EU-TURKEY TENUOUS DEAL ON MIGRANTS
Photo: Antonio Masiello/NurPhoto/ZUMA
European Union states are considering an aid package worth 3 billion euros ($3.5 billion) to Turkey as well as quicker visas for Turkish citizens in exchange for Turkey's help in curbing the flow of migrants into Europe. The BBC reports that European leaders also agreed to "re-energize" dormant talks on Turkey joining the EU. Not all leaders agreed with the proposals, with Bulgarian Prime Minister abruptly leaving the summit. Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, also expressed "cautious optimism" and said that "an agreement with Turkey makes sense only if it effectively contains the flow of refugees." Speaking to Hürriyet, the European Parliament's rapporteur for Turkey, Kati Piri, said she was "shocked" by Tusk's remarks though she admitted that "it is not comfortable for Europe to be on the demanding side when it comes to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan."
VERBATIM
"What did you think, the Palestinians would sit still indefinitely? Did you really think Israel would continue on its course and they'd just bow their heads in submission?" columnist Gideon Levy writes in a strongly-worded op-ed for Haaretz as the eruption of violence continues in Jerusalem and the West Bank. A group of Palestinian rioters set fire late Thursday to Joseph's Tomb in Nablus. Meanwhile, Al Jazeera reports that Israeli authorities will now ban alleged Palestinian attackers and their families from entering East Jerusalem. Here's a Le Monde/Worldcrunch reportage on the so-called "Oslo Generation."
U.S. DRONE KILLINGS REVELATIONS
A large trove of NSA documents leaked to the investigative website The Intercept sheds new light on the U.S. drone strikes program. The leaks reveal, among other things, that drone strikes kill many more people than the intended targets and that civilian deaths have been repeatedly underplayed. According to the source, U.S. statements minimizing the number of civilian deaths were "exaggerating at best, if not outright lies."
MY GRAND-PÈRE'S WORLD
U.S. TANKS ENTER KUNDUZ HOSPITAL
Humanitarian NGO Doctors Without Borders said yesterday that a U.S. tank had forced its way into the ruins of the Kunduz hospital bombed in a U.S. airstrike, warning that yesterday's "intrusion" had "destroyed potential evidence and caused stress and fear," The Guardian reports. Doctors Without Borders has previously condemned the bombing that killed 22 as a "war crime," arguing that U.S. forces knew before the attack that the building was a hospital.
WORLDCRUNCH-TO-GO
Protestant Church leaders believe Christian missionary work is endangering civil peace as ever more Muslims emigrate to Germany. For Die Welt's Till-R. Stoldt, limiting proselytizing is a radical break from 2,000 years of practice. "The Church does not only categorically rejects the conversion of reform-minded Muslims but outright dismisses all missionary work directed at Muslims. This is a an extraordinary approach towards Christian-Muslim relations by Germany's second largest national Protestant Church, which some may hail as a progressive and ground-breaking effort. Others, however, may view it as a dangerous breach of tradition. And others still will see it as a genuflection before Islam."
Read the full article, Why German Protestants Will Stop Trying To Convert Muslims.
WAVE OF NIGERIA BOMBINGS
At least 30 people were killed in the suicide bombing of a mosque yesterday in the northeastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri, the BBC reports. Islamist group Boko Haram had previously carried out several attacks in the city, though no group has claimed responsibility for yesterday's bombing. This morning, another wave of suicide bombs hit Maiduguri, killing four on top of the three female bombers and wounding 17, according to Vanguard.
VW SALES UP DESPITE SCANDAL
Scandal-engulfed Volkswagen will recall 8.5 million diesel cars across Europe, after admitting that at least 11 million cars worldwide had been equipped with an illegal device that can lower emissions during car tests. But despite the ongoing scandal, which started a month ago, VW car sales rose 8.4% in September 2015 compared to the previous year, Deutsche Welle reports. In France meanwhile, the French government has announced that it will increase taxes on diesel, a move which business daily Les Échos says risks affecting Renault and Peugeot-Citroen as well as their workers.
$60,000
Just three months after the shocking killing of Cecil the lion, The Daily Telegraph reveals that a German hunter paid $60,000 to kill a bull elephant with tusks weighing 120 pounds in Zimbabwe. The elephant, whose culling is said to have taken place in early October, was one of the largest ever seen in Zimbabwe and was aged between 40 and 60 years old.
FIRST SOLAR-PANEL-COVERED ROAD
The French inventors call it "Wattway," and it could revolutionize the production of solar energy.
REAL-LIFE "ARGO" AMBASSADOR DIES
Ken Taylor, Canada's ambassador to Iran at the time of the Islamic revolution in 1979, has died aged 81. He was famous for his role in the "Canadian caper" operation dramatized in the 2012 Oscar-winning movie Argo, during which he helped six American diplomats escape Iran after revolutionaries stormed the U.S. embassy in Tehran. Read more from The Globe and Mail.
EXTRA!
The Economist devotes its cover story this week to the risks of a so-called Brexit, as momentum builds for the UK to leave the European Union.
ON THIS DAY
French revolutionaries may not appreciate the *final cut* on today's 57-second shot of history …
HAPPY END
The homeless man who had his puppy stolen from his arms by a group of animal activists in Paris last month, was reunited Thursday with his dog, French daily Le Parisien reports.
