Student's beating prompts French outcry
PARIS -- A video showing one of French President Emmanuel Macron's security chiefs beating a student demonstrator, until now cloaked in secrecy, drew fierce public backlash Thursday over what is seen as mild punishment for the officer.
The video of the May 1 event in Paris, revealed by Le Monde on Wednesday evening, shows Alexandre Benalla in a helmet with police markings, and surrounded by riot police, brutally dragging off a woman from a demonstration and then repeatedly beating a young man on the ground. The man is heard begging him to stop. Another man in civilian clothing pulled the young man to the ground.
Police, who had hauled the man from the crowd before Benalla took over, didn't intervene. Benalla then left the scene. The second man was apparently a gendarme in the reserves who Le Monde said had worked with Benalla in the past.
The uproar over Benalla's punishment -- a two-week suspension and a change in responsibilities -- upended regular business in parliament with lawmakers expressing surprise that the security official still has an office in the presidential palace 2½ months after the incident, and that he was not immediately reported to judicial authorities.
A preliminary investigation was opened Thursday.
Turkey jails televangelist, 168 followers
ANKARA, Turkey -- Turkish authorities on Thursday formally arrested an Islamic televangelist and cult leader on charges that include forming a criminal gang, blackmail and sexual abuse of minors, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported.
At least 168 of Adnan Oktar's followers were also formally arrested on the same charges and taken to separate prisons in Istanbul pending trial.
Oktar and his followers were rounded up last week in raids in Istanbul and other cities after prosecutors issued detention warrants for 234 people linked to his group. Dozens of weapons and ammunition, a bullet-resistant vest and an armored vehicle were seized during the search.
Anadolu said Oktar rejected all accusations during his questioning, insisted that he was the victim of a plot hatched by plaintiffs and requested that he be released.
Elvan Kocak, a Turk living in Austria, had filed a lawsuit against Oktar earlier this year, accusing him of kidnapping his two daughters after he saw them on one of the televangelist's broadcasts.
Ceylan Ozgul, a woman who appeared on Oktar's shows, told Anadolu last week that she escaped the network in 2017 after spending a decade inside. She maintained that girls aged between 10 and 17 were abused by the group.
Peru's justice chief out in graft scandal
LIMA, Peru -- The head of Peru's judicial branch is offering his resignation over the latest corruption scandal to rock the South American nation.
Duberli Rodriguez presented his resignation in a letter Thursday, saying he would step down "due to the institutional crisis."
A series of secretly recorded audio files released by a Peruvian website show numerous judges were willing to tender favors for friends.
In one recording, a judge discusses reducing the sentence or declaring innocent a man accused of raping a young girl.
Rodriguez is one of several officials offering their resignation in the scandal's aftermath. Peru's justice minister resigned nearly a week ago.
Peru has already been bruised by repeated corruption scandals. Ex-President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski resigned in March after lawmakers revealed undisclosed financial ties to Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht.
U.S.-funded radio returning to 2 nations
BUCHAREST, Romania -- Radio Free Europe said Thursday that it will resume news services in Romania and Bulgaria in a bid to debunk fake news and combat poor-quality journalism.
The U.S. Congress-funded station will return to the two southeastern European countries, both European Union and NATO members, starting in December.
Radio Free Europe President Thomas Kent said in a statement that he hoped the move would "help the growth of a free press, promote democratic values and institutions, and inform discussion in both countries of their place in NATO, the EU and other Western organizations."
The statement also said that "government officials, civil society representatives and journalists ... have expressed concern that disinformation, corruption, and social division are undermining their political systems."
Radio Free Europe's Bulgarian service ended in 2004 while the service to Romania stopped in 2008. The statement noted that the media situation had deteriorated since the two countries joined the EU in 2007.
A Section on 07/20/2018