President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused the West on Tuesday of “supporting terror” in Turkey and backing those who masterminded of the abortive coup of July 15. During a speech at the Presidential Complex in Ankara, the Turkish president lashed out at the country’s Western allies, saying the failed coup was a “scenario written from outside,” in an apparent reference to the involvement of foreign powers.

“Unfortunately, the West is supporting terror and standing by the coup plotters.” “This coup was not just an event planned from the inside. The actors inside acted out a scenario for a coup written from the outside,” the Turkish president stated.

The Turkish president had previously hinted at the potential involvement of foreign powers in the coup attempt, but the Tuesday remarks saw some of the strongest allegations raised by him against Turkey’s Western allies. Erdogan also denounced “those who we imagined to be friends.”

The Turkish government accuses Fethullah Gulen, a cleric based in the United States, of orchestrating the coup attempt. Ankara has even called for the extradition of Gulen. Washington, however, insists that Turkey must verify its allegations.

“How can it be, when we are strategic partners and I ask you on behalf of my country to hand someone over on the basis of a national security strategy document, you keep on hiding and sheltering him?” Erdogan asked.

German court ruling

The Turkish president also slammed Germany over a court ruling that prohibited Erdogan and other Turkish officials to address a weekend rally in the city of Cologne in support of the Turkish government.

Using heavy irony, Erdogan said, “Bravo! The courts in Germany work very fast!” More than 60,000 people have been sacked, dismissed or detained in Turkey over allegations of involvement in the coup attempt and their links to Gulen. Ankara is under fire for its heavy crackdown on elements believed to be behind the failed coup.

On Tuesday, Turkey issued arrest warrants for 100 staff, including doctors, at the main military hospital in the capital Ankara, with officials saying the move was part of an investigation into the coup

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says from now on all military commanders will report directly to the country’s defense minister and that all military academies will be closed. During an interview with the Turkish broadcaster A Haber on Saturday, Erdogan said that the new measures were aimed at bringing the military under full civilian control. He added that the military academies would be replaced with a national defense university.

“We are going to introduce a small constitutional package (to parliament) which, if approved, will bring the National Intelligence Organization (MIT) and chief of staff under the control of the presidency,” he said. Erdogan also announced cuts in the size of the country’s gendarmerie security forces along with upgrades to their weaponry. He also noted that his lawyers had started work on withdrawing lawsuits against persons who had insulted him.

The Turkish president has filed hundreds of court cases against critics, including many journalists, for insulting him since he took office in August 2014. On Friday, he had announced that in the spirit of “unity” following the coup he would revoke the said lawsuits. Earlier, Turkish authorities announced the release of over 750 soldiers who were detained following the failed coup, noting that 231 soldiers still remain in custody.

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At least 16 people have been killed after a large hot air balloon caught fire and crashed into a field in the US state of Texas. The accident happened early Saturday morning near Lockhart, south of Austin, after a blaze broke out in the basket section of the balloon, according to Aviation officials.

“It does not appear at this time that there were any survivors,” the Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office said. Investigators have been sent to the scene to determine the number of victims and their identities. “When the Emergency Responders and the Sheriff’s Office arrived it was apparent that the reported fire was the basket portion of a hot air balloon,” said the statement.

A photo was posted on social media reportedly showing the the balloon in the air with huge flames spurting underneath. Texas Governor Greg Abbott expressed condolences to those affected by the crash and promised an investigation into the “heartbreaking tragedy.”

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families, as well as the Lockhart community,” he said in a statement. The incident is probably the second-deadliest balloon accident in history. The first hot air balloon crash occurred in Luxor, Egypt in 2013. The balloon caught fire when it was attempting to land. The accident killed 19 of the 21 passengers on board the balloon.

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A number of militants operating in the eastern areas of the Syrian city of Aleppo have laid down their weapons and surrendered themselves to government troops, who are making more gains in the embattled province. The capitulation took place in Aleppo’s Salaheddine neighborhood on Saturday, Syria’s official SANA news agency reported.

