Turkiye detains Syrian suspect in Istanbul bombing that killed 6

Update Turkiye detains Syrian suspect in Istanbul bombing that killed 6
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Turkish police has released of picture of the unidentified blast suspect arrested in Istanbul. (Turkish Police via Reuters)
Update Turkiye detains Syrian suspect in Istanbul bombing that killed 6
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A police forensic team work at the scene after an explosion on busy pedestrian Istiklal street in Istanbul, on Nov. 13, 2022. (Reuters)
Update Turkiye detains Syrian suspect in Istanbul bombing that killed 6
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A police forensic team work at the scene after an explosion on busy pedestrian Istiklal street in Istanbul, on Nov. 13, 2022. (Reuters)
Update Turkiye detains Syrian suspect in Istanbul bombing that killed 6
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A police forensic team work at the scene after an explosion on busy pedestrian Istiklal street in Istanbul, on Nov. 13, 2022. (Reuters)
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Updated 15 November 2022
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Turkiye detains Syrian suspect in Istanbul bombing that killed 6

Turkiye detains Syrian suspect in Istanbul bombing that killed 6
  • Videos from 1,200 security cameras were reviewed and raids were carried out at 21 locations
  • Suspect allegedly left scene in a taxi after leaving TNT-type explosives on the crowded avenue

ISTANBUL: Turkish police said Monday that they have detained a Syrian woman with suspected links to Kurdish militants and that she confessed to planting a bomb that exploded on a bustling pedestrian avenue in Istanbul, killing six people and wounding several dozen others.

Sunday’s explosion occurred on Istiklal Avenue, a popular thoroughfare lined with shops and restaurants that leads to the iconic Taksim Square.

“A little while ago, the person who left the bomb was detained by our Istanbul Police Department teams,” Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu announced early on Monday. Police later identified the suspect as Ahlam Albashir, a Syrian national.

The Istanbul Police Department said videos from some 1,200 security cameras were reviewed and raids were carried out at 21 locations. At least 46 other people were also detained for questioning.

The suspected allegedly departed the scene in a taxi after leaving TNT-type explosives on the crowded avenue, police said.

Sunday’s explosion was a shocking reminder of the anxiety that stalked the Turkish population during years when such attacks were common. The country was hit by a string of deadly bombings between 2015 and 2017, some by the Daesh group, others by Kurdish militants who seek increased autonomy or independence.

The outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has denied any role in the deadly weekend attack.

“Our people and the democratic public know closely that we are not related to this incident, that we will not directly target civilians and that we do not accept actions targeting civilians,” the group said in a statement published by the Firat news agency. Firat is close to the PKK, which is listed as a terror group by Turkiye and its Western allies.

Police said the suspect told them during her interrogation that she had been trained as a “special intelligence officer” by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, as well as the Syrian Kurdish group the Democratic Union Party and its armed wing. She entered Turkiye illegally through the Syrian border town of Afrin, according to the police statement.

The suspect would have fled to neighboring Greece if she had not been detained, the interior minister said.

Earlier, Soylu said security forces believe that instructions for the attack came from Kobani, the majority Kurdish city in northern Syria that borders Turkiye. He said the attack would be avenged.

“We know what message those who carried out this action want to give us. We got this message,” Soylu said. “Don’t worry, we will pay them back heavily in return.”

Soylu also blamed the United States, saying a condolence message from the White House was akin to “a killer being first to show up at a crime scene.” Turkiye has been infuriated by US support for Syrian Kurdish groups.

In its condolence message, the White House said it strongly condemned the “act of violence” in Istanbul, adding: “We stand shoulder-to-shoulder with our NATO ally (Turkiye) in countering terrorism.”

Turkish television broadcast footage purporting to show the main suspect being detained at a house where she was allegedly hiding. It said police searching the house also seized large amounts of cash, gold items and a gun.

Police later also released a photograph showing the woman standing between two Turkish flags, in handcuffs.

The minister told reporters that Kurdish militants had allegedly given orders for the main suspect to be killed to avoid evidence being traced back to them.

Istanbul Gov. Ali Yerlikaya said of the 81 people who were hospitalized, 57 have been discharged. Six of the wounded were in intensive care and two of them were in life-threatening condition, he said. The six who were killed in the blast were members of three families and included children aged 15 and 9.

