The world in brief: Turkish president seeking new term

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks Thursday during the final day of military exercises in Seferihisar near Izmir, on Turkey’s Aegean coast.
(AP/Turkish Presidency)
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks Thursday during the final day of military exercises in Seferihisar near Izmir, on Turkey’s Aegean coast. (AP/Turkish Presidency)


Turkish president seeking new term

ANKARA, Turkey -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan confirmed Thursday that he plans to stand for reelection next year.

Erdogan, 68, made the announcement during a speech where he challenged the main opposition party's leader, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, to announce the candidate who would challenge him on behalf of an alliance of opposition parties.

"[Recep] Tayyip Erdogan is the candidate of the People's Alliance," Erdogan said, referring to the coalition between his Justice and Development Party and a nationalist party. "If you have the courage, declare your candidacy or the candidate of the alliance."

Turkey is scheduled to hold presidential and parliamentary elections by June 2023 at the latest.

Erdogan has led the country for almost 20 years, first as prime minister and then as president. But support for him and the People's Alliance has steadily declined amid high inflation and a cost of living crisis.

The alliance of opposition parties has yet to announce its presidential candidate, although Kilicdaroglu and the mayors of Ankara and Istanbul are viewed as top contenders.

2,000 Spaniards flee raging wildfire

MADRID -- A wildfire in southern Spain forced the evacuation of 2,000 people amid fears that torrid weather on Thursday feeding the blaze. Emergency agencies deployed almost 1,000 firefighters, military personnel and support crews to fight it.

Authorities raced against the clock in the dry, hilly area of Andalucia as Spain's AEMET weather service said the country could be on the verge of a heat wave. Temperatures were forecast to reach well over 86 degrees Fahrenheit and get even hotter over the weekend.

The Andalucian Forest Fire Extinction Service, Infoca, said the fire had burned 5,000 acres of mountain terrain so far.

The blaze injured three firefighters after it broke out Wednesday amid gusting winds; one suffered severe burns. People were evacuated as a precaution late Wednesday from five different locations across the province of Malaga, with most sheltering with relatives or in local hotels, officials said.

Crews sought to take advantage of lower temperatures and more humid conditions overnight that saw the flames quiet down, according to Infoca and the Andalucia regional government. Seven water-dropping helicopters and a coordinating plane were on standby.

Spain's Emergency Military Unit, which is assigned to help civilian forces with major incidents, sent 233 personnel and more than 80 vehicles to the area, authorities said.

Secrets-law trial to proceed in Burma

BANGKOK -- A court in Burma ruled Thursday that prosecutors presented sufficient evidence against ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi, Australian economist Sean Turnell and three other defendants to continue their trial on charges of violating the official secrets law.

Turnell had served as an adviser to Suu Kyi, who was arrested when her elected government was ousted by the army on Feb. 1, 2021.

The military's takeover triggered peaceful nationwide protests that security forces quashed with lethal force, triggering armed resistance that some U.N. experts now characterize as civil war.

Turnell was arrested in Rangoon, the largest city, a few days after the military seized power. He is being tried in the capital, Naypyitaw, with Suu Kyi and three former Cabinet members charged in the same case.

Violating the official secrets law carries a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison. The colonial-era statute criminalizes the possession, collection, recording, publishing or sharing of state information that is "directly or indirectly, useful to an enemy."

The exact details of Turnell's alleged offense and those of the others have not been made public, though Burma state television, citing government statements, has said the Australian academic had access to "secret state financial information" and had tried to flee the country.

Crash driver's mental history probed

BERLIN -- A man accused of driving into a school group in Berlin, killing a teacher and leaving others injured, appears to have a history of mental illness, prosecutors said Thursday, adding that there was no sign of a terrorist motive for what appeared to have been a deliberate act.

A court ordered the man placed in a secure psychiatric hospital. He faces preliminary charges of murder and 17 counts of attempted murder, prosecutors said.

However a spokesman for the prosecutors office, Sebastian Buechner, said it's not clear whether the suspect could be held criminally responsible.

Investigators found medicines when they searched the man's apartment, and "a great deal speaks for paranoid schizophrenia" as the suspect's diagnosis, Buechner told reporters. "What there isn't is indications of any kind of terrorist background."

Witnesses and police said a car was driven into pedestrians on a popular shopping street in Berlin. A teacher with a school group from central Germany died, and nine people suffered serious injuries. In all, 31 people were injured, 14 of them students.


  photo  Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrives for an official welcome ceremony, in Ankara, Turkey, Wednesday, June 8, 2022. Erdogan on Thursday warned Greece to demilitarize islands in the Aegean, saying he was "not joking" with such comments. Turkey says Greece has been building a military presence on Aegean in violation of treaties that guarantee the unarmed statues of the islands. (AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici)
 
 


  photo  People walk past flowers and candles at the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church on Thursday in Berlin, Germany. (AP/Michael Sohn)
 
 


  photo  A helicopter drops water on a wildfire advancing toward homes in Marbella in the Malaga province of southern Spain on Thursday. The fire has forced the evacuation of some 2,000 people, and more than 1,000 firefighters, military personnel and support crews were battling the blaze. More photos at arkansasonline.com/610malaga/. (AP/Gregorio Marrero)
 
 



 Gallery: Wildfire forces evacuations in Spain



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