Day: July 4, 2021

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan and Iran’s President-elect, Ebrahim Raeisi spoke over the phone on Sunday and discussed the “worsening” security situation in Afghanistan following the largely completed US pullout from the war-torn country.

Khan, according to a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office, telephoned Raeisi to express his concern over surging violence in the neighboring country, and cautioned that the latest developments could lead to “serious” repercussions for both Pakistan and Iran, resulting in an influx of refugees towards the bordering areas of the two countries.

The two countries together have already been hosting nearly five million Afghan refugees.

Khan underscored the “imperative of a negotiated political solution” to the decades-long conflict in the war-raked country, the statement said.

The two sides, it added, emphasized the need to continue facilitating an “Afghan-led and Afghan-owned” inclusive political settlement.

Expressing concern at the “serious human rights situation” in the Indian-administered Kashmir and Palestine, the statement said, the two leaders emphasized the need to resolve these long-standing disputes in line with the UN Security Council resolutions.

The two leaders expressed satisfaction at the “upward trajectory” of bilateral relations and agreed on further boosting existing cooperation, particularly in economic sector.

Referring to the opening of three markets along the border between the two countries in June this year, the two leaders affirmed that the establishment of markets is an “important” step, which would yield economic and social benefits for the people of both countries.

Khan also congratulated Raeisi on his victory in the presidential elections in June.

The two sides agreed to maintain high-level exchanges, with both leaders extending invitations to each other to pay official visits.

The two countries are sorting out different ways, including a free trade agreement, to boost their trivial bilateral trade volume.

Currently, the bilateral trade between the two neighbors stands at $359 million.

Last September, Prime Minister Imran Khan had approved the establishment of 18 markets along the borders of Iran and Afghanistan. Of them, 12 will be established near Afghanistan border.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Syrians who were displaced by attacks by the Bashar Assad regime and its supporters, and took shelter in refugee camps, consider the closure of the Bab al-Hawa Border Crossing “mass murder.”

Idlib falls within a de-escalation zone forged under an agreement between Turkey and Russia. The area has been the subject of multiple cease-fire understandings, which have frequently been violated by the regime and its allies.

Fear gripped millions of displaced civilians after Russia’s move to block aid entering the country with the ongoing civil war from the Bab al-Hawa Border Crossing — just across the Cilvegozu border gate in Hatay province in Turkey — in line with a UN Security Council resolution.

Turki Sultan, who was displaced by the regime and its supporters with attacks in his town in Idlib in 2019, told Anadolu Agency that he took shelter in the Mahatta refugee camp in Idlib on the Turkish border.

He said the Bab al-Hawa Border Crossing is the “lifeblood” of civilians living in the region.

“If Russia manages to provide humanitarian aid through the Assad regime, it will be like giving a death sentence to 5 million people living in Idlib,” he said. “Russia displaced us by bombing us. It killed and destroyed our homes. As if that wasn’t enough, it set eyes on the humanitarian aid that came to us from Bab al-Hawa. They are playing with the lives of children and the elderly.”

Husain Ali Berjus, another refugee, said his house was destroyed in attacks by the regime and its supporter, Russia, in 2019.

“They bombed us. They destroyed our homes. They displaced us. As it was not enough, they covet the medicine and food that comes to us. Certainly, Russia shouldn’t be able to do that,” he said.

Abdulsattar Humaydi from Idlib’s Saraqib district said he was displaced by the attacks from Iran, ِAssad and Russia, and his family was able to survive thanks to the help from Bab al-Hawa.

“Russia’s closing the Bab al-Hawa gate to aid means organizing a mass murder of the displaced,” he said.

Noting that his purchasing power is low because he works as a daily worker, Humaydi said thanks to the aid, his children receive education and benefit from health services.

Muhammad Ali, also displaced from Saraqib, underlined that humanitarian aid from the Bab al-Hawa gate should continue to allow the displaced to survive.

He said the distribution of UN humanitarian aid through the regime at Russia’s request means “rewarding the massacres” committed by the Assad regime.

Syria has been ravaged by a civil war since early 2011 when the regime cracked down on pro-democracy protesters.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and more than 10 million displaced, according to UN estimates.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Former South African President Jacob Zuma on Sunday addressed his supporters at his home, a day after the constitutional court agreed to review his jail sentence for contempt of court.

On Tuesday, Constitutional Court Judge Justice Sisi Khampepe sentenced Zuma, 79, to 15 months in jail for “deliberately” refusing to appear several times before a judicial commission probing alleged corruption during his nearly a decade in power.

Speaking in the local isiZulu language, Zuma told supporters he did not appear before the judicial commission because its head Raymond Zondo was “biased” against him.

He said he raised a strong case that Zondo was not impartial, but the judge refused to recuse himself from the inquiry. Therefore, he said, he had no choice but not to appear before the commission to testify.

“If Judge Zondo had recused himself, the people of South Africa would have heard my version regarding all the unsubstantiated allegations against me,” Zuma said.

