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Turkish MPs brawl during debate on jailed opposition lawmaker

Turkish MPs brawl during debate on jailed opposition lawmaker
Turkey's AK Party lawmaker Alpay Ozalan scuffles with Workers' Party of Turkey (TIP) lawmaker Ahmet Sik, who was speaking during an extraordinary meeting of the Turkish parliament to discuss jailed opposition lawmaker Can Atalay's return to the assembly, in Ankara, Turkey August 16, 2024. (REUTERS)
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Updated 17 August 2024
AFP
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Turkish MPs brawl during debate on jailed opposition lawmaker

Turkish MPs brawl during debate on jailed opposition lawmaker
  • Scuffles broke out after Erdogan’s ruling AKP lawmaker hit an opposition member to the ground
  • Online footage showed the brawl and staff cleaning blood stains from the parliament floor
Updated 17 August 2024
AFP
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ANKARA: A brawl broke out in Turkiye’s parliament on Friday after lawmakers convened to discuss the status of a jailed opposition figure controversially stripped of his parliamentary immunity earlier this year.
They were meeting after the country’s constitutional court struck down parliament’s decision to oust Can Atalay from his parliamentary seat earlier this month.
Lawyer and rights activist Atalay was deprived of his seat in January following an ill-tempered parliamentary session, despite efforts by fellow leftist deputies to halt the proceedings.
He was one of seven defendants sentenced in 2022 to 18 years in prison following a controversial trial that also saw the award-winning philanthropist Osman Kavala jailed for life.
From prison, 48-year-old Atalay ran for a seat in parliament representing the earthquake-ravaged Hatay province in last May’s general election.
He was elected as a member of the leftist Workers’ Party of Turkiye, or TIP, which has three parliamentary seats.
However, that election win led to a legal standoff between President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s supporters and opposition leaders, who pushed Turkiye to the verge of a constitutional crisis last year.
Parliament’s decision in January to oust Atalay came after the Supreme Court of Appeals ruling that upheld his conviction, clearing the way for the move to strip him of his parliamentary immunity.
But on Aug. 1, the constitutional court — a body reviewing whether judges’ rulings comply with Turkiye’s fundamental law — published its verdict on the case.
It ruled Atalay’s ouster as a member of parliament was “null and void.”
On Friday, TIP deputy Ahmet Sik defended Atalay against the attacks on him by ruling party lawmakers.
“It’s no surprise that you call Atalay a terrorist,” he said.
“All citizens should know that the biggest terrorists of this country are those seated on those benches,” he said, indicating the ruling majority.
That comment drew angry responses from ruling party lawmakers, prompting the chairman to call a break.
Scuffles broke out after former footballer Alpay Ozalan, a lawmaker from Erdogan’s ruling AKP party, walked to the rostrum and shoved Sik to the ground, said an AFP journalist in parliament.
Another opposition MP was injured when she tried to calm the session.
Footage online showed the brawl and staff cleaning blood stains from the parliament floor afterward.
Turkiye’s parliament has previously voted to lift immunity from prosecution of opposition politicians — many of them Kurds — who the government views as “terrorists.”

Israeli strikes hit multiple targets in Lebanon

Israeli strikes hit multiple targets in Lebanon
Updated 5 sec ago
Reuters
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Israeli strikes hit multiple targets in Lebanon

Israeli strikes hit multiple targets in Lebanon
Updated 5 sec ago
Reuters
JERUSALEM: Israeli jets and artillery hit multiple targets in southern Lebanon overnight, Israel’s military said on Thursday, amid spiralling tensions following the mass attack on Hezbollah communications devices this week.
The military said air strikes hit Hezbollah targets in Chihine, Tayibe, Blida, Meiss El Jabal, Aitaroun and Kfarkela in southern Lebanon, as well as a Hezbollah weapons storage facility in the area of Khiam.
Israeli media reported that a number of Israeli civilians had been wounded by anti-tank missile fire from Lebanon but there was no official confirmation.
The latest Israeli strikes follow a period of sharply spiralling concern over an escalation of the conflict on the border with southern Lebanon, where Israeli forces have been exchanging fire with Iranian-backed Hezbollah for months.
On Wednesday, Hezbollah fired around 20 projectiles into Israel, most of which were intercepted by air defense systems without causing any injuries, the military said.
Around 10 missiles were fired at the Mount Hermon area of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, where Israel has key surveillance, espionage and air defense installations.
This week dozens of people were killed and thousands wounded by a sophisticated attack targeting communications devices used by operatives of Hezbollah. Israel has not commented directly on the attacks, which multiple security sources have said was carried out by its spy agency Mossad.
Shifting focus
On Wednesday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said the war that Israel has been waging in Gaza since last October, after Hamas-led gunmen stormed communities in southern Israel, was moving into a new phase, with the focus now shifting to the northern border.
He said more military units and resources were being sent to the border. According to Israeli officials, the forces being deployed to the border include the 98th Division, an elite formation including commando and paratroop elements that has been fighting in Gaza.
Hezbollah launched missile barrages on Israel on the day after the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas and since then there has been a constant exchange of fire that neither side has allowed to escalate into a full-scale war.
However, tens of thousands have been evacuated on both sides of the border, and there has been mounting pressure in Israel for the government to get the evacuees back home.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Wednesday to return the evacuated Israelis “securely to their homes.”

