Germany: Recognize Legitimacy of Ukraine Vote

germany-foreign minister

 

 

Germany’s foreign minister is stressing the importance of Ukraine’s presidential election results being recognized by all and says he doesn’t believe Russia has chosen to isolate itself internationally.

 

The West has threatened wider sanctions against Russia if Moscow derails Sunday’s vote, and Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Thursday that all concerned should have an interest in the election being as fair as possible. He acknowledged that “might not be possible in some towns.”

 

Steinmeier says that after “a certain slowdown” in violence over the past nine days, he hopes the conflict won’t escalate again because of the election’s legitimacy being disputed “wantonly.”

 

 

 Անկախ

Turkey Becomes a Rogue State By Rejecting European Court’s Verdict

Հարութ Սասունյան

 

 

By Harut Sassounian

www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com

 

The European Court on Human Rights (ECHR) issued on May 12 its largest judgment ever against any country, ruling that Turkey had to pay $123 million as compensation to relatives of missing Greek Cypriots and residents of a Greek enclave in Northern Cyprus.

 

The Cyprus vs. Turkey lawsuit was filed in 1999, twenty five years after the Turkish occupation of Northern Cyprus. In 2001, after ruling that the Turkish government had violated numerous articles of the European Convention on Human Rights, ECHR postponed making a determination of the penalty to be assessed to Turkey.

 

That decision came earlier this month, when the 17 judges of ECHR’s Grand Chamber issued their final judgment. By a vote of 16 to 1 (the Armenian and Cypriot judges voted with the majority, while the Turkish judge was the lone dissenter), ECHR ruled that the intervening 13 years had not invalidated the court’s 2001 judgment, as claimed by Turkey. By a vote of 15 to 2, ECHR held that the Turkish government had to pay $41 million, plus any tax and interest (if not paid within three months) for 1,456 Greek Cypriots missing as a result of Turkey’s invasion of Cyprus in 1974. By another 15 to 2 votes, ECHR judges decided that Turkey had to pay an additional $82 million plus any tax and interest (if not paid within three months) for damages suffered by residents of the Greek Cypriot enclave of Karpas peninsula in Turkish-occupied Northern Cyprus.

 

Right before the court’s judgment, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu made a vain attempt to derail ECHR’s anticipated negative decision by warning that a ruling against Turkey would undermine the ongoing negotiations to reach a settlement on the Cyprus conflict. The court rightfully ignored Davutoglu’s threat and went on to issue its firm judgment in favor of Cyprus.

 

Having failed to bully the judges, Davutoglu disdainfully declared that Turkey rejects the verdict of Europe’s top human rights court and boasted that his country will refuse to pay the $123 million in damages.

 

Davutoglu should be reminded that ECHR’s “Grand Chamber judgments are final” — not subject to appeal — and “all final judgments are transmitted to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe for supervision of their execution,” according to the court’s records.

 

Turkish Foreign Minister’s arrogant declaration will certainly come back to haunt his government in the not too distant future. All members of the Council of Europe, without exception, are obligated to comply with ECHR’s rulings. The court’s judgments are binding on all member states. During the past several decades, Turkey has lost hundreds of judgments in the European Court and has paid, whether it liked it or not, countless millions of dollars in penalties. Turkey has no other choice, if it wants to remain a member of the Council of Europe. There have been some ECHR cases where Turkish officials had initially vowed that they would not pay the assessed penalties, but eventually fully paid the required compensation plus interest.

 

If the Turkish government sticks with Davutoglu’s boastful rejection, not only Turkey could be stripped of its membership in the Council of Europe, but also forfeit its slim chance of joining the European Union!

 

Member states of the Council of Europe do not have the right to decide whether they are willing to abide by ECHR’s judgments. Otherwise, why would 47 European countries collectively spend almost $100 million a year to maintain a court if its judgments are meaningless or subject to voluntary compliance?

