Day: March 19, 2023

Evgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner mercenary group, claimed on Saturday that up to 1,200 new recruits join its ranks every day. "The result that we are having now, we did not expect it. We have days when we recruit up to 1,200 people a day. An average number fluctuates from 500 to 800," he said on Telegram. Prigozhin said he expects that by mid-May the number of fighters will increase by 30,000. According to him, newcomers have better physical form than people the group was hiring previously, and pass test for physical training in the first attempt. Prigozhin also made public another conflict with Russian officials, this time with the governor of Russia's Krasnodar region. He said his group, which is involved in Moscow's "special military operation" in Ukraine, bought a plot for some 700 graves in the Russian town of Goryachy Klyuch, but local authorities were instructed to ban Wagner from burying their fighters at the cemetery. He also published a call recording in this regard, and stressed that Wagner will bury their "martyred comrades" nevertheless, and if the process is "hindered," they will "take the necessary measures." "The fighters of Wagner protect the interests of Russia. They are dying for our motherland. However, some officials put stick in their wheels wherever possible. "They do not give orders and medals, they do not give weapons and ammunition, they do not allow our comrades to be buried. "If on the territory of the largest country in the world -- Russia -- there is no one by two meter of soil to bury there with honors a hero who fought for the interests of the country ... then what will happen to the people next?" Prigozhin questioned. Earlier, Prigozhin complained that the Russian Defense Ministry and military commanders do not authorize ammunition supplies to Wagner due to its formal "non-existence."

Source: Anadolu Agency

Pakistan's 18th chartered cargo flight carrying aid for earthquake-hit Trkiye arrived in the southern province Adana on Sunday, the Pakistani Embassy in Ankara announced on Sunday.

The embassy said on Twitter that 22,637 tents had been transported to Trkiye via the "special flight operation," which began on March 11, 2023."

"Earthquake Relief supplies have also been sent by sea and land," it added.

On Feb. 6, the magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 quakes struck 11 provinces - Adana, Adiyaman, Diyarbakir, Elazig, Hatay, Gaziantep, Kahramanmaras, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye, and Sanliurfa.

More than 13.5 million people in Trkiye have been affected by the devastating quakes, as well as many others in northern Syria.

The country's Vice President Fuat Oktay on Saturday said that the death toll has risen to over 49,500 including more than 6,800 foreign nationals.

Source: Anadolu Agency

For the second time in a week, British and German fighter jets intercepted a Russian aircraft close to Estonian airspace on Friday as NATO carries out joint air policing efforts in the region.

The two Typhoon jets intercepted 'a Russian military Tu-134 passenger jet, known by the NATO name Crusty, that was being escorted by two Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker fighter jets, and an AN-12 Cub military transport aircraft,' the UK's Royal Air Force (RAF) said in a statement on Saturday.

The RAF said the operation was a "reassurance that the UK and Germany together with other NATO allies stand with their Estonian ally at this time of tension."

'We quickly identified the Russian aircraft and then monitored it as it flew close to NATO airspace," said Richard Leask, an RAF commander.

'The NATO Air Policing mission is carried out to ensure any aircraft of interest are intercepted to ensure we know who they are and maintain flight safety for all airspace users," he added.

The RAF is deployed in Estonia on Operation Azotize, and will take over leadership from the German detachment in April.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Napoli's Nigerian forward Victor Osimhen scored two headers in Turin, while Georgian winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia scored from a penalty after he was fouled in the box.?

French midfielder Tanguy Ndombele scored an easy chance in the second half to name the away victory for Napoli.

Osimhen has scored 21 goals in 23 Serie A matches, and his teammate Kvaratskhelia tallied 12 goals and 12 assists in 23 league matches for Napoli.

Napoli boosted their points to 71 in 27 matches and they are getting closer to claiming the championship every passing week.

Second-place Inter Milan have 50 points and will face Juventus on Sunday.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Borussia Dortmund topped the German Bundesliga standings after a 6-1 win over Cologne in a Saturday league match.

Dortmund duo Sebastien Haller and Marco Reus scored double each to help their team smash the visitors at the Signal Iduna Park.

The home team led the first half 4-1 after Cologne's Davie Selke netted.

Raphael Guerreiro, who scored the opener in the 15th minute, and Donyell Malen, another Dortmund player to have tallied a goal in the first half, were the other scorers for the winners.

Reus surpassed Dortmund legend Michael Zorc by scoring 161 goals for the club in all competitions, which means the 33-year-old midfielder is now Dortmund's second-highest goal scorer of all-time.

Former midfielder Zorc, 60, had 159 goals for Dortmund between 1981 and 1998.

Reus, a Dortmund regular since 2012, needs to score 17 goals to beat Dortmund's all-time highest scoring player Adi Preissler, who died in 2003.

Leaders Borussia Dortmund have 53 points in 25 matches, and are in a tight battle against defending champions Bayern Munich.

Second-placed Bayern Munich have 52 points before their visit to Bayer Leverkusen on Sunday.

RB Leipzig, Union Berlin and Freiburg have 45 points to chase Bayern Munich.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Police in France have arrested more than 500 people across the country during protests over the government imposing a pension reform without a parliamentary vote.

