Main Turkish opposition rallies as protests rage on/node/2596081/world
Main Turkish opposition rallies as protests rage on
People shout slogans during a protest after Istanbul's Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu was arrested and sent to prison, in Istanbul, Turkey, Sunday, March 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
Main Turkish opposition rallies as protests rage on
Updated 06 April 2025
AFP
ANKARA: Turkiye’s main opposition party will hold an extraordinary congress on Sunday to re-elect its leader Ozgur Ozel, rallying support as the party weathers the government’s crackdown on the country’s largest protest movement in years.
Turkiye has clamped down on demonstrations triggered by last month’s arrest of Istanbul’s popular opposition mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, also a member of Ozel’s Republican People’s Party (CHP).
Nearly 2,000 people have been detained in the unrest following the detention of the man widely considered President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s greatest political challenger, including several hundred students, journalists and young people.
On Thursday authorities briefly detained 11 people, including a leading actor, with prosecutors accusing the suspects of “incitement to hatred and enmity” for relaying calls for a boycott.
“I will talk to party members in the hall but outside, I will be meeting tens or hundreds of thousands” of people, Ozel said, calling for “all citizens, whether they voted for CHP or not” to gather outside the congress hall in Ankara on Sunday.
“Our congress’s main demand will be the release of our presidential candidate Ekrem Imamoglu,” added the CHP leader, who has become the face of the protests since the Istanbul mayor’s arrest.
The party hopes Sunday’s events will help counter further political and judicial pressure, following the dismissal and arrest of seven mayors from its ranks.
PROTESTS TO SHOW FORCE
Eren Aksoyoglu, a political communications analyst, said the party will use Sunday’s meeting as an opportunity for a “show of force” in the face of the crackdown.
According to Turkish media reports, the authorities are seeking to remove the CHP party’s leaders, a year after the opposition’s sweeping victory in municipal elections.
“We decided to convene an extraordinary congress on April 6 to block attempts to appoint a trustee” to head the party, Ozel said on March 21.
The party came out on top in the March 2024 municipal elections with nearly 38 percent of the vote across the country.
In addition to maintaining its lead in large cities such as Istanbul and Ankara, the CHP also made inroads into regions previously considered Erdogan strongholds.
In the days following Imamoglu’s arrest, the CHP drew tens of thousands of people into the streets of Istanbul and many other cities to denounce a “coup d’etat.”
Besides calling people to rally the CHP has managed to put pressure on the authorities by other means, such as the boycott of companies deemed close to the government.
The opposition party called on Turkish people to hold a day-long boycott on purchases last Wednesday in support of the hundreds of students detained since the start of the protests.
That day, many cafes, bars and restaurants in Istanbul and Ankara were deserted as people followed their calls, AFP journalists saw.
“Since Imamoglu’s arrest, Ozgur Ozel has given the CHP the image of a party that listens to the street and leads a tenacious opposition,” said Aksoyoglu.
“This approach has been successful within the CHP and with voters,” the political analyst added.
For Berk Esen, a professor of political science at Istanbul’s Sabanci University, Ozel “may not be a very charismatic speaker but he’s articulate, precise and very critical of those in power.”
“Ozel is at the head of the CHP but has not yet fully assumed the role of leader,” he added. “By pursuing a tenacious opposition to Erdogan, he could strengthen his leadership.”
FBI arrests a Milwaukee judge accused of helping a man evade immigration authorities
Judge Hannah Dugan is accused of escorting the man out of her courtroom through the jury door as immigration authorities were coming
Arrest comes amid growing battle between the Trump administration and the federal judiciary over deportations and other matters
Updated 10 sec ago
AP
MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin: The FBI on Friday arrested a Milwaukee judge accused of helping a man evade immigration authorities, escalating a clash between the Trump administration and local authorities over the Republican president’s sweeping immigration crackdown.
Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan is accused of escorting the man and his lawyer out of her courtroom through the jury door last week after learning that immigration authorities were seeking his arrest. The man was taken into custody outside the courthouse after agents chased him on foot.
President Donald Trump’s administration has accused state and local officials of interfering with his immigration enforcement priorities. The arrest also comes amid a growing battle between the administration and the federal judiciary over the president’s executive actions over deportations and other matters.
