Turkish Opposition Leader Calls for Unity to Oust Erdogan

Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu addresses his party MPs during a meeting at the Turkish parliament in Ankara on April 8, 2014. REUTERS/Umit Bektas
Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu addresses his party MPs during a meeting at the Turkish parliament in Ankara on April 8, 2014. REUTERS/Umit Bektas
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Turkish Opposition Leader Calls for Unity to Oust Erdogan

Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu addresses his party MPs during a meeting at the Turkish parliament in Ankara on April 8, 2014. REUTERS/Umit Bektas
Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu addresses his party MPs during a meeting at the Turkish parliament in Ankara on April 8, 2014. REUTERS/Umit Bektas

Opposition leader and President of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) Kemal Kilicdaroglu is calling on all Turkish parties, citizens, and democracy supporters to unite ranks to overthrow the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) headed by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The AKP has been in power in Turkey for nearly two decades.

Kilicdaroglu said that all equality-loving citizens from all walks of life should come together and support democracy, regardless of what political party they had voted for in the past.

Apart from rallying for democracy, Kilicdaroglu reaffirmed the need for Turkey to hold early elections.

The CHP, which performed remarkably in the 2019 local elections, and other opposition parties have repeatedly demanded heading for early parliamentary and presidential elections to rid the country of the current economic deterioration.

They accuse the government of mismanagement and inability of providing solutions to crises sweeping the nation.

Kilicdaroglu, while inaugurating a number of projects implemented by the CHP-held municipality of Izmir, pledged to make several amendments during the first six months in office if his party wins the elections.

“We will solve the problems of hungry children and families with financial problems no matter what political party they support,” he vowed at the inauguration ceremony.

According to Kilicdaroglu, CHP municipalities provided quadruple the social assistance provided by the municipalities affiliated with the ruling party.

“We took care to preserve the dignity of those receiving this aid, and we did not show the poverty of the needy, nor did we display our aid to the poor and needy in front of the cameras, as the ruling party does,” he asserted.

Kilicdaroglu pledged to end poverty in Turkey, where he said he would not allow “any child to go to sleep hungry.”



Russia: Man Suspected of Shooting Top General Detained in Dubai

An investigator works outside a residential building where the assassination attempt on Russian Lieutenant General Vladimir Alexeyev took place in Moscow, Russia February 6, 2026. REUTERS/Anastasia Barashkova
An investigator works outside a residential building where the assassination attempt on Russian Lieutenant General Vladimir Alexeyev took place in Moscow, Russia February 6, 2026. REUTERS/Anastasia Barashkova
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Russia: Man Suspected of Shooting Top General Detained in Dubai

An investigator works outside a residential building where the assassination attempt on Russian Lieutenant General Vladimir Alexeyev took place in Moscow, Russia February 6, 2026. REUTERS/Anastasia Barashkova
An investigator works outside a residential building where the assassination attempt on Russian Lieutenant General Vladimir Alexeyev took place in Moscow, Russia February 6, 2026. REUTERS/Anastasia Barashkova

Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Sunday that the man suspected of shooting top Russian military intelligence officer Vladimir Alexeyev in Moscow has been detained in Dubai and handed over to Russia.

Lieutenant General Vladimir Alexeyev, deputy head of the GRU, ⁠Russia's military intelligence arm, was shot several times in an apartment block in Moscow on Friday, investigators said. He underwent surgery after the shooting, Russian media ⁠said.

The FSB said a Russian citizen named Lyubomir Korba was detained in Dubai on suspicion of carrying out the shooting.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused Ukraine of being behind the assassination attempt, which he said was designed to sabotage peace talks. ⁠Ukraine said it had nothing to do with the shooting.

Alexeyev's boss, Admiral Igor Kostyukov, the head of the GRU, has been leading Russia's delegation in negotiations with Ukraine in Abu Dhabi on security-related aspects of a potential peace deal.


Factory Explosion Kills 8 in Northern China

Employees work on an electric vehicle (EV) production line at the Volkswagen Anhui factory in Hefei, Anhui province, China, February 4, 2026. REUTERS/Florence Lo
Employees work on an electric vehicle (EV) production line at the Volkswagen Anhui factory in Hefei, Anhui province, China, February 4, 2026. REUTERS/Florence Lo
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Factory Explosion Kills 8 in Northern China

Employees work on an electric vehicle (EV) production line at the Volkswagen Anhui factory in Hefei, Anhui province, China, February 4, 2026. REUTERS/Florence Lo
Employees work on an electric vehicle (EV) production line at the Volkswagen Anhui factory in Hefei, Anhui province, China, February 4, 2026. REUTERS/Florence Lo

An explosion at a biotech factory in northern China has killed eight people, Chinese state media reported Sunday, increasing the total number of fatalities by one.

State news agency Xinhua had previously reported that seven people died and one person was missing after the Saturday morning explosion at the Jiapeng biotech company in Shanxi province, citing local authorities.

Later, Xinhua said eight were dead, adding that the firm's legal representative had been taken into custody.

The company is located in Shanyin County, about 400 kilometers west of Beijing, AFP reported.

Xinhua said clean-up operations were ongoing, noting that reporters observed dark yellow smoke emanating from the site of the explosion.

Authorities have established a team to investigate the cause of the blast, the report added.

Industrial accidents are common in China due to lax safety standards.
In late January, an explosion at a steel factory in the neighboring province of Inner Mongolia left at least nine people dead.


Iran Warns Will Not Give Up Enrichment Despite US War Threat

Traffic moves through a street in Tehran on February 7, 2026. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)
Traffic moves through a street in Tehran on February 7, 2026. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)
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Iran Warns Will Not Give Up Enrichment Despite US War Threat

Traffic moves through a street in Tehran on February 7, 2026. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)
Traffic moves through a street in Tehran on February 7, 2026. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)

Iran will never surrender the right to enrich uranium, even if war "is imposed on us,” its foreign minister said Sunday, defying pressure from Washington.

"Iran has paid a very heavy price for its peaceful nuclear program and for uranium enrichment," Abbas Araghchi told a forum in Tehran.

"Why do we insist so much on enrichment and refuse to give it up even if a war is imposed on us? Because no one has the right to dictate our behavior," he said, two days after he met US envoy Steve Witkoff in Oman.

The foreign minister also declared that his country was not intimidated by the US naval deployment in the Gulf.

"Their military deployment in the region does not scare us," Araghchi said.