Day: October 23, 2022

A Russian warplane crashed in a southern Siberia province, killing two pilots, local media reported on Sunday.

The SU-30 warplane crashed into a two-story building in the Irkutsk city’s Leninsky district, said Igor Kobzev, mayor of Irkutsk region, state-run news agency TASS reported.

No one was hurt in the building where the plane crashed as the five people who lived there were not at home.

Russia’s Investigative Committee qualified the crash as a violation of traffic safety rules and the operation of air transport. A criminal case launched under penal code, it said.

On Oct.17, the Russian Defense Ministry said a fighter SU-34 military plane crashed in the southern city of Yeysk while on a training flight, killing 13 people, including three children.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Russia’s defense chief discussed the ongoing war in Ukraine with his French, British and US counterparts in separate phone calls, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Sunday.

Sergei Shoigu expressed his concerns to France’s Sebastien Lecornu and UK’s Ben Wallace about possible provocations by Ukraine with the use of “dirty bomb,” the ministry said in separate statements.

Dirty bomb or radiological dispersal device is a type of speculative radiological weapon that combines radioactive material with conventional explosives. The purpose of the weapon is to contaminate the area around the dispersal agent/conventional explosion with radioactive material, serving primarily as an area denial device against civilians.

Shoigu also held a phone conversation with his US counterpart Lloyd Austin as they discussed the war in Ukraine, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

It was their second phone call after Friday’s conversation, which has been their first phone call since May.

“I emphasized the importance of maintaining lines of communication amid the ongoing war against Ukraine,” Austin tweeted regarding his phone call with Shoigu on Friday.

The Russian defense chief also held a separate phone call with his Turkish counterpart Hulusi Akar on Sunday.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Italy’s new government was officially sworn in on Sunday.

Along with the country’s first-ever woman premier, Giorgia Meloni, 24 Cabinet ministers, including six women, took their oaths of office before President Sergio Mattarella in Rome, reported the state-run news agency ANSA.

Meloni, 45, vowed during the ceremony to serve her country with pride, ANSA reported.

After officially succeeding former Premier Mario Draghi, she is expected to lead the first meeting of her new cabinet on Sunday afternoon.

Giorgia Meloni’s far-right Brothers of Italy Party won a plurality of the vote in the Sept. 25 general elections, and she formed a right-wing coalition government on Friday.

The new government includes Matteo Salvini’s populist League and the center-right Forza Italia, led by former Premier Silvio Berlusconi.

Italy, which has the EU’s third-biggest economy, is a member of NATO and the G-7, and enjoys close diplomatic, commercial, military, and cultural relations with its Mediterranean neighbor Türkiye.

Source: Anadolu Agency

In a phone call on Sunday, Turkish and Russian defense ministers discussed bilateral and regional defense and security issues, authorities said.

According to the Turkish National Defense Ministry, Hulusi Akar told his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu that Türkiye is ready to do its part for a cease-fire in the Russia-Ukraine war, as well as peace and stability in the region.

The defense chiefs exchanged views on being “careful and cautious about provocations” that would worsen the security in the region, and agreed to work in coordination regarding such issues, a ministry statement said.

Earlier on Sunday, Shoigu held a phone call with his French counterpart Sebastien Lecornu, discussing the situation in Ukraine.

Shoigu conveyed his French counterpart their concerns on “possible provocations by Ukraine with the use of a dirty bomb,” according to the Russian Foreign Ministry.

Dirty bomb or radiological dispersal device is a type of speculative radiological weapon that combines radioactive material with conventional explosives. The purpose of the weapon is to contaminate the area around the dispersal agent/conventional explosion with radioactive material, serving primarily as an area denial device against civilians.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Former US President Donald Trump has suggested that he might have to run for president in 2024.

“I ran twice. I won twice. I did much better the second time than I did before,” Trump said at a rally in Texas late Saturday. “And now in order to make our country successful, safe and glorious again, I will probably have to do it again.”

In reference to his supporters who voted him into the presidential office in 2016, the former president said they are “stronger than ever before.”

“The silent majority is back stronger than ever before … My fellow citizens, this incredible journey we are on together has only just begun,” said Trump.

The suggestion came amid reports that the former president was planning to announce his intent after midterm elections on Nov. 8.

Citing Trump’s former adviser Kellyanne Conway, CBS News reported that Trump could announce his bid for the presidential race by Thanksgiving, which falls on Nov. 24.

Incumbent President Joe Biden has also announced his intent to run for president again.

Meanwhile, Trump was on Friday subpoenaed by the House select committee probing the Jan. 6 Capitol riot last year. The committee set a Nov. 14 deadline for Trump to appear for a deposition.

Source: Anadolu Agency

A Pakistani soldier was killed in what the army said a terrorist attack from Afghanistan’s soil.

The attack – latest in a string of ambushes – occurred in the restive North Waziristan tribal district, which sits near the border with Afghanistan and has long been a hotbed of militancy.

“Terrorists from inside Afghanistan across the international border opened fire on a military post in Hassan Khel Sector, North Waziristan district. Own troops responded in a befitting manner. During fire exchange, one soldier embraced Shahadat (martyrdom),” said a statement from the army’s media wing.

“Pakistan has consistently been requesting Afghanistan to ensure effective border management,” the statement further said, adding that Islamabad “strongly condemns the use of Afghan soil by terrorists for activates against Pakistan.”

