Day: August 30, 2022

Germany’s inflation rate accelerated to 7.9% in August up from July’s 7.5%, after it dipped in the previous two months, according to official figures released Tuesday.

The figure is above market forecast of 7.8%.

“Energy prices, in particular, have increased considerably since the war started in Ukraine and have had a substantial impact on the high inflation rate,” said Destatis, the country’s statistical office.

Energy prices were 35.6% higher in August versus the same month last year. Food prices also rose above average (+16.6%).

“Marked price increases at the upstream stages in the economic process have an upward effect on prices. Another factor with an upward effect on prices is interruptions in supply chains caused by the COVID-19 pandemic,” it added.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Türkiye’s president on Tuesday lashed out against Greece over the harassment of Turkish jets carrying out reconnaissance missions over the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean, calling it a “hostile act.”

“Greece has challenged NATO and its allies by increasing its hostile attitude, which started with harassing our airspace and aircraft and escalated to the level of S-300 radar lockdown,” Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, ahead of a celebration concert for the centenary of Türkiye’s Victory Day at the presidential complex in Ankara.

The Turkish leader added: “Greece can neither match up to us nor become an interlocutor for us politically, economically or militarily.”

Citing Greece’s latest actions, Erdogan said: “We are curious about the US response to Greek air defense system’s harassment of Turkish jets.”

Türkiye, a NATO member, has often criticized the military alliance, including the US, for not supporting it enough on its territorial dispute with Greece on islands in the Aegean and the issue of exploration of hydrocarbons in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Erdogan further said the Greek move to establish bases on the Aegean islands does not hold any importance for Türkiye.

Referring to the US move to waive sanctions on India despite its purchase of Russian S-400 defense systems, Erdogan said the issue is not the compatibility of Russian and US military equipment. “It is Türkiye in particular,” he said.

Stressing Türkiye is able to produce every product that it is denied access to, Erdogan criticized the US for blocking the sale of F-35 jets to Ankara over the purchase of S-400 defense systems.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Turkish drone manufacturer Baykar exhibited on Tuesday its new drone at the country’s major technology event Teknofest Karadeniz.

Kizilelma (red apple) is set to make its maiden flight at the beginning of next year, Elif Ergin, a pilot trainer at the firm, told Anadolu Agency.

The prototype was completed in May 2021, she said, adding the structural integration process has nearly completed.

However, the mechanical and avionic integration process is still underway, she said.

The drone has an aggressive maneuverability, Ergin stated, with a flight time of five hours and an operational altitude of 35,000 feet.

Calling the drone state-of-the-art, she said it has the ability to land and take off from ships with short runways like TCG Anadolu, an assualt ship of the Turkish Navy.

It has a take-off weight of six tons and a useful load carrying capacity of 1.5 tons, the official said.

Baykar plans to integrate it with all domestically developed ammunition and all ammunition in the air force inventory, she underlined.

The six-day event has been organized at the Black Sea province of Samsun by the Turkish Technology Team Foundation (T3 Foundation) and Türkiye’s Industry and Technology Ministry.

This year’s festival will feature technology competitions in more than 40 different categories such as semiconductors, drones, satellites, rockets, robotics and artificial intelligence.

Source: Anadolu Agency

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will make a ‘solidarity visit’ to flood-hit Pakistan on Sept. 9, his spokesman said on Monday.

“With the tragic situation facing millions of men, women and children impacted by historic floods in Pakistan, the Secretary-General will travel to the country next week for a solidarity visit,” Stephane Dujarric told reporters in New York.

Guterres is expected to arrive in Islamabad and then travel to the areas most impacted by the unprecedented climate catastrophe to meet displaced families, he added.

Pakistan’s permanent UN representative Munir Akram welcomed the announcement. “This is a demonstration of his solidarity with the people & Govt of Pakistan in this hour of need & his determination to mobilize the entire UN system to respond to this human catastrophe,” he said on Twitter.