 

Recently, Turkish leaders have gone on a rampage flaunting domestic and international laws, by jailing a record number of journalists, firing on peaceful demonstrators in Gezi Park, beating family members of a mine explosion victims, making anti-Semitic statements, threatening to expel the US Ambassador, and waving a finger at Pres. Obama in the White House!

 

The Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers should not tolerate a rogue member state which is a major violator of human rights. The Council should put Turkey on notice that unless it makes immediate arrangements to pay the $123 million penalty, it would be expelled from the Council of Europe and have its assets in third countries seized to enforce the court’s judgment.

 

Europe should take a firm stand on this judgment, as there will be many more such verdicts against Turkey on Cyprus and possibly someday on Armenian restitutional and territorial demands….

 

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Train derails near Moscow, killing five

train-moscowA cargo train derailed Tuesday and crashed into a passenger train near Moscow, killing five people and injuring 15, according to preliminary information from the scene, Russia’s Interior Ministry said.

The accident took place at Naro-Fominsk, southwest of Moscow, the Emergency Ministry said.

The cargo train crashed into the last three carriages of a passenger train that was traveling from Moscow to Chisinau, the capital of Moldova. A total of 394 tickets were purchased for the passenger train, the Interior Ministry said.

True death toll of Syria is 160,000 and counting, warns human rights group

սիրիա

At least 160,000 people and counting have been killed in Syria’s bloody civil war, a human rights group warned today.

The harrowing claim was made by the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which says it is the true death toll for the three-year conflict.

սիրիաThe group said it has documented 162,402 deaths since the uprising against President Bashar Assad’s government began in March 2011.

The figure includes civilians, rebels and members of the Syrian military, the Observatory said.
The Observatory remains the sole organization providing a reliable tally of Syria’s dead.
The U.N. has stopped updating its own tally of the Syrian dead, saying it can no longer verify the sources of information. The world body’s last count in late July was 100,000 dead.

The Observatory bases its tally on information it gets from a network of activists on the ground in Syria.

 

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Bill Clinton to Receive Award for Jazz Advocacy

բիլ քլինթոն

 

Former President Bill Clinton will get a chance to play his saxophone when the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz honors him with its Founder’s Award.

The Monk Institute announced Monday that Clinton will receive the award at a Nov. 9 concert at Los Angeles’ Dolby Theater featuring Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Dianne Reeves, Dee Dee Bridgewater and others. The proceeds will support the institute’s free jazz education programs worldwide.

Hancock, the institute’s chairman, says Clinton honed “his creativity on the tenor saxophone” in public school music programs and has been “a jazz advocate for decades.”

 

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World’s largest ever lawsuit seeking $2,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000 in damages over a dog bite is filed in New York

դոլար

 

A New York man has filed a lawsuit demanding what is believed to be the largest amount of compensation ever after he was bitten by a dog.

Anton Purisima, 62, is suing a long list of defendants including the City of New York, Au Bon Pain and Kmart, for $2,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.

Purisima filed his hand-written lawsuit in a Manhattan federal court on April 11 and is representing himself, reports Lowering The Bar.

Over the course of his 22-page lawsuit, Purisima claims that his middle finger was bitten off by a ‘rabies-infected’ dog on a city bus; before a ‘Chinese couple’ took unauthorized photos of him as he was being treated at a local hospital.
The suit claims the pain and other additional damages he suffered ‘cannot be repaired by money’ and are ‘therefore priceless.’

The amount, which can also be referred to as two undecillion dollars – or the number two with 36 zeroes behind it – is more money than currently exists on the planet.

 

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Nagorno Karabakh . The Keys to a Settlement

ցույցOn May 18, a rally of protest was held in the Renaissance Square in Stepanakert by the youth of Artsakh against the six-point statement of American Co-Chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group James Warlick made ​​on May 7 at the Carnegie Endowment in Washington, in which he presented the U.S. position on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement. The participants of the rally issued a  Statement, in which they presented, in particular, the position of the youth of Artsakh on the peaceful settlement of the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict settlement, which is summarized in the following provisions.

