World

SEOUL — North Korea Wednesday fired a ballistic missile directly into Japanese-controlled waters for the first time, drawing an outraged response from Tokyo and ramping up tensions with the United States and South Korea.

The US military said the North had actually launched two Rodong intermediate-range missiles simultaneously, but one appeared to have exploded on take-off.

The launches followed a North Korean threat of "physical action" over the planned deployment of a sophisticated US anti-missile system in South Korea, and came just weeks before the start of large-scale joint South Korea-US military exercises.

Japan said the one missile had landed in the Sea of Japan (East Sea), some 250 kilometres off its north coast and within its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

"It's a serious threat against our country's security," Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters. "This is an outrageous act that cannot be tolerated."

The United States condemned what it called a clear violation of UN Security Council resolutions explicitly banning North Korea's use of ballistic missile technology.

"This provocation only serves to increase the international community's resolve to counter [North Korea's] prohibited activities," said Pentagon spokesman Gary Ross.

The European Union said the North was "clearly violating" its international obligations set out in multiple UN resolutions.

Germany's foreign ministry said Pyongyang has "deliberately put at risk the security of another country".

US Strategic Command said the two missiles were launched from a site in western North Korea at around 7:50am Seoul time (22:50 GMT Tuesday).

"Initial indications reveal one of the missiles exploded immediately after launch, while the second was tracked over North Korea and into the Sea of Japan," it said in a statement.

It was the first time a North Korean missile has been fired direct into Japanese waters. The second stage of a missile fired over Japan had splashed down inside the EEZ off Japan's Pacific Ocean coast in 1998.

Japan's top government spokesman Yoshihide Suga slammed Pyongyang for providing no advance warning of Wednesday's test.

"From the perspective of the safety of aircraft and ships, it is an extremely problematic, dangerous act," Suga said.

The Rodong is a scaled-up Scud variant with a maximum range of around 1,300 kilometres.

Pyongyang has conducted a series of missile tests this year in defiance of UN sanctions imposed after its fourth nuclear test in January.

On July 19 it launched three ballistic missiles — including one Rodong — in an exercise that the North said simulated a nuclear strike on the South.

That came just days after Washington and Seoul announced an agreement to deploy the US Terminal High Altitude Area Defence, or THAAD, system in South Korea by the end of next year — a move condemned by Pyongyang and also vehemently opposed by China and Russia.

South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-Se said Wednesday's missile test only served to "underline the need to deploy THAAD".

Tensions on the divided Korean peninsula are also building up ahead of an annual South Korea-US military exercise later this month that involves tens of thousands of troops.

North Korea says such drills are a provocative rehearsal for invasion, while Washington and Seoul insist they are purely defensive in nature.

"Our commitment to the defence of our allies, including the Republic of Korea [South Korea] and Japan, in the face of these threats, is ironclad," Ross said.

"We remain prepared to defend ourselves and our allies from any attack or provocation."

Nearly 30,000 US troops are permanently stationed in South Korea.

Pyongyang has repeatedly warned of pre-emptive nuclear strikes against the South and US targets there and elsewhere, although the main focus of its nuclear weapons programme is to develop a credible strike threat against the US mainland.

Since its fourth nuclear test, North Korea has claimed a series of technical breakthroughs for its weapons programme.

It said it had miniaturised a nuclear warhead and successfully tested an engine designed for an inter-continental ballistic missile that could reach the US mainland. 

While some experts say the claims are exaggerated, most acknowledge that the North's nuclear and ballistic missile programmes have made significant strides.

CAIRO — The Daesh terror group has named a new leader of Boko Haram, the Nigerian militant group which last year swore allegiance to it.

Abu Musab Al Barnawi was named Daesh’ governor for West Africa in a two-page interview in its weekly magazine, Al Naba, which was circulated late on Tuesday.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, a former military ruler who took office last year, has made it a priority to defeat Boko Haram, which has tried to create a state adhering to strict sharia law in the northeast during a seven-year insurgency.

