Michigan’s Rashida Tlaib and Minnesota’s Ilhan Omar both made history Tuesday by winning their elections and becoming the first Muslim women to be elected to the U.S. Congress. Source: Hürriyet Daily News
Immigration
The draft legislation, likely to be submitted to parliament on Friday, has come under attack from both the opposition and members of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s party, but business leaders say it is desperately needed. Source: NDTV
He spoke a day after Austria said it would follow the United States and Hungary in backing out of the UN pact over concerns that it would blur the line between legal and illegal migration. A minister in Poland’s arch-conservative government has also recommended his country quit the agreement. Source: Cyprus Mail
President Trump said Wednesday that he “wouldn’t be surprised” if billionaire philanthropist George Soros or someone else is funding the caravan of Central American migrants moving toward the U.S.
“I wouldn’t be surprised,” Trump told reporters outside the White House when asked if “someone” is paying for the caravan. Source The Hill
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday the United States could send as many as 15,000 troops to the border with Mexico, as he hardens his stance against a caravan of migrants fleeing violence and poverty in Central America. Source: Reuters
Visiting Berlin for Chancellor Angela Merkel’s African business summit, Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi spoke to DW about political turmoil in his country, migration issues, and when a leader should step down. Source: Deutsche Welle
Austria will not sign on to a landmark UN pact regulating global migration. The right-wing government of Sebastian Kurz is following in the footsteps of leaders from the United States and Hungary. Source: Deutsche Welle
Catalonia suffered a fifth consecutive night of rioting on Friday after violence erupted in Barcelona following a peaceful demonstration attended by more than 500,000 people in protest at the heavy sentences handed down to Catalan politicians and activists. The Guardian
Trains across France are severely disrupted on Friday after the network was hit by unexpected strike action. The last-minute strike was announced on Thursday evening and is over safety concerns following an accident, say unions. Source The Local
Retired Navy Admiral William McRaven explains why he wrote an op-ed in the New York Times titled “Our Republic Is Under Attack from the President” where he argued that President Trump is undermining many American institutions.Source CNN
Catalan President Quim Torra has called for a new independence referendum within two years. Protests continue after Spain’s Supreme Court sentenced nine Catalan leaders to lengthy jail terms for the 2017 referendum. Source Deutsche Welle
Despite his advanced age, the defendant is being tried in a youth court because he was 17 years old when he joined the SS as a guard at the camp, according to a press release from Hamburg’s district court. Source CNN
Christophe Castaner said Thursday that a “60th attack” had been foiled since 2013, “just before” the killing at the police headquarters in Paris on October 3rd. The interior minister said it was a hijacking project. Source RTL
The mayor of East Samos has warned that a fire at its Vathy migrant reception and processing center earlier his week has brought the eastern Aegean island to breaking point as hundreds of people are having to sleep in the streets and public squares. Source Ekathimerini
The Una-Sana Canton’s (USK) Interior Ministry started relocating hundreds of illegal migrants residing in the northern Bosnian city of Bihac to the newly formed Vucjak migrant centre, Uskinfo.ba portal reported on Tuesday. Source N1
Turkey’s Defense Minister Hulusi Akar on Sunday, October 13, posted a map of Turkey on his Facebook page, which included northern Greece and the Greek islands of the Aegean, the entire Cyprus, as well as half of Syria. In a message in Turkish Akar wrote” We have no eye’s on anyone’s land. We will only take back what is ours.” Source Greek City Times
Protesters and police in Spain have clashed violently on a second day of rallies in Barcelona.
The demonstrations are against the jailing of nine pro-Catalan leaders convinced of sedition on Monday.
Today, farmers are protesting against the measures proposed to cut down on nitrogen emissions. The location of this protest is The Hague and the area around Bilthoven. The farmers are, however, not welcome at the Binnenhof or in the city centre and to ensure they don’t try their luck, the Ministry of Defence is supporting the police in cordoning off the city centre (including the Binnenhof) to large vehicles. Source I Am
Authorities from Turkey issued two new Navigational Telexes (NAVTEX) on Thursday, blocking off the regions of the sea west of Cyprus and southeast of the Greek island of Limnos in the Northern Aegean Sea.
According to local reports, Turkey is continuing its game of ramping up tensions in both Greece and Cyprus’ Exclusive Economic Zones, where it says it will conduct military exercises and maneuvers with its Navy, using live fire. Source Greek city times
France’s Renault on Thursday cut its revenue guidance for 2019 further and lowered its profitability forecast, citing difficulties in markets such as Turkey and Argentina as carmakers grapple with a broad-based slump in auto sales.
Renault, which has just rejigged its top management as it tries to draw a line under a scandal surrounding former boss Carlos Ghosn, said sales were likely to drop between 3% and 4% this year. Source ET Auto
Putin tells UAE officials they ‘will not be disappointed’ as two sides sign deals in energy, tech and health sectors. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s has told officials in the United Arab Emirates they “will not be disappointed” as he wrapped up a short Gulf tour by signing deals worth more than $1.3bn in Abu Dhabi. Source Al Jazeera
The International Monetary Fund is growing even more pessimistic about the global economy, as higher import tariffs are strangling manufacturing activity and international trade. Source Market Watch
Russian gas monopoly Gazprom and Germany’s Linde signed on 3 October an agreement to create a joint engineering venture to develop process, design and engineering documentation for natural gas processing and liquefaction facilities in Russia. Source New Europe
Conventional oil and gas discoveries during the past three years are at the lowest levels in seven decades, and aren’t expected to recover, a new report said. Source Energy Voice
The US has also been pressuring European countries to not let 5G equipment manufactured by Huawei gain a foothold – but it’s looking as if most of Europe isn’t on the same page. On that note, Germany has just finalized rules for 5G rollout and the country doesn’t believe that Huawei poses a threat. Take a look below for more details. Source Wccftech
League leader Matteo Salvini said on Monday the euro was here to stay and he hoped that nobody in his far-right, euroskeptic party would ever again raise doubts over Italy’s membership of the single currency. Source Reuters
Tyre maker Michelin said Thursday it would close a French-based factory with 619 employees next year as competition from cheaper Asian manufacturers knocks its profit margin. Source The Local
Continuing its downward spiral for consecutive 11th month, passenger vehicle sales plunged by 23.69 per cent in September, as per the latest data from SAIM (Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers). The report says commercial vehicle sales dipped 62.11 per cent in September. Passenger vehicle sales dropped to 2,23,317 units, while passenger car sales dropped by 33.4 per cent to 131,281 units. Source India
- Two rockets struck an Iranian tanker traveling through the Red Sea off the coast of Saudi Arabia on Friday, Iranian officials said.
- It is the latest incident in the region amid months of heightened tensions between Tehran and the U.S.
- Iranian state television said the explosion damaged two storerooms aboard the unnamed oil tanker and caused an oil leak into the Red Sea near the Saudi port city of Jiddah. Source CNBC
