Day: August 17, 2022

UK Conservative Party leadership candidates Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss both ruled out a second Scottish independence referendum if they become the next prime minister while speaking at a debate Tuesday in Perth, Scotland.

The pair took turns answering questions from a Scottish journalist as well as the audience, which was comprised of party members.

“If I am elected as prime minister, I will not allow another independence referendum,” Truss said.

She added that the 2014 vote was once-in-a-generation, and that rather than “agitating for another referendum,” Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon should deal with “the very real issues in Scotland.”

“I consider myself a child of the union, and to me, we’re not just neighbours, we’re family,” Truss said. “I will never ever let our family be split up.”

On the issue of a second referendum, Sunak said: “I can’t imagine the circumstances in which I would.”

“We live in a union which is of course there by consent and by democracy, and I accept that,” he said. “But I just don’t think that anybody thinks that now or any time in the near future is remotely the time to focus on this.”

“When it comes to Nicola Sturgeon, I want to hold the SNP government to account for what it’s doing and delivering for people here in Scotland,” Sunak said. “But, crucially, I want to take her on and win the argument on the union because I passionately believe in it and it’s an argument that I think we can win.”

Members of Britain’s ruling Conservative Party are currently voting to decide on their next leader, who will also become the next prime minister.

Truss is leading in internal Conservative Party membership polls by some margin, though Sunak led in the first stage of the contest with Conservative Party lawmakers.

The new leader of the Conservative Party, and in turn prime minister, will be announced on Sept. 5.

Source: Anadolu Agency

The body of Juan Arjon Lopez, an independent journalist, has been discovered in northern Mexico, bringing the number of reporters and media workers murdered so far this year to 14, officials announced Tuesday.

Prosecutors in the state of Sonora said Lopez had been missing since Aug. 9.

During a press conference, Sonora Attorney General Claudia Indira Contreras Cordova briefed reporters on the grim finding.

“We have just learned that there has been a discovery that coincides with the person found dead with some of the tattoos that we had already documented regarding the journalist,” she said.

Lopez, 62, a reporter for the information portal A Qué Le Temes, was last seen on Aug. 8, according to colleagues and family members, who began reporting him as missing through social media.

After the report about Lopez’s disappearance was widespread, authorities in Sonora organized a search team. However, the search was not official since there was no official report on the matter.

On Jan. 10, journalist Jose Luis Gamboa was found dead in the state of Veracruz. There has been a wave of killings since then, making 2022 the deadliest year for journalists so far.

Violence against members of the press has become widespread and a source of criticism against Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who has been accused by his opponents of ostracizing and attacking journalists.

International human rights organizations such as Article19 have criticized Lopez Obrador’s allegedly dismissive attitude towards the journalistic guild, which has endured unprecedented violence this year.

At a press conference Tuesday, Lopez Obrador slammed media outlets for attacking his administration, saying journalists have sided with conservative groups critical of his government.

“It is very regrettable what is happening to the noble profession of journalism in Mexico, with honorable exceptions, not to generalize. But it is one of the worst times. It is the decadence of journalism subservient to…the vested interest groups. It is the end of an era,” he said.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Active discussions are continuing among several European Union member states on the need to ban tourist visas for Russian citizens amid the Ukraine war.

Through this ban, the EU hopes to increase pressure on Moscow and bring an end to its “special military operation” in Ukraine, which began on Feb. 24.

A draft decision on the ban was put forth for consideration as part of the seventh package of sanctions adopted by the European Council last month.

On Feb. 26, the EU suspended the facilitated visa regime with Russia, suggesting a simplified procedure for processing documents for officials and entrepreneurs.

The European Commission meanwhile ruled out a full ban on Schengen tourist visas for Russians, as it went against EU norms.

A number of European countries including the Baltic states, the Czech Republic, Belgium and Denmark have limited or stopped processing certain types of entry documents for Russians following the start of the war in Ukraine.

Latvia, Lithuania and the Czech Republic called for a ban on issuing visas to tourists from Russia at the EU level.

Schengen refers to the EU passport-free zone that covers most European countries. The largest free travel area in the world includes the 26 countries that have signed the Schengen Agreement, which allows citizens of member countries to travel within the zone freely, without passing through passport and border control.

A Schengen visa is a short-stay visa that allows a person to travel to any members of the Schengen Area, with stays up to 90 days for tourism or business purposes.

