Author: tngadmin

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Wednesday warned that over 1.7 million people in Somalia will lack access to safe water and adequate sanitation unless resources are provided to respond.

“If we do not get resources to respond; More than 1.7 million people will not have access to safe water and lack adequate sanitation. Lack of access to water will remain one of the leading causes of displacement, conflict, and disease in Somalia,” the OCHA Somalia tweeted Wednesday.

The OCHA also warned earlier on Tuesday that “the cost of inaction is too high,” stressing that without early funding, humanitarian aids dedicated for essential programs including food, nutritional activities, healthcare and livelihood will have to be stopped.

Early funding would help Somalia save more people from suffering and rescue progress achieved over the last decade from being lost, OCHA said.

Somalia, the Horn of Africa country of over 16 million people, has been suffering from climate shocks and drought, leaving thousands of people under the threat of displacement this year, according to an earlier report by Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) in April.

“Once again Somalia is facing the prospect of serious drought. Water and pasture resources are depleting every day and resulting in people abandoning their homes with their livestock to search for better conditions,” Mohamed Abdi, NRC’s country director in Somalia, was quoted as saying in the report.

Source: Anadolu Agency

The Afghan army on Wednesday claimed to have freed over 60 captive civilians and security forces from Taliban captivity in the restive northern Baghlan province.

The Defense Ministry said in a tweet that 62 people including 26 civilians and 36 security members freed from a Taliban prison by commandos in Baghlan Markazi district, Baghlan province last night.

Four “terrorists” were killed during the operation, and a large amount of weapons and ammunition destroyed, it added.

There was no immediate response from the Taliban on this matter.

Separately, the Afghan National Army’s Shahin Corps in the north announced that 35 Taliban were killed and 16 others wounded in an airstrike on their bases in the Kalabaf area of Aqcha district in Jawzjan province.

Fierce clashes between the Afghan security forces and the Taliban continue in a number of provinces as peace talks between the warring sides in Qatar, which began last September, have made little progress.

Violence has risen starkly since Washington announced plans to pull out all US troops by Sept. 11. A huge unclaimed attack on a school in Kabul killed dozens of students on May 8.

Interior Minister Hayatullah Hayat told the upper house of parliament on Tuesday that hostile regional intelligence agencies are propagating a psychological warfare, and foreign militants are backing insurgents in Afghanistan.

The same day, Pakistan’s military took “serious note of the recent cross-border firing incidents from Afghanistan and regrouping of terrorist leadership,” hoping that “Afghanistan soil will not be used against Pakistan.”

Both Pakistan and Afghanistan have time and again accused each other of harboring militants that plan and conduct cross-border attacks.

The evolving situation in the war-torn country has also been a concern for Turkey, which was set to host a peace conference in Istanbul last month but had to postpone it.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday that a meeting with US President Joe Biden during a NATO summit next month will mark the beginning of a new era.

“We care about our long-standing, rooted and multidimensional alliance with the US. Although there are differences of ideas from time to time, our partnership and alliance have managed to overcome all kinds of predicaments,” Erdogan said in a video conference.

“From Syria to Libya, and from fighting against terrorism to energy, and from trade to investments, we have a serious potential of cooperation with the US,” he added.

Erdogan emphasized that Turkey and the US should bring mechanisms of economic strategy and partnership to life, adding he is aiming for a $100 billion trade volume between the two countries.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Turkey has administered over 28.38 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines since the launch of a mass vaccination campaign on Jan. 14, according to official figures.

As of Wednesday, more than 16.24 million people have received their first doses, while over 12.13 million have been fully vaccinated, the Health Ministry’s count shows.

The ministry also confirmed 8,728 new coronavirus cases, including 681 symptomatic patients, across the country in the last 24 hours.

Turkey’s overall case tally is now over 5.21 million, while the nationwide death toll has reached 46,787 with 166 new fatalities over the past day.

As many as 12,205 more patients won the battle against the virus, raising the total number of recoveries past 5.05 million.

Over 53 million coronavirus tests have been done to date.

The latest figures put the number of COVID-19 patients in critical condition at 1,561.

Turkey started a gradual normalization process on May 17 after a 17-day lockdown that significantly brought infections in the country down.

Until June 1, the country is enforcing weeknight curfews from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m., while weekends are under full lockdown.

Since December 2019, the pandemic has claimed over 3.48 million lives in 192 countries and regions, with more than 167.96 million cases reported worldwide, according to the US-based Johns Hopkins University

Source: Anadolu Agency

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday that Washington will reopen its consulate in Jerusalem, which had historically served as an office in charge of diplomatic relations with Palestine.

His comments came during a press conference following a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah as part of an official visit to occupied Palestine.

During the meeting, the two sides discussed the recent efforts to consolidate the cease-fire across the entire occupied Palestinian territories, including Jerusalem and Gaza, reconstruction of the devastated Gaza Strip after 11 days of Israeli airstrikes, and ways to achieve a political solution and to develop the US-Palestinian partnership, Palestine’s official news agency WAFA reported.

During the news conference, Blinken said the US will provide $5.5 million in emergency financial assistance to the Gaza Strip and $32 million in support to international aid organizations.

“We will continue to oppose any unilateral practice that leads to further violence between Israel and Palestinians,” he said.

Abbas, for his part, extended thanks to the US administration under President Joe Biden for the efforts to reach a cease-fire in Gaza, WAFA said.

Abbas underlined the importance of US intervention to pressure Israel to halt its ongoing attacks in occupied Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza, which he said “undermine US efforts to solidify the cease-fire and de-escalate the situation.”

Regarding his decision to cancel the May 22 parliamentary elections in Palestine, Abbas said once Israel approves holding elections in Jerusalem, his government will immediately hold them without delay.

