NATO opens 6 units in Eastern Europe
VILNIUS, Lithuania — NATO on Thursday inaugurated a military center in the Lithuanian capital despite growing concerns in the Baltic countries over Russia’s military presence.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, who joined Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite for the opening ceremony featuring soaring fighter jets, described the new unit as a “big step forward toward greater solidarity, greater strength and greater readiness.”
The NATO force integration unit in Vilnius is one of six small headquarters — each manned by a staff of 40 — that opened this month also in Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Poland and Romania as part of the alliance’s biggest reinforcement of collective defense since the end of the Cold War.
Grybauskaite welcomed the new units, saying they would ensure the quick and effective movement of troops.
Lithuania and its Baltic neighbors, Latvia and Estonia, were occupied for nearly five decades by the Soviet Union. After regaining independence in 1991 they joined the European Union and NATO in 2004.
French verify part from plane lost in ’14
PARIS — French investigators have formally identified a washed-up piece of airplane debris found in July on a remote island in the Indian Ocean as part of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, a Boeing 777 that disappeared more than a year ago with 239 people aboard.
Investigators have been examining the wing part, called a flaperon, since it was flown to a French aeronautical research laboratory near Toulouse last month. Malaysian authorities had already declared that the wing fragment was from the missing jet, but until now, French investigators couldn’t say with certainty that it was the case.
The Paris prosecutor’s office said in a statement Thursday that investigators used maintenance records to match a serial number found on the wing part with the missing Boeing.
Until the wing flap washed ashore July 30 on the French island of Reunion, investigators had not found a single physical clue linked to the plane. Officials have said they believe it crashed in the southern Indian Ocean, killing everyone aboard, but are unsure of the cause.
Turks doubt Thai theory on bombing
BANGKOK — Turkey expressed skepticism Thursday over reports that its citizens were involved in the Aug. 17 bombing of a Bangkok landmark that killed 20 people, as Thai authorities reported finding a “suspicious fluid” during a raid at a third home linked to suspects in the attack.
Thai national police spokesman Prawut Thawornsiri said police found items including a “suspicious fluid in a barrel” during the raid Thursday at a home in the outskirts of Bangkok. He said the items were being examined by a police explosives unit.
Thai authorities have suggested that at least two of the eight suspects are possibly Turkish, prompting the Turkish Embassy in Bangkok to issue a statement Thursday saying it has not received confirmation from Thai authorities about the nationalities of the suspects.
The Turkish connection has boosted a theory that the suspects may be part of a group seeking to avenge Thailand’s forced repatriation of more than 100 ethnic Uighurs to China in July. Thailand is believed to be a transit stop for Chinese Uighurs attempting to go to Turkey.
2 U.K. journalists released in Turkey
ANKARA, Turkey — Two Vice News journalists who were arrested in Turkey on terror-related charges have been released from jail, a Turkish government official said Thursday. Their assistant will remain jailed pending the conclusion of an investigation.
The two British journalists, correspondent Jake Hanrahan and cameraman Philip Pendlebury, were detained last week in Diyarbakir, the main city in Turkey’s mostly Kurdish southeast, after filming in a neighborhood where Kurdish youths frequently clash with Turkish security forces. Also detained was their Turkey-based assistant and translator, Mohammed Ismael Rasool.
The arrests prompted strong protests from media-rights advocates, the U.S. and the European Union.
A government official said Hanrahan and Pendlebury were freed Thursday, but the official did not know whether they would be allowed to leave Turkey or were required to remain in the country pending trial.