediate lifesaving operations.
A video taken by a witness showed a man dressed all in black walking quickly down a sidewalk and firing three shots into at least one shop or restaurant in Toronto's Greektown, a residential area crowded with Greek restaurants and cafes.
Witnesses heard many shots and described the suspect walking past restaurants and cafes and patios on both sides of the street and firing into them.
Ontario's police watchdog said there was an exchange of gunfire between the assailant and two officers on a side street before the gunman was found dead near Danforth Avenue where the shootings occurred..
A spokeswoman for the Special Investigations Unit, Monica Hudon, said an autopsy would be performed Tuesday on the suspect.
Det.-Sgt. Terry Browne said police had sought a search warrant for an address related to the suspect but didn't say where.
Tanya Wilson was closing her tattoo shop on the street when she heard gunshots and a mother and her son ran into her store with gunshot wounds to their legs
"They said they were walking and a man told them to get the hell out his way and he just shot them," Wilson said.
Wilson said she tied and elevated their wounds and tried to keep them calm while they waited for paramedics. She locked the door and shut off the lights, not knowing what was happening outside.
Jody Steinhauer was celebrating her birthday with family at Christina's restaurant on Danforth Avenue when they heard 10 to 15 shots. They ran to the back to the restaurant and hid under a table.
"We heard a woman yell, 'Help!' My partner went outside the restaurant and the woman was right there. She had been shot," she said.
Her boyfriend and a doctor who was in the restaurant attended to the woman who was shot in the thigh. "She was screaming and yelling and in shock. Nobody was with her. That was the scary part," Steinhauer said.
Police, paramedics and other first responders descended on the scene, while people, some in their pajamas, emerged from their homes to see what was happening.
Though mass shootings are rare in Canada's largest city, Toronto police had deployed dozens of additional officers over the weekend to deal with a recent rise in gun violence in the city, which has seen 23 gun homicides so far this year, compared to 16 fatal shootings in the first half of 2017.
Toronto Councilor Paula Fletcher said the attack was "not gang related" and that the gunman shot "indiscriminately" into restaurants and into a park.
"I know we always say, 'That can't happen here,' when we see those gunmen in the States doing the same thing and it has happened here now," Fletcher said.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford said the confidence that Toronto is a safe city had been shaken. Toronto has long prided itself as being one of the safest big cities in the world.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted: "The people of Toronto are strong, resilient and brave — and we'll be there to support you through this difficult time."
In April, the driver of a van plowed into pedestrians on a Toronto sidewalk, killing 10 people and injuring 14. Authorities have not disclosed a motive, but said the arrested driver, Alek Minassian, posted a message on social media referencing a misogynistic online community before the attack.
A now-deleted Facebook post indicated anger toward women and saluted Elliot Rodger, a community college student who killed six people and wounded 13 in shooting and stabbing attacks near the University of California, Santa Barbara, in 2014.
"The Incel Rebellion has already begun!" read the post, using the term incel to refer to "involuntarily celibate."
Meanwhile, Ottawa police arrested a 24-year-old man with a knife on Monday during the Changing of the Guard on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. No one was injured. It was unclear if the incident was related to the mass shooting in Toronto.
Associated Press writer Jennifer Peltz in in New York contributed to this report.
Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. | Three people are killed and two are injured after a crossbow attack in Scarborough, Toronto. A suspicious package was also found in another linked event. |
The impeachment trial of suspended Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff in the Senate descended into a shouting match between her political supporters and opponents during its second day on Friday, forcing a halt in proceedings.
Supreme Court Chief Justice Ricardo Lewandowski was obliged to intervene and suspend the session after Senate President Renan Calheiros was unable to stop the arguments, in a sign that the build up to a final vote expected on Wednesday morning will be fraught with tensions.
Lewandowski adjourned early for lunch and will restart the session at 1 p.m. local (1600 GMT) </s> BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil’s Senate began the trial of suspended President Dilma Rousseff on Thursday after a lengthy impeachment process that has paralyzed the politics of Latin America’s largest nation and is expected to culminate in her removal from office next week.
The secretary of the Federal Senate reads the opening of the process during a final session of debate and voting on suspended President Dilma Rousseff's impeachment trial in Brasilia, Brazil August 25, 2016. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino
Thursday’s session, presided over by Supreme Court Chief Justice Ricardo Lewandowski, heard witnesses for and against Rousseff, Brazil’s first female president, who is charged with breaking budget laws.
The leftist leader, whose popularity has been hammered by a deep recession and immense corruption scandal since she won reelection in 2014, will appear before the 81 senators on Monday to defend herself. Her opponents are confident they have more than the 54 votes needed to convict her.
