Erdogan hits at Paris
ISTANBUL: Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has rejected France’s offer to mediate between Ankara and the Kurdish-led forces who have been the main western ally against Islamic State in Syria.
French president Emmanuel Macron’s offer came at a meeting in Paris on Thursday evening with representatives of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), following recent threats from Turkey to extend its operations against Syrian Kurds to Sdf-controlled territory across northern Syria.
Responding to Macron’s offer, Erdogan said France’s hosting of the Syrian-kurdish delegation was an “expression of hostility towards Turkey”.
US’S Syria aid on ice
NEW YORK: US President Donald Trump on Friday froze more than $200million (R2.37 billion) in funds for recovery efforts in Syria as his administration reassesses Washington’s role in the longdrawn conflict there, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Trump reportedly called for the freeze after reading a news report noting that Washington had recently committed an additional $200m to support early recovery efforts in Syria.
The decision is in line with Trump’s declaration on Thursday that America would exit Syria, according to officials.
Going to the polls
FREETOWN: Voters in Sierra Leone went to the polls yesterday to elect a new president in a hotly contested run-off vote between opposition leader Julius Maada Bio and ruling party candidate Samura Kamara.
Bio, of the opposition Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP), won a razor-thin victory in the first round of voting on March 7 with 43.3%. His rival Kamara received 42.7%.
President Ernest Bai Koroma is departing office after serving two five-year terms in office.
Child porn ring bust
SYDNEY: The mother, step-father and family friend of an 8-year-old girl were arrested and charged over a suspected porn ring and group sex club in the Western Australian city of Perth, police said on Friday.
Police said in a statement a number of adults had drugged children before sexually abusing them and recording the acts on video.
The mother, 39, step-father, 45, and a 56-year-old male friend face a total of 23 charges.
German gender bias
BERLIN: German men and women don’t agree on whether equality between the sexes has been achieved, according to a Yougov survey commissioned by dpa to mark six months since the Me Too movement took off worldwide.
When asked, “Are men and women in Germany equal?”, only 32% of German women said “yes” or “mostly yes” in contrast to 57% of men. Sixty-three percent of women said “no” or “mostly no,” compared to 3% of men.
Hacker on trial
PRAGUE: A Russian man on Friday pleaded not guilty to charges that he hacked three US technology companies, potentially compromising the personal details of more than 100 million users, including on Linkedin, after being extradited from the Czech Republic. Yevgeniy Nikulin, 30, entered his plea in a San Francisco court. He is accused of illegally accessing computers belonging to Us-based social media firms Linkedin, Dropbox and Formspring in 2012.
Sources: Reuters/ap/dpa/sputnik/ African News Agency/ana