ISTANBUL: Turkish authorities have detained 43 people suspected of belonging to Daesh and of plotting attacks targeting celebrations of Turkey’s national day on Tuesday, police and state media said.
The detentions came two days after US President Donald Trump announced that Daesh leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi had been killed in a raid by US special forces in northwest Syria, near the Turkish border.
The suspects were detained in Istanbul and the northwestern province of Bursa in three separate operations, according to a police statement and the state-run Anadolu news agency.
Three of the suspects who were believed to have been preparing an attack to disrupt Republic Day celebrations in Istanbul, were detained on Tuesday, Anadolu said.
It said anti-terror and intelligence units established that the suspects had been in contact with people who would provide logistic support for the attack.
Anadolu said another 26 suspected Daesh members were detained in Bursa on Tuesday. It said 12 of them were Syrian nationals and that proceedings were underway to deport them. The other 14 suspects were sent to the police, it added.
Turkish police later said a further 14 suspected extremists, three of them Turkish nationals, were detained in Istanbul. It said the suspects were planning to attack the celebrations in Istanbul following Al-Baghdadi’s death, but did not elaborate.
Turkey has said it shared information with the United States, its NATO ally, ahead of Sunday’s raid in northern Syria and that it is proud to have helped bring “a notorious terrorist to justice.”
On Tuesday Turks were marking the 96th anniversary of the founding of the secular Turkish republic on the ashes of the Ottoman Empire.
Trump said on Tuesday the US military had also killed the person who would likely have succeeded Al-Baghdadi as the leader of Daesh, without identifying him.
Daesh has carried out atrocities against religious minorities and attacks on five continents in the name of an ultra-fanatic version of Islam that has horrified mainstream Muslims.
The death of Baghdadi is a severe blow to the group, which has been in disarray and has no declared successor as leader yet. But it has in the past proved resilient, continuing to mount or inspire attacks in the region and beyond despite losing most of its territory in recent years.
Turkey detains 43 suspected Daesh members, foils plot: police
Turkey detains 43 suspected Daesh members, foils plot: police
- The suspects were detained in Istanbul and the northwestern province of Bursa in three separate operations
Ukraine fires drones at south Russian region
- Ukraine often targets military and energy facilities on Russian territory in drone attacks, sometimes hundreds of kilometers from the frontline
The drones were aimed at a military airfield near the town of Mozdok, more than 700 kilometers from the frontline, according to North Ossetia governor Sergei Menyailo.
“The attack was foiled by the Russian Defense Ministry’s air defense forces. Minor damage and fires were recorded. No one was injured,” he said.
Three drones were shot down in the attack, he added.
Social media videos purportedly filmed in the region showed drones flying overhead, while pictures showed what appeared to be drone fragments scattered on the ground.
“All services have been put on high alert. For the safety of citizens, we have decided to cancel all mass events in Mozdoksky district,” Menyailo added.
Ukraine often targets military and energy facilities on Russian territory in drone attacks, sometimes hundreds of kilometers from the frontline.
Ukraine did not immediately comment, however the Ukrainska Pravda newspaper quoted Kyiv’s military intelligence as saying they were behind the attack.
Apollo 8 astronaut dies in small plane crash at age 90
WASHINGTON: William Anders, the former US astronaut who took the historic “Earthrise” photo from space over 55 years ago, died in a plane crash on Friday at the age of 90, his family said.
Anders had been piloting a small plane which crashed off the coast of Washington state on Friday morning, his son told US media. Anders was alone in the plane.
His body was later recovered by a dive team, The Seattle Times reported, quoting a Coast Guard spokesperson.
A member of the Apollo 8 mission in December 1968, Anders became one of the first humans to orbit the Moon, along with fellow Americans Frank Borman and James Lovell.
The crew circled the Moon 10 times without landing, before successfully returning to Earth on December 27, 1968.
On one of the lunar orbits, Anders captured a photo of the bright blue Earth against the vast darkness of space, with the Moon’s cratered surface in the foreground.
“We’d been going backwards and upside down, didn’t really see the Earth or the Sun, and when we rolled around and came around and saw the first Earthrise,” he said in a 1997 NASA oral history interview.
“(T)hat certainly was, by far, the most impressive thing. To see this very delicate, colorful orb which to me looked like a Christmas tree ornament coming up over this very stark, ugly lunar landscape.”
The “Earthrise” photo is frequently listed in roundups of key historical images, and was included in Life Magazine’s book “100 Photographs that Changed The World.”
An original version of the photo sold at a Copenhagen auction in 2022 for 11,800 euros.
“In 1968, during Apollo 8, Bill Anders offered to humanity among the deepest of gifts an astronaut can give,” NASA chief Bill Nelson wrote on social media platform X.
“He traveled to the threshold of the Moon and helped all of us see something else: ourselves. He embodied the lessons and the purpose of exploration. We will miss him,” Nelson added.
The San Juan County Sheriff’s Office in Washington state said in a statement that local authorities received a report around noon on Friday that “an older model plane was flying from north to south then went into the water and sunk.”
The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board were investigating the crash.
Born October 17, 1933, in Hong Kong, Anders graduated from the US Naval Academy and later earned a master’s degree in nuclear engineering.
