Turkish school-trip bus’s plunge kills 14
ANKARA, Turkey — A bus carrying schoolchildren, teachers and parents plunged into an irrigation canal in southern Turkey, killing 14 people — six of them children, officials and reports said Monday.
Twenty-six other people were injured in the accident which occurred late Sunday as the bus was returning from a school trip to a national park and museum in the southern province of Osmaniye, Gov. Kerem Al said.
Security camera video of the accident showed the bus driving into oncoming traffic at an intersection, being slammed by a car and rolling into the canal.
Passersby and residents jumped into the canal to try and rescue people trapped inside the bus, Hurriyet newspaper reported. Most of the bodies were recovered by divers.
At least one of the injured passengers was in serious condition, Health Minister Recep Akdag said.
The children were from a school in the town of Iskenderun in Hatay province, which borders Syria and lies just south of Osmaniye.
Hurriyet said the dead included a teacher, the bus driver and the driver’s assistant.
1,800 migrants cleared from Paris park
PARIS — French authorities have evacuated up to 1,800 migrants camping in a park in northern Paris and sent them off to temporary shelters around the region.
The interior and housing ministers said that the park was cleared out Monday morning and the migrants were taken to shelters where they can make asylum demands.
Authorities said the park became increasingly squalid as migrants arrived and rains flooded the city. Several cases of tuberculosis were reported, making action urgent.
The ministers’ statement said the evacuation brings to 10,000 the number of migrants removed in a year from Paris streets and parks and given shelter.
Mayor Anne Hidalgo announced plans last week to create a migrant center for the city in line with international norms. She said that the center’s site will be announced shortly.
Navy bans drinking for sailors in Japan
TOKYO — The U.S. Navy banned drinking and restricted off-base activity Monday for its personnel in Japan after a sailor was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving on the island of Okinawa in the latest incident where suspected criminal activity has sparked public anger.
Crimes by U.S. military personnel, especially on Okinawa where the public is fighting to get rid of U.S. bases, are often pointed to as reasons why the U.S. soldiers should go.
In the latest incident, Petty Officer 2nd Class Aimee Mejia, 21, assigned to Kadena base in Okinawa, was arrested Sunday after driving the wrong way on a freeway and smashing head-on into two vehicles, police spokesman Takashi Shirado said. Mejia was not hurt, but two people in the other cars were slightly injured, he said.
Under Monday’s order, U.S. Navy personnel will not be allowed to drink at all, off or on base, and cannot freely leave the base grounds, except for commuting from an off-base home to work, or for necessary errands such as picking up children or groceries.
The order will remain until training is carried out and the military feels comfortable everyone understands “responsible behavior,” a Navy statement said.
Jordan intelligence unit’s 5 die in attack
BAQAA REFUGEE CAMP, Jordan — An assailant with an automatic weapon attacked a local office of Jordan’s national intelligence agency Monday, killing four guards and a receptionist in what the government called a lonewolf terrorist attack.
The gunman was arrested hours after the early morning shooting, which took place on the first day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
In his initial comments, government spokesman Mohammed Momani suggested Islamic militants were behind the attack, saying those involved were “criminal elements that don’t represent our moderate religion.”
After the arrest of the assailant, Momani said it was a lone-wolf attack but that the investigation was continuing.
Such attacks are relatively rare in Jordan, even though the pro-Western kingdom is on the front line in the military campaign against Islamic State extremists who control areas of neighboring Syria and Iraq.
The shooting took place before 7 a.m. and targeted a two-story security compound on the edge of the Palestinian refugee camp of Baqaa, near the capital, Amman.
A Section on 06/07/2016