September 2018

September 30, 2018

Plane ditches into Pacific lagoonThe Air Niugini Boeing 737-800 was attempting to land at Weno airport in Micronesia but ended up half submerged in Chuuk lagoon after the accident on Friday morning. The airline said the plane, which was involved in a collision with another aircraft earlier this year, had "landed short of the runway". Remarkably, it reported no serious injuries among those on the plane, which was making a scheduled stop on its way from the Micronesian capital Pohnpei to Port Moresby.




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September 30, 2018

Cologne on lockdown as Erdogan wraps up ill-tempered visit to GermanyGermany had invited Erdogan for the three-day state visit in an attempt to mend ties hit by a crackdown on his opponents following a failed coup in 2016, hoping to secure the release of several of its citizens who remain in detention. Chancellor Angela Merkel said after meeting Erdogan on Friday that "deep divisions" remain. On Saturday in Cologne, the Turkish leader sought to strike a conciliatory note.




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September 30, 2018

Death toll in Indonesia quake-tsunami tops 800The death toll from a powerful earthquake and tsunami in Indonesia leapt to 832 Sunday, as stunned people on the stricken island of Sulawesi struggled to find food and water and looting spread. The new toll announced by the national disaster agency was almost double the previous figure. "It feels very tense," said 35-year-old mother Risa Kusuma, comforting her feverish baby boy at an evacuation centre in the gutted coastal city of Palu.




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September 30, 2018

Seven Palestinians killed in new border clashes: Gaza ministrySeven Palestinians, including two boys aged 12 and 14, were killed in clashes with Israeli forces along the Gaza border Friday, the health ministry in the Hamas-controlled strip said. It was the bloodiest day of border protests since May 14, when more than 60 Palestinians died in violence accompanying the inauguration of the US embassy in Jerusalem, a move that enraged Palestinians.




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September 30, 2018

Russia begins missile system delivery to Syria, warns West on peace talksDefence Minister Sergei Shoigu had said on Monday the system would be delivered to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces in two weeks despite strong Israeli and United States objections. A week previously, Moscow had accused Israel of indirectly causing the downing of a Russian military jet in Syria. "The delivery started already and as President (Vladimir)Putin said, after that incident ... the measures that we will take will be devoted to ensuring 100 percent safety and security of our men," Lavrov told a news conference at the United Nations.




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September 30, 2018

Iraq 'regrets' US closure of Basra consulateIraq's foreign ministry voiced "regret" on Saturday over a US decision to shut its consulate in the southern city of Basra which has been rocked by weeks of deadly protests. "The ministry regrets the American decision to pull its staff out of Basra," a statement said. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo ordered all but emergency staff to leave Basra, with consular duties to be taken over by the embassy in Baghdad.




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September 30, 2018

'Turbulence' in ties threatens U.S.-China security meetingBeijing and Washington are locked in a spiraling trade war that has seen them level increasingly severe rounds of tariffs on each other's imports. Friction between the world's top two economies is now moving beyond trade, with U.S. President Donald Trump accusing Beijing this week of seeking to interfere in congressional elections, marking what U.S. officials told Reuters was a new phase in an escalating campaign by Washington to put pressure on China. On the military front, China has been infuriated by the United States putting sanctions on the People's Liberation Army (PLA) for buying weapons from Russia, and by what Beijing sees as stepped up U.S. support for self-ruled Taiwan, claimed by China as its sacred territory.




