NEWS OF THE DAY
From Around the World
_1 Turkey crackdown: The Istanbul prosecutor’s office is charging Amnesty International’s Turkey chief and 10 others for allegedly belonging to and aiding terror groups. The Anadolu news agency reported Sunday that authorities concluded an investigation into the 11 human rights activists, who are now awaiting trial. They are accused of aiding terror organizations linked to Kurdish and left-wing militants as well as the movement led by U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, who is accused of orchestrating last year’s coup attempt. Gulen has denied the accusations.
2 Iraq rift: A leading Iraqi parliamentarian upbraided the legislative body’s leader for meeting with Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani on Sunday as Baghdad’s politicians voiced their differences over how best to respond to a controversial Kurdish referendum for independence. Iraqi member of Parliament Humam Hamoudi called Parliament Speaker Salim Jabouri’s meeting with Barzani “disappointing” and “unfortunate.” Two days of high level visits by Baghdad politicians to Irbil, the seat of the Kurdish regional government, have failed to resolve the impasse between Baghdad and its Kurdish region, which voted for independence in a non-binding referendum two weeks ago. Jabouri’s visit, intended to break the deadlock, instead underscored the divisions within the capital over how to respond to the Kurdish vote.
3 Refugees trapped: Thousands of migrants have been found trapped in camps in Libya after they were caught amid fighting over the northwestern city of Sabratha, officials said Sunday. Sabratha, a city on the western side of Libya’s Mediterranean coast that used to be the main launching point for migrant boats, has witnessed heavy clashes over the past two weeks. Over 4,000 migrants, including pregnant women and children, were found in the past two days in different locations in town, said Saleh Graisia, the spokesman for Anti-ISIS Operation Room. The group is now in control of Sabratha. Graisia accused the al-Ammu militia — which struck a deal with Italy and Libya to stop trafficking — of holding the migrants to smuggle them later.
4 Pedestrians struck: London police on Sunday released a 47-year-old man arrested on suspicion of dangerous driving after a crash outside the Natural History Museum injured 11 people. The man has not been charged or identified. The crash Saturday in London’s busy museum district was initially feared to be a possible terrorist attack similar to incidents earlier this year when extremists in vehicles attacked pedestrians on Westminster Bridge and on London Bridge. But police determined that it was a collision not related to terrorism. None of the injuries turned out to be serious and most of the nine people who were hospitalized have been released.
5 Ghana blasts: A pair of explosions at a gas station in Ghana that sent a fiery mushroom cloud into the night sky killed at least seven people and left 68 others hospitalized, authorities said Sunday. Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia visited the site of the accident where he pledged that the government would work to curb such tragedies. “Eight of these explosions in three years is too much,” he said while at the LNG filling station near Legon, a suburb of Accra. The tanker explosion at a gas station late Saturday was followed by a secondary blast. The cause of the accident is under investigation, the National Fire Service said.