Twelve people were killed and 20 sustained injuries after a minibus carrying illegal migrants crashed Sunday in the Muradiye district of Van province.

Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD), firefighters, gendarmerie and medical teams were sent to the scene after reports of the crush.

The minibus caught fire and the flames were extinguished by firefighters. The injured were transferred to nearby hospitals.

Muradiye District Governor and Deputy Mayor Erkan Savar, Provincial Gendarmerie Commander Brig. Gen. Yuksel Yigit and District Gendarmerie Commander Lieut. Col. Evren Kaptan were at the scene receiving information from officials./aa

The coffins of 19 victims killed in a genocide in Srebrenica were moved to the Potocari Memorial Cemetery, where they will be buried Sunday.

The victims, who will be buried on the 26th anniversary of the genocide in 1995, in which at least 8,372 Bosniak civilians were brutally killed by Serbian forces, were brought to the cemetery on shoulders from the old battery factory used as a base by UN soldiers during the war

Azmir Osmanovic, who was only 16 when he was killed, is the youngest victim to be buried this year. Husein Kurbasic, the oldest, was 63.

Other victims to be buried include Vejsil Hamzabegovic, Muhidin Mehmedovic, Ramiz Selimovic, Esnaf Halilovic, Muamer Mujic, Mehmed Beganovic, Hajro Aljic, Jusuf Aljic, Zajim Hasanovic, Asim Nukic, Nezir Dautovic, Ibrahim Avdagic, Jusuf Halilovic, Salih Dzananovic, Meho Karahodzic, Fikret Kiveric and Zilha Delic.

After the funerals, the number of burials at the cemetery will rise to 6,671.

A three-day peace march organized annually on the forest path that was used by civilians fleeing the genocide that started in Srebrenica in eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina on July 11, 1995, trying to reach Tuzla, ended with the participants reaching the Potocari Memorial Cemetery.

Participants of the march, which was held for the seventeenth time this year, prayed for victims at the cemetery.

Srebrenica genocide

More than 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were killed when Bosnian Serb forces attacked Srebrenica in July 1995, despite the presence of Dutch peacekeeping troops.

Serb forces were trying to wrest territory from Bosnian Muslims and Croats to form a state.

The UN Security Council declared Srebrenica a “safe area” in the spring of 1993. But troops led by Gen. Mladic overran the UN zone. Mladic was later found guilty of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide,

Dutch troops failed to act as Serb forces occupied the area, killing 2,000 men and boys on July 11, 1995 alone.

About 15,000 residents of Srebrenica fled to the surrounding mountains but Serb troops hunted down and killed 6,000 more people.

Bodies of victims have been found in 570 different areas across the country.

In 2007, the International Court of Justice at The Hague ruled that genocide had been committed in Srebrenica.

On June 8, UN tribunal judges upheld in a second-instance trial, a verdict sentencing Mladic to life in prison for the genocide, persecution, crimes against humanity, extermination, and other war crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina./agencies

The Syrian Opposition Coalition (SOC) unveiled new documents on Saturday, proving the Assad regime’s involvement in war crimes against civilians in a hospital in the city of Homs.

Speaking at a news conference in Istanbul, Nasr al-Hariri, the president of the National Coalition of Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, shared documents that prove the regime’s involvement in the mass murder of 5,210 people in Abdul Qader Al-Shaqfa Hospital in the al-Waer district of the central Homs city.

He noted that the person who leaked the documents from the hospital currently lives in the liberated areas and that the documents are official and were issued by the Assad regime as they carry stamps of the forensic medicine, hospital administration, and regime’s security services.

Al-Hariri stressed that the SOC will work with the UN, EU, US, UK, UN’s Human Rights Council, and other international organizations to establish effective mechanisms for holding the Assad regime accountable for these crimes.

In its 10th report, released in 2013, the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic said the Assad regime used Abdul Qader Al-Shaqfa Hospital as a military base to suppress protests.

Syria has been ravaged by a civil war since early 2011, when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protesters with unexpected ferocity./aa

Results of a PCR or an antigen test will be obligatory at entrances to indoor spaces of restaurants and cafes as part of new regulations adopted by the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) for the coronavirus, officials said Friday. 

