Major fatal bomb blasts at Turkey International Airport

29 June 2016 - 05H05

 
 
 
 
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© AFP | Turkish anti-riot police officers secure the main enterance of Ataturk airport in Istanbul on June 28, 2016 after an attack killed 36 people

ISTANBUL - 

Following is a list of the worst bomb attacks in Turkey since 1986:

by Alara Berrak and Biodun Iginla, France24 and Reuters, Istanbul

- 2016 -

June 28: At least 36 people are killed in a triple suicide bombing and gun attack at Istanbul's Ataturk airport.

June 7: At least seven police officers and four civilians die when a bomb rips through a police vehicle near the historic centre of Istanbul.

March 19: Three Israelis and an Iranian are killed and dozens injured in a suicide bombing blamed on Islamic State jihadists targeting an Istanbul shopping thoroughfare, the Istiklal Caddesi.

March 13: At least 34 people are killed and dozens wounded in a suicide car bomb attack in Ankara. The assault is claimed by the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK), a radical offshoot of the better-known Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

February 17: At least 29 are killed in a car bombing targeting the Turkish military in Ankara. The attack is also claimed by TAK.

January 12: Eleven German tourists are killed and another 16 people wounded in a suicide attack by a Syrian bomber in Istanbul's Sultanahmet district, the ancient tourist heart of the city and home of the Blue Mosque.

- 2015 -

October 10: In the bloodiest attack in Turkey's history, 103 people are killed and more than 500 wounded in twin suicide bombings targeting a pro-Kurdish peace rally in Ankara. Authorities blame IS.

July 20: 34 people are killed and about 100 wounded in a suicide bombing in the predominantly Kurdish town of Suruc near the border with Syria. Turkish officials blame IS.

- 2013 -

May 11: A twin car bomb attack kills 52 people in the town of Reyhanli near the Syrian border. Ankara blames pro-Damascus groups.

February 11: 17 people are killed when a Syrian minibus explodes in Reyhanli.

- 2008 -

July 27: Two bombings in Istanbul leave 17 dead and 115 wounded. Ankara blames the PKK.

- 2006 -

September 12: 10 people, including children, are killed in a bomb blast in Diyarbakir, the largest city in the mainly Kurdish southeast.

- 2003 -

November 15 and 20: Four suicide car bomb attacks in Istanbul hit two synagogues, the British consulate and a branch of the British multinational bank HSBC, leaving 63 dead, including Britain's consul general, and hundreds wounded. The attacks are claimed by Al-Qaeda and a Turkish extremist group named the Islamic Front of Raiders of the Great Orient.

- 1999 -

March 13: 12 people are killed in a firebombing on an Istanbul shopping mall. The attack is claimed by the PKK, which later retracts its statement.

- 1991 -

December 25: Explosives and firebombs are hurled at an Istanbul department store, killing 17 people and injuring 23. The attack is blamed on the PKK.

- 1986 -

September 6: A twin suicide bombing kills 22 people at a synagogue in Istanbul.

Spain's conservatives win general election, but fail to get a majority

 
 
 
 
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Latest update : 2016-06-27

by Elodie Bagnol and Biodun Iginla, France24 and Reuters, Madrid

Spanish elections delivered a hung parliament for the second time in six months on Sunday, adding to political uncertainty in Europe after last week’s shock Brexit vote and piling intense pressure on Spain’s warring politicians to form a government.

Acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s centre-right People’s Party (PP) again emerged with the single biggest bloc of seats but fell short of a majority, leaving the euro zone’s fourth-largest economy at risk of another lengthy political stalemate.

The PP was the only major party to increase its share of seats from December’s inconclusive poll, sapping the power of a wave of new parties which had fed on years of deep recession and public anger over corruption scandals within the major parties.

“We have won the elections,” Rajoy told hundreds of cheering supporters outside PP headquarters in Madrid late on Sunday.“We claim our right to govern.”

The PP won 137 seats, up from 123 in December but short of the 176 needed for an outright majority.

Spain now enters another round of backroom talks to see which parties can form a governing coalition, a task that eluded them despite months of negotiations following the December vote.

This time, politicians will be under pressure to reach a deal quickly given the uncertainty and confusion sweeping Europe after Britain’s vote last week to leave the EU. Brexit hit financial markets in indebted Spain particularly hard.

Among the hundreds of people cheering Rajoy and other party leaders on Sunday, waving blue party flags and red and yellow Spanish flags, there were some more cautious PP supporters.

“Whether we have a government or not will depend on what the left wants. Without a majority it’s hard to do anything,” said Raul Quintana, a 42-year-old concierge from Toledo.

Options to form a government include a centre-right pact between the PP and liberal newcomer Ciudadanos, a German-style grand coalition between the PP and the Socialists, or even a minority PP administration.

Complex negotiations

Upstart liberal party Ciudadanos, which saw its support fall on Sunday, said it was ready to immediately open talks with the PP to explore the formation of a government.

