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DR Congo puts fighters on trial for civilian massacres

2016-08-21T08:30:00.000+03:00

Human rights monitors say Allied Democratic Forces have been involved in killing more than a thousand civilians.

File photo: Democratic Republic of Congo military personnel patrol against the Allied Democratic Forces near Beni. [Kenny Katombe/Reuters]

A military court in the Democratic Republic of Congo has begun the trial of 215 members of an armed group accused of killing hundreds of civilians in and around Beni town in the country’s northeast.

Eighty accused members of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) from Uganda, Congo, Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania and Sudan, were present in court on Saturday in Beni, North Kivu province, where they face charges of massacring civilians, prosecutor Kumbo Ngoma told the DPA news agency.

The remaining suspects will be brought from prisons elsewhere in the country to face trial.

Six suspects who took the stand on Saturday were accused of participating in the killing of 51 people with machetes near Beni town last weekend.

Appearing at the public hearing in blue and yellow prison shirts, the six were charged with "participation in an insurrectional movement, crimes against humanity for murder and terrorism," said Colonel Jean-Paulin Esosa, who presides over the military court.

The accused admitted at the hearing to having been "at the service of the Allied Democratic Forces", AFP news agency reported.

The ADF was founded in Uganda in 1995 and later moved to Congo where it is one among dozens of armed groups seeking control over territory and mineral resources in the east of the country.

'Severest punishment'

One survivor of last weekend’s attack, Eve Kahambu, told AFP she wanted to see the "murderers" receive "the severest punishment".Human rights groups put the number of ADF victims at more than 1,000 over the past two years.

Many of the massacres have taken place around Beni and have been blamed on the ADF though independent observers have also blamed government troops.

Four people were killed on Wednesday around Beni following protests by thousands of people who accused the government and UN peacekeepers of not protecting them from the ADF.

Security forces clashed with the protesters, who burned an effigy of the country’s president, Joseph Kabila, as well as flags of his ruling People's Party for Reconstruction and Democracy.

One protester was shot dead. Protesters then stabbed and killed a soldier in revenge, Beni Mayor Nyonyi Bwanakawa Masumbuko told the DPA news agency.

Protesters also set two people on fire after they were accused of belonging to the ADF.

More than 140 protesters were arrested.

Afghan troops 'retake Kunduz district from Taliban'

2016-08-20T22:27:00.001+03:00

Afghan government forces have recaptured a key district of the northern province of Kunduz from the Taliban, the provincial governor says.

Asadullah Omarkhel's announcement came hours after Khanabad district was seized by Taliban fighters.

But local sources told the BBC that Taliban fighters were still present near the district headquarters.

The newly arrived government forces aimed to open the road link to the city of Kunduz, the governor said.

Afghanistan's independent Tolo TV news channel also reported that government troops had recaptured Khanabad, which is about 30km (19 miles) east of Kunduz.

Earlier on Saturday the Taliban attacked from several directions, forcing government troops to retreat to Kunduz city, which briefly fell to the Taliban last year.

Widespread fighting

The Taliban have made gains since international troops officially ended their active fighting role in 2014.

Afghan security forces are currently battling the insurgents in nearly half of the country's 34 provinces.

Earlier this week, the Taliban captured a district in neighbouring Baghlan province and there has also been fighting in Helmand in the south and in eastern Nangarhar province.

Why are the Taliban resurgent in Afghanistan?

After the Taliban: Revisiting scarred Kunduz

Kunduz is one of Afghanistan's largest cities and has long been a strategically important transport hub for the north of the country.

But it has always held symbolic significance for the Taliban because it was a key northern stronghold before 2001, when the group was ousted from power.

Image copyrightREUTERS

Image captionTaliban fighters swept into Kunduz city last September, brushing security forces aside

Hundreds of civilians from the area have reportedly fled east towards Takhar province.

A spokesman for Takhar's police force said measures were being taken there to counter any Taliban attack.

Meanwhile, eyewitnesses in Kunduz city said some officials were fleeing to the airport there as fighting had now reached the gates of the city itself.

Mohammad Yusouf Ayubi, head of Kunduz provincial council, told AP: "If the central government does not pay attention to Kunduz, the Taliban will overrun Kunduz city as they did last year."

Taliban fighters freed more than 600 prisoners in their attack on Kunduz city last September, among them nearly 150 insurgent fighters.

Glass bridge: China opens world's highest and longest

2016-08-20T22:24:00.001+03:00

It's finally happened.

The much-heralded "world's highest and longest" glass-bottomed bridge has opened to visitors in central China.

It connects two mountain cliffs in what are known as the Avatar mountains (the film was shot here) in Zhangjiajie, Hunan province.

Bridge in numbers

Completed in December, the 430m-long bridge cost $3.4m (£2.6m) to build and stands 300m above ground, state news agency Xinhua reported.

It has been paved with 99 panes of three-layered transparent glass.

And according to officials, the 6m-wide bridge - designed by Israeli architect Haim Dotan - has already set world records for its architecture and construction.

Image copyrightAP

The year of glass bridges

Glass bridges in China have been a popular craze for the daring photo opportunities they provide. Events like mass yoga displays and even weddingshave been staged on several such bridges.

One couple celebrated their special day by dangling in mid-air from a bridge in Pingjiang, also located in Hunan province.

Image copyrightREUTERS

Image captionIt's not everyone's idea of a special day - but this couple staged a daring shoot

But how safe is it?

This was the question on everyone's minds as the city geared up for the bridge's official opening.

But officials have staged high-profile events to try and reassure the public of the bridge's safety.

Officials sent in sledgehammers and even drove a car, filled with passengers, across the bridge earlier this year.

The BBC's Dan Simmons was invited to take a bash at the bridge.

Park officials have said a maximum of 8,000 visitors will be allowed on the bridge each day.

So those wanting to add another thrill to their bucket list are strongly encouraged to book their slots in advance.

Hatma ya Wenger Arsenal yategemea msimu huu

2016-08-11T08:27:00.000+03:00

Meneja wa klabu ya Arsenal ya Uingereza, Arsene Wenger.

Meneja wa klabu ya Arsenal ya Uingereza, Arsene Wenger ameiambia BBC kuwa hatma yake katika klabu hiyo ya Emirates inategemea jinsi matokeo ya klabu hiyo msimu huu yatakavyokuwa.

