Day: June 18, 2021

Tight financial measures are ending for Istanbul powerhouse Galatasaray after their pact with European football governing body UEFA ended Friday.

“Administrative, financial and sporting restrictions” under a Financial Fair Play (FFP) Agreement “have been completely lifted,” the Istanbul club said in a statement.

Galatasaray said that after UEFA examinations of the last three fiscal years and 2020-21 fiscal year projections, it was determined that Galatasaray fully complied with all the conditions of the agreement, especially the break-even criterion.

In June 2018, UEFA and the Lions made a four-year agreement to cover through the 2021-22 season.

Under the deal, Galatasaray undertook to reach full break-even compliance by the 2021-22 season.

The criteria involved break-even targets, sporting measures and financial contributions.

UEFA monitors clubs financially to make sure they are not spending more money than they earn, a measure created to help teams avoid financial problems in the long run.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Job-related stress threatens the supply of teachers in the US, according to a new study by Rand Corporation, an American think-tank.

While teaching was a stressful profession even before COVID-19, it has become more stressful during the pandemic, said the 2021 State of the US Teacher Survey conducted in January and February 2021.

“Teachers are navigating unfamiliar technology, are balancing multiple modes of teaching, and have concerns about returning to in-person instruction. In addition, many teachers are caring for their own children while teaching,” said the survey released earlier this week.

One in four teachers were considering leaving their job by the end of 2020-21 academic year, more than in a typical pre-pandemic year and a higher rate than employed adults nationally, it said.

“Teachers were more likely to report experiencing frequent job-related stress and symptoms of depression than the general population,” it said, noting Black teachers are “particularly likely” to plan to leave.

While mode of instruction and health are the highest-ranked stress factors for teachers, other common reasons to quit teaching include stressful working conditions and increased personal responsibilities.

Technical problems while teaching remotely were also linked to job-related stress, depressive symptoms, and burnout.

The study recommended schools to implement COVID-19 mitigation measures to allow teachers focus on instruction, collection of data on teacher working conditions and well-being on a state and district level, and providing them mental health and wellness support.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Azerbaijan has put on the international wanted list the heads of Armenian companies for illegally transporting weapons to Karabakh over the past 20 years, Azerbaijan’s Prosecutor General’s Office said on Friday.

On April 28, 2021, the Prosecutor General’s Office opened a criminal case under the relevant articles of the country’s criminal code, said a statement by the office.

The statement said that an investigation had been carried out on the basis of information published in a number of media outlets and social networking platforms about the illegal transportation of weapons and military equipment to Armenia and from there to Azerbaijan’s Upper Karabakh region.

It was established that the head of the Tashir group of companies, Samvel Karapetyan, Royalsys Engineering owner David Galustyan, KOMEX Director-General Ara Abrahamyan and others smuggled illegally-acquired large-caliber military firearms, ammunition, explosives and devices into Armenia and from there into the Armenian-occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region and adjacent seven districts between 2001 and 2021, it added.

The smuggled weapons, ammunition, explosives and other military equipment were intended for the Armenian armed forces.

The Prosecutor General’s Office sent a request for legal assistance to the concerned state authorities of foreign countries in connection with the case.

It stated that all possible measures are being taken to bring to justice those responsible for these and other similar crimes in accordance with international law.

The Prosecutor General’s Office earlier stated that under President Ilham Aliyev’s instructions those responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity will be identified and brought to justice regardless of the time of the crime.

During a 44-day conflict last year, which ended in a truce on Nov. 10, Azerbaijan liberated several cities and nearly 300 settlements and villages in Karabakh from Armenia’s occupation.

The cease-fire is seen as a victory for Azerbaijan and a defeat for Armenia, whose armed forces withdrew in line with the agreement.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Turkey’s benchmark stock index closed at 1,391.06 points on Friday, down 1.63% from the previous close.

Starting the day at 1,417.95 points, Borsa Istanbul’s BIST 100 index fell 23.09 points from the previous close of 1,414.15 points.

The index’s lowest value during the day was 1,388.71 points, while its daily high was 1,422.29 points.

The total market value of the BIST 100 was around 978 billion Turkish liras (over $114 billion) by market close, with a daily trading volume of 14.1 billion Turkish liras ($1.6 billion).

