Month: December 2022

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree Friday allowing “unfriendly” Western countries to pay debts for fuel in foreign currencies.

The repayment of debts of the countries will not mean the resumption of Russian gas shipments, according to the decree.

The decree changed an earlier decision seeking payment in rubles for gas sales from “unfriendly” countries.

On March 31, Putin said “unfriendly countries” — those that introduced sanctions against Russia — must pay for gas supplies in rubles after they froze the Russian central bank’s currency assets because of the Ukraine war that started Feb. 24.

In late April, Russia’s state-owned Gazprom cut off gas flow to Poland and Bulgaria due to their refusal to pay bills in rubles.

Gazprom also stopped shipments to energy companies supplying to Finland, the Netherlands, Denmark, Latvia and Germany, on the grounds they did not comply with the pay-in-ruble system.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Rapidly deteriorating air quality in the Iranian capital of Tehran and adjacent cities has forced authorities to order the closure of schools Saturday in some provinces, according to media reports.

But classes will be held virtually, said the state news agency, IRNA.

The Air Pollution Emergency Committee met Friday in Tehran and decided to suspend face-to-face education in schools because of the high levels of air pollution in the capital and the provinces of Alborz, Qazvin and Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari.

The school week in Iran is from Saturday to Wednesday, with Thursday and Friday being the weekend.

Tehran has, in recent years, emerged as one of the most polluted cities in the world with poor air quality often forcing the closures of schools and businesses.

This year, the quality of air in the capital and other major cities recorded an alarming drop during the summer season. But the problem has begun to be aggravated with the onset of winter.

In July, poor air quality forced the closure of all educational institutes and government offices in Tehran and other cities as the air quality index was deemed unhealthy for sensitive groups.

Iranian Health Ministry data released last month that said in the last calendar year, March 2021-March 2022, the number of deaths caused by long-term exposure to PM2.5 particles surged by more than 87% compared to the same period during the previous year.

The study was carried out in 27 cities, including Tehran, Ahvaz, Mashhad, Tabriz, Shiraz, Isfahan and Hamedan with a total population of 35 million in those cities.

The alarming dip in air quality in 2022 has been accompanied by sand storms, originating mostly in Iraq and Syria.

Source: Anadolu Agency

A long-range Turkish indigenous air defense missile, Siper, was successfully test-fired and it hit the target with a range of more than 100 kilometers (62 miles), a top defense official said Friday.

“A New Year’s gift to our nation as we enter the Turkish Century from our defense industry,” tweeted Ismail Demir, the head of Türkiye’s Defense Industries Presidency.

The Siper project is led by Türkiye’s defense giants Aselsan and Roketsan, as well as the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye (TUBITAK).

Besides Siper, which is expected to rival Russia’s S-400, Türkiye has also developed the Korkut, Sungur and Hisar air defense systems.

Source: Anadolu Agency

UK police said Friday they will enable a safe space for women celebrating New Year’s Eve in London, according to Metropolitan police.

The Met announced a designated space will be provided for women and girls who feel unsafe before the mayor’s fireworks display at the London Eye.

It said it has been working with the Safer Spaces charity, a community interest group set up to help educate and create a culture that confronts and prevents sexual violence, harassment and domestic abuse at festivals and events.

“The space, located along Duncannon Street, near Trafalgar Square, will have specially trained professionals with safeguarding backgrounds on site, who will be supported by the police,” it said.

Source: Anadolu Agency

US President Joe Biden has granted pull pardons to six individuals before the end of the year, with the White House saying that “he is a believer in second chances”.

An 80-year-old woman who was convicted of murder in the second-degree while armed for killing her husband is among those pardoned ones, according to a list released by the White House on Friday.

Five others pardoned individuals served their sentences for drug and alcohol related crimes.

Biden used his clemency power for the third time this year. He pardoned thousands of individuals convicted of simple marijuana possession in October.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Patients in Scotland reportedly have been treated outside hospitals as authorities warned that all services are “under extreme pressure” due to the coronavirus and flu, compounded by higher-than-normal levels of staff sickness, according to reports.

John-Paul Loughrey, vice president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine Scotland, said that there have been many “clinical incidents and near misses” as patients are forced to wait.

“I am aware of colleagues who have three or four incidents to record but they cannot sit down recording when patients have been queueing six to seven hours to be seen. People are frightened to come to work now.”

Media reports said patients have to wait in corridors for up to 40 hours on trolleys as emergency services have hit full capacity.

It has been reported that doctors have described taking patients outside for private discussions.

National Health Service (NHS) Borders, one of 14 health boards within NHS Scotland, put out an urgent call for staff, saying “as you are aware, all of our services are under extreme pressure going into the New Year weekend. This is being compounded by higher than normal staff sickness levels due to Covid and Flu.

“We are therefore asking any staff, and particularly those who are not currently rostered to work over the 4 day weekend, to consider what extra time, day or night, you would be able to cover.”

