Day: March 20, 2023

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Monday lauded Trkiye and the UN for securing an extension to the Black Sea grain deal.

The agreement 'has been prolonged and congratulations to the UN and Trkiye for this diplomatic effort,' Borrell told reporters before a meeting of EU foreign ministers.

'Let's hope that this will be implemented efficiently and without delays,' he added.

Trkiye, the UN, Russia, and Ukraine signed a deal in Istanbul last July to resume grain exports from three Ukrainian ports that were blocked after the war began in February.

The agreement was extended for a second time on Saturday for 120 days, just before it was due to expire on the same day.

If there are any issues in the implementation, 'the consequences will be counted in the losses of human lives,' Borrell warned, referring to the growing risk of a global food shortage.

He also hailed the extension as 'good news' for Ukraine and its agricultural exports.

According to the UN, 25 million metric tons of grain and foodstuffs have been moved to 45 countries under the deal, helping bring down global food prices and stabilizing markets.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Israeli opposition parties on Monday rejected a government proposal to appoint judges of the Supreme Court as part of its controversial judicial overhaul plan.

They said the proposal by Israel's ruling coalition will keep the government dominant over the appointment of the judges.

"This is not a compromise, this is a hostile political takeover on the judicial system," opposition leader and former Prime Minister Yair Lapid said on Twitter. "That's what we have warned against from the first moment."

Lapid said he will file a petition with the Supreme Court if the government proposal on the appointment of judges is passed.

After passing such a bill, Israel will then "cease to be a democratic state," he added.

Benny Gantz, head of the National Unity Party, said no talks will be held to resolve the crisis as long as the appointment of judges is politically motivated and unilaterally taken.

He said talks, however, can happen based on President Isaac Herzog's plan to solve the crisis on the proposed judicial overhaul.

Last week, Herzog offered a mediatory proposal to solve the ongoing crisis aims to avoid divisions among Israelis. The proposal, however, was rejected by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Israel has seen mass protests over the past two months over Netanyahu's plans for judicial overhaul, seen by the opposition as an attempt to reduce the powers of the judicial authority in favor of the executive authority.

Proposed by Justice Minister Yariv Levin, the reform, if enacted, would be the most radical change ever in the system of government in Israel.

The planned change would severely limit the power of the Supreme Court of Justice, give the government the power to choose judges, and end the appointment of legal advisers to ministries by the attorney general.

However, Netanyahu, who is on trial for corruption, insists that his judicial plan would enhance democracy and would restore the balance between the legislative, executive, and judicial authorities.

Source: Anadolu Agency

The death toll from powerful earthquakes that struck southern Trkiye last month has risen to 50,096, an official from the nation's disaster agency said on Monday.

Yunus Sezer, the head of the Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD), said 107,204 people were injured.

On Feb. 6, magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 quakes struck 11 Turkish 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.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Tensions are on the rise in Paris after protests broke out on Monday over the adoption of a controversial pension reform plan.

Protesters left Vauban Square and headed for nearby neighborhoods, where some set fire to dumpsters and trash, according to an Anadolu correspondent on the ground.

Police have so far arrested 70 people in Paris, broadcaster BFMTV reported, citing police sources.

The French government used special constitutional powers last week to force the plan through, prompting opposing parties to submit no-confidence motions over the measure that would increase the retirement age.

Members of the parliament rejected both censure motions, however, thus officially adopting the draft bill.

Protesters raised slogans against the government, President Emmanuel Macron, and the pension reform plan.

Macron and Prime minister Elisabeth Borne recently held a meeting after the Senate adopted the final version of the draft bill before it was submitted to a parliamentary vote.

They decided to invoke Article 49.3 of the Constitution, a mechanism that lets the government adopt the draft bill without parliamentary approval.

The decision was driven by fear that lawmakers would be able to block the reforms as the government does not hold an absolute majority in the legislature.

Opposing parties then submitted no-confidence motions in parliament, while the protests were held and ongoing strikes extended in many sectors, including oil refineries and public transportation, against the move.

The government revealed the reform project in January and parliament started examining and debating the draft bill the following month.

Workers and trade unions have since expressed growing outrage by holding demonstrations and walkouts.

The reform project includes raising the retirement age from 62 to 64 in 2030, requiring at least 43 years of work to be eligible for a full pension.

*Umit Donmez in Paris contributed to this story.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Locals wait in line in front of a water tank under the threat of bombardment to get drinking water in the city of Chasiv Yar in Ukraine's Donetsk region.

Intense activity on the side of the Ukrainian army is observed in the city, which is surrounded by the Russian army from three different sides.

Due to the destruction of surrounding bridges, the only road connecting to the front line city of Bakhmut is also located in Chasiv Yar.