Boko Haram controlled a swathe of land in northeast Nigeria around the size of Belgium at the end of 2014 but was pushed out by Nigerian troops, aided by soldiers from neighbouring countries, early last year.

In the interview, Al Barnawi said Boko Haram was "still a force to be reckoned with" and that it had been receiving new recruits.

Despite having been pushed out of most of the territory it controlled, Boko Haram has carried out suicide bombings in northeast Nigeria and neighbouring Cameroon, Niger and Chad, focusing on busy public areas such as markets and mosques.

Fulan Nasrullah, a security analyst, said Barnawi had been a senior figure within Boko Haram who was previously the group's military commander.

The Daesh publication did not mention Abubakar Shekau, who was the group's leader and represented the Nigerian extremist in videos during an insurgency that has killed about 15,000 people and displaced more than two million.

Shekau, whose death has been reported on numerous occasions by the army only for him to reappear in videos, was last seen in a video circulated in March in which he seemed to suggest he was ailing and Boko Haram was losing its effectiveness. A video emerged the following week saying there would be no surrender.

In June, a senior US general said Boko Haram had fractured internally, with a big group splitting away from Shekau over his failure to adhere to guidance from Daesh. The Nigerian group swore allegiance to Daesh, based in Syria and Iraq, in March 2015.

That assessment came days after US officials said they had seen no evidence that Boko Haram had so far received significant operational support or financing from Daesh militants, concluding the loyalty pledge had so far mostly been a branding exercise. 

ANKARA/ISTANBUL — President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused the West of supporting terrorism and standing by coups on Tuesday, questioning Turkey's relationship with the United States and saying the "script" for an abortive putsch last month was "written abroad".

In a combative speech at his palace in Ankara, Erdogan said charter schools in the United States were the main source of income for the network of US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, who he says masterminded the bloody July 15 putsch.

"I'm calling on the United States: what kind of strategic partners are we, that you can still host someone whose extradition I have asked for?" Erdogan said in a speech to local representatives of multinational firms operating in Turkey.

"This coup attempt has actors inside Turkey, but its script was written outside. Unfortunately the West is supporting terrorism and stands by coup plotters," he said in comments which were met with applause, and broadcast live.

The 75-year-old Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since 1999, denies any involvement in the failed coup. President Barack Obama has said Washington will only extradite him if Turkey provides evidence of wrongdoing.

The fallout from the abortive coup, in which more than 230 people were killed as mutinous soldiers commandeered fighter jets, helicopters and tanks in a bid to seize power, has deepened a rift between Ankara and its Western allies.

Erdogan and many Turks have been frustrated by US and European criticism of a crackdown in the wake of the putsch, accusing the West of greater concern about the rights of the plotters than the gravity of the threat to a NATO member state.

More than 60,000 people in the military, judiciary, civil service and education have been detained, suspended or placed under investigation since the coup, prompting fears that Erdogan is pursuing an indiscriminate crackdown on all forms of dissent and using the situation to tighten his grip on power.

“If we have mercy on those who carried out this coup attempt, we will be the ones to be pitied,” he said.

The leader of the main secularist opposition CHP, which has condemned the coup and been supportive of the government’s reaction so far, said a state of emergency declared in its aftermath now risked being used to make sweeping changes to the security forces without appropriate parliamentary support.

“There is no doubt that the law on emergency rule was issued in line with the constitution. But there is concern that its application is being used to exceed the goal,” Kemal Kilicdaroglu told a meeting of the CHP.

“It may be necessary to restructure the state, undoubtedly, but this subject must go before parliament.”

An army ‘like Saddam’s’

Erdogan has issued two decrees dismissing around 3,000 members of NATO’s second-biggest armed forces since the coup, including more than 40 per cent of generals. He has also shut down military high schools and brought force commanders under tighter government control.

The nationalist opposition, which like the CHP has so far largely backed the government’s response to the coup and has vowed to support any move to reintroduce the death penalty for plotters, also criticised the military overhaul.

Its leader Devlet Bahceli said the changes risked turning Turkey’s army into a force like that of former Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein or former Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi.

