Anadolu Agency

RECORD SEIZURE OF AMPHETAMINE IN
SOUTHERN TURKEY
ANKARA (AA) - Turkish police seized a huge shipment
TURKEY ISSUES TRAVEL ALERT FOR EGYPT’S
SHARM EL-SHEIKH
FOOTBALL: PIRLO, RONALDINHO ‘READY TO JOIN’
ANTALYASPOR
WEATHER
ANKARA (AA) – Turkish Foreign Ministry has issued a
ANTALYA, Turkey (AA) - Turkish football club Antalyas-
of amphetamine tablets bound for the Gulf on Thurs-
travel warning to Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt’s Sinai Penin-
por is looking to add to its stable of aging star players with
Friday
day night. The record seizure of 1,800 kilograms (4,000
sula, urging its citizens to “consider the risks” in the region.
“Citizens should consider risks in the region when plan-
the signings of Andrea Pirlo and Ronaldinho, according to
PARTLY CLOUDY
pounds) of Captagon happened in Hatay, Turkey’s southernmost province that borders northwest Syria.
ning their visit to Sharm el-Sheikh,” the ministry said in
Captagon is the trademark name for synthetic stimulant
a statement. The ministry also said that some airlines had
fenethylline. It is widely used in the Middle East and is re-
already canceled their flights to Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.
portedly used by fighters in Syria to stave off fatigue.
Terrorist group Daesh claimed responsibility for a suspect-
first seized more than 7 million tablets, which had been
ed bomb attack on a Russian passenger plane that crashed
produced in Syria, hidden among a... >TURKEY
in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula on... >TURKEY
Siege Underway at Hotel in
Malian Capital
Friday November 20, 2015
TERRORISTS HAVE REPORTEDLY ENTRENCHED THEMSELVES ON THE
HOTEL’S SEVENTH FLOOR; MALIAN SECURITY SOURCES SAY 90
HOSTAGES REMAIN TRAPPED INSIDE
BAMAKO, Mali (AA) – Gunmen
have taken 170 people hostage, including 140 guests and 30 employees at the Radisson Blu Hotel in the
Malian capital Bamako on Friday, the
hotel said in a statement.
“Two persons have locked in 140
guests and 30 employees. Our safety
and security teams and our corporate
team are in constant contact with local authorities,” The Rezidor Hotel
Group, the operator of the Radisson
Blu Hotel, said in a statement.
At least seven Chinese nationals are
reportedly among the 170 hostages,
Chinese diplomatic sources in Mali
told Anadolu Agency.
At least three people, including two
security guards were reportedly
killed when attackers stormed the
hotel, which is popular with foreigners and UN staff, at around 8.30 a.m.
local time (0830GMT), local security
sources said. However, Malian officials are yet to release an official death
toll in the ongoing incident.
According to eye-witnesses, the
number of hostage takers is between
three and five, who arrived at the
hotel in a stolen car with diplomatic
number plates. The gunmen opened
fire immediately, killing the guards
and injuring several other people.
Automatic gunfire and at least one
explosion were heard coming from
the 190-room Radisson Blu hotel in
the city’s northwestern Hamdallaye
neighborhood.
“The security forces are trying to dislodge [the attackers] and an exchange
of fire can still be heard,” a security
official told Anadolu Agency on con-
dition of anonymity.
Gunfire could be heard reverberating
around the district throughout the
morning as security forces established
a cordon.
The U.S. embassy instructed its staff
to seek shelter via its official Twitter
account.
In August, 13 people, including four
UN workers, were killed in an attack
on a hotel in the town Sevare, around
600 kilometers (370 miles) north of
Bamako.
In recent years Mali has been hit by
a number of attacks launched by insurgents operating from its northern
desert territory.
In 2013, a French-led military operation succeeded in driving fighters out
of cities and towns seized a year earlier in the north of the country. France
still has troops based in the west African country.
Erdogan Urges Muslim Countries
to Unite Against Terror
>MORE DETAILS
‘WE SHOULD HAVE A CLEAR AND
PRINCIPLED STAND AGAINST DAESH,
AL QAEDA AND BOKO HARAM,’
TURKISH PRESIDENT TELLS MEETING
OF ORGANISATION OF ISLAMIC
COOPERATION
ISTANBUL (AA) - Turkish President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called on
Muslim countries to take a joint stand
against terrorist organizations.
