Turkey wildfires: At least 17 killed as thousands flee their homes
The number of fatalities in fires outside the country's fourth-largest city, Bursa, rose to four on Monday, as two volunteer firefighters died in hospital after being pulled from a water tanker that had overturned on the way to a forest fire.
Another worker had died at the scene earlier, and a firefighter suffered a fatal heart attack on Sunday.
More than 3,500 residents in the area were forced to flee their homes over the weekend.
The latest fatalities bring Turkey's wildfire-related number of dead to 17 since late June, including 10 rescue volunteers and forestry workers who lost their lives in a fire last Wednesday in Eskisehir, western Turkey.
Although several fires have been partially contained, vast areas of forest have been destroyed by the flames.
Turkey's forestry minister Ibrahim Yumakli said on Sunday that the country had battled at least 44 separate fires that day.
Two western provinces, Izmir and Bilecik, have been declared disaster areas.
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Legal action has been brought against 97 individuals across 33 of Turkey's 81 provinces in connection with the fires, according to the country's justice minister, Yilmaz Tunc.
Tensions rose on Sunday evening near a police station in the village of Harmancik, 57km (35 miles) south of Bursa, after people learned that a suspected arsonist had been detained there.
The angry crowd demanded the suspect be handed over but eventually dispersed after police assured them that there would be a thorough investigation.
Over the weekend, wildfires also swept through Bulgaria, Albania, Montenegro, and Greece. In villages near Athens, explosions were heard as the fires spread to factories storing flammable materials, according to Reuters.
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Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
How a CIA hit on al Qaeda ensnared a US citizen in Afghanistan
By Jonathan Landay WASHINGTON (Reuters) -As a crowd looked on, uniformed Taliban surrounded the Toyota Landcruiser in which Mahmood Habibi, a naturalized U.S. citizen, sat. Other Taliban smashed open the door of his Kabul apartment, emerging later with his laptop and papers. Blindfolded in the back seat, Habibi and his driver were driven off by gunmen sporting shoulder patches of the Taliban's feared secret police, the General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI), according to several witness statements in U.S. government possession seen by Reuters. Afghanistan's Taliban government denies it detained Habibi, 37, who was a former head of Afghanistan's civil aviation. While dividing his time between the United States and Kabul working for a private company, he became a U.S. citizen after the Taliban took power in 2021. The Taliban also says they have no knowledge of his whereabouts, three years after he disappeared. That is contradicted by the witness accounts and other evidence, including data monitored from Habibi's cellphone, described to Reuters by a U.S. official and a former U.S. official familiar with the matter. The Taliban denials present a conundrum for the FBI, which is leading the U.S. government effort to gain his release; and for the State Department, which describes Habibi's detention a major impediment to exploring increased engagement with Afghanistan, three years after his August 10, 2022 arrest. U.S. President Donald Trump has made freeing Americans held abroad a top priority and already has secured the release of dozens, including from Afghanistan, Russia and Venezuela. The case of Habibi - the only publicly identified American held in the country - has been harder to resolve. This story is the most comprehensive account to date of the circumstances of Habibi's capture and includes previously unreported details. Among them, interviews with the U.S. official and a former U.S. official with knowledge of the case reveal that the Taliban likely detained Habibi because the CIA had penetrated the company where he worked. The sources say the U.S. spy agency had accessed one of the company's security cameras, helping it pinpoint the al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in a Kabul guesthouse. Habibi's detention came 10 days after Zawahiri - the last of the top plotters of the September 11, 2001, attack on the United States - was dramatically assassinated by a U.S. drone strike on the guesthouse, ordered by Trump's predecessor, Joe Biden. At the time, U.S. officials briefed journalists that it was a CIA operation. The U.S. sources told Reuters that Habibi was unaware of the CIA plot and was wrongly detained after returning to Kabul from a work trip to Dubai after the assassination, oblivious of the danger he was in. The CIA, the Taliban, the White House and Habibi's employer, Virginia-based ARX Communications, did not respond to detailed requests for comment for this story. ARX has previously said neither it, nor its subsidiaries, were involved with the strike on Zawahiri. Reuters could not independently verify whether Habibi was or wasn't aware of the plot. In