“If the traditions and principles of the Turkish armed forces are trampled upon in an effort to fix its structural problems, it will resemble Saddam’s or Qadhafi’s army,” Bahceli told members of his MHP, describing the changes as rushed.

He criticised a move to have force commanders report directly to the defence minister, saying it would “ruin the chain of command”.

In his palace speech, Erdogan said the military overhaul was necessary to prevent Gulenists attempting another coup.

“If we didn’t take this step, the members of this Gulenist organisation would take over the military, and they would point the planes and tanks bought with the taxes of our people against them,” he said. “There is no turning back.”

Erdogan told the representatives of global firms listening to his speech that he understood the sensitivities of the business community, vowing reforms to make foreign investment more attractive and saying the economic outlook was improving again after a fluctuation following the coup.

Customs and Trade Minister Bulent Tufenkci was earlier quoted earlier as saying the cost of the coup attempt was at least 300 billion lira ($100 billion).

“Orders from overseas have been cancelled. People couldn’t come because the coup plotters made Turkey look like a third-world country,” the Hurriyet daily quoted him as saying.

Warrants for army medics

The coup and the resulting purges have raised concern about Turkey’s reliability as a NATO ally and its ability to protect itself against the threat from the Daesh militants in neighbouring Syria and Kurdish militants in its southeast. Both have carried out suicide bombings in Turkey over the past year.

“It is essential for national security that the Turkish armed forces are restructured to face new threats and to expend all of their energy on their fundamental activities,” Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told a meeting of the ruling AK Party.

Yildirim said civilian authorities had taken over factories and shipyards that had been under the control of the military as part of the ongoing restructuring.

Warrants to detain 98 doctors at the prestigious GATA military hospital in Ankara were also issued on Tuesday, an official said, over their alleged role in enabling Gulen’s “Hizmet” network to infiltrate the higher ranks.

“GATA is crucial because this is where fitness and health reports are issued. There is strong evidence suggesting [Hizmet] members infiltrated this institution to slow down the career progress of their rivals within the military and fast track their supporters,” the official said.

Erdogan also pledged to strengthen Turkey’s intelligence agencies and flush out the influence of Gulen, whose grip on the security apparatus he blamed for the lack of intelligence in the run-up to the coup. The MIT intelligence agency has already suspended 100 staff and Erdogan has suggested bringing it under the control of the presidency.

Erdogan accuses Gulen of harnessing his extensive network of schools, charities and businesses, built up in Turkey and abroad over decades, to create a “parallel state” that aimed to take over the country.

Pakistan promised Turkey’s visiting foreign minister on Tuesday it would investigate schools Ankara wants shut for alleged links to Gulen but stopped short of agreeing to close them. Turkey has had similarly non-committal responses from countries including Germany, Indonesia and Kenya to its requests in recent weeks.

ISTANBUL — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday lashed out at the European Union for dragging its feet in releasing promised funds for Syrian refugees as well as providing visa-free travel for Turks into the passport-free Schengen zone.

Turkey and the EU signed a controversial deal in March, in which Ankara agreed to take back Syrian migrants landing on Greek islands in return for several incentives including 3 billion euros ($3.4 billion) in funds and visa-free travel.

“Europe has not yet lived up to its promises,” Erdogan said in a televised speech. 

“[EU funds] will not go into our budget but will be spent on refugees. There’s nothing on the visa issue either,” he added.

“When we say this out loud, the gentlemen [in the EU] get very uncomfortable. Pardon me — but this is no slave country.” 

Turkey’s ties with the European Union have strained after Erdogan’s massive purge of plotters of the July 15 coup attempt. 

Turkish authorities have detained around 18,000 people over the coup which Ankara blames on the US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen, with the crackdown sparking warnings from Brussels that its EU membership bid may be in danger.

Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in an interview with the German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on Monday that Ankara could withdraw from the accord if Europe failed to allow visa-free travel for Turks by October.

His comments were rejected by Germany, which spearheaded the agreement with Ankara after Berlin let in a record 1.1 million migrants and refugees last year.

