Bangladesh opposition chief charged over arson attacks

DHAKA (AFP) - 

Police on Wednesday charged Bangladesh's main opposition chief, Khaleda Zia, with masterminding arson attacks during deadly anti-government protests last year, a day after the execution of one of her key political allies.

Police said they had brought charges against Zia, a two-time former prime minister, and 27 officials from her Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) for their roles in the fire-bombing of two buses in the capital Dhaka.

"We've submitted charge sheets against 27 people including Khaleda Zia to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court," local police chief Mohammad Selimuzzaman told AFP.

"She has been charged as a mastermind in the arson attacks."

It came hours after the execution of Zia's main political ally, Jamaat-e-Islami party leader Motiur Rahman Nizami, for war crimes committed during the country's 1971 independence conflict with Pakistan.

His hanging late Tuesday sparked several outbreaks of violence and heightened tensions in the Muslim-majority country, already reeling from a string of killings of secular and liberal activists.

Zia, a bitter political rival of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, is already on trial for corruption in a long-running case.

She also faces around half a dozen other charges stemming from her tenure as the premier of the country from 2001-06 -- charges she rejects as baseless and politically motivated.

There was no immediate comment from Zia on the latest allegations, which relate to fire-bombings in Dhaka's Darussalam neighbourhood in March 2015, which caused no injuries or deaths.

Earlier this year Zia was charged over a separate deadly fire-bombing of a bus in Dhaka during a nationwide transport blockade she ordered last year in an effort to topple the government.

The blockade unleashed a wave of bloody violence, leaving more than 120 people dead as opposition activists fire-bombed hundreds of buses and trucks, and police responded by firing live rounds.

Zia was confined to her office compound in the capital for months after she threatened to lead an anti-government rally through Dhaka on the first anniversary of a disputed national election.

Prime Minister Hasina has vowed to prosecute Zia and other top opposition officials over the violence.

The BNP boycotted the 2014 general election, leaving the field clear for Hasina's Awami League.

The opposition was further weakened by a government crackdown last year, when police pressed charges against around 15,000 opposition activists over the fire-bombing campaign.

© 2016 AFP

SpaceX's Dragon cargo ship leaves space station

MIAMI (AFP) - 

SpaceX's unmanned Dragon cargo ship left the International Space Station on Wednesday before heading back to Earth for an ocean splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.

"The Dragon is released," a NASA commentator said at 9:19 am (1319 GMT), as the orbiting outpost passed over Adelaide, Australia.

The Dragon slowly floated away from the ISS, then fired its thrusters three times to lead it to a safe distance from the station.

The cargo ship is scheduled to begin its deorbit burn at 2:01 pm (1801 GMT), and will splash down in the Pacific Ocean about 2:55 pm, NASA said.

The capsule, which launched on April 8 from Cape Canaveral, Florida, is returning to Earth with more than 3,700 pounds (1,678 kilograms) of cargo.

"This cargo includes samples from human research, biology and biotechnology studies, physical science investigations and education activities," NASA said in a statement.

The spacecraft also contains the final batch of human research samples from the one-year mission completed in March by US astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko.

"We wish it a safe recovery back to planet Earth," said British astronaut Tim Peake, who operated the space station's robotic arm during the release of the spacecraft.

SpaceX's Dragon is the only cargo ship capable of returning to Earth intact. The world's other cargo vehicles burn up on re-entry to Earth's atmosphere.

© 2016 AFP

DR Congo president's mandate can be extended if no vote: court

ATHENS (AFP) - 

Six migrants who were fed up with being stuck on the Greek Island of Chios tried to make their way back to Turkey -- by swimming, Greek harbour police said on Wednesday.

Two groups of swimmers were picked up on Monday and Tuesday, several hundred metres (yards) off the coast of Chios, police said. The Turkish coastline, just nine nautical miles away, is visible from the island.

Like hundreds of thousands of people before them, they had reached Chios by crossing the same stretch of water on makeshift boats, often overloaded with desperate people.

The first group included four Iraqis who tried to swim back by clinging onto a rubber ring. It was not immediately clear who was in the second group.

Under terms of a controversial March 20 agreement between Brussels and Ankara aimed at easing the migrant crisis, all "irregular migrants" arriving on the Greek islands face the prospect of being deported to Turkey. The aim is to discourage people from making the perilous Aegean crossing.