Dugan was taken into custody by the FBI on Friday morning on the courthouse grounds, according to US Marshals Service spokesperson Brady McCarron. She appeared briefly in federal court in Milwaukee later Friday before being released from custody. She faces charges of “concealing an individual to prevent his discovery and arrest” and obstructing or impeding a proceeding.
“Judge Dugan wholeheartedly regrets and protests her arrest. It was not made in the interest of public safety,” her attorney, Craig Mastantuono, said during the hearing. He declined to comment to an Associated Press reporter following her court appearance.
Democratic Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, in a statement on the arrest, accused the Trump administration of repeatedly using “dangerous rhetoric to attack and attempt to undermine our judiciary at every level.”
“I will continue to put my faith in our justice system as this situation plays out in the court of law,” he said.
Court papers suggest Dugan was alerted to the presence of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in the courthouse by her clerk, who was informed by an attorney that they appeared to be in the hallway.
Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan speaks during a rally marking the third anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2025, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Lee Matz/Milwaukee Independent via AP)
The FBI affidavit describes Dugan as “visibly angry” over the arrival of immigration agents in the courthouse and says that she pronounced the situation “absurd” before leaving the bench and retreating to her chambers. It says she and another judge later approached members of the arrest team inside the courthouse, displaying what witnesses described as a “confrontational, angry demeanor.”
After a back-and-forth with officers over the warrant for the man, Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, she demanded that the arrest team speak with the chief judge and led them away from the courtroom, the affidavit says.
After directing the arrest team to the chief judge’s office, investigators say, Dugan returned to the courtroom and was heard saying words to the effect of “wait, come with me” before ushering Flores-Ruiz and his lawyer through a jury door into a non-public area of the courthouse. The action was unusual, the affidavit says, because “only deputies, juries, court staff, and in-custody defendants being escorted by deputies used the back jury door. Defense attorneys and defendants who were not in custody never used the jury door.”
A sign that remained posted on Dugan’s courtroom door Friday advised that if any attorney or other court official “knows or believes that a person feels unsafe coming to the courthouse to courtroom 615,” they should notify the clerk and request an appearance via Zoom.
A sign is posted outside of county Judge Hannah Dugan's courtroom at the Milwaukee County courthouse on April 25, 2025. (AP Photo)
Flores-Ruiz, 30, was in Dugan’s court for a hearing after being charged with three counts of misdemeanor domestic battery. Confronted by a roommate for playing loud music on March 12, Flores-Ruiz allegedly fought with him in the kitchen and struck a woman who tried to break them up, according to the police affidavit in the case.
Another woman who tried to break up the fight and called police allegedly got elbowed in the arm by Flores-Ruiz.
Flores-Ruiz faces up to nine months in prison and a $10,000 fine on each count if convicted. His public defender, Alexander Kostal, did not immediately return a phone message Friday seeking comment.
A federal judge, the same one Dugan would appear before a day later, had ordered Thursday that Flores-Ruiz remain jailed pending trial. Flores-Ruiz had been in the US since reentering the country after he was deported in 2013, according to court documents.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said victims were sitting in the courtroom with state prosecutors when the judge helped him escape immigration arrest.
“The rule of law is very simple,” she said in a video posted on X. “It doesn’t matter what line of work you’re in. If you break the law, we will follow the facts and we will prosecute you.”
White House officials echoed the sentiment of no one being above the law.
Sen. Tammy Baldwin, a Democrat who represents Wisconsin, called the arrest of a sitting judge a “gravely serious and drastic move” that “threatens to breach” the separation of power between the executive and judicial branches.
Emilio De Torre, executive director of Milwaukee Turners, said during a protest Friday afternoon outside the federal courthouse that Dugan was a former board member for the local civic group who “was certainly trying to make sure that due process is not disrupted and that the sanctity of the courts is upheld.”
“Sending armed FBI and ICE agents into buildings like this will intimidate individuals showing up to court to pay fines, to deal with whatever court proceedings they may have,” De Torre added.
The case is similar to one brought during the first Trump administration against a Massachusetts judge, who was accused of helping a man sneak out a back door of a courthouse to evade a waiting immigration enforcement agent.