Nagorno Karabakh . The Keys to a Settlement

First, the sides of the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict are the Nagorno Karabakh Republic and the Republic of Azerbaijan. The settlement of the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict is possible only with the direct and full-fledged participation of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic in the negotiation process. This is not optional. Otherwise any decision will remain on paper.

The Nagorno Karabakh Republic / Republic of Artsakh/ has not mandated anyone to decide on its behalf either on the issue of status or any other.

Second, the borders of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic are inviolable. Throughout the millennia –long history of Armenian Artsakh it was the Nagorno Karabakh Autonomous Region that was an interim status, which not only failed to guarantee the security of Artsakh Armenians but lead to the partition of Artsakh and exodus of its Armenian population.

Third, the Nagorno Karabakh Republic  has no territories to «return» to any state. Moreover, it  is a claimant to its territories that are under Azeri control. The Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict settlement cannot be based on selective interpretation of the principles of international law by Azerbaijan or anyone.

Fourth, the Nagorno Karabakh Republic was formed through free expression of will of its people in line with all norms and principles of international law. Hence, any attempt to blockade the Nagorno Karabakh Republic is a blatant violation of international law.

Fifth, all issues concerning refugees and IDPs should be settled on the basis of reciprocity and only after the recognition of the final status of the NKR.

 Sixth and finally, after the indulgence of the brutal crime by an Azerbaijani axe murderer of a sleeping Armenian officer in Budapest, any promise of international guarantees is nothing but a deception. The ceasefire in the zone of the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict has been maintained for 20 years exclusively due to the balance of forces. Hence, the only guarantor of the security of the people of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic is the NKR Defense Army.

 

The Youth of  the Nagorno Karabakh Republic /Republic of Artsakh/

The Great Wall of… Lonely Hearts ads: Weekly marriage market in China sees parents post notices advertising their single sons and daughters (including how much they earn)

Չինաստան, ամուսնությունների շուկա

 

It could be a missing persons wall set up after a natural disaster or even some kind of art installation.

But these rows upon rows of flyers are actually part of a marriage market where Chinese parents come to find prospective husbands and wives for their children.

Every Saturday and Sunday between noon and 5pm, regardless of the weather, the People’s Park in Shanghai is crowded with mothers and fathers studying the Lonely Hearts messages that adorn the grounds.

On the walls of the avenues, on trees and on washing lines, hundreds of resumes are hung by parents often without the knowledge of their children.

On them they reveal the vital statistics of their offspring, including their height, age, income, education, Chinese zodiac sign and whether they own a car or an apartment.

The parents walk around chatting with other parents to see if there is a match only after their children’s standards are met.

Shanghai marriage market is like online dating in a non-virtual setting.

Although the right to choose your own spouse has long been established in China, Chinese parents still feel the need to try and set their children up because they feel that their children are either too busy or are not actively looking.

The Shanghai marriage market is just one of several such open-sky marriage markets in China and despite the thousands of parents that visit the market over a weekend, success rate remains low.

 

 

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Royal Family’s Private Archive on Display in UK

Մեծ Բրիտանիա,Վինձոր

 

Official papers recording the purchase of Buckingham Palace — for 28,000 pounds — is going on display for the first time as part of an exhibition at Windsor Castle.

The title deed, dated April 20, 1763, outlined how King George III bought the palace, then known as Buckingham House, from nobleman Charles Sheffield.

The property was bought by the monarch for his wife, Queen Charlotte, to accommodate the pair’s growing family. The organizers of the exhibition say the price paid is roughly 2 million pounds ($3.4 million) in today’s money.

The exhibition begins in Windsor on Saturday. It is accompanied by a book containing dozens more papers from the Royal Archives, including George III’s personal reflections on the loss of the American colonies following the War of Independence in 1783.

 

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Hundreds of rioters clash with police outside World Cup venues as anti-tournament protests turn violent

Ցուցարարները և ոստիկանները բախվել են Ֆուտբոլի աշխարհի գավաթ

 

Protesters and police clashed in Sao Paulo Thursday, as demonstrations against the World Cup and rallies calling for improved public services erupted in several Brazilian cities.

