Day: July 21, 2021

The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said Sunday it had intercepted and destroyed an explosive-laden drone fired by Houthi rebels towards Saudi Arabia, the third such aerial attack in two days.

A coalition statement cited by the official Saudi news agency SPA said the rebel drone targeted the city of Khamis Mushait, southwest of the kingdom.

The coalition accused the Houthis of continuing to attack civilian targets, saying it has taken “operational measures to protect civilians and civilian facilities from rebel assaults”.

For its part, rebel spokesman Yahya Saree said the attack targeted the King Khalid Air Base in Khamis Mushait.

The rebel group, backed by Iran, regularly announces rocket and drone attacks on Saudi territories, saying they are a reaction to the Saudi-led coalition’s assault on Yemen.

Yemen has been beset by violence and chaos since 2014, when Houthi rebels overran much of the country, including the capital, Sanaa. The crisis escalated in 2015 when a Saudi-led coalition launched a devastating air campaign aimed at rolling back Houthi territorial gains.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the conflict has claimed more than 233,000 lives.

*Ahmed Asmar in Ankara contributed to this report

Source: Anadolu Agency

Turkey on Wednesday extended condolences to Beijing over deadly flooding in central China.

“We are deeply saddened that the floods in the Henan province of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) have claimed more than 25 lives and resulted in the evacuation of many people from the area,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

“We extend our condolences to the relatives of those who lost their lives and to the people and Government of PRC and wish a speedy recovery for the injured,” the statement added.

Twenty-five people were killed and seven others were missing after severe flooding in the central Henan province caused by torrential rains, media reports said Wednesday.

Search and rescue teams have found the bodies of 25 victims in flood-affected areas of Henan’s capital, Zhengzhou, while an estimated 200,000 people have been displaced, according to the South China Morning Post.

More than 1.2 million people were affected by the flood, and over 164,000 people have been placed in safe areas.

Source: Anadolu Agency

In a Wednesday telephone call, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed bilateral relations and regional developments with Hassan Rouhani, his Iranian counterpart, now in his final days in office.

The leaders exchanged greetings for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, or the Feast of the Sacrifice, said Turkey’s Communications Directorate.

Erdogan told Rouhani that he believes Ankara will continue to enjoy high-level cooperation and close dialogue with the new administration in Tehran, as they had with Rouhani.

Rouhani, who has served two terms as Iran’s president since 2013, is set to pass the presidential torch to conservative Ebrahim Raeisi on Aug. 3.

Raeisi won the post in elections this June, with Rouhani not running, as Iran’s presidents are limited to two terms.

Source: Anadolu Agency

The number of coronavirus cases at the Tokyo Olympics has risen to 79, organizers said on Wednesday, just days before the start of the major sports event.

Eight more people who arrived in Japan for the games have tested positive for COVID-19, the Tokyo Organizing Committee said.

Japan has barred spectators from attending the delayed Olympics, scheduled from July 23 to Aug. 8, with the host city Tokyo in a state of emergency at least until Aug. 22 due to surging infections.

World Health Organization chief Tedros Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday that it was not possible to eliminate the risk of virus transmission at the Tokyo Olympics.

He said anti-virus measures being implemented will be “put to the test,” stressing that the handling of confirmed infections would be critical.

“The mark of success in the coming fortnight is not zero cases,” he said.

“The mark of success is making sure that any cases are identified, isolated, traced and cared for as quickly as possible and onward transmission is interrupted.”

Earlier on Tuesday, Toshiro Muto, head of the Tokyo Olympics organizing committee, said officials are keeping an eye on the COVID-19 situation and “will continue discussions if there is a spike in cases.”

More than 11,000 athletes from 206 countries will compete in 33 sports at the Tokyo Olympics, which will be held at 42 competition venues.

The cost of the delayed summer games has been estimated at over $26 billion, said to be the highest amount in Olympics history.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Families in southeastern Turkey whose children were kidnapped by the PKK terror group long to spend the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday together.

They have been protesting for 686 straight days since Sept. 3, 2019, encouraging their children to give up their weapons and surrender to Turkish authorities.

The protests outside the office of the opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) in Diyarbakir started with three mothers who said their children were forcibly recruited by the terrorists.

The Turkish government accuses the HDP of having links to the PKK terror organization.

Solmaz Ogrunc said her son was abducted by PKK when he was 15, five years ago.

“It has been 10 Eids since I last saw my son. An ember burns where it falls. Let them get their dirty hands off our children. I hope my son will come and have a double holiday,” said Ogrunc, who added that she will continue to protest until she is reunited with her son.

Suleyman Aydin, who is protesting for his son, Ozkan, said the families have continued protesting even during the Eid al-Adha holiday which commemorates the willingness of the Prophet Ibrahim, or Abraham, to sacrifice his son at God’s command before the last-minute divine substitute of a ram.

“While everyone is celebrating, we await the arrival of our children,” said Aydin, adding he will continue sit-in protests until his son returns and would not give up.

Aydin urged his son to surrender to the security forces and put an end to the longing.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Real Madrid beat Barcelona 3-2 in a special match on Tuesday where the squads consisted of legendary players from both teams.

Madrid’s goals came from Munitis, Alfonso Perez, and Ruben de la Red while Ronaldinho and Jofre Mateu scored for the Catalan team at Bloomfield Stadium in Tel Aviv.

Barcelona’s squad included Brazilian legends Rivaldo and Ronaldinho, Argentinian forward Saviola, Portuguese midfielder Deco, and Dutch winger Ronald de Boer.

Portuguese midfielder Luis Figo, Brazilian left-back Roberto Carlos, and Spanish forward Alfonso Perez were among veteran stars for Los Merengues.

Source: Anadolu Agency

The trade volume of Turkey’s spot natural gas market increased by 43.4% to 4.83 million Turkish liras on Tuesday, Turkey’s Energy Exchange Istanbul (EXIST) data showed on Wednesday.

Total trade on Monday amounted to 3.37 million liras.

On Tuesday’s spot market, 1,000 cubic meters of natural gas cost 2,060 liras, while the cumulative natural gas trade volume amounted to around 2.34 million cubic meters.

Turkey received 90.7 million cubic meters of pipeline gas on Tuesday.

US$1 equals 8.59 Turkish liras at 1113 GMT on Wednesday.By Nuran Erkul Kaya

Source: Anadolu Agency

Oil prices fell slightly ahead of US oil inventories data and due to concerns that an increase in COVID-19 cases could hamper outlook on global economic recovery and suppress oil demand growth.

International benchmark Brent crude was trading at $68.98 per barrel at 07.31 GMT for a 0.53% loss after closing Tuesday at $69.35 a barrel.

American benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was trading at $66.84 a barrel at the same time with a 0.46% fall after ending the previous session at $67.20 per barrel.

The fluctuation in the prices continue due to the fears of rapid spread of the Delta variant.

First found in India and reported to be more resistant to the existing vaccines, Delta has spread across 100 countries so far. The World Health Organization expects Delta to be the most dominant COVID-19 strain globally.

Unvaccinated people account for more than 97% of new hospitalizations caused by the delta strain, according to health experts.

The decision to raise oil production by 400,000 barrels as of August also negatively affected the prices in addition to the supply glut fears.

Investors are awaiting the data on US oil inventories to be announced today by the US Energy Information Administration.

Source: Anadolu Agency