That prosecution sparked outrage from many in the legal community, who slammed the case as politically motivated. Prosecutors dropped the case against Newton District Judge Shelley Joseph in 2022 under the Democratic Biden administration after she agreed to refer herself to a state agency that investigates allegations of misconduct by members of the bench.
The Justice Department had previously signaled that it was going to crack down on local officials who thwart federal immigration efforts.
The department in January ordered prosecutors to investigate for potential criminal charges any state and local officials who obstruct or impede federal functions. As potential avenues for prosecution, a memo cited a conspiracy offense as well as a law prohibiting the harboring of people in the country illegally.
Dugan was elected in 2016 to the county court Branch 31. She also has served in the court’s probate and civil divisions, according to her judicial candidate biography.
Before being elected to public office, Dugan practiced at Legal Action of Wisconsin and the Legal Aid Society. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1981 with a bachelor of arts degree and earned her Juris Doctorate in 1987 from the school.
Developing countries should fast-track US trade deals: World Bank president
Agrees with US push for removal of China from bank's list of“developing country” status
Says WB is also pushing to encourage private sector job creation in developing countries
Updated 34 min 10 sec ago
AFP
WASHINGTON: Developing countries should strike swift trade deals with the United States at the “earliest possible” opportunity, the president of the World Bank told AFP Friday, after a busy week with global financial leaders in Washington.
Ajay Banga was interviewed by AFP at the World Bank and International Monetary Fund’s Spring Meetings, which have been held this year under a cloud of uncertainty about President Donald Trump’s stop-start tariff rollout.
The Bank has been advising developing countries to get a deal done quickly with the United States, and to then focus attention on cutting trade barriers and boosting regional flows of goods, Banga said.
“You need to negotiate trade systems with the US at the earliest possible (opportunity),” he said. “If you delay, it hurts everyone.”
Trump’s tariffs have roiled financial markets, sent volatility surging and spooked investors and consumers.
Since returning to office in January, the US leader has imposed a “baseline” 10 percent tariff on most countries, with much higher duties on China, and 25 percent sector-specific levies on areas including steel, aluminum, and automobiles not manufactured in the United States.
He also introduced much higher tariffs on dozens of countries — which have since been temporarily paused — accusing them of having an unfair trade balance with the United States.
China’s ‘absurd’ status
Banga also addressed the criticism leveled by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent at the Bank earlier this week.
Bessent criticized China’s “absurd” developing country status and called on Banga and IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva to “earn the confidence of the administration.”
“I don’t think he’s wrong,” Banga said of Bessent’s comments on China.
“A country that is the size of China and the capability of China, at some point, should no longer be taking money from IBRD,” he said, referring to the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development — an arm of the World Bank that lends largely to middle-income countries.
Such a move would require the support of the World Bank’s executive board, which is made up by member states.
China, Banga said, borrowed around $750 million from the IBRD last year, while paying billions of dollars to the institution in repayments and donations.
“My view is, I’ve brought it down to 750 (million), and I’m trying to figure out a way to deal with China to bring it down further,” he said. “I want to get it done. And that’s what I’m talking to the Chinese about.”
Banga said the Trump administration’s criticisms of the World Bank, which included “expansive policy overreach,” were not unusual, citing newly elected governments in countries including France, Japan and Korea.
“I keep telling people this is a perfectly constructive request, to say, tell me and show me that you guys are the kind of people that advance the interests of my taxpayer, of my country,” he said.
“I take it in that spirit,” he said. “There’s nothing wrong with it.”
Since taking the helm of the Washington-based development lender in 2023, Banga has pushed to streamline operations and encourage private sector participation, while focusing on job creation and electricity connectivity.
Among the Bank’s current priorities is a push with the African Development Bank to connect 300 million people in sub-Saharan Africa to electricity by 2030 — a process that will require a vast amount of new energy to be brought online.
“You should try and get (energy) in the best, accessible way and the lowest possible cost,” Banga said, suggesting that in addition to renewable power, nuclear and gas could help provide a base load — two energy sources the World Bank is currently hesitant to finance.
The Bank’s executive board is set to discuss its energy strategy in June, Banga said, adding that funding for both nuclear and gas would likely be on the agenda.
Banga said the Bank is also pushing to encourage private sector job creation in developing countries — beyond simply outsourcing jobs from advanced economies.