A statement by the Health Ministry said a series of new criteria was set by the TRNC and countries will be divided by color in line with a coronavirus status.

Foreigners will be denied entry if they visited any country designated in the red category. Turkish Cypriots will be exempted.

Those coming from red countries, regardless of vaccination status, will be granted permission to enter on condition they can demonstrate a negative CPR test in the previous 72 hours from travel and accept a stay under quarantine for 10 days.

As for those who are vaccinated and recovered, and coming from orange-colored countries, they will be eligible for entry without quarantine if they have a negative test.

Foreigners from orange-colored countries who are not vaccinated will be asked to show a negative test result and will be put under a 10-day quarantine.

No restrictions will be imposed on travelers from green-colored countries if they have been vaccinated or recovered. Those without vaccination must show a negative result.

Those from grey-colored countries, whether vaccinated or not, will be required to show a similar result and remain under quarantine for two weeks.

In line with the criteria, those required to stay under quarantine will have to share their address in the TRNC, download the "Stay Safe Application" and stay in quarantine for seven to 14 days with a wristband.

In the TRNC, those who had contact with a COVID-19 patient are required to stay under quarantine for 10 days.

While restaurants and taverns will continue to operate at one-third capacity, customers at indoor areas, if they have been vaccinated, will have to show results PCR or antigen tests administered in the past seven days. The period for customers without vaccination will be the last 72 hours./aa

India registered more than 1,200 coronavirus deaths in the last 24 hours, according to official figures on Saturday. 

With a total of 1,206 news deaths, virus-related fatalities have reached 407,145, according to the Health Ministry.

The country has registered less than 1,000 daily deaths in the past few days.

A statement by the ministry said 42,766 new cases were registered during the last 24 hours.

"India's active caseload currently stands at 455,033. Active cases constitute 1.4 8% of total cases," it said.

The total infection mark stands at 30.7 million as of Saturday morning.

The country is witnessing an overall decline in cases and deaths after a record surge in May.

Health officials, however, expressed concern on Friday about reports that a large number of tourists thronging to hill stations in northern India are not following COVID-19 appropriate behavior.

"Is it not an open invitation for [COVID-19] virus to infect us?," Lav Agarwal, a senior Health Ministry official said during a news conference Friday.

He was referring to video footage from northern Uttarakhand state, where a group of tourists was seen at a waterfall without masks.

Health Ministry figures show more than 370 million vaccine doses have been administered in an ongoing vaccination drive./aa

The Dutch government announced Friday that coronavirus measures were again tightened to curb a surge. 

At a news conference along with Health Minister Hugo de Jonge, Prime Minister Mark Rutte said new restrictions will be implemented at 6 a.m. Saturday.

The measures will remain in effect until Aug. 13.

Cafes and restaurants will be closed from midnight to 6 a.m. and businesses will be able to receive customers according to social distancing measures.

Discos and bars will not be allowed to open and live performances, including concerts, will not be allowed.

Events lasting more than one day will be reduced to 24 hours.

The period of negative test results will be reduced from 40 hours to 24 hours.

Businesses operating in the service sector will accept customers, according to the distance rule.

Rutte said the number of daily cases has risen much faster than anticipated. "Even if we don't want it, it is necessary," he said.

The prime minister said officials are worried other countries will add the Netherlands to a red list of countries with travel restrictions.

De Jonge said if the increase continues, the health sector may face difficulties, especially in big cities. 

While measures were largely lifted June 26, the use of masks was compulsory on public transport and high schools.

The country’s opposition contends that the government relaxed restrictions too quickly in June.  

Coronavirus cases surge

A total of 6,986 people were diagnosed with the virus in the last 24 hours, according to figures by the Netherland’s National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM).

The figure is the highest seen since May 8, while the number has tripled compared to the previous week.

Daily cases have been below 1,000 since mid-June but that number reached 3,000 last week and approached 7,000 on Friday.

The mutated and more contagious Delta variant of the virus is thought to account for at least one-third of new cases in the Netherlands./aa