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September 30, 2018

Erdogan demands Germany seize 'terrorists' as state visit gets off to icy start amid street protestsRecep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish president, was greeted with protests and controversy in Germany on Friday as a state visit that was supposed to repair relations between the two Nato allies appeared only to highlight their stark divisions. Thousands of demonstrators marched through the streets of Berlin under a banner of “Erdogan not welcome”, while a Kurdish activist burnt himself to death in an apparent suicide protest. Angela Merkel appeared to throw Mr Erdogan a lifeline by offering him a full state visit at a time when Turkey is struggling under the weight of US economic sanctions. But there was little sign of common ground after the two held face-to-face talks. “It is important to continue the dialogue with Turkey, because we can only work out our differences by talking,” Mrs Merkel told a joint press conference. "There is much that unites us: Nato membership, the migrant issue, and the fight against terror." But she added: “There are still profound differences between us over press freedom and the rule of law.” As if to underline the point, Mr Erdogan used the press conference to demand the extradition of a prominent Turkish journalist living in self-imposed exile in Germany. A woman shows Kurdish symbols and a sticker with a portrait of Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party Credit: AP Photo/Markus Schreiber And Mrs Merkel’s words were undercut when another journalist was thrown out of the press conference for wearing a T-shirt that called for “Freedom for journalists in Turkey”. Ties between the allies have been strained by the crackdown on opponents of the regime in Turkey, and Mrs Merkel urged Mr Erdogan to free five German citizens who are being held in Turkey on what Germany maintains are “political charges”. But Mr Erdogan rebuffed the request and responded by demanding Germany do more to help Turkey in its crackdown on opponents of his regime. "I can not interfere in the German justice system or criticise them, nor can you interfere with the Turkish judiciary or criticize them,” he said. “Germany must be more determined in the fight against terror.” He claimed supporters of the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and Fethullah Gülen, the cleric Turkey alleges was behind a failed coup in 2016, are living in Germany. The Turkish foreign ministry reportedly handed over a list of 69 people it wants Germany to extradite as he arrived. Profile | Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Earlier, there were frosty scenes as Mr Erdogan was received with full military honours. The German president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, appeared at pains to show he was only welcoming his Turkish counterpart on sufferance, and remained stony-faced throughout. More than 200 guests refused invitations to a state banquet in Mr Erdogan’s honour, among them prominent figures from across the German political spectrum. An estimated 4,000 protestors marched through central Berlin to the Bellevue palace where the official banquet was held. The march was led by a homemade cardboard tank. One man held aloft a banner that read "No deals with the devil". But the protestors' numbers were smaller than expected, and the march was peaceful under a heavy police presence. Nevertheless, the visit was fraught from the start. The German press published pictures of Mr Erdogan appearing to give the four-fingered salute of the Muslim Brotherhood as he arrived on Thursday. Bild, Germany’s biggest-selling newspaper, described it as a “provocation against Western values and democracy”. The charred body of a 26-year-old Kurdish activist was found in Bavaria after he set himself alight. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier (L) and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrive for a state dinner at Bellevue presidential palace Credit: ADAM BERRY/AFP/Getty Images In a video message left behind, Umit Acar reportedly said his death was a protest against Turkish military operations against Kurds in Turkey and Syria. “I chose today especially, because Erdogan is coming here,” he said. “In all the massacres that the Turks have committed against the Kurds, the Germans delivered them weapons.” The joint press conference with Mrs Merkel almost didn’t take place after Mr Erdogan threatened to boycott it if Can Dündar , a prominent former Turkish newspaper editor living in Germany, was allowed to attend. He later used the press conference to demand Mr Dündar’s extradition to Turkey. “This is our natural right,” he said, claiming Mr Dündar was a “spy” who had published “state secrets” over a report which alleged Turkish intelligence armed Islamist factions in Syria. There was no question of Germany agreeing to extradite Mr Dundar, Heiko Maas, the foreign minister, said. "I look forward to seeing more of Mr Dündar in Germany in future," he added. The only real progress appeared to be when Mrs Merkel announced a joint summit over Syria next month with Mr Erdogan, France’s Emmanel Macron and Vladimir Putin of Russia. Mr Erdogan has been pushing for such a meeting, but one name conspicupous by its absence was that of Donald Trump. The US president has taken a different approach to freeing prisoners held in Turkey, imposing economic sanctions over Mr Erdogan’s refusal to release an American pastor. Mrs Merkel made clear in the run-up to yesterday’s talks that her priority was to preserve relations between Turkey and the West amid fears the US sanctions are pushing Mr Erdogan into Russia’s embrace.




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