Day: October 7, 2022

Banks in Lebanon were closed on Friday amid a rising number of holdups by people desperate to withdraw money from accounts frozen due to the country’s crippling financial crisis.

There has been a series of incidents at banks across Lebanon, including some where armed customers took people hostage at branches.

Banks were also closed for more than a week last month.

Since they reopened on Sept. 26, several incidents have taken place in various parts of the country.

On Wednesday, Lebanese lawmaker Cynthia Zarazir staged a protest at a private bank in Beirut to demand a portion of her frozen funds to pay for surgery.

Due to the rising insecurity, bank operations will be suspended throughout the country for one day, the Association of Banks in Lebanon said.

Since 2019, Lebanon has been grappling with a severe economic crisis that, according to the World Bank, is one of the worst globally since the mid-19th century.

More than half of the population has been pushed below the poverty line as the Lebanese pound has lost more than 95% of its value, while unemployment is soaring and inflation rates remain in triple digits.

Banks in the country have imposed strict restrictions on local and foreign currency withdrawals, especially in dollars.

*Ikram Imane Kouachi in Ankara contributed to this report.

Source: Anadolu Agency

House prices in the euro area went up 9.3% in the second quarter compared with the same period last year, according to the EU’s statistical office on Friday.

In the first quarter, the prices rose by 9.8% in the euro area, said Eurostat.

“All (EU) member states for which data are available showed an annual increase in house prices in the second quarter of 2022 and, for sixteen of them, this increase exceeded 10%,” it said.

The lowest increases were seen in the Greek Cypriot administration (2.0%), Finland (2.2%), and Denmark (2.8%), while the highest rises were seen in Estonia (27.4%), Czechia (23.1%), Hungary (22.8%), and Lithuania (22.1%).

Meanwhile, compared with the first quarter, house prices rose by 2.3% in the euro area.

Source: Anadolu Agency

ISTANBUL (AA) – Turkish forces “neutralized” 26 YPG/PKK terrorists in northern Syria, the National Defense Ministry said on Friday.

Eighteen of them were targeted in the Operation Euphrates Shield zone, the ministry said on Twitter, adding that the remaining eight were “neutralized” while they were planning an attack on the Operation Peace Spring zone.

Turkish authorities use the term “neutralized” to imply the terrorists in question surrendered or were killed or captured.

Since 2016, Ankara has launched a trio of successful anti-terror operations across its border in northern Syria to prevent the formation of a terror corridor and enable the peaceful settlement of residents: Euphrates Shield (2016), Olive Branch (2018), and Peace Spring (2019).

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the US, and EU – has been responsible for the deaths of over 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants. The YPG is the PKK’s Syrian offshoot.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Asian stock markets closed lower on Friday as investors await US non-farm payrolls employment data scheduled for release later in the day.

Analysts expect employment to go up by 250,000 jobs in September, while the unemployment rate is predicted to stand at 3.7%.

Japan’s international reserves dropped by a record $54 billion month-on-month in September to $1.24 trillion, the lowest level since March 2017, Finance Ministry data revealed.

The international reserves of China, meanwhile, amounted to $3.03 trillion last month, down by $25.9 billion from August, official figures showed on Friday.

Data by the Chinese State Administration of Foreign Exchange showed reserves at $3.055 trillion in August, declining from $3.22 trillion in January.

Also, the third quarter earnings of Advanced Micro Devices, one of the world’s leading chip manufacturers, and Samsung Electronics did not meet expectations.

Both companies forecast profitability to decrease in the last quarter due to the falling consumer demand.

With these developments, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index depreciated by 0.71% to 27.116 points, while South Korea’s Kospi index decreased 0.22% to 2,232 points.

Australia’s ASX 200 index went down 0.8% to 6,762 points, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 1.28% to 17,781 points.

India’s Sensex index fell 0.33% to 58,036 points.

In Chinese markets, on the other hand, the public holiday Golden Week continues.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Serbia plans to make significant progress on harmonizing its visa policy with that of the EU by the end of the year to prevent its territory from being used for illegal migration, the country’s president revealed on Friday.

In a meeting with a top EU official, Aleksandar Vucic said in a statement that migratory policy in the region had been on the agenda, along with ways to strengthen cooperation with support from the EU.

According to the statement on Vucic’s meeting with European Commission Vice President Margaritis Schinas, stopping illegal crossings and helping refugees located or passing through Serbia’s territory were also among the topics discussed.

“The interlocutors agreed on the necessity of joint work as the only possible way to solve challenges in the area of migration and the position of refugees,” it added.

For his part, Schinas announced a new €36 million ($35.3 million) tranche of financial assistance from the European Commission to the Serbian Commissariat for Refugees and Migrants.

He also offered to accelerate the deployment of FRONTEX to support border protection in Serbia.

Hungary, Austria, and Serbia on Monday agreed to expand cooperation in fighting “illegal migration,” according to Serbian local media.

The move came after the leaders of the countries met in Hungary’s capital Budapest.

Source: Anadolu Agency