Authorities prepared barriers to contain demonstrations outside Brazil’s modernistic Congress building, but virtually no Rousseff supporters turned out, underscoring the isolation of the impeached president.
If the final vote, which is expected late Tuesday or in the early hours of Wednesday, goes against Rousseff it would confirm her vice president, Michel Temer, as Brazil’s new leader for the rest of her four-year term through 2018, ending 13 years of left-wing Workers Party rule.
Rousseff, a former leftist guerrilla, is charged with spending without congressional approval and manipulating government accounts to mask the extent of Brazil’s growing deficit in the run-up to her 2014 re-election.
Her Senate supporters managed to discredit a key witness, a Federal Audit Court prosecutor who led the probe of Rousseff’s government, because he had taken part in an anti-Rousseff demonstration.
Lewandowski ruled that Julio Marcelo de Oliveira could be questioned but his testimony would not count as proof, a development that is not expected to affect the outcome of a trial that is more political than judicial.
A survey published by O Globo newspaper on Thursday showed that 52 senators were committed to voting to dismiss Rousseff, with only 19 supporting her and 10 undecided or not polled.
Rousseff has denied any wrongdoing and described efforts to oust her as a “coup.” She has refused to resign and said the accounting practices she is being put on trial for were also commonly used by previous governments.
With unemployment above 11 percent, and dozens of politicians in her coalition implicated in a kickback scandal at state-led oil company Petrobras, the trial has become a test of Rousseff’s support.
Polls show ordinary Brazilians are unconcerned by the alleged accounting irregularities but want Rousseff ousted in the hope the next government can better manage the economy.
DAUNTING TASK
If confirmed president by Rousseff’s ouster, Temer would face a daunting task: steering Latin America’s largest economy out of recession and plugging a budget deficit that has topped 10 percent of gross domestic product.
In the unlikely case that she is acquitted, Rousseff would immediately return to office.
Brazilian assets have rallied on prospects of a more market-friendly government, with the currency rising around 30 percent against the dollar this year. Still, investors and members of Temer’s fragile coalition are concerned he has yet to implement measures to control the deficit.
Temer’s right-leaning government has sought to speed up the trial so he can set about restoring confidence in a once-booming economy and remove any doubts about his legitimacy.
A draft budget for next year is not expected in Congress until Aug. 31, after the Senate votes, by which time Temer could have more political leverage to push through austerity measures.
Investors are concerned Temer might give in to pressure for spending increases such as pay hikes for public employees, including the nation’s judges, a demand supported by Lewandowski.
Temer has proposed a constitutional limit on spending and a broad reform of Brazil’s pension system to reverse a deteriorating fiscal outlook - moves applauded by credit rating agencies that last year stripped the country of its prized investment grade.
“While we expect the current administration to have a better chance of getting these reforms through Congress than the previous government, there is still no clear support to approve these measures,” Moody’s Investors Service said in a client note.
If Rousseff is removed, Temer must be sworn in by the Senate. He is then expected to address the nation before heading to the summit of the G20 group of leading economies in China on Sept. 4-5.
Without the legal protection of her presidential status, Rousseff could find herself in court facing an investigation into whether she and former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva tried to obstruct the Petrobras corruption probe.
Slideshow (6 Images)
Even Rousseff’s Workers Party, hurt by corruption scandals and her dismal economic record, has distanced itself from her last-minute call for elections to resolve the political crisis.
Yet party leader Lula came to her defense on Thursday. Speaking to workers in the city of Niteroi, Lula said Rousseff may have committed policy errors but she was an honest politician who had done nothing to warrant her removal.
“What they’re doing is finding a way to take power without winning votes in an election,” he said. “Today is a shameful day. The senators have begun to rip up Brazil’s constitution.” </s> BRASILIA, Brazil (Reuters) - Brazil’s Senate removed leftist President Dilma Rousseff from office on Wednesday for breaking budgetary laws, in an impeachment process that has polarized the Latin American country and paralyzed its politics for nine months.
Senators voted 61-20 to convict Rousseff for illegally using money from state banks to boost public spending. Her conservative former vice president, Michel Temer, who has run the country since her suspension in May, will be sworn to serve out the remainder of her term through 2018.
A separate vote will be held on whether Rousseff will be barred from public office for eight years. </s> Defense witnesses to testify in trial of Brazil's president
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Senators in Brazil have begun a second day of deliberations in the trial of President Dilma Rousseff.
Rousseff, in the middle of her second term, is accused of breaking fiscal rules in her management of the federal budget. She denies wrongdoing and argues that her enemies are carrying out a "coup d'etat."
Witnesses for Rousseff's defense are expected to testify Friday.