On the last transaction day of the week, 15 stocks on the index rose, 83 fell and two were same compared to Thursday.

The price of one ounce of gold was $1,779.30 by market close, down from $1,798.00 at the previous close, according to data from Borsa Istanbul’s Precious Metals and Diamond Markets.

The price of Brent crude oil was around $73.59 per barrel as of 6.20 p.m. local time (1520GMT).

Exchange Rates Thursday Friday

USD/TRY 8.6850 8.7400

EUR/TRY 10.3820 10.3800

GBP/TRY 12.1540 12.1000

Source: Anadolu Agency

proached the apex court challenging the bail, but it refused to stay the order and issued notices to the three accused.

Natasha Narwal, Devangana Kalita, and Asif Iqbal Tanha were arrested last May under the controversial Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), which allows authorities to detain individuals for breach of national security.

While granting bail on Tuesday, the Delhi High Court said that “the line between the constitutionally guaranteed right to protest and terrorist activity seems to be getting somewhat blurred. If this mindset gains traction, it would be a sad day for democracy.”

However, a two-member bench also said that the High Court order should not be treated as a precedent until the matter is finally decided.

The court said the case could have “pan-India ramifications” due to the way the new law has been interpreted.

Narwal and Kalita are students of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), known for its left-leaning politics. Tanha is a student at Jamia Millia Islamia, a Muslim-dominated university in the capital. They were arrested by the Delhi police for alleged violence.

Communal riots in northeast Delhi in February 2020 killed over 53 people, mostly Muslims, and injured over 250.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Turkey is the world’s number one producer of hazelnuts, cherries, figs, apricots, quinces, and poppies, according to official Agriculture and Forestry Ministry data.

Turkey has reaped the largest agricultural income in the EU for the last decade, and is among the top countries in the world, said the data, as analyzed by Anadolu Agency.

Turkey’s agricultural income rose 20% last year on a yearly basis to reach 333.3 billion Turkish liras (some $47.5 billion).

The average US dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate last year was 7.02.

The country was able to produce 126.1 million tons of plants last year, up 7.6% annually, despite pandemic measures.

The production of field crops was up by 11.9%, fruits by 5.8%, and vegetables by 0.3% in 2020 on a yearly basis.

The country was also the second-largest melon, watermelon, sour cherry, cucumber, locust, and chickpea producer globally, and the third-largest mandarin and apple producer.

In pistachios, strawberries, walnuts, and lentils, the country is the fourth-largest manufacturer, the fifth-largest for sugar beets, and sixth-largest for lemons and grapes.

The country meets around 70% of the world’s hazelnut production and 26% of all quince and cherry production.

Turkey also produces 24% of all figs and 21% of all apricots globally.

The country is the world’s fourth-largest vegetable producer and fifth-largest fruit producer.

Turkey is also the globe’s largest flour exporter and second-largest pasta exporter.

The country last year exported 1,982 different agricultural productions worth $20.7 billion to 205 countries.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Oil prices continued downwards on Friday, fueled by the rising US dollar value, making dollar-priced oil more expensive and discouraging investors amid the resurgence of virus cases in the UK.

International benchmark Brent crude was trading at $72.52 per barrel at 06.59 GMT for a 0.76% decrease after closing Thursday at $73.08 a barrel.

American benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) traded at $70.69 a barrel at the same time for a 0.49% drop after ending the previous session at $71.04 per barrel.

Oil prices have hit record levels over the euphoria of rising demand from signs of recovery in the world’s economies from COVID-19 and pandemic-related restrictions, which been gradually eased especially in large oil-consuming countries like China, the US, and most of Europe.

A decline in prices, however, came after the Fed signaled that it could make two rate hikes of 0.25% each in 2023 to tame rising inflation.

Amid fear of higher interest rates, investors flocked to the dollar and Treasury notes, which rose substantially late Wednesday.

Fueled by the rate projections, the US dollar index, which includes a basket of currencies like the euro, Japanese yen, British pound, Canadian dollar, Swedish krona and Swiss franc, closed Wednesday with a 0.82% rise. The index was up 0.07% at 0646 GMT on Friday.

Prices were also negatively affected after the recent rise in virus cases in the UK, driving fears that restrictions will be renewed and oil demand will be suppressed again.

Health authorities in the UK reported 11,007 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, the most since Feb. 19.

