2 protesters die, dozens injured in Iraq
BAGHDAD -- Two protesters were killed and more than a dozen wounded in central Baghdad on Friday in renewed violence between anti-government demonstrators and Iraqi security forces, activists and officials said. The deaths follow weeks of calm.
Riot police fired tear gas and hurled sound bombs to disperse crowds on the strategic Sinak Bridge after protesters attempted to breach concrete barriers previously erected by security forces, causing the casualties, activists and medical and security officials said.
Two protesters were killed and at least 20 wounded, three activists and a security official said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.
Protesters are demanding sweeping changes, new leadership and snap elections.
Friday's violence breaks a period of calm after tensions soared between Tehran and Washington following a U.S. drone strike that killed a top Iranian general.
In an effort to return focus to the goals of the protest movement, anti-government protesters in the southern city of Nasiriyah gave the government a week's deadline to take serious steps to implement changes. The deadline runs out early next week.
3 Turkish soldiers die in Syria bombing
ANKARA, Turkey -- A car bombing has killed three Turkish soldiers in a Turkish-controlled area in northern Syria, Turkey's Defense Ministry said.
The ministry said the attack occurred late Thursday as the soldiers were carrying out road checks in northern Syria, in an area that is under the control of Turkish forces and Turkish-backed Syrian fighters since a Turkish incursion into the region in October.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing.
Turkey invaded the border area in neighboring Syria to drive away the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units, a group it considers terrorist because of its links to Kurdish rebels fighting inside Turkey. However, the same fighters were the main U.S. allies on the ground in the war against the Islamic State group.
Thursday's blast was the latest in a series of attacks targeting Turkish troops or the allied Syrian rebels in northern Syria. Four soldiers were killed last week in a similar car bomb explosion.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned the attack and vowed retaliation. "We cannot let this go without a response," he said.
China population tops 1.4 billion in '19
BEIJING -- China's population crept past 1.4 billion last year for the first time, even as the birthrate continues to fall.
The National Bureau of Statistics said Friday that the population on the Chinese mainland reached 1.4 billion at the end of 2019, with another overall gain of 4.67 million people.
That marked the third consecutive year when the overall number of births dropped.
China's working-age population, people between 16 and 59 years old, also declined by 890,000 from 2018 to 896.4 million, while the number of people age 60 or older grew by 4.39 million, making up 18.1% of the total population.
China abandoned its long-standing one-child policy in 2016 in hopes of reversing what some have called a coming demographic tsunami in which China will grow old before reaching its development targets. But the policy allowing urban couples to have a second child has shown little success amid a dearth of incentives and rising costs for housing, food, health care and education.
Plane crash victims' kin to get $19,122
TORONTO -- Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Friday that his government will give $19,122 to the families of each of the 57 citizens and 29 permanent residents of Canada who died in the downing of a Ukrainian jetliner in Iran last week.
Trudeau said he still expects Iran to compensate the families but added that they need help now for funerals, travel to Iran and bills. He said any money Iran provides at a later date will go straight to the families and will not be reimbursed to the Canadian government.
"I want to be clear, we expect Iran to compensate these families," Trudeau said.
Asked if the U.S. bears any responsibility after President Donald Trump ordered the killing of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, Iran's top general, in a U.S. airstrike in Baghdad, Trudeau said Iran bears full responsibility for having shot down a civilian airline with 176 people aboard.
The prime minister also said the "black boxes" have been significantly damaged, and Iran does not have the expertise or equipment needed to look at them. He said France has a lab that can do it, adding that there is a need to do it as quickly as possible.
The spokesman for the French accident investigating bureau said it has no information about eventually obtaining the demolished airplane's black boxes, the voice and data recorders, to decipher them. Sebastien Barthe added that it is up to Iran, which is in charge of the investigation, to decide the matter.
Trudeau said no remains of Canadian victims have returned to Canada yet but he expects that to start soon.
A Section on 01/18/2020