Day: September 24, 2022

G7 leaders said on Friday that they will continue to support Ukraine against Russia “for as long as it takes.”

 

After gathering in Germany, G7 leaders released a statement, condemning the planned referendums by Russia in Ukraine.

 

“We, the Leaders of the Group of Seven (G7), strongly condemn the sham referenda that Russia attempts to use to create a phony pretext for changing the status of Ukrainian sovereign territory, which is subject to an ongoing Russian aggression,” said the statement.

 

“These actions clearly breach the United Nations Charter and international law and go diametrically against the rule of law among nations,” it underscored.

 

“These sham referenda initiated today by Russia and its proxies have no legal effect or legitimacy, as demonstrated by Russia’s hasty methods of organisation, which in no way respect democratic norms, and its blatant intimidation of local populations.

 

“These referenda in areas that have been forcibly put under Russia’s temporary control in no way represent a legitimate expression of the will of the Ukrainian people, who have consistently resisted Russian efforts to change borders by force,” the leaders said.

 

“We will never recognise these referenda which appear to be a step toward Russian annexation and we will never recognise a purported annexation if it occurs,” they underlined.

 

“In addition, we deplore deliberate Russian escalatory steps, including the partial mobilisation of reservists and irresponsible nuclear rhetoric, G7 leaders stated.

 

Urging the world “to unequivocally reject these sham referenda as Russia’s attempt to give false cover to its violations of international law,” the leaders stressed: “We stand ready to impose further economic costs on Russia, and on individuals and entities – inside and outside of Russia –providing political or economic support for Russia’s illegal attempts to change the status of Ukrainian territory.”

 

“We are steadfast in our commitment to providing the support Ukraine needs to uphold its sovereignty and territorial integrity, to defend itself, and to choose its own future,” they noted.

 

The leaders also reiterated that they will continue to support the war-zone country about “financial, humanitarian, military, diplomatic and legal” matters, while also adding that they “will move ahead on reconstruction efforts, including through the International Expert Conference on the Recovery, Reconstruction and Modernisation of Ukraine in Berlin on 25 October.”

 

“We will stand firmly with Ukraine for as long as it takes.”

 

Separatist-controlled Luhansk and Donetsk, as well as Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, which are partly under Russian control, announced plans for the referendums earlier this week.

 

The decision has been widely condemned by the international community, with European states and the US terming them “sham” referendums and saying they will not be recognized.

 

Voting will run from Friday to Tuesday in Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, with people asked to decide if they want these regions to become part of Russia.

 

Polls will be open from 8 am (0500GMT) to 4 pm (1300GMT) in Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, while the closing time will be 8 pm (1700GMT) in Donetsk.

 

For security reasons, in-person voting will only take place on the last day, Sept. 27, while the other days will see ballots being organized in communities and conducted door-to-door, according to local media reports.

 

Source: Anadolu Agency

A record-high 48 people were shot dead in Sweden this year, Swedish media reported Friday.

 

The latest shooting incident took place Thursday night in Kristianstad when a man was shot dead, police said.

 

“Unfortunately, we cannot say more than that he is in his 20s and we have no suspects at the moment,” Mikael Lind, an officer on duty at the Stockholm region South, told the daily Smalandsposten.

 

This means that Sweden has already reached a new record in terms of fatal shootings and the number is expected to be much higher before the end of the year.

 

Lind stated that there has been an increase in shootings but he could not give an exact figure on “how much it has increased or how it looks in other regions, but in our region (Stockholm) it has definitely increased.”

 

Most of the shootings are believed to have taken place in the Stockholm region which has a major impact on the police’s resources.

 

According to police statistics, the highest number previously was in 2020 when a total of 47 people were killed and the year after that the number of people killed was 45.

 

The general number of gun shootings is believed to be 273 on Sept. 1 this year, compared with 344 throughout 2021 and 379 throughout 2020, local media reported.

 

In recent years, gang-related deadly shootings have escalated and spread across the Nordic country with authorities struggling to contain the war-like violence.

 

According to a report published last year by the National Council for Crime Prevention, Sweden is at the top of European rankings when it comes to fatal shootings.

 

Source: Anadolu Agency

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Friday that the US has a “double standard” when it comes to responding to Greece’s actions against Türkiye.

 

Cavusoglu told a Council on Foreign Relations event in New York that the US and Türkiye can have different opinions and disagreements, which he called “natural.”

