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WORLD NEWSSaturday 20 January 2018
China police take away lawyer who wrote letter urging reform
By DAKE KANG
Associated Press
BEIJING (AP) — Early Friday
morning, Yu Wensheng, a
Chinese human rights law-
yer, was waiting in his car to and burst into their apart- Yu gained widespread
take his 13 year-old son to
school when more than a
dozen police officers came
and took him into custody.
Turkey faces balancing act amid border offensive in Syria
By SARAH EL DEEB
Associated Press
BEIRUT (AP) — As Turkey
threatens a bloody con-
frontation with a U.S.-
backed Kurdish militia in
the main Syrian Kurdish en-
clave in northwestern Syria,
it faces the challenge of
maintaining its old alliance
with Washington and rein-
forcing a new rapproche-
ment with Moscow.
The move comes as Syria
once again finds itself on
the precipice of a new
conflict, after months of
reduced violence and a
surge in post-war stabili-
zation plans. Meanwhile,
tens of thousands of Syrians
in the northwest are flee-
ing the renewed violence
amid a new government
offensive in neighboring
Idlib, converging on the
Turkish border and igniting
fears of a new wave of mi-
gration.
Turkey’s defense minister,
Nurettin Canikli, said Friday
there was no turning back
from launching a ground
assault on Syria’s Afrin en-
clave, saying the offensive
had “de facto” started with
sporadic Turkish military
shelling of the area. Over
the last week, Turkey has
sent troops and tanks to
the border and rallied Syr-
ian fighters it has backed
for the fight against Afrin’s
battle-hardened Kurdish
fighters, estimated at be-
North Korea cancels South Korea visit by advance team
By HYUNG-JIN KIM
Associated Press
SEOUL, South Korea (AP)
— North Korea on Friday
abruptly canceled plans
to send a delegation led
by the head of a hugely
popular girl band to South
Korea over the weekend
to check preparations for
His wife, Xu Yan, told The or who took him, or which tioned. stitution and allow open
Associated Press that their department has him right He was detained again presidential elections.
son ran back home after now, as the police haven’t in 2015 but released after “The president, the head of
seeing a van, a SWAT car given us any information,” a day when his case re- state, is basically appoint-
and two police cruisers, Xu said. ceived wide publicity. ed without any meaningful
Yu’s seizure on Friday took election. It has no credibil-
ment saying, “Mom, the attention after being de- place a day after he post- ity for the country, for civil
police took Dad away!” tained for three months in ed a letter online calling on society and for countries
“I don’t know anything. We 2014, during which he says the ruling Communist Party across the world,” Yu said
don’t know the charges, he was tortured and ques- to reform the Chinese Con- in the letter. q
Turkey-backed Free Syrian Army, FSA, fighters tour in the Syrian town of Azez near the border with military operations in Syria
began in 2016 in large part
Turkey, Friday, Jan. 19, 2018. Turkey’s Defense Minister Nurettin Canikli said on Friday in Ankara to curtail the formation of
a contiguous territory un-
that his country is determined to carry out a military offensive against an enclave in northwest der Kurdish control along
its borders. It successfully
Syria, saying Syrian Kurdish fighters there pose a “real” and ever increasing threat to Turkey. severed that territorial con-
tinuity when it deployed
(DHA-Depo Photos via AP) its troops and proxy Syrian
fighters to areas between
tween 8,000 and 10,000. with U.S. announcements confrontation. Activists and Kurdish enclaves in eastern
and western Syria.
The operation could spill that it is creating a new Kurdish fighters have de- Afrin remained the only
Kurdish enclave in north-
into a wider Turkish-Kurdish 30,000-strong Kurdish-led nied claims in Turkish media western Syria, encircled by
Turkey-backed rebels, and
confrontation inside Turkey. border force to secure the that Russian troops have Turkey has been preparing
an assault for over a year.
It also threatens to turn into frontiers of Kurdish-con- begun a withdrawal. Turkey claims that Afrin is an
operating base for fighters
a humanitarian disaster. trolled areas, including with Russia, Iran and Turkey are of its own outlawed Kurdish
insurgent group, the Kurdis-
The Afrin district houses no Turkey and Iraq, to prevent interested in limiting the tan Workers’ Party, or PKK,
to infiltrate Turkish territories.
less than 800,000 civilians, the resurgence of Islamic U.S. presence in Syria, and In dealing with the conflicts
in Afrin and Idlib, Turkish
including displaced people State militants. have protested Washing- President Recep Tayyip Er-
dogan has shown political
from earlier years of the Syr- Moscow’s green light is ton’s plans to create the acumen, juggling national
security interests and do-
ian war. necessary for a Turkish op- border force, viewed as a mestic election concerns,
while exerting pressure on
Turkey has been prepar- eration into Afrin, where U.S. attempt to create a Washington and Moscow
for his long-term strategic
ing for a showdown in Af- Russian military observers buffer zone where Iranian objectives. The threats of
an offensive against Kurd-
rin for a while. But the re- have deployed since last and Syrian government ish fighters help consolidate
nationalist support for Erdo-
cent escalation coincides year to prevent such a influence ends. Ankara’s gan, who faces a crucial
election next year.
With an assault on Afrin, Tur-
key seeks to further under-
mine the Kurdish dream of
federalized rule in northern
Syria. q
a trip by a North Korean ber advance team that it ther information from the during the games in a sign
art troupe she also leads proposed just hours ear- North regarding the deci- of warming ties between
during next month’s Py- lier through a cross-border sion. the countries. It will be part
eongchang Winter Olym- communication channel. The rival Koreas earlier of a North Korean Olympic
pics. It wasn’t immediately clear this week agreed that the delegation that will also
South Korea’s Unification whether the visit, which was 140-member Samjiyon art include athletes, officials,
Ministry said North Korea to begin on Saturday, was troupe, which will include state media reporters, a
didn’t explain why it was permanently canceled or singers, dancers and or- cheering group and a tae-
“suspending” the two-day postponed. The ministry chestra members, will per- kwondo demonstration
visit by the seven-mem- said it will try to gather fur- form twice in South Korea team. q