 

Ցուցարարներ, ոստիկաններ,Ֆուտբոլի աշխարհի գավաթ

Officers in Brazil’s largest city fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters who set piles of rubbish alight to barricade a central avenue.

Demonstrators blasted the billions spent to host next month’s football tournament and said they wanted to draw attention to what they called a lack of investment to improve poor public services.

The demonstration turned violent when some people smashed the windows of a Hyundai car dealership and the offices of a bank. Police arrested seven people carrying Molotov cocktails.
Thursday’s demonstrations blocked two key roads into Sao Paulo during the morning commute.
Police blocked the main entrance next to a construction zone where cranes and other machines were lined up to carry materials still needed to finish the football arena.

 

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Report: Rocket Attack Kills 13 in Syria’s Aleppo

սիրիա,հալեպ

Syria’s state news agency says a rocket attack has killed 13 people in the northern city of Aleppo.SANA says Friday’s attack also wounded 17 people in the city’s northern neighborhood of Achrafieh.

The agency said the attack was carried out by “terrorists,” the term the government uses to refer to rebels trying to overthrow President Bashar Assad.

It said the shells also damaged two houses in the area.

The attack came a day after similar shelling on the neighborhood killed three people and wounded 20.

Rocket attacks are common on residential neighborhood around Syria. The rockets can be wildly inaccurate.

Activists say Syria’s 3-year-old conflict has killed more than 150,000 people. More than 2.5 million people have fled Syria to neighboring countries, while millions more are displaced within it.

 

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Bangladesh Ferry Sinks During Storm; 8 Dead

ferry9A ferry carrying more than 100 passengers capsized and sank Thursday in a river in central Bangladesh after being hit by a storm, and eight bodies have been recovered, an official said.

Many people swam to safety after the accident and it was unclear how many remained missing, local government administrator Saiful Hasan said. Ferries in Bangladesh often don’t have accurate passenger manifests.

He said the ferry M.V. Miraz-4 sank in the River Meghna as it was traveling toward Shariatpur from the capital, Dhaka. The accident took place when it was in Munshiganj district.

Ferry accidents are common in Bangladesh, a low-lying delta nation, because of overcrowding, faulty vessels and lax rules.

Afghan presidential election heads to runoff in June

No candidate won enough votes to secure outright victory in the first round of the Afghan presidential poll, the election commission said Thursday.

The election will proceed to a runoff on June 14 between former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah and former Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani, the two candidates who received the highest number of votes.

In the first-round, in which around 7 millions Afghans voted on April 5, Abdullah secured 45% of the vote, while Ghani got 31.6%. A candidate needs to receive more than 50% of the votes to win the first round and avoid a runoff.

The final results from the runoff will be announced on July 22, the election commission said.

It’s the third election since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, and is set to be the first democratic transfer of power in the fragile, war-torn country.

Hotel Employee Fired for Leaking Jay-Z and Solange Knowles Elevator Attack Video

The Standard Hotel has fired a person who leaked a surveillance video of Solange Knowles attacking Jay-Z in one of its elevators to media. As reported by The Associated Press, the hotel has identified the employee. The person no longer works in the hotel for “breaching the security polices of the hotel and recording the confidential CCTV video.”

On May 12, TMZ posted the 3-minute video showing a fight involving a man and a woman who presumably are Jay-Z and Solange. Solange lounged at the rapper while another woman who is presumably Beyonce Knowles did not meddle in their feud. Another man who apparently is their bodyguard tried to prevent Solange from attacking her brother-in-law.

Shortly after the video, which was recorded during the night of Met Gala, went viral, the hotel released a statement saying that they would investigate into the matter.

According to New York Daily News, the fight happened because Solange did not like the way the rapper acted around designer Rachel Roy at the Met Gala.

Would you pay £500 for a LIPSTICK? Artist who sculpted Lady Gaga in make-up launches new botanical range in the UK… but it only lasts if you don’t use it

քանդակ շրթներկ

 

From Lady Gaga to delicate rose bushes, it seems there’s little that artist May Sum can’t turn into a sculpture.