Istiklal Avenue was reopened to pedestrian traffic at 6 a.m. on Monday after police concluded inspections at the scene. People began leaving carnations at the site of the blast, while the street was decorated with hundreds of Turkish flags.

The PKK has fought an insurgency in Turkiye since 1984. The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people since then.

Ankara and Washington both consider the PKK a terrorist group but they diverge on the issue of the Syrian Kurdish groups, which have fought against the Daesh group in Syria.

In recent years, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has led a broad crackdown on the militants as well as on Kurdish lawmakers and activists. Amid skyrocketing inflation and other economic troubles, Erdogan’s anti-terrorism campaign is a key rallying point for him ahead of presidential and parliamentary elections next year.

Following the attacks between 2015 and 2017 that left more than 500 civilians and security personnel dead, Turkiye launched cross-border military operations into Syria and northern Iraq against Kurdish militants, while also cracking down on Kurdish politicians, journalists and activists at home.


Brazil’s firefighters battle wildfires raging during rare late-winter heat wave

Brazil’s firefighters battle wildfires raging during rare late-winter heat wave
Updated 14 min 51 sec ago
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Brazil’s firefighters battle wildfires raging during rare late-winter heat wave

Brazil’s firefighters battle wildfires raging during rare late-winter heat wave

RIO DE JANEIRO: Firefighters on Thursday were battling flames in Brazil’s northeastern Bahia state, fanned by strong winds and abnormally high temperatures for the season, authorities said.

While it is still technically winter in Brazil, with spring due to start in a couple days, a heat wave prompting record temperatures has swept across much of the country since the beginning of the week.

Faced with a growing number of hot spots caused by high temperatures, Bahia’s association of forestry-based companies this week launched a campaign to prevent — and combat — wildfires.

State authorities said they have mobilized over 150 military firefighters to put out fires in different areas across the state, as well as in Chapada Diamantina, a national park known for its panoramic views.

The Instagram account of Bahia’s secretary for public security showed images of firefighters making their way through parched forests, equipped in high-visibility orange gear and helmets, attempting to bring the licking flames under control.

The fires broke out Monday, according to local media reports. There are no details regarding the size of the affected area, but Brazil’s National Institute of Meteorology has categorized the heat wave as a “great danger.”


First US Abrams tanks to reach Ukraine ‘next week:’ Biden

First US Abrams tanks to reach Ukraine ‘next week:’ Biden
Updated 50 min 19 sec ago
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First US Abrams tanks to reach Ukraine ‘next week:’ Biden

First US Abrams tanks to reach Ukraine ‘next week:’ Biden
  • Biden also said he had “approved the next tranche of security assistance for Ukraine,” which the Pentagon later valued at $325 million

WASHINGTON: The first US M1 Abrams tanks will arrive in Ukraine “next week,” US President Joe Biden said Thursday, boosting Kyiv’s forces as they battle Russian troops in a slow-moving counteroffensive.

“Next week, the first US Abrams tanks will be delivered in Ukraine,” Biden said at the White House, alongside his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, who is on his second visit to the United States since Russia invaded his country in February 2022.

Biden also said he had “approved the next tranche of security assistance for Ukraine,” which the Pentagon later valued at $325 million.

It includes air defense missiles, ammunition for HIMARS precision rocket launchers, anti-tank weapons, and artillery rounds.

But the package does not feature the long-range ATACMS missiles that Kyiv has repeatedly requested.

It does include 155mm rounds that contain cluster munitions, which Washington first agreed to provide to Ukraine in July despite concerns over the long-term risk posed to civilians by bomblets that fail to explode.

The United States said it has received assurances from Kyiv that it would minimize the risk the weapons pose to civilians, including by not using the munitions in populated areas.

Washington had promised the 31 Abrams tanks to Kyiv at the start of the year, part of more than $43 billion in security assistance pledged by the United States over the past 18 months.

The tanks will be paired with 120mm armor-piercing depleted uranium rounds.

Such munitions are controversial due to their association with health problems, such as cancer and birth defects, in areas where they were used in past conflicts, although they have not been definitively proven to have caused them.

The decision to provide Abrams tanks to Ukraine represented a U-turn as American defense officials had repeatedly said they were ill-suited for Kyiv’s forces due to their complexity.