20 killed, 450 injured in second wave of blasts in Lebanon

20 killed, 450 injured in second wave of blasts in Lebanon
Updated 19 September 2024
NAJIA HOUSSARI
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20 killed, 450 injured in second wave of blasts in Lebanon

20 killed, 450 injured in second wave of blasts in Lebanon
  • Walkie-talkies, solar equipment targeted day after pagers blast, report says
  • New blasts hit a country thrown into confusion, anger after Tuesday’s bombings 
Updated 19 September 2024
NAJIA HOUSSARI

BEIRUT: Explosions in Beirut and other parts of Lebanon were apparently a second wave of detonations of electronic devices, state media said on Wednesday.
The report said walkie-talkies and even solar equipment were targeted a day after hundreds of pagers blew up.
At least 20 people were killed and 450 were wounded, the Health Ministry said.
A Hezbollah official told the Associated Press that walkie-talkies used by the group exploded.
Lebanon’s official news agency reported that solar energy systems exploded in homes in several areas of Beirut and southern Lebanon, wounding at least one girl.
The new blasts hit a country thrown into confusion and anger after Tuesday’s pager bombings, which appeared to be a complex Israeli attack targeting Hezbollah members that caused civilian casualties, too.
At least 12 people were killed, including two children, and about 2,800 people were wounded as hundreds of pagers used by Hezbollah members exploded wherever they happened to be — in homes, cars, at grocery stores and in cafes.
Wednesday’s blasts caused fires, injuries and a state of hysteria because some of the devices were being carried by security personnel during the funeral ceremonies for the victims of the pager explosions on Tuesday.
Explosions were heard in the southern suburbs of Beirut and several areas in the south and the Bekaa Valley.
Many were injured outside hospitals where the wounded from Tuesday’s bombings were being treated. Several of the wounded were transferred to Baalbek hospitals. 
Some devices exploded with their carriers in front of the American University Hospital in Beirut. 
Four cars containing devices exploded in the town of Aabbassiyeh in the south, three people were injured when a device exploded in a car in Jdeidet Marjeyoun, and parked cars exploded in Nabatieh because there were wireless devices in them.
Ambulances rushed everywhere, and Hezbollah supporters went out on motorcycles searching for victims after abandoning all their communication devices. 
The Lebanese Army Command asked citizens “not to gather in places witnessing security incidents to make way for the arrival of medical teams.” 
According to initial information, the devices that exploded on Wednesday are Icom V82 models, bought in the deal for pagers last spring. 
Panic increased when information circulated on social media about the explosion of solar panels connected to Internet devices. There were also claims that computers exploded. 
A Hezbollah member in a video clip that showed a room with shrapnel damage, said: “This was because of the device’s battery. I removed it from the device and put it aside. Look what happened.”
Footage showed fires in residential apartments in the southern suburbs of Beirut and in the south, and casualties during funeral ceremonies after their devices exploded. 
The Axios website reported that “Israel blew up thousands of wireless communication devices used by Hezbollah elements in a second wave.” 
In the first wave of bombings, it appeared that small amounts of explosives had been hidden in the thousands of pagers delivered to Hezbollah and then remotely detonated.
The reports of further electronic devices exploding suggested even greater infiltration of boobytraps into Lebanon’s supply chain.
It also deepens concerns over the attacks in which hundreds of devices exploded in public areas, often with many bystanders, with no certainty of who was holding the rigged devices.

