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From Washington, this is VOA news. I'm David Byrd reporting. Turkish fighter jets have carried out their first airstrikes as part of the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State group in Syria.
A Turkish Foreign Ministry statement said Saturday the aircraft began attacking Islamic State targets that were deemed to be threats to Turkey late Friday. In Washington, a Pentagon spokesman said the United States "commends" Turkey for its participation in coalition operations against Islamic State. The Turkish attacks came after Turkish and U.S. officials announced they had reached a technical agreement concerning their cooperation, which calls for Turkey to be fully integrated into the coalition air campaign. After months of delay, Turkey agreed last month to take on a more active role in the fight against Islamic State. Austrian authorities say police pulled three children near death from dehydration from a van packed with 26 Syrian and South Asian refugees Saturday near the German border. A Hungarian court on Saturday remanded four suspects to custody for another month as Europe reels from its largest humanitarian crisis since World War II. Helmut Marban is a spokesman for the Burgenland, Austria, police: "We have had in the year 2014, a whole year, we had about 4,500 refugees here in Burgenland and this year up to the end of August, we had more than 12,000." Separately, Saturday, Libyan authorities say that three people were arrested on suspicion of launching a boat packed with migrants bound for Italy that sank Thursday in the Mediterranean. Officials say up to 200 people may have been drowned. This is VOA news. Thailand's police commissioner says investigators looking into the deadly bombing of a Hindu shrine are seeking a second man after the arrest of one suspect near Bangkok. As Ron Corben reports, the identity of the arrested suspect is not clear, but police say he was traveling on a falsified Turkish passport. The arrest of a man said to be in his 20s at an apartment on the outskirts of Bangkok Saturday involved some 100 police and troops and came almost two weeks after the bombing of a Hindu shrine in Bangkok that killed at least 20 people, with scores injured. At the apartment, police uncovered materials of bomb-making similar to that used at the Erawan Hindu shrine on the evening of August 17. The material was also linked to a second explosion the next day at a river pier in shallow waters without causing injury. Thai police Commissioner Somyot Poompanmoung at a press briefing Saturday said the identity of the man remained unclear. The arrested man was carrying a Turkish passport, but police said his traveling papers were falsified. Ron Corben, for VOA news, Bangkok, Thailand. U.S. national security adviser Susan Rice is in Islamabad on a previously unannounced visit for talks with senior Pakistani government and military officials. Pakistani officials told VOA that Rice will meet with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and with Pakistan's military chief on Sunday. The U.S. State Department said the talks are expected to focus on mutual interests and areas of concern, "particularly terrorist and militant attacks emanating from Pakistani soil." An Egyptian court has found three Al Jazeera journalists guilty of supporting the banned Muslim Brotherhood and has sentenced them to three years in prison. The Cairo court announced the verdicts and the sentences of the retrial on Saturday. Western governments and rights organizations were quick to criticize the verdicts, with the U.S. State Department urging the Egyptian government to "take all available measures to redress the decision." In a formal statement, the department said freedom of the press is fundamental to any free society and essential to what it called "democratic development." Mississippi and Louisiana marked the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina on Saturday by ringing bells, laying wreaths and celebrating the resiliency of a region still recovering from the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history. Bobby Jindal is Louisiana's governor: "Our hearts are grieving. Our hearts are heavy. We know there are still families wondering what exactly happened to their loved ones." Katrina struck the U.S. Gulf coast on August 29, 2005, killing 1,800 people and destroying more than 100,000 homes. For more, please visit our website voanews.com. I'm David Byrd in Washington. That's the latest world news from VOA. |