Turkey detains building contractors as quake deaths pass 33,000

ANTAKYA, Turkey — Turkish justice officials targeted more than 130 people allegedly involved in shoddy and illegal construction methods as rescuers extricated more survivors, including a pregnant woman and two small children, six days after a pair of earthquakes collapsed thousands of buildings.

The death toll from Monday’s quakes that hit southeastern Turkey and northern Syria stood at 33,179 on Sunday and was certain to rise as search teams locate more bodies in the rubble. Authorities said more than 92,600 other people were injured in the disaster.

As despair also bred rage at the agonizingly slow rescue efforts, the focus turned to who was to blame for not better preparing people in the earthquake-prone region that includes an area of Syria that was already suffering from years of civil war.

Even though Turkey has, on paper, construction codes that meet current earthquake-engineering standards, they are too rarely enforced, explaining why thousands of buildings slumped onto their side or pancaked downward onto residents.

Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said Sunday that 134 people were being investigated for their alleged responsibility in the construction of buildings that failed to withstand the quakes, according to Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency. He said that three had been arrested pending trial, seven people were detained and seven other were barred from leaving the country.

Bozdag has vowed to punish anyone responsible, and prosecutors have begun gathering samples of buildings for evidence on materials used in constructions. The quakes were powerful, but victims, experts and people across Turkey are blaming bad construction for multiplying the devastation.

Authorities at Istanbul Airport on Sunday detained two contractors held responsible for the destruction of several buildings in Adiyaman, the private DHA news agency and other media reported. The pair were reportedly on their way to Georgia.

One of the arrested contractors, Yavuz Karakus, told reporters Sunday: “My conscience is clear. I built 44 buildings. Four of them were demolished. I did everything according to the rules,” the DHA news agency reported.

Two more people were arrested in the province of Gaziantep suspected of having cut down columns to make extra room in a building that collapsed, the state-run Anadolu Agency said.

A day earlier, Turkey’s Justice Ministry announced the planned establishment of “Earthquake Crimes Investigation” bureaus. The bureaus would aim to identify contractors and others responsible for building works, gather evidence, instruct experts including architects, geologists and engineers, and check building permits and occupation permits.

The detentions could help direct public anger toward builders and contractors, deflecting attention away from local and state officials who allowed the apparently sub-standard constructions to go ahead. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government, already burdened by an economic downturn and high inflation, faces parliamentary and presidential elections in May.

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Iranian President Raisi to visit China to shore up ties

BEIJING — Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi will meet with his counterpart Xi Jinping during his three-day trip in China starting Tuesday, as the two U.S. rivals seek further cooperation.

China’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying made the announcement Sunday, saying Raisi’s visit was at Xi’s invitation.

Raisi will meet with Xi and their delegations will sign cooperation documents, according to Iran’s state news agency IRNA. Meeting with Iranian and Chinese business leaders and Iranian expatriates in China is also part of his itinerary, the report added.

Raisi’s visit is expected to deepen ties between the two political and economic partners that are opposed to the U.S.-led Western domination of international affairs.

The two leaders met last September in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, when Xi underscored China’s support for Iran.

In December, Raisi pledged to remain committed to deepening the strategic partnership during a meeting with Chinese Vice Premier Hu Chunhua in Tehran.

China is a major buyer of Iranian oil and an important source of investment in the Mideast country. In 2021, Iran and China signed a 25-year strategic cooperation agreement that covered major economic activities from oil and mining to industry, transportation and agriculture.

Both countries have had tense relations with the United States and have sought to project themselves as a counterweight to American power alongside Russia.

Washington has accused Iran of selling hundreds of attack drones to Russia for its war in Ukraine and has sanctioned executives of an Iranian drone manufacturer. At that same time, ties between Moscow and Beijing have grown stronger.

Iran on Saturday celebrated the 44th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution amid nationwide anti-government protests and heightened tensions with the West.

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Bolsonaro says he may return to Brazil in the coming weeks

BRASILIA, Brazil — Former President Jair Bolsonaro said Saturday he intends to return to Brazil “in the following weeks.”

The comment during an event at an evangelical church in Florida was the first time that Bolsonaro has made a statement in public about returning home.

The far-right politician has been in the U.S. since arriving in Orlando, Florida, on Dec. 31, the eve of the inauguration of his leftist rival, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, as Brazil’s current president.

Saturday’s event was held entirely in Portuguese for a Brazilian crowd of Bolsonaro supporters living abroad and was organized by the right-wing organization Yes Brazil USA. Bolsonaro was cheered throughout the event.

There has been speculation during recent weeks on when Bolsonaro might return to Brazil, where is the subject of several investigations into possible wrongdoing.

He initially entered the U.S. on a one-month diplomatic visa, which ended Jan. 31. He was accompanied by a team of presidential advisers and his wife, all of whom left Florida last month.

Lawyers for Bolsonaro told Brazilian media recently that they applied for a tourist visa to extend his stay in the U.S.

Amid the speculation about Bolsonaro’s plans, one of his sons, Sen. Flavio Bolsonaro, told Brazilian reporters that he didn’t know when his father would return. “It could be tomorrow, it could be in six months, he might never return. I don’t know. He’s relaxing,” the son said.

For the first time in his more than three-decade political career as a lawmaker and then as president, Bolsonaro no longer enjoys the special legal protection that requires any trial be held at the Supreme Court.

Bolsonaro is being investigated in four inquiries, which had been in the Supreme Court and were sent to trial court this past week.

Among the inquiries is whether Bolsonaro had any role in inciting the Jan. 8 riot by his supporters who stormed into government buildings in the capital, Brasilia, demanding his election defeat to Lula be overturned.