Protests and clashes erupted in various parts of France on March 16, after the government used its special constitutional powers to force through pensions reform without a vote in the lower house.

The new legislation would raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 by 2030.

Despite a ban on protests on a Paris square opposite parliament, protesters on Saturday gathered there and around the Champs Elysees avenue.

More than 500 protesters were arrested and 283 of them have been released, according to local media reports.

Meanwhile, protesters allegedly attacked The Republicans party's head Eric Ciotti's office in the city of Nice and shattered its windows.

Sharing a photo from his office with shattered windows, Ciotti said that this attack aims to pressure him to vote in favor of no-confidence motions against the government.

Previously, Ciotti had announced that his political group would not vote for no-confidence motions against the government over the pension reform.

Earlier on Thursday, President Emmanuel Macron decided to use Article 49.3 of the Constitution to adopt the controversial draft bill without a parliamentary vote.

After it was passed by the Senate, the final version of the draft bill was supposed to be taken up for parliamentary approval.

However, Macron held consultations with Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, other ministers and heads of parliamentary groups of political parties to decide whether to use special constitutional powers to bypass the parliamentary process, Le Figaro reported.

Borne then headed to parliament to give a speech and invoke Article 49.3.

The move sparked fierce criticism, including from opposition lawmakers who have filed two motions of no-confidence against the government to be debated in parliament on Monday afternoon, according to France 24.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Russia will continue seeking answers over last year's explosions that hit the Nord Stream pipelines despite Denmark's refusal to give access to the probe, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Saturday.

In a comment on the ministry's website, Zakharova said Denmark's decision shows that it "acts on instructions of overseas masters."

Zakharova said Denmark deliberately delayed permit for Nord Stream 2 construction, and ignored Russia's information on finding an alleged part of an explosive device attached to the pipes.

"Copenhagen, which is so zealously defending the interests of the US in Europe, was initially not interested in conducting an investigation that could shed light on the true perpetrators and customers of the terrorist attacks," she said.

The spokeswoman said Danish authorities have so far neither given any "intelligible answer" to numerous requests from the Russian side, nor provided any results of the investigation, although the country is the legitimate owner of the pipelines.

"Despite the refusal of the Danish side to jointly investigate the sabotage, the Russian Foreign Ministry will continue to seek answers from Copenhagen to the questions raised earlier," Zakharova stressed, adding that attempts to "quietly drop the issue" will not succeed.

"We proceed from the fact that only a comprehensive and open international investigation with the mandatory participation of Russian representatives can provide the public with reliable and objective data on the causes, perpetrators and customers of sabotage," she said.

The Nord Stream pipelines, which carried Russian natural gas to northern Germany via the Baltic Sea, were ruptured in a series of blasts on Sept. 26 last year, causing leaks in what officials from countries in the region called "likely sabotage."

Source: Anadolu Agency

Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz has welcomed the Tehran-Riyadh detente and called for economic and regional cooperation between the two countries, the Iranian president's top aide said Sunday.

In a post on Twitter, Mohammad Jamshidi, the deputy chief of staff for political affairs in the Iranian president's office, said the Saudi king in a letter to President Ebrahim Raisi invited him to visit the Arab country.

King Salman "called for strong economic and regional cooperation" between the two countries that severed ties in January 2016, he added.

Raisi, for his part, "welcomed the invitation and stressed Iran's readiness to expand cooperation".

There has been no official comment on the letter from the Saudi government yet.

Iran and Saudi Arabia, two regional arch-foes, last week reached an agreement in Beijing to restore diplomatic ties and re-open embassies after two years of marathon talks in Iraq and Oman.

The final round of talks, brokered by China, that led to the breakthrough was spearheaded by top security officials of the two countries.

Earlier on Sunday, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said he will meet his Saudi counterpart soon, adding that three places have been proposed for holding the high-profile meeting.

The top Iranian diplomat said Tehran and Riyadh have so far agreed to have technical teams visit the diplomatic missions in order to re-open them as agreed by the two sides in the joint statement last week.

The diplomatic breakthrough between Tehran and Riyadh has set off a wave of tension-easing talks between Iran and its estranged Persian Gulf neighbors, including Saudi Arabia's key ally, Bahrain.

Amir-Abdollahian on Sunday said Iran 'welcomes restoration of relations' with all countries in the region, adding that ties with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Kuwait 'have been upgraded to the ambassadorial level", while talks are underway between Tehran and Manama.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Hundreds of people in the Netherlands held a rally against racism and discrimination on Saturday.?

The protest, organized by March 21 Committee, took place at Dam Square in Amsterdam with the attendance of people from different ethnic backgrounds.

They chanted slogans against racism, Islamophobia, and discrimination, while also criticizing Israel's 'apartheid policy" against Palestinians, suspension of education for women in Afghanistan, and killing of Mahsa Amini in Iran.

Later, the crowd marched to the Dockworker Statue, located outside of the Portuguese Synagogue in the Dutch capital.

Dockworker Statue represents the Dutch dockworker who went on strike on Feb. 25, 1941, to protest the Nazi violence against Jews during World War II.

Source: Anadolu Agency