Russia’s Schengen visa past

According to the European Commission, Russia remains the top source country for Schengen visa applications.

The peak was observed in 2013, when over 6.89 million Russians received such visas, accounting for 39% of the 17.25 million visas issued that year.

In 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, Russians submitted more than 4.13 million applications to the consulates of countries that are parties to the Schengen Agreement, accounting for 24% of the 16.92 million visa applications.

In 2020, there were nearly 654,000 such applications, or 22% of the total 2.9 million, followed by 536,200 applications last year, corresponding to 18% of the 2.92 million.

The percentage of visa refusals has been gradually increasing due to coronavirus restrictions and closed borders.

While in 2019, the rejected share of visas was 1.5% of the total number of applications, in 2020, it climbed to 2.6% and reached 3.2% in 2021.

Russian citizens can apply for tourist visas at the embassies of Italy, Greece, Germany, France, Spain, Austria, Hungary, Sweden, Switzerland, Norway, Finland and Slovenia. But currently, due to the high demand and mutual expulsion of diplomats, it is not easy to get a visa at visa centers in Russia, even to these countries.

While the Schengen visa issuance period took only three working days in 2019, the term has now increased to two weeks or even more.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry and the Federal Agency for Tourism advised Russian citizens to assess the risks when planning trips to “unfriendly countries.”

Meanwhile, Denmark and the Netherlands also do not issue short-term visas. The waiting period for obtaining Schengen visas from France, Greece and Spain may sometimes take several months.

Ban on visas

Poland supports banning Schengen visas for Russians at the EU level. Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Piotr Wawrzyk announced this week that Warsaw is also developing a solution that will allow it to deny visas to Russians.

“We can expect a decision on this issue in the coming weeks,” he said, adding the country has not issued tourist visas to Russians for several months. Currently, entry documents are issued to a limited number of people.

Wawrzyk also said that Poland supports the expansion of EU sanctions against Russia.

After Russia launched a “special military operation” in Ukraine on Feb. 24, Polish President Andrzej Duda said he would advocate a ban on Russians entering the country if the situation worsened.

In March, the Foreign Ministry allowed the closure of the border crossing between Poland and Russia in the Kaliningrad region.

Closure of borders for Russians with Schengen visas

On Aug. 11, Estonia banned entry even to Russian citizens with Schengen visas issued by the country’s own authorities.

“The government, at the suggestion of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, decided that in a week, a sanction will be imposed on valid Schengen visas issued by Estonia to Russian citizens. They will be banned from entering Estonia,” said Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu.

He noted that there will be some exceptions to this rule.

Reinsalu specified that currently, Estonia has data on more than 50,000 valid Schengen visas issued to Russian citizens.

Earlier, Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said she considers it necessary to prohibit granting tourist visas for Russian citizens to enter EU countries.

“Visiting Europe is a privilege, not a human right,” said Kallas, insisting that it is necessary to stop tourism from Russia.

Later, German government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said the proposal had been submitted for discussion in the EU.

Suspension of visas by Lithuania, Czech Republic

Right after the start of Russia’s offensive in Ukraine, Lithuania suspended the issuance of Schengen visas to Russian citizens.

“As a sign of solidarity with the people of Ukraine, who faced the military aggression of Russia, the Foreign Ministry of Lithuania suspends the issuance of visas to citizens of the Russian Federation,” said an announcement on the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry’s Twitter page.

On Aug. 15, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said his country had practically stopped issuing tourist visas to Russians and was issuing visas only for humanitarian reasons.

Meanwhile, the Czech Republic on June 23 said it will not be issuing visas and temporary residence permits to Russian and Belarusian citizens through March 2023.

An exception was made for trips with a humanitarian purpose, while the decision didn’t apply to those who already had a residence permit.

Last week, the Czech Republic, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the EU, backed the proposal for an EU-wide visa ban for Russian citizens.

“The flat halting of Russian visas by all EU member states could be another very effective sanction,” Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky said in a statement.

His remarks lent support to a push by Estonia, Latvia and Finland for all EU states to stop issuing tourist visas to Russians and preventing other means to circumvent the ban.

Earlier, Lipavsky had already announced that he would raise the issue at the summit of EU foreign ministers which will be held on Aug. 31 in Prague.

Latvia, Finland demand visa restrictions

On Aug. 14, Latvian President Egils Levits said Latvia, together with Finland, Estonia, the Czech Republic and other like-minded countries, should put forward a demand at the European level to stop issuing tourist visas to Russian citizens.