The rising numbers are mostly blamed on the Delta variant of the virus, which was first detected in India.

However, the vaccination drive continues robustly. Over 42.21 million people have received the first dose of a COVID vaccine, which means that more than 80% of adults have now been jabbed. The number of fully vaccinated has also reached 30.6 million.

The UK government has delayed the date for easing all restrictions for about four weeks to July 19, with the hope of curbing the further spread of the virus by fully vaccinating the entire adult population.

Limiting further declines, Fitch Ratings has significantly revised up its 2021 and 2022 oil price predictions to reflect stronger year-to-date prices, a market deficit due to a recovery in demand, constrained supply from OPEC+ countries and heightened US capital discipline.

The rating agency increased its 2021 price forecast to $63 a barrel from $58 a barrel for Brent and raised WTI oil prices to $60 a barrel from $55 a barrel.

The agency forecast that Brent price would average $55 a barrel in 2022, up from $53 a barrel in its previous estimate, while the forecast price of WTI increased from $50 a barrel to $52 a barrel.

Fitch noted that the global market remains predominantly stable as a result of the ongoing economic recovery, as well as the valuable contributions made by the OPEC’s Declaration of Cooperation countries to achieving a more balanced oil market.

To support the positive sentiments, OPEC Secretary-General Mohammad Barkindo said during the 9th Technical Meeting the OPEC and non-OPEC countries that the global market remains predominantly stable as a result of the ongoing economic recovery.

Source: Anadolu Agency

The Turkish Red Crescent on Thursday said that it distributed meat to thousands of families in need in Somalia’s capital ahead of the Muslim festival of sacrifice.

The aid group said that it gave the aid to more than 12,900 families in one week across Mogadishu, including over 9,000 families for the last two days.

Orhan Kokcu, head of the Turkish Red Crescent in Somalia, told Anadolu Agency over the phone that the Turkish aid group slaughtered 525 cattle and distributed the meat to families in different parts of the city.

He said the charity will continue to distribute aid in the Horn of Africa country ahead of the second Muslim festival, Eid al-Adha, to be observed late July.

The Turkish Red Crescent has been one of the leading aid groups in Somalia over the last 10 years. It also supports orphans throughout the country.

Source: Anadolu Agency

US President Joe Biden on Friday hailed his administration’s pandemic response and the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine, 150 days since the start of his presidency.

At the start of his speech at the White House, he repeated his opening line: “Today we have reached 300 million shots in arms in 150 days.”

Biden called it “an important milestone that didn’t happen by chance.”

He did not mention that it appears his initial goal of 70% of Americans with at least one shot of the vaccine by July 4, America’s Independence Day, will be missed.

But 65% of Americans have gotten at least one shot, Biden said, through his administration’s “war-time” response to the pandemic, building a “whole of government” response.

“Together,” he said, “we built an unparalleled vaccination program,” with over 80,000 vaccination sites around the nation. He also said his administration was in a position to offer half a billion vaccine doses to impoverished nations around the world.

Fifteen US states and the District of Columbia, Biden said, are now at 70% vaccination rates for their populations. He said that cases and death counts are down to levels not seen since the start of the pandemic.

This week, the John Hopkins University reported the number of Americans who have caught the virus is heading toward 34 million, while the number of those killed by the pandemic ticked above 600,000, a proof, Biden said, that “the threat is still there.”

On that front, Biden said, he was using his declaration of the new national “Juneteenth” federal holiday, marking the end of slavery, as a jumping off point for federal and state governments to work more actively this weekend in communities of color to push the vaccines.

Black communities have been hit hardest by the virus and have also been more resistant to the vaccines.

Biden mentioned that in some US states — 11, according to Johns Hopkins — the number of new virus cases has not been trending down, but rather been flat or been rising in the past week.

He suggested that the Delta variant of COVID-19 was the culprit, saying that its effects can be more brutal on victims than the original COVID strain, but reassuring Americans that the vaccines available now prevent it.

Biden urged Americans to talk about whatever vaccine fears they have to talk with family members and their doctors.

And he grew passionate about the vaccines: “PLEASE,” he implored, “get vaccinated NOW, NOW, don’t put it off.”

But he also struck a tone of optimism.

“Folks, we’re heading into a very different summer than last year, a summer of hope and, God willing, joy.”

Source: Anadolu Agency