Thousands of unaccompanied children and teenagers have reportedly disappeared in Germany over the past year amid concerns that they might have fallen into the hands of criminals and human smugglers. The German news organization Funke Mediengruppe reported on Monday that 5,835 refugee minors from countries in Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia went missing in the Western European country in 2015, of whom 555 are under the age of 14. The majority of the missing and unaccompanied minors were from Afghanistan, Syria, Eritrea, Morocco and Algeria. This is while officials in Berlin have no indications of their whereabouts. German Interior Ministry spokesman Johannes Dimroth confirmed media reports that the government had recently informed parliament about the disappearance of nearly 6,000 refugee children. Dimroth added that the actual number of the missing children could be even slightly higher than the current statistics. He, however, could not give reasons for their disappearance.

Four oilfields have been shut down and employees in a fifth oilfield have gone on strike in Libya over fears that the Daesh terrorist group may attack the facilities. The Libyan state news agency LANA said on Monday that the Bayda, Tibisti, Samah and Waha oilfields in Merada, southeast of the capital, Tripoli, were evacuated on Saturday. The news agency said the staff of Zaltan oilfield, 55 km (35 miles) southeast of Merada, also declared “a general strike following the worsening of the security situation inside the field and fears of attacks” by Daesh. The employees said in a statement that they decided to form a crisis committee and stop production activities at the oilfield. A Libyan military source attributed the closure to “the collapse of security and low daily production rate due to difficult security conditions.” Merada is about 350 kilometers (220 miles) from Daesh’s Libyan stronghold, the coastal city of Sirte. Daesh has launched several attacks on Libyan oilfields in a bid

  DUBAI: Russia has delivered the first part of an advanced missile defense system to Iran, Iranian media reported Monday, starting to equip Tehran with technology that was blocked before it signed a deal with world powers on its nuclear program. The S-300 surface-to-air system was first deployed at the height of the Cold War in 1979. In its updated form it is one of the most advanced systems of its kind and, according to British security think tank RUSI, can engage multiple aircraft and ballistic missiles around 150 km (90 miles) away. Russia's agreement to provide Iran with S-300 has sparked concern in Israel, whose government Iran has said it aims to destroy. In a recorded transmission, state television showed Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari telling a news conference Monday: "I announce today that the first phase of this (delayed) contract has been implemented." Ansari was replying to reporters' questions about videos on social media showing what