FILE - In this Dec. 13, 2015 file photo, a woman holds a sign that reads in Portuguese; "Dilma Out" during a demonstration in favor of the impeachment of Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff, on Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Just days after the Rio Olympics ended, Brazilian senators are now gearing up for a final decision on whether to permanently remove Rousseff from office. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo, File)
Several days of debate, including an address by Rousseff on Monday, will culminate in a vote on whether to permanently remove her from office.
The Senate voted in May to impeach and suspend her for up to 180 days while the trial could be prepared.
Vice President Michel Temer took over in May. If Rousseff is removed, Temer will serve the rest of her term through 2018.
FILE - In this Oct. 6, 2014 file photo, Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff listens to a question during a re-election campaign news conference at the Alvorada Palace in Brasilia, Brazil. Just days after the Rio Olympics ended, Brazilian senators are now gearing up for a final decision on whether to permanently remove President Dilma Rousseff from office. The months-long leadership fight has brought to the surface deep polarization in Latin America's most populous nation, fueled by anger over endemic corruption and angst about an emerging economy that has gone from darling to depression amid its worst financial crisis in decades. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres, File) </s> BRASILIA, Aug 26 (Reuters) - The Senate impeachment trial of suspended Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff descended into a shouting match between her political supporters and opponents during its second day on Friday, forcing a two-hour halt in the proceedings.
Supreme Court Chief Justice Ricardo Lewandowski, who is presiding over the final phase of a lengthy impeachment process that has paralysed Brazilian politics since December, suspended the session after Senate President Renan Calheiros was unable to stop the arguments. The trial resumed after lunch.
Supporters and opponents of Rousseff shouted insults at each other in a tumultuous session that showed the buildup to a final vote expected on Wednesday morning will be fraught with tension.
"This impeachment trial has become a loony bin," Calheiros said, appealing for calm.
But Calheiros himself set off another argument by taking on Gleisi Hoffmann, a senator from Rousseff's Workers Party, for stating the Senate lacked moral authority to try the leftist president. He said Hoffmann did not have a leg to stand because he had helped the senator avoid corruption charges a month ago.
The trial is expected to culminate in the removal of Rousseff from office, ending 13 years of left-wing Workers Party rule, and the confirmation of her vice president, Michel Temer, as president for the remainder of her term through 2018.
Temer has been interim president since mid-May, when Rousseff was suspended after Congress decided it would continue the impeachment process that began in the lower house.
Her opponents need 54 votes, or two-thirds of the 81-seat Senate, to convict her of breaking budget laws.
A survey by the O Estado de S.Paulo newspaper published on Friday found 54 senators backed her ouster and 18 opposed it, with 14 undecided or not saying.
A deep recession and wide-ranging corruption scandal has caused Brazil's first female president's popularity to plummet since she won reelection in 2014. Polls show a majority of Brazilians want her gone.
But polls also show that Temer has as little popular support as Rousseff and that the majority of Brazilians would like to see new elections called, an unlikely development.
Few if any Rousseff supporters have shown up outside Brazil's Congress building to back her, underscoring the impeached president's isolation.
Rousseff, a former leftist guerrilla who was imprisoned and tortured during Brazil's military dictatorship, is charged with spending without congressional approval and manipulating government accounts to mask the extent of the nation's growing deficit in the run-up to her reelection.
Rousseff has denied any wrongdoing and described efforts to oust her as a "coup" plotted by Temer and his political allies, many of whom are caught up in the huge kickback scandal at state-run oil company Petrobras that has engulfed much of Brazil's political and business class.
If confirmed as president, Temer would face a daunting task: steering Latin America's largest economy out of recession and plugging a budget deficit that has topped 10 percent of gross domestic product.
Temer will need to quickly demonstrate his commitment to cutting the budget deficit if he is to sustain investor optimism after a major rally in financial markets this year. (Reporting by Anthony Boadle; Editing by Daniel Flynn and Lisa Von Ahn) </s> BRASÍLIA: Angry quarrels erupted at suspended Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff’s impeachment trial Friday, while her key ally, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, faced corruption charges on a day of turmoil for Latin America’s largest country.
Day two of Rousseff’s Senate trial in the capital Brasilia began with shouting matches that forced Supreme Court Chief Justice Ricardo Lewandowski to put the session temporarily on hold until tempers calmed.
Senate President Renan Calheiros called the row, prompted by a Rousseff loyalist’s questioning of the notoriously corrupt Senate’s moral authority, “a demonstration of infinite stupidity.”
About two-thirds of the senators have current or past brushes with the law, according to corruption watchdog Transparencia Brasil.