Levits also pointed to additional sanctions against Russia, adding the country considers it necessary to review the residence permits and visas already issued to Russians by Latvia.

Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin also called for a ban on tourist visas to Russians at the EU-wide level.

Marin claimed that Russians use Finland as a “transit point” as they pass to other EU countries.

Helsinki will cut the number of Russian tourist visas it issues by 90% due to rising discontent over the war on Ukraine.

However, currently there is a lack of unanimous support among all EU member states for travel restrictions on Russian citizens.

‘Complete closure of entry to Europe for all Russians’

On Aug. 9 in an interview with the Washington Post, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on Western countries to bar entry to Russians. He said Russians should “live in their own world until they change their philosophy.”

Zelenskyy believes that the only way to discourage Russia from seizing foreign territories is to ban Russians from visiting Western states.

Meanwhile, the European Commission stressed that it is exclusively the EU countries’ right to decide on visa applications and eventually refuse Russian citizens.

EU “member states are solely responsible for the assessment of the visa applications on an individual basis and also for the issuance of visas,” said Anitta Hipper, the European Commission’s spokeswoman on home affairs, migration and internal security.

Slipping into forgetfulness

Commenting on the proposed and actual restrictions for Russian citizens in Europe, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov alluded to events in the run-up to and during World War II.

“In their unfriendliness, many of these countries slip into forgetfulness, and they resort to statements that we heard from several European countries in the center of Europe 80 years ago,” he said.

He said the attempt to isolate Russians has no prospects.

“The EU countries and North American nations are competing with each other in anti-Russian sanctions, but their arsenal of measures is already drying up. Therefore, irrational decisions are being made and dangers can’t be ruled out,” he said.

Peskov also warned of “retaliatory measures” if Russian citizens are denied Schengen visas.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova also said that the denial of entry to the EU for Russians who need medical services is “outrageous.”

Commenting on the calls of some European officials to stop issuing visas to Russians, Zakharova pointed out that EU countries, based on their own obligations, do not have the right to restrict the issuance of visas to any group of persons on a national basis.

Source: Anadolu Agency

The European Union urged Kenyan authorities Tuesday to resolve an election dispute in the East African country peacefully within the boundaries of the rule of law.

EU High Representative Josep Borrell in a statement said the EU commends Kenyans for the “calm and peaceful” election day on Aug. 9.

“The EU takes note of the results by the IEBC declaring Mr. William Ruto winner of the election and the decision to appeal by Mr. Raila Odinga. Ongoing dispute and any remaining concerns about this election must be resolved peacefully through existing legal mechanisms,” Borrell stressed.

He said political and societal leaders must avoid any violence and call for calm.

The EU-Kenya Strategic Dialogue begun in June 2021 will develop further with the new Kenyan leadership, he underlined.

Kenya’s opposition leader Raila Odinga on Tuesday rejected the results of the presidential election, which he was declared to have lost.

Addressing a news conference in the capital Nairobi, Odinga said the “flawed” results were a setback to democracy in the country.

“For the avoidance of doubt, I want to repeat that we totally and without reservations reject the presidential results announced yesterday by Mr. Chebukati,” Odinga said.

Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) chair Wafula Chebukati on Monday declared William Samoei Ruto the country’s fifth president.

Protests broke out in key opposition strongholds across Kenya following the results. Ruto, who was announced president-elect, pledged to respect the law if the opposition challenges the election result in the courts.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Over a quarter of grain and other foodstuff exported from Ukraine landed in Türkiye in the aftermath of a landmark deal reached to resume shipments from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, the UN said Tuesday.

Since Aug. 1, Türkiye received 26% of the shipments, followed by Iran and South Korea with 22% each, according to the data compiled by the Joint Coordination Center (JCC) in Istanbul which monitors the transportation.

China received 8% of Ukrainian grain exports, Ireland 6%, Italy 5%, Djibouti 4% and Romania 2%.

“From 1 to 15 August, the JCC has authorized a total of 36 movements of vessels (21 outbound and 15 inbound) through the maritime humanitarian corridor in the Black Sea to facilitate the safe exports of grain, foodstuffs and fertilizer, including ammonia, from Ukrainian ports,” the center stated.

The ships have carried “a total of 563,317 metric tons of grain and other foodstuffs.”