Earlier on Tuesday, the UN chief issued a flash appeal for $160 million to help millions of people in the disaster, which has killed more than 1,000 people.

“Pakistan is awash in suffering. The Pakistani people are facing a monsoon on steroids — the relentless impact of epochal levels of rain and flooding,” Guterres said.

Source: Anadolu Agency

A drought has been officially declared across the whole of South West England on Tuesday following prolonged dry weather conditions not experienced in 90 years.

The Environment Agency declared that Bristol, Somerset, Dorset, south Gloucestershire and parts of Wiltshire in the south west have all received drought status.

?“Despite some heavy rain over the past 2 weeks, it has not been enough to refill our rivers and aquifers River levels across our Wessex area are exceptionally low – many showing the lowest flows on record,” Chris Paul, an EA official, said.

?“This places incredible strain on local wildlife and this is why we are moving to drought status. We are prioritising our local operations to minimise impacts on the environment,” he added.

?As a result of two successive heatwaves and minimal rainfall, some of the UK’s major water systems have experienced low river flows. Water reservoirs have steadily been depleted and many villages across drought-hit areas were in need of water supplies.

?The EA uses a four-stage process to explain and manage drought conditions. These include prolonged dry weather, drought, severe drought and recovering drought.

?This year the UK has experienced its hottest and driest summer with the months of July and August recording temperatures between 35-40 degrees Celsius (95-104 degrees Fahrenheit).

?Earlier this month, a drought was declared in England’s South East as well as parts of southern Wales.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Azerbaijan on Tuesday called for international pressure on Armenia to explain the fate of thousands of its citizens who disappeared during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War.

“Today is #InternationalDayoftheDisappeared. Almost 3 decades, fate of 3.890 Azerbaijanis, who went missing as a result of aggression by Armenia, is unknown,” Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov said on Twitter.

“We urge international pressure on Armenia to fulfill obligations under int. law. #DontForgetMissingAzerbaijanis,” he added.

The International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances is observed globally on Aug. 30 to raise awareness that enforced disappearance is a crime and should not be used as a tool to deal with situations of conflict.

Relations between the former Soviet republics have been tense since 1991, when the Armenian military occupied Karabakh, a territory internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan.

They were again involved in a 44-day conflict in the fall of 2020, which ended after a Russian-brokered cease-fire. Azerbaijan liberated several cities and around 300 settlements and villages during the war.

In January 2021, leaders of the three countries agreed to develop economic ties and infrastructure to benefit the entire region.

Source: Anadolu Agency

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday urged the international community to come forward and help Pakistan.

“The Pakistani people are facing a monsoon on steroids. More than 1000 people have been killed – with millions more lives shattered. This colossal crisis requires urgent, collective action to help the Government & people of Pakistan in their hour of need,” the UN chief said in a video message.

The most destructive monsoon spells in Pakistan’s recent history, combined with raging floods, have ripped away mountainsides, ripped building foundations off, and inundated over 70 districts, turning them into inland rivers.

Nearly 1,200 people have lost their lives, while more than a million houses have been destroyed or damaged since mid-June, according to the country’s National Disaster Management Authority.

Constant rains and raging floods have also destroyed a large chunk of the country’s infrastructure and agricultural lands, including hundreds of roads and bridges, and washed away nearly a million animals.

According to the Meteorological Department of Pakistan, the South Asian country, which is among the top 10 nations in the world vulnerable to climate change, has received over 200% more rains this year than average monsoon showers.

Meanwhile, Fiji’s Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama said on Tuesday that high-emitting countries are to blame for a devastating flood in Pakistan that killed over 1,100 people and destroyed over a million homes.

While commenting on the flood in the South Asian country, he stated that the people of Pakistan did not cause this destruction to their country.

“Let’s be clear: the Pakistani people did not do this to Pakistan –– we all did, and the high-emitting nations are most responsible,” he tweeted alongside a video of a heavy flood destroying buildings and properties.

“Unless we end our species’ addiction to fossil fuels, every country in the world will remain in the crosshairs of the climate breakdown,” he added.