Source: Anadolu Agency

The Russian Football Union on Friday decided to make an agreement with the UEFA for the return of Russian teams to the competitions as they were barred due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.

“I can’t say that we are ready to wait for a long time,” head of the union Alexander Dyukov said, adding: “It is important for us to take part in the selection for the 2026 FIFA World Cup (qualifiers) and pass it. I set myself such a task.”

The question about the possible transition to the Asian Football Confederation has never came up, according to Dyukov.

“Today, the issue of transition to Asia was not discussed. The executive committee made such a decision to involve all regulators in order to develop a consolidated position,” he said.

Russia is among the 55 UEFA members, and the Russian national team played in several European football championships in men’s, including the UEFA EURO 2020, which was held in summer 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

On Feb. 24, Russia launched a war on Ukraine, which was met with international outrage, with the European Union, US, and UK among others imposing tough financial sanctions on Moscow.

As part of the sanctions, Russian clubs and national teams were excluded from the FIFA and UEFA competitions.

In May, the Russian national team were disqualified from the UEFA Women’s EURO 2022 and were replaced by Portugal.

As the Russia-Ukraine war is still ongoing, the clubs and teams’ suspension remains in place.

Also, in February, UEFA moved the 2022 Champions League final from St. Petersburg to Paris for the same reason.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Kosovo Serbs removed all barricades Friday that were set up amid recent tensions, after being assured by the US and EU that there would be no arrests.

Kosovo police announced that they opened the Jarinje and Brnjak border crossings to Serbia and traffic is operating smoothly.

The border crossings had been closed since Dec. 10.

The removal of barricades began late Wednesday after Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic told Serbs to remove barricades erected in northern Kosovo after being assured by the US and EU that there will be no arrests, according to an official.

The European Union (EU) Special Representative for the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, Miroslav Lajcak, told local media that the current problem has been solved but tensions remain high and the level of mistrust is higher than ever.

”It is important to not allow the situation to backslide into another crisis, and it is important for the leaders of Kosovo and Serbia to start creating an atmosphere conducive to productive discussions on normalization of relations,” said Lajcak.

He said Serbia and Kosovo have favorable circumstances to solve issues in 2023 but if the opportunity is missed, the dispute can last decades.

“At the moment we have very favorable circumstances: the attention of the top management in the US and the European Union, and we have very good EU-US cooperation, so this is a real opportunity, sometime until December 2023 or early 2024,” he said. “If we return to crisis and conflicts, then we can forget about deadlines.”

Lajcak said earlier that the end of March could be the deadline for reaching an agreement between Belgrade and Pristina on the normalization of relations.

Vucic said big shots will come in January that will force him into an agreement.

”Difficult times await us regarding the issue of Kosovo and Metohija, but we will fight. We have fought so far, and we have won and managed to preserve peace and stability,” he said Vucic.

Tensions between Kosovo and Serbia have escalated since the Dec. 10 detention of former Serbian police officer Dejan Pantic on suspicion of attacking election officials.

Protesting Pantic’s arrest, Kosovo Serbs have been standing guard at barricades they set up at border crossings since Dec. 10.

Two new barricades were set up after Kosovar authorities blocked Serbian Patriarch Porfirije from entering the country ahead of Orthodox Christmas celebrations.

Kosovo, predominantly inhabited by Albanians, broke from Serbia in 1999 and declared independence in 2008. But Serbia has not recognized the move and sees its former province as part of its territory.

The EU, NATO and the US have called for de-escalation and the removal of barricades in northern Kosovo, while Serbia has requested to deploy its army and police based on a UN resolution.

Source: Anadolu Agency

An arrest was made on Friday in the US state of Pennsylvania in connection with the murders of four University of Idaho students in their home on Nov. 13.

The suspect, Bryan Christopher Kohberger, 28, was taken into custody by the Pennsylvania State Police along with the FBI, according to filings in the Monroe County Court there.

Ethan Chapin, 20, Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 20, and Xana Kernodle, 21, were all stabbed to death while sleeping in a three-story home rented by Mogen, Goncalves, and Kernodle just off campus in Moscow, Idaho.

The four were close friends. Kernodle and Chapin were reported to be involved in a romantic relationship.

Kohberger is the first suspect to be taken into custody by law enforcement officials since the murder took place. Monroe County is located in eastern Pennsylvania in the Pocono Mountains. A weapon used in the killings has yet to be found.

The suspect is being held for extradition in a criminal homicide investigation. There is an active warrant out for the arrest of a suspect for first degree murder by the Moscow Police Department and Latah County Prosecutor’s Office.

A law enforcement official disclosed the information to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity ahead of a formal announcement planned for late Friday.

The university town, which numbers approximately 25,000 including a student population of 11,000, was shaken by the murders. In its wake, almost half of the university’s students switched to online classes for the remainder of the semester, many even moving back home. Additional security was also installed by campus and Idaho State Police in order to ensure students’ safety.

Source: Anadolu Agency