Rousseff, 68, is accused of breaking the law by taking unauthorized state bank loans to cover up budgetary shortfalls during her 2014 re-election.
She says the budgetary maneuvers were legal, describing herself as victim of a right-wing power grab after 13 years’ rule by her leftist Workers’ Party.
Witnesses for the defense were called Friday following the trial’s opening day Thursday, when the case against Rousseff was presented.
One witness, economist Luiz Gonzaga Belluzo, insisted that Rousseff did not violate the law, and that ousting her would be “an attack on democracy.”
The session ended at 0200 GMT Saturday, and is set to resume at 1300 GMT.
Rousseff herself is planning to testify Monday in a dramatic last-ditch attempt to save herself before senators vote—with analysts widely predicting her defeat.
Lula’s troubles deepen
At stake is not just Rousseff’s fate, but that of the once mighty Workers’ Party.
Its founder, Lula, faced his own mounting problems after police Friday filed a request for corruption and money laundering charges linking the influential ex-president to a vast embezzlement and bribery scheme at state oil company Petrobras.
Lula’s lawyer Cristiano Zanin Martins said Lula was innocent and targeted by a politically motivated case.
“Once again there is an act that by a strange coincidence occurs at a politically important moment for the country,” he told a news conference in Sao Paulo.
“That makes me think that this play, apart from being a fiction, has a clear political connotation.”
Although prosecutors and a judge must still approve the recommendation for Lula to go to trial, the police filing represented another blow for a man seeing his lifelong project to build Brazil’s left put in peril.
Adding to the drama, Lula was planning to travel from his home city of Sao Paulo to Brasilia to support Rousseff when she confronts her accusers in the Senate on Monday.
Under current plans, a vote would then take place within 48 hours after the senators’ final speeches. A pro-impeachment vote would see Rousseff immediately removed from office.
However, given the snail’s pace of the trial so far—with the first defense witness finishing only late afternoon Friday—it was not clear whether the schedule would change. </s> RIO DE JANEIRO – Brazil’s Senate on Thursday began a trial to decide whether to permanently remove President Dilma Rousseff from office. While the formal accusations against Rousseff are related to her management of the federal budget, the leadership fight involves much more. The Associated Press explains how we got to this point and how the trial is likely to play out.
How did we get here?
Rousseff was re-elected to a second four-year term in October 2014. As the economy worsened, hundreds of thousands took to the streets in early 2015, with many demanding the ouster of Rousseff and her left-leaning Workers’ Party. Her foes in Congress introduced a measure last year to impeach and remove her. In April, the Chamber of Deputies approved it 367-137 and in May, the Senate voted 55-22 in favour. Rousseff was suspended and Vice-President Michel Temer became interim president.
What is Rousseff accused of doing?
Rousseff is accused of illegally shifting funds between government budgets. Opposition parties say that was to boost public spending and shore up support while masking the depths of deficits. Rousseff says other former presidents used similar accounting techniques.
How will the trial unfold?
Supreme Court chief justice Ricardo Lewandowski will preside as witnesses from both sides testify and senators cross-examine them. Rousseff is expected to testify on Monday. A vote is expected by the middle of next week. A supermajority – 54 of the 81 senators – is needed to convict her, which would result in her permanent removal from office.
What do Rousseff’s supporters and opponents claim?
Rousseff and her backers say impeachment is a “coup” by corrupt opposition lawmakers meant to derail investigations into into billions of dollars in kickbacks at the state oil company. They also argue that Brazil’s ruling class wants to end 13 years of leftist government. Opponents say Rousseff’s budget manoeuvrs aggravated the crisis in Latin America’s largest economy.
What happens if she is convicted?
A conviction would permanently remove Rousseff from the presidency and bar her from holding any office for eight years. Temer would serve out her term, which ends Dec. 21, 2018. If convicted, Rousseff will likely appeal to the country’s highest court. But previous appeals during the process have failed.
What happens if she is absolved?
If fewer than 54 senators vote to remove her, Rousseff would return to office. She’s promised that if that happens, she would let voters decide in a plebiscite whether they want early presidential elections.
What do Brazilians want?
Brazilians are soured on politicians in general; both Rousseff and Temer are very unpopular. A poll taken last month by Datafolha found that 62 per cent want new elections to solve the crisis. But before new elections could occur, both Rousseff and Temer would have to resign or be removed from office. </s> BRASÍLIA: Angry quarrels erupted at suspended Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff’s impeachment trial, while her key ally, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, faced corruption charges on a day of turmoil for Latin America’s biggest country.
Day two of Rousseff’s Senate trial in the capital Brasilia began with shouting matches that forced Supreme Court Chief Justice Ricardo Lewandowski to put the session on hold until tempers calmed.