a statement to Reuters, a State Department spokesperson called for Habibi's immediate release. "We know the Taliban abducted Mahmood Habibi nearly three years ago," the spokesperson said. A co-worker detained with Habibi, then later released, saw him in GDI headquarters and heard him in an adjacent room being asked if he worked for the CIA or was involved in the strike on Zawahiri, according to one of the statements in U.S government possession, seen by Reuters. Then, in June and August of 2023, the U.S. government detected that his mobile phone had been switched on in GDI headquarters, the U.S. official and former official said. Reuters could not reach the witnesses who made statements, including the coworker, or verify the accuracy of their account of Habibi's detention. The U.S. official familiar with the matter said excerpts of the statements have been presented to the Taliban in response to their repeated denials of Habibi's detention. As Habibi and his family on Sunday mark the third anniversary of his arrest, the Trump administration has stepped up efforts to win his release, including offering a $5 million reward for information. But so far, he appears no closer to freedom, the U.S. sources said. "Our family has new hope that the Trump team will be successful," said Habibi's older brother, Ahmad. Ahmad said his brother would never have gone to Kabul four days after the Zawahiri assassination if the CIA had told ARX to warn him it was too dangerous to return. 'Nobody told him anything. Neither the company, neither the CIA nor anybody. So, he just went back,' Ahmad said. The U.S. government officially considers Habibi a hostage, said the U.S. official, because his arrest and location remain unconfirmed by the Taliban. The official and the former official spoke on condition of anonymity, citing the sensitivity of the case. In response to a request for comment, the FBI said that along with partners in other U.S. departments involved in hostage recovery, it remains "committed to bringing Habibi home to his family." The Taliban rejected an offer made last year to trade Habibi for alleged Osama bin Laden aide Mohammad Rahim al-Afghani, the last Afghan held in the Guantanamo Bay military prison. 'We've tried in terms of both carrots and sticks,' said the official, who requested anonymity to discuss the case. The Taliban "literally throw up a wall," said the official. CAMERA ON CELL TOWER As part of the operation against Zawahiri, the CIA penetrated the Asia Consultancy Group (ACG), a subsidiary of ARX, according to the current and former U.S. officials, who provided previously unreported details of how the spy agency was able to target the al Qaeda chief. Reuters presented these details to the CIA, ACG and ARX, requesting comment, but received no response. ACG, whose parent is headquartered in Herndon, Virginia, had a contract to erect cellphone towers around Kabul, the sources said. CCTV cameras were fitted to the towers to protect the structures, they said. One of the cameras, the sources said, was pointed at a house U.S. officials have linked to Sirajuddin Haqqani, the Taliban's acting interior minister both at the time and now, in the heart of Kabul's diplomatic quarter, a short distance from the shuttered British and American embassies. The sources said the camera sent back video to the CIA confirming Zawahiri's presence in the residence. That confirmation helped the agency kill the Egyptian Islamist with two drone-fired Hellfire R9X missiles on July 31, 2022, as he emerged onto a balcony, they said. His wife and family survived the strike. While officials in the Biden administration at the time described the CIA's drone operation to kill Zawahiri with Hellfires, the details of the agency's operation on the ground, including the presence of the camera and its role in identifying Zawahiri have not been previously disclosed. ARREST On the day of his arrest, Mahmood Habibi was in his apartment in Kabul's Sherpur neighborhood packing to return to New Jersey, where he had a home, with the help of a sister, who was there with her two children, according to Ahmad. It was about noon when a phone call came from the ACG office saying it had just been raided by the Taliban, Ahmad said. Habibi told his sister that he had to leave without explaining why. He was arrested immediately after getting into his vehicle, Ahmad said. A few minutes later, somebody announcing that they were with GDI knocked on his apartment door, according to Ahmad and a witness statement. His sister declined to open it, telling those outside that she had to conform to the Taliban rule that an adult male relative had to be present. The Taliban broke open the door, entered the apartment and rifled through closets and drawers, demanding Habibi's laptop, according to Ahmad and the witness statement. A crowd had gathered outside after the Taliban arrived in five vehicles, blocked the street and surrounded Habibi's car, before driving him off, according to Ahmad and a separate witness statement. The GDI arrested 30 other ACG employees, according to a letter that ACG sent to Afghanistan's Ministry