With all eyes on US Election Day, here are five stories to help you catch up with developments taking place in the rest of the world.
(AFP)
Vienna shootings
Austrian police have conducted at least 15 searches and arrested several suspects after an attacker killed four people and wounded 17 others in a shooting in the heart of Vienna hours before a coronavirus lockdown started.
The suspected attacker, who was carrying an assault rifle and a fake suicide vest, was also later shot and killed by police on Monday night. He was identified as a 20-year-old Austrian-North Macedonian dual national who had a previous terror conviction.
Several world leaders, including countries like Turkey, the US, Germany, Pakistan, France, Italy, Canada, Greece and Australia have voiced their condemnation over the multiple shootings in Vienna.
People in Vienna have been urged to stay at home if possible on Tuesday and children did not have to go to school. Some 1,000 police officers were on duty in Vienna on Tuesday morning.
Vienna’s hospital service said seven people were in life-threatening condition Tuesday after the assault, that Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz described as a “terrorist attack”.
The attacker, named as Kujtim Fejzulai, was sentenced to 22 months in prison in April 2019 because he had tried to travel to Syria to join the Deash terrorist group. He was granted early release in December under juvenile law.
Authorities were still trying to determine whether further attackers may be on the run.
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Four civilians, one attacker dead in Vienna attack: police
Young girl rescued 91 hours after Izmir quake
Search and rescue efforts are continuing in Turkey’s Izmir after a magnitude 6.6 earthquake hit the country’s Aegean region on Friday
Rescuers on Tuesday managed to pull out three-year-old Ayda Gezgin from under a building’s wreckage 91 hours after earthquake. The 107th survivor to be rescued, she was taken to hospital for treatment.
The death toll from last week’s earthquake in Turkey now stands at 109, authorities said.
![Members of rescue services work at collapsed buildings destroyed in the October 30 earthquake in Izmir, Turkey, Tuesday, November3, 2020.](https://cdni0.trtworld.com/w32/q50/91407_TUR201103earthquakeizmirap_1604402534128.jpeg)
![Members of rescue services work at collapsed buildings destroyed in the October 30 earthquake in Izmir, Turkey, Tuesday, November3, 2020.](https://cdni0.trtworld.com/w960/q75/91407_TUR201103earthquakeizmirap_1604402534128.jpeg)
(AP)
According to Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (or AFAD), 138 victims are still under treatment, while over 880 more have been discharged from hospitals.
A total of 1,475 aftershocks – 44 of them with a magnitude higher than 4.0 – have been recorded since last Friday’s quake rattled Izmir, Turkey.
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Search and rescue continue after strong quake rattles Turkey, Greece
Thai protest leader says movement won’t back down on monarchy demand
A top leader of Thailand’s pro-democracy protests insisted that the student-led movement will not back down from its most controversial demand, that the country’s monarchy undergoes reforms.
Lawyer Arnon Nampha also told a crowd outside Bangkok Remand Prison on Tuesday that the movement would hold a large demonstration in front of Parliament if a draft constitutional amendment the protesters are seeking is not approved in its next session, scheduled for mid-November.
![Protesters flash the three-fingered Hunger Games salute as Thai lawyer and activist Anon Numpa speaks after he and three others were released from Bangkok Remand Prison in the early hours of November 3, 2020,.](https://cdni0.trtworld.com/w32/q50/91408_THY201103anonactivistafp_1604402781334.jpeg)
![Protesters flash the three-fingered Hunger Games salute as Thai lawyer and activist Anon Numpa speaks after he and three others were released from Bangkok Remand Prison in the early hours of November 3, 2020,.](https://cdni0.trtworld.com/w960/q75/91408_THY201103anonactivistafp_1604402781334.jpeg)
(AFP)
The movement wants Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha to step down, the constitution to be amended to make it more democratic, and the monarchy reformed to make its activities more transparent and accountable. The protesters have been holding almost daily rallies around the country, some attracting upwards of 10,000 people.
Arnon said the protest movement will insist on its three demands, and even if it compromises on the prime minister’s resignation and amending the constitution, it will stick to the third concerning the monarchy.
The protesters believe the monarchy wields too much power, but to royalists, it is an untouchable institution that is the heart and soul of the nation. Public criticism of it is unprecedented, and a lese majeste law makes defaming the monarch and his immediate family punishable by up to 15 years’ imprisonment.
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Anti-govt protesters in Thailand continue demonstrating
Counter-demonstrations that have sprung up in reaction to the pro-democracy movement declare they are defending the monarchy.
The government has urged “unity” as a way of easing the political crisis, but there are fears that polarisation could foster violence.
France says its forces kill 50 militants in Mali
French military forces fighting militants in West Africa killed more than 50 fighters and detained four in an operation last week in Mali, French officials said.
Defence Minister Florence Parly tweeted Monday night that the French force in the region also confiscated weapons and equipment from the fighters in the operation last Friday, which she said “shows once again that terrorist groups cannot act with impunity.”
Drones monitoring the region in northern Mali spotted a convoy of suspected fighters on motorcycles, prompting France to launch the operation, first with airstrikes and then with a ground operation by French commandos, according to an official with the French military headquarters.
Parly visited Mali’s capital, Bamako, on Monday and Tuesday, and met with the head of the transitional government. After Mali’s president was ousted in August by a military junta, she urged democratic elections “ as quickly as possible” and said the current leadership promised to ensure them.
France, which has suffered repeated deadly militant attacks, has thousands of troops in a force called Barkhane in West Africa to help fight violent groups there.
Rebel militants were forced from power in northern Mali after a 2013 French-led military operation, but regrouped in the desert and now launch frequent attacks on the Malian army and its allies.
Meanwhile, Mali has faced months of political upheaval. Under international pressure, the junta appointed a civilian-led government to lead the country through an 18-month transition period to new elections.
Ivory Coast electoral commission says Ouattara won third term
Ivory Coast’s electoral commission said that President Alassane Ouattara had overwhelmingly won a third term in office after his two main opponents boycotted the election and called his candidacy illegal.
In a sign of mounting tensions over the vote, both opponents said their homes had come under gunfire overnight.
There have been widespread fears that post-election violence could erupt in Ivory Coast, where more than 3,000 people were killed a decade ago following a disputed vote.
Ouattara received 94.3 percent of the vote in Saturday’s election, the commission said early on Tuesday.
Turnout was 53.9 percent, according to election officials, while the opposition has maintained only 10 percent of Ivorian voters took part.
Ouattara had been expected to easily win the election after leading opposition figures Pascal Affi N’Guessan and Henri Konan Bedie called on their supporters to stay home. According to official results released on Tuesday, they received 0.99 percent and 1.66 percent respectively. The only opposition candidate who still took part, Kouadio Konan Bertin, won 1.99 percent, the commission said.
Critics say Ouattara and his allies had shaped the race long before Election Day, 40 of the 44 potential candidates were disqualified from running, including former Prime Minister Guillaume Soro and ex-President Laurent Gbagbo.
Ouattara has been in power for nearly a decade and initially said he would not run again, but changed his mind after his party’s candidate died suddenly in July. He maintains that the two-term limit does not apply to him because of a constitutional referendum passed in 2016.
The 78-year-old president, who is popular with international donors, has said he was motivated to run again because of his love for his country.
He has said it’s unlikely he would seek re-election again in 2025.
Source: TRTWorld and agencies