Day: March 20, 2024

ISTANBUL: Armenia and Kazakhstan pledged to deepen cooperation during a visit by Kazakh Foreign Minister Murat Nurtleu to the Armenian capital Yerevan. The two countries "expressed a mutual commitment to the further deepening of interstate cooperation on the basis of friendship, mutual respect and partnership," the Kazakh Foreign Ministry said in a statement following a meeting between Nurtleu and his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan. The ministry said the parties discussed a range of issues of mutual interest including political, commercial and economic cooperation and exchanged views on international issues. 'Armenia is a close state and a time-tested partner of Kazakhstan," the statement quoted Nurtleu as saying, adding: "We have much in common and stand ready to make efforts to achieve common goals for the well-being and prosperity of the people of our two countries." The two ministers also "emphasized the importance of further strengthening political dialogue at the highest levels," the statement added. As a result of negotiations, a 2024-2025 cooperation plan between the foreign ministries of the two countries was signed on Monday. The Kazakh Foreign Ministry "expressed satisfaction with the results of the negotiations and expressed confidence in further fruitful cooperation." Mirzoyan stressed that his country is also ready to develop transportation and logistics ties. Source: Anadolu Agency

CYPRUS DEPARTMENT OF METEOROLOGY FORECAST FOR THE SEA AREA OF CYPRUS (A) FOR THE PERIOD FROM 0600 20/03/2024 UNTIL 0600 21/03/2024 Area covered is 8 kilometers seawards. Winds are in BEAUFORT scale. Times are local times. Atmospheric pressure at the time of issue: 1012hPa (hectopascal) Weak low pressure affects the area. Local showers and later isolated thunderstorms are expected. IN STORM THE WIND MAY BE VARIABLE AND GUSTY. Visibility: Good, but moderate to poor in showers Sea surface temperature: 19°C Warnings: NIL Source: Cyprus News Agency ANKARA: Trkiye's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan will attend the first International Nuclear Energy Summit on March 21 in Brussels, according to diplomatic sources. Fidan will head a delegation to attend the summit hosted by the Belgian government. A ministerial session, in which ministers and other high-ranking officials will participate, and four separate panels will be held at the summit, according to the sources. Leaders worldwide will convene to emphasize nuclear energy's role in tackling global challenges such as reducing fossil fuel usage, improving energy security, and stimulating economic growth. Scheduled for March 21-22, the summit is jointly hosted by the IAEA and Belgium and will be co-chaired by IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi and Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo. It will be the most significant gathering thus far dedicated solely to nuclear energy, a topic of increasing interest globally due to its potential to decrease fossil fuel consumption and meet the growing demand f or low-carbon electricity. Source: Anadolu Agency

ANKARA: North Korea claimed that it successfully conducted a ground jet test of a solid-fuel engine for a new type of intermediate-range hypersonic missile, state-run media said on Wednesday. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, along with other senior officials, witnessed the test at the Sohae Satellite Launching Ground on the country's west coast on Tuesday, Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. "The military strategic value of this weapon system is appreciated as important as ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile) from the security environment of our state and the operational demand of the People's Army and enemies know better about it," the agency quoted Kim as saying. In 2021, North Korea for the first time confirmed that they developed the hypersonic missile and tested it. Hypersonic missiles usually fly five times the speed of sound, or 6,125 kilometers (3,806 miles) per hour, giving little time for enemies to respond, Seoul-based Yonhap News Agency reported. The latest development came after North Korea on Tuesday said Kim witnessed firing drills involving massive super large multiple rocket launchers and warned that if war breaks out, there will be "disastrous consequences." Massive shells of super-large multiple rocket launchers, fired on Monday from sharp gun barrels like lava, flew to the target with the flame of "annihilating the enemy," said KCNA. Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have persisted since last year as divided Koreas held regular military activities with the US and Japan also joining Seoul in joint military drills. Source: Anadolu Agency

ISTANBUL: At least seven crew members died after a South Korean-flagged tanker capsized off Japan on Wednesday, according to officials in Tokyo. Search for two more is going on, Japan Coast Guard said, according to public broadcaster NHK. Earlier, the coast guard had said it rescued six of 11 crew members but later revised the numbers. The chemical tanker Keoyoungsun had made a distress call to the Japanese Coast Guard in the country's western Yamaguchi province early today. Heavy winds had forced the tanker to anchor and was seen tilting in the waters while 11 crew members, including two South Koreans, eight Indonesians and a Chinese, were aboard. An aircraft and a patrol vessel is continuing search in waters west of Mutsurejima, an island that is part of Shimonoseki city on Japan's main Honshu island. Source: Anadolu Agency

ISTANBUL: Ukraine said Wednesday that Russia's restored railway to the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow illegally annexed in 2014, is a 'legitimate military target' for its armed forces. 'It is clear that everything the enemy uses to strengthen its military capabilities is a legitimate military target for us,' Natalia Humeniuk, Ukraine's southern military command spokeswoman, told state news agency, Ukrinform, in response to a question about whether the railway could be a target. During an address in Moscow's Red Square late Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow restored a railway extending from Rostov-on-Don to Crimea via Ukrainian territories under its control, defining the route as an alternative to the Kerch Bridge. Expressing that Ukraine is monitoring developments, Humeniuk said Russia is indirectly acknowledging it is "no longer confident" about the Kerch Bridge by announcing an alternative route and Moscow sees the bridge's fate as 'not very promising.' She argued that the railway is an additional logistics route to supply Russian forces in Ukrainian territories under Moscow's control. "But the progress and speed of construction is not very high now, because there are obstacles in weather conditions, complicated supplies, and there are other objective and subjective reasons," added Humeniuk. The Kerch Bridge, a pair of parallel bridges, one road and one railroad, is a key supply route for Russia which was built after Crimea was annexed in 2014. The bridge has been targeted by Kyiv twice since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war, in October 2022 and July 2023. Source: Anadolu Agency

ANKARA: Nearly 40,000 people have been forced to flee their homes in a devastating flood in Indonesia's Central Java region, according to a report by the Antara News agency. The agency cited the National Agency for Disaster Countermeasure (BPBD) and said the flood submerged 31 villages, leaving thousands displaced. More than 3,000 affected residents have found temporary refuge in 29 different shelters. Relief efforts are underway, with hot meals being distributed to victims at 15 different locations, said the agency. Source: Anadolu Agency

ISTANBUL: Justice must become the new "global rule" to restore the international rules-based order, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Wednesday. 'Justice must become the new global rule supported by the global unity with sufficient force. Is it possible without the Global South? Definitely not,' Zelenskyy said in a virtual address at the 3rd Summit for Democracy in Seoul. He argued that the key pillars of the international rules-based order are 'weakened if not destroyed.' 'The world now bets more on force rather than the rules. But force and rules are not mutually exclusive. It's not 'either this or that.' Without the force punishing the violation of the rules, the rules aren't effective. And without the rules limiting the force, it goes mad and it is what happened with Russia,' Zelenskyy said. 'Every nation matters. And now, aiming for the just end of the evil Russian war against our nation, we want to give certainty to every nation that its security will be unbreakable,' he said, adding t hat this will be possible once the Ukraine war ends based on Kyiv's terms. He invited participants of the summit to join a global peace summit in Switzerland later this year, saying they have to 'make the force that has gone mad come back to the rules and make the rules work again.' 'I believe that peace can be solid. But for it to happen, countries in the world have to be the co-authors of solid reliability,' he stressed. Source: Anadolu Agency