News in brief
Reuters, Istanbul
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan suggested on Thursday that emergency rule could be extended beyond a year and rounded on rating agencies after Moody’s cut Turkey to “junk” status, helping send the lira to its weakest in almost two months.
In a speech in Ankara, Erdogan said Turkey would benefit from a three-month extension to the three-month state of emergency declared after a failed July 15 coup.
Abbas, Netanyahu shake hands at Peres funeral
Reuters, Jerusalem
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shook hands and exchanged brief words at the funeral on Friday of Shimon Peres, the former Israeli leader who won international acclaim for peacemaking with the Palestinians.
U.S. President Barack Obama and other world leaders gathered for the burial in Jerusalem’s Mount Herzl cemetery, two days after Peres, a former president and premier, died at the age of 93.
Bulgaria detains French terrorism suspect
Reuters, Sofia
Bulgaria has detained a French citizen suspected of links to terrorism on Paris’s request after he tried to cross into Turkey, the Bulgarian prosecutors’ office said on Thursday.
The French authorities demanded the detention of 18-year-old Clement Michel after he breached a restriction to leave France, the prosecutors’ office spokeswoman Rumiana Arnaudova said.
Le Figaro newspaper and other French media said Michel was a Muslim convert who had visited jihadist websites.