In the city, where natural gas and electricity cannot be supplied because of the damage inflicted on energy and critical infrastructures by Russian attacks, residents are struggling to survive with the help of volunteers who bring them water and food.

At the center of the city, which bears fresh traces of the war and where the sound of strong explosions from the front can be heard, the locals are waiting in front of a water tank, while being under the threat of Russian bombardment.

"We are afraid of waiting under the attacks, but now that we are used to it, we understand when there is an attack, and we hide. This is scary, but we got used to it,' 68-year-old Alla, who did not want to reveal her last name, told Anadolu in an interview.

Alla said they have not had drinking water for about a month.

Drinking water and humanitarian aid were brought to the city by volunteers, Alla also said, noting that walking around the streets is dangerous.

"We try not to go out too much. It is not safe to be outside. It is possible for attacks to start at any moment, so there is danger. Attacks continue day and night.'

Separately, Igor, an official from a "point of invincibility" opened in Chasiv Yar, told Anadolu that the center was the only secure location in the city.

Noting that the attacks against the region began to increase as clashes in neighboring Bakhmut intensified, Igor said the situation has become more severe in the last four days.

"Points of invincibility" are aid centers launched by the Ukrainian government in late November to provide basic services during power outages inflicted by Russian strikes.

Heating and free internet service are offered at these centers, where residents can charge their phones and electrical appliances.

Humanitarian aid is also distributed at the "points of invincibility," where hot meals and beverages are served to local residents, in addition to health services.

Chasiv Yar is located in the west of Bakhmut, a large transport hub through which Ukrainian troops in Donbas are supplied with weapons, military equipment, and ammunition.

Now in its second year, the war between Russia and Ukraine has so far killed 8,231 civilians and wounded 13,734 others, according to the latest UN figures.

*Writing by Burc Eruygur in Istanbul

Source: Anadolu Agency

The US on Monday urged the UN Security Council to take action over North Korea's ballistic missile tests.

North Korea fired a short-range ballistic missile on Sunday in response to ongoing US-South Korean military drills.

"These launches are not only threatening, destabilizing and unlawful, they allow the (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) DPRK to advance the development of more sophisticated and dangerous weapons," US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the 15-member UN Security Council.

"The DPRK's irresponsible, unannounced launches also pose unacceptable risks to international aviation and maritime traffic".

She accused Russia and China of shielding North Korea, saying that "two members of this council believe we should stay silent".

"Our silence in the face of the DPRK's escalations weakens the council's credibility, jeopardizes the global non-proliferation regime, and emboldens the DPRK's appetite to flood this body's collective mandate," she said.

"Enough is enough. The United States implores council members to return to the level of cooperation that used to exist on the DPRK threat".

She proposed a Security Council presidential statement that would condemn North Korea's actions and call on Pyongyang to abandon its weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs if adopted.

UN Assistant Secretary-General Miroslav Jenca said that North Korea has conducted a total of 14 launches using ballistic missile technology in 2023.

"The DPRK greatly increased its missile launch activities in 2022, including approximately 70 launches using ballistic missile technology," he added.

He also warned that North Korea is "actively pursuing" its nuclear weapons program and that the situation on the Korean Peninsula continues to head in the wrong direction.

China's deputy UN ambassador Geng Shuang defended North Korea's latest ballistic missile launch, saying that it was a countermeasure in response to US-South Korea's joint military exercises.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Germany will double its financial aid for the quake-hit regions in Trkiye and Syria to pound 240 million ($257 million), Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock announced on Monday.

Speaking to reporters in Brussels ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers, Baerbock said Germany and its European partners will support reconstruction efforts in the cities hit by devastating earthquakes last month.

'After the earthquakes, Germany and the EU provided immediate assistance to save people. Today, reconstruction is the central priority and we will continue our assistance,' she pledged.

The EU will host an international conference in Brussels later on Monday to raise funds for relief, recovery and reconstruction efforts in the affected regions.

On Feb. 6, magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 quakes struck southern Trkiye, claiming the lives of over 50,000 people.

Some 13.5 million people have been affected in 11 cities, including Kahramanmaras, Adiyaman, Hatay, and Gaziantep.

In neighboring Syria, at least 4,500 people were killed and more than 8,700 injured.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Many gas stations in southern France are facing shortages due to workers' strikes in oil refineries.

An Anadolu correspondent on the ground observed long queues in some stations in Marseille on Sunday morning, while the walkouts continue severely in five out of the seven refineries across the country.

Drivers had to be patient and wait for almost two hours to get fuel.

Official figures showed on Sunday that the three refineries located in the Bouches-du-Rhone department, among seven in the entire country, were those which were seeing the most supply issues.

Oil refinery workers in France walked out two weeks ago and extended their strike to express their objection to the government's pension reform.

Source: Anadolu Agency