“Because then you end up with challenges in (advanced economies), and you can see that people are speaking about them with their votes,” he added.
China foreign minister says US tariffs show ‘extreme egoism’
FM Wang Yi said China would seek solidarity with other countries and would uphold multilateralism to “inject stability into the world”
Updated 56 min 41 sec ago
Reuters
HONG KONG: China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Beijing stands on the side of international rules on US-imposed tariffs and opposes protectionism, the Foreign Ministry on Saturday.
Speaking on the sidelines of a China-Central Asia foreign ministers meeting in Kazakhstan, Wang said Beijing would seek solidarity with other countries on the tariff situation and exposes “extreme egoism” and the bullying of certain countries, the ministry said in a statement.
US President Donald Trump asserted in an interview published on Friday that tariff negotiations were under way with China, but Beijing denied any talks were taking place, the latest in a series of conflicting signals over what progress was being made to de-escalate a trade war threatening to sap global growth.
Wang, meeting with Uzbekistan Foreign Minister Bakhtiyor Saidov, said China would seek solidarity with other countries and would uphold multilateralism to “inject stability into the world.”
ICE is reversing the termination of legal status for international students around the US
More than 1,200 students nationwide suddenly lost their legal status or had visas revoked, leaving them at risk for deportation
Judges across the US had issued orders temporarily restoring students’ records in dozens of lawsuits challenging the terminations
Updated 26 April 2025
AP
SAN FRANCISCO, California: The US government is reversing the termination of legal status for international students around the country after many filed court challenges against the Trump administration crackdown, federal officials said Friday.
The records in a federal student database maintained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement had been terminated in recent weeks. Judges across the US had already issued orders temporarily restoring students’ records in dozens of lawsuits challenging the terminations.
More than 1,200 students nationwide suddenly lost their legal status or had visas revoked, leaving them at risk for deportation. Many said they had only minor infractions on their record or did not know why they were targeted. Some left the country while others have gone into hiding or stopped going to class. Government says it will restore student status
Word of the policy pivot came Friday from lawyers representing the government in several of the lawsuits.
A lawyer for the plaintiff in one of the lawsuits, Brian Green, provided The Associated Press with a copy of a statement a government lawyer emailed to him on the restoration of legal status for people whose records were recently terminated.
It says: “ICE is developing a policy that will provide a framework for SEVIS record terminations. Until such a policy is issued, the SEVIS records for plaintiff(s) in this case (and other similarly situated plaintiffs) will remain Active or shall be re-activated if not currently active and ICE will not modify the record solely based on the NCIC finding that resulted in the recent SEVIS record termination.”
SEVIS is the Student and Exchange Visitor Information Systems database that tracks international students’ compliance with their visa status. NCIC is the National Crime Information Center, a database of criminal justice information maintained by the FBI.
Tricia McLaughlin, an assistant Homeland Security secretary, said ICE had not reversed course on any visa revocations but did “restore SEVIS access for people who had not had their visa revoked.”
Several colleges said Friday they noticed legal status already had been restored for some of their students, but uncertainty remained.
“It is still unclear whether ICE will restore status to everyone it has targeted and whether the State Department will help students whose visas were wrongly revoked,” said Greg Chen of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. Legal fights may not be over
Green, who is involved in lawsuits on behalf of several dozen students, said his cases only sought restoration of the student status and that he would be withdrawing them as a result of the statement Friday from ICE.
But lawyers in the Oakland case are seeking a nationwide order from the court prohibiting the government from arresting or incarcerating students, transferring them to places outside their district or preventing them from continuing work or studies.
Pam Johann, a government lawyer, said it was premature to consider anything like that given that ICE was in the process of reactivating records and developing a policy. “We should take a pause while ICE is implementing this change that plaintiffs are seeking right now, on its own,” she said.
But US District Judge Jeffrey S. White asked her to humor the court.
“It seems like with this administration there’s a new world order every single day,” he said. “It’s like whack-a-mole.”
He ordered the government to clarify the new policy. Visa revocations and student status terminations caused confusion
Last month, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said his department was revoking visas held by people acting counter to national interests, including some who protested Israel’s war in Gaza and those who face criminal charges. But many students whose status was terminated said they did not fall under those categories.
