Libya - Page 3

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan took a four-day tour of Africa this week, trashing the former colonial powers of Europe and presenting Turkey as a more loyal and understanding development partner for Africans.

Nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan died in a Pakistani military hospital on Sunday at the age of 85, apparently a victim of the Wuhan coronavirus or one of its comorbidities. He was celebrated by Prime Minister Imran Khan as a “national hero” for turning Pakistan into a “nuclear weapon state.” Left unmentioned in the PM’s eulogy was AQ Khan’s role as a dangerous proliferator who sold nuclear secrets to Iran, North Korea, and Libya.

ABOARD GEO BARENTS (AP) — Libya’s coast guard Sunday intercepted a wooden boat carrying around 500 Europe-bound migrants off the country’s shore, the U.N. refugee agency said.

Hunter Biden reportedly demanded $2 million retainer plus “success fees” to unlock Libyan assets frozen by the Obama-Biden administration, according to newly discovered emails obtained by Business Insider. Though President Biden has claimed ignorance about Hunter’s family business schemes, the emails suggest otherwise. 

The Libyan National Army (LNA), the military force loyal to warlord Khalifa Haftar, reported losing two helicopters on Sunday during a military operation against their former allies, the front for Change and Concord in Chad (FACT).

Libyan warlord Khalifa Haftar, who laid siege to the capital city of Tripoli for 14 months until Turkish military intervention pushed his forces back in June 2020, has hired former Bill Clinton senior aide Lanny Davis and former Republican congressman Bob Livingston of Louisiana as lobbyists. Haftar is apparently trying to exert some influence over the next Libyan election, or possibly run for the presidency himself.

Italian Interior Minister Luciana Lamorgese has called on the European Union to develop an economic aid plan to funnel cash to Africa in the hopes of mitigating illegal migration.

At least 57 people have drowned off the coast of Libya after another boat carrying migrants capsized in the Mediterranean Sea, as people smugglers continue to operate in the area.

Libyan government officials, militia leaders, and officials in states involved in proxy battles there are increasingly concerned Saif al-Islam Qaddafi, son of late dictator Muammar Qaddafi, may run in a presidential election scheduled for December, Voice of America reported Monday.

Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi is expected to back a proposal to replicate the widely criticised European Union migrant deal with Turkey in North Africa as migrant numbers continue to surge, primarily into Italy.

The much-ballyhooed meeting between U.S. President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin was a disaster of optics and theatrics for Biden, despite frantic U.S. media efforts to spin straw into gold.

The White House confirmed President Joe Biden mistakenly referred to Libya three times during a press conference on Sunday when he meant to refer to Syria.

Turkish mob boss Sedat Peker, who became a social media sensation in May with a series of YouTube videos dishing dirt on powerful politicians, dropped his heaviest bombshell yet on Sunday with a new video accusing a top adviser to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of sending weapons to the Nusra Front, Al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria.

Italian media have accused NGOs of exploiting photographs of dead children to increase public support for migrant taxi operations in the Mediterranean Sea.

(AFP) — Italy is pushing EU partners to revive migrant burden-sharing deals as it seeks to stave off a summertime surge in landings from North Africa, Prime Minister Mario Draghi said Wednesday.

A Syrian man has received a lengthy sentence after being tried for entering Greece illegally, facilitating the illegal entry of other migrants, and provoking a shipwreck.

ROME — Pope Francis denounced the indifference of those who “prefer to look the other way” rather than assist migrants attempting to cross from Africa into Europe.

More than 100 Europe-bound migrants are feared dead in a shipwreck off Libya, independent rescue groups said.

The UNHCR has revealed an increase in migrants departing Libya as migration numbers have increased across the Mediterranean so far this year.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) mouthpiece People’s Daily Online editorialized on Wednesday that America’s concept of human rights is “sowing seeds of hatred” around the world, because the U.S. hypocritically uses diplomatic pressure, sanctions, and military interventions to impose its vision of human rights on other countries while failing to live up to those standards itself.

CAIRO (AP) – At least 480 migrants were intercepted off Libya by local coast guard forces over the weekend, according to the United Nations’ migration agency.

Israeli Environmental Minister on Thursday accused Iran of being behind a major oil spill off the Mediterranean coast that caused the largest environmental disaster in Israel’s history, saying it was an act of “environmental terrorism.” The spill, which resulted in the

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in his first major foreign policy speech Wednesday highlighting the Biden administration’s goals, promised not to rely on “costly military interventions” to promote democracy, an approach the secretary said has not worked.

At least 15 African migrants lost their lives Sunday in a shipwreck off the coast of Libya when their vessel capsized while attempting to cross the perilous Strait of Sicily to Italy.

Pope Francis recalled the sixth anniversary of the Islamic State execution of 21 Christians on a beach in Libya, calling them “our saints.”

Relatives of a migrant terrorist’s victims are demanding “meaningful change” after it emerged that he had racked up seven convictions for 19 offences without being deported.

8-year-old Saffie Rose Roussos, the youngest victim of the jihadist terror bombing of an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, could have survived with better care, according to medical experts. 

(AFP) — Five judges at Scotland’s highest court of criminal appeal on Friday upheld the conviction of the only man found guilty of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing after a posthumous legal challenge.

A terrorist asylum seeker who “executed” three men with a knife and wounded three others in a public park in Reading, England has received a rare whole-life sentence.

The Spanish Open Arms vessel has been granted permission to drop off 265 illegals at an Italian port after picking them up off the Libyan coast, the first migrant transport NGO landing in Italy of 2021.

The Turkish parliament approved a plan Tuesday that would keep Turkish forces deployed in Libya for another 18 months.

CAIRO (AP) — More than 120 Europe-bound migrants, including eight women and 28 children, were intercepted in the Mediterranean Sea by Libya’s coast guard, the U.N. migration agency said Thursday.

Forces loyal to Gen. Khalifa Haftar and his Libyan National Army (LNA) seized a Jamaica-flagged Turkish cargo ship in the Mediterranean on Monday, angering the Turkish government and potentially reigniting the Libyan civil war after a tentative truce was established in October.

The Pentagon released a report this month accusing the United Arab Emirates (UAE) of supporting Russian mercenaries fighting in Libya for rebel leader Khalifa Haftar and his Libyan National Army (LNA).

Abdalraouf Abdallah, who was friends with Salman Abedi and was communicating with him in the months leading up to the Manchester Arena terror attack, is due to be released from prison this week.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has never made a secret of his ambition to become a historic regional leader. His nostalgia for the Ottoman Empire long ago became a source of concern for observers who think he might seriously attempt to bring it back. His detractors mock him as “Sultan Erdogan,” but he might not find that name insulting. Erdogan flexed his military muscle in several recent conflicts. He might be warming up for something bigger, or he may have already overtaxed Turkey’s military strength.