Religious extremists are using schools, “to actively pervert the purpose of education… Under the pretext of religious belief, they use education institutions, legal and illegal, to narrow young people's horizons, to isolate and segregate, and in the worst cases to indoctrinate impressionable minds with extremist ideology… Freedom of belief in the private sphere is paramount, but in our schools it is our responsibility to tackle those who actively undermine fundamental…

Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas calls on African states to join a multilateral mechanism to discuss the conflict between “Israel” and the Palestinians after spurning any US role in such negotiations. “Pursuing peace efforts requires the establishment of a multilateral mechanism under the umbrella of the United Nations.

BEIRUT: The number of Syrian refugees who died after a storm struck while they were attempting to cross the Lebanese-Syrian border has risen to 15, a security source told The Daily Star.

Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu said regarding the Turkish Armed Forces' Operation Olive Branch: "This operation has a lesson to give, not only to the terror organisations but to the whole world. This lesson is to demonstrate that this operation is conducted also for democracy."