A survey by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs research found that even the visa revocations for students who participated in pro-Palestinian protests are more unpopular than popular. About half of US adults oppose this policy, and only 3 in 10 are in support. Among college educated adults, 6 in 10 strongly oppose, compared with 4 in 10 who aren’t college graduates.
In lawsuits, students argued they were denied due process. Many were told that their status was terminated as a result of a criminal records check or that their visa had been revoked.
International students and their schools were caught off guard by the terminations of the students’ records. Many of the terminations were discovered when school officials were doing routine checks of the international student database.
Charles Kuck, who filed a case in Atlanta on behalf of 133 students across the country said ICE’s reversal can’t undo the distress and hardship they have faced in recent weeks.
“I’ve got kids who lost their jobs, who might not get them back,” he said. “I’ve got kids who lost school opportunities who might not get them back. We’ve got kids who missed finals, missed graduation. How do you get any of that stuff back?”
Jodie Ferise, a higher education attorney in Indiana, said some students at schools her law firm works with already left the country after receiving instructions to self-deport.
“This unprecedented treatment of student status had caused tremendous fear among international students,” Ferise said. “Some of them were too frightened to wait and hope for the administration to change course.”
Earlier this week, before the government’s reversal, Ferise said the situation could hurt international student enrollment.
“The world is watching, and we will lose students, not just by the technical revocation of their status, but by the message we’re sending that we don’t want them anyway and that it isn’t safe to even try to go to school here,” she said.
At least 1,220 students at 187 colleges, universities and university systems have had their visas revoked, their legal status terminated or both, since late March, according to an Associated Press review of university statements, correspondence with school officials and court records. The AP has been working to confirm reports of hundreds more students who are caught up in the crackdown.
Canada PM Carney condemns Israeli blockade on food, says WFP must be allowed to work in Gaza
Food must not be used as a ‘political tool’, Carney said as he urged Israel to let the WFP do its work in Gaza
The UN agency earlier said it ran out of stocks due to a sustained Israeli blockade on supplies
Updated 26 April 2025
Reuters
OTTAWA: Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney urged Israel to allow the World Food Programme to work in Gaza, saying food must not be used as a ‘political tool’, hours after the UN agency ran out of stocks due to a sustained Israeli blockade on supplies.
The WFP said on Friday it had delivered its last remaining supplies to kitchens providing hot meals in Gaza and that the facilities were expected to run out of food in the coming days.
“The UN World Food Programme just announced that its food stocks in Gaza have run out because of the Israeli Government’s blockade — food cannot be used as a political tool,” Carney said on X.
The UN World Food Programme just announced that its food stocks in Gaza have run out because of the Israeli Government’s blockade — food cannot be used as a political tool.
Palestinian civilians must not bear the consequences of Hamas’ terrorist crimes. The World Food Programme…
The UN agency said no humanitarian or commercial supplies had entered Gaza for more than seven weeks because all main border crossing points were closed, the longest closure the Gaza Strip had ever faced.
“Palestinian civilians must not bear the consequences of Hamas’ terrorist crimes,” Carney said. “The World Food Programme must be allowed to resume its lifesaving work.”
Israel has previously denied that Gaza is facing a hunger crisis. The military accuses the Hamas militants who run Gaza of exploiting aid, which Hamas denies, and says it must keep all supplies out to prevent the fighters from getting it.
The Gaza government media office on Friday said that famine was becoming a reality in the enclave of 2.3 million people.
Since a January ceasefire collapsed on March 18, Israeli attacks have killed more than 1,900 Palestinians, many of them civilians, according to health authorities in Gaza, and hundreds of thousands have been displaced as Israel seized what it calls a buffer zone.
An attack on Israel by Hamas in October 2023 killed 1,200 people, and 251 hostages were taken to Gaza. Since then, more than 51,300 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli offensive in Gaza, according to health officials.
“We will continue to work with our allies toward a permanent ceasefire and the immediate return of all hostages,” Carney added.
US President Donald Trump said on Friday that he pushed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to allow food and medicine into the Gaza Strip.
Canadians will vote to elect a new government on Monday, and polls show Carney’s Liberals have a slim lead over the Conservatives.