The report further noted that tens of families went out through the corridors set up by army forces for the safe departure of the civilians trapped by terrorist groups in Aleppo’s eastern districts. The families were sent by the Syrian army to makeshift centers upon their arrival to the Salaheddine neighborhood, the report added.

Earlier this week, the Syrian army sent text messages to residents and terrorists in eastern Aleppo, saying it will grant safe passage to people wishing to leave the area. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad also vowed amnesty for those who turn in their weapons, stressing that the policy has been exercised by Damascus since the beginning of the crisis in the Middle Eastern country.

Meanwhile, Russia announced several corridors for civilians and surrendering militants to leave Aleppo’s eastern parts.Aleppo Province also completed arrangements to receive the citizens fleeing militant-held eastern Aleppo and house them in well-equipped temporary accommodation centers.

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President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree merging the Crimean Peninsula, which separated from Ukraine and rejoined Russia two years ago, into the mainland’s southern region. “Reorganize the Southern Federal District and the Crimean Federal District into the Southern Federal District,” read the decree published on the Kremlin’s website on Thursday. The Russian leader also appointed Vladimir Vasilyavich Ustinov as the presidential commissioner to the Southern Federal District in the decree.

Putin further submitted corresponding legislation amendments to the State Duma. The decree angered Ukraine, with its UN Ambassador Volodymyr Yelchenko rejecting the order as “null and void as any other decision taken by Crimea so far.” He asked the UN Security Council to issue a statement in response to Putin’s decree.

The ambassador circulated a draft statement calling on the 15-member council, to express its “deep concern” over Putin’s decision and to assert its “full respect for the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine.” Yelchenko however said he expected Russia, one of the five countries with veto power on the council, to block the statement. Diplomatic sources have already confirmed that it was rejected by Moscow.

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The United Nations (UN) has voiced concern about alarming conditions in the Lake Chad region, where it says more than nine million people are in dire need of food aid due to militancy by a Takfiri terrorist group. UN humanitarian aid chief Stephen O’Brien said on Wednesday that militant activities by the Takfiri Boko Haram group has left over nine million people in need of urgent food aid in the region. Seven million of them, he said, are in Nigeria.

The four countries of Chad, Cameroon, Niger, and Nigeria are located in the Lake Chad region. He said more than 2.8 million people have been displaced in northeastern Nigeria and parts of Cameroon, Chad and Niger, following attacks by Boko Haram, which is based in Nigeria. “If we do not act now, the human suffering will only get more extreme,” O’Brien said, adding that, “We have to stop this — we can with will, money, urgency and coordination.”

The UN humanitarian aid chief said that the violent campaign by the Takfiri group “is as much or now even more a humanitarian catastrophe as it is a security priority.” Boko Haram has coerced more than 50 children to carry out suicide bombings from January to June of this year, O’Brien said.

Boko Haram started its campaign of militancy in 2009 with the aim of toppling the central government in Nigeria. The terrorist group has expanded its attacks into neighboring countries, notably Cameroon and Chad, in a conflict estimated to have claimed a total of 17,000 lives and forced over 2.6 million others from their homes. The group has pledged allegiance to Daesh, another Takfiri terrorist group mainly operating in Syria and Iraq.

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China has unveiled the world’s largest production amphibious aircraft after seven years of work, which it plans to use to perform marine rescue missions and fight forest fires, the Xinhua news agency has reported. The AG600, which is about the size of a Boeing 737 and was developed by state aircraft maker Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), rolled off a production line in the southern city of Zhuhai on Saturday, Xinhua said quoting the firm. AVIC deputy general manager, Geng Rugang, said the plane was “the latest breakthrough in China’s aviation industry.” A plan for the development and production of the AG600 received government approval in 2009.