''Mkataba wangu utakamilika Juni mwakani kwa hivyo nitakachofanya baada ya hapo itategemea na matokeo ya msimu huu'' alisema Wenger.
Raia huyo wa Ufaransa 66, aliajiriwa mwezi Septemba 1996 kuiongoza klabu hiyo.
Mkataba wake wa sasa utakamilika mwishoni mwa mwezi juni mwaka ujao.
Arsenal haijashinda taji la ligi kuu ya Uingereza tangu mwaka wa 2004 jambo ambalo limechochea uhasama dhidi ya Wenger haswa kutoka kwa mashabiki wa klabu hiyo.
Awali wenger alikuwa amehusishwa na wadhfa wa kocha wa timu ya Uingereza lakini Sam Allardyce akachaguliwa kuchukua pahala pake Roy Hodgson.

Putin and Erdogan pledge reset after diplomatic rift

2016-08-10T22:27:00.003+03:00

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (right) visited Saint Petersburg in his first foreign trip since the failed coup in July 2016

Saint Petersburg (AFP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday pledged to reinvigorate ties after their first meeting since Ankara shot down a Russian warplane last November.

Erdogan's visit to Putin's hometown of Saint Petersburg is also his first foreign trip since the failed coup against him last month that sparked a purge of opponents and cast a shadow over Turkey's relations with the West.

"We lived through a very complicated moment in the relations between our states and we very much want, and I feel our Turkish friends want, to overcome the difficulties," Putin told journalists at a joint press conference.

He insisted it would take "painstaking work" and "some time" to return to previous trade levels as Russia rolls back punishing economic sanctions against Ankara, but both sides said they wanted to restart major energy projects hit by the crisis.

Erdogan said he hoped relations would become "more robust" and stressed how important it was that Putin offered his support after the coup.

"We will bring our relations back to the old level and even beyond," he said.

The shooting down of a Russian fighter jet by a Turkish F-16 on the Syrian border last November saw Putin slap sanctions on Turkey and launch a blistering war of words that dealt serious damage to burgeoning ties.

Russian President Vladimir Putin (C-L) and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan enter a hall to start their meeting with Russian and Turkish entrepreneurs, at Konstantinovsky Palace outside St. Petersburg, on August 9, 2016

But in a shock reversal in late June, Putin accepted a letter from Erdogan expressing regret over the incident as an apology.

He quickly rolled back a ban on the sale of package holidays to Turkey and signalled Moscow would end measures against Turkish food imports and construction firms.

Now in the wake of the failed July 15 coup attempt, there are fears in Western capitals that NATO-member Turkey could draw even closer to Moscow -- with Erdogan bluntly making it clear he feels let down by the United States and the European Union.

Turkey has repeatedly pressed Washington to extradite Pennsylvania-based preacher Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara blames for the failed coup, and on Tuesday said it could suspend bilateral ties over the issue.

Putin was one of the first foreign leaders to phone Erdogan offering support after the coup attempt and shares none of the concerns of EU leaders about the ensuing crackdown.

- Back to business? -

Relations between Turkey and Russia -- two powers vying for influence in the strategic Black Sea region and Middle East -- have long been complicated.

Yet before the plane crisis, Moscow and Ankara managed to prevent disputes on Syria and Ukraine from harming cooperation on issues like the TurkStream gas pipeline to Europe and a Russian-built nuclear power station in Turkey.

Those projects were put on ice with trade between the two countries plunging 43 percent in January-May this year to $6.1 billion, and Turkey's tourism industry seeing visitor numbers from Russia fall by 93 percent.

With Turkey's outlook flagging and Russia mired in economic crisis due to low oil prices and Western sanctions over Ukraine, both men want to get business started again.

Erdogan said he wanted to see the TurkStream project "done as fast as possible", while Putin said construction could start "in the nearest future" and that the restoration of business ties would be done "in phases".

The Turkish leader also insisted the two sides were once again targeting an ambitious trade turnover of $100 billion by 2024.

But Russian Economy Minister Alexei Ulyukayev told media it could take up to two years to fully restore pre-crisis trade levels.

- Skirting Syria -

A previous uptick in relations between Turkey and Russia was built on a macho friendship between Putin and Erdogan, two combative leaders in their early 60s credited with restoring confidence to their nations in the wake of financial crises but also criticised for clampdowns on human rights.

But after such a bitter dispute -- which saw Putin accuse Erdogan of profiting from an illegal oil trade with the Islamic State group -- it will take a lot for the pair to repair relations.

The two strongmen conspicuously skirted one major issue that divides them -- the war in Syria.

Russia is carrying out a bombing campaign in support of President Bashar al-Assad while Turkey is fiercely opposed to the Syrian leader.

Trump azidi kujikwaa ulimi kuelekea uchaguzi

2016-08-10T21:38:00.002+03:00

Mgombea urais wa chama cha Republican Donald Trump, ametifua zogo jingine kwa kutoa matamshi yaliyotafsiriwa kuwa yanayowachochea wanaotetea haki za kumiliki bunduki kuchukua hatua zitakazomzuia Hillary Clinton.

Akizungumza hapo jana katika mkutano wa hadhara, katika jimbo la North Carolina, Trump alisema Clinton akiachiwa kushinda, atawachagua majaji watakaopinga sheria ya haki ya kumiliki silaha nchini Marekani, matamshi ambayo yalionekana yanachochea kuangamizwa kwa mpinzani wake.

Kundi linalomfanyia kampeni Clinton limeyataja matamshi hayo kuwa hatari na kusema mtu anayepania kuwa rais wa Marekani hapaswi kupendekeza matumizi yoyote ya nguvu.
Maneno ya Trump ni hatari

Hilary Clinton

Hata hivyo, kundi la kampeni za Trump limejaribu kumtetea mgombea wao kwa kudai alimaanisha kuwa wanaounga mkono sheria ya umiliki wa bunduki wanapaswa kujitokeza kwa wingi kumpigia kura Trump katika uchaguzi ujao.