EU officials have also insisted there was never any intention of handing the funds directly into the Turkish budget and they needed to be spent specifically on projects for Syrian refugees. 

Asked if Turkey could “blackmail” the EU over the refugee pact, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told the Rheinische Post newspaper: “That is absurd.” 

The Turkish president said on Tuesday that his country had not taken any step that would trouble Europe on the migrant crisis.

“Let me speak clearly, we have protected Europe. We are hosting three million refugees.”

TOKYO — China risks triggering unintended conflict with Asian rivals through its aggressive stance in maritime disputes, Japan said Tuesday in a security assessment, as a Beijing minister urged preparations for a "people's war at sea".

China's sweeping claims over the South China Sea, where it has built a series of artificial islands capable of supporting military operations despite overlapping claims from other nations, have stoked international alarm.

The region's superpower "continues to act in an assertive manner" and its actions "include dangerous acts that could cause unintended consequences", Tokyo said in a defence white paper.

Beijing is under pressure to respect a UN-backed tribunal's finding last month that there is no legal basis for its ambitions over the South China Sea where the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and others also have claims. 

The white paper said China was "poised to fulfil its unilateral demands without compromise" including efforts "to turn these coercive changes to the status quo into a fait accompli". 

And it again called on Beijing to abide by the ruling of the tribunal, which China has denounced as a fraud.

Chinese state media in Beijing quoted Defence Minister Chang Wanquan as urging preparations for a "people's war at sea" to counter offshore security threats and safeguard sovereignty.

Chang "called for recognition of the seriousness of the national security situation, especially the threat from the sea", Xinhua news agency said.

The military, police and people should prepare to mobilise to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity, he was quoted as saying during a tour of the coastal province of Zhejiang.

The agency did not elaborate on the source of the threats. 

The United States has said it will continue naval patrols close to reefs and outcrops claimed by China to assert the principle of freedom of navigation, a move which has angered Beijing.

In its white paper Japan also expressed concern over increased activity in the East China Sea, where the two countries have competing claims to small uninhabited islets called the Senkakus in Japan and the Diaoyus in China.

"Recently, China has been intensifying activities near the Senkaku Islands, such as its military aircraft flying southward closer to the islands," it said.

In the year to March 2016, Japan's air force scrambled jets 571 times against Chinese planes flying near Japanese airspace, an increase of 107 from the previous year, it added.

Irresponsible remarks

China lodged a "solemn" protest with Japan over the defence white paper, state broadcaster CCTV said in Beijing.

Xinhua, in a report from Tokyo, blasted the paper and accused Japan of "making irresponsible remarks on China's national defence and China's normal and legal maritime activities in the East and South China Seas".

Last month the two countries were at loggerheads over accusations Japanese warplanes locked their fire control radar onto Chinese aircraft. 

Beijing sparked alarm after it unilaterally established an air defence identification zone in the East China Sea in 2013, demanding all aircraft submit flight plans when traversing the zone, which covers islands disputed with Tokyo and also claimed by Taipei. 

US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter said in February that China's military presence in the South China Sea was increasing the risk of "miscalculation or conflict". 

And tensions have also grown over Indonesia's Natuna Islands in the South China Sea, where Chinese and Indonesian boats have clashed.

Japan's white paper also highlighted concerns over North Korea's nuclear programme, saying it was possible it has "achieved the miniaturisation of nuclear weapons and has developed nuclear warheads". Since carrying out a fourth nuclear test in January, North Korea has claimed it miniaturised a nuclear warhead to fit on a missile and successfully tested an engine designed for an inter-continental ballistic missile that could reach the US mainland.

KABUL — A Taliban truck bomb exploded outside a protected hotel compound used by foreign service contractors in Kabul on Monday, ripping a deep crater in the ground and leaving a tangle of wreckage but causing few casualties.

The loud blast was heard around Kabul at about 1:30am and electricity was cut off in many areas, heightening uncertainty in a city on edge after a suicide attack a week earlier that killed at least 80 people.

One attacker was killed after detonating his vehicle and two were killed by police in the early hours of the morning, Kabul police chief Abdul Rahman Rahimi said. One police officer was killed and four were wounded.

