More than 15,500 public personnel in Turkey have been dismissed from their posts with two new state of emergency decrees, the Official Gazette reported early on Nov. 22. A total of 15,726 personnel have been dismissed, mostly from the police, over suspected links to the movement of the U.S.-based preacher Fethullah Gülen, believed to have masterminded the failed July 15 coup attempt.
Most migrants in Libya want to remain in the country and do not intend to head for Europe. The revelation came in the International Organization for Migration’s (IOM) latest Libya Displacement Tracking Matrix Flow Monitoring Analytical report. Libya remains the main country of intended destination for 56 percent of all 1,946 migrants surveyed, with 17 percent destined for Italy, 7 percent to Germany and 5 percent to France, the report says. The report says 81 to 83 percent of migrants from Egypt, Chad and Sudan surveyed intended to stay in Libya. Only 16 percent of Nigerian migrants intended to stay in Libya while 43 percent intended to travel to Italy, 12 percent to Italy, 12 percent to Germany and the remaining 29 percent to a variety of other countries. The demographic age of migrants surveyed were in their twenties, averaging of 29 and 98 percent were male. Most were from the countries bordering Libya: Niger, Egypt and Sudan. Nigerians were the fourth most represented group making up 10 percent of those surveyed. Economic reasons were given by 88 percent of all respondents as the main factors driving them to leave their countries of origin as well as the main reason determining migrants’ choice of destination. Seventy-four present of respondents said that they had spent over 6 months in Libya.
A French national has been captured at an Islamic State (IS) training camp and he is held at Benghazi’s Grenada military prison. A video of him was broadcast yesterday by French TV channel M6 but it did not state where he was arrested nor they revealed his name. We know he was of Algerian origin and from the east of France. Questioned by a French reporter, the man said he had been a second-hand car salesman and that he was gone to Libya planning to move on to Syria and join the Nusra Front, the jihadist organisation previously part of Al-Qaeda. He had not intended to join IS. He refused to send a message to his family on the basis that French intelligence will know who he is soon.
Director of the Office of the Directorate General of Programmes (ODGP) at the Council of Europe Verena Taylor asserted the council’s willingness to support the Ministry of Relations with the Constitutional Authorities, Civil Society and Human Rights in adapting laws to the Constitution. At her meeting Tuesday in Tunis with Minister of Relations with the Constitutional Authorities, Civil Society and Human Rights Mehdi Ben Gharbia, she expressed the Council’s commitment to support conducting studies on the reality of parties and minorities in Tunisia. “The Venice Commission is also willing to give its opinion on draft laws on constitutional authorities under preparation,” she added.
Army spokesman Brig. Gen. Sharaf Luqman said on Monday that the US-backed Saudi-led aggression coalition fighter jets and their mercenaries have committed 114 ceasefire breaches, which have been monitored and documented in several Yemeni provinces. The Saudi-led alliance, in addition to launching a series of air strikes across Yemen in clear violation to the ceasefire, the coalition also dropped internationally prohibited cluster weapons during the two-day truce. If the alliance of aggression continues breaching the truce, Luqman said it will threaten the peace negotiations and Muscat`s principles Agreement.
Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency says troops have gunned down a suicide bomber at a transit camp for refugees from Boko Haram in the northeastern city of Maiduguri. The Saturday attack is the sixth in three weeks in the Nigerian city that was the birthplace of the Islamic extremist uprising that has killed more than 20 000 people in seven years. Security forces have foiled most of the attacks. Boko Haram has recently stepped up attacks after a months-long lull.
Nigerian troops fighting the terrorist Boko Haram group in the north-east state of Borno on Sunday intercepted two suspected members of the sect believed to be on a mission to procure drugs for libido enhancement, and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases and other illnesses. A military insider told the two men were intercepted by men of the 112 Task Force Battalion as they tried to cross from Anadawa village to Minari on motorcycle. The troops, who mounted a roadblock at Kasasewa village, trailed the suspected terrorists to Anadawa and quickly opened fire on them after realising they were fully armed.
Participants in the 2016 summit conference of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum have reaffirmed their intention to continue the formation of a free trade zone in the area. APEC economies will stay committed to the accords made in the format of the World Trade Organization. Leaders of APEC economies will refrain from devaluations of their national currencies and manipulations with exchange rates. They also reaffirmed the important role of mutually-reinforcing policies to buttress our efforts to achieve strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth.
On Monday, a source in the Kievsky district court in Simferopol, affirmed that has arrested for two months two Ukrainians suspected of espionage. According to the source, Both suspects, who earlier served in Ukraine’s Navy, have confessed to the crimes. Their task was to collect data on Russia’s Black Sea Fleet and servicemen. Russia’s Federal Security Service arrested on the 9th of November three other members of Ukraine’s sabotage group from the main intelligence directorate of Ukraine’s Defense Ministry. On the 10th of August, Russia’s FSB announced the detention of a group of saboteurs and the deterrence of planned terrorist attacks on the Crimean Peninsula that had been plotted by Ukraine’s main intelligence directorate.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has reportedly pleaded with the people of Niger Delta to stop the destruction of pipelines and embrace agriculture. Buhari urged the people of the region to take advantage of the huge potential in agriculture and stop the destruction of oil and gas pipelines, which only served to destroy the country’s ecosystem and economy. He said that his administration was committed to doing “everything possible” to support Niger Delta to achieve their potential in agriculture which is far more than its endowments in oil and gas.