Senate President Renan Calheiros called the row, prompted by a Rousseff loyalist’s questioning of the notoriously corrupt Senate’s moral authority, “a demonstration of infinite stupidity.”
Rousseff, 68, is accused of breaking the law by taking unauthorized state bank loans to cover up budgetary shortfalls during her 2014 re-election.
She says the budgetary maneuvers were legal, describing herself as victim of a right-wing power grab after 13 years’ rule by her leftist Workers’ Party.
Witnesses for the defense were called Friday following the trial’s opening day Thursday, when the case against Rousseff was presented.
Rousseff herself is planning to testify Monday in a dramatic last-ditch attempt to save herself before senators vote — with analysts widely predicting her defeat.
At stake is not just Rousseff’s fate, but that of the once mighty Workers’ Party.
Its founder, Lula, faced his own mounting problems after police Friday filed a request for corruption and money laundering charges linking the influential ex-president to a vast embezzlement and bribery scheme at state oil company Petrobras.
Lula’s lawyer Cristiano Zanin Martins said Lula was innocent and targeted by a politically motivated case.
“Once again there is an act that by a strange coincidence occurs at a politically important moment for the country,” he told a news conference in Sao Paulo.
“That makes me think that this play, apart from being a fiction, has a clear political connotation.”
Although prosecutors and a judge must still approve the recommendation for Lula to go to trial, the police filing represented another blow for a man seeing his lifelong project to build Brazil’s left put in peril.
Adding to the drama, Lula was planning to travel from his home city of Sao Paulo to Brasilia to support Rousseff when she confronts her accusers in the Senate on Monday.
Under current plans, a vote would then take place within 48 hours after the senators’ final speeches. A pro-impeachment vote would see Rousseff immediately removed from office.
However, given the snail’s pace of the trial so far — with the first defense witness finishing only late afternoon Friday — it was not clear whether the schedule would change.
Two thirds of the Senate — 54 of the 81 senators — must back impeachment to remove Rousseff from office.
Her allies insist they can still sway a half dozen or so senators to prevent that happening, but analysts believe there is no appetite for allowing Rousseff to return to power.
And opponents of the former leftist guerrilla say they have the votes in the bag.
Senator Raimundo Lira, a strong backer of impeachment, told AFP that senators “have already made up their minds, and I don’t think there will be any change at the vote.”
If Rousseff goes, Michel Temer — Rousseff’s former vice president turned bitter enemy — will be sworn in. He has already served as acting president since her suspension in May and moved quickly to shift Brazil away from the left, saying the country needs reform to rebuild its giant, crumbling economy.
It shrank 3.8 percent in 2015 and is forecast to drop a further 3.3 percent this year, a historic recession. Inflation stands at around nine percent and unemployment at 11 percent.
Temer is hardly more popular than Rousseff, however: a recent opinion poll found only 14 percent of Brazilians thought he was doing a good job. AFP </s> RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) - A trial against Brazil’s president turned into a yelling match and was temporarily suspended on Friday after the head of Senate declared “stupidity is endless” and sharply criticized a colleague who had questioned the body’s moral authority.
The second day of the trial against President Dilma Rousseff got off to an edgy start when Senate President Renan Calheiros decided to bring up a comment made on Thursday by Sen. Gleisi Hoffmann, a member of Rousseff’s Workers’ Party.
Hoffmann, who like many in the Senate and lower Chamber of Deputies is being investigated for corruption, had declared that “no one here” had the moral standing to judge Rousseff.
“It can’t be that a senator is saying things like this,” said Calheiros, who later added: “I am very sad because this session is, above all, a statement that stupidity is endless.”
In a bizarre and heated exchange with Hoffmann and other senators, Calheiros said he had asked the Supreme Federal Tribunal, the country’s highest court, not to raid Hoffmann’s home, apparently trying to make the point that federal lawmakers should not be persecuted arbitrarily.
Only the high court can decide to investigate, arrest or prosecute federal lawmakers. Police are investigating whether Hoffmann and her husband received kickbacks from state oil company Petrobras in the form of campaign contributions. They deny wrongdoing.
Calheiros’s comments provoked gasps of surprise in the Senate, and are likely to raise questions about his relationship with justices on the high court, who are supposed to be independent.
With several senators shouting at once, Chief Justice Ricardo Lewandowski called for a five minute recess, then changed his mind and said the body would instead return after lunch.
Witnesses for Rousseff’s defense were expected to testify Friday after the prosecution dominated Thursday’s session.
Rousseff, in the middle of her second term, is accused of breaking fiscal rules in her management of the federal budget. She denies wrongdoing and argues that her enemies are carrying out a “coup d’état.”