After his time as an astronaut, Anders later held various technology-related government positions, notably becoming the first chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and later serving as the US ambassador to Norway.
In the early 1990s, he headed up the US defense and aerospace company General Dynamics as CEO and chairman, before retiring.
In a 2015 interview with Forbes, Anders said his Earthrise image had captured so much attention because it showed the planet’s beauty and fragility — and “helped kick start the environmental movement.”
But he was also surprised that the public seemed to have lost the memory of the space mission that produced the photo.
“It’s curious to me that the press and people on the ground have kind of forgotten our history-making voyage, and what’s symbolic of the flight now is the ‘Earthrise’ picture,” Anders said.
“Here we came all the way to the moon to discover Earth.”
Of the Apollo 8 members, only Lovell is still alive.
Borman died in November 2023 at the age of 95.
Lovell, 96, was also a member of the Apollo 13 mission that was meant to land on the Moon, but experienced a near-catastrophe that was later made into a Hollywood film.
The last time humans set foot on the Moon was in 1972 during the Apollo 17 mission, but NASA has set its sights on sending new astronauts, including the first woman and person of color, in the coming years.
Suspected Islamists kill at least 10 in attack on eastern Congo village
- Armed men attacked the village of Masala in Beni territory, which lies in North Kivu province
- Attack was carried out by members of the Allied Democratic Forces – civil society leader
BENI, Democratic Republic of Congo: Suspected Islamist rebels killed at least 10 people in an overnight attack on a village in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, a local official and a civil society leader said on Saturday.
Armed men attacked the village of Masala in Beni territory, which lies in North Kivu province, overnight on Friday, military administrator Charles Euta Omeonga said by phone.
Civil society leader Justin Kavalami said the attack was carried out by members of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), the same group that a local official accused of being behind another village assault that killed at least 16 people earlier this week.
Kavalami said more than 13 people were killed in the Masala attack.
The ADF originates from neighboring Uganda. Now based in eastern Congo, it has pledged allegiance to Islamic State and mounts frequent attacks, further destabilizing a region where many militant groups are active.
It was not possible to reach the ADF for comment.
Rahul Gandhi nominated to be leader of India’s opposition
- ‘All participants unanimously passed the resolution that Rahul Gandhi should take the position of leader of opposition in the parliament’
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s chief rival Rahul Gandhi was nominated on Saturday to lead India’s opposition in parliament after an election result that rescued his party from the political wilderness.
Modi will be sworn into office for a third term this weekend following a poll that deprived his ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of a majority, forcing it to rely on coalition allies to govern.
Gandhi defied analysts’ expectations and exit polls to help his Congress party nearly double its parliamentary numbers, its best result since Modi was swept to power a decade ago.
A meeting of the Congress leadership on Saturday voted unanimously to recommend Gandhi’s election as India’s official opposition leader, a post that had been left vacant since 2014.
“All participants unanimously passed the resolution that Rahul Gandhi should take the position of leader of opposition in the parliament,” K.C. Venugopal told a press conference after a meeting of the party’s executive.
The nomination will be put before a meeting of the 232 lawmakers belonging to a Congress-led opposition alliance later on Saturday.
Gandhi is the scion of the dynasty that dominated Indian politics for decades and is the son, grandson and great-grandson of former prime ministers, beginning with independence leader Jawaharlal Nehru.
Russia jails French citizen detained on charges of collecting military data
MOSCOW: A court in Moscow on Friday ordered a French citizen accused of collecting information on military issues in Russia be held in jail pending investigation and trial.
Laurent Vinatier was arrested in the Russian capital on Thursday as tensions have flared between Moscow and Paris following French President Emmanuel Macron’s statements about the possibility of deploying the country’s troops in Ukraine.
The authorities accused Vinatier of failing to register as a “foreign agent” while collecting information about Russia’s “military and military-technical activities,” which could be used to the detriment of the country’s security.
They did not provide details of the accusations beyond alleging that Vinatier repeatedly traveled to Russia to collect this information. Under Russian law, it is a criminal offense punishable by up to five years in prison.
Vinatier appeared in court on Friday. Russia’s state news agency Tass cited his lawyer as saying in the courtroom that Vinatier admitted his guilt and maintained that he simply didn’t know about the requirement. The report also said Vinatier apologized to the court.
The judge ordered the man to be remanded in pre-trial detention until Aug. 5.
Vinatier is an adviser with the Center for Humanitarian Dialogue, a Geneva-based nongovernmental organization.
Later Friday, the Geneva-based NGO said it was doing “everything possible to assist our colleague Laurent,” such as by helping to secure legal representation for him and reach out to Russian authorities.
“As the case proceeds, we continue to seek information about the circumstances leading up to his arrest and the charges made against him,” it said.
The charges against Vinatier stem from a recently adopted law that requires anyone who collects information on military issues to register with authorities as a foreign agent.
Human rights activists have criticized the law and other legislation adopted lately as part of a multi-pronged Kremlin crackdown on independent media and political activists intended to stifle criticism of its actions in Ukraine.
Arrests on charges of spying and collecting sensitive data have become increasingly frequent in Russia since it sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022.
Recent high-profile arrests include Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was arrested on espionage charges in March 2023, and US-Russian journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, who was taken into custody in October 2023 on the same charges as Vinatier.