The explosion outside the Northgate Hotel, a secure residential compound for foreign military and civilian organisations, destroyed light metal structures in an empty neighbouring compound and left debris strewn about but heavy blast walls remained intact.

As day broke in the grimy industrial zone where the hotel is located, gunfire and occasional explosions rang out but the incident was soon over. No casualties were reported from within the hotel.

The attack on a hotel the Taliban said was a "place of vulgarity and profanity" was the latest in a series against foreign targets in Kabul, underlining precarious security in Afghanistan, even in the capital.

It came around a week after the Daesh terror group claimed responsibility for a suicide attack on a demonstration by members of the mainly Shiite Hazara minority, killing at least 80 people.

The Taliban, who say that foreign "invaders" must leave Afghanistan but who often say they want to avoid civilian casualties, said the compound was not near homes and ordinary people were not harmed.

Security officials originally said four attackers were at the site, a walled compound of a type used by foreign security and civilian organisations in Kabul, even though police later said three attackers had been killed.

The Taliban said there were "dozens of dead and wounded". The group often exaggerates the extent of attacks it launches against Afghan government and foreign security targets.

After the attack, Afghan security forces closed off streets around the site, east of Kabul's main airport and on the way to the sprawling Bagram air base north of the capital.

The attack followed the bombing in June of a bus carrying Nepali security contractors working for the Canadian embassy, as well as other attacks on foreigners in Kabul, including a suicide attack on a camp used by foreign contractors in January.

WASHINGTON — Donald Trump’s confrontation with the parents of a slain Muslim American soldier escalated Monday, shaking the US presidential campaign amid Republican Party outcries over the real estate tycoon’s comments about the couple.

The feud has become a flash point of the 2016 White House race that pits Trump against Democrat Hillary Clinton.

It has dominated the news cycle ever since Pakistani immigrant Khizr Khan galvanised the Democratic National Convention last Thursday with a tribute to his dead son in which he rebuked the Republican nominee for having “sacrificed nothing” for the country.

Trump defended himself on ABC’s “This Week”, insisting he had made “a lot of sacrifices” while suggesting that Khan’s wife, who stood silent on the convention stage as her husband spoke, had not been allowed to talk.

Then on Monday, Trump renewed his assault, tweeting: “Mr Khan, who does not know me, viciously attacked me from the stage of the DNC and is now all over TV doing the same — Nice!” 

Now, the families of 23 other slain US soldiers have called on Trump to apologise for his “repugnant and personally offensive” remarks.

“We feel we must speak out and demand you apologise to the Khans, to all Gold Star families, and to all Americans for your offensive, and frankly anti-American, comments,” they said in an open letter.

Army captain Humayun Khan was killed by a suicide bomber in Iraq in 2004.

Trump’s sustained hostility toward the Khans — alarming in part because criticism of Gold Star families of war dead has traditionally been off limits in American political discourse — has received bipartisan condemnation including from Senator John McCain, a former prisoner of war once mocked by Trump for being captured in Vietnam.

“I cannot emphasise enough how deeply I disagree with Mr. Trump’s statement,” McCain said in a lengthy statement.

“While our party has bestowed upon him the nomination, it is not accompanied by unfettered license to defame those who are the best among us,” he added.

“I hope Americans understand that the remarks do not represent the views of our Republican Party, its officers, or candidates.” 

To ‘malign’ a nation 

Unequivocal condemnation also rained down from Republican House Armed Services Committee chairman Mac Thornberry, who said he is “dismayed at the attacks” on the Khans.

The top two Republicans in Congress released carefully crafted statements denouncing the remarks, although without mentioning the name of Trump, who has urged a ban on Muslims entering the country.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Sunday in the thick of the feud that “Captain Khan was an American hero.” 

“And as I have long made clear, I agree with the Khans and families across the country that a travel ban on all members of a religion is simply contrary to American values.” 

House Speaker Paul Ryan also said he rejects such a religious test.

