81 horses killed on Istanbul islands over glanders epidemic

22:16, December 19, 2019

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  Croatia votes in a three-horse presidential race

  Turnout in Croatias presidential election seems to be higher than in the last vote five years ago. (Photo: AFP)Croatians went to the polls Sunday in a presidential election that could weaken the ruling conservatives just as the country takes the helm of the European Unions rotating presidency.The pre-Christmas election, likely to be decided in a January 5 run-off, has evolved into a tight race between conservative incumbent Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic and front-running rivals on the right and the left.As she cast her own vote at a polling station in the capital Zagreb, 51-year-old Grabar-Kitarovic insisted that "every vote is important... in order that Croatia can be better and move forward."At 1030 GMT, four and half hours after voting started, turnout was nearly 16 percent, the electoral commission said, just over two percentage points higher than in the previous election in 2014.One voter, Mihajlo Glodovic, in his 60s, was among those who braved heavy rain."I fulfil my duty (to vote) but without big expectations," he told AFP, complaining that politics-related issues had become an "empty folklore".Grabar-Kitarovic has been president, a role with limited powers, since 2015.She is backed by HDZ, the centre-right party that has led Croatia for most of its independence since 1991.The countrys first female president has often wavered between representing the partys moderates and pandering to its nationalist faction.In her re-election bid, she is struggling to hold on to hardliners shifting to a right-wing folk-singer turned politician, Miroslav Skoro.Playing on an emotive symbol of the 1990s independence war, Grabar-Kitarovic held her final campaign rally Friday in eastern Vukovar, the town whose bloody siege by Serb forces became a byword for Croatian suffering during the conflict.She told the crowd she believed those who fought and died in the war "dont regret being killed since Croatia is (now) here".&#3...

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  Six more killed in India's fresh clashes over citizenship law

  At least six protesters died and several others injured in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh Friday in fresh clashes between police and demonstrators, taking the death toll to 16 in more than a week of unrest triggered by a controversial citizenship law.People participate in a protest rally against Citizen Amendment Act in Mumbai, India, December 20, 2019. (Photos: AP)According to officials, two people were killed in Bijnor while one each was killed in Sambhal, Firozabad, Meerut and Kanpur. During the clashes, five police officers, including three with bullet wounds, were being treated in hospital, a chief medical officer told reporters.Fridays protests broke out across many districts in the state. Thousands of protesters stood inside and on the steps of New Delhis Jama Masijd, one of Indias largest mosques, after Friday afternoon prayers. They waved Indian flags and shouted slogans against the government and the citizenship law.Much of the violence was in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, where protesters set fire to police posts and vehicles and hurled rocks at security forces despite prohibitory orders had been imposed to prevent the demonstrators in and around the mosque from meeting up with more demonstrators about four kilometers away in central Delhi.Indians gather for a protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act after Friday prayers outside Jama Masjid in New Delhi, India, December 20, 2019.Most of the detentions also were in Uttar Pradesh state, where more than 100 have been arrested and 3,305 detained since Thursday.Authorities had already taken numerous measures to contain the situation, including suspending internet access, imposing emergency laws, and shutting down shops and restaurants in sensitive pockets across the country.The controversial citizenship law allows Hindus, Christians and other religious minorities who are in India illegally to become citizens if they can show they were persecuted because of their religion ...

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  Council: Horse manure still OK on Texas city’s beaches

  In this Sept. 20, 2019, file photo, a child races into the surf to join family in Galveston, Texas. (Photo: AP)City leaders in Galveston have turned down a proposal that would require horseback riders to pick up what their animals leave behind on the beach after equestrians argued that horse manure is harmless.One person even brought a bag of manure to Thursday’s city council meeting while arguing against the measure, theGalveston County Daily Newsreported.“It is really pretty much non-toxic and doesn’t do anything,” said island veterinarian Lea Fistein, as she placed her fingers into the bag of manure. “It’s really the only feces I would touch with my hands.”City code requires people to clean up pet waste left behind on public beaches, but horses are exempt from that rule. City staff members had suggested lifting the exclusion for horses.Horse riders told the council that requiring riders to pick up manure would prevent people from riding on the beach because it’s difficult to carry the necessary equipment to remove the droppings.The council opted Thursday to keep the exclusion for horses but directed city staff to explore regulations for riding businesses or large groups of horses.