Addressing the closing session of
the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation’s 5th Islamic Conference
of Health Ministers in Istanbul on
Thursday, Erdogan said: “We should,
hand in hand, have a clear and principled stand against organizations such
as Daesh, Al Qaeda and Boko Haram
that do the greatest harm to Muslims
by using the name of Islam”.
The Turkish president noted that
Muslim countries represented at the
G20 summit in Turkey earlier this
week had reached an agreement to
jointly fight against “radical movements”.
“At this point, a very important responsibility falls to countries represented at the structure of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation,”
Erdogan said: “As Muslims our responsibility is very big,” he said.
Noting that the Muslim world and
Muslim societies were at the center
of refugee crisis as well as terrorism,
Erdogan said: “Reactions against ter-
rorism and problems caused by the
growing refugee crisis are turned to
all of Muslim world and all Muslims.
“While the humanitarian tragedy
continues in our region, especially
in Syria, we are now facing the rise
of racist attitudes and hate crimes
against Muslims,” he added.
Erdogan also said that the honor of
the entire world’s Muslims should not
be left to a “handful of terrorists”.in
2011.
>MORE DETAILS
France’s Muslims Fear House Passes Bill
Increasing Scrutiny
Voices of Hostility
for Syrian Refugees
FRENCH MUSLIM CAMPAIGNERS AND CITIZENS
TELL ANADOLU AGENCY THEY FEEL UNDER
PRESSURE AFTER PARIS ATTACKS
By Hajer M’tiri PARIS (AA) – Just a
week after the deadly terror attacks in
Paris, many of France’s Muslims fear
a backlash from the state and rightwing politicians even more than they
fear individual outbursts of Islamophobia. French Muslim campaigners
and citizens alike have told Anadolu
Agency that a combination of rhetoric from some media figures and political leaders has stereotyped a whole
community. During the last week
alone, 24 anti-Muslim incidents were
recorded – including attacks against
woman wearing headscarves – announced the National Observatory
Against Islamophobia on Thursday.
These figures only reflect those complaints which were lodged with police.
However, the community fears a
government crackdown on Muslim
institutions more than individual anti-Muslim acts, according to Yasser
Louati, spokesperson for the Collective Against Islamophobia in France (CCIF).
“The effect of the Paris attacks on
France’s Muslims is going to be terrible. Just hours after the attack, we
already received complaints about
people being attacked,” Louati tells
Anadolu Agency. “Thirty minutes
after the attacks, we had columnists
for some media outlets and rightwing politicians already blaming
the Muslim community and holding
them responsible for what happened.
Just 30 minutes; this is an outrageous
indecency. >MORE DETAILS
OBAMA VOWS TO VETO LEGISLATION
WASHINGTON (AA) – The House
of Representatives ignored a looming
presidential veto Thursday by voting
to approve legislation halting Syrian
and Iraqi refugees from entering the
U.S. unless they pass stringent background checks.
The 289-137 veto proof vote came
with overwhelming Republican
support and, nearly 50 Democrats
crossed party lines to back the bill.
“If our law enforcement and intelligence community cannot verify
that each and every person coming
here is not a security threat, then
they shouldn’t be allowed in,” House
Speaker Paul Ryan told reporters before the vote. “Right now, the government can’t certify these standards.”
The bill, the American Security Against Foreign Enemies Act
of 2015, or American SAFE Act of
2015, will now go to the Senate. If
passed by that chamber, it will go to
President Barack Obama.
The Senate is not expected to take up
the bill until after the Thanksgiving
recess at the end of the month.
The White House has said that Obama will veto any legislation that seeks
to upend his commitment to take in
at least 10,000 Syrian refugees by the
end of next October.
Ryan said that Obama’s veto threat
“baffles” him.
The bill will effectively kill Obama’s
resettlement plan if it goes into law
by requiring the heads of the FBI,
National Intelligence and Homeland
Security to personally certify that
each refugee does not pose a security threat.
The FBI would also have to carry out
a background check for any refugee
who spent time in Iraq or Syria after
March 1, 2011.
>MORE DETAILS
the club’s chairman.