Relentless fighting is devastating Sudan and escalating in Darfur’s capital, UN says

Relentless fighting is devastating Sudan and escalating in Darfur’s capital, UN says
Updated 19 September 2024
AP
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Relentless fighting is devastating Sudan and escalating in Darfur’s capital, UN says

Relentless fighting is devastating Sudan and escalating in Darfur’s capital, UN says
  • Up to 300,000 people were killed and 2.7 million were driven from their homes
  • Sudan plunged into conflict in mid-April 2023, when long-simmering tensions between its military and paramilitary leaders
Updated 19 September 2024
AP

UNITED NATIONS: Relentless violence has devastated Sudan and large-scale fighting has escalated in and around the only capital in Sudan’s western Darfur region not held by paramilitary forces, the United Nations top humanitarian official said Wednesday.
Acting humanitarian chief Joyce Msuya told the UN Security Council that famine has already struck Zamzam camp, about 15 kilometers from North Darfur’s embattled capital of El Fasher. She said a large-scale humanitarian operation is “a matter of life and death.”
Sudan plunged into conflict in mid-April 2023, when long-simmering tensions between its military and paramilitary leaders broke out in the capital Khartoum and spread to other regions including Darfur. The UN says over 14,000 people have been killed and 33,000 injured.
Msuya urged the council to demand that the warring government and paramilitary Rapid Support Force refrain from targeting civilians, hospitals, schools and other civilian infrastructure, and allow unimpeded delivery of humanitarian aid through all border crossings and across conflict lines.
She also called on the UN’s 193 member nations to pressure the parties “to agree to a humanitarian pause to save lives, give civilians respite and allow us to deliver assistance.”
Two decades ago, Darfur became synonymous with genocide and war crimes, particularly by the notorious Janjaweed Arab militias, against populations that identify as Central or East African. Up to 300,000 people were killed and 2.7 million were driven from their homes.
That legacy appears to have returned, with the International Criminal Court’s prosecutor, Karim Khan, saying in January there are grounds to believe both sides may be committing war crimes, crimes against humanity, or genocide in Darfur.
Msuya said “the world should not abide in El Fasher the atrocities we witnessed in West Darfur.”
In June, the Security Council adopted a resolution calling for “an immediate halt to the fighting and for de-escalation in and around El Fasher.”
Regrettably, Msuya said, both sides ignored the call, and fighting escalated in the past week with “constant and heavy” shelling and bombing.
“Civilians, especially women and children, have been hit (and) civilian sites and infrastructure — including hospitals and internally displaced persons’ camps — have been hit,” she said. “Of the three main hospitals in El Fasher, only one is functioning, although only partially following an attack that caused extensive damage in August.”
In August, international experts confirmed there is famine in Zamzam camp, which houses around 500,000 displaced people.
Msuya said close to 1.7 million people in North Darfur face “acute food insecurity,” adding that 13 other localities in Sudan have been identified as at risk of famine.
In February, Doctors Without Borders reported that a child was dying every two hours in Zamzam camp, she said. The latest screening by the medical aid organization and the Ministry of Health between Sept. 1 and 5 indicates the situation is getting worse.
“About 34 percent of the children are malnourished, including 10 percent who are severely malnourished,” Msuya said.
Aid deliveries have been impeded by fighting and flooding, but Msuya said that as floodwaters subside in the coming weeks, the UN will be able to start moving food and other assistance to El Fasher and other areas at risk of famine.
The acting undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs stressed that to address “the atrocious humanitarian situation,” there are two keys: a de-escalation in fighting and a willingness by both sides to facilitate access to those in need.
“Be in no doubt: Without safe and predictable access and a steady supply of food and humanitarian supplies, we will see a dramatic spike in mortality — including children — in Zamzam and in other areas around El Fasher,” she said.
“The same goes for the situation across Sudan,” Msuya said, especially the capital Khartoum and neighboring Sennar and Jazeera states in southeast Sudan, which continue to be devastated “by relentless violence.”

Topics: Sudan Unrest

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Who still uses pagers anyway?

Who still uses pagers anyway?
Updated 19 September 2024
Reuters
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Who still uses pagers anyway?

