DR Congo puts fighters on trial for civilian massacres

Human rights monitors say Allied Democratic Forces have been involved in killing more than a thousand civilians.

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File photo: Democratic Republic of Congo military personnel patrol against the Allied Democratic Forces near Beni. [Kenny Katombe/Reuters]

A military court in the Democratic Republic of Congo has begun the trial of 215 members of an armed group accused of killing hundreds of civilians in and around Beni town in the country’s northeast.

Eighty accused members of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) from Uganda, Congo, Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania and Sudan, were present in court on Saturday in Beni, North Kivu province, where they face charges of massacring civilians, prosecutor Kumbo Ngoma told the DPA news agency.

The remaining suspects will be brought from prisons elsewhere in the country to face trial.

Six suspects who took the stand on Saturday were accused of participating in the killing of 51 people with machetes near Beni town last weekend.

Appearing at the public hearing in blue and yellow prison shirts, the six were charged with "participation in an insurrectional movement, crimes against humanity for murder and terrorism," said Colonel Jean-Paulin Esosa, who presides over the military court.

The accused admitted at the hearing to having been "at the service of the Allied Democratic Forces", AFP news agency reported.

The ADF was founded in Uganda in 1995 and later moved to Congo where it is one among dozens of armed groups seeking control over territory and mineral resources in the east of the country.

'Severest punishment'

One survivor of last weekend’s attack, Eve Kahambu, told AFP she wanted to see the "murderers" receive "the severest punishment".Human rights groups put the number of ADF victims at more than 1,000 over the past two years.

Many of the massacres have taken place around Beni and have been blamed on the ADF though independent observers have also blamed government troops.

Four people were killed on Wednesday around Beni following protests by thousands of people who accused the government and UN peacekeepers of not protecting them from the ADF.

Security forces clashed with the protesters, who burned an effigy of the country’s president, Joseph Kabila, as well as flags of his ruling People's Party for Reconstruction and Democracy.

One protester was shot dead. Protesters then stabbed and killed a soldier in revenge, Beni Mayor Nyonyi Bwanakawa Masumbuko told the DPA news agency.

Protesters also set two people on fire after they were accused of belonging to the ADF.

More than 140 protesters were arrested.

Afghan troops 'retake Kunduz district from Taliban'

Afghan government forces have recaptured a key district of the northern province of Kunduz from the Taliban, the provincial governor says.

Asadullah Omarkhel's announcement came hours after Khanabad district was seized by Taliban fighters.

But local sources told the BBC that Taliban fighters were still present near the district headquarters.

The newly arrived government forces aimed to open the road link to the city of Kunduz, the governor said.

Afghanistan's independent Tolo TV news channel also reported that government troops had recaptured Khanabad, which is about 30km (19 miles) east of Kunduz.

Earlier on Saturday the Taliban attacked from several directions, forcing government troops to retreat to Kunduz city, which briefly fell to the Taliban last year.

Widespread fighting

The Taliban have made gains since international troops officially ended their active fighting role in 2014.

Afghan security forces are currently battling the insurgents in nearly half of the country's 34 provinces.

Earlier this week, the Taliban captured a district in neighbouring Baghlan province and there has also been fighting in Helmand in the south and in eastern Nangarhar province.

• Why are the Taliban resurgent in Afghanistan?

• After the Taliban: Revisiting scarred Kunduz

Kunduz is one of Afghanistan's largest cities and has long been a strategically important transport hub for the north of the country.

But it has always held symbolic significance for the Taliban because it was a key northern stronghold before 2001, when the group was ousted from power.

Image copyrightREUTERS

Image captionTaliban fighters swept into Kunduz city last September, brushing security forces aside

Hundreds of civilians from the area have reportedly fled east towards Takhar province.

A spokesman for Takhar's police force said measures were being taken there to counter any Taliban attack.

Meanwhile, eyewitnesses in Kunduz city said some officials were fleeing to the airport there as fighting had now reached the gates of the city itself.

Mohammad Yusouf Ayubi, head of Kunduz provincial council, told AP: "If the central government does not pay attention to Kunduz, the Taliban will overrun Kunduz city as they did last year."

