Recent remarks by a far-right French politician on the migration crisis at the EU's borders with Belarus sparked concern across the country on Friday.

Speaking to the French BFM TV news channel on the recent events transpiring on the Belarusian-Polish border, Julien Odoul, a member of the far-right National Rally party of Marine Le Pen, said the main task of European authorities must be to protect Europeans.

"We have to keep our borders closed to migrants, we mustn't let them in," Odoul said, adding that many of the migrants waiting on the border were "potentially dangerous."

Responding to a question by journalist Olivier Truchot on whether the migrants ought to be left to freeze at the border, Odoul said: "Absolutely, yes.”

Unable to hide his astonishment, Truchot repeated his question, and Odoul defended himself by saying, "Otherwise, Europe may have to face a migrant invasion."

The French politician's remarks became the subject of discussion on many other television programs in the country.

In October 2019, Odoul had requested that a Muslim woman take off her veil at a meeting in the eastern Besancon, attacking her verbally. The woman was chaperoning a school trip in which one of the students was her child.

Tensions between Poland and Belarus escalated on Monday after thousands of migrants, mostly from Middle East countries, headed to the Polish border and tried to breach the barriers.

Polish authorities deployed around 15,000 troops along the border to stop migrants from entering the country.

This deployment sparked concern in Russia, with the Kremlin saying it was closely monitoring "the alarming situation" and urging all parties to act responsibly.

The EU accuses Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko of engaging in a form of "hybrid" warfare and using migrants as a weapon to destabilize European countries./agencies

A man perches atop a vehicle in Amboseli National Park, in the foothills of fabled Mount Kilimanjaro, aims down the telescopic sights of a gun while adjusting its butt to fit perfectly into his shoulder.

His gun is aimed straight at a family of elephants that the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has classified as "vulnerable" and put on the endangered species red list.

The man takes a deep breath as his finger curls around the trigger; seconds later, he fires, almost silently, sending one elephant scampering through thick bushes away from a herd of roughly 35 elephants.

A few minutes later, the woozy, majestic tusker lies down slowly on its side and falls asleep in an open field.

The veterinarian, who used the tranquilizer gun to put the animal to sleep, signals a team from the Kenya Wildlife Service to rush into the area, where the majestic pachyderm is lying down fast asleep as the giant-strength sedative takes effect.

The wildlife service team is out on a mission to fit satellite-linked GPS collars on the tusker so that they can be stay one step ahead of poachers, but they have only 20 minutes to do so after the sedative has kicked in.

The female elephant is quickly fitted with an advanced Savannah Tracking satellite-linked GPS collar, with up to a dozen personnel, ground vehicles, and a Kenya Wildlife Service helicopter involved in the procedure.

After the collar has been fitted, the veterinarian gives her an antidote and everyone withdraws to a safe distance, leaving her in an open space.

She wakes up from her nap seemingly oblivious to her surroundings, still lying on the side, and grabs a patch of grass close to her tusks and chews it.

Then it dawns on her that she has been separated from her calf and her family. The huge tusker stands up and instinctively heads in the direction where the herd is waiting for her, just a few hundred meters from where the collar was fitted.

Protection from poachers

Patrick Omondi, the CEO of Wildlife Research and Training Institute in Kenya, told Anadolu Agency that the elephants are collared to protect them from poachers and keep them out of areas populated by people.

“We collared a female elephant, and (using it) we should be able to monitor real-time movement between this park and also the conservancies,” he explained. “(We should) be able to easily intervene on issues of human-wildlife conflicts and security, and also know when they’ve crossed the border and when they’re back for effective management.”

When the wildlife officers spot elephants moving into populated areas, they can move quickly to herd them away, he said, adding that the collars also monitor the animals' behavior, which will benefit future scientific research and conservation efforts.

"We use technology so that we can track these animals in the day and at night," Omondi said.

Due to the current drought, "now they have to range for longer to look for water and better grazing," he added.

"The elephants are large-ranging, they can travel even 350 kilometers (217 miles) in a single day," he explained.

If they reach settlements, this causes conflict, he explained, but “if we have the collar that we fitted today, we should be able to know where they are,” whether day or night.

The team can respond quickly and easily to ensure a harmonious coexistence between people and elephants, he asserted.

Population increase

"For us, as Kenya Wildlife Service, the concern is the security of the animal, the security of the people around there," said John Waweru, the service’s director-general. The collars are needed so they can track particular animals and see other animals in the group, he added.

The Amboseli National Park currently has over 3,000 elephants, according to the Tourism and Wildlife Ministry.

The East African country has about 34,000 elephants, a number that has been growing steadily at a rate of 2.8% per year for the past three decades.

In another hopeful sign, poaching has plummeted 96% in the last several years, with only 11 elephants poached in 2020 compared to 386 in 2013.​​​​​​​/aa

Eurozone industrial production rose 5.2% on an annual basis in September, the EU's statistical authority announced on Friday.

Industrial production in the EU27 also went up by 5% during the same period, Eurostat said in a statement.

Compared to last September, production of non-durable consumer goods rose 8.5%, capital goods 5.9%, intermediate goods 5.0%, and durable consumer goods 1.1%, while production of energy remained stable, it noted.

Among member states for which data are available, the largest annual hikes were seen in Ireland (up 45.4%), Belgium (up 23.1%), and Lithuania (up 19.6%).

The steepest declines in the reading were in Slovakia (-4.9%), Portugal (-4.8%), and Czechia (-4.0%) during the same period.