The club, based in Turkey’s southern resort city of Antalya,
12 °C
signed Cameroonian Samuel Eto’o, 34, following their pro-
Saturday
motion to the Super Lig last season and now have their eye
PARTLY CLOUDY
on the Italian and Brazilian veterans.“We have negotiated
16 °C
with Pirlo and his agent,” Chairman... >SPORTS
Islamic Finance can
Help Solve Global
Crisis: AK Party MP
IN AN INTERVIEW WITH ANADOLU AGENCY, AK
PARTY MP AND ECONOMIST TURHAN SAYS THAT
ISLAMIC FINANCE PROVIDES SOLUTION TO
MAJOR FINANCIAL ISSUES
Party from Izmir, made the
remarks in an interview with
Anadolu Agency on the sidelines of the Second International Islamic Finance and
Economics conference in Istanbul on Thursday.
Turhan, who is also an economist and former chief executive officer of Borsa Istanbul,
said: “One of the principal
causes of financial crisis of
2008-2009 was the vast market that had grown up for securitized instruments.
“These involve debt which is
made to seem less risky using
insurance or derivatives, so
that the relationship between
the debtor and the debt is
no longer direct. Because it
broke down that relationship,
the quality of securitized instruments deteriorated.”
Islamic finance, on the other
hand, used instruments based
on actual assets, so the quality of the instrument cannot
be changed, Turhan said. In
his speech to the conference,
Turhan said that preserving
the direct relationship between debtor and creditor is
part of the moral approach of
Islamic finance. >MORE DETAILS
Gulen Supporters
Linked to ‘Improper’
US Donations
Dozen PKK
Suspects Held
in Istanbul
Raids
by Andrew Jay Rosenbaum
ISTANBUL (AA) – Islamic
finance is based on growth of
assets, not financial engineering, and this organic growth
makes it different from Western debt constructs, Justice
and Development (AK) Party
parliamentarian and economist has said.
Ibrahim Turhan, member of
Turkish parliament for AK
NEWSPAPER REPORTS
TURKISH-AMERICANS MAKING
LARGE DONATIONS TO US
POLITICIANS
WASHINGTON (AA) Turkish-Americans linked
to Fetullah Gulen’s Hizmet
movement have made “improper campaign donations”
to leading U.S. politicians,
according to an investigation
by the USA Today newspaper published Thursday.
President Barack Obama and
presidential hopefuls Hillary
Clinton and Jeb Bush were
among those who received
large donations from individuals with modest incomes
or who could not be traced
by the newspaper.
The donations cover the last
several years and in some
cases come from people who
appear to know little about
the candidates they are supporting.
In many cases, the donors
work for the Gulen organization or share its messages
on social media.
The newspaper previously
reported how the movement
funded more than 200 foreign trips for members of
Congress and their staff.
Turkey: Consumer
Confidence Rebounds
After Elections
>MORE DETAILS
ANTI-TERROR
POLICE RAID
ADDRESSES ACROSS
CITY’S EUROPEAN
DISTRICTS
ISTANBUL (AA) - Raids on
24 addresses across Istanbul
early Friday led to the arrest
of 12 suspected members of
the PKK terrorist organization and its youth wing, police said.
Paris Prosecutor
Confirms
Three Died in
Saint-Denis
Raid
SECOND FEMALE
BODY DISCOVERED
AT APARTMENT
WHERE ABDELHAMID ABAAOUD WAS
KILLED
CONSUMER CONFIDENCE IS UP 22.9
PERCENT ON RENEWED CONFIDENCE
IN ECONOMY
ANKARA (AA) Consumer
confidence in Turkey shot up
to its highest level of the year
in November, the Turkish
Statistical Institute reported
on Friday. Consumer confidence jumped 22.9 percent
in November, the report
said, up to 77.15 points in
November from 62.78 points
in October. The sharply improved consumer confidence
index reading comes just
after the Nov.1 elections in
Turkey, which saw the Justice and Development Party
win a majority in parliament,
enabling it to govern alone.
“This puts an end to a long
period of political uncertainty, and consumers are
reacting to the increased
stability,” commented Attila
Yesilada, an economist with
Global Sourced Partners in London.
The sub-indexes also showed
a surge in consumer confidence.
>MORE DETAILS
Abdelhamid Abaaoud, accused of being the mastermind behind last week’s Paris attacks, was killed in the
operation, the city’s chief
prosecutor said Friday. “Yesterday night a female body,
whose identity remains unconfirmed, was found at the
apartment,”...