Author: Anadolu Agency

More than 200 children were sexually abused by Catholic clergy in southern German cities over the past decades, a new independent report revealed on Monday. According to the Catholic Diocese of Wurzburg, since 1945 at least 226 children and juveniles have been victims of sexual abuse. Investigators identified 51 perpetrators, including 43 clergy members. Due to incomplete documentation, they noted that the actual number of incidents could be significantly higher. During a press conference in Würzburg, Bishop Franz Jung, who has led the diocese since 2018, acknowledged that church leaders had spent decades prioritizing institutional protection and priests’ reputations over…

European foreign ministers gathered in Luxembourg on Monday to discuss a range of issues including the situation in Ukraine and Gaza, calling for ceasefire and further pressure on Russia. According to the EU, the foreign ministers were to discuss the Ukraine war, situation in the Middle East including Syria, EU-Africa relations, issues in the Western Balkans and