Several days of debate, including an address by Rousseff on Monday, will culminate in a vote on whether to permanently remove her from office.
The Senate voted in May to impeach and suspend her for up to 180 days while the trial could be prepared.
Vice President Michel Temer took over in May. If Rousseff is removed, Temer will serve the rest of her term through 2018. | Brazil's Federal Senate begins the impeachment trial of suspended President Dilma Rousseff. |
Story highlights Eleven police officers were killed, state media says
Kurdish militants claim responsibility
Turkey sent tanks into Syria on Wednesday
Turkey-Syria border (CNN) An explosion at a police checkpoint Friday in southeastern Turkey killed 11 police officers and injured at least 78 people, the country's semiofficial Anadolu news agency reports.
Attackers detonated a bomb-laden truck near the checkpoint in Cizre, Anadolu reported, citing the governor's officer in the province of Sirnak.
The injured included 75 officers and three civilians, Anadolu reported. Four of the injured were in critical condition, Turkish Health Minister Recep Akdag told CNN Turk.
The armed wing of the the PKK -- a militant Kurdish group that's labeled a terror group by many in the international community -- took credit Friday for the attack.
In an online statement, it promised to give more details Saturday on what it called a "comprehensive action took place to kill dozens of policemen by our brave team in Cizre." </s> ANKARA, Turkey — Kurdish militants on Friday attacked a police checkpoint in southeast Turkey with an explosives-laden truck, killing at least 11 police officers and wounding 78 other people, officials and the state-run news agency said.
The attack struck the checkpoint 50 meters (yards) from a main police station near the town of Cizre, in the mainly Kurdish Sirnak province that borders Syria, the Anadolu Agency reported.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which was the latest in a string of bombings targeting police or military vehicles and facilities. Authorities have blamed the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, for those attacks. Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim confirmed the death toll, saying it was a suicide attack carried out with an explosives-laden truck. He vowed to “destroy the terrorists.”(nypost.com)…[+] </s> Attackers detonated a bomb-laden truck near the checkpoint in Cizre, Anadolu reported, citing the governor's officer in the province of Sirnak.
The injured included 75 officers and three civilians, Anadolu reported. Four of the injured were in critical condition, Turkish Health Minister Recep Akdag told CNN Turk.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. The Sirnak governor's office told Anadolu they blame the PKK -- a militant Kurdish group that's labeled a terror group by many in the international community. It said a car bomb was detonated at the police checkpoint.
"Turkey will never allow these terrorists to realize their dirty aims," President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday in a statement. "There is no question that our fight with terror will succeed." </s> At least 11 police officers were killed and 70 injured when suspected Kurdish militants attacked a police checkpoint in south-east Turkey with an explosives-laden truck.
Turkey on Friday vowed to retaliate. 'We will give those vile (attackers) the answer they deserve,' Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told a news conference in Istanbul. 'No terrorist organisation can hold Turkey captive.'
The attack struck the checkpoint some 50 yards from a main police station near the town of Cizre, in the mainly Kurdish Sirnak province which borders Syria, the Anadolu Agency reported.
The three-storey police station was destroyed in the powerful explosion.
News channel NTV showed large plumes of smoke billowing from the site, which it said was a police checkpoint.
At least two of the wounded were in a critical condition, an official said. The Health Ministry said it had sent 12 ambulances and two helicopters to the scene.
State-run Anadolu Agency blamed the attack on the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has been involved in almost daily clashes in the region since last July, when a ceasefire between it and the government collapsed.
The PKK is listed as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the United States and the European Union. More than 40,000 people, mostly Kurds, have died since the rebels took up arms in 1984.
On Thursday Interior Minister Efkan Ala accused the group of attacking a convoy carrying the main opposition party leader, Kemal Kilicdaroglu.
The government has blamed the PKK for a series of attacks this month in the southeast. The group has claimed responsibility for at least one attack, on a police station. </s> Kurdish militants on Friday attacked a police checkpoint in southeast Turkey with an explosives-laden truck, killing at least 11 police officers and wounding 78 other people, officials and the state-run news agency said.
The attack struck the checkpoint 50 yards from a main police station near the town of Cizre, in the mainly-Kurdish Sirnak province that borders Syria, the Anadolu Agency reported.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which was the latest in a string of bombings targeting police or military vehicles and facilities. Authorities have blamed the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, for those attacks.
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim confirmed the death toll, saying it was a suicide attack carried out with an explosives-laden truck. He vowed to "destroy the terrorists."
"No terrorist organization can take the Turkish Republic hostage," he told reporters in Istanbul. "We will give these scoundrels every response they deserve."