of Communications, seen by Reuters. Except for Habibi and one other, all were eventually released. In the letter, dated September 15, 2022, ACG asked that family members be allowed to visit him and three other staff who the GDI still held. The ministry appeared to confirm Habibi was a GDI prisoner in a reply two days later, seen by Reuters, saying that the intelligence directorate would decide on the petition when its investigation was completed. However, in a July 3, 2025 statement reported by Afghanistan's state news agency, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said that in response to requests from Habibi's family, the Taliban had investigated but no evidence has been found to suggest that he was detained by Afghanistan's security forces. Mujahid said the Taliban are a legitimate governing body that does not detain individuals without due process or hide them from public view. Mujahid did not respond to a Reuters request for comment. US CITIZEN Born to parents from the southern city of Kandahar, Habibi is one of eight siblings – three brothers and five sisters – who grew up in the Kabul neighborhood of Karte Parwan. His excellent English helped him secure a job with the U.N. civil aviation agency in Kabul in 2008. He worked for the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration's U.S. embassy office from 2011 to 2013. Tapped as deputy civil aviation minister, Habibi helped transition Afghanistan's air traffic system from U.S. control to the U.S.-backed Kabul government. Habibi became civil aviation minister in 2017. He held that post until 2019 while earning a civil aviation master's degree from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida, the university confirmed. In 2019, he resigned and then joined ARX to help oversee its Afghan subsidiary's contract to run air traffic control at Kabul's international airport. Habibi lived between the city and the United States, accumulating the last of the 30 months of U.S. residency he needed over a five-year period for U.S. citizenship in 2021, Ahmad said. He was in Kabul with his family during the chaotic departure of the last U.S. troops in August 2021, Ahmad said, as the Taliban consolidated its grip on the capital after 20 years of war. Habibi flew from Dubai to Kabul on August 4, 2022, after stopping in Qatar to check on his family and parents who were housed on a U.S. military base there waiting for final processing of U.S. immigration visas, said Ahmad. A week later Habibi was arrested. His wife, daughter and parents, who waited in Qatar until October for their visas before flying to the United States and settling in California, have not seen or heard from him since. Resolving Habibi's case would be the easiest way for the Taliban, who crave international recognition as Afghanistan's legitimate rulers, to explore improving ties with the U.S., the current U.S. official said. Since Habibi's detention, four other Americans have been arrested and released by the Taliban.
New York Post
14 hours ago
- New York Post
Ex-diplomat and World Bank consultant arrested for sexually abusing three children under 10 in DC: report
A former diplomat, World Bank consultant, and married father of three was arrested last month and charged with sexually abusing three children under the age of 10 in Washington, DC, according to a report. Thomas Mahony, 42, an Australian national, is accused of abusing two 7-year-old girls and one 8-year-old boy — with all three incidents occurring at his family home during playdates with his children, The Washington Post reported. The alleged abuse occurred in separate incidents in November 2023, February 2023, and as recently as July 2025. 3 Thomas Mahony, 42, was arrested in July for three separate incidents of sexual abuse of children under 10-years-old. REUTERS Police were notified as early as the first incident in 2023, but the US Attorney's office did not prosecute Mahony because of 'consideration of the government's burden of beyond a reasonable doubt,' court records reviewed by the outlet stated. The World Bank told the outlet that Mahony's employment was terminated when they were informed of his arrest and charges on July 23. Mahony was known in the Northwest Washington community as an engaged and proud parent who volunteered as a photographer for his children's swim teams, the report stated. The mother of two alleged victims said she once thought of Mahony as 'a hero of the community,' before learning of the abuse which allegedly happened while the young children were watching a movie, playing video games, or pretending to run to a Target store. During the playdate in November 2023, Mahony allegedly escorted a girl to the bathroom of his family home where he sexually assaulted her, according to the report. That incident was reported to authorities. The mother of two other victims said she trusted Mahony up until the moment last month when she discovered him allegedly abusing her 7-year-old daughter. 'The only thing you can do is just cry,' the anonymous mother of two of the children who Mahony is charged with abusing told the outlet. 