TURKEY
Erdogan says Germany ‘nazi’
President Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday accused Germany of “fascist actions” reminiscent of Nazi times in a growing row over the cancelation of political rallies aimed at drumming up support for him among 1.5 million Turkish citizens in Germany. German politicians reacted with shock and anger. German Minister for Justice Heiko Maas told broadcaster ARD that Erdogan’s comments were “absurd, disgraceful and outlandish” and designed to provoke a reaction from Berlin. However, he cautioned against banning Erdogan from visiting Germany or breaking off diplomatic ties, saying that such moves would push Ankara “straight into the arms of [Russian President Vladmir] Putin, which no one wants.”
TURKEY
Syrian pilot shot down
A Syrian air force pilot who bailed out as his warplane crashed on Saturday told a rescue team his MiG-23 had been shot down, Anadolu news agency reported on Sunday. The 56-year-old pilot was identified as Mehmet Sufhan, and medical staff said he was not in critical condition despite some spinal fractures. He is being treated at a hospital in the Hatay region, a hospital spokeswoman said. In an initial statement to authorities, Sufhan said his aircraft was shot down on its way to strike rural areas near Idlib in northern Syria, Anadolu reported.
CUBA
Castro slams Trump
President Raul Castro on Sunday harshly criticized US President Donald Trump’s immigration, trade and other policies, as Trump reviews a fragile detente with Havana begun by former US president Barack Obama. In his first critical remarks directed at Trump since he took office, Castro termed his trade policies “egotistical” and his plan to build a wall along the Mexican border “irrational.” Castro’s speech was broadcast on Sunday evening. “The new agenda of the US government threatens to unleash an extreme and egotistical trade policy that will impact the competitiveness of our foreign trade; violate environmental agreements ... hunt down and deport migrants,” Castro said. “You can’t contain poverty, catastrophes and migrants with walls, but with cooperation, understanding and peace.”
UNITED KINGDOM
Public thwart terror attacks
Security forces have thwarted 13 terrorist attacks in less than four years, mostly thanks to information provided by the public, the country’s most senior anti-terrorism official said yesterday. London’s Metropolitan Police assistant commissioner Mark Rowley said security and intelligence agencies are dealing with more than 500 investigations at any one time. Al-Qaeda and off-shoots of both groups remained a threat, he said, but “extreme right-wing groups” have become a focus of police efforts in recent months. “The majority [of our work] is actually people in this country who are radicalized,” Rowley said.
UNITED KINGDOM
Mobility scooter pulled over
A 92-year-old man was stopped by police on Sunday for driving his mobility scooter on a busy motorway. The man was stopped on the M74 near Motherwell, southwest of Glasgow. The six-lane road is the main highway between Glasgow and England. “Police attended and the 92-year-old man was taken home by officers,” police said. Traffic on motorways typically flows at the 110kph limit and cannot be used by mobility scooters. Mobility scooters typically have a maximum speed of 12kph.
JAPAN
Helicopter crash kills nine
All nine people aboard a helicopter that crashed on Sunday during a mountain rescue drill in Nagano Prefecture were killed, police said yesterday. Six bodies were found in the morning inside the wreckage, a Nagano police spokesman said. Three others, including the pilot, were confirmed dead on Sunday after a police helicopter located the crash site on a snowy mountainside. Bad weather halted rescue operations until yesterday. The nine people were rescuers and local officials involved in a mountain rescue exercise, NHK and other media said.
KAZAKHSTAN
Presidential powers reduced
Parliament yesterday approved a package of amendments to the constitution to reduce presidential powers in favor of lawmakers and the Cabinet, a move that could help lead to an eventual political transition. President Nursultan Nazarbayev, 76, had endorsed the proposed changes, and they will become law once he has signed the amendments. The devolution of some presidential powers could make it easier for the political elite to manage a succession by splitting key roles between different players rather than allowing one successor to concentrate power in their hands. Nazarbayev previously said that the proposed reforms would allow parliament to form a Cabinet, which would have more powers to manage the economy.
YEMEN
Fifth night of airstrikes
The country was hit by a fifth consecutive night of suspected US airstrikes targeting al-Qaeda members, a security source said yesterday. The source said the early dawn raid hit the town of al-Nasl in Abyan Province, which has been the target of air strikes as well as an al-Qaeda attack on the army in recent days. There were no immediate reports of casualties. The Pentagon has confirmed at least 30 strikes against the group al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula since Thursday in coordination with President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi’s government.
WEST BANK
Palestinian gunman shot
A Palestinian gunman yesterday fired at Israeli soldiers and military police during a raid in the occupied West Bank and the Israeli forces shot and killed the attacker in response, the army and police said in a statement. The exchange of fire took place in Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian, which Israeli forces entered during a raid to seize a suspected militant. “During an arrest mission of a suspected Palestinian gunman in Ramallah, a suspect opened fire at security forces,” the army said. “The forces fired towards the perpetrator. In the exchange, the gunman was killed.” Two firearms were found at the scene, the army added. Palestinian health ministry officials confirmed the death and named the man killed as Basel al-Araj, 31. They said his body had been retained by Israeli authorities.
INDIA
Female flight crew hailed
Air India yesterday said it set a new record with the first round-the-world flight staffed entirely by women. It said its Boeing 777 travelled from New Delhi to San Francisco and back again with an all-female crew last week, the first time such a flight has circumnavigated the globe. The airline said it had applied to Guinness World Records to validate the claim. Airline spokesman G P Rao said even the air traffic controllers at the New Delhi end of the flight, which returned on Friday, were women.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not