Mgombea urais wa Democrats Hillary Clinton

Punde baada ya matamshi hayo makali ya Trump, watu wengi katika mitandao ya kijamii wamemshutumu mgombea huyo wa Republican kwa kutaka kuuawa kwa Clinton.
Idara ya usalama wa Marekani inayotoa huduma za usalama kwa Trump na Clinton ambayo ni nadra kuzungumzia masuala ya kisiasa imesema inafahamu kuhusu matamshi hayo yaliyotolewa na Trump, lakini haikusema kama itaanzisha uchunguzi.
Michael Hayden, mkurugenzi wa zamani wa shirika la ujasusi la Marekani - CIA, amesema kiongozi ana wajibika sio tu kwa yale ayasemayo bali pia kwa yale watu wanayoyasikia.
Matamshi yenye utata kutoka kwa mgombea huyo wa urais wa chama cha Republican yanakuja hata baada ya maafisa 50 wa usalama wa Republican siku ya Jumatatu kuonya kuwa Trump atakuwa rais atakayeiendesha nchi hiyo kwa njia hatari katika historia ya Marekani iwapo atachaguliwa.
Kundi hilo la maafisa, ambao tayari wametangaza kwamba hawatampigia kura Trump, ni pamoja na wakuu wa masuala ya usalama wa ndani, wakurugenzi wa ujasusi, washauri waandamizi wa rais na mwakilishi wa zamani wa biashara nchini Marekani.
Hata hivyo, Trump hakuwasaza hata maafisa hao wa usalama wa Republican, akiwataja kuwa ni watu wa tabaka la juu waliofeli, wanaojaribu kung'ang'ania madaraka na wanaostahili kuwajibishwa kwa kuufanya ulimwengu kutokuwa salama.
Vigogo wa Republican wana mashaka
Vigogo wa Republican wenyewe wanakiri kuwa mgombea wao anaonekana kukosa tajriba ya kuiendesha Marekani, ana ufahamu mdogo wa katiba ya nchi, sheria, asasi, uelewa na ustahimilivu kuwahusu watu wa dini tofauti, uhuru wa vyombo vya habari na kuheshimu uhuru wa idara ya mahakama.

Wagombea urais Marekani Hillary Clinton na Donald Trump

Hilary Clinton na Donald Trump

Hivi karibuni aliwashambulia kwa maneno makali wazazi wa mwanajeshi Muislamu wa Marekani aliyeuawa vitani Iraq na kusababisha baadhi ya viongozi wa Republican kujitenga naye na kutangaza hawatamuunga mkono katika azma yake ya kuwa rais wa Marekani.
Uchaguzi mkuu wa urais unatarajiwa mnamo tarehe 8 mwezi Novemba mwaka huu. Kura za maoni zinaashiria Clinton ana uungwaji mkono zaidi kuliko Trump miongoni mwa wapiga kura.

American cyclist Kristin Armstrong wins gold, Barry Bonds pretty pumped

2016-08-10T21:22:00.002+03:00

On the eve of her 43rd birthday, American cyclist Kristin Armstrong captured her third straight Olympic gold medal in the women’s individual time trial on Wednesday morning.

Armstrong covered the 29.8-kilometer course in 44 minutes and 26.42 seconds, defeating Russia’s Olga Zabelinskaya (44:31.97) and Dutch competitor Anna van der Breggen (44:37.80). She also won the event at the Summer Olympics in 2008 and 2012 in Beijing and London, respectively.

In addition to her gold medal, Armstrong received praise from noted cyclist fan Barry Bonds.

While a different form of cycling may spring to mind when your hear the 14-time MLB All-Star’s name, Bonds has supported women’s cycling since his baseball career came to a controversial end.

“I look at him as a tremendous adviser who’s helped steer [Team Twenty16 general manager Nicola Cranmer’s] strategy,” Armstrong told ESPN The Magazine of her relationship to Bonds. “The talks he has given to the team about upping your game have been tremendous. He wants us to run a professional organization, and he’s helping with strength and vision. I know people have questions, but with what he’s given our team, I don’t find it relevant.”

No relation to fallen cycling star Lance Armstrong, Kristin made her fourth appearance at the Summer Olympics with her performance in Brazil. She also finished eighth in the women’s road race at the 2004 Athens Games. Armstrong, who began cycling after her career as a word-class triathlete was cut short by a 2001 diagnosis of osteoarthritis in both her hips, came out of her 2012 retirement last year.

Witnesses: Shots fired in Ferguson after car hits protester

2016-08-10T21:20:00.001+03:00

Protesters hide behind cars after shots were fired Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2016, in Ferguson, Mo., during a demonstration on the second anniversary of Michael Brown's death. Witnesses told an Associated Press reporter that a car sped through a group of protesters who were blocking a street during the demonstration marking two years since the unarmed black 18-year-old's fatal shooting by a white police officer. They said the car struck a young man so hard that he flew into the air. As the car drove away, shots were fired, they said

FERGUSON, Mo. (AP) — Gunfire broke out during a demonstration in Ferguson, Missouri, on the second anniversary of Michael Brown's death, disrupting what had been a peaceful gathering Tuesday night but apparently wounding no one.

Witnesses told an Associated Press reporter that a car sped through a group of protesters who were blocking a street during the demonstration marking two years since the unarmed black 18-year-old's fatal shooting by a white police officer. They said the car struck a young man so hard that he flew into the air. As the car drove away, shots were fired, they said.

"A lady came down and hit a protester — knocked the shoes off his feet," said Sharon Cowan, who was at the scene. "Hit him, and he rolled and he bounced."

The man appeared to be badly injured and was put into a private car to be taken to a hospital, she said.

Heather De Mian, who frequently livestreams protests in the St. Louis area, said she screamed when the man was hit.

"Then when the bullets flew, I started screaming some more," she said.

Police responded to reports of gunfire but had found no evidence that anyone had been struck, said Ferguson spokesman Jeff Small, who declined to speculate about why the shots were fired.

By around 10 p.m., the protesters had disbanded.

Earlier in the day, a few hundred people gathered for a memorial service and moment of silence along Canfield Drive at the spot where Brown was fatally shot by officer Darren Wilson after a confrontation on Aug. 9, 2014.

A state grand jury declined to press charges against Wilson, and the U.S. Justice Department later cleared him, concluding that he had acted in self-defense. He resigned in November 2014.

Brown's death led to months of sometimes-violent protests in Ferguson. It was also was a catalyst for the Black Lives Matter movement, which rebukes police treatment of minorities and has grown following several other killings of black men and boys by police, such as Tamir Rice in Cleveland and Philando Castile in Minnesota.

Brown's father, also named Michael Brown, said in a brief speech during the memorial service that the anniversary was a sad day for him and his family, and for the world, too.

"My son built families up, opened the eyes of the world and let them know this ain't right," he said. "This color is not a disease. This color is beautiful. Black is beautiful."

The 2014 shooting also led to a Justice Department investigation that found patterns of racial bias in Ferguson's police and municipal court system. The federal agency and the city agreed this year to make sweeping changes.

This month, more than 60 organizations affiliated with the Black Lives Matter movement released a list of six demands and 40 recommendations for how to achieve policing and criminal justice reforms.

Brandy Shields, 19, went to school with Brown and remembered him as a kid who "never got into trouble." Shields comforted a little girl who was crying at the service.

"It'll get better," Shields told the child. "We have to make it better, but it'll get better."

Judo medalist beaten up while celebrating on Copacabana Beach

2016-08-10T21:08:00.000+03:00

Dirk Van Tichelt probably didn’t envision one of the greatest days of his life ending in the hospital. But that’s exactly where the Belgian judoka found himself Monday night hours after winning his first-ever Olympic medal.