Speaking of Captain Khan, Ryan said “his sacrifice — and that of Khizr and Ghazala Khan — should always be honored. Period”. 

With the two sides slinging criticism, Khan on Sunday assailed Trump as a “black soul” who lacks the moral compass or temperament to be president.

Then on Monday, Khan criticised Trump’s “ignorance” for disparaging him for speaking out.

“He can get up and malign the entire nation — the religions, the communities, the minorities, the judges,” Khan said on NBC’s “Today” show.

“And yet a private citizen in this political process, in his candidacy for the stewardship of this country, I cannot say what I feel? That proves the point he has not read the Constitution of the country.” 

Clinton weighed in Sunday, saying Trump’s insulting rhetoric was “just beyond my comprehension”. “He has throughout the course of his campaign consistently insulted and demeaned individuals, groups of Americans, people around the world. And one doesn’t know where the bottom is,” Clinton told reporters in Ohio.

A new CBS News poll released Monday showed Clinton received a four-point bounce in support after her party’s convention and now leads Trump by seven points, 46 per cent to 39 per cent.

After the Republican convention, prior to the Democratic one, Trump got a two-point bump and the race was tied, CBS said.

COLOGNE, Germany — Tens of thousands of supporters of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan rallied in the German city of Cologne on Sunday as tensions over Turkey’s failed coup put authorities on edge.

Waving the Turkish flag and chanting “Turkey”, the demonstrators turned the rally site next to the River Rhine into a sea of red as they began the demonstration by singing the Turkish and German national anthems.

Police put the turnout at around 40,000 by 1500 GMT. 

“We are here because our compatriots in Germany are standing up for democracy and against the attempted military coup in Turkey,” said Turkey’s sports minister Akif Cagatay Kilic at the rally, Tagesspiegel daily reported.

“The message to be sent from the event is that in Turkey, all parties and NGOs want to stand together against the coup and to defend democracy,” added the minister, who was born in Germany. 

Since the attempted July 15 power grab, Erdogan’s government has launched a crackdown, detaining almost 19,000 people and sparking international concern.

Ratcheting up its clampdown on the military, Ankara on Sunday dismissed nearly 1,400 military personnel, including a top aide to Erdogan, and confirmed it would close military schools and academies.

Erdogan — who says a group within the military acted on the orders of US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen — has also said he will bring the country’s spy agency and military chief of staff directly under his control.

The drama has spilled over into Germany, home to three million ethnic Turks — the biggest Turkish diaspora in the world.

The Cologne rally was staged by groups including the pro-Erdogan Union of European-Turkish Democrats.

Hours before the event Germany’s constitutional court banned an application to show live speeches from Turkey by politicians including Erdogan, amid fears they could work the crowd up further.

The decision sparked anger in Turkey, with presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin calling the ban unacceptable and a “violation of the freedom of expression and the right to free assembly”.

“We are curious about the real reason why the German authorities and the constitutional court banned President Erdogan’s message and hope that the German authorities will provide a satisfactory explanation.” 

‘Don’t bring Turkey tensions here’ 

Meanwhile, skirmishes broke out at several smaller counter-demonstrations, with police moving in to separate around 80 right-wing nationalist Turks and 100 Kurds.

Some 250 far-right extremists, including many hooligans, had also come together before being dispersed by police. 

In a bid to head-off any potential violence between the different camps, 2,700 officers — including several Turkish speakers — have been deployed to keep the peace, while eight water cannon were also standing by on the streets.

Cologne’s police chief Juergen Mathies warned: “One thing I want to make clear is that we will intervene against any kind of violence quickly, decisively and forcefully.” 

The tension comes at a time when relations between Germany and Turkey are already strained over the German parliament’s decision to brand as genocide the World War I-era Armenian massacre by Ottoman forces.

German politicians led by Chancellor Angela Merkel have issued strongly-worded statements against Erdogan’s crackdown following the failed putsch.

The hardline response “flouts the rule of law”, Merkel’s spokesman Steffen Seibert has said, also blasting “revolting scenes of caprice and revenge” in the wake of the failed coup.

