Turkey referendum: Vote expanding Erdogan powers 'valid'
The result of the referendum that grants sweeping new powers to the president of Turkey is valid, the head of the electoral body says.
Sadi Guven was speaking after the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) cited irregularities, including the use of unstamped ballot papers.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's push for an executive presidency succeeded with just over 51% of the vote.
The win was met with both celebrations and protests across Turkey.
The CHP has demanded a recount of 60% of the votes.
But Mr Guven told reporters on Monday the unstamped ballot papers had been produced by the High Electoral Board and were valid.
He said a similar procedure had been used in past elections.
Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in Israel go on hunger strike
Thousands of prisoners expected to join rights protest led by Marwan Barghouti that has significant political backing
Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails have gone on hunger strike over conditions of captivity, with more expected to join on Monday, in one of the biggest protests in recent years.
Led by the high-profile Fatah prisoner and leader Marwan Barghouti, seen by some as a potential successor to Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, 700 prisoners initially joined the strike, announced on Sunday evening.
The protest includes members of Fatah as well as prisoners from Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
Erdogan’s new powers will spark fears of creeping authoritarianism
It was never going to be simple
It was never going to be simple.
Turkey faces a complicated web of problems – a rekindled war between the state and Kurdish militants, repeated attacks claimed by Isis stemming from the country’s role in the Syria conflict, and the state of emergency that is still in place following the failed coup against the government last year.
However, for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the unstable nature of his country has enabled him to project the strongman image that may just allow him to extend his powers.
Those sweeping new powers will turn the largely ceremonial presidential role he now holds into a nearly all-powerful position as head of government, head of state and head of the ruling party.
Cancer with purpose
ZARRAR KHUHRO
ACCUSATION is evidence, trial is by ordeal, and the sentence is always death. This is how it went with Mashal Khan and this is how it has been with the countless others who have preceded him. His final words do not matter, it does not matter that he professed his love for the Prophet (PBUH) as he lay dying from gunshot wounds inflicted by his pious tormentors, all that matters is the accusation and the accusation is evidence.
It doesn’t even matter that his murder seems to have nothing to do with his actual words, that it is likely that it was his vocal stance against the university administration that prompted the campaign against him. It doesn’t even matter that the university administration has displayed its complicity by forming a committee, not to investigate the killing, but to investigate the alleged blasphemy committed by the murdered Mashal Khan.
FBI documents detail how the Russians try to recruit spies
Updated 2155 GMT
It is a scene ripped from Hollywood spy thrillers: Russian agents living and working among everyday, American citizens as cover for their true mission of stealing state secrets.
In the real world, it is highly unlikely that your neighbor, coworker or mailman is actually a clandestine Russian operative working under a false identity. But that certainly does not mean the art of espionage has gone out of style in the world of international intelligence gathering, particularly between the United States and its former Cold War foe.
A FATHER DESCRIBES SAVING HIS DAUGHTER FROM U.S. BOMBARDMENT OF MOSUL
Anna Lekas Miller
On March 17, Ala’a Ali left his wife and 4-year-old daughter at the home of relatives in the al Jadida neighborhood of Mosul, and went home to wash before the morning call to prayer. Two minutes after he arrived home, a deafening explosion ripped through the neighborhood, engulfing the narrow street in black smoke.
“I hid in the corner of the building, and smoke crept in through the windows,” 28-year-old Ali told The Intercept. “Then the smell hit me, and I could barely breathe.” As soon as he could, he bolted from his hiding place and ran to the scene of the explosion, and the house where he had left his family.
It had been hit by an airstrike from U.S.-led coalition forces bombing Islamic State fighters.
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