Van Tichelt won bronze in the 73-kg judo competition on Monday. Naturally, he went off to Copacabana Beach that night to celebrate the achievement. And that’s where things went awry.

Van Tichelt was reportedly assaulted by a thief on the famous beach, and was struck in the face. He was taken to the hospital after the incident.

The thief, who was reportedly Brazilian, came away with a cellphone, but, crucially, not with a bronze medal. That allowed Van Tichelt to take this epic picture the following day:

The Belgian Olympic Committee released a statement confirming the details, and saying that Van Tichelt didn’t require treatment at the hospital. He appeared at a media event the next day with a black eye, and, undoubtedly, a smile on his face.

Van Tichelt now has more than just a medal to commemorate his Olympic success.

Derrick Rose loses motion, will face trial in civil gang-rape suit

2016-07-30T18:03:00.001+03:00

Derick Rose at Court

A federal judge on Wednesday denied Derrick Rose’s motion to dismiss a civil lawsuit alleging he and two other men drugged a woman, broke into her apartment and raped her, meaning the case against the New York Knicks point guard will proceed to trial.

Court documents published Friday by Daniel Werly of The White Bronco show that Rose’s motion for summary judgment in the case, filed on June 20, was denied by U.S. District Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald due to substantial disagreements on the most important facts of the case between the versions forwarded by Rose and his fellow defendants — Ryan Allen, the younger brother of Memphis Grizzlies guard Tony Allen, and Randall Hampton,“Rose’s best friend since grammar school,” identified in a December 2014 New York Times story as his manager — and the woman who first filed the civil complaint against the three defendants in Los Angeles County Superior Court last August, identified in court documents only as “Jane Doe.”

“The record presents a genuine dispute of material fact as to the central issue in this action: whether Plaintiff consented to sexual intercourse with Defendants in early morning of August 27, 2013,” Fitzgerald wrote in his judgment. “Because the jury and not the Court must resolve this central issue, summary judgment is improper. ”

In the original civil complaint, Jane Doe alleged that then-Chicago Bulls guard Rose — with whom she had allegedly had a sexual relationship from late 2011 until July 2013 — Allen and Hampton placed a drug in her drink during a night out, and that she was in an “incapacitated state of consciousness” when they allegedly “gang raped” her, according toPatrick M. O’Connell of the Chicago Tribune:

The 31-page lawsuit offers explicit details of the couple’s sexual relationship, portraying Rose as pushing the woman to engage in sexual encounters she was uncomfortable with, including with friends. That pressure, according to the lawsuit, contributed to the couple’s breakup. […]

The woman claims the sexual assault happened after the group attended a party at a home in Beverly Hills, Calif. After drinking tequila at the party, the woman alleges in the lawsuit, she left in a taxi with a friend. Rose, Hampton and Allen allegedly later drove to her home and sexually assaulted her. […]

In the weeks after August 2013, the woman, who worked as an administrator for a property management company, said she became paranoid that Rose was monitoring her phone calls, according to the lawsuit.

But the suit does say she was reluctant to report the incident for fear of retaliation and because she had been in a consensual relationship with Rose. Trauma from the alleged assault led to emotional turmoil for the woman, according to the lawsuit, and she lost her job.

Jane Doe is seeking $21.5 million in damages in the suit, which was first filed in state court and later transferred to federal court.

Rose’s attorney, Lisa Cohen, responded with a statement granting that Rose and Jane Doe had engaged “in a non-exclusive, consensual sexual relationship with the plaintiff for over two years,” but calling the gang-rape allegations “completely false and without any factual basis” and casting the case as “nothing more than a desperate attempt to shake down a highly respected and successful athlete.”

In a subsequent court filing, another attorney for Rose, Mark D. Baute, disputed the claim that the sexual contact during the incident in question was non-consensual, according toThe Associated Press:

In Baute’s filing on behalf of Rose, the 2011 NBA MVP denies the allegations and says the woman “consented to the actions she now claims were non-consensual.”

“The Plaintiff consented to sexual interaction with more than one co-defendant on more than one occasion, consented to sexual interactions on the day in question, and invited the defendants to her apartment and buzzed them in through security and opened the apartment door to welcome them, and then consented to additional group activities later that evening,” it reads.

Rose’s filing also says the woman “became upset a few weeks or months later because she felt she should be reimbursed for one of the sex toys she purchased and used during the day and night in question.” She also became upset with Rose for not being responsive enough to her text messages, according to the court document.

Turkey: PKK fighters killed in attempt to storm base

2016-07-30T17:27:00.001+03:00

Officials say air operation targeted PKK members after attempt to storm military base in southeastern Hakkari province.

Some southeastern cities have been engulfed in violence since the 1990s [AP]

Turkish military officials say the army has killed 35 Kurdish fighters after they attempted to storm a military base in the southeastern province of Hakkari.

The early morning attack on Saturday came just hours after clashes in Hakkari's Cukurca district between Turkish troops and fighters from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), the officials said.

They said the fighters attempted to take the base in three different groups, but were spotted by aerial reconnaissance.

An air operation was subsequently launched, killing 23 fighters, the Turkish officials said.

Four more were then killed in a ground operation, they said, adding that the other eight Kurdish fighters were killed in Friday's gun battle in Cukurca.

Those clashes also left 25 soldiers wounded, the officials said.

Al Jazeera's Bernard Smith, reporting from Istanbul, said the PKK is taking its fight back out to the country side since the peace process ended this time last year.

"A lot of the fighting was in the urban areas before and that resulted in extraordinary destruction of property and civilians death. The PKK seems to have withdrawn from that area now and fighting the Turkish military out in the country side where they had traditional fought before."

Last week, Turkey's military launched air strikes against PKK members in northern Iraq, killing 20 fighters.

In the southeast, the military has frequently carried out air strikes after a two-and-a-half-year ceasefire and peace process between the government and the PKK broke down last summer.

More than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict since the PKK - designated a 'terrorist group' by Turkey, the US and the European Union - began its armed campaign in 1984.

Turkey carries out frequent attacks against PKK targets in Iraq's Kurdish-dominated regions near the Turkish border, where the PKK leadership has camps.

Turkey's military, NATO's second-largest, has continued to grapple with the low-intensity conflict in the mainly Kurdish southeast as its senior ranks undergo a major shake-up in following a July 15-16 failed coup.

Iraq: Deaths in car bomb market attack near Baghdad

2016-07-12T13:09:00.000+03:00

At least nine killed and dozens wounded in car bomb blast at outdoor market in Rashidiyah, north of Iraqi capital.

Iraq Bombing

The blast ripped through an outdoor market as government forces are deployed in most of Baghdad.