*Writing by Islamuddin Sajid

Source: Anadolu Agency

Teknofest, Türkiye’s premier aerospace and technology festival, kicked off in the country’s Black Sea city of Samsun on Tuesday.

Organized at the Samsun Carsamba Airport by the Turkish Technology Team Foundation (T3 Foundation) and Türkiye’s Industry and Technology Ministry, the six-day event showcases activities such as air shows with warplanes, drones and helicopters, as well as seminars, summits, and competitions.

The 2022 festival will hold technology competitions in more than 40 different categories including semiconductors, UAVs, satellites, rockets, robotics, and artificial intelligence.

Selcuk Bayraktar, the chairman of T3 Foundation, told the opening ceremony that stronger countries often oppress the weak, adding that his objective is to bring justice and peace in the world for which developing advanced technology is a must.

“The pain of Bosnia, Karabakh and Palestine, where the entire West turned its back, is still fresh in our hearts,” he said.

Bayraktar also spoke of the destruction of Iraq and Afghanistan in order to “bring democracy.”

“In our northern neighbor Ukraine, women and children continue to be murdered in front of the whole world,” he added.

Mustafa Varank, the Turkish industry and technology minister, said nearly 600,000 people applied to be a part of the event’s contests, and 5,252 teams advanced to final phases. The winners will be awarded with 10 million Turkish liras ($550,000) in total, he added.

Varank said their efforts are important for Türkiye’s technologic development and future.

Ismail Demir, the head of Türkiye’s Defense Industries’ Presidency, said countries cannot be powerful in the defense field without advancements in technology.

The attendees are transferred to the event from the city center by domestically-manufactured electric buses.

Last year, the event was held at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport, while its first international version was held in Baku, Azerbaijan this May.

Source: Anadolu Agency

The UN and Pakistan’s government on Tuesday issued a flash appeal for $160 million to cope with the devastation caused by unprecedented rains and floods in the South Asian country, which also claimed nearly 1,200 people’s lives.

The appeal was jointly issued by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari during a ceremony in the capital Islamabad.

Guterres, in his video message played at the ceremony, said the required amount would be disbursed to provide food, water, sanitation, emergency education, protection and health support to 5.2 million flood victims during the first six months of the crisis response.

The aid will also help prevent outbreaks of cholera and provide food to mothers and their young children.

“Pakistan is awash in suffering. The Pakistani people are facing a monsoon on steroids — the relentless impact of epochal levels of rain and flooding,” the UN secretary-general added.

Guterres described the recent floods, which have inundated nearly half of Pakistan, as a “climate catastrophe,” noting that South Asia is one of the world’s “climate crisis hotspots.”

People living in these hotspots are 15 times more likely to die as a consequence of the changing climate, he warned.

In his remarks, Zardari asked for the international community’s help in dealing with the massive challenge posed by the historic floods, which have destroyed or damaged over a million homes as well as hundreds of roads and bridges across the country.

The “super floods” have been described as a “climate calamity” by Islamabad’s top diplomat, who fears that more rains will worsen the situation in already flooded areas.

The scale of destruction is feared to increase that of the 2010 “mega or super floods,” which submerged a fifth of the country’s land and killed over 2,000 people, he added.

Some72 districts, according to Zardari, have been declared “calamity-hit, with 33 million people affected – which is the size of a small country.

“Over 1,000 people have lost their lives and several others were grappling with the loss of livelihoods and displacement,” he said.

“Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced and forced to spend days and nights … under a merciless sky and (a) lack of access to food, water and shelter are making life harder with each passing day,” he added.

Stressing the need to expand and scale up the ongoing relief efforts and response, Zardari said: “The appeal prioritizes focused interventions in areas of education; food security and agriculture; health; nutrition; protection; shelter and non-food items; and water, sanitation and hygiene.”

“We also need assistance with livelihoods and livestock support as well as relief machinery and equipment,” he added.

Source: Anadolu Agency