Investigators are also looking into who organized and financed the mass gathering of Bolsonaro supporters, who came to the capital from all over Brazil.

One of the investigations held by the Brazilian justice is who are the ones responsible for inciting the crimes, as well as who financed people from all over the country to travel to Brasilia.

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United Kingdom enters international race to create public digital money

The Treasury and Bank of England said it is "likely" a digital pound will be needed in future for everyday payments.

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Turkey-Syria earthquake deaths expected to top 50,000

Death toll likely to "double or more" from the current 28,000, Martin Griffiths tells Sky News.

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U.S. jet downed unidentified object over Canada, Trudeau says

An American fighter jet shot down an unidentified object violating Canadian airspace on Saturday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said.

Trudeau said he ordered the mission after consulting with President Joe Biden.

“I ordered the take down of an unidentified object that violated Canadian airspace,” Trudeau tweeted. “@NORADCommand shot down the object over the Yukon. Canadian and U.S. aircraft were scrambled, and a U.S. F-22 successfully fired at the object.”

“I spoke with President Biden this afternoon. Canadian Forces will now recover and analyze the wreckage of the object. Thank you to NORAD for keeping the watch over North America,” Trudeau added.

After the North American Aerospace Defense Command first discovered the object, Canadian and U.S. jets intercepted it, and a U.S. F-22 — for the third time this week — shot it down.

The latest incident comes a day after another F-22 downed an unidentified cylindrical object over Alaska airspace, which is currently being recovered by the U.S. military near the Alaskan town of Deadhorse.

The weekend intercepts follow the cross-country saga earlier this month when a Chinese surveillance balloon overflew the U.S. from Montana to South Carolina, before it was downed over the Atlantic.

Recoveries of the two objects are still ongoing. NORAD said in a Saturday statement that the work in the High North is being hampered by adverse weather conditions.

“Arctic weather conditions, including wind chill, snow, and limited daylight, are a factor in this operation, and personnel will adjust recovery operations to maintain safety,” the statement said. “Recovery activities are occurring on sea ice.”

White House and Pentagon officials still do not have a positive identification or country of origin of the object shot down over Alaska, and would not confirm that Friday’s incident was a Chinese-made surveillance balloon like the one that was struck off the coast of South Carolina.

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Bickford to step down as MassDems chair

BOSTON — Gus Bickford is stepping down as chair of the Massachusetts Democratic Party this spring, paving the way for new Gov. Maura Healey to reshape her party’s leadership.

Bickford, a veteran operative who specializes in voter contact, has worked for the Democratic National Committee, Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s 2012 campaign, several state parties and for John Kerry, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama’s presidential campaigns. He announced his April departure in an emotional speech at the party’s meeting Saturday, according to a video shared with POLITICO.

Healey and Bickford are backing Steve Kerrigan, a former lieutenant governor nominee who Bickford defeated to win party chair in 2016, as the Democrats’ next leader. Kerrigan will have to join the Democratic State Committee to be eligible to be elected to the job.

The leadership shakeup marks one of Healey’s first major power plays as her party’s top elected official in Massachusetts. Healey’s historic victory last fall as the first woman and open lesbian to be elected governor paved the way for Democrats to claim full control over Beacon Hill for just the second time in 30 years.

“It’s no coincidence that under Gus’ leadership, last year was one of the most successful years ever for our party — electing Democrats up and down the ticket. I want to thank Gus for his outstanding service as party chair,” Healey, who’s in Washington, D.C., for the National Governors Association winter meeting, said in a statement.

Democrats flipped 19 seats under Bickford’s tenure, including more than a dozen in the Legislature and, this past fall, a trio of law enforcement seats long held by Republicans on Cape Cod and the South Coast. With Healey and Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll’s elections last fall, Democrats now hold every statewide and congressional office in Massachusetts, giving the party a governing trifecta on Beacon Hill.

Bickford noted all of those achievements in an interview, saying that after finally electing a woman as governor, he’s ready to step aside.

“I’ve been trying to elect a woman governor for 30 years. That’s done. I’ve got options, and I think at some point you’ve got to move on,” Bickford said.

Bickford’s term doesn’t expire until November 2024. But he will leave on April 24 with some stains on his otherwise stellar record of electing Democrats.

An internal review found Bickford violated party bylaws by getting involved in the 2020 primary between Rep. Richard Neal and then-Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse. A scathing report found Bickford broke party rules by “encouraging” a group of college Democrats to come forward with allegations about inappropriate behavior by Morse. Bickford won reelection as party chair days later, though some Democrats remain stung by the ordeal.

A few procedural moves need to happen before Healey’s wish to transfer power between Bickford and Kerrigan can be fulfilled.

Kerrigan will need to be elected to the state committee in order to run for chair. He’ll likely be elected treasurer at the party’s next meeting — the current treasurer, Kathy Gasperine, also announced her departure on Saturday — and then chair. Democrats followed a similar process in making John Walsh party chair after Deval Patrick’s election as governor in 2006.

Healey said she’s “proudly supporting” Kerrigan for chair. “Steve is smart, collaborative, and knows what it takes to build successful campaigns at the federal, state and local level. I am confident that Steve is the best choice to lead our party forward," she said.

Kerrigan, in an interview, lauded Bickford for his decades of service and said he looks forward to working with both the outgoing chair and Healey “as we move into the next phase and continue to advance Democratic causes and candidates.” He also said he intends to keep his job as president and CEO of the Edward M. Kennedy Community Health Center while serving as chair.

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