 

He touched on the “unfair influence of some lobbies” on Turkish-US relations.

 

“With these lobbies at play, the US follows a double standard approach towards Türkiye on some issues.”

 

Cavusoglu cited Greece’s acts of hostility in the Aegean Sea.

 

“They went as far as radar locking Turkish F-16s during a NATO mission. A couple of days later, Turkish aircraft were again radar locked by their S-300 missiles in international airspace,” he said.

 

“Nobody talks about these provocations. We only hear about Türkiye’s justified responses,” he added.

 

“We don’t see equal treatment either. For example, waivers are rightly applied to India’s purchase of S-400 missiles, while Türkiye is placed under CAATSA for acquiring the same system,” said the foreign minister referring to the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act.

 

“Tons of military equipment is provided to a terror group in Syria, while we, as an Ally are subjected to sanctions,” he added.

 

The top diplomat said Ankara asks for an impartial stance towards “an Ally that has paid a huge price for Euro-Atlantic security for decades.”

 

*Betul Yuruk contributed to the story from New York

 

Source: Anadolu Agency

European stock markets ended Friday with around 2% losses as eurozone manufacturing output dove to its lowest level in 28 months.

 

Eurozone Manufacturing Output Index plummeted to 46.2 in September, down from 46.5 in August, according to a flash reading from US-based financial services company S&P Global earlier.

 

Eurozone Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index also plummeted to 48.5, from 49.6, marking its lowest level in 27 months.

 

The STOXX Europe 600, which includes around 90% of the market capitalization of the European market in 17 countries, was down 9.36 points, or 2.34%, to close the last trading day of the week at 390.40.

 

The UK’s FTSE 100 fell 140 points, or 1.97%, to finish the session at 7,018. Germany’s DAX 30 lost 247 points, also 1.97%, to 12,284.

 

France’s CAC 40 was off 135 points, or 2.28%, to 5,783 at the closing bell.

 

Italy’s FTSE MIB was the worst performer of the day, plummeting 732 points, or 3.36%, to 21,066.

 

Spain’s IBEX 35 declined 191 points, or 2.46%, to close at 7,583.

 

Source: Anadolu Agency

The Dow Jones closed Friday at its lowest level of 2022 as major indexes in the US stock market dove over 1.6% after the Federal Reserve’s third straight 75 basis points of rate hike on Wednesday.

 

The blue-chip Dow lost 486 points, or 1.62%, to end the week at 29,590 — its lowest closing level for this year.

 

The S&P 500 declined 64 points, or 1.72%, to finish at 2,693.

 

The tech-heavy Nasdaq plummeted 198 points, or 1.8%, to close at 11,867.

 

The VIX volatility index, also known as the fear index, jumped 9.4% to 29.92. The 10-year US Treasury yield fell 0.6% to 3.687%.

 

The dollar index rose 1.4% to 112.97, a new 20-year high; while the euro fell 1.45% $0.9693 against the greenback.

 

Precious metals were on the decline with gold falling 1.6% to $1,643, and silver plummeting 3.8% to $18.89.

 

Oil prices fell over 4% as strong dollar weakens global demand. Global oil benchmark Brent crude was trading at $86.54 a barrel for a 4.3% loss. US benchmark West Texas Intermediate was around $79.14– down 5.2%.

 

Source: Anadolu Agency

US President Joe Biden vowed Friday to impose additional sanctions on Russia after Moscow announced referendums in Ukraine.

 

Biden said the US will never recognize Ukrainian territory as anything other than part of Ukraine and referred to Russia’s referenda as a “sham – a false pretext to try to annex parts of Ukraine by force.”

 

“We will work with our allies and partners to impose additional swift and severe economic costs on Russia,” he said in a statement.

 

“The United States stands with our partners around the world – and with every nation that respects the core tenets of the UN charter – in rejecting whatever fabricated outcomes Russia will announce,” he said.

 

Biden also vowed to continue to provide Ukraine with security assistance in the face of Russia’s war.

 

Separatist-controlled Luhansk and Donetsk, as well as Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, which are partly under Russian control, announced plans for the referendums earlier this week.

 

The decision has been widely condemned by the international community, with European states and the US terming them “sham” referendums and saying they will not be recognized.

 

Voting will run from Friday to Tuesday in Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, with voters asked to decide if they want the regions to become part of Russia.

