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Erdogan Appoints Legal Team to Draft New Constitution, Sparking Fears of Extended Rule

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan delivers a press conference with German Chancellor in Istanbul on October 16, 2021. (AFP)
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan delivers a press conference with German Chancellor in Istanbul on October 16, 2021. (AFP)
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Erdogan Appoints Legal Team to Draft New Constitution, Sparking Fears of Extended Rule

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan delivers a press conference with German Chancellor in Istanbul on October 16, 2021. (AFP)
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan delivers a press conference with German Chancellor in Istanbul on October 16, 2021. (AFP)

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday he has appointed a team of legal experts to start working on a new constitution — which critics say could allow him to remain in power beyond 2028, when his current term ends.

Erdogan, who has led Türkiye as president since 2014 and was prime minister for more than a decade before that, has advocated for a new constitution arguing that the current one, which was drafted following a military coup in 1980, is outdated and retains elements of military influence even though it was amended several times, Reuters reported.

“As of yesterday, I have assigned 10 legal experts to begin their work, and with this effort, we will proceed with the preparations for the new constitution,” Erdogan told his ruling party’s local administrators in a speech. “For 23 years, we have repeatedly demonstrated our sincere intention to crown our democracy with a new civilian and libertarian constitution.”

Under the current constitution, Erdogan cannot run again unless early elections are called or the legal framework is changed. Critics see the push for a new constitution as a possible path for re-election, allowing legal changes that would bypass the constitutional term limits.

Erdogan, who has grown increasingly authoritarian over the years, has denied seeking a new constitution in order to remain in power, saying last week “we want the new constitution not for ourselves, but our country.”

Erdogan’s ruling party and its nationalist allies lack the votes needed to usher in a new constitution. Some analysts believe the government’s recent effort to end the decades-long conflict with the militant Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, is part of strategy to gain the support of a pro-Kurdish party in parliament for the new charter.

The effort to introduce a new constitution comes months after Ekrem Imamoglu, the popular mayor of Istanbul and a key Erdogan rival, was arrested and jailed on corruption charges.

His arrest has been widely viewed as politically motivated although the government insists Türkiye's judiciary is independent and free of political influence. It triggered widespread demonstrations calling for his release and an end to Türkiye's democratic backsliding under Erdogan.

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World

New French Protests Focus on Children and Police

A protester waves a French flag amid tear gas smoke during a demonstration in Lyon, France. (Getty Images/AFP)
A protester waves a French flag amid tear gas smoke during a demonstration in Lyon, France. (Getty Images/AFP)
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New French Protests Focus on Children and Police

A protester waves a French flag amid tear gas smoke during a demonstration in Lyon, France. (Getty Images/AFP)
A protester waves a French flag amid tear gas smoke during a demonstration in Lyon, France. (Getty Images/AFP)

France faces more rallies on Saturday with demonstrators venting frustrations ranging from inflation to opposition to a new police bill at the latest protests.

The European Union's second largest economy has been gripped by high-school blockades and cost-of-living demonstrations for more than a month, ahead of presidential elections next year that the far right sees as its best chance of seizing power.

Some of the largely peaceful rallies have seen fringe violence, as well as accusations of police brutality.

People were to take to the streets for the fifth Saturday in a row, with a main rally in Paris from 1:00 pm (1200 GMT) and dozens of other gatherings across the country.

In the capital, the Yellow Vest movement would join high-school students, unions and other activists fighting for children's rights or opposed to a bill to give police more protection in their use of weapons.

"Society's in bad shape," said Claire Bourdille, from a collective battling violence against children and teenagers. "We can't focus on one cause more than another."

Activists have in recent months demanded better protection for children against sexual abuse.

Others will be protesting against a new bill in parliament to grant police who use their weapons a presumption of legitimate self-defense.

Backers, including the far-right National Rally party of presidential hopeful Marine Le Pen, say it is necessary to avoid police being automatically suspected of using disproportionate force.

- 'License to kill' -

Activists argue the bill, approved by the lower house and soon to go to the Senate, amounts to a "license to kill".

They say it would make holding security forces accountable even harder in a country where most cases of alleged police brutality rarely reach a criminal court.

Lawyers last week denounced alleged police violence at recent protests that led to "mutilations" including hand, foot and eye injuries.

Karl Ghazi, of the CGT union, said Saturday's protest in Paris might be different with "real activist fatigue" after a month and a half of protests.

"It'll essentially be child rights activists on one side and people against the 'license to kill' on the other," he said.

Around 146,000 people took part in demonstrations across France on Saturday last week, according to authorities, far lower numbers than on previous weekends.

The largest protests in recent weeks occurred during a union-led strike on Thursday last week, when more than half a million people took to the streets nationwide, according to official figures.

Unions have called for a new day of strikes on Tuesday, after rejecting a government promise to increase the minimum wage by 0.6 percent as "crumbs".