Taliban fighters freed more than 600 prisoners in their attack on Kunduz city last September, among them nearly 150 insurgent fighters.

Glass bridge: China opens world's highest and longest

It's finally happened.

The much-heralded "world's highest and longest" glass-bottomed bridge has opened to visitors in central China.

It connects two mountain cliffs in what are known as the Avatar mountains (the film was shot here) in Zhangjiajie, Hunan province.

• Do you dare cross China's glass bridges?
• Chinese couple gets married on glass bridge
• China's latest mountain glass walkway

Bridge in numbers

Completed in December, the 430m-long bridge cost $3.4m (£2.6m) to build and stands 300m above ground, state news agency Xinhua reported.

It has been paved with 99 panes of three-layered transparent glass.

And according to officials, the 6m-wide bridge - designed by Israeli architect Haim Dotan - has already set world records for its architecture and construction.

Image copyrightAP

Image copyrightAP

Image copyrightAP

The year of glass bridges

Glass bridges in China have been a popular craze for the daring photo opportunities they provide. Events like mass yoga displays and even weddingshave been staged on several such bridges.

One couple celebrated their special day by dangling in mid-air from a bridge in Pingjiang, also located in Hunan province.

Image copyrightREUTERS

Image captionIt's not everyone's idea of a special day - but this couple staged a daring shoot

But how safe is it?

This was the question on everyone's minds as the city geared up for the bridge's official opening.

But officials have staged high-profile events to try and reassure the public of the bridge's safety.

Officials sent in sledgehammers and even drove a car, filled with passengers, across the bridge earlier this year.

The BBC's Dan Simmons was invited to take a bash at the bridge.

Park officials have said a maximum of 8,000 visitors will be allowed on the bridge each day.

So those wanting to add another thrill to their bucket list are strongly encouraged to book their slots in advance.

Putin and Erdogan pledge reset after diplomatic rift

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (right) visited Saint Petersburg in his first foreign trip since the failed coup in July 2016

Saint Petersburg (AFP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday pledged to reinvigorate ties after their first meeting since Ankara shot down a Russian warplane last November.

Erdogan's visit to Putin's hometown of Saint Petersburg is also his first foreign trip since the failed coup against him last month that sparked a purge of opponents and cast a shadow over Turkey's relations with the West.

"We lived through a very complicated moment in the relations between our states and we very much want, and I feel our Turkish friends want, to overcome the difficulties," Putin told journalists at a joint press conference.

He insisted it would take "painstaking work" and "some time" to return to previous trade levels as Russia rolls back punishing economic sanctions against Ankara, but both sides said they wanted to restart major energy projects hit by the crisis.

Erdogan said he hoped relations would become "more robust" and stressed how important it was that Putin offered his support after the coup.

"We will bring our relations back to the old level and even beyond," he said.

The shooting down of a Russian fighter jet by a Turkish F-16 on the Syrian border last November saw Putin slap sanctions on Turkey and launch a blistering war of words that dealt serious damage to burgeoning ties.

Russian President Vladimir Putin (C-L) and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan enter a hall to start their meeting with Russian and Turkish entrepreneurs, at Konstantinovsky Palace outside St. Petersburg, on August 9, 2016

But in a shock reversal in late June, Putin accepted a letter from Erdogan expressing regret over the incident as an apology.

He quickly rolled back a ban on the sale of package holidays to Turkey and signalled Moscow would end measures against Turkish food imports and construction firms.

Now in the wake of the failed July 15 coup attempt, there are fears in Western capitals that NATO-member Turkey could draw even closer to Moscow -- with Erdogan bluntly making it clear he feels let down by the United States and the European Union.

Turkey has repeatedly pressed Washington to extradite Pennsylvania-based preacher Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara blames for the failed coup, and on Tuesday said it could suspend bilateral ties over the issue.

Putin was one of the first foreign leaders to phone Erdogan offering support after the coup attempt and shares none of the concerns of EU leaders about the ensuing crackdown.

