Day: October 17, 2022

ROME (AA) – Pope Francis launched a universal appeal for nations and peoples to work together and build a better world where peace reigns, according to an excerpt of his new book published by Italian paper La Stampa on Sunday.

 

The book, which will be on the bookshelves in Italy on Tuesday, is titled, I Ask You in the Name of God. Ten Prayers for a Future of Hope, and comes ahead of the 10th anniversary of Francis’ pontificate, which falls on March 13, 2023.

 

In the book, the pontiff asks for an unambiguous condemnation of war and recalls that the church refutes the idea that war can solve problems between nations, saying it is “always a defeat for humanity.”

 

The pope also stressed how the Ukrainian war has dramatically revealed the horrors that result from conflicts.

 

Analyzing the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, he said that we are experiencing “a third world war fought piecemeal,” which threatens to expand into a full-scale global conflict.

 

Pope Francis reiterated that dialogue and hope are the only possible paths to solve conflicts, inviting nations to engage in “dialogue, negotiations, listening, creative diplomacy, and far-sighted politics which can build a system not based on the power of arms or deterrence.”

 

He also reflected on the role of the UN and its founding charter, noting that the world in which we are currently living is not the same that humanity experienced with the two world wars in the 20th century.

 

“The world today is not the same anymore, and it’s then necessary to rethink these institutions allowing them to respond to this new existing reality and to be the fruit of the widest possible consensus,” the pope wrote.

 

Pope Francis also addressed the threat of nuclear destruction, which he said the war in Ukraine risks unleashing.

 

“Possessing nuclear weapons is immoral,” he reiterated, saying they undermine the paths of dialogue and put at risk humanity’s survival on earth.

 

Reflecting on the diffusion of weapons, the pope strongly condemned the arms trade as one of the “worst moral scandals of our era.”

 

Source: Anadolu Agency

Trabzonspor were held to a 2-2 draw against Besiktas in week 10 of the Turkish Super Lig on Sunday.

 

Playing at the Vodafone Arena in Istanbul, Maximiliano Gomez scored the opening with a header for Trabzonspor in the 11th minute. The score leveled after an own goal by the Trabzon team’s Jens Lansen in the 29th minute.

 

Trabzonspor took the lead again with a goal in the 36th minute by Trezeguet, but Besiktas forward Cenk Tosun came off the bench to score in the 70th minute.

 

In the stoppage time, Trabzonspor were down to 10 men after Yusuf Yazici received a straight red card for fouling Gedson Fernandes.

 

Besiktas are ranked third with 19 points, while Trabzonspor are fifth with 18 points after 10 Super Lig clashes.

 

Week 10 results & fixtures:

 

Corendon Alanyaspor – Fraport TAV Antalyaspor: 3-2

 

VavaCars Fatih Karagumruk – Atakas Hatayspor: 3-0

 

Kasimpasa – Adana Demirspor: 1-4

 

Yukatel Kayserispor – Galatasaray: 2-1

 

Arabam.com Konyaspor – Gaziantep FK: 0-1

 

Medipol Basaksehir – Istanbulspor: 2-0

 

Monday:

 

MKE Ankaragucu – Fenerbahce

 

Demir Grup Sivasspor – Bitexen Giresunspor

 

Source: Anadolu Agency

Paris will train up to 2,000 Ukrainian soldiers in France, the French defense minister has said, as Kyiv battles Russian forces.

 

Ukrainian soldiers will soon be assigned to French units for several weeks, Sebastien Lecornu told the Le Parisien newspaper, according to Ukrainian state news agency Ukrinform.

 

Lecornu said the training will focus “on three levels: general combat training, training for specific needs reported by Ukraine, and training with the equipment provided.”

 

He said France will also supply Ukraine with Crotale air defense systems, which are used to intercept low-flying missiles and aircraft.

 

The minister said France had delivered 18 Caesar howitzers and was also weighing the delivery of ground-to-ground missiles.

 

Ukraine said on Thursday that it signed a grant agreement with France in the fields of security and defense.

 

In an interview earlier this week, French President Emmanuel Macron said “we are going to continue to support the Ukrainian resistance and boost our military assistance.”

 

He said Paris is helping Kyiv to “resist on its soil, never to attack Russia,” and urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to “stop this war and respect Ukraine’s territorial integrity.”

 

Ukrainian forces made advances in recent weeks, while Moscow called up more reservists and annexed four Ukrainian regions following “sham” referendums.

 

Source: Anadolu Agency

Officials in northern Ethiopia’s rebel-held Tigray region said Sunday they are ready to abide by calls from the African Union for an immediate cessation of hostilities.

