The move comes a few days after Turkey summoned the ambassadors of the U.S., Germany, France, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, Finland, New Zealand, Norway, and Sweden over their joint statement calling for Kavala’s release on the fourth year of his detention.

“The continuing delays in his trial, including by merging different cases and creating new ones after a previous acquittal, cast a shadow over respect for democracy, the rule of law and transparency in the Turkish judiciary system,” the joint statement said. “Noting the rulings of the European Court of Human Rights on the matter, we call for Turkey to secure his urgent release.”

Kavala has been in detention without a conviction since 2017. He was acquitted on charges last year related to the 2013 Gezi Park protests. The verdict was overturned, and new charges were brought against him for his alleged involvement in the 2016 attempted coup.

Erdogan has now placed the ambassadors of the ten countries as ‘personal non-grate. Persona non grata literally means “an unwelcome person.” “I gave the necessary instructions to our minister of foreign affairs,” Erdogan said in a speech over the weekend, October 24.  “I told him what to do. I said that you will deal with these 10 ambassadors being declared persona non grata as soon as possible.”

The Turkish president added the ambassadors should leave the country if they do not understand Turkey. If the country’s Foreign Ministry takes the order, it can move forward with the process without further approval paving the way for their expulsions.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry called the joint statement is “irresponsible” and said it rejected what it called attempts to influence the court system. Last week the Turkish president criticized the countries calling for Kabaka’s release, labelling him a terrorist.

“Who are you? What is it? Leave Kavala. Do you leave the bandits, murderers, terrorists in your own country?” Erdogan said to journalists on Thursday. “Why do 10 ambassadors make this statement? Those who defend this [George] Soros leftover are trying to get him released. I told our Minister of Foreign Affairs that we cannot afford to host them in our country. Is it your place to teach such a lesson to Turkey?”

Reacting to the move, European Parliament president David Sassoli tweeted that the expulsion of ambassadors is a “sign of the authoritarian drift” of the Turkish government.

“We will not be intimidated,” he said. “Freedom for Osman Kavala.”

The Austrian Foreign Ministry says it “deeply regrets” Turkey’s announcement to declare then 10 ambassadors “persona non grata.”
In a tweet Saturday, the ministry called for a “fair and timely resolution” of Osman Kavala’s case and for the implementation of the European Convention on Human Rights’ judgments.

Among the 92 killed in Thursday’s suicide blast, claimed by Afghanistan’s Islamic State affiliate, were 13 U.S. service members, the most lethal incident for U.S. troops in Afghanistan in a decade.

According to the Pentagon, there were no civilian casualties from the strike and US forces were prepared for more attacks from ISIS even as they continue to airlift people out of the war torn Taliban controlled Afghanistan.

“Initial indications are that we killed the target. We know of no civilian casualties,” the U.S. military said in a statement, referring to the overnight drone strike

U.S. Central Command said the strike took place in Nangarhar province, east of Kabul and bordering Pakistan. It did not say whether the target was connected with the airport attack

According to Reuters, residents of Jalalabad city, capital of Nangarhar, said they heard several explosions from an air strike around midnight on Friday though it was not clear if the blasts were caused by a U.S. drone.

The White House said the next few days were likely to be the most dangerous of the U.S. evacuation operation that the Pentagon said has taken about 111,000 people out of Afghanistan in the past two weeks

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the United States believed there were still “specific, credible” threats against the airport after the bombing at one of its gates.

“We certainly are prepared and would expect future attempts,” Kirby told reporters in Washington. “We’re monitoring these threats, very, very specifically, virtually in real time.”

The U.S. saw 500,332 new cases (a 131% increase) the week ending July 25 compared to the previous week, the WHO said.

The world meanwhile has seen 3.8 million new cases (an 8% increase) over the same time period. while the number of COVID-related deaths (over 69,000) represented a 21% jump.

Brazil, Indonesia, the United Kingdom and India rounded out the top five of countries with most new cases.

The increase in cases is largely being fueled by the spreading delta variant as well as a slowdown in the U.S.’s vaccine drive. According to the CDC, only 49.2% of the country is fully vaccinated, well short of the benchmark needed for herd immunity.

“An average of around 540 000 cases were reported each day over the past week as compared to 490 000 cases reported daily the week before. This increasing trend is largely attributed to substantial increases in the Region of the Americas and the Western Pacific Region,” the WHO’s report reads

“If these trends continue, it is expected that the cumulative number of cases reported globally could exceed 200 million in the next two weeks,” the WHO said.

Nigeria who had six NBA players and former NBA head coach Mike Brown at the helm, beat the USA, inflicting the country’s first-ever loss to an African Nation. The landmark victory came nine years after the U.S. embarrassed Nigeria 156-73 at the London Olympics, the U.S.’ biggest win in Olympic men’s basketball history.

That Nigerian team included just one NBA player, Al-Farouq Aminu, however, this Nigerian team includes Gabe Vincent, Precious Achiuwa and KZ Okpala of the Miami Heat, Chimezie Metu of the Sacramento Kings, Josh Okogie of the Minnesota Timberwolves and Miye Oni of the Utah Jazz with Jahlil Okafor and Jordan Nwora also on the bench, making it the largest contingent of NBA players on a single Olympic roster for any non-American nation in history.

“I’m kind of glad it happened,” said U.S. head coach Gregg Popovich, noting that Nigeria has been practising together since late June and the Americans for four days. “That loss means nothing if we don’t learn from it, but it can be the most important thing in this tournament for us to learn lessons from it. I don’t think anyone should act nor would we act [like] that this is the end of the world.”

Popovich said the difference in the game was three-pointers. Nigeria went 20 for 42, making twice as many as the U.S. It also won the rebounding battle 46-34.

The U.S. meanwhile had superstars like Kevin Durant, Draymond Green and Kevin Love while superstars including LeBron James and Stephen Curry withdrew from the Olympic team consideration.

Only once has an African nation ever challenged a U.S. men’s senior national team — the U.S. beat Egypt 34-32 at the first world championship in 1950, according to USA Basketball records.

No African nation has ever made the Olympic men’s basketball quarterfinals. From 2000 into 2016, African nations lost 28 consecutive Olympic games to non-African nations.

Some Muslim groups in Nigeria took to the streets to protest Qasem Soleimani’s death. During their protest, they had a banner with the words, “Death to America. Death to Israel”, burning a US flag during the protest which held in Abuja.

The statement reads: “The British High Commission is not aware of specific threats against British nationals but you should continue to avoid large crowds and public demonstrations as they can turn violent unexpectedly and at short notice. If you become aware of any nearby unrest or disturbances, you should leave the area immediately”.

He potrayed Mr Trump’s slogan “ American First ” as false and said justice was more important than borders.

The president, Mr López Obrado, has ordered his foreign minister to travel to Washington, D.C. on Friday.

“I want to insist that we are not going to fall into any provocations that we are not going to act prudently with respect to the authorities of the United States [and] with respect to President Donald Trump,” he said.

In a letter to his US equivalent, Mr López Obrado said Mexico was doing its responsibility to avoid “ as far as possible and without violating human rights, and the passage [of migrants] through our country”.

President Andrés Manuel López said social problems could never be solved by fixing tariffs or coercive measures, ” he added.

“ With all due respect, although you have the sovereign right to express this, the slogan ‘United States [America] First’ is deceptive because, until the end of time, and even over national fronteirs, universal justice and fraternity will prevail.”

Minister Marcelo Ebard, the  Foreign Minister of Mexico, later said on Twitter that he would lead a delegation to Washington, D.C. . He also said that the treatment of Mexico by the U.S. was not fair and doesn’t make economic sense to anyone.