3 The former embassy employee received the 'benefit of the doubt' from two parents in 2023 after their daughter reported being abused, according to the report. REUTERS 'I feel like I failed as a mother by trusting this person,' she said. 'I told my husband if there is a family we can trust, it must be this family.' The mother described the incident in July during which Mahony said he was 'playing a game' with her daughter in a bedroom. Mahony initially invited her children over while the mother napped at her home after both clans spent the morning of Sunday July 13, at a swim meet. After the nap, Mahony told the mother to bring gin, and when she arrived, he made her a drink and quickly retreated to the bedroom where he was playing a game with her 7-year-old daughter. The mother approached the bedroom quietly and said the girl was sitting near Mahony's head. Both were clothed, but she could not see where their hands were. She entered a state of shock and went to play with the other children in the other room. When her own husband arrived at Mahony's home, she instructed him to check on their daughter. The father called the 7-year-old's name and walked towards the bedroom. He reported to police Mahony emerged from the bedroom shaking nervously from head-to-toe. Later that night, the parents explained to the 7-year-old girl that no one is allowed to touch her private parts. 3 The Australian national and former World Bank employee was denied release with prosecutors claiming he is a flight risk. REUTERS 'But Thomas did,' the child replied, according to the report. The girl revealed that the alleged abuse occurred more than once and would happen when Mahony's wife was asleep. The couple's son had a similar tale of abuse that he recounted when told by his parents to stay away from Mahony. The then 8-year-old was playing video games with Mahony's son when the dad sat down next to him and allegedly touched him inappropriately over the clothing during a playdate in July 2024, the report stated. After the incident in July, another parent came forward and reported to the anonymous mother that their daughter reported being abused by Mahony in 2023 — but the parents decided to give the well-respected neighborhood 'hero' the benefit of the doubt. A fourth child has claimed this week that Mahony repeatedly sexually abused her, though no charges have been filed in connection to her claims, according to filings in DC Superior Court reviewed by the Washington Post. In the fallout of the depraved revelations, Mahony's wife announced intentions to move to Japan and then back to Australia, the report said. Mahony was denied release with prosecutors calling the Australian national a 'significant flight risk.' He faces two charges of first-degree child sexual abuse and one charge of second-degree child sexual abuse. He is due back in court on Aug 26. A LinkedIn profile shows that one Thomas Mahony was an economist at the World Bank starting in January 2023. Prior to that, the Johns Hopkins graduate served as First Secretary for the Embassy of Australia in Washington DC and a senior analyst in the Australian Government.
Yahoo
18 hours ago
- Yahoo
UK arrests 280 in crackdown on illegal delivery riders
LONDON (Reuters) -British authorities arrested almost one in five people they checked in a week-long crackdown on migrants working illegally as delivery riders last month, the government's interior ministry said on Saturday. Immigration enforcement officers stopped and questioned 1,780 individuals between July 20 and 27 and 280 people were arrested, the interior ministry said, adding asylum support was being reviewed for 53 of those detained. The operation was part of a push by the government to tackle illegal migration which also includes new legal requirements for companies to verify workers' immigration status. Prime Minister Keir Starmer is facing pressure to show voters he can counter illegal immigration with support rising for Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage's Reform UK party. "This government is making sure rules are respected and enforced," border security minister Angela Eagle said. As well as the arrests, civil penalty notices were issued to 51 businesses, including car washes and restaurants, which could face fines for employing illegal workers, the ministry said. Police seized 71 vehicles, including 58 e-bikes, and confiscated 8,000 pounds ($10,751.20) in cash and 460,000 pounds worth of illicit cigarettes. The interior ministry said immigration enforcement teams would receive a 5 million-pound funding boost for the work tackling illegal working. Last month, the government struck a new deal with food delivery firms, including Deliveroo, Uber Eats and Just Eat, to share information aimed at preventing illegal working. In the 12 months to July, Britain returned 35,052 people with no right to remain, up 13% on the previous 12 months. France this week agreed to accept some undocumented migrants who arrive in Britain by small boats with Britain accepting from France an equal number of legitimate asylum seekers with family ties in the country. ($1 = 0.7441 pounds)
