President of the Supreme Political Council, Saleh al-Sammad and his deputy Kasim Labuza held a meeting with Prime Minister Abdul Aziz Bin Habtoor. During the meeting, which was held on Tuesday, the officials reviewed the process of completing the formation of a new national salvation government. Prime Minister confirmed: “the time of declaring the new cabinet will be soon in the next few days.”
Committees of the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday adopted 10 resolutions against Israel. At least two of the resolutions involving Israel reportedly ignored Jewish ties to the Temple Mount, referring to the holy site by its Muslim name, Al Haram Al Sharif. One of the 10 resolutions passed is about the renewal of the mandate of a special committee to investigate ‘Israeli practices’. Among the resolutions voted on Tuesday were “Israeli practices affecting the human rights of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem”.
Acting Minister of Defense Husein Khairan met on Tuesday in Sana’a the acting Russian ambassador to Sana’a. During the meeting, they reviewed the current cooperation relations between the two countries, out of which the ongoing military cooperation between the two countries’ armies, in addition to a number of issues of common interest. Khairan affirmed readiness to facilitate tasks of the Russian acting ambassador in order to boost and expand cooperation relations between the Republic of Yemen and Russia. For his part, the Russian acting ambassador affirmed his country’s firm stance with Yemen’s unity, security and stability, affirming that he will exert all efforts in order to translate that in a way that serves relations of the two countries in different fields.
African leaders review Libya crisis at Addis Ababa mini-summit: “there is no military solution” says AU chairman, Chad’s Idriss Deby despite insistence from the head of the African Union Commission, Ms Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, that the “dire situation in Libya cannot be allowed to continue”, African leaders attending a mini-summit on the Libyan crisis held in the Ethiopian capital today were given little encouragement that a breakthrough was on the horizon. Chairing the meeting, Chadian President Idriss Deby who is the AU’s current head said that the AU could not support any military intervention in Libya by anyone hoping to try and normalise the situation there. Instead, international efforts to promote peace had to be followed and respected. The mini-summit was convened by Deby to assess the situation and international efforts to resolve it.
Libya’s Audit Bureau announced yesterday that it has frozen the bank accounts of a number of companies and individuals. It did not state how many nor did it name the companies or individuals. In the short report scant of details, the state financial watchdog said the concerned accounts were being frozen for ‘‘causing harm to public funds and the national economy’’ due to being implicated in ‘‘foreign currency smuggling and forged document’’. The Audit Bureau ordered all Libyan banks to refrain from opening any bank accounts for the concerned parties without its prior permission. The watchdog also froze the accounts of an unnamed company accused specifically of smuggling 9 million Euros. It ordered that the bank accounts of this company are to remain frozen until it refunded the amount in Euros into the Central Bank of Libya’s (CBL) account.
“We have to invent new relations between Tunisia and France,” Prime Minister Youssef Chahed said on the eve of his official visit to France (November 9 and 10), the first to a European country since he took office as PM. The political commitment of France to Tunisia “needs to be taken to a higher level.” Being “the exception in the Arab Spring, the challenge now is a successful transition to a new model,” he stressed in an interview with French newspaper “Le Monde” on Tuesday. Youssef Chahed said Tunisia defends the same universal values of democracy and human rights on which Europe is built and therefore “we have to be a strategic partner with a strong commitment from the international community.” Asked about his decision to postpone salary increases in the public service and to impose new taxes on liberal professions, the Prime Minister said Tunisia is facing “a difficult economic situation (requiring) tightening a bit the belt”. “We need everyone to be involved in these sacrifices to rescue the public finances,” he said.
An agreement will soon be signed between the Ministry of Interior and the Tunisian League for the Defence of Human Rights (LTDH) on visiting places of detention, said new president of the League, Jamel M’sallem on Tuesday. Following a meeting between Interior Minister Hedi Majdoub and the new executive committee of the League, M’sallem said the meeting discussed ways to identify common work instruments to address several issues, particularly those related to complaints received by the LTDH and visiting places of detention. The meeting, he added, is part of a series of meetings initiated by the new board of the LTDH to establish a first contact with the officials of the Executive and explain the organisation’s work framework for the coming period. According to Jamel M’sallem, the meeting with the Interior Minister was at the request of the Tunisian League for the defence of human rights.
Heavily armed gunmen riding motor bikes and other vehicles raided a village and killed five soldiers in Niger near the border with Mali early on Tuesday, the Interior Ministry said, amid signs of a growing Islamist insurgency in the region. Dozens of attackers entered Banigabou, about 20 km (12 miles) from the frontier before dawn – gunshots rang out for two hours, said residents. The ministry did not name the raiders, though Islamist militants based in Mali’s desert north have been pushing south toward its capital and over borders in the fragile Sahel region into Niger and Burkina Faso.
At least two soldiers are feared dead after a bomb explosion along Banki – Usmanari – Kumshe road in Borno State. About eight soldiers of the 152 TF Battalion of the Nigerian Army were also injured in the explosion which occurred at about 8:10 a.m. One canter truck was destroyed in the explosion while the injured persons are currently receiving first aid treatment before they are evacuated by air to the hospital.
The Republican People’s Party (CHP) will continue to “stand by all the oppressed” in Turkey, despite growing pressure from the government, CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has vowed, refuting accusations that his party supported terrorism.