The former anti-apartheid stalwart, whose nine-year rule as president was surrounded by several corruption scandals, said he is not scared of going to jail for what he believes is right.

He recalled that he had spent more than 10 years in the Robben Island prison, where global icon Nelson Mandela and other prominent anti-apartheid stalwarts were incarcerated.

Zuma, who has a huge support in his KwaZulu-Natal home province, asked his supporters to use peaceful means to protest against “injustice” he has been facing.

He said he was not asking his supporters for sympathy or pity but he is demanding justice.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Turkey administered more than 5.34 million COVID-19 vaccine doses over the past week, according to official figures released on Sunday.

The country has so far administered over 52.62 million doses since it launched a mass vaccination campaign in January, according to the Health Ministry.

More than 35.88 million people have received their first doses, while over 15.66 million have been fully vaccinated.

The number of people who have received their third COVID-19 vaccine doses crossed 1 million as of Sunday.

People above the age of 50 as well as health care staff across Turkey are able to make appointments to receive their third COVID-19 vaccine dose.

Meanwhile, Turkey confirmed 4,418 new coronavirus cases over the last 24 hours.

Turkey’s overall case tally is now over 5.4 million, while the nationwide death toll has reached 49,924 with 50 new fatalities over the past day.

Some 4,161 more patients won the battle against the novel coronavirus in the last 24 hours in Turkey, bringing the number of recoveries to 5.31 million.

Some 216,252 tests were conducted over the past day.

Amid a nationwide fall in virus cases and an expedited inoculation drive, Turkey has entered a new normalization phase, lifting almost all virus-related restrictions.

But seeking to limit the spread of the virus’ Delta variant, it has suspended flights from Bangladesh, Brazil, South Africa, India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka.

Meanwhile, passengers from the UK, Iran, Egypt, and Singapore are required to have a negative COVID-19 test result taken within the last 72 hours.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Former French Prime Minister Francois Fillon has been appointed to the board of directors of a Russian public oil group, according to a disclosure Saturday by a Russian business platform.

The Business Information Disclosure Centre run by Russian news agency, Interfax, published Fillon’s name on the list of its members as an administrator of state oil group Zarubezhneft, which has active operations in Algeria, Vietnam, Libya, Syria and Cuba.

He joined the company as chairman of the consulting company, Apteras SARL, which he founded in 2017.

In June, French media reported Fillon getting close to the Kremlin after his candidacy for the board of the Russian oil company was proposed by Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Michoustine.

Fillon, who was in office as the French premier from 2007-2012, supported Russian military intervention in Syria in 2015.

He considered President Vladimir Putin an “honest broker” in the Syrian conflict and blamed the EU for pushing him in the corner with sanctions against Moscow.

Putin, in turn, hailed Fillon as an “upstanding person” for trying to improve relations with Russia.

While campaigning in the 2017 presidential elections, the center-right politician made known his pro-Russia stance, calling the EU’s economic sanctions “totally ineffective” and assured he would do his best to lift the sanctions if he came to power.

Fillon’s candidacy against French President Emmanuel Macron was overturned after his name surfaced in a fake job scam involving his wife.

Last year, he was found guilty and sentenced to a five-year prison term, three of which were suspended and the couple was fined €375,000 ($445,000).

Source: Anadolu Agency

Anadolu Agency is here with a rundown of the latest developments on the coronavirus pandemic and other news in Turkey and around the world.

– Coronavirus and other developments in Turkey

Turkey has administered more than 52.34 million coronavirus vaccine doses since it launched a mass vaccination campaign in January, according to official figures.

More than 35.78 million people have received their first doses, while over 15.58 million have been fully vaccinated, said the Health Ministry.


Turkey is one of the leading countries in vaccination efforts against the virus, according to the country representative for Turkey at the World Health Organization (WHO).

The fugitive creator of an online Ponzi scheme game was extradited to Turkey late Saturday.

Mehmet Aydin, 29 surrendered to the Turkish Consulate in Sao Paulo and was arrested at the Istanbul Airport in an ongoing investigation by Istanbul prosecutors.

A five-day joint military drill by the Turkish and Azerbaijani armies in Baku has ‘successfully’ ended, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry announced.

Turkey was “saddened” to receive news regarding a large-scale fire that erupted in the Jebel Akhdar region in eastern Libya, according to a statement by Foreign Ministry spokesman Tanju Bilgic.

Nine provinces in the southeastern Anatolia region whose history, culture, gastronomy and nature are registered by UNESCO are preparing to gain from tourism activity with “Mesopotamia” –promoted as Turkey’s first destination-oriented regional tourism brand.

Turkey expressed grief for widespread destruction caused by a massive landslide after heavy rains in Japan.

– COVID-19 updates worldwide

The Delta variant has seen a sharp spike in Iran in recent weeks, with the number of cities marked “high risk” jumping to 92, according to that country’s anti-coronavirus headquarters.

Bangladesh received 4.5 million doses of vaccines produced in the US and China, according to officials.