Who still uses pagers anyway?
  • Mobile phones have mostly made pagers obsolete
Updated 19 September 2024
Reuters

As mobile phones became the world’s main communications tool, pagers, also known as beepers because of the sound they make to notify users about incoming messages, were largely rendered obsolete, with demand plunging from their 1990s heyday.
But the tiny electronic devices remain a vital means of communication in some areas — such as health care and emergency services — thanks to their durability and long battery life.
“It’s the cheapest and most efficient way to communicate to a large number of people about messages that don’t need responses,” said a senior surgeon at a major UK hospital, adding that pagers are commonly used by doctors and nurses across the country’s National Health Service (NHS).
“It’s used to tell people where to go, when, and what for.”
Pagers grabbed headlines on Tuesday when thousands used by members of militant group Hezbollah were detonated simultaneously across Lebanon, killing at least nine people and wounding nearly 3,000 others.
According to a senior Lebanese security source and another source, explosives inside the devices were planted by Israel’s Mossad spy agency.
The UK’s NHS was using around 130,000 pagers in 2019, more than one in 10 of the world’s pagers, according to the government. More up-to-date figures were not available.
Doctors working in hospital emergency departments carry them when they are on call.
Many pagers can also send out a siren and then broadcast a voice message to groups so that whole medical teams are alerted simultaneously to an emergency, a senior doctor in the NHS said. That is not possible with a mobile phone.
Britain’s Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) uses pagers to alert its crews, a source familiar with the lifeboat service told Reuters. The RNLI declined to comment.

Pagers hard to track
Hezbollah fighters have been using pagers as a low-tech means of communication in an attempt to evade Israeli location-tracking, two sources familiar with the group’s operations told Reuters this year.
Pagers can be harder to track than smartphones because they receive messages transmitted via radio signal, while mobile phones send information to the network to find the nearest cellular tower and stay connected, allowing it easier to trace.
Pagers also lack more modern navigation technologies like the Global Positioning System, or GPS.
These have made them a popular choice among criminals, especially drug dealers in the United States, in the past.
But gangs are using mobile phones more these days, former FBI agent Ken Gray told Reuters.
“I don’t know if anyone uses them (pagers),” he said.
“They all went to cell phones, burner phones” which can be easily disposed of and replaced with another phone with a different number, making them difficult to trace.
Gray, who served 24 years at the Federal Bureau of Investigation and now teaches criminal justice and homeland security at the University of New Haven, said that criminals changed with the times and newer technology.
The global pagers market, once a major source of revenue for companies like Motorola, amounted to $1.6 billion in 2023, according to an April report by Cognitive Market Research.
That amounts to a tiny fraction of the global smartphone market, which was estimated at around half a trillion US dollars as of end-2023.
But demand for pagers is rising as a larger patient population creates more need for efficient communication in the health care sector, the report said, forecasting compound annual growth of 5.9 percent from 2023 to 2030.
It said North America and Europe are the two biggest pager markets, generating $528 million and $496 million in revenue respectively.

Topics: Lebanon Hezbollah Israel

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Japan firm says no longer makes radio reportedly used in Lebanon blasts

Japan firm says no longer makes radio reportedly used in Lebanon blasts
Updated 19 September 2024
AFP
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Japan firm says no longer makes radio reportedly used in Lebanon blasts

Japan firm says no longer makes radio reportedly used in Lebanon blasts
  • The IC-V82 is a handheld radio produced and exported in Japan from 2004 to October 2014
Updated 19 September 2024
AFP

Tokyo: Japanese firm Icom said Thursday that it had stopped producing the model of radios reportedly used in recent blasts in Lebanon around 10 years ago.
“The IC-V82 is a handheld radio that was produced and exported, including to the Middle East, from 2004 to October 2014. It was discontinued about 10 years ago, and since then, it has not been shipped from our company,” Icom said in a statement.
“The production of the batteries needed to operate the main unit has also been discontinued, and a hologram seal to distinguish counterfeit products was not attached, so it is not possible to confirm whether the product shipped from our company,” it said.
It added that products for overseas markets are sold exclusively through its authorized distributors, and that its export program is based on Japanese security trade control regulations.
“All of our radios are manufactured at our production subsidiary, Wakayama Icom Inc., in Wakayama Prefecture, under a strict management system... so no parts other than those specified by our company are used in a product. In addition, all of our radios are manufactured at the same factory, and we do not manufacture them overseas,” the statement said.
In the second wave of device explosions in as many days, 20 people died and more than 450 were wounded on Wednesday in Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon, officials said.
A source close to Hezbollah said walkie-talkies used by its members blew up in its Beirut stronghold, with state media reporting similar blasts in south and east Lebanon.
They came a day after the simultaneous explosion of hundreds of paging devices used by Hezbollah killed 12 people, including two children, and wounded up to 2,800 others across Lebanon, in an unprecedented attack blamed on Israel.
There was no comment from Israel. The White House warned all sides against “an escalation of any kind.”

Topics: Lebanon Hezbollah Israel

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