The aircraft has a maximum flight range of 4,500 km and can collect 12 tonnes of water in 20 seconds. It has a maximum take-off weight of 53.5 tonnes, Xinhua said. China has been ramping up research into advanced new military equipment, including submarines, aircraft carriers and anti-satellite missiles, which has rattled nerves regionally and in Washington as China takes a more muscular approach to territorial disputes in places like the South China Sea. In June, it put into service a new domestically-developed large transport aircraft, the Xian Y-20, powered by four jet engines.

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Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim has announced the disbanding of the country’s presidential guard following the recent failed coup. “There will not be any presidential guard as we do not need it anymore,” told Turkey’s A Haber TV channel on Saturday. Earlier in the day, authorities arrested 283 members of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s guard over alleged affiliation to failed coup.

Turkey has launched a large-scale crackdown following the July 15 attempted coup d’état. A three-month state of emergency has also been declared in Turkey. Meanwhile, the key aid of US-based opposition cleric Fethullah Gulen (seen below), who Erdogan blames for the coup attempt, has been arrested. According to a source in the Turkish presidential office, Halis Hanci arrived in Turkey two days before the coup.

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Algeria is the most racist country in the world, according to a study conducted by several organizations including Open Borders for Refugees and Stop Dis Stop Crime in Nations. The North African nation won the first place  following more than 1,248 respondents in which over 75% of its citizens admitted to haven racist ideas or very extreme.

The population of Algeria is composed of 99% Arabs and 1% of Europeans (according to official sources), because the black skin individuals are not counted. Algeria has blatantly refused to host any migrant from Iraq and Syria.

91% of Arab Algerians have reportedly demanded the immediate expulsion of blacks in the country (which are not up to 100,000 people. 83% of those surveyed would prohibit Christianity and 61% would ban Judaism. More than half is against the admission of refugees, not because of the jihadist threat but because of the ethnicity of the migrants. 95% of Algerians would ban visas for Chinese immigrants.

Algeria is the country with the most racist crimes on the road; over 21,000 road deaths in 2015 and more than 60,000 wounded with the victims mostly black, Europeans or Asians, according to the study.

Chi Prudence Asong (Cameroon Concord News Group)

British MPs  have been given a date in September to debate a motion in the House of Commons to find former prime minister Tony Blair in contempt of parliament for involving the UK in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The date was agreed on Wednesday by the speaker and MPs from across seven parties led by Scottish National Party’s Alex Salmond.

The motion will say that former Labour prime minister had given “seriously misleading” statements in the House of Commons in 2001, 2002 and 2003 and should be therefore held in contempt. The motion was launched after the Chilcot inquiry into the role of the UK in the Iraq war released a report on July 6.

Even if the motion was passed, it would be mainly symbolic as the House of Commons has not used its power to punish non-MPs for several years. The Chilcot report offered a scathing critique of the UK government’s involvement, under Blair, in and after the invasion of Iraq.

The report said Blair had overstated the threat posed by Saddam’s supposed Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs), deployed ill-prepared forces to the Arab country and had “wholly” inadequate plans for after Saddam’s ouster.

The report concluded that Blair’s decision to join the US-led war in Iraq was made “before the peaceful options for disarmament had been exhausted.” A spokesperson for the group of MPs who launched the motion said families of British soldiers killed in Iraq were also planning legal action against Blair that would proceed separately.

The inquiry revealed that “Blair was promising US President George W Bush in private memos while he was telling Parliament and people something entirely different in public statements,” the spokesperson also said.

“If we are to prevent such a catastrophe happening again it is essential that parliamentarians learn to hold the executive to critical examination in a way that Parliament failed to do in 2003,” the spokesperson added.

Meanwhile, families of dead soldiers have launched an appeal to raise£150,000 to pay for a legal assessment of the Chilcot report to determine whether they could pursue private prosecution of Blair. The appeal, known as the Crowd Justice, said in a statement on its website that the report has confirmed that there were“serious failings” before and after Iraq war.

“Our armed forces must never again be so callously sacrificed by political ambition and the irresponsibility and failings of Government and Whitehall,” the statement also said. “Those responsible should be held to account. Now it is down to us, the families, to ensure that justice is done,” it added.

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