- Back to business? -

Relations between Turkey and Russia -- two powers vying for influence in the strategic Black Sea region and Middle East -- have long been complicated.

Yet before the plane crisis, Moscow and Ankara managed to prevent disputes on Syria and Ukraine from harming cooperation on issues like the TurkStream gas pipeline to Europe and a Russian-built nuclear power station in Turkey.

Those projects were put on ice with trade between the two countries plunging 43 percent in January-May this year to $6.1 billion, and Turkey's tourism industry seeing visitor numbers from Russia fall by 93 percent.

With Turkey's outlook flagging and Russia mired in economic crisis due to low oil prices and Western sanctions over Ukraine, both men want to get business started again.

Erdogan said he wanted to see the TurkStream project "done as fast as possible", while Putin said construction could start "in the nearest future" and that the restoration of business ties would be done "in phases".

The Turkish leader also insisted the two sides were once again targeting an ambitious trade turnover of $100 billion by 2024.

But Russian Economy Minister Alexei Ulyukayev told media it could take up to two years to fully restore pre-crisis trade levels.

- Skirting Syria -

A previous uptick in relations between Turkey and Russia was built on a macho friendship between Putin and Erdogan, two combative leaders in their early 60s credited with restoring confidence to their nations in the wake of financial crises but also criticised for clampdowns on human rights.

But after such a bitter dispute -- which saw Putin accuse Erdogan of profiting from an illegal oil trade with the Islamic State group -- it will take a lot for the pair to repair relations.

The two strongmen conspicuously skirted one major issue that divides them -- the war in Syria.

Russia is carrying out a bombing campaign in support of President Bashar al-Assad while Turkey is fiercely opposed to the Syrian leader.

American cyclist Kristin Armstrong wins gold, Barry Bonds pretty pumped

On the eve of her 43rd birthday, American cyclist Kristin Armstrong captured her third straight Olympic gold medal in the women’s individual time trial on Wednesday morning.

Armstrong covered the 29.8-kilometer course in 44 minutes and 26.42 seconds, defeating Russia’s Olga Zabelinskaya (44:31.97) and Dutch competitor Anna van der Breggen (44:37.80). She also won the event at the Summer Olympics in 2008 and 2012 in Beijing and London, respectively.

In addition to her gold medal, Armstrong received praise from noted cyclist fan Barry Bonds.

While a different form of cycling may spring to mind when your hear the 14-time MLB All-Star’s name, Bonds has supported women’s cycling since his baseball career came to a controversial end.

“I look at him as a tremendous adviser who’s helped steer [Team Twenty16 general manager Nicola Cranmer’s] strategy,” Armstrong told ESPN The Magazine of her relationship to Bonds. “The talks he has given to the team about upping your game have been tremendous. He wants us to run a professional organization, and he’s helping with strength and vision. I know people have questions, but with what he’s given our team, I don’t find it relevant.”

No relation to fallen cycling star Lance Armstrong, Kristin made her fourth appearance at the Summer Olympics with her performance in Brazil. She also finished eighth in the women’s road race at the 2004 Athens Games. Armstrong, who began cycling after her career as a word-class triathlete was cut short by a 2001 diagnosis of osteoarthritis in both her hips, came out of her 2012 retirement last year.

Witnesses: Shots fired in Ferguson after car hits protester

Protesters hide behind cars after shots were fired Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2016, in Ferguson, Mo., during a demonstration on the second anniversary of Michael Brown's death. Witnesses told an Associated Press reporter that a car sped through a group of protesters who were blocking a street during the demonstration marking two years since the unarmed black 18-year-old's fatal shooting by a white police officer. They said the car struck a young man so hard that he flew into the air. As the car drove away, shots were fired, they said

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FERGUSON, Mo. (AP) — Gunfire broke out during a demonstration in Ferguson, Missouri, on the second anniversary of Michael Brown's death, disrupting what had been a peaceful gathering Tuesday night but apparently wounding no one.

Witnesses told an Associated Press reporter that a car sped through a group of protesters who were blocking a street during the demonstration marking two years since the unarmed black 18-year-old's fatal shooting by a white police officer. They said the car struck a young man so hard that he flew into the air. As the car drove away, shots were fired, they said.