On a monthly basis, industrial output fell across the continent, Eurostat data showed.

"In September 2021, the seasonally adjusted industrial production fell by 0.2% in the euro area and by 0.5% in the EU, compared with August 2021," it said.

Meanwhile, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute on Friday, industrial production in Turkey (a-non EU member but candidate country) jumped 8.9% in September compared to the same month last year, and fell 1.5% from a month ago./aa

Brazil became the first South American nation to book their ticket to the 2022 World Cup with a 1-0 win against Colombia late Thursday.

Lucas Paqueta was the lone scorer at the Corinthians Arena for Brazil, which are comfortably on top of CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying group with 34 points.

They recorded impressive form by winning 11 out of 12 games.

Meanwhile, Chile beat Paraguay 1-0 and Ecuador sealed a 1-0 victory over Venezuela.

Leaders Brazil are followed by Argentina with 25 points, Ecuador have 20, and Chile collected 16.

The top four nations directly seal their places for the World Cup and the fifth-place nation will qualify for an intercontinental playoff to earn a spot in Qatar./aa

Blaming Turkey for the refugee crisis is a "real ingratitude," the country's president said on Thursday.

"It is Greece that is condemning refugees to death by skewering their boats," Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a press conference alongside Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in the capital Ankara following a meeting between the two. "We have all the documents."

Erdogan also said that Greece, as a whole, had "turned into a US military base," referring to US military deployments in the northern Alexandroupoli (Dedeagac) region of Greece.

For his part, Orban underlined the need for a defensive perimeter around Europe, noting that the continent was under migration pressures from the Mediterranean, Western Balkans, and Belarus.

He said that Europe was in need of allies, and if such a perimeter is not established, the continent would be in a "difficult situation."

"We should help our Turkish friends on migration. The EU should support Turkey as much as possible."

Turkey already hosts 4 million refugees, more than any country in the world, amid signs that a new wave of Afghan refugees might head towards Turkey and the EU.

Erdogan also said that the two had discussed bilateral relations, international and regional issues, and economic and commercial ties during the meeting.

He noted that the current trade volume between the two countries was $3-4 billion, he said they aimed to raise this figure to $6 billion.

Saying that 2024 would be celebrated as Turkey-Hungary Cultural Year, Erdogan thanked Orban and Hungarian officials for the return to Turkey of 101 pieces of historical artifacts on Thursday.

This cooperation "showed the entire world that an effective fight" against the smuggling of cultural assets is possible.

The historical artifacts were seized by Hungarian security forces during an operation in October 2016.

President Erdogan also thanked Hungary for their "strong support" for Turkey's EU membership bid./aa

Turkey on Thursday reiterated its support for Poland, Latvia, and Lithuania amid a refugee flux on their borders with Belarus.

"We are saddened to see that necessary measures are not taken in terms of the illegal passing of third country citizens to our allies Poland, Lithuania and Latvia through Belarus soils and they are left in harsh conditions on border regions," the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

This "multidimensional problem" could erode the international refugee protection regime that draws on the Geneva Convention, the ministry said, noting that the latest developments were transpiring amid the 70th anniversary of the convention relating to the status of refugees.

Stressing that Turkey has been hosting the highest number of refugees in the world for the last ten years, it reiterated that the country "gives full support to its allies, as a country which understands the challenges Poland, Lithuania and Latvia have been exposed to."

However, it said that Turkey refused to be "portrayed as part of a problem" to which it is not a party.

"We find it to be intentional that a globally prominent company like Turkish Airlines, is targeted even though information on this issue is shared transparently," the ministry said.

"Turkey emphasizes the importance of taking the necessary steps for the fight against irregular migration and human trafficking on every occasion and calls for the international community to be responsible and sensible towards this issue," it added.

The ministry also said that Turkey hopes that the concerned parties solve the issue "in moderation," emphasizing that Ankara is ready to "give all necessary support in order to overcome this issue."

Turkey already hosts over 4 million refugees, more than any country in the world, and has enhanced security measures on its borders to humanely prevent a fresh influx of migrants./aa

Major US indices opened mixed on Thursday, trying to recover from previous losses after annual consumer inflation climbed to its highest level in 31 years.

The Dow Jones was down 47 points, or 0.13%, to 36,032 points at 9.57 a.m. EDT (1457GMT). The blue-chip index fell 0.66% on Wednesday.

The S&P 500, however, rose 15 points, or 0.32%, to 4,661, after falling 0.82% in the previous session.

The Nasdaq added 132, or 0.85%, to 15,755. The tech-heavy index plummeted 1.66% the day before.

The steep decline during the previous session came after US Labor Department figures showed the consumer price index (CPI) rose 6.2% in October -- the largest 12-month increase since November 1990. Core CPI jumped 4.6% year-on-year, its largest 12-month rise since August 1991.

Amid worries of high inflation, the VIX volatility index climbed to 18.73, but the fear index was down 5.3% to 17.73 at the time.

The yield on 10-year US Treasury notes rose 0.76% to 1.570%, while the US dollar index increased an additional 0.2% to 95.02.

Oil prices were up yet again with international benchmark Brent crude trading at $83.33 per barrel -- a 0.8% gain. US benchmark West Texas Intermediate rose 0.9% to $82.10.

Investors have continued rushing to precious metals to protect themselves from high inflation. Gold rose an additional 0.63% to $1,861 per ounce and silver increased 2.2% to $25.18.

After climbing to an all-time high of $69.000 on Wednesday, Bitcoin was down 4.9% to $65,050 at the time./aa