At least nine people have been killed and dozens wounded in a car bombing at an outdoor market in a district just north of Iraq's capital, Baghdad, according to police sources.

Police said a parked car packed with explosives blew up on Tuesday morning at a vegetable and fruit market in Rashidiyah town.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, which wounded at least 20 people.

Baghdad is on high alert for attacks after a blast in the central Karada district on July 3 killed more than 300 people.

This was the deadliest bombing in Iraq since US-led forces toppled Saddam Hussein 13 years ago.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group (ISIL, also known as ISIS), which holds territory in Iraq, claimed responsibility for that attack.

The bombing in Rashidiyah came as the Iraqi parliament was due on Tuesday to discuss security measures in the capital in the wake of the attack in Karada.

On Friday, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi accepted the resignation of interior minister Mohammed al-Ghabban and sacked the city's head of security operationsand other senior officials.

STRAIGHT OUTTA CHUO

2016-07-12T12:37:00.001+03:00

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Hamilton ashinda British Grand Prix.

2016-07-12T12:03:00.003+03:00

Lewis Hamilton

BINGWA wa mbio za magari kutoka nchini England, Lewis Hamilton, ameshinda ubingwa wa michuano ya British Grand Prix baada ya kumshinda mpinzani wake, Nico Rosberg, huku wote wakitumia gari aina ya Mercedes.

Huu ni ushindi wa tatu mfululizo kwa Hamilton katika mashindano ya nyumbani nchini England. Katika ushindi huo, Hamilton alitumia saa 1: 34 na sekunde 55, wakati mpinzani wake Rosberg akitumia saa 1:35 na sekunde 12.

Hata hivyo, Hamilton amedai kwamba hakuwa na uhakika wa kushinda kutokana na upinzani aliokutana nao katika michuano hiyo, ila amempa pongezi mpinzani wake kwa changamoto alizompa.

“Sidhani kama kuna mtu anaweza kuwa na furaha kama nilionayo, ukweli ni kwamba nina furaha ya hali ya juu, hii inamaanisha kwamba British Grand Prix ni michuano bora kwetu.

“Nilikuwa na upinzani mkubwa nikawa na wasiwasi, lakini nashukuru ninazidi kutetea ubingwa wa michuano hii, nilikuwa ninauelewa uwezo wa Rosberg, hivyo nilikuwa na wakati mgumu wa kushinda kutokana na hali ya hewa.

“Mvua iliyokuwa inaendelea ilianza kunipa shida, ila niliweza kupambana hadi hatua ya mwisho,” alisema Hamilton.

Inadaiwa kuwa Hamilton ni miongoni mwa madereva 22 duniani wenye mvuto na idadi kubwa ya mashabiki, baada ya kushinda taji hilo mashabiki walijitokeza kwa wingi wakishangilia kwa kumwinua juu.

China v Philippines: Court to rule on South China Sea

2016-07-12T11:58:00.001+03:00

The Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague is to rule in a dispute between the Philippines and China over maritime claims in the South China Sea - particularly who has the right to exploit resources in the strategic territory.

The ruling on Tuesday is expected to further increase tensions in the region, where China's increased military assertiveness has spread concern among its smaller neighbours and is a point of confrontation with the United States.

China has boycotted the court, saying it does not have jurisdiction to decide on the matter and has campaigned for months to discredit the outcome.

In advance of the ruling, the China Daily newspaper, which is published by the government, topped its front page on Tuesday with a picture of Woody Island in the South China Sea emblazoned with the words: "Arbitration invalid".

State-run news agency Xinhua included headlines such as: "South China Sea arbitration abuses international law: Chinese scholar".

The Philippines embassy in China warned its citizens to be "careful" due to tension before the ruling and to avoid political debate. The embassy also urged its citizens to carry identification papers "at all times" and report any threat received to the embassy and Chinese police.

Key sea lane

China asserts sovereignty over almost all of the South China Sea, a strategic waterway through which more than $5 trillion of world trade is shipped each year, despite rival claims from the Philippines and other Southeast Asian nations.

The US says it wants the crucial sea lane to be treated as international waters.

Both Beijing and Washington have accused each other of provocations in the South China Sea.

OPINION: China's peripheral diplomacy disaster

Al Jazeera's Adrian Brown, reporting from Beijing, said China's leaders would "simply shrug off the tribunal's rulings.

"In recent weeks, they've labelled the court illegal, irrelevant and said it had no jurisdiction. And they appear to care little about Washington's renewed threats and warnings."

Karl Friedhoff, an Asian affairs expert at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, said China had made it clear that it was in no "mood for negotiation".

"They are really trying to get access to the open ocean, so they can start to really project their power," he told Al Jazeera.

Friedhoff added, however, that if Beijing decided to press the matter aggressively with the Philippines and other Southeast Asian countries, "then it is going to undercut the soft power that China has worked so hard to grow".

Even if Beijing ignores the court's decision, it is significant as it will be the first time that a legal challenge has been brought against China in the dispute.

"While China insists that it does not care about the decision, its actuations clearly reveal that it is worried about its image," Alexander Yano, a former diplomat and top military commander in the Philippines, told Al Jazeera.

"Beijing is certainly concerned about the negative psychological impact in the international arena should the Hague court rules in favor of the Philippines."

China's expanding presence

Including the Philippines, the dispute draws in a total of five countries with overlapping claims in the 3.5 million square kilometre sea, where China has been expanding its presence by building artificial islands and dispatching patrol boats that keep fishing vessels from other countries away.

The arbitration court ruling will not decide on matters of territorial sovereignty, but will apply the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea in determining which countries can claim economic exploitation rights, based on geographic features.

The court has no power of enforcement, but a victory for the Philippines could spur Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei, which also have overlapping claims, to file similar claims.

Kikosi bora cha Euro 2016 chatajwa

2016-07-12T11:51:00.001+03:00

Mshambuliaji wa Ureno Cristiano Ronaldo, anayechezea Real Madrid ya Uhispania, ni miongoni mwa wachezaji walioorodheshwa kwenye kikosi bora cha michuano ya Euro 2016 kilichotangazwa na Shirikisho la Soka Ulaya, Uefa.

Ronaldo aliwahi kujumuishwa katika kikosi sawa mwaka 2004 na mwaka 2012.

Raia mwenzake, Pepe pia yupo kwenye kikosi hicho na aliwahi pia kujumuishwa 2008 na 2012.

Image copyrightAFP GETTY

Image captionNi mara ya tatu Ronaldo kujumuishwa kikosini

Awali, kulikuwa kukitajwa kikosi cha wachezaji 23 lakini wakati huu kumetajwa kikosi cha wachezaji 11.