Television footage showed black smoke rising from the mangled truck. The three-story police station was gutted from the powerful explosion.
According to Sirnak governor's office, three of the wounded were civilians. The Health Ministry sent 12 ambulances and two helicopters to the site.
Violence between the PKK and the security forces resumed last year, after the collapse of a fragile two-year peace process between the government and the militant group. Hundreds of security force members, militants and even civilians have been killed since.
Turkey has also seen a rise of deadly attacks that have been blamed on Islamic State militants, including a suicide bombing at a Kurdish wedding in southeast Turkey last week that killed 54 people and an attack on Istanbul's main airport in June that killed 44 people.
Turkey sent tanks across the Syrian border this week to help Syrian rebels retake a key IS-held town.
Since hostilities with the PKK resumed last summer, more than 600 Turkish security personnel and thousands of PKK militants have been killed, according to the Anadolu Agency. Human rights groups say hundreds of civilians have also been killed.
The PKK is considered a terror organization by Turkey and its allies.
The attacks on police come as the country is still reeling from a violent coup attempt on July 15 that killed at least 270 people. The government has blamed the failed coup on the supporters of U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen and has embarked on a sweeping crackdown on his followers.
On Thursday, Kurdish rebels opened fire at security forces protecting a convoy carrying Turkey's main opposition party leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu in the northeast, killing a soldier and wounding two others, officials said. </s> An attack with an explosives-laden truck on a police checkpoint in south-east Turkey has killed at least 11 police officers and wounded 78 other people.
The state-run Anadolu Agency reported that Kurdish militants were responsible for the attack on a checkpoint about 50 metres from a police station near the town of Cizre, in the mainly-Kurdish Şırnak province that borders Syria.
Television footage showed black smoke rising from the mangled truck, while the three-story police station was gutted from the powerful explosion. The health ministry said it had sent 12 ambulances and two helicopters to the site.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which was the latest in a string of bombings targeting police or military vehicles and installations. Authorities have blamed the Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK) for those attacks.
Violence between the PKK and the security forces resumed last year, after the collapse of a fragile two-year peace process between the government and the militant group. Hundreds of security force members have been killed since.
Turkey has also seen a rise of deadly attacks that have been blamed on Islamic State militants, including a suicide bombing at a Kurdish wedding in south-east Turkey last week that killed 54 people and an attack on Istanbul’s main airport in June, which killed 44.
Turkey sent tanks across the Syrian border this week to help Syrian rebels retake a key Isis-held town.
Since hostilities with the PKK resumed last summer, more than 600 Turkish security personnel and thousands of PKK militants have been killed, according to the Anadolu Agency. Human rights groups say hundreds of civilians have also been killed.
The PKK is considered a terror organisation by Turkey and its allies.
The attacks on police came as the country was still reeling from a violent coup attempt on 15 July that killed at least 270 people. The government has blamed the failed coup on the supporters of US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gülen and has embarked on a sweeping crackdown on his followers.
On Thursday, Kurdish rebels opened fire at security forces protecting a convoy of vehicles carrying Turkey’s main opposition party leader, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, in the north-east, killing a soldier and wounding two others, officials said. </s> ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey's state-run news agency says police have detained six people in connection with a bomb attack near a police station in Istanbul that wounded 10 people.
Authorities say Thursday's attack — carried out with a bomb mounted onto a motorcycle — was the work of the outlawed Kurdistan Worker's Party, or PKK.
The Anadolu Agency says Friday the suspected bomber was detained overnight in the central Turkish province of Aksaray. Two other people traveling with him inside a vehicle were also detained. Police in Istanbul later detained three other suspected accomplices, the agency reported.
PKK has been waging a three-decade-long insurgency that has killed tens of thousands of people since 1984. Violence flared anew last year with the collapse of a 2½-year cease-fire. </s> ISTANBUL -- Kurdish militants detonated a car bomb Sunday outside a military checkpoint in southeast Turkey, killing nine soldiers and wounding eleven others, Turkey's state-run news agency said. Turkey launched a military operation in response to the attack.
The Anadolu Agency, citing a statement by the Turkish Armed Forces, said the attack occurred at 9:45 a.m. outside a Gendarmerie checkpoint on the Semdinli-Yuksekova highway and was the work of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK.
The explosion produced a crater 50 feet wide and 23 feet deep. An infantry station located behind the checkpoint also suffered heavy damage.
Turkish authorities imposed a temporary blackout on coverage of the attack, citing public order and national security reasons.
Energy Minister Berat Albayrak condemned the attack during a speech in Istanbul, calling on all countries to stand together against terrorism.