In Late April this year, he unilaterally postponed the first Palestinian national elections in 15 years over Israel’s blocking of elections in East Jerusalem.

The parliamentary polls were expected to be held on May 22 and presidential polls on July 31, while the Palestinian National Council elections would have taken place on Aug. 31.

Blinken arrived in Israel early Tuesday on the first stop of his first Middle East tour since taking office.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held talks with Blinken on a host of regional issues, including the recent cease-fire deal in the Gaza Strip and Iran.

Following his meeting with Netanyahu, Blinken met with senior Israeli officials including President Reuven Rivlin and Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi, according to US State Department spokesperson Ned Price.

Blinken will later meet with Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh and senior officials from the Palestinian Authority before heading to Cairo, Egypt and Amman, Jordan.

Source: Anadolu Agency

UN Security Council members on Wednesday “strongly” condemned the arrest of the leaders of Mali’s transition government by the military.

They demanded the safe, immediate and unconditional release of all officials detained and urged the defense and security forces to return to their barracks without delay.

Council members “reaffirmed their support for the civilian-led transition and called for its immediate resumption.”

President Bah N’Daw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane, who are under detention at a military camp, announced their resignations Wednesday, according to media reports.

Both leaders were transported late Monday by force to the Kati military camp — the junta’s stronghold, after the appointment of a new government.

Mali has experienced multiple coups and is currently in transition following the overthrow of former President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita by the military junta last August.

Source: Anadolu Agency

President Bah N’Daw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane of Mali’s transitional government, who are under detention at a military camp, announced their resignations Wednesday, local media said.

Both leaders were transported late Monday by force to the Kati military camp – the junta’s stronghold, after the appointment of a new government.

Vice President Assimi Goita confirmed Tuesday that he sponsored the operation. He announced that he withdrew the prerogatives of Ouane and N’Daw, and the military accused the men of “sabotaging” the transition.

“This Wednesday morning, Bah N’Daw presented his resignation to Vice President Assimi Goïta in the presence of the delegation of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS),” reported the Malian online newspaper Malijet, quoting sources.

“Without giving details, the same sources say that negotiations are underway for the release of those arrested and the formation of a new government,” Maliweb, a local news website, also reported Wednesday.

The Malian vice-president also criticized his comrades in power for appointing a new government on May 25 without consulting him. He believes that the prime minister, who was reappointed after a recent resignation, is unable to carry out his duties.

The international community condemned the detention of the president, prime minister and other transitional authorities, stating that it “rejects in advance any act of coercion, including forced resignations.”

Mali has experienced multiple coups and is currently in transition following the overthrow of former president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita by the same military junta in August 2020.

Goita wants “to help the country to regain its dignity. It is just to rectify the situation and move forward with the transition,” according to Issa Kaou Djim, a member of the National Council of Transition, who spoke to Anadolu Agency Tuesday.

“We were all aware that we are in a deadlock. The proof is that everyone is calm in [the capital] Bamako and people have understood the need. The prime minister has failed, unfortunately, together with the president. They have set themselves up against the people to impose an agenda from elsewhere,” he said.

Source: Anadolu Agency

“China firmly opposes any form of official exchanges between the United States and China’s Taiwan region,” Chinese public broadcaster CGTN quoted Zhu Fenglian, spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council in Beijing, as saying.

China claims Taiwan is a breakaway province, while Taipei insists on its independence since 1949.

“The Chinese mainland is urging the [ruling] Democratic Progressive Party in Taiwan to stop its attempt at military confrontation,” Zhu said.

Taiwan on Tuesday deployed four F-16As to the US for training missions. After aerial refueling, the fighter jets landed at Hawaii’s Daniel K. Inouye International Airport from where they flew to Luke Air Force Base in Arizona.

“China urges the US to earnestly abide by the one-China principle and the three China-US joint communiques, prudently and properly handle Taiwan-related issues,” she added.

US formally recognized China in 1979 and under “Three Communiques” shifted diplomatic relations from Taipei to Beijing, acknowledging the One China Policy and thus including Taiwan as part of mainland China.

Taipei maintains independent diplomatic relations with at least 16 nations.

Turkey’s benchmark stock index opened at 1,413.12 points on Wednesday, increasing 0.92% or 12.9 points from the previous close.

At Tuesday’s close, Borsa Istanbul’s BIST 100 index fell 3.58% to close at 1,400.22 points, with a daily trading volume of 21 billion Turkish liras ($2.5 billion).

One US dollar traded for 8.4300 Turkish liras as of 9.30 a.m. local time (0630GMT), down from 8.4470.

The euro/Turkish lira exchange rate stood at 10.3300, versus 10.3420 a day before, while one British pound traded for 11.9600 Turkish liras, dropping from 11.9680.

One barrel of Brent crude oil sold for around $68.70 as of 10 a.m. local time (0700GMT).

Source: Anadolu Agency

Belarus said on Wednesday the Ryanair flight was forced to divert to Minsk after a bomb notice came from Switzerland.

President Alexander Lukashenko said the plane was diverted as it was flying over an area close to The Belarusian Nuclear Power Plant.

On Sunday, a Ryanair Boeing 737-8AS flight from Greece’s capital Athens to the Lithuanian capital Vilnius landed in the Belarusian capital Minsk due to a bomb threat, and Roman Protasevich, a journalist wanted for his involvement in “terrorism incidents,” was reportedly detained.

During a news conference in Geneva on Tuesday, Rupert Colville, a spokesman for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, identified the Russian woman, who was detained alongside Protasevich, as Sofia Sapega.

Protasevich is the founder of a social media news channel, which reportedly played a major role in protests last summer in Minsk demanding the resignation of Lukashenko after he was awarded a sixth term in a presidential election.

Source: Anadolu Agency