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page 33 TURKEY 6,000 detained after failed coup attempt Turkish officials continue to arrest judges and military officers in connection with the coup attempt, detaining more soldiers Sunday. Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said around 6,000 people have been detained and “the number will increase.” Those in custody include the commander of the Third Army Corps, […]

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TURKEY

6,000 detained after failed coup attempt

Turkish officials continue to arrest judges and military officers in connection with the coup attempt, detaining more soldiers Sunday.

Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said around 6,000 people have been detained and “the number will increase.” Those in custody include the commander of the Third Army Corps, General Erdal Ozturk, who could face charges of treason.

Other high-ranking military officials flew to neighbouring Greece by helicopter and requested political asylum. Turkish media reports say some of those who fled are believed to be among the architects of the coup.

Thousands of Turkish citizens packed Ankara’s Kizilat Square, downtown Istanbul and the coastal city of Izmir Saturday night to shout their support of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his government after a failed coup attempt by some of the country’s military.

Crowds waved flags at the late-night rallies and chanted their determination not to let anything or anyone divide the country.

ZAMBIAN

Political parties pledge peaceful campaigning

Five Zambian political parties including the ruling Patriotic Front have signed new pledges committing themselves to ensuring that supporters desist from violence ahead of the August 11 general election.

The parties renewed their pledges after a meeting Friday in the capital, Lusaka, with officials of the Electoral Commission of Zambia and church groups.

The other signatories were the United National Independence Party, the People’s Alliance for Change, the Forum for Democracy and Development, and the Democratic Alliance.

The electoral commission sought to meet with all stakeholders as part of an effort to curb escalating violence, which prompted a suspension of campaigning for 10 days in the Namwala and Lusaka districts. The commission plans to lift the suspension Monday.

UNITED STATES

Three police shot dead in Baton Rouge

Three police officers have been shot dead in the US city of Baton Rouge, and three more have been injured, officials say. One suspect is dead and two others may still be at large.

Baton Rouge police have warned residents to stay away from the scene of the shooting, which was near police headquarters and Airline Highway.

It follows the recent killing of a black man by police in the city, which sparked protests.

That, and another police killing in Minnesota, triggered a revenge attack by a black army veteran who shot dead five officers in the city of Dallas.

Mobile phone footage from the scene in Baton Rouge showed police cars arriving at a road intersection. Several shots were then heard.

Police are reported to be using a robot to check for explosives at the scene.

ZIMBABWE

Finance minister says sanctions to blame for cash crunch

Zimbabwe’s finance minister blamed international sanctions on Sunday for a cash crunch that has forced the government to delay wages to soldiers and civil servants as President Robert Mugabe faces rare popular protests.

Western countries imposed sanctions in 2001 on Mugabe’s government over allegations of vote-rigging and human rights abuses, which he rejects, while lenders such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have frozen financial aid since Harare defaulted in 1999.

Zimbabwe failed to pay the army on time for the second straight month, military sources said on Friday, and Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa said the sanctions were hurting the government’s ability to meet its obligations.

“Sanctions crippled our capacity to own our international obligations (debt payment),” Chinamasa said when asked about the wage-payment delays during an African Union summit in Kigali, Rwanda. He did not say specifically which international obligations had been affected.

“Our industry sector collapsed, the formal corporate structure collapsed and it translated itself into informal sector. So we have now a situation where revenue collection from the informal sector is not easy. We need to come up with new policies,” he added.

GHANA

Electoral commission steps up preparation for elections

The electoral commission of Ghana has dismissed local media reports that the electoral body is not fully prepared to organize the anticipated November 7 presidential, parliamentary and local elections.

Some parliamentarians expressed concern that the electoral commission might not be ready to administer the polls on November 7 following meetings with residents of their constituencies and other election stakeholders.

But Eric Dzakpasu, the spokesman for the electoral commission, says the electoral body is implementing measures to ensure it is prepared to organize the polls.

“The Electoral Commission of Ghana has been preparing feverishly to have the election conducted on the 7th of November. All our activities are geared towards having the election on the 7th of November so if parliament passes the bill, we are very confident that we will be able to conduct the election on the 7th of November,” said Dzakpasu.

BAHRAIN

Court dissolves main Shi’ite opposition

A court on Sunday ordered the dissolution of Bahrain’s Shiite main opposition group Al-Wefaq, despite international criticism of the Sunni-ruled Gulf kingdom’s intensified crackdown on dissent.

The administrative court in Manama also ordered the funds of the group, found guilty of “harbouring terrorism” among other charges, to be seized by the government, said the justice ministry.

The ruling can still be appealed in the case which Britain’s Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said his country would continue to follow “closely”.

Al-Wefaq was the largest group in parliament before its lawmakers resigned en masse in protest at the crushing of demonstrations in 2011 calling for an elected government.

The court said Al-Wefaq, which draws most of its support from Bahrain’s Shiite majority, incited violence and encouraged demonstrations and sit-ins which threatened to spark “sectarian strife”.

ARMENIA

Armed men seize police station, demand politicians’ release

Armed men seized a police station and hostages in Armenia’s capital Yerevan on Sunday, killing one police officer in the process before demanding Armenians take to the streets to secure the release of jailed opposition politicians.

Their main demand was to free Jirair Sefilian, an opposition leader whom the authorities have accused of plotting civil unrest. Sefilian was jailed in June over allegations of illegally possessing weapons.

Armenia’s security service said one policeman had been killed and two wounded in the violence, but that negotiations were now underway to try to persuade the hostage takers to lay down their weapons.

“Special units remain on the scene in a state of combat readiness, but the order to attack or take any other action has not been given to them,” the National Security Service said in a statement.

Two hostages had been freed, it said, and “several” hostages remained. The city’s deputy police chief, Valery Osipyan, was reported to be among them. Photographs from the scene show the area crowded with white armored police vehicles.

S/ARABIA

Huge fire breaks out at hotel in Makkah

A hotel in the holy city of Makkah on Sunday broke a gigantic fire, local media report. Multiple photos and videos on social media show the hotel is engulfed in thick plumes of black smoke billowing over the structure.

According to RT news, the cause of the fire is not known so far. The firefighting teams have arrived at the site and are currently making an effort to extinguish thick smoke clouds.

As seen in the videos, flames rip through parts of the structure onto a nearby road.

BANGLADESH

Professor arrested for renting flat to attackers

Police in Bangladesh have arrested a professor from an elite university alleging that he had rented a flat to gunmen who attacked a cafe in Dhaka earlier this month and killed 20 hostages.

In the first arrests police have made outside the cafe, Gias Uddin Ahsan of the private North South University was detained late Saturday along with two other people and is expected to appear in a court in the capital to face charges Sunday.

Police allege that in May he rented a flat he owns – without registering the tenants’ information as required by law – to some of the gunmen responsible for the attack claimed by the Islamic State group.

SYRIA

Air strikes ‘kill at least 28’ in Aleppo

Air strikes on the Syrian city of Aleppo have killed at least 28 people, including children, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The attacks, reportedly by Syrian or Russian warplanes, were on rebel-held areas in the east of the city.

A correspondent for the French news agency AFP who is in Aleppo says barrel bombs were dropped on several areas.

In one neighbourhood, a hospital was hit in the bombing, wounding some staff and patients.

“All kinds of weapons were used to bomb the hospital, from midnight until about 11:00. Now it’s unusable,” Mohammad Kheir, one of its doctors said.

People of another neighbourhood reported the use of the crude unguided explosive devices too.