Erdogan sets early elections for June
ANKARA, Turkey -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday called early elections for June, meaning that a new political system that would allow him to consolidate powers would take effect a year earlier than scheduled.
After a meeting with Devlet Bahceli, the leader of Turkey's main nationalist party, Erdogan announced that the presidential and parliamentary elections originally scheduled for November 2019 will now be held June 24.
He said the new system needs to be implemented quickly to deal with numerous challenges ahead, including Turkey's fight against Kurdish insurgents in Syria and Iraq.
Turkey, after a narrowly approved referendum last year, is switching from a parliamentary system to a presidential system that abolishes the office of the prime minister and decreases the powers of the parliament. The changes, which critics say will further reduce checks and balances, will take effect with the next elections.
The snap elections were called a day after Bahceli, the leader of the Nationalist Movement Party and an Erdogan ally, made a surprise call for an early election in the summer.
Erdogan, who has moved to further tighten his grip on power since a failed coup attempt in 2016, needs a 51 percent majority to be re-elected in the first round of the presidential election. Earlier this year, his ruling conservative, Islamic-rooted Justice and Development party formed an election alliance with Bahceli's Nationalist Movement Party.
500 in caravan continue to U.S. border
MEXICO CITY -- The remnants of a migrant caravan of Central Americans that drew the ire of President Donald Trump were continuing their journey north through Mexico toward the U.S. border Wednesday.
Organizer Irineo Mujica, speaking from the western Mexico city of Guadalajara, said about 500 people had been riding trains north since leaving Mexico City last weekend. The caravan that left the Guatemala-Mexico border in late March at a point grew to more than 1,000 people.
Mujica had said the capital was the caravan's last official stop, but many of the travelers feared going solo on the dangerous final leg north and decided to keep traveling en masse. Some who had split off to press on alone reported back about kidnappings and having their papers for safe passage torn up. "That caused the group to regroup," he said.
Trump had railed against the caravan, even threatening the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement if Mexico did not stop its progress. The majority are Hondurans fleeing gang violence.
The caravan is an annual, symbolic event held around Easter each year to raise awareness about the plight of migrants. It historically does not go all the way to the border and that was not the original plan this year, Mujica said.
2 shootouts with police kill 16 people
MEXICO CITY -- Sixteen people -- six police officers and 10 suspects -- were killed in two confrontations in the southern Mexican state of Guerrero, authorities said Wednesday.
State security spokesman Roberto Alvarez said the first shootout occurred late Tuesday, when a state police convoy came under attack in Coacuyul, a town near the Pacific coast resort of Zihuatanejo.
He said a policeman was wounded and police returned fire, killing 10 suspected gunmen during a 30-minute battle with assault-style rifles.
In what Alvarez said may have been retaliation for the first attack, gunmen later ambushed a state police convoy about 20 miles north of Zihuatanejo and killed six police officers.
The officers had been visiting nine families in the hamlet of Las Mesillas who were considered at risk because of the drug gang violence that has plagued the area.
Australia confirms detainee in plot
CANBERRA, Australia -- Australia's government confirmed Wednesday that an Australian had been detained in Iraq after a media report earlier in the day said an Islamic State commander and an Australian relative were captured.
The militant commander was suspected of masterminding a plot to blow up an airline flight from Sydney, the report said.
Commander Tarek Khayat, a Lebanese citizen, and his relative Ahmed Merhi of Australia were detained in Iraq earlier this year, but their arrests have been shrouded in secrecy because of diplomatic sensitivities surrounding the cases, Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported, citing anonymous officials.
Defense Minister Marise Payne confirmed that an Australian had been detained but would not comment on his identity.
Australian police allege Merhi communicated with a homegrown Islamic State cell behind several Sydney plots.
A Section on 04/19/2018