Sudan army chief warns UN that war could spill over in region, seeks action against RSF backers

Sudan army chief warns UN that war could spill over in region, seeks action against RSF backers
Updated 38 min 38 sec ago
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Sudan army chief warns UN that war could spill over in region, seeks action against RSF backers

Sudan army chief warns UN that war could spill over in region, seeks action against RSF backers
  • Army chief Burhan asks UN to take action against RSF’s backers
  • RSF leader says ready for cease-fire and comprehensive talks
  • War has killed over 7,500 people, displaced more than 5 million

UNITED NATIONS: The heads of Sudan’s rival military factions gave competing addresses to the United Nations on Thursday, one from the podium at UN headquarters in New York and the other in a rare video recording from an undisclosed location.

Army leader Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, speaking at the United Nations, called on the international community to designate the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) as a terrorist organization and to counter its sponsors outside Sudan’s borders, warning that months of war could spill over in the region.

RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, said in a video message that his forces were fully prepared for a cease-fire and comprehensive political talks to end the conflict.

Most of Hemedti’s recent communications have been audio messages, and his whereabouts have been a source of speculation.

In the video released on Thursday shortly before Burhan spoke, Hemedti appeared in military uniform, seated behind a desk with a Sudanese national flag behind him as he read out his speech. His location was not clear.

“Today we renew our commitment to the peaceful process to put a halt to this war,” Hemedti said. “The RSF are fully prepared for a cease-fire throughout Sudan to allow the passage of humanitarian aid ... and to start serious and comprehensive political talks.”

 

 

Both sides blamed the other for starting the war that erupted in mid-April in Khartoum and has spread to other parts of the country including the western region of Darfur, displacing more than 5 million people and threatening to destabilize the region.

Saudi Arabia and the United States have tried to secure a lasting cease-fire in Sudan but the process stalled amid parallel international initiatives in Africa and the Middle East.

Tentacles of Wagner group

Burhan, the de facto ruler of Sudan since a 2021 coup, alluded to the rival RSF'S ties with Wagner, the Russian mercenary group hit by Western sanctions over alleged abuses in Africa.
“The danger of this war is now a threat to regional and international peace and security as those rebels have sought the support of outlaws and terrorist groups from different countries in the region and the world,” Burhan said.
“This is like the spark of war, a war that will spill over to other countries in the region,” he said.
“Regional and international interference to support these groups is crystal clear by now. This means that this is the first spark that will burn the region, and will have a direct impact on regional and international peace and security.”
War broke out on April 15 after the collapse of a plan to integrate the army and the RSF.
The fighting in Sudan has killed at least 7,500 people, according to the NGO Acled, and displaced some five million people, dealing a new, devastating blow to efforts to bring democracy to Sudan.
Burhan has increasingly been traveling around the world in what are seen as efforts to burnish his legitimacy.
At the United Nations, he urged world powers to designate the Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, as a terrorist group.
“They have committed all sorts of crimes that give grounds for such a designation,” he said.
“Those who have supported killing, burning, raping, forced displacement, looting, stealing, torture, trafficking of arms and drugs, bringing mercenaries or recruiting children — all such crimes necessitate accountability and punishment,” he said.
The United States earlier this month imposed sanctions on RSF leaders including senior commander Abdelrahim Hamdan Daglo, the brother of the group’s leader, over alleged abuses including the killing of the governor of West Darfur.
But the United States and other Western powers have also been strongly critical of Burhan.
Alongside RSF leader Daglo, Burhan in 2021 sidelined the civilian leadership that had been part of a transitional power-sharing deal following mass protests that brought down longtime dictator Omar Al-Bashir.
“We are still committed to our previous pledges to transfer power to the people of Sudan with great national consensus and consent,” he said.
“The armed forces would leave politics for once and for all.”
 

 


‘Sclerotic’ UN needs reform, Security Council system flawed, European Commission chief tells UNGA

‘Sclerotic’ UN needs reform, Security Council system flawed, European Commission chief tells UNGA
Updated 42 min 47 sec ago
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‘Sclerotic’ UN needs reform, Security Council system flawed, European Commission chief tells UNGA

‘Sclerotic’ UN needs reform, Security Council system flawed, European Commission chief tells UNGA
  • Charles Michel said lack of global representation on the council reflects outdated power structures that ‘hobbled’ its ability to act in best interests of the world
  • During the General Debate at the UN General Assembly, he also reiterated his previous call for a global treaty on pandemic prevention and preparedness

LONDON: The UN system has become “sclerotic” and is in need of reform, the president of the European Commission said on Thursday.