The Pakistan Army, it maintained, is determined to “eliminate the menace of terrorism and such sacrifices of our brave soldiers further strengthen our resolve.”

Pakistan has seen a surge in terrorist attacks on its security forces, mainly along the porous border with neighboring Afghanistan, following the recapture of Kabul by the Afghan Taliban in August last year.

The Afghan Taliban are reportedly trying to mediate between Islamabad and the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, a coalition of several militant groups operating in Pakistan, a move failed to produce any breakthrough.

Islamabad is believed to have enjoyed a degree of say over the Afghan Taliban but this so-called influence has so far failed to yield any results in terms of the former’s repeated demands for action against the TTP loyals holing up in Afghanistan.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Author Salman Rushdie has lost sight in one eye and the use of one hand following a stabbing attack in New York in August, according to his agent.

“(His wounds) were profound, but he’s (also) lost the sight of one eye,” Andrew Wylie, a New York-based literary agent, told Spanish newspaper El Pais in an interview published on Saturday. “He had three serious wounds in his neck.”

Wylie also said that Rushdie’s one hand was incapacitated because the nerves in his arm were cut.

“He has about 15 more wounds in his chest and torso. So, it was a brutal attack,” Wylie added.

Asked if Rushdie was still in hospital, he refused to give information about his whereabouts.

“He’s going to live … That’s the more important thing,” he said.

Rushdie was stabbed while onstage at the Chautauqua Institution in New York on Aug. 12.

He is the author of several novels that won widespread acclaim, including Midnight’s Children, which won the Booker Prize in 1981.

But his book, “The Satanic Verses,” which was published in 1988, stirred protests across the Muslim world with Ayatollah Khomeini, Iran’s former supreme leader, issuing a death fatwa against the author.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Khomeini’s successor, said the fatwa was still valid in 2019.

Hadi Matar, 24, who is charged of attempted murder, pleaded not guilty at a court hearing in August.

Iran has denied any involvement with the attack on Rushdie.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Leicester City hammered Wolverhampton Wanderers 4-0 in a Sunday English Premier League match as the Foxes boosted their morale before next week’s compelling Manchester City clash.

Foxes’ Belgian midfielder Youri Tielemans had an eye-catching right-footed effort outside the box to score the opener in the eighth minute at Molineux Stadium in Wolverhampton.

Another Leicester City midfielder Harvey Barnes scored in the area after a one-two with Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall in the 19th minute.

Foxes’ English forward James Maddison was calm to score a solo effort goal in the 65th minute.

In the 79th minute, Leicester City veteran Jamie Vardy finished in the six-yard box to name the result 4-0 for the visitors.

Vardy, a Leicester City forward since 2012 and 2016 English champion, finally scored his first Premier League goal of the 2022-23 season.

In the beginning of the season, Leicester City were troubled after six losses, but they are now getting away from the league’s relegation zone.

Leicester City are now in the 16th spot with 11 points in 12 appearances.

The home defeat lowered the rank of Wolverhampton Wanderers.

The Wolves have nine points to come 19th in the 20-club Premier League.

In the next fixture, Leicester City will face title contenders Manchester City on Saturday at King Power Stadium in Leicester.

Leaders Arsenal on Sunday were hold to a 1-1 away draw with Southampton.

Swiss midfielder Granit Xhaka scored an early opener, but the Gunners returned to London with one point after Stuart Armstrong leveled for Southampton in the 65th minute.

Arsenal have 28 points to stay on top of the league and will take on last-place Nottingham Forest on Sunday at London’s Emirates Stadium.

Second-place Manchester City have 26 points in the league standings and are still seeking Arsenal’s mistake.

– Sunday’s results:

Aston Villa – Brentford: 4-0

Leeds United – Fulham: 2-3

Southampton – Arsenal: 1-1

Wolverhampton Wanderers – Leicester City: 0-4

Source: Anadolu Agency

Nine Daesh/ISIS terrorists, including four ringleaders, were captured in al-Bab, northern Syria, an area near Türkiye’s southern border, the Turkish Interior Ministry said Sunday.

Intelligence work by the Syrian Task Force al-Bab Gendarmerie Advisory Command under the follow-up and coordination of the Gaziantep Provincial Gendarmerie Command found that Daesh/ISIS units in Syria have been giving training to members of the group in the suicide bombing, sabotage, attack, handmade explosives (IED), assassination, and intelligence and that the terrorists are looking to attack al-Bab and Türkiye, said a ministry statement.

During the operation on Saturday, nine terrorists, including the group’s assassination/execution ringleader and also an assistant of the Syria/Damascus/Maddava region, codenamed Abu Mushap, was detained, along with two logistics supervisors and financial affairs supervisors.

A large cache of digital materials was seized during searches at the residences of the terrorists, who were arrested by the local court to which they were referred.

Al-Bab, cleared of the Daesh/ISIS terror group five years ago through Turkiye’s Operation Euphrates Shield, became a safe haven for 400,000 civilians despite mounting attacks of the terrorist group YPG/PKK, but terrorists occasionally try to infiltrate the area.

In line with Article 51 of the UN Charter, Turkiye launched Operation Euphrates Shield in 2016 in al-Bab across its border into northern Syria to prevent the formation of a terror corridor and enable the peaceful settlement of residents.

Al-Bab was cleared of the terror group Daesh/ISIS six months into the operation.

Source: Anadolu Agency