At the same time, Ankara is demanding that Germany extradite suspects linked to Gulen. The 75-year-old cleric has strongly denied any involvement.

Erdogan enjoys large support among the diaspora in Germany, where around 1.5 million people with Turkish nationality can vote in Turkish elections.

His AKP Party won 60 per cent of votes cast in Germany in last November’s election, a bigger share of the vote than in Turkey.

Germany’s integration commissioner Aydan Ozoguz underlined Erdogan’s influence, saying he was concerned that “the relationships of people living here with Turkey are being massively exploited politically”. 

In the days following the botched coup, pro-Erdogan activists have stormed locations in Germany popular with Gulen’s followers.

Critics of the Turkish president have also complained of abuse and threats against them on social media.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Saturday warned in an interview with Sueddeutsche Zeitung daily: “It is not right to bring Turkey’s domestic political tensions here... and intimidate people who have other political convictions.”

TOKYO — Veteran politician Yuriko Koike was elected governor of Tokyo on Sunday, according to media exit polls, becoming the first woman to lead Japan's capital.

Public broadcaster NHK, Jiji Press and other media forecast Koike as the winner immediately after polls closed at 8pm (1100 GMT).

"I will lead Tokyo politics in an unprecedented manner, a Tokyo you have never seen," Koike, 64, told cheering supporters in a hoarse voice after two weeks of campaigning.

The election, contested by a record field of 21 candidates, was called after previous governor Yoichi Masuzoe resigned over a financial scandal. He was the second successive city leader to quit. 

A key task for Koike will be dealing with Tokyo's troubled preparations for the 2020 summer Olympics, which have been plagued by a series of embarrassing scandals and soaring costs.

Euphoria in 2013 at securing the right to host sport's marquee event has given way to frustration over gaffes and scandals.

Despite the high number of candidates, the race was seen a three-way contest between Koike and two male candidates, a former prefectural governor and a television journalist.

Masuzoe's predecessor Naoki Inose — who had led the successful bid to win the Games — bowed out after becoming embroiled in a personal financial scandal.

Koike, a former TV anchorwoman, speaks fluent English and Arabic — the latter acquired as a student in Cairo — and has also served as defence minister and environment minister.

She has compared herself to Hillary Clinton and was once seen as having the best chance to be Japan's first female prime minister. But she was defeated when running in 2008 for leadership of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

Koike won the Tokyo election despite failing to obtain the LDP's backing. It spurned her for failing to seek its approval before announcing her candidacy.

Koike's four-year term will extend until just after the games start and her performance in the run-up will be closely watched.

A key challenge will be getting a grip on swelling costs, seen as possibly double or triple the reported original forecast of 730 billion yen ($6.92 billion).

The Tokyo Games have also been hit by one embarrassment after another.

Last year Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had to tear up blueprints for a new Olympic stadium because of ballooning costs, while organisers ditched the official logo after the designer was accused of plagiarism. A new one was solicited.

Such fiascoes, however, have since been overshadowed by allegations of corruption, and French prosecutors have launched an investigation into alleged bribes linked to Tokyo's bid. Organisers have denied wrongdoing.

Other key issues in the election were Tokyo's dire childcare shortage and overseeing disaster response plans and preparations due to perennial earthquake threats to the capital.

ANKARA/ISTANBUL — Turkey on Saturday released more than 750 soldiers who had been detained after an abortive coup, state media reported, while President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he would drop lawsuits against those who had insulted him, in a one-time gesture of "unity".

More than 60,000 people have been detained, removed or suspended over suspected links with the coup attempt, when a faction of the military commandeered tanks, helicopters and fighter jets and attempted to topple the government.

Turkey's Western allies have condemned the coup, in which Erdogan has said 237 people were killed and more than 2,100 were wounded, but have been rattled by the scale of the crackdown since.

The purges have targeted supporters of US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, accused by Ankara of masterminding the July 15-16 failed coup. The cleric denies the charges and Erdogan's critics say the president is using the purges to clamp down on dissent.

