Latest News Headlines of Turkey
Turkish athlete Mert Kilavuz bagged a gold medal in the men’s 1,500-meter freestyle at the 2021 European Junior Championships in Rome on Thursday.
Kilavuz finished the race with a time of 15.02.22, followed by Hungary’s David Betlehem with 15.02.28.
Another Turkish athlete, Yigit Aslan, came in third to win a bronze with a time of 15.05.08.
Source: Anadolu Agency
Sweden will begin administering a third dose of the coronavirus vaccine this fall, local media reported on Thursday.
Speaking to Swedish daily Aftonbladet, Richard Bergstrom, the country’s vaccination coordinator, said the spread of COVID-19 is on the rise in several countries, as the virus has mutated.
“Although more than half of the population in Israel is fully vaccinated, they are infected by the Delta variant. Fortunately, these are not serious cases,” he noted.
Bergstrom said people have become infected after receiving two doses of vaccine, suggesting everyone must be careful. A third dose should be given, he added.
He said the county is also preparing for a fourth dose expected to be administered in the future.
“Several studies show that getting a third dose of any vaccination boosts the immune system again, even against variants,” he explained.
The Nordic country with a population of 10 million has reported over 1.09 million cases and 14,642 deaths since the start of the pandemic, according to Swedish Public Health Agency.
Sweden is one of the few countries that did not introduce strict lockdown measures, and relied on public recommendations to stem the virus spread.
Source: Anadolu Agency
The US military mission in Afghanistan will conclude Aug. 31, President Joe Biden said Thursday.
“The drawdown is proceeding in a secure and orderly way, prioritizing the safety of our troops as they depart,” Biden said at a news conference.
White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said earlier that the war in Afghanistan has not been won military by any party as the US withdrawal continues.
“We’re not going to have a mission accomplished moment” in Afghanistan, she added.
US Central Command (CENTCOM) said Tuesday that the process to withdraw American forces from Afghanistan by September is more than 90% complete.
Source: Anadolu Agency
The volume of Turkey’s information and communication technology (ICT) sector reached 189 billion Turkish liras ($26.9 billion) in 2020, a sectoral body revealed on Thursday.
This sector grew by 22% year-on-year, according to a report co-authored by the financial advisory firm Deloitte Turkey and the Informatics Industry Association (TUBISAD).
The figure was well above from the forecast which expected an annual growth rate of 5-10% for the year, according to the ICT Sector 2020 Market Data and Trends.
Noting that the size of the sector rose 15% annually on average between 2016 and 2020, the report said the exchange rate effect and electronic communications contributed significantly to last year’s growth.
Exports of the Turkish ICT sector, which increased its employment to 143,000 people, totaled at 10.5 million liras ($1.5 million) in 2020.
The category of information technologies software took the largest share in total exports with 8.7 million Turkish liras ($1.2 million).
The report also revealed that the ICT market narrowed by 1% on a US dollar basis during the same period.
Commenting on the figure, TUBISAD head Levent Kiziltan said: “In light of this 1% contraction, the negative impact of exchange rate pressure on the future projection of our industry is obvious.”
However, year-on-year growth of 30% in the sector’s exports is promising, Kiziltan stressed.
Mehmet Fatih Kacir, deputy minister of industry and technology, highlighted how COVID-19 triggered an acceleration in digitalization in both the public and private sector.
“In the coming years, we project that cloud computing, 5G-and-beyond connectivity technologies, artificial intelligence, big data, cyber security and blockchain technologies will be effective on the industry,” Kacir stressed.
In 2019, the average US dollar/Turkish lira rate was around 5.68, while one dollar was exchanged for 7.02 liras on average in 2020.
Source: Anadolu Agency
India approved a 23,000 billion rupees ($3.2 billion) relief package to combat issues related to the coronavirus pandemic that occurred during a second wave, according to a statement Thursday.
The package “will be used by the Union and state governments to boost emergency health infrastructure,” newly appointed Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya.
The package was announced one day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi reshuffled the cabinet following the resignation of 12 ministers, including health, IT and oil, as the country battered by COVID-19.
Former Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, along with 11 other ministers, resigned Wednesday.
Vardhan was believed to have been dismissed because of mismanagement during the second wave.
The government faced tough questions for the grim situation during April and May, as it was blamed for failing to manage the pandemic.
India struggled with the deadly second wave that severely strained its health system, leading to shortages of oxygen supplies at hospitals as well as beds and coronavirus treatment drugs such as Remdesivir.
“Resignation by the health minister proves that the government has accepted the fact that they had failed to manage the situation during the second wave of the pandemic,” Amulya Nidhi, national co-convener of Jan Swasthya Abhiyan, or Public Health Campaign, told Anadolu Agency.
“Harsh Vardhan was the government representative as the health minister so seeking his resignation means he failed to perform his duties,” said Nidhi.
When the situation was out of control, Vardhan blamed Indians for the spread of the virus.
Modi was also criticized as Indians died in the absence of beds and oxygen at hospitals.
Among those sacked was Law and Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad
Prasad was engaged in a bitter row with Twitter about new Information Technology rules introduced by the government.
Forty-three new ministers were sworn in on Wednesday with the president administering the oath of office and secrecy to members of the Council of Ministers at a ceremony in the President’s house.
Source: Anadolu Agency
An EU official on Thursday voiced support for humanitarian aid to continue uninterrupted into Syria through the Bab al-Hawa border crossing with Turkey, as millions of refugees fear the aid lifeline’s possible closure.