 

In a statement issued late in the day, the regional government of Tigray said it welcomes calls by African Union Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat urging the conflicting parties to implement an immediate and unconditional cease-fire.

 

“Efforts to bring about a cessation of hostilities underscore the gravity of the humanitarian catastrophe,” said a statement posted on the official Twitter account of Getachew Reda, a spokesman for the Tigray forces.

 

The war between Ethiopian government forces and Tigray fighters erupted in November 2020 after the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) attacked federal army bases stationed across Tigray, including in the regional capital of Mekele.

 

Government forces have since been battling the Tigrayan forces. The conflict has killed thousands of civilians and displaced millions.

 

In Sunday’s statement, the Tigray leadership decried alleged violations of international law by Ethiopian forces, which they accuse of indiscriminate aerial bombing and artillery bombardments targeting civilians and destroying towns, villages and homes.

 

Anadolu Agency could not independently verify these claims, as Ethiopian officials were not readily available for comment.

 

“We also call on the international community to compel the Eritrean army to withdraw from Tigray, take practical steps towards an immediate cessation of hostilities, and press the Ethiopian government to come to the negotiating table,” the statement said.

 

Source: Anadolu Agency

Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro condemned the country’s opposition on Sunday for criticizing him over comments he made which they said implied that some Venezuelan teenagers he had visited in their home were prostitutes.

 

The opposition denounced the president’s remarks as “depraved,” saying they suggested that the girls, whom he described meeting last year in a poor neighborhood of Brazil’s capital, had turned to prostitution to survive.

 

In the podcast interview that was aired Friday by local media, Bolsonaro recounted that he stopped his motorbike “on a corner, took off my helmet and looked at some pretty girls, three or four, 14-15 years old.” He said he asked them if he could enter their home.

 

“Once inside, he said he found around 15-20 Venezuelan girls “getting ready on Saturday. What for? To make a living.”

 

He made the comments while discussing the economic situation in Venezuela.

 

Following the opposition’s remarks, Bolsonaro took to social media to rebuff accusations of pedophilia and tolerating child prostitution.

 

During a live broadcast, Bolsonaro said he was “shocked” to learn about the opposition’s criticism, referencing recent comments describing him as “a cannibal” after a 2016 interview with the New York Times resurfaced in which he claimed while discussing visiting an indigenous community in the country that practiced cannibalism that he would “eat an Indian, no problem at all.”

 

However, the Brazilian leader described the latest criticism as “beyond all limits.”

 

“How disrespectful is this? I have always fought pedophilia. I have always been against the Venezuelan regime, I accompany with pain, with suffering, the families that flee from Venezuela to Brazil,” he said.

 

Bolsonaro has been drumming up fears ahead of the presidential election that Brazil could become like Venezuela if opposition candidate and former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva wins.

 

Brazilians are set to cast their ballots in a second-round presidential runoff on Oct. 30 in the most polarizing election race in recent decades as both political parties continue to hit out at one another in the runup to the vote.

 

Source: Anadolu Agency

Hundreds of thousands of people took part in a protest march Sunday in Paris against the cost of living in France, according to its organizers.

 

While the organizers, led by the head of the France Unbowed party, Jean-Luc Melenchon, put the figure at more than 140,000, French police said around 30,000 attended.

 

Around 2,000 police officers took security measures during the march.

 

The protesters chanted slogans against the police and French President Emmanuel Macron.

 

According to reports, French author Annie Ernaux, who won the Nobel Prize for literature this year, was among the demonstrators.

 

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Isabelle, who did not want to give her last name, said she was protesting against the cost of living and the government’s failure to take action to combat climate change.

 

Source: Anadolu Agency

Former US President Donald Trump claimed Sunday that Jewish Americans were not supportive enough of him and his policies toward Israel while he was in office, warning them to “get their act together.”

 

“No President has done more for Israel than I have,” Trump said in a post on his social media platform Truth Social.

 

“Somewhat surprisingly, however, our wonderful Evangelicals are far more appreciative of this than the people of the Jewish faith, especially those living in the U.S,” he added.

 

“Those living in Israel, though, are a different story — Highest approval rating in the World, could easily be P.M.!” he wrote. “U.S. Jews have to get their act together and appreciate what they have in Israel — Before it is too late!”

 

In 2021, speaking to the US news website Axios, Trump criticized the fact that around 75% of Jewish voters in the US voted for his rival Joe Biden during the November 2020 presidential election.

 

Jewish people in the US either “don’t like Israel or don’t care about Israel,” Trump told the website.

 

Source: Anadolu Agency