French backlash, Egypt: no terrorism in plane crash, Libyan unity government
Political analysts said that the failure of the FN to translate its first round gains into second round victories, and the defeat of both Marine and Marion Le Pen, showed that even with the increased popularity of the FN among disaffected and alienated voters, the party would have difficulty actually winning elections when faced with mainstream candidates benefitting from tactical voting. Jean-Marie Le Pen, Marine’s father and founder of the FN, received more votes that Lionel Jospin, the Socialist Party’s candidate, in the first round of the 2002 presidential election, but the Socialist Party called on its members to vote for conservative president Jacques Chirac in the second round, and he defeated Le Pan 82.2 percent to 17.8 percent.
Egypt: No terrorism link in Russian plane explosion over Sinai
Egypt’s civil aviation ministry in Cairo said Sunday that Egyptian investigators have not yet found evidence of terrorism or foul play in the explosion that brought down a Russian airliner in the Sinai Peninsula on 31 October, killing all 224 people on board.
“The technical investigative committee has so far not found anything indicating any illegal intervention or terrorist action,” the ministry said.
These conclusions are at odds with the findings of Russian and Western intelligence agencies, which point to an improvised explosive device which was smuggled aboard the plane at Sharm al-Sheikh airport.
An ISIS-linked group in Sinai claimed responsibility for the attack, and the ISIS publication Dabiq carried pictures of the supposed device.
Erdogan: The Middle East will benefit from improved Israel-Turkey relations
Talking to reports aboard his plane while on a flight from Turkmenistan, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the Middle East would benefit greatly from normalization of relationship between Turkey and Israel.to
Erdogan said that such a normalization would be possible if the two sides agreed on a compensation package for the nine Turks who were killed in 2010 when the Israeli Navy took control of the Turkish ship Mawi Marmara, which was part of a flotilla which tried to breach the Israeli maritime blockade of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.
Erdogan said that another condition for normalization would be an end to the Israeli sea and land blockade of Gaza.
Libya: Rival factions to sign historic agreement on Wednesday
Libya has been in a process of disintegration since Col. Qaddafi was removed from power and killed in November 2011. The country now has two governments: the internationally recognized government sits in the eastern city of Tobruk, while a rival, Islamist-influenced government, recognized by only Turkey and Qatar, sits in Tripoli. Neither government has a military or a police force – they rely on agreements with an ever shifting coalitions of armed militias to offer protection – and neither government provides any services to the people.
Representatives of the country’s two rival governments have on Sunday pledged to sign a deal in Morocco on Wednesday which would establish a unity government within forty days.
The UN-led peace conference between the two rival governments was held in Rome, in the presence of delegates from seventeen countries. The seventeen European and African countries committed themselves to offering the unity government political, economic, and security backing in order to reunify Libya.