Visiting Turkey’s southern province of Hatay bordering Syria, European Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarcic said Bab al-Hawa is the region’s only border crossing and is vital for the people.
“I trust that the members of the UN Security Council will appreciate the importance of preserving this operation and this lifeline,” Lenarcic said ahead of a critical vote on cross-border aid to Syria at the UN Security Council.
The UN Security Council is set to vote on whether to renew the cross-border mechanism, which has allowed the Bab al-Hawa passage to operate since 2014, before it expires on Saturday, with Russia and China, two permanent members, intending to veto it.
Bab al-Hawa is the only remaining cross-border supply route from Turkey to Syria’s last opposition-held territory, Idlib.
“This operation means life for millions of people on the other side of the border, where 3.5 million people depend on humanitarian assistance provided through this border-crossing Bab al-Hawa,” Lenarcic stressed.
Underlining the needs of people on the other side of the border, such as food, water, shelter, medical care, and psychological support, he said: “With my presence here today, I want to shed additional light on the importance of this life-saving operation here.”
Praising the “remarkable work that is done by the UN and members of its agencies,” he said the aim of his visit included pointing “to the fact that non-renewal of this authorization across Bab al-Hawa would have tremendous, dramatic humanitarian consequences for millions of people who depend on this lifeline.”
He also admired the Turkish authorities for “supporting this operation in every way necessary.”
“And this Turkish support for this operation comes in addition to the generosity that Turkey displayed in hosting millions of refugees from Syria and other places,” he added, praising the generosity of Hatay province, which hosts the largest proportions of Syrian refugees.
Reminding that Bab al-Hawa is the “last-remaining lifeline to millions of people,” he said: “But, I would like to stress here that we would like to have more of those lifelines.”
“We would like to see Damascus provide humanitarian aid to the people of northwest Syria as well. But, as far as we know, this is not the case right now,” he told reporters.
“As long as this is not the case, we need this line from Turkey through Bab al-Hawa to be preserved,” he added.
He said the EU would continue to provide humanitarian assistance to all Syrians in need, within Syria or elsewhere. But, he added, they were also looking into ways to help them stand on their own feet.
Meanwhile, the EU commissioner said the bloc would continue to support political negotiations in line with the Security Council Resolution 2254.
Source: Anadolu Agency
Turkey’s Bayraktar Akinci combat drone broke a new record in the country on Thursday by flying at an altitude of 38,039 feet and staying in the air for 25 hours and 46 minutes.
According to the defense company Baykar, the unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) was a project spearheaded by the Defense Industries Presidency and took off in the long-haul flight and high-altitude performance test held in the presence of official delegations.
During the flight tests in the Akinci Flight Training and Test Center, it travelled 7,507 kilometers (4,660 miles) in air, making 870 sorties during the tests to date and performed a total of 347 hours and 28 minutes of flight.
The Bayraktar Akinci UCAV made its first flight on Dec. 6 2019. Test activities carried out at the center in the northwestern Corlu Airport Command are conducted with three other prototypes.
Source: Anadolu Agency
The number of victims in last month’s collapse of a Miami-area condominium in the state of Florida reached 60 on Thursday, after “search and rescue” efforts were switched to a “recovery” operation.
Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said another six bodies were pulled from the rubble, bringing the number positively identified to 35.
A total of 80 people are still missing.
Levine Cava said rabbis are embedded with searchers, to make sure bodies are treated in accordance with Jewish tradition. It is estimated that among the 6,000 residents of Surfside, where the Champlain Towers South condo collapsed, almost half are Jewish.
The switch to a “recovery” mode means that while searching still goes on continuously in the pile of debris, there is less urgency to hunt for survivors, and searchers will not put themselves in harm’s way.
Teams are also now focusing on recovering every imaginable personal item, including legal documents, phones, wallets and jewelry.
Levine Cava said it was an “extremely difficult decision” late Wednesday to switch from “rescue” to “recovery,” which officially began at midnight.
“Our top priority since day one was to do everything possible in the search of survivors,” she said. “To share this news with the families who are still missing their loved ones, was devastating.”
The search effort paused for several minutes late Wednesday for a moment of prayers for the victims. A line of mourners, first responders, rabbis and chaplains stretched for nearly two blocks outside the massive pile of rubble.
Rescue work paused again at 1.20 a.m. Thursday for another moment of silence to mark the moment on June 24 when half the condo tower fell.
A controlled demolition brought down the other half on Sunday, and that has freed searchers to find more bodies daily.
There was only one person pulled alive from the rubble, in the hours right after the collapse.
Investigators continue to look at structural flaws as a possible cause.
Source: Anadolu Agency
The White House said Thursday that the war in Afghanistan has not been won military by any party as a US withdrawal continues.
Spokeswoman Jen Psaki was asked at a news conference if President Joe Biden had plans to mark the full pullout when it is completed. She said Biden might speak on Afghanistan in the future in terms of plans for the end.
“We’re not going to have a mission accomplished moment in this regard. It’s a 20-year war that has not been won militarily,” said Psaki.
“We are proud of the men and women who have served, incredibly grateful — the president will note that in his remarks,” she added.
US Central Command (CENTCOM) said Tuesday that the process to withdraw American forces from Afghanistan by September is more than 90% complete.
Source: Anadolu Agency