"A lady came down and hit a protester — knocked the shoes off his feet," said Sharon Cowan, who was at the scene. "Hit him, and he rolled and he bounced."

The man appeared to be badly injured and was put into a private car to be taken to a hospital, she said.

Heather De Mian, who frequently livestreams protests in the St. Louis area, said she screamed when the man was hit.

"Then when the bullets flew, I started screaming some more," she said.

Police responded to reports of gunfire but had found no evidence that anyone had been struck, said Ferguson spokesman Jeff Small, who declined to speculate about why the shots were fired.

By around 10 p.m., the protesters had disbanded.

Earlier in the day, a few hundred people gathered for a memorial service and moment of silence along Canfield Drive at the spot where Brown was fatally shot by officer Darren Wilson after a confrontation on Aug. 9, 2014.

A state grand jury declined to press charges against Wilson, and the U.S. Justice Department later cleared him, concluding that he had acted in self-defense. He resigned in November 2014.

Brown's death led to months of sometimes-violent protests in Ferguson. It was also was a catalyst for the Black Lives Matter movement, which rebukes police treatment of minorities and has grown following several other killings of black men and boys by police, such as Tamir Rice in Cleveland and Philando Castile in Minnesota.

Brown's father, also named Michael Brown, said in a brief speech during the memorial service that the anniversary was a sad day for him and his family, and for the world, too.

"My son built families up, opened the eyes of the world and let them know this ain't right," he said. "This color is not a disease. This color is beautiful. Black is beautiful."

The 2014 shooting also led to a Justice Department investigation that found patterns of racial bias in Ferguson's police and municipal court system. The federal agency and the city agreed this year to make sweeping changes.

This month, more than 60 organizations affiliated with the Black Lives Matter movement released a list of six demands and 40 recommendations for how to achieve policing and criminal justice reforms.

Brandy Shields, 19, went to school with Brown and remembered him as a kid who "never got into trouble." Shields comforted a little girl who was crying at the service.

"It'll get better," Shields told the child. "We have to make it better, but it'll get better."

Turkey: PKK fighters killed in attempt to storm base

Officials say air operation targeted PKK members after attempt to storm military base in southeastern Hakkari province.

Some southeastern cities have been engulfed in violence since the 1990s [AP]

Turkish military officials say the army has killed 35 Kurdish fighters after they attempted to storm a military base in the southeastern province of Hakkari.

The early morning attack on Saturday came just hours after clashes in Hakkari's Cukurca district between Turkish troops and fighters from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), the officials said.

They said the fighters attempted to take the base in three different groups, but were spotted by aerial reconnaissance.

An air operation was subsequently launched, killing 23 fighters, the Turkish officials said.

Four more were then killed in a ground operation, they said, adding that the other eight Kurdish fighters were killed in Friday's gun battle in Cukurca.

Those clashes also left 25 soldiers wounded, the officials said.

Al Jazeera's Bernard Smith, reporting from Istanbul, said the PKK is taking its fight back out to the country side since the peace process ended this time last year. 

"A lot of the fighting was in the urban areas before and that resulted in extraordinary destruction of property and civilians death. The PKK seems to have withdrawn from that area now and fighting the Turkish military out in the country side where they had traditional fought before."

Last week, Turkey's military launched air strikes against PKK members in northern Iraq, killing 20 fighters.

In the southeast, the military has frequently carried out air strikes after a two-and-a-half-year ceasefire and peace process between the government and the PKK broke down last summer.

More than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict since the PKK - designated a 'terrorist group' by Turkey, the US and the European Union - began its armed campaign in 1984.

Turkey carries out frequent attacks against PKK targets in Iraq's Kurdish-dominated regions near the Turkish border, where the PKK leadership has camps.

Turkey's military, NATO's second-largest, has continued to grapple with the low-intensity conflict in the mainly Kurdish southeast as its senior ranks undergo a major shake-up in following a July 15-16 failed coup.

