NEWS OF THE DAY
From Around the World
1 Turkey referendum: Turkey’s electoral authority on Thursday released the official tally of the country’s referendum, saying President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s “yes” camp won narrowly in the vote that will greatly boost the powers of his office. The referendum, disputed by the opposition, approved a series of constitutional amendments transforming Turkey’s parliamentary government system into a presidential one, abolishing the office of the prime minister and granting the president executive powers. The High Electoral Board said the “yes” side received 51.41 percent of the votes in the April 16 referendum, while the “no” votes garnered 48.59 percent. The turnout was 87.45 percent.
2 Macedonia unrest: Chaos swept into Macedonia’s parliament Thursday as demonstrators stormed the building and attacked lawmakers to protest the election of a new speaker despite a months-old deadlock in efforts to form a new government. Clashes over several hours injured 77 people, including 22 police officers and several lawmakers, authorities said. Neighboring countries along with the European Union and United States expressed concern at the small Balkan nation’s escalating political crisis. President Gjorge Ivanov went on TV to appeal for “reasonable and responsible behavior.”
3 Parliament arrest: Police carrying out a counterterrorism investigation Thursday swooped in on a man they said was carrying knives in a bag near Britain’s Parliament and arrested him on suspicion of planning terrorist acts. London’s Metropolitan Police said the 27-year-old man was stopped and detained “as part of an ongoing operation” by the department’s counterterrorism unit. Security has been increased around Parliament after an attacker drove an SUV into pedestrians on nearby Westminster Bridge on March 22, killing four, before stabbing a police officer to death inside the gates of Parliament.
4 No extradition: A French court Thursday turned down a Serbian request to extradite Ramush Haradinaj, a former guerrilla commander and prime minister of Kosovo who was arrested in France early this year. The prosecutor at the court in Colmar, in eastern France, said in a statement that Haradinaj had been released. The statement did not provide reasons for the ruling. Haradinaj was acquitted by a U.N. war crimes tribunal in 2008 and again in 2012 of charges that he had tortured and killed Serbs during Kosovo’s war for independence in the late 1990s, when he was a commander of the NATO-backed Kosovo Liberation Army. He was arrested in January by the French police near the border with Switzerland, after arriving from Kosovo. Haradinaj was prime minister of Kosovo from 2004 to 2005, when it was administered by the United Nations. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, a move the Serbian authorities have not recognized.
5 Islamic names banned: Authorities in China’s Xinjiang region are prohibiting parents from giving children some Islamic names in the latest effort to dilute the influence of religion on life in the ethnic Uighur minority heartland. Muhammad, Jihad and Islam are among at least 29 names now banned in the heavily Muslim region, according to a list distributed by overseas Uighur activists. It is unclear how widespread the ban is or whether it is tightly enforced. The naming restrictions are part of a broader government effort to secularize Xinjiang, which is home to roughly 10 million Uighurs, a Turkic people who mostly follow Sunni Islam.