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Turkey Blames Bad Weather for Military Helicopter Crash

Soldiers and rescue workers stand around the wreckage after an army helicopter crashed in Bitlis, eastern Turkey, Thursday March 4, 2021. (IHA via AP )
Soldiers and rescue workers stand around the wreckage after an army helicopter crashed in Bitlis, eastern Turkey, Thursday March 4, 2021. (IHA via AP )
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Turkey Blames Bad Weather for Military Helicopter Crash

Soldiers and rescue workers stand around the wreckage after an army helicopter crashed in Bitlis, eastern Turkey, Thursday March 4, 2021. (IHA via AP )
Soldiers and rescue workers stand around the wreckage after an army helicopter crashed in Bitlis, eastern Turkey, Thursday March 4, 2021. (IHA via AP )

Turkey's defense minister on Friday blamed bad weather for a military helicopter crash that killed 10 soldiers and a senior commander in the country's restive southeast.

Lieutenant General Osman Erbas, who headed the army's 8th Corps based in the eastern Elazig province, was among those killed in Thursday's accident.

"Based on initial information and witnesses' statements, we determined that the accident occurred due to suddenly changing adverse weather conditions," the Anadolu state news agency quoted Defense Minister Hulusi Akara as saying.

Akara and Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu took teams of senior military figures to the crash site in the southeastern Bitlis province on Thursday.

Defense officials said a formal investigation into the incident had been launched.

The crash was the deadliest since 13 soldiers died in the southeastern Sirnak province near Turkey's border with Syria and Iraq in 2017.

The European Union and the United States immediately offered their condolences to the NATO ally after Thursday’s crash.

A Turkish diplomatic source said NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg also expressed his support in in a telephone call with Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.

The accident occurred in a region where Turkish forces have been conducting military operations against Kurdish fighters since 1984.

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World

US Sanctions Cuban State Oil Company

An old car drives past debris from a demolished house occupying part of the seaside promenade in the Centro Habana neighborhood, in Havana on June 9, 2026. (Photo by Pablo PORCIUNCULA / AFP)
An old car drives past debris from a demolished house occupying part of the seaside promenade in the Centro Habana neighborhood, in Havana on June 9, 2026. (Photo by Pablo PORCIUNCULA / AFP)
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US Sanctions Cuban State Oil Company

An old car drives past debris from a demolished house occupying part of the seaside promenade in the Centro Habana neighborhood, in Havana on June 9, 2026. (Photo by Pablo PORCIUNCULA / AFP)
An old car drives past debris from a demolished house occupying part of the seaside promenade in the Centro Habana neighborhood, in Havana on June 9, 2026. (Photo by Pablo PORCIUNCULA / AFP)

The United States issued sanctions against Cuban state oil company Unión Cuba-Petróleo (CUPET), the Treasury Department website showed on Thursday.

The action freezes any US assets of the ⁠company and generally bars ⁠Americans from dealing with it.

"Today, I am designating Cuba's state-owned oil and gas company Union Cuba-Petroleo (CUPET), key assets of which were unlawfully expropriated from American owners years ago," US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement.

Washington has imposed sanctions on an array of ⁠Cuban entities and people, including the island nation's president, as it seeks to intensify pressure on Cuba's communist leaders.

The sanctions follow the United States' declaration of a national emergency this ⁠year ⁠that would impose tariffs on any country that supplies oil to the island, a move that has resulted in frequent power outages.

World

Hazardous Materials Incident Prompts Pentagon Lockdown

FILE PHOTO: The Pentagon is seen from the air in Washington, US, March 3, 2022. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: The Pentagon is seen from the air in Washington, US, March 3, 2022. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts/File Photo
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Hazardous Materials Incident Prompts Pentagon Lockdown

FILE PHOTO: The Pentagon is seen from the air in Washington, US, March 3, 2022. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: The Pentagon is seen from the air in Washington, US, March 3, 2022. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts/File Photo

A hazardous materials incident put the Pentagon on lockdown on Thursday as fire officials investigated the air quality issue, defense and fire officials said.

"The Pentagon has sophisticated systems to ensure the safety of the building and its occupants. Those systems have detected an air quality issue ⁠necessitating precautionary measures ⁠until we determine its significance," Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in an email.

"The Department is executing standard protection protocols, including a shelter-in-place order for the affected area. Response teams are ⁠in place and ready to support building occupants."

The building was under lockdown, with people evacuated from several floors, CNN reported, citing unidentified sources. Floors two through five in corridors four through seven have been locked down, CNN said, citing two sources.

Another source reported seeing emergency responders were wearing full gas ⁠masks ⁠and chemical protection suits, CNN said.

A message sent by the Pentagon’s security team said additional testing was needed to determine the source of the problem, according to CNN.

The five-sided Pentagon building, hit during the Sept. 11, 2001 al Qaeda attacks is one of the world's largest office buildings.

World

China Sanctions Philippine Defense Chief for 'Irresponsible Remarks'

Philippines' Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr speaks at the IISS Shangri-La Dialogue security summit in Singapore, May 31, 2026. REUTERS/Caroline Chia
Philippines' Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr speaks at the IISS Shangri-La Dialogue security summit in Singapore, May 31, 2026. REUTERS/Caroline Chia
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China Sanctions Philippine Defense Chief for 'Irresponsible Remarks'

Philippines' Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr speaks at the IISS Shangri-La Dialogue security summit in Singapore, May 31, 2026. REUTERS/Caroline Chia
Philippines' Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr speaks at the IISS Shangri-La Dialogue security summit in Singapore, May 31, 2026. REUTERS/Caroline Chia

China announced on Thursday sanctions against the Philippines' defence minister over "irresponsible remarks", escalating tensions between Beijing and Manila as they grapple with maritime disputes.

Gilberto Teodoro and his spouse and child will be banned from entering China's mainland, Hong Kong and Macau, an unnamed foreign ministry spokesperson said in an online statement.

It added that "organizations and individuals in China" will not be allowed to "engage in any transaction, cooperation or other activities with him and his spouse and child".

Teodoro's rhetoric "undermines China's legitimate interests and sabotages China-Philippines relations", the statement said, without specifying which remarks it was referring to.

The two countries have in recent years often dealt with flare-ups in ongoing confrontations in the disputed South China Sea.

Beijing claims the strategic waterway nearly in its entirety, despite an international ruling that said its assertions are baseless.

China regularly deploys navy and coast guard vessels to bar the Philippines from important reefs and islands in the area.

At a summit in Singapore last month, Teodoro criticised Beijing's activities in the disputed waters, saying Manila "will not sacrifice our territorial integrity and sovereignty".

Asked last week about Teodoro's remarks at the summit, Beijing's foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said that he "is known to vilify China".

"All he cares is selfish personal gains to the point that he would perform political theatrics even when people's well-being is at stake," Mao said.