Eder: Mchezaji aliyeliza Wafaransa

Kikosi kamili kinajumuisha (4-2-3-1): Rui Patrício (Ureno); Joshua Kimmich (Ujerumani), Jérôme Boateng (Ujerumani), Pepe (Ureno), Raphaël Guerreiro (Ureno); Toni Kroos (Ujerumani), Joe Allen (Wales); Antoine Griezmann (Ufaransa), Aaron Ramsey (Wales), Dimitri Payet (Ufaransa); Cristiano Ronaldo (Ureno).

Image copyrightAFP

Image captionRui Patricio, mlindalango wa Ureno

Kikosi hicho kiliteuliwa na jopo la kiufundi cha Uefa lililojumuisha, miongoni mwa wengine, Sir Alex Ferguson na David Moyes.

“Tunaamini kikosi hiki cha wachezaji XI kinawakilisha wachezaji bora zaidi walioshiriki michuano,” amesema, Ferguson, ambaye ni balozi mwema wa ukufunzi wa Uefa.

WikiLeaks Publishes More Than 1,200 Hillary Clinton Iraq War Emails From Her Private Server

2016-07-12T11:43:00.000+03:00

On Saturday, Hillary Clinton spent three and a half hours being interviewed by the FBI over the private email server she used as Secretary of State. The scandal has cast a shadow over Clinton’s presidential campaign and weighs heavily upon her perceived trustworthiness as a candidate. Attorney General Loretta Lynch has revealed that she willdefer to the eventual FBI decision on whether or not to indict Clinton, but the prospect of an actual indictment doesn’t seem likely.

Regardless of the projected outcome, the controversy remains lodged in the public consciousness, and WikiLeaks celebrated Independence Day by publishing 1,258 of Clinton’s emails. This data was released by the State Department in February (through a Freedom of Information request), and WikiLeaks gathered up all emails tied to the Iraq War in one tidy dump.

Curious visitors can search by sender, subject, and keyword, but good luck on finding anything juicy in a timely fashion. Countless emails, particularly from Clinton aide Huma Abedin, are simply copy/pastes of AP and Washington Post articles. There are plenty of forwarded letters from other world leaders to Clinton too. One tidbit refers to a note from Bono and wife Ali, and there are several messages about an Oprah appearance. At one point, Abedin apologizes for Al Gore’s pushiness in wanting to speak with Clinton.

Of course, it is impossible to comb through every one of these emails in one morning. Perhaps someone will dig up a true bombshell at some point, but the most revealing detail in this investigation actually arrived last week. During a deposition, Abedin admitted that Clinton burned a number of daily schedules: “If there was a schedule that was created that was her Secretary of State daily schedule, and a copy of that was then put in the burn bag, that … that certainly happened on … on more than one occasion.”

In response, former U.S. spokesman at the United Nations Richard Grenell told the New York Post, “I’ve never seen anyone put their schedule in the burn bag — because every one of them had a state.gov email address and therefore their daily schedules became public records, as required by law.” Grenell served at the State Department for eight years under two other Secretaries of State, who both freely passed around their schedules. Why Clinton burned her schedules shall remain a mystery.

In the meantime, this WikiLeaks dump will remain big news. In June, founder Julian Assange spoke with ITV with assurances that this data drop would provide “enough to indict her.” But he also believed that Lynch would never indict Clinton: “That’s not possible that could happen.”

Mega Millions Jackpot Swells to $508 million

2016-07-06T09:38:00.001+03:00

Mega Millions Jackpot Swells to $508 million

The winning jackpot numbers chosen in the Mega Millions jackpot were 29, 64, 46, 53, 73 and 10 as the mega ball, but Tuesday's drawing produced no winners, and the jackpot grew to $508 million with a cash option of $357 million. The next drawing will take place on Friday at 11 p.m.

The multi-state lottery prize ballooned to $454 million prior to Tuesday's drawing.

That staggering jackpot ranked as the seventh largest in U.S. history, according to officials. Tuesday's odds of getting a winning ticket with all six matching numbers was one in 259 million -- compared to the odds of a person being struck by lightning in their lifetime at roughly 1 in 12,000, according to the national weather service.

Eid al-Fitr: Saudi Arabia declares Wednesday first day

2016-07-05T23:17:00.001+03:00

Gulf Arab countries announce start day of three-day Muslim festival, marking end of the holy month of Ramadan.

The Gulf Arab countries have announced that the Eid al-Fitr festival, which marks the end of holy month of Ramadan, will be celebrated on July 6.

The official news agencies of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Kuwait quoted religious authorities as saying on Monday that the annual feast will begin on Wednesday after failing to sight the moon that marks the start of the three-day festival.

The starting day of Eid varies every year and from country to country depending on geographical location.

Eid al-Fitr means "festival of breaking the fast" and marks the end of the fasting month of Ramadan. It is an official holiday in all Muslim-majority countries.

غدا الثلاثاء 5-7-2016 هو المتمم لشهر رمضان المبارك.

وسيكون يوم الأربعاء 6-7-2016 هو أول أيام عيد الفطر المبارك #وزارة_الأوقاف

Yemen, Indonesia, and the Philippines are also among the countries which announced Wednesday as the first day of Eid.

Around the time of the announcement in Saudi Arabia, suspected suicide bombings struck near the Prophet's Mosque in Medina and a Shia mosque in Qatif city.

FBI’s Comey: No charges appropriate in Clinton email case.

2016-07-05T22:54:00.002+03:00

FBI Director James Comey makes a statement at FBI Headquarters on Tuesday; Hillary Clinton addresses the the U.S. Conference of Mayors last week.

In a bombshell announcement, FBI Director James Comey accused former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday of having been “extremely careless” in handling classified information on her private email server but recommended that she not face criminal charges.

“Although the Department of Justice makes final decisions on matters like this, we are expressing to Justice our view that no charges are appropriate in this case,” Comey said in a televised statement from FBI headquarters. “Although there is evidence of potential violation of the statutes regarding the handling of classified information, our judgment is that no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case.”

The announcement, which came hours before Clinton was to hold her first joint campaign rally with President Obama, did not quiet the political firestorm surrounding her decision to use a private server for her official work email during her time at the State Department.

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump immediately denounced the news on Twitter.

“The system is rigged,” he said. “Very very unfair! As usual, bad judgment.”

The announcement came after the FBI interviewed Clinton at its headquarters on Saturday for three and a half hours, the culmination of a yearlong investigation that has dogged her presidential campaign and fueled her sky-high disapproval ratings.

Attorney General Loretta Lynch said on Friday that she would accept the recommendations of the FBI and senior Justice Department prosecutors. Lynch made that pledge as she tried to dampen the controversy over a meeting with former President Bill Clinton earlier in the week.