Last month, Türkiye, the UN, Russia, and Ukraine signed a deal in Istanbul to reopen three Ukrainian Black Sea ports for exporting Ukrainian grain stuck due to the Russia-Ukraine war, which is now in its sixth month.

To oversee the process, the JCC in Istanbul was officially launched on July 27, comprising representatives from the three countries and the UN to enable safe transportation of commercial foodstuffs and fertilizers by merchant ships.

Since the first departure on Aug. 1, a total of 21 ships carrying grain and wheat have so far left Ukrainian ports under the deal.

Source: Anadolu Agency

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he will meet with the presidents of Türkiye and Ukraine in the Ukrainian city of Lviv on Aug. 18.

The US said many of the most pressing details to get Washington and Tehran to return to compliance with the landmark 2015 nuclear agreement have been generally agreed upon.

The EU is currently studying Tehran’s response to the latest proposal on reviving the Iran nuclear deal, said an EU official.

The US Army Corps of Engineers was sued by several environmental groups over its plans to expand a dredging project in the US territory of Puerto Rico.

A class action sexual harassment lawsuit filed in Canada made public includes the name of a Vatican cardinal who is considered a possible successor to Pope Francis.

Kenya’s opposition leader Raila Odinga rejected the results of the presidential election, which he was declared to have lost.

Over a quarter of grain and other foodstuffs exported from Ukraine landed in Türkiye in the aftermath of a landmark deal reached to resume shipments from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, the UN said.

Five more ships carrying corn and wheat set off from Ukrainian ports under a recent landmark deal signed in Istanbul, according to Türkiye’s National Defense Ministry.

France supported Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s demand for the withdrawal of Russian forces from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station.

Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu claimed that the unipolar world has ended, saying Moscow’s “special military operation” marked the era of transit to the multipolar structure.

Europe’s natural gas imports from Russia decreased by about 70% to below 100 million cubic meters per day in July compared to the same month last year.

Rohingya refugees called on visiting UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet to actively engage the United Nations in creating a conducive environment in Myanmar for the sustainable repatriation of the persecuted minority to their home country.

President Joe Biden signed into law his party’s sweeping package to overhaul the US’ policy on climate change and health care, calling it a blow to American special interests.

US first lady Jill Biden has tested positive for the coronavirus and is experiencing “cold-like symptoms,” the White House said.

Nearly 50 years later, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences apologized to Native American actress and activist Sacheen Littlefeather for her treatment at the 45th Academy Awards in 1973, when she spoke up for Indigenous rights on stage.

A group of journalists and lawyers have sued the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and its former director, Mike Pompeo, over allegations that they were placed under surveillance when they met WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange during his stay at Ecuador’s embassy in London.

Sweden will comply with the terms of a trilateral memorandum signed at a NATO summit in June to address Türkiye’s concerns on terrorism, said the Scandinavian country’s premier.

Greece’s former president has held Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis responsible for a surveillance scandal which has created a storm in the country’s politics.

The European Parliament’s socialist group called for a full investigation and a plenary debate on Greece’s wiretapping scandal.

Italian top-tier football league Serie A launched an investigation against Hellas Verona for racist chants by fans of the club that targeted Napoli’s Nigerian forward Victor Osimhen during a match Monday.

More than 2,000 cases of racial discrimination were reported in Germany last year, according to a new report by the country’s top anti-discrimination agency.

Human rights groups and Muslim representatives expressed outrage over the release of 11 men serving life sentences for gang rape and murder during the 2002 Gujarat riots, which killed over 1,000 people, the majority of whom were minority Muslims.

The first case of monkeypox has been identified in Iran in a person from the southwestern city of Ahvaz, the Health Ministry said.

Turkish-made drones have heralded a “new way” in defense, said Hungary’s technology minister.

Türkiye has always backed a political solution to the Syrian conflict, the Turkish foreign minister said.

The Estonian government announced its decision to remove all Soviet-era war monuments from public spaces in the eastern town of Narva.

Flash floods triggered by heavy rains have killed 75 people in Sudan and injured dozens since June, according to local authorities.

The Azerbaijani army on Monday discovered a minefield in the eastern Lachin region, the country’s Defense Ministry said.

The PKK/YPG terror group in northern Syria fired mortar shells at Turkish territory, according to security forces.

Israel acknowledged the killing of five Palestinian children in an aerial raid during the recent three-day offensive on the Gaza Strip, Israeli media reported.

Source: Anadolu Agency