According to the Ethnos daily, they were among those slated for deportation and had hoped that by making their own way back, they could arrive incognito, thereby avoiding detention by the Turkish authorities on their return.

So far, more than 300 people have been sent back, with rights groups saying their fate was unclear.

There are currently 8,400 migrants on the Greek islands, officials said Wednesday, most of whom are waiting for their asylum applications to be processed.

New arrivals are confined to camps for 25 days, after which they are allowed out but cannot leave the islands.

Separately there are another 45,000 migrants and refugees who arrived in Greece before the March 20 deadline who have been stuck since the Balkans state began closing their borders in mid-February.

© 2016 AFP

Two suspected jihadists killed near Tunisian capital, interior ministry says

Two suspected jihadists were killed on Wednesday during a security operation near the Tunisian capital, the interior ministry said.

Sixteen others, some of them armed, were arrested during the operation in Ariana province just outside Tunis, it said in a statement.

A resident of the Sanhaji district told AFP that a two-hour gun battle erupted with the suspects after the national guard launched the raid at around 8 am (0700 GMT).

“They were not from the neighbourhood. We didn’t know them. They rented the house recently,” she said.

Since its 2011 revolution, Tunisia has faced a growing jihadist threat, with the Islamic State group last year claiming a string of deadly attacks on holidaymakers and security forces that killed dozens.

Thousands of Tunisians have joined jihadist groups in conflict zones such as Iraq, Syria and Libya over the past few years.

(AFP)

Baghdad car bombing kills dozens in Shiite neighbourhood

A car bombing claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group killed at least 52 people at a market in a Shiite area of north Baghdad on Wednesday, officials said.

The blast, the single deadliest attack in the Iraqi capital this year, comes as the government is locked in a political crisis that some have warned could undermine the fight against the Islamic State group.

The bombing, which hit the Sadr City area at around 10am (0700 GMT), wounded at least 65 people, the officials said.

In separate attacks later in the day, two car bombs in the capital killed at least 22 civilians, police sources said.

One blast hit the entrance to Kadhimiya, a mostly Shi’ite district in the northwest of the Iraqi capital, killing 15 and wounding 33 others. The other bomb went off on a commercial thoroughfare in a predominately Sunni neighbourhood of western Baghdad, killing seven and wounding 20. Police sources said that the death tolls are expected to rise.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the second and third attacks.

Sadr City attack sparks fury

The Sadr City blast Wednesday morning set nearby shops ablaze and left debris including the charred, twisted remains of a vehicle in the street.

Dozens of angry people gathered at the scene of the bombing, blaming the government for the carnage.

“The state is in a conflict over (government positions) and the people are the victims,” said a man named Abu Ali, adding: “The politicians are behind the explosion.”

Baghdad resident Abu Muntadhar echoed this anger, saying the politicians “should all get out.”

Cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who spearheaded a protest movement demanding a cabinet reshuffle and other reforms, has a huge following in the working class neighbourhood of Sadr City, which was named after his father.

Suicide bomber

The IS group issued an online statement claiming responsibility for the first attack in Sadr City.

It said a suicide bomber it identified as “Abu Sulaiman al-Ansari” detonated the explosives-rigged vehicle.

The IS militants considers Shiites, who make up the majority of Iraq’s population, to be heretics and often targets them with bombings.

Iraqi forces have regained significant ground from the IS group, but the jihadists still control large parts of western Iraq, and have the capability to carry out frequent bombings in government-held areas.

Political crisis

Iraq’s legislature has been paralysed by a political crisis over replacing the cabinet that the United States and the United Nations have warned could undermine the fight against IS group.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has sought to replace the cabinet of party-affiliated ministers with a government of technocrats, a move opposed by powerful parties that rely on control of ministries for patronage and funds.

Angry demonstrators broke into Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone and stormed parliament after lawmakers again failed to approve new ministers last month.

While the protesters withdrew the following day, parliament has still yet to hold another session.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, REUTERS)
 

North Korea's Kim caps rare congress with colorful mass rally

PYONGYANG | By James Pearson

Thousands of ecstatic North Koreans joined a mass rally and parade on Tuesday as leader Kim Jong Un capped off the consolidation of his power at a ruling party congress at which he formalized its claim to be a nuclear weapons power.