The two combined would fall just seven seats short of a majority, putting pressure on the Socialists to drop their opposition to a PP-led government.

Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez said he would put his party “at the service of the general interest” but an agreement with the PP might not be easily reached.

“We are heading for more rounds of complex negotiations, whose least bad outcome could be a weak government,” said Vincenzo Scarpetta, political analyst at Open Europe in London.

“The pressure on the Socialists to let Rajoy at least form a minority government and get on with business will be enormous.”

The main surprise was the disappointing result for anti-austerity Unidos Podemos (“Together We Can”), a grouping of several leftist parties led by anti-austerity movement Podemos.

Podemos had been forecast to increase its vote and play a central role in forming government but it ended up with 71 seats, unchanged from December.

“Tonight’s results have not been satisfactory for us, we expected more,” Pablo Iglesias, the pony-tailed academic who leads Podemos, told a sombre crowd of supporters.

Polls ahead of the(REUTERS)

Latin America’s largest airline halts flights to Venezuela over economic crisis

 
 
 
 
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© Evaristo Sa, AFP | A LATAM Boeing 767-300ER aircraft flame arrives in Brasilia from Geneva on May 3, 2016

Latest update : 2016-05-30

by Enrique Krause and Biodun Iginla, France24 and Reuters, Santiago

Latin America’s largest airline, Chile-based LATAM Airlines, said on Monday it would suspend its flights to Venezuela due to the “economic scenario”, following a similar decision by Lufthansa over the weekend.

“Owing to the current complex macroeconomic scenario in the region, LATAM Airlines has announced adjustments to its destination network... it will suspend temporarily and for an undefined time its operations to Caracas airport,” the company said in a statement.

On Saturday, German airline Deutsche Lufthansa AG also said it was halting Caracas-bound operations. It is owed more than $100 million in ticket revenue, it said.

International airlines have for years struggled to repatriate billions of dollars in revenue held inVenezuela’s local bolivar currency, as the cash-strapped government failed to convert it to hard currency amid tight exchange controls.

This has prompted many airlines to limit service to Venezuela and require that passengers pay fares in hard currency.

But a deep recession and rocketing inflation has put foreign travel out of the reach of many citizens.

Economic woes in the region are also spurring LATAM to shift flight routes away from struggling areas like Brazil and Venezuela toward places like still-growing Peru.

Flights between Sao Paulo and Caracas will stop at the end of May, and those from Santiago and Lima will end in July, the company said, adding that it would work to restart operations “as soon as conditions permitted”.

Tony Tyler, the chief executive of airline industry body IATA, had warned in March that the few remaining airlines still operating in Venezuela “may throw in the towel”.

“You can sense the frustration, some have said to us privately that they are thinking seriously about whether they can afford to keep these operations going,” he said on the sidelines of an airline conference in Chilean capital Santiago.

Cosby sex assault case to go ahead in Pennsylvania court

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© AFP | Comedian Bill Cosby arrives at the Montgomery County courthouse for pre-trial hearings in the sexual assault case against him in Norristown, Pennsylvania, on February 3, 2016

Latest update : 2016-04-26

by Alyssa Mann and Biodun Iginla, France24 and Reuters, Philadelphia

A Pennsylvania appeals court on Monday cleared the way for the first and only criminal case against Bill Cosby to proceed, rejecting the comedian’s attempt to have the charges thrown out.

The state Superior Court had put the case on hold while it considered whether to take up Cosby’s unusual pretrial appeal.

The 78-year-old actor and comic is charged with drugging and assaulting Andrea Constand, a former basketball coach at his alma mater Temple University, at his home in 2004.

Constand, now 44, is one of more than 50 women who have come forward to accuse Cosby of sexually assaulting them in a series of attacks dating to the 1960s.

The allegations have toppled Cosby, who built a long career on family-friendly comedy, from his position as one of the United States’ best-loved entertainers.

Constand’s case is the only one that has led to criminal charges, partly due to statutes of limitations. Cosby faces a number of civil lawsuits from his many alleged victims.
Monday’s ruling clears the way for a preliminary hearing, where prosecutors are expected to outline some of the evidence against Cosby.

“We did not believe that the defense had a right to appeal at this stage, and we are gratified that the court came to the same conclusion,” Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele said in a statement.

Representatives for Cosby did not immediately comment.

Lawyers for Cosby, who has denied any wrongdoing, had argued that former Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce Castor had promised not to prosecute Cosby in the Constand case in exchange for Cosby’s agreement to give a deposition in her civil lawsuit.

But current prosecutors countered that no written deal existed to back up that contention and said Castor was not legally authorized to bind his successors from pursuing criminal charges.

In February, Pennsylvania Common Pleas Court Judge Steven O’Neill rejected Cosby’s bid following a two-day hearing at which Castor testified that he agreed not to prosecute Cosby if he sat for the deposition.

Cosby has portrayed the encounter with Constand as consensual and said he gave her an anti-allergy medication.