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.
MONEY MATTERS: Xi was to highlight projects such as a new high-speed railway between Belgrade and Budapest, as Serbia is entirely open to Chinese trade and investment Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic yesterday said that “Taiwan is China” as he made a speech welcoming Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to Belgrade, state broadcaster Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) said. “We have a clear and simple position regarding Chinese territorial integrity,” he told a crowd outside the government offices while Xi applauded him. “Yes, Taiwan is China.” Xi landed in Belgrade on Tuesday night on the second leg of his European tour, and was greeted by Vucic and most government ministers. Xi had just completed a two-day trip to France, where he held talks with French President Emmanuel Macron as the
With the midday sun blazing, an experimental orange and white F-16 fighter jet launched with a familiar roar that is a hallmark of US airpower, but the aerial combat that followed was unlike any other: This F-16 was controlled by artificial intelligence (AI), not a human pilot, and riding in the front seat was US Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall. AI marks one of the biggest advances in military aviation since the introduction of stealth in the early 1990s, and the US Air Force has aggressively leaned in. Even though the technology is not fully developed, the service is planning
INTERNATIONAL PROBE: Australian and US authorities were helping coordinate the investigation of the case, which follows the 2015 murder of Australian surfers in Mexico Three bodies were found in Mexico’s Baja California state, the FBI said on Friday, days after two Australians and an American went missing during a surfing trip in an area hit by cartel violence. Authorities used a pulley system to hoist what appeared to be lifeless bodies covered in mud from a shaft on a cliff high above the Pacific. “We confirm there were three individuals found deceased in Santo Tomas, Baja California,” a statement from the FBI’s office in San Diego, California, said without providing the identities of the victims. Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson and their American friend Jack Carter
CUSTOMS DUTIES: France’s cognac industry was closely watching the talks, fearing that an anti-dumping investigation opened by China is retaliation for trade tensions French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) at one of his beloved childhood haunts in the Pyrenees, seeking to press a message to Beijing not to support Russia’s war against Ukraine and to accept fairer trade. The first day of Xi’s state visit to France, his first to Europe since 2019, saw respectful, but sometimes robust exchanges between the two men during a succession of talks on Monday. Macron, joined initially by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, urged Xi not to allow the export of any technology that could be used by Russia in its invasion