Turkey’s central bank sacks yet more officials: Executive directors of the banking, research and statistics departments at Turkey’s central bank are the latest officials to get the axe, Bloomberg reports, following the dismissal of deputy central bank governor Oguzhan Ozbas last week. The decision comes two months after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan dismissed the bank’s third governor in almost two years.

Syrian president Bashar Al Assad won a fourth term with over 95% of the vote, Syrian news agency SANA announced Thursday, in an election widely regarded as fraudulent by western nations. His government claimed a turnout rate of 78%, with Assad winning another seven years in power, amidst a decade-long civil war that has displaced over half the population and devastated the economy.

The US will reimpose sanctions on nine Belarusian companies following the forced grounding of a Ryanair flight and the arrest of a dissident journalist on board last week, Bloomberg reports.