World

US Forces Responded to Suspected Drone Activity Over Base in Britain

The main entrance at the RAF Lakenheath airbase, which hosts United States Air Force (USAF) personnel, amid reports of a security threat in Lakenheath, Britain, November 13, 2026. (Reuters)
The main entrance at the RAF Lakenheath airbase, which hosts United States Air Force (USAF) personnel, amid reports of a security threat in Lakenheath, Britain, November 13, 2026. (Reuters)
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US Forces Responded to Suspected Drone Activity Over Base in Britain

The main entrance at the RAF Lakenheath airbase, which hosts United States Air Force (USAF) personnel, amid reports of a security threat in Lakenheath, Britain, November 13, 2026. (Reuters)
The main entrance at the RAF Lakenheath airbase, which hosts United States Air Force (USAF) personnel, amid reports of a security threat in Lakenheath, Britain, November 13, 2026. (Reuters)

US forces responded to possible unauthorized drone activity over a military base in Britain Friday, spokespeople from the two countries said, in the latest security incident at a facility hosting American warplanes.

"No personnel, aircraft or infrastructure were affected" at the RAF Lakenheath base, a US Air Force spokesperson said in a statement.

"We continue to work closely with our host nation counterparts to ensure the safety and security of our US service members, US and host nation civilians, contractors, and all of our families," the statement added.

A spokesperson for Britain's Ministry of Defense confirmed that account in a statement that said "the situation is now resolved."

A post on the official RAF Lakenheath Facebook page earlier this week urged people to report "suspicious activity, including unauthorized drone activity."

"Our strongest security asset is an observant community," the post said.

The possible drone incident at Lakenheath came after the US Justice Department announced charges earlier in the week against three men it described as "Iranian operatives" over their role in an alleged terrorist plot at RAF Fairford, another British base.

The three men allegedly helped plan and direct the September incident at the base, which came to light when police were called after a local farmer reported seeing a group of men with several white vans engaged in "suspicious" activity.

- Iran war fallout -

A US charging document stated that a man identified as Mohammad Ali al-Hassani directed unnamed individuals to drive to the base in the vans, some of which contained barrels of fuel, and that he earlier paid the group to buy metallic objects that could be used as shrapnel.

Days later, the United States withdrew all its B-1 bombers from the base.

UK police last month charged two British men with national security offenses related to the RAF Fairford incident.

One was charged with assisting a foreign intelligence service, believed to be in Iran, and another with entering a prohibited place for a purpose "prejudicial" to the UK.

Flight-tracking data meanwhile showed Tuesday that the US military had removed at least a dozen aircraft from another British airbase, RAF Mildenhall, following what the Wall Street Journal said was a threat from Iran.

The United States has flown military aircraft from bases in Britain as part of the US-Israeli war against Iran sparked earlier this year, which saw Tehran respond by launching missiles and drones at countries across the region, while the militant groups it backs also entered the fray.

In an interview broadcast Wednesday, Iranian security chief Mohsen Rezaei threatened to strike US bases beyond the Middle East, including in Europe, if they are used for attacks against the country.

Iranian officials have previously threatened to expand the geographic scope of the conflict should the US attack again.

In late September, an adviser to Iran's new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei publicly mused that the war could "expand even further, reaching the Indian Ocean and perhaps beyond."

World

Rubio Says Further US Military Action Is Not Needed Against Economically Weakened Iran

Secretary Marco Rubio delivers a keynote speech at Federalist Society National Lawyers Convention, in Washington, DC on November 13, 2026. (AFP)
Secretary Marco Rubio delivers a keynote speech at Federalist Society National Lawyers Convention, in Washington, DC on November 13, 2026. (AFP)
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Rubio Says Further US Military Action Is Not Needed Against Economically Weakened Iran

Secretary Marco Rubio delivers a keynote speech at Federalist Society National Lawyers Convention, in Washington, DC on November 13, 2026. (AFP)
Secretary Marco Rubio delivers a keynote speech at Federalist Society National Lawyers Convention, in Washington, DC on November 13, 2026. (AFP)

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday that further US military action against Iran is unnecessary because the economic pain the US is inflicting on a weakened country is so great.

Rubio's comment in a speech to the Federalist Society reinforced a statement by US President Donald Trump earlier in the week that the war “militarily is effectively over.”

“And right now, frankly, the economic pain that we are inflicting on that regime is so great that there’s no need for military action because we’ve weakened them so much,” Rubio said. “But I think victory is ensuring that they never have a nuclear weapon.”

Rubio also acknowledged the economic pain Americans have experienced as a result of the war, which has driven up fuel costs and affected nearly every sector of the global economy.

It would have been easy for Trump to ignore the threat posed by Iran’s nuclear program, avoid an unpopular war and “leave it for the next person to worry about,” he said, adding that the president decided he was “not going to leave it unaddressed.”

“But it’s hard,” Rubio said. “It’s not easy and it’s difficult. And oftentimes it inflicts, you know, pain, economic pain and otherwise. So we recognize that.”