During a speech on Thursday during the General Debate at the 78th UN General Assembly in New York, Charles Michel also backed growing calls for the veto powers granted to the five permanent members of the UN Security Council — the US, Russia, France, the UK and China — to be limited under emergency conditions, and to broaden the body’s global representation.

“We must assume our responsibility and that means being engaged in order to put multilateralism back on solid ground,” he said. “To that end, we need to restore trust, solve the most urgent problems and repair the United Nations system.

“For the last 19 months, a permanent member of the Security Council, Russia, without any shame, has been undertaking a war to conquer its neighboring country.

“It can even abuse its veto rights to prevent sanctions against itself, and even use the Security Council to disseminate propaganda, disinformation and lies — let’s be honest.”

Michel reaffirmed the “unwavering” support of the EU for Ukraine in the war with Russia and the country’s “right to legitimate defense.”

He criticized the lack of proper global representation within the Security Council, which he said continues to reflect outdated power structures and this “hobbled” its ability to act in the best interests of the world as a whole, especially given some countries were “still colonial powers.”

He added: “The planet is falling. The world is being torn asunder by poverty and injustice, entire swaths of the world — Africa, South America, the Caribbean, Asia — are under- or non-represented (on the council). We support the comprehensive, massive reform of the Security Council to amplify the voice of these regions.”

Michel also reiterated his previous call for a global treaty on pandemic prevention and preparedness. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, he and the head of the World Health Organization, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, have led the push for negotiations on a treaty of this kind within the UN framework, urging the international community to reach a consensus on the topic by May next year.


Saudi FM takes part in OIC, Arab League meetings during UN General Assembly

Saudi FM takes part in OIC, Arab League meetings during UN General Assembly
Updated 22 September 2023
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Saudi FM takes part in OIC, Arab League meetings during UN General Assembly

Saudi FM takes part in OIC, Arab League meetings during UN General Assembly
  • Prince Faisal bin Farhan calls for collective response to common challenges facing global community

NEW YORK: Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan on Thursday took part in a coordination meeting of the foreign ministers of member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation on the sidelines of the 78th UN General Assembly session in New York, the Kingdom’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The minister expressed the Kingdom’s condolences, sympathy and solidarity with Morocco and its people in the aftermath of the earthquake that rocked the North African country, and to Libya and its people following the deadly flooding in Derna.

He praised the OIC and member states’ response to a call by the Kingdom for an extraordinary session of the Council of Foreign Ministers to address the desecration and burning of copies of the Qur’an in Sweden and Denmark.

Prince Faisal highlighted the Palestinian issue and the pursuit of a comprehensive solution, in accordance with international legitimacy resolutions and the Arab Peace Initiative, and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.

He also chaired the Arab side of a high-level foreign ministerial informal interactive dialogue session between the Arab Summit Troika and the UN Security Council.

During the session, the Saudi foreign minister said the international community faces many common challenges that require collective action, but no progress will be achieved without a safe and stable regional and international environment that enables countries to work together.

The Arab Summit Troika is a group of three rotating countries that monitors the implementation of resolutions and commitments adopted by the Arab League, which consists of the outgoing, current, and incoming Arab Summit chairs — Algeria, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.

Other countries belonging to the Arab Group at the UN have been invited to participate in the meeting, along with Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit.

Prince Faisal said that since Arab issues make up a prominent share of the topics raised in the Security Council, strengthening cooperation and joint work between the Arab League and the Security Council to establish peace and security in the Arab world is of great importance.

The Kingdom is interested in improving this cooperation to achieve a common perspective for dealing with crises and developing peaceful solutions, he said.

Prince Faisal warned of the growing role of armed groups outside the framework of the state in creating these crises, which threaten international peace and security.

He said the ease with which these groups gain access to advanced technology and weapons enables them to undermine state institutions.

He called on the Security Council to take serious and strict measures against the groups.

Prince Faisal welcomed the results of discussions on a road map to support the peace process in Yemen, which brought together the Saudi communication and coordination team with the Sanaa delegation in Riyadh, with the participation of Oman.

He expressed the Kingdom’s hopes for dialogue between the Yemeni parties to pave the way for security and stability in the war-torn country, and ensure a future in which Yemen enjoys a comprehensive renaissance and sustainable development.