Turkish Police Arrest Senior Military Officers in Coup Probe 

Turkish riot police stand guard in front of the Justice Palace in Istanbul March 31, 2015. REUTERS/Osman Orsal
Turkish riot police stand guard in front of the Justice Palace in Istanbul March 31, 2015. REUTERS/Osman Orsal
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Turkish Police Arrest Senior Military Officers in Coup Probe 

Turkish riot police stand guard in front of the Justice Palace in Istanbul March 31, 2015. REUTERS/Osman Orsal
Turkish riot police stand guard in front of the Justice Palace in Istanbul March 31, 2015. REUTERS/Osman Orsal

Turkish police arrested 15 senior military officers in an investigation into the network of Fethullah Gulen, who Ankara accuses of orchestrating last year's attempted coup, state-run Anadolu news agency said on Friday.

It said police were seeking one more officer in the operation, focused on the capital Ankara and spread across nine provinces, adding that 12 of the total 16 suspects were serving officers.

Among the suspects were seven colonels and nine lieutenant colonels from Turkey's gendarmerie force, which maintains security in rural areas, the Hurriyet news website said.

More than 50,000 people, including security personnel and civil servants, have been jailed pending trial in the aftermath of the failed putsch, which the government blames on US-based Gulen. He has denied involvement.

Some 150,000 people have also been suspended or dismissed.

Police operations targeting alleged followers of Gulen have been conducted on a near daily basis since the coup attempt in July 2016, and authorities issued arrest warrants for 44 teachers on Friday, Anadolu said.

The suspects were former teachers at Gulen-linked schools which were previously closed by state decree, Anadolu said.

Twenty-eight of the teachers were arrested so far.

On Wednesday, Fifteen Turkish soldiers were jailed for life for their role in the failed coup.

The men, most of whom were officers, were convicted of trying to take over the Istanbul headquarters of Turkey's ruling party during the thwarted coup, Anadolu reported.



Poland Seizes Major Heroin Shipment from Iran

Polish police secure an area at the Warsaw University campus after an attack with an axe, in Warsaw, Poland, May 7, 2025. (Reuters)
Polish police secure an area at the Warsaw University campus after an attack with an axe, in Warsaw, Poland, May 7, 2025. (Reuters)
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Poland Seizes Major Heroin Shipment from Iran

Polish police secure an area at the Warsaw University campus after an attack with an axe, in Warsaw, Poland, May 7, 2025. (Reuters)
Polish police secure an area at the Warsaw University campus after an attack with an axe, in Warsaw, Poland, May 7, 2025. (Reuters)

Polish authorities said Monday they had seized over a ton of heroin from Iran, hidden in a shipment of decorative bricks, at the Baltic port of Gdynia.

"This is the largest operation of its kind in over a decade," Interior Minister Marcin Kierwinski said at a press conference.

The drugs, worth 220 million zlotys (51.8 million euros), were concealed in the brick shipment coming and were first flagged by British customs officials

The drugs originated from Iran, Chief of Police Marek Boron said.

Last month, three Polish nationals were detained in connection with the investigation, and later charged by prosecutors in Gdansk.

Since 2022, the quantity of drugs seized by Poland's Central Investigation Bureau has increased by 650 percent, according to the Ministry of the Interior.

More than 83 tons of drugs worth 600 million zlotys (141.4 million euros) were confiscated since the start of 2026 alone, compared with 29 tons in the whole of last year.


At Least 11 Dead after Migrant Boat Capsizes off Malta

FILE: The Greek Coast Guard conducts a search and rescue operation after a migrant boat collided with a coast guard boat off the Greek island of Chios in the Aegean Sea on February 4, 2026 (Reuters)
FILE: The Greek Coast Guard conducts a search and rescue operation after a migrant boat collided with a coast guard boat off the Greek island of Chios in the Aegean Sea on February 4, 2026 (Reuters)
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At Least 11 Dead after Migrant Boat Capsizes off Malta

FILE: The Greek Coast Guard conducts a search and rescue operation after a migrant boat collided with a coast guard boat off the Greek island of Chios in the Aegean Sea on February 4, 2026 (Reuters)
FILE: The Greek Coast Guard conducts a search and rescue operation after a migrant boat collided with a coast guard boat off the Greek island of Chios in the Aegean Sea on February 4, 2026 (Reuters)

At least 11 people have died after a migrant boat capsized in waters off Malta, charity group Sea-Watch said on Monday, while around 50 more were rescued at sea by a fishing vessel in the area.

On Sunday, the Italian coastguard said the vessel had departed from Libya carrying around 60 people before overturning about 45 nautical miles east-southeast of Malta. Rome dispatched a patrol boat to the area, saying it had initially recovered 10 bodies.

Sea-Watch said on social media platform X that the death toll was at least 11, adding that 48 survivors had been rescued by the vessel Tuncay Sagun 2.

As the summer season approaches, migrant departures typically rise along the North Africa-Europe route, with Italy, Malta and Greece the nearest landing points for those attempting the perilous sea crossing.

According to the UN's International Organization for Migration, at least 827 people have died or are missing so far this year while attempting to cross the central Mediterranean, including 14 children.

In Italy, the government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has taken a hard line against irregular arrivals, approving measures to curb human trafficking and make it more difficult for migrants to obtain asylum.

Some 12,000 people have disembarked in Italy so far in 2026, interior ministry data show, less than half the nearly 25,000 reported in the same period in 2025.


Indian Navy Rescues Sailors on Tanker Ablaze off Oman

An Indian Navy ship (File Photo- Reuters)
An Indian Navy ship (File Photo- Reuters)
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Indian Navy Rescues Sailors on Tanker Ablaze off Oman

An Indian Navy ship (File Photo- Reuters)
An Indian Navy ship (File Photo- Reuters)

Indian navy helicopters airlifted 24 sailors off a tanker on fire off the coast of Oman on Monday, New Delhi officials said, without saying what caused the blaze.

India's Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways said a fire was reported at around 1:30 pm (0800 GMT) on the MT Marivex, a Palau-flagged tanker.

"There has been a fire reported on a vessel, MT Marivex, on which there were 24 Indian seafarers... all Indian seafarers are safe," ministry director Opesh Kumar Sharma told reporters.

Images posted on social media by the Forward Seamen's Union of India showed crew members being winched from the vessel by helicopter as thick black smoke billowed from its bridge and accommodation cabins.

The tanker's position was shown by ship-tracking service MarineTraffic as being off the coast of Oman, south of the capital Muscat.

Indian authorities did not provide details about the extent of the damage to the vessel and did not indicate what may have sparked the fire.

Iran has largely blocked shipping through the Strait of Hormuz since the outbreak of war with the United States and Israel on February 28. The vital waterway normally carries about one-fifth of the world's oil and LNG shipments in peacetime.

New Delhi's foreign ministry condemned recent violence in a statement earlier on Monday.

"This conflict has now lasted over 100 days and has already caused immense human suffering," it said.

"It has also had a debilitating impact on the global economy and energy supplies."