Your morning five: Turkey strikes after mine disaster

We tell you five things you need to know this morning.

1. Turkish workers declare a one-day strike. A mine explosion that killed at least 274 workers trapped inside sparked a backlash among the country’s labour community. The Confederation of Revolutionary Trade Unions of Turkey claimed several unions supported the action. Arzu Cerkezoglu, the group’s leader, blamed the disaster on privatization in the mining industry. The government says safety inspectors toured the mine on a regular basis.

2. Mounties arrest a suspected passport fraudster. The RCMP say Harbi Mohamoud ​Gabad has supplied eight fake passports to elements of Canada’s criminal underworld. Among the recipients were members of the Alkhalil family, who are known by police for alleged cocaine trafficking and violent crime. The Mounties’ search warrant of Gabad’s Gatineau, Que., home outlined a complex scheme that saw him produce fake passports worth thousands of dollars.

3. Thailand’s army turns on anti-government protests. The months-long stalemate between demonstrators and the government they insist is illegitimate stretches on in Bangkok. Protesters disrupted a meeting acting Prime Minister Niwatthamrong Boonsongphaisan and the country’s Election Commission at an air force base. An armed group attacked the Bangkok demonstrators, killing three and wounding 20. No one took responsibility for the assault, which included grenades. The army has threatened to intervene, but BBC reports a coup d’état is unlikely.

4. Jim Prentice denies merger allegations. If ever a word made Prentice twitch nervously, merger would be that word. The soon-to-be declared candidate for Alberta’s premiership lost a race for the federal Progressive Conservative leadership in 2003, all thanks to that word. Peter MacKay pledged not to merge the federal PCs with the Canadian Alliance, and cobbled together enough support to defeat Prentice. Months later, of course, the parties united. Now, allegations that someone in the Prentice camp wants to merge the provincial PCs with the Wildrose Party are somehow hard to imagine.

5. Nigerians kill Boko Haram fighters. Vigilantes ambushed and killed at least 41 of the terrorists in northern Nigeria after rumours that Boko Haram was planning a fresh attack on a nearby village. They even took prisoners. The armed civilians say the Nigerian military isn’t doing enough to combat the terrorist threat. The preemptive attack occurred near Kalabalge, a village in the same state, Borno, where Boko Haram abducted and detained more than 300 girls.