Iraq: Deaths in car bomb market attack near Baghdad

At least nine killed and dozens wounded in car bomb blast at outdoor market in Rashidiyah, north of Iraqi capital.

Iraq Bombing

The blast ripped through an outdoor market as government forces are deployed in most of Baghdad.

At least nine people have been killed and dozens wounded in a car bombing at an outdoor market in a district just north of Iraq's capital, Baghdad, according to police sources. 

Police said a parked car packed with explosives blew up on Tuesday morning at a vegetable and fruit market in Rashidiyah town.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, which wounded at least 20 people. 

Baghdad is on high alert for attacks after a blast in the central Karada district on July 3 killed more than 300 people.

This was the deadliest bombing in Iraq since US-led forces toppled Saddam Hussein 13 years ago.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group (ISIL, also known as ISIS), which holds territory in Iraq, claimed responsibility for that attack.

The bombing in Rashidiyah came as the Iraqi parliament was due on Tuesday to discuss security measures in the capital in the wake of the attack in Karada.

On Friday, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi accepted the resignation of interior minister Mohammed al-Ghabban and sacked the city's head of security operationsand other senior officials.

China v Philippines: Court to rule on South China Sea

The Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague is to rule in a dispute between the Philippines and China over maritime claims in the South China Sea - particularly who has the right to exploit resources in the strategic territory.

The ruling on Tuesday is expected to further increase tensions in the region, where China's increased military assertiveness has spread concern among its smaller neighbours and  is a point of confrontation with the United States.

China has boycotted the court, saying it does not have jurisdiction to decide on the matter and has campaigned for months to discredit the outcome.

In advance of the ruling, the China Daily newspaper, which is published by the government, topped its front page on Tuesday with a picture of Woody Island in the South China Sea emblazoned with the words: "Arbitration invalid".

State-run news agency Xinhua included headlines such as: "South China Sea arbitration abuses international law: Chinese scholar".

The Philippines embassy in China warned its citizens to be "careful" due to tension before the ruling and to avoid political debate. The embassy also urged its citizens to carry identification papers "at all times" and report any threat received to the embassy and Chinese police.

Key sea lane

China asserts sovereignty over almost all of the South China Sea, a strategic waterway through which more than $5 trillion of world trade is shipped each year, despite rival claims from the Philippines and other Southeast Asian nations.

The US says it wants the crucial sea lane to be treated as international waters.

Both Beijing and Washington have accused each other of provocations in the South China Sea.

OPINION: China's peripheral diplomacy disaster

Al Jazeera's Adrian Brown, reporting from Beijing, said China's leaders would "simply shrug off the tribunal's rulings.

"In recent weeks, they've labelled the court illegal, irrelevant and said it had no jurisdiction. And they appear to care little about Washington's renewed threats and warnings." 

Karl Friedhoff, an Asian affairs expert at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, said China had made it clear that it was in no "mood for negotiation".

"They are really trying to get access to the open ocean, so they can start to really project their power," he told Al Jazeera.

Friedhoff added, however, that if Beijing decided to press the matter aggressively with the Philippines and other Southeast Asian countries, "then it is going to undercut the soft power that China has worked so hard to grow".

Even if Beijing ignores the court's decision, it is significant as it will be the first time that a legal challenge has been brought against China in the dispute.

"While China insists that it does not care about the decision, its actuations clearly reveal that it is worried about its image," Alexander Yano, a former diplomat and top military commander in the Philippines, told Al Jazeera.

"Beijing is certainly concerned about the negative psychological impact in the international arena should the Hague court rules in favor of the Philippines."

China's expanding presence

Including the Philippines, the dispute draws in a total of five countries with overlapping claims in the 3.5 million square kilometre sea, where China has been expanding its presence by building artificial islands and dispatching patrol boats that keep fishing vessels from other countries away.

The arbitration court ruling will not decide on matters of territorial sovereignty, but will apply the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea in determining which countries can claim economic exploitation rights, based on geographic features.

The court has no power of enforcement, but a victory for the Philippines could spur Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei, which also have overlapping claims, to file similar claims.