Day: October 23, 2022

Newcastle United shocked Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 in an English Premier League match on Sunday to move into top four in the standings.

Visitors Newcastle United led the first half 2-0 after English forward Callum Wilson and Paraguayan midfielder Miguel Almiron scored.

Tottenham Hotspur’s English star Harry Kane scored a close range header in the 54th minute to narrow the gap.

Newcastle United secured a 2-1 win at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London.

Following the victory, Newcastle United increased their points to 21 to reach the fourth position in the league.

The Magpies have pressured third-place Tottenham Hotspur as the Spurs have 23 points in 12 matches.

The Spurs’ archrivals Arsenal are leading the Premier League with 28 points.

Source: Anadolu Agency

The military in the Democratic Republic of Congo said M23 rebels attacked its positions in the east as fighting continued for the fourth consecutive day on Sunday in the North Kivu province.

“The enemy has tried again to attack our positions in the town of Ntamugenga, Rutshuru territory but the army is countering it,” Lt. Col. Guillaume Njike Kaiko, army spokesman in the region, told reporters.

Kaiko urged residents to avoid moving from place to place and claimed the army had captured some rebels.

The clashes resumed last Thursday in the Rutshuru territory, after a lull of a few weeks, sending thousands of people to seek refuge in neighboring Uganda.

Local authorities said at least four civilians had been killed and a dozen wounded.

The Democratic Republic of Congo accuses neighbouring Rwanda of backing the M23 rebels, claims Rwanda denies.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Iran’s nuclear energy agency said Sunday an email server of one of its subsidiaries was hacked from a foreign country amid ongoing protests over the death of a young woman in police custody.

In a statement, the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) confirmed the intrusion into an email server of the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant from “a certain foreign country”, with information about activities there being leaked online.

The agency, however, played down the hacking incident, saying the move was designed to “attract public attention” and “create media space”.

“It is worth noting that the content in (hacked) users’ emails carried technical messages and common, daily exchanges,” the statement said, adding that the issue was examined quickly and a report was submitted to the agency officials.

Earlier, an Iranian hacking group by the name “Black Reward” in a statement posted on Twitter announced that it hacked information related to Iran’s nuclear activities at the Bushehr plant, saying the move was in support of ongoing protests in Iran over the death of Mahsa Amini.

Amini died in police custody last month after being detained by the country’s morality police allegedly for wearing “inappropriate dress”. The incident sparked widespread protests throughout Iran and drew strong reactions from world leaders.

In the statement posted on Saturday, the hacking group, which has claimed responsibility for information leaks of many Iranian organizations in recent weeks, said the hacking of the AEOI subsidiary was “in the name of Mahsa Amini and for women and life, freedom”, invoking the slogan used by protesters in Iran and abroad.

The group said the leaked information included “management and operational schedules of different parts of Bushehr power plant,” besides visas of Iranian and Russian nuclear experts working there, financial receipts as well as agreements with local and foreign organizations.

Bushehr is Iran’s first nuclear power plant situated along the Persian Gulf that was built with Russian technology and manpower in 2011.

It comes as indirect talks between Iran and the US on salvaging the 2015 nuclear deal have been effectively put on the back burner amid renewed tensions over the death of Amini and reports in the Western media about Iran supplying drones to Russia to be used in the Ukraine war.

While the two sides have stopped short of ruling out the resumption of the talks, blaming each other for creating hurdles, experts believe the progress made since April last year has been washed away amid fresh rounds of sanctions imposed by the US and the European Union on Iran.

Source: Anadolu Agency

KAMPALA, Uganda (AA) – Some 11,000 Congolese refugees, mostly women and children, have flocked into Uganda since Friday fleeing fighting between M23 rebels and Democratic Republic of Congo government forces, the UN refugee agency said Sunday.

War resumed in Congo’s North Kivu province when government forces clashed with M23 rebels who have been in the area for about six months.

The UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) said in a statement that 8,000 Congolese refugees had entered Uganda through the Bunagana border area and 3,000 through the Kibaya border area.

Thomas Kasolo, a security officer in the Kisoro district, said the district is overwhelmed by the large number of refugees who are flocking into the district because they have to provide them with basic necessities like food and water.

Red Cross spokesperson Irene Nakasita said: “Due to fresh fighting, we have more asylum seekers coming into Uganda from DR Congo. Among the new arrivals include those who had returned recently thinking the situation was getting better.”

District resident commissioner Shafik Sekandi told the media that the number of refugees entering the district is considerable and called on relevant organizations to help them in any way possible.

Fighting between M23 rebels and Congo forces started in March when the rebels overran the border town of Bunagana and surrounding areas which they have been occupying since then.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Israel’s High Court on Sunday rejected petitions seeking annulment of a US-brokered maritime deal with Lebanon, paving the way for the agreement to be approved, according to local media.

“The High Court ruling will allow us to advance the important agreement on the maritime border with Lebanon in the coming days,” Defense Minister Benny Gantz said in a statement cited by The Jerusalem Post newspaper.

“This is a good and correct agreement that has positive security, political and economic implications for the entire region,” he added.

Israel and Lebanon agreed to a US-brokered deal to demarcate their maritime border earlier this month.

The Israeli Cabinet is expected to vote on the maritime agreement on Thursday. The Cabinet vote was set for two weeks after the agreement was submitted to the Knesset (Israel’s Parliament) for review.

Four right-wing Israeli groups had filed petitions against the deal, saying Prime Minister Yair Lapid was giving away “sovereign” Israeli territory, which requires parliamentary approval.

Lebanon and Israel have been locked in a dispute over a maritime area of 860 square kilometers (332 square miles) rich in gas and oil, according to maps sent by both countries to the UN in 2011.

Negotiations over the territory in the Mediterranean Sea, which contain part of the Karish gas field and Qana, a prospective gas field, have been ongoing since 2020.

*Ikram Imane Kouachi contributed to this report

Source: Anadolu Agency

The Turkish president on Sunday slammed the failure of Western human right defenders to do anything to help a group of mothers protesting and seeking the return of their children, who they say were kidnapped by the terrorist group PKK.

“Where are these Western human rights defenders? Did they ever come and visit the Diyarbakir mothers? They have nothing to do with human rights advocacy,” Recep Tayyip Erdogan Erdogan said in a speech at an opening ceremony in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir.

Since Sept. 3, 2019, families whose children were allegedly abducted or forcibly recruited by the PKK have camped outside the Diyarbakir offices of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) – a party the Turkish government said has links with the terror group, and is currently facing a closure case in the nation’s highest court.

Demonstrations have since spread to other provinces, including Van, Mus, Sirnak, and Hakkari.

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.

Erdogan has frequently decried Western countries’ failure to show solidarity in the face of PKK terrorist attacks, including allowing PKK terrorists to live and hold protests on European soil, or the US supporting the PKK’s Syrian offshoot, the YPG.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Israeli opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu said he will look into supplying weapons to Ukraine if he is elected prime minister.

“I was asked about that recently, and I said I’ll look into it when I get into office,” Netanyahu, a former prime minister, said in an interview with USA Today.

“We all have sympathy for Ukraine. It’s not even a question, and I’m no different,” he added.

Israel will hold general elections on Nov. 1 in which Netanyahu, the leader of the right-wing Likud Party, is expected to run.

On Wednesday, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz said Israel will not supply Ukraine with weapons, but offered to help in developing a missile early-warning system.

Last week, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev warned Israel against arms deliveries to Ukraine.

Source: Anadolu Agency