But these are not your average sculpture. Instead of stone or bronze, Sum creates her incredibly intricate pieces using lipstick.

Unfortunately for those who fancy owning a lipstick sculpture of their own, would-be buyers will need deep pockets, as each piece costs an eye-watering £529.

Nevertheless, the Hong Kong artist says that her pieces can be used for their original purpose, although they might not look the same afterwards.

The lipsticks, which have now gone on sale at luxury launches website, VeryFirstTo.com, are available in a choice of themes and can also be customised with portraits of the customer’s choice.

Sum, who began her career as a make-up artist, takes between 12 and 13 hours to create a floral sculpture but says the more detailed portraits can take up to a week.

While for now Sum says she’s concentrating on lipstick art, she says she won’t rule out working with different types of cosmetic in future.

 

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UN: Wars Internally Displace 33.3 Million in 2013

A record 33.3 million people worldwide were displaced by conflict and violence inside their own nations in 2013, U.N. and Norwegian officials said Wednesday.

The increase of 4.5 million above the 2012 total was driven largely by Syria’s civil war, now in its fourth year, which activists estimate has killed 150,000 people.

The heads of the U.N. refugee agency and Norwegian Refugee Council reported that 8.2 million fled their homes in the last year, including about 3.5 million in Syria alone. The other two-thirds of the 33.3 million displaced by war worldwide had fled in previous years.

Every 60 seconds another family within Syria flees the civil war, according to the figures.

Giant 11-mile trench is dug on Iraqi border with Syria to stop Islamic militants crossing into the country

cameron-sad_244903kA giant trench is being built on Iraq’s border with Syria to prevent militants and smugglers passing into the country.

The trench, the work of the Kurdistan Regional Government, is thought to be 11 miles (17 kilometres) long, two yards deep and three yards wide.

It has been reported that smugglers have started to operate in the border areas as they became insecure with Syrian authorities losing control of them.

The trench is on the northern Iraqi border near to Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region.

Kurdistan has largely managed to insulate itself against the violence afflicting Syria and the rest of Iraq.

But the digging of the ditch has proved controversial with some political parties, who have described it as unnecessary.

 

Justin Bieber Is Accused of Attempted Robbery

Justin Bieber apparently just had another run in with the law. A representative for Los Angeles Police Department confirmed to media on Tuesday night, May 13 that the Canadian heartthrob was accused of committing an alleged robbery attempt.

The alleged victim reported the incident on Monday night at 10:30 P.M. West Coast time and was interviewed on Tuesday night. Police believe that the alleged victim was not injured during the alleged robbery attempt. By late Tuesday, Bieber has not been interviewed and he was not arrested.

The 20-year-old star reportedly suspected that she took photos of him with her phone. He asked for the phone so he could delete the photo, but the woman refused to give it and put it in her purse.

According to the woman, she and Bieber then had a wrestling battle. The pop star ended up getting the phone, but it was locked. She unlocked it and showed him that she took no photos. The woman allegedly told Bieber that she and her daughter only wanted to said hello to him.

Obama Listens to Repeated References To Armenian Genocide at Shoah Gala

Հարութ Սասունյան
By Harut Sassounian

 

 

On May 7, I attended a very impressive benefit gala at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza hotel in Los Angeles, celebrating the 20th anniversary of the USC Shoah Foundation which archives the testimonies of survivors and witnesses of the Jewish Holocaust, the Armenian, Cambodian and Rwandan genocides, and the 1937 Nanjing Massacre.

 

Internationally acclaimed Oscar-winning director Steven Spielberg, after filming Schindler’s List, established the Shoah Foundation to collect and preserve the personal accounts of survivors and other witnesses of the Holocaust. In 2006, the Shoah Foundation became part of the University of Southern California and currently holds 52,000 video testimonies in 34 languages, representing 58 countries. It is the largest archive of its kind in the world.