While Comey stopped short of recommending that the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee face criminal charges, the widely respected FBI chief painted an unsparing picture of her controversial and unprecedented use of a private email server to do government work. While other past secretaries of state had used private, commercially available email, none had set up a private server.

“Although we did not find clear evidence that Secretary Clinton or her colleagues intended to violate laws governing the handling of the classified information, there is evidence that they were extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information,” he said.

Clinton sent and received emails that concerned matters that were classified at the top-secret special access program level at the time of the communications, he said. That flatly contradicted the former first lady’s public assertion that she never sent or received classified information.

“There is evidence to support a conclusion that any reasonable person in Secretary Clinton’s position or in the position of those with whom she was corresponding about the matters should have known that an unclassified system was no place for that conversation,” Comey said.

Comey also said “it is possible that hostile actors gained access” to Clinton’s private email account, noting that her use of that system was widely known and that she sent and received work emails “in the territory of sophisticated adversaries.”

The FBI chief explained the decision not to recommend charges by saying that previous cases that were prosecuted involved a blend of clearly intentional mishandling of national secrets, or disloyalty to the U.S., or obstruction of justice. “But we do not see those things here,” he said.

Still, Comey said, individuals found to have done what Clinton and her senior aides did rarely face “no consequences.”

Instead, “those individuals are often subject to security or administrative sanctions,” he said.

But with Clinton and her top aides out of government, that seemed unlikely to occur.

The Clinton campaign said it was pleased with the outcome.

“As the Secretary has long said, it was a mistake to use her personal email and she would not do it again,” the campaign said in a prepared statement. “We are glad that this matter is now resolved.”

US ambassador expresses regret over handcuffing of Emirati.

2016-07-05T16:13:00.001+03:00

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The American ambassador to the United Arab Emirates expressed regret Monday over the handcuffing of an Emirati man dressed in traditional clothing who was detained in Ohio over terrorism fears.

Ahmed al-Menhali's treatment outside a hotel in Avon, Ohio, became front-page news in the Emirates, a key U.S. ally that is home to the commercial hub of Dubai, and prompted the federation's government to formally summon a U.S. diplomat for an explanation.

"The unfortunate incident that Mr. al-Menhali endured in the U.S. is deeply regrettable," Ambassador Barbara Leaf said in a statement on Facebook early Monday.

Al-Menhali, 41, was detained at gunpoint on Wednesday while wearing a traditional white kandura, or ankle-length robe, and headscarf after a hotel clerk raised suspicions he could have links to the Islamic State group.

A 911 caller identifying herself as the clerk's sister told police he had multiple disposable phones and was "pledging his allegiance or something to ISIS," according to audio of the call posted by Cleveland's WEWS-TV.

Police camera footage showed officers detaining and searching al-Menhali before determining he was not a threat. He collapsed moments after he was released and was briefly hospitalized.

The National, a government-owned daily in the Emirati capital of Abu Dhabi, quoted al-Menhali on Sunday as saying he didn't realize that police were targeting him and initially thought he was witnessing a training exercise. He had been in the U.S. since April for medical treatment after suffering a stroke, according to the paper.

The married father of three described being shocked when they came at him and said he suffered several injuries during the arrest. "They were brutal with me," he told the paper.

Avon officials have since met with the Emirati and offered their apologies. Avon Mayor Brian Jensen said the Islamic State allegations were "unfounded."

Leaf's statement came hours after the Emirates' Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation summoned the U.S. deputy chief of mission in protest. The ministry's American affairs director, Rawda al-Otaiba, expressed concern over the way police treated al-Menhali and said he was defamed when policed released footage of the incident.

The Emirates has responded to the incident by warning its citizens to avoid wearing traditional garments when traveling abroad.

The seven-state UAE federation is a member of the U.S.-led military alliance against the Islamic State group and hosts American military personnel and warplanes at a large air base outside Abu Dhabi.

Several American companies have their Mideast headquarters in the country, which is a major buyer of American-made weapons and other goods, including billions of dollars' worth of Boeing Co. jetliners for its fast-growing airlines

Saudi Arabia: Explosions near Medina and Qatif mosques.

2016-07-04T23:54:00.000+03:00

Four people killed at Prophet's Mosque in Medina after suspected suicide bombing strikes near Shia mosque in Qatif.

Four people, including two security guards, have been killed in an explosion outside the Prophet's Mosque in Saudi Arabia's Medina, Islam's second holiest city, sources tell Al Jazeera.

Photos on social media show smoke billowing from a fire outside the mosque where Prophet Muhammad is buried.

There was no official statement on the cause of the explosion on Monday evening. Saudi media suggested it was a suicide bombing, while some other reports said a gas cylinder had blown up.

Qari Ziyaad Patel, 36, from South Africa, was at the mosque when he heard a blast just as the call to sunset prayers was ending.

Many at first thought it was the sound of traditional, celebratory cannon fire, but then he felt the ground shake.

"The vibrations were very strong," he told the AP news agency. "It sounded like a building imploded."

The blasts occurred just before the Maghreb (sunset) prayers when people were breaking their fast inside the mosque.

Qatif explosions

Around the same time, two other explosions struck near a mosque in the eastern city of Qatif on the Gulf coast, residents said.

Witnesses said a suicide bomber blew himself up outside a Shia mosque without causing any other injuries.

They reported seeing body parts lying on the ground in the city's business district.

"Suicide bomber for sure. I can see the body" which was blasted to pieces, a resident told the AFP news agency.

Nasima al-Sada, another resident, said "one bomber blew himself up near the mosque".

A third witness told Reuters news agency that one explosion destroyed a car parked near the mosque, followed by another explosion just before 7pm local time.

"We are in the last 10 days of Ramadan and those places are crowded because of that for Maghreb [sunset] prayers," Khaled Batarfi, a Saudi Gazette columnist, told Al Jazeera.

There was no claim of responsibility for the attack.

Early on Monday morning, two security officers were injured as a suicide bomberblew himself up near the US consulate in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah.

Security officers became suspicious of a man near the car park of Dr Suleiman Faqeeh Hospital which is directly across from the US diplomatic mission. When they moved in to investigate, "he blew himself up with a suicide belt inside the hospital parking", the ministry said, adding that two security officers were lightly wounded.

In January, at least four people were killed in a suicide attack on a Shia mosque in the eastern al-Ahsa region.

In October, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing at a Shia mosque in Najran, in which at least one person was killed.

ISIL (also known as ISIS) had also claimed responsibility for an attack at a mosque inside a special forces headquarters in the city of Abha in August 2015. Fifteen people were killed in that attack.