State-run Anadolu Agency reported that 758 soldiers were released on the recommendation of prosecutors after giving testimony. A judge agreed, calling their detention unnecessary, Anadolu said.

Another 231 soldiers remain in custody, it said.

Turkey's military, the second-largest in NATO, has been hard hit in the wake of the coup. On Thursday, 99 colonels were promoted to the rank of general or admiral, following the dishonourable discharge of nearly 1,700 military personnel over their alleged roles in the coup.

About 40 per cent of all generals and admirals in the military have been dismissed since the coup.

Turkish Defence Minister Fikri Isik told broadcaster NTV on Friday that the shake-up in the military was not yet over, adding that military academies would now be a target of "cleansing".

Turkey's military is already stretched, given the violence in the mainly Kurdish southeast, and threats from Daesh attacks on its border with Syria.

The army killed 35 Kurdish militants after they attempted to storm a base in the southeastern Hakkari province early on Saturday, military officials said.

The head of the pro-Kurdish opposition told Reuters that the government’s chance to revive a wrecked peace process with Kurdish rebels has been missed as Erdogan taps nationalist sentiment to consolidate support.

Erdogan’s lawsuits

In an unexpected move, Erdogan said late on Friday he would drop, as a one-off gesture, all lawsuits filed against people for insulting him. He said the decision was triggered by feelings of “unity” against the coup attempt.

It could also be aimed at silencing his Western critics. Prosecutors have opened more than 1,800 cases against people for insulting Erdogan since he became president in 2014, the justice minister said earlier this year. Those targeted include journalists, cartoonists and even children.

It was not immediately clear whether Erdogan would also drop his legal action against German comedian Jan Boehmermann, who earlier this year recited a poem on television suggesting Erdogan engaged in bestiality and watched child pornography, prompting the president to file a complaint with German prosecutors that he had been insulted.

Erdogan also lashed out at the West on Friday, accusing his allies of failing to show solidarity with Turkey over the failed coup, saying those who worried over the fate of coup supporters instead of Turkish democracy could not be friends of Ankara.

“The attitude of many countries and their officials over the coup attempt in Turkey is shameful in the name of democracy,” Erdogan told hundreds of supporters at the presidential palace in the Turkish capital.

“Any country and any leader who does not worry about the life of Turkish people and our democracy as much as they worry about the fate of coupists are not our friends,” said Erdogan, who narrowly escaped capture and perhaps death on the night of the coup.

He also criticised the European Council and the European Union, which Turkey aspires to be a part of, for their failure to pay a visit to offer condolences, saying their criticism was “shameful”.

European leaders worry that their differences with Erdogan could prompt him to retaliate and put an end to a historic deal, agreed in March, to stem the wave of migrants to Europe.

“The success of the pact so far is fragile. President Erdogan has several times hinted he wants to terminate the agreement,” European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker told Austria’s Kurier newspaper in an interview, when asked if the pact could fall apart

Erdogan has blamed Gulen for masterminding the attempted coup and has called on Washington to extradite him. Turkish officials have suggested the United States could extradite him based on strong suspicion while President Obama last week insisted Turkey must first present evidence of Gulen’s alleged complicity in the failed coup.

Court reporters

On Saturday, 56 employees of Turkey’s constitutional court were suspended from their jobs as part of the investigation into the alleged coup, private broadcaster Haberturk TV reported.

Among those, more than 20 court reporters were detained, it reported.

The number of public sector workers removed from their posts since the coup attempt now stands at more than 66,000, including some 43,000 people in education, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported on Friday.

Interior Minister Efkan Ala said more than 18,000 people had been detained over the failed coup, and that 50,000 passports had been cancelled. The labour ministry said it was investigating 1,300 staff over their possible involvement.

Erdogan has said that Gulen harnessed his extensive network of schools, charities and businesses, built up in Turkey and abroad over decades, to create a secretive “parallel state” that aimed to take over the country.

The government is now going after Gulen’s network of schools and other institutions abroad. Since the coup, Somalia has already shut two schools and a hospital believed to have links to Gulen, and other governments have received similar requests from Ankara, although not all have been willing to comply.