 

The gala was attended by Pres. Obama who received the “Ambassador for Humanity” award. Also in attendance were Samuel Jackson, Octavia Spencer, Barbra Streisand, Liam Neeson, and Bruce Springsteen who performed two of his poignant songs, “Promised Land,” and “Dancing in the Dark.”

 

In 2010, the Armenian Film Foundation and J. Michael Hagopian signed a historic agreement with the Shoah Foundation to digitize, preserve, and disseminate filmed interviews with survivors and witnesses of the Armenian Genocide. Last month, 400 digitized copies of the Armenian testimonies were delivered to USC Shoah Foundation’s Institute for Visual History and Education. By the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide on April 24, 2015, the Armenian testimonies, after they are translated, subtitled, and indexed, will be made available along with eyewitness accounts of the Holocaust and other genocides to 50 institutions (including the US Holocaust Museum) in 30 countries.

 

Nearly 100 Armenian-Americans attended the May 7 gala, raising over $100,000 for the Armenian collection at Shoah. During the evening’s program, several speakers made references to the Armenian Genocide. Spielberg was the first to announce that the Armenian Genocide testimonies were to be included in the Shoah archives. A video shown to the attendees featured several photographs of J. Michael Hagopian, genocide survivor Paul Andonian, and Armenian deportees on a death march. Shoah Foundation Executive Director Stephen Smith also spoke about the Armenian Genocide, acknowledging the presence of Yevnige Salibian, a 104-year-old genocide survivor from Aintab. Banquet host comedian Conan O’Brien, after acknowledging Mrs. Salibian’s presence from the podium, walked over to her table when the gala ended and had a picture taken with her.

 

As an honored guest, Salibian was seated next to TV celebrity Kim Kardashian. The following day, Kardashian posted on social media her photograph with Salibian, adding the following message: “Honored to be at the USC Shoah Foundation event to support Armenian Genocide testimonies. I’m sitting next to the most inspiring 100-year-old Armenian Genocide survivor.” Within few days, her posting received close to 400,000 ‘likes’ and almost 5,000 comments on Instagram, and 110,000 ‘likes’ on her facebook page.

 

Despite repeated references to the Armenian Genocide from the podium, Pres. Obama did not make any direct references to Armenians or the Armenian Genocide in his 18-minute speech — nor was he expected to do so! However, the President made indirect references to genocides other than the Holocaust, without specifying them:

 

— “I want to say a special word to the survivors who are with us this evening, not just of the Holocaust, but as Steven [Spielberg] noted, survivors of other unimaginable crimes.”

— “If the memories of the Shoah survivors teach us anything, it is that silence is evil’s greatest co-conspirator. And it’s up to us — each of us, every one of us — to forcefully condemn any denial of the Holocaust.”

— “You [Spielberg] …documented the experience not only of the Holocaust, but of atrocities before and since…. To you and everybody at the Shoah Foundation, and for all that you’ve done, for setting a light, an eternal flame of testimony, that can’t be extinguished and cannot be denied, we express our deepest gratitude.”

 

Armenians do not need to press Pres. Obama to explicitly refer to the Armenian Genocide. Another US President, Ronald Reagan, has already acknowledged it in his Presidential Proclamation of April 22, 1981. It is unnecessary to insist that every US President make the same acknowledgment year after year. Pres. Obama may consider using the term Armenian Genocide not for the sake of Armenians, but to uphold his own integrity by keeping the solemn pledge he made as a presidential candidate. Only then could he fully qualify as an “Ambassador for Humanity.”

 

Hundreds Trapped in Turkish Coal Mine

soma-manisa

 

At least one miner was killed and 19 others were hospitalized on Tuesday following an explosion and fire at a coal mine in western Turkey, an official said. More than 200 others are reported trapped.

Local administrator Mehmet Bahattin Atci said 20 people were rescued from the mine in the town of Soma, in the province of Manisa, but one of them died in hospital.

He said the explosion was caused by a power distribution unit and between 200 and 300 more workers are still inside the mine.

“Rescue efforts are underway,” Atci told reporters.

 

 

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