 

Source: Anadolu Agency

Japan-based news outlet Nikkei Asia has claimed that secret shipments of Russian oil were reaching Europe despite Western sanctions on Moscow over its war in Ukraine.

 

Since the start of the war on Feb. 24, as many as 41 vessels made ship-to-ship transfers of oil off the coast of Greece with tankers that left Russia and then arrived at European ports.

 

The report further said Western countries have imposed sanctions to isolate Russia, but if the shipment of Russian oil continues, the effects of the sanctions will be limited.

 

An oil transfer was seen in the Gulf of Laconia in the south of Greece, and the transfer took place between the Greek-registered Sea Falcon and the Indian-flagged Jak Log, it said.

 

The story included video footage from the site.

 

From a civilian boat, reporter Riho Nagao said she was heading to Greek territorial waters, where ship-to-ship oil transfers were taking place. She marked the Gulf of Laconia on the electronic tablet map in her hand.

 

Noting that the gulf is located outside Greek territorial waters, Nagao said many boats have gathered in the region for the same purpose.

 

“It seems that there is a lot of ship-to-ship oil transfer in the Laconian Gulf and locals are afraid of environmental destruction.”

 

Looking for an answer to the question “Where is the oil going?” Nikkei Asia stated that they examined data from Refinitiv, a financial market data provider, to determine the route of the tankers that left Russian ports and which vessels contacted them.

 

The data covered waters off the Mediterranean coast of Greece, where ship-to-ship transfer frequently occurs. Automatic Identification System (AIS) signals from the vessels were monitored to identify their routes.

 

Changes in the vessels’ draft, the distance from the waterline to the bottom of the hull, which increases when a ship is heavily loaded, were checked to determine the number of ship-to-ship transfers.

 

Ships to European ports

 

Nikkei Asia said it detected 175 transfers, including tankers from Russia, off the Greek coast over the six months until the end of August, compared with only nine such transfers in the same period last year.

 

According to Refinitiv, Russia exported 23.8 million barrels of oil for ship-to-ship transfers off the coast of Greece, compared with 4.34 million barrels in the same period of last year.

 

The routes of the tankers were followed and it was determined that 89 tankers arrived at ports — out of which 41 anchored in Greece, Belgium, and elsewhere in Europe.

 

It was revealed that the waters near Greece are an important hub for oil shipments between Russia and Europe.

 

EU restrictions

 

EU will completely ban the import of Russian oil in February 2023. The UK will impose a full embargo on Russian oil in December.

 

Russian oil exports to the EU amounted to 2.8 million barrels in July, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). This was recorded as a 26% decrease compared to January.

 

While the EU and the UK plan to ban the import of Russian oil completely by the end of 2022, companies that continue to buy Russian oil face criticism.

 

Source: Anadolu Agency

Dissidents of the FARC guerrilla group have accepted the start of a recent cease-fire proposed by Colombian President Gustavo Petro, the group’s leader said Friday.

 

A group of 20 heavily armed guerrillas dressed in camouflaged uniforms and led by Ivan Mordisco, announced in a video shot from the jungle that the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) dissidents “reaffirm their commitment to engage in frank dialogues with the national government in its exploratory phase in search of solutions to the social and armed conflict that our country has suffered for decades.

 

Mordisco, who was believed to be dead, said the guerrillas would “avoid” confrontations with the military “as long as we are not attacked.”

 

The message was a response to an announcement Thursday by Petro who declared the beginning of a multilateral cease-fire between the state and all organizations willing to engage in dialogue to seek peace.

 

“In a matter of days a public issue will be raised: the possibility of a multilateral cease-fire that would be the beginning of the end of violence, with all those who adhere to that possibility,” Petro told reporters in New York City where world leaders are gathered for UN General Assembly meetings.

 

The announcements were made in the context of “total peace” proposed by Petro, who seeks to negotiate deals with armed groups that are active in Colombia.

 

Criticism has poured in from those who say FARC dissidents are criminals without political ideology, who did not want to adhere to a peace treaty signed in 2016.

 

Mordisco refused to participate in any conversation at the time and gathered 500 dissidents to continue fighting and drug trafficking.

 

Former Defense Minister Diego Molano announced that Mordisco was killed in a military operation July 9 but his body was never found.

 

Source: Anadolu Agency