Erdogan slams UN handling of refugee crisis

BEIRUT — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has fired back at the United Nations for demanding that Turkey open its border to tens of thousands of more Syrian refugees, accusing the world body of being ineffective over the refugee crisis and of not shouldering the burden like Turkey. A Russian-backed Syrian government offensive around the Syrian city of Aleppo has sent tens of thousands of people fleeing to the Turkish border in recent days. Turkey, already home to 2.5 million Syrian refugees, is also providing assistance to the new refugees on the Syrian side of the border. But it has not let them in, prompting UNHCR on Tuesday to call on Turkey to admit them. Erdogan responded Wednesday by saying the UN had not assisted Turkey sufficiently. He says of the world body  "What is your use? ... how many refugees have you taken in?" Explosives seized; 34 arrested Turkey's state-run agency says military officials have stopped a group of 34 people at the border with Syria and seized luggage containing four suicide vests and explosives. Anadolu Agency, citing unnamed security sources Wednesday, said four men, 10 women and 20 children were stopped near the town of Oguzeli, in Gaziantep province. It wasn't clear when they were detained, but Anadolu said that security forces had acted on a tip about plans to smuggle explosives across the border. The luggage contained up to 15 kg of explosives. There was no information on the nationalities of those detained. Anadolu said an investigation was underway. — AP