Kim used the party congress, the first in 36 years, to highlight North Korea's aim to expand its nuclear arsenal, in defiance of U.N. sanctions, though he said the weapons would only be used if North Korea was threatened with similar weapons.
Kim also set out a five-year plan to revive his isolated country's creaking economy, although it was short on targets, and the party enshrined Kim's "Byongjin" policy of simultaneous pursuit of nuclear weapons and economic development.
"Under the authorization of Workers' Party Chairman Kim Jong Un, the Central Committee sends the warmest greetings to the people and soldiers who concluded the 70-day battle with the greatest of victory and glorified the Congress as an auspicious event," Kim Yong Nam, the titular head of state, told the rally under overcast skies in the capital's Kim Il Sung Square.
North Korea had been engaged in a 70-day campaign of accelerated productivity in the run-up to the Workers' Party congress, including sprucing-up the capital, a grueling exercise that left many people exhausted, Western residents said.
But there was no sign of that at Tuesday's rally, where thousands shouted "manse!", or "live forever!" while clasping their hands in the air or waving pink flowers as they passed before Kim and other top officials on a leaders' platform.
Kim, 33, had traded the western-style suit he wore at the four-day congress for the more traditional uniform of North Korean leaders, a dark jacket buttoned to the collar.
He smiled and waved at the crowd and chatted with military and party aides, state media footage showed.
Kim's sister, Kim Yo Jong, who was formally elected by the congress to the party's Central Committee, stood next to him for some of the time.
The young leader Kim, who assumed power in 2011 after his father's death, took on the new title of party chairman on Monday. The promotion - his previous party title was first secretary - had been predicted by analysts who had expected Kim would use the congress to further shore up his power.
Among other changes at the congress, a former army Chief of General Staff who South Korean media had reported had been purged and executed, was elected alternate member of the party Politburo and a member of the powerful Central Military Commission.
The first congress since 1980 was seen by North Korea-watchers as a move to restore the central role of the party while diluting the political role of the military.

Old rival South Korea denounced North Korea's nuclear ambitions, seeing little cause for optimism in a conciliatory gesture Kim made on the weekend when he said military talks were needed with the South to discuss ways to ease tension.
South Korea President Park Geun-hye said the North showed no sign of willingness to change but only made "preposterous claims about being a nuclear weapons state".
The two Koreas remain in a technical state of war since their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty. North Korea regularly threatens the South and its major ally, the United States, which it accuses of planning a nuclear attack.
Relations between the Koreas have been at a low since North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test in January, which also brought tougher U.N. sanctions backed by lone major ally China, which disapproves of North Korea's development of nuclear weapons.
Despite the sanctions, North Korea has pressed ahead with its nuclear and missile development, and said it had succeeded in miniaturizing a nuclear warhead and launching a submarine-based ballistic missile.
Chinese President Xi Jinping sent congratulations to Kim for his promotion at the party congress. There was no direct mention of North Korea's nuclear program in Xi's message.
"We will make efforts together with the DPRK side to bring happiness to the two countries and their peoples and contribute to peace, stability and development in this region by steadily developing the Sino-DPRK friendship and cooperation," North Korea's state KCNA news agency quoted Xi as saying.
DPRK stands for Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the North's official name.
An unusually large contingent of 128 foreign journalists were issued visas to visit during the congress, but their access to formal proceedings was limited to a brief visit by a small group to the congress venue on Monday.
BBC correspondent Rupert Wingfield-Hayes and two his colleagues who had been in North Korea to cover the visit of a group of Nobel laureates ahead of the congress were expelled from the country on Monday over his reporting.
(Additional reporting by Jack Kim in Seoul and Ben Blanchard in Beijing; Writing and additional reporting by Tony Munroe; Editing by Nick Macfie, Robert Birsel)
 

Car bomb hits police vehicle in Turkish city of Diyarbakir, 13 wounded: officials

A car bomb struck an armored police vehicle on Tuesday in the Turkish city of Diyarbakir, located in the mainly Kurdish southeast, wounding 13 people, security officials said.

A Reuters witness heard a large explosion in the city center, followed by the wail of ambulance sirens after the attack. Parts of Diyarbakir have seen intense security operations since a three-decade conflict between the state and Kurdish militants reignited in July 2015.
(Reporting by Seyhmus Cakan and Orhan Coskun; Writing by Ayla Jean Yackley; Editing by Nick Tattersall)