Afghan authorities warned of surging cases of mucormycosis, also known as “black fungus,” among coronavirus patients as the war-ravaged country grapples with a shortage of vaccines and medical oxygen.

– Other global developments

At least eight civilians were killed and nine others wounded in attacks by forces of the Bashar al-Assad regime and their allied Iran-backed foreign terrorist groups in a de-escalation zone in the northwestern Syrian province of Idlib, according to a Syrian civil defense group.

The Roman Catholic Church had “one purpose at one time” and it was “to brainwash my lineage to make sure that we stop praying to who our spirituality was and only pray to the Roman Catholic Church faith,” said the head of the Cowessess First Nation.

Indigenous leaders in Canada called on Catholics to boycott Sunday mass, local media reported.

A Syrian mother emerged triumphant from a Danish courtroom after the country declared Damascus and surrounding areas safe for the return of refugees.

Conceived during the Cold War era, the Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan saw the inception of the modern Afghan Air Force before serving as the main bastion for the invading Red Army and later as the main base of operations for the US in the war-ravaged country.

Twenty people remain missing after landslides swept away houses in southwest Tokyo, according to public broadcaster NHK.

The EU’s Single-Use Plastic Directive took effect, banning common items made with single-use plastics.

Known as the Venice of the East for its pristine waters, the capital of Indian-administered Kashmir, Srinagar, has become a dumping ground for sewage and pollution, including plastic waste, because of years of inattentiveness, according to experts.

There are no longer backdoor contacts with India to resume the long-stalled talks between two nuclear neighbors, Pakistan’s national security advisor said.

Syrians who were displaced by attacks by the Bashar Assad regime and its supporters, and took shelter in refugee camps, consider the closure of the Bab al-Hawa Border Crossing “mass murder.”

Former French Prime Minister Francois Fillon has been appointed to the board of directors of a Russian public oil group, according to a disclosure by a Russian business platform.

Azerbaijan handed over 15 Armenian detainees in exchange for maps of 92,000 anti-tank and anti-personnel mines planted during the occupation in the Fizuli and Zangilan regions, the country’s Foreign Ministry said.

Libya’s prime minister called for conducting Libyan parliamentary and presidential elections on its scheduled time on Dec. 24.

Source: Anadolu Agency

The Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday eliminated the Atlanta Hawks over a 118-107 win to claim the NBA Eastern Conference title, launching the Bucks to the NBA finals to meet the Phoenix Suns.

Following their victory against the Hawks in game six, the Bucks, who won the series 4-2, reached their first NBA finals since 1974.

Milwaukee duo Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday combined 59 points in against the Hawks during the match.

Middleton scored 32 points and Holiday racked up 27 for Milwaukee at State Farm Arena, Atlanta.

Holiday had nine rebounds and nine assists, as well.

Milwaukee’s Brook Lopez and Pat Connaughton piled up 13 points each.

The Hawks’ Cam Reddish scored 21 points to be his team’s top scorer.

Atlanta’s Serbian guard Bogdan Bogdanovic added 20 points, while Trae Young and Clint Capela scored 14 point each.

The 2021 NBA finals will be played between the Phoenix Suns and the Milwaukee Bucks in a best-of-seven series format as in the previous rounds.

Game one of the finals will be at the Phoenix Suns Arena.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Turkish security forces “neutralized” at least two PKK terrorists in the country’s southeast, the Interior Ministry said on Sunday.

The terrorists were “neutralized” in an operation supported by unmanned aerial vehicles in the Yuksekova district of Hakkari province as part of the Operation Eren-14, said the ministry.

Turkish authorities often use the word “neutralized” in statements to imply the terrorists in question surrendered or were killed or captured.

The ministry further said the operation continues in the region.

Weapons and ammunition were also seized in the operation, according to a local governorate statement.

Operation Eren, named after Eren Bulbul, a 15-year-old who was killed by the terrorist PKK on Aug. 11, 2017, began in January with the aim of eliminating terrorism in the country.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US, and the European Union – has been responsible for the deaths of 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Italian full back Leonardo Spinazzola was confirmed Saturday to have sustained a major Achilles tendon injury in a UEFA EURO 2020 match.

The Italian Football Federation (FIGC) said Spinazzola was diagnosed with “subcutaneous rupture of the left achilles tendon” when the 28-year-old Roma defender underwent medical checks at a Rome hospital.

Italy defeated Belgium 2-1 in a EURO 2020 quarterfinal match Friday as Spinazzola left the pitch in tears after the injury in the second half.

FIGC President Gabriele Gravina said he was “very sorry for Spinazzola” and that the defender gave his best to Italy.

“I wish him the best of luck for a quick return, because not only is he a great professional, but he has also shown great personal qualities,” he added.

Spinazzola’s return is uncertain.

He had two assists for Italy in four EURO 2020 matches.

Italy, without Spinazzola, will face Spain on Tuesday in the semifinal.

Source: Anadolu Agency