July 4 message from Putin to Obama: Let's have better ties.

2016-07-04T23:44:00.002+03:00

Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures as he addresses students during his visit to German Embassy school in Moscow, Russia on June 29, 2016

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday in a July Fourth message to President Barack Obama that he hopes ties between the two countries will get back on track.

Relations between Moscow and Washington hit a post-Cold War low in 2014, when Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula and threw its weight behind separatists in eastern Ukraine. The Kremlin, however, has recently sought rapprochement with the United States.

In the Independence Day message released by the Kremlin, Putin recalled the history of Russia-U.S. ties, saying that at one time the two countries were able to solve “the most difficult international problems to the benefit of both our nations and all humankind.” Putin expressed hope that this experience will help the two countries get back to working together.

Elsewhere in Moscow, a youth wing of the ruling United Russia party staged an impromptu exhibit on a central square to condemn U.S. military involvement in other countries. The Young Guard activists put up easels with the portraits and quotes of former world leaders that the activists claim were toppled by the United States, like Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych or Libyan President Moammar Gadhafi.

“Under its current leadership, the United States has become a parasite state that attacks other countries under any pretext, violating their sovereignty, causing revolutions, using military force, killing civilians and their destroying statehood,” activist Denis Davydov said. “We call on the United States on the Independence Day not only to preserve their own independence but also respect the independence of other countries.”

Putin officially is not a United Russia member despite having canvassed for the party in the past. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has been recently announced as party leader for the upcoming parliamentary campaign.

7 BIGGEST COMPUTER HACKS

2016-07-04T11:02:00.000+03:00

Criminals and state-sponsored hackers attack networks around the world every minute of every day. Most of the time those attacks are thwarted by the networks’ cyberdefenses. But when attacks succeed, they usually do so in a big way.

Read: How to Watch Worldwide Cyberattacks — Live!

With increasing regularity, it seems, attackers hit the jackpot and gain access to information on millions of individuals, including passwords, email addresses, and credit card numbers. Odds are high that at least some of your personal information is in the hands of these thieves.

These are some of the biggest computer hacks of the past five years.

1. Adobe (October 2013)

Number of people affected: 150 million

Information stolen: Email addresses and passwords for 150 million users, according tosecurity vendor Sophos, as well as credit card data for 2.9 million users.

A data dump discovered on the AnonNews website contained the usernames and passwords of some 150 million Adobe customers. (Sophos)

How it happened: Hackers gained access to Adobe’s networks, though exactly how they did it has yet to be publicly revealed. In addition to stealing user information, attackers also downloaded the source code for a handful of Adobe programs, which essentially forms the foundation of the software.

Aftermath: Adobe offered free credit monitoring to individuals who had their credit card information stolen. Others were told to reset their passwords for Adobe products. Password management vendor LastPass set up a site where you can check to see if your email address was one of those stolen; you can find it here.

2. eBay (May 2014)

Number of people affected: 145 million

Information stolen: Customers’ usernames, encrypted passwords, email addresses, and other personal data. No payment information was taken.

Photo: eBay

How it happened: Attackers used compromised employee login information to get into the company’s network.

Aftermath: EBay issued a statement asking all of its users to change their passwords “out of an abundance of caution.” The company said it would also work to improve security.

3. Target (January 2014)

Number of people affected: 110 million

Information stolen: 40 million credit and debit card numbers, as well as 70 million consumer email addresses.

Photo: Yahoo News

How it happened: According to Bloomberg, hackers used credentials from an HVAC contractor working within Target to then gain access to the retailer’s network.

Aftermath: Six months later, company CEO Gregg Steinhafel was forced to resign over the breach. In March, Target settled a class-action lawsuit for $10 million with individuals who had their credit and debit cards stolen.

4. Home Depot (September 2014)

Number of people affected: 109 million

Information stolen: 53 million email addresses and 56 million credit and debit cards for shoppers at the $80 billion home improvement chain.

Photo: Yahoo News

How it happened: Home Depot said hackers used a vendor’s login information to access the network and install malware on the retailer’s self-checkout systems, which fed the attackers information on credit card customers in the U.S. and Canada.

Aftermath: Cleaning up after the breach cost Home Depot an estimated $62 million. The company offered free credit monitoring to any customers who used a payment card at a Home Depot store after April 2014.

5. Anthem (February 2015)

Number of people affected: 88 million

Information stolen: Social Security numbers, employment details, and other personal information maintained by the nation’s second largest health insurer — but no medical data.

Photo: Yahoo News

How it happened: Investigators speculate the intrusion began months earlier and was perpetrated by Chinese government-sponsored hackers, who are also suspected ofbreaking into the networks of United Airlines and the U.S. government’s Office of Personnel Management.

Aftermath: Anthem offered free credit monitoring services to those affected by the attack.

6. JPMorgan Chase (July 2014)

Number of people affected: 83 million

Information stolen: Names, addresses, and phone numbers of account holders at the $2.6 trillion financial services giant.

Photo: Yahoo Screen

How it happened: According to the New York Times, hackers gained access to JPMorgan’s network via an employee’s credentials.

Eighteen injured in Mecca stampede: Saudi media

2016-07-04T10:24:00.001+03:00

Every year, hundreds of thousands of pilgrims flock to Mecca to carry out the lesser umra pilgrimage during Ramadan -- especially during its last 10 days.

Riyadh (AFP) - Eighteen pilgrims have been injured in a stampede near Islam's holiest site, Saudi media reported on Saturday, as the kingdom continues to review safety after a deadly crush during last year's hajj.

The incident happened on Friday night near the Grand Mosque in Mecca, the Al-Riyadh newspaper said, as Muslims gathered in large numbers to mark the Night of Destiny, one of the high points of the holy fasting month of Ramadan.

All the injured were treated at the scene and none required admission to hospital, the newspaper cited a health official as saying.

Every year, hundreds of thousands of pilgrims flock to Mecca to carry out the lesser umra pilgrimage during Ramadan -- especially during its last 10 days.

They include the Night of Destiny, when the angel Gabriel is believed to have given the Prophet Mohammed the verses of the Koran.

The incident comes as Saudi authorities continue to unveil new safety measures for this year's hajj in September.

A crush at last year's hajj killed more than 2,000 pilgrims in the worst disaster to ever strike the annual ritual.

According to figures from foreign officials, at least 2,297 pilgrims died. Saudi Arabia issued a death toll of 769.

Newspapers reported on Friday that, among new security measures, hajj pilgrims this year will have to wear an electronic safety bracelet to store their personal information, including address and medical records.

The hajj and umra pilgrimages bring millions of Muslims to the holy places in Saudi Arabia every year.