Turkey has been rocked by a wave of bomb attacks since last summer that have killed hundreds of people and been blamed on either the PKK or the Islamic State group.
Fighting between the PKK and the state security forces resumed last year after the collapse of a fragile 2-year cease-fire. Since then, more than 600 Turkish security personnel and thousands of PKK militants have been killed in clashes, according to the state-run Anadolu Agency. Rights groups say hundreds of civilians have also been killed in the fighting.
On Thursday, 10 people were slightly wounded by a bomb mounted on a motorcycle that exploded near a police station in Istanbul. On Friday, the militant Kurdistan Freedom Falcons, or TAK, considered an offshoot of the PKK, claimed responsibility.
Six people have been detained in connection with that attack. </s> ISTANBUL -- Kurdish militants detonated a car bomb Sunday outside a military checkpoint in southeast Turkey, killing nine soldiers and eight civilians, the local governor said.
Cuneyit Orhan Toprak, governor of Hakkari province where the attack took place, gave the death toll to the private news channel NTV and said 27 other people were wounded in the attack and were rushed to nearby hospitals for treatment.
Eleven of the wounded were soldiers, the Turkish military said.
Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency, citing a statement by the Turkish Armed Forces, said the attack occurred at 9:45 a.m. outside a Gendarmerie checkpoint on the Semdinli-Yuksekova highway and was the work of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK. The checkpoint is 12 miles from the center of the town of Semdinli.
Toprak said the attackers first opened fire on the soldiers at the checkpoint to distract them, before driving up a minivan containing about 5 tons of explosives and detonating it.
The Anadolu Agency, citing a statement by the Turkish Armed Forces, said the attack occurred at 9:45 a.m. outside a Gendarmerie checkpoint on the Semdinli-Yuksekova highway and was the work of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK.
The explosion produced a crater 50 feet wide and 23 feet deep. An infantry station located behind the checkpoint also suffered heavy damage.
Turkish authorities imposed a temporary blackout on coverage of the attack, citing public order and national security reasons.
Energy Minister Berat Albayrak condemned the attack during a speech in Istanbul, calling on all countries to stand together against terrorism.
Turkey has been rocked by a wave of bomb attacks since last summer that have killed hundreds of people and been blamed on either the PKK or the Islamic State group.
Fighting between the PKK and the state security forces resumed last year after the collapse of a fragile 2-year cease-fire. Since then, more than 600 Turkish security personnel and thousands of PKK militants have been killed in clashes, according to the state-run Anadolu Agency. Rights groups say hundreds of civilians have also been killed in the fighting.
On Thursday, 10 people were slightly wounded by a bomb mounted on a motorcycle that exploded near a police station in Istanbul. On Friday, the militant Kurdistan Freedom Falcons, or TAK, considered an offshoot of the PKK, claimed responsibility.
Six people have been detained in connection with that attack. | Eight Turkish police officers are killed and 40 are injured in a bombing at a police checkpoint in the town of Cizre, with the PKK believed to be responsible. |
"Syrian rebel fighters evacuated from the Damascene suburb of Darayya on Friday, government official(...TRUNCATED) | "Following a ceasefire agreement with the government, Syrian rebels begin evacuating the war-torn su(...TRUNCATED) |
"GARIPCE, Turkey (Reuters) - Turkey opened one of the world’s biggest suspension bridges on Friday(...TRUNCATED) | "Turkey opens the Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge in Istanbul, one of the world's biggest suspension bridg(...TRUNCATED) |
"Six Indonesian provinces have declared states of emergency as forest fires blanketed a swath of Sou(...TRUNCATED) | Fires in Indonesia burn and blow smoke into Singapore, engulfing the city-state into darkness. |
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in Dataset Viewer.
This is a copy of the WCEP-10 dataset, except the input source documents of its train, validation, and test` splits have been have been replaced by a dense retriever. The retrieval pipeline used:
- query: The
summaryfield of each example - corpus: The union of all documents in the
train,validationandtestsplits - retriever:
facebook/contriever-msmarcovia PyTerrier with default settings - top-k strategy:
"max", i.e. the number of documents retrieved,k, is set as the maximum number of documents seen across examples in this dataset, in this casek==9
Retrieval results on the train set:
| Recall@100 | Rprec | Precision@k | Recall@k |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.8590 | 0.6490 | 0.6239 | 0.6271 |
Retrieval results on the validation set:
| Recall@100 | Rprec | Precision@k | Recall@k |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.8578 | 0.6326 | 0.6301 | 0.6031 |
Retrieval results on the test set:
| Recall@100 | Rprec | Precision@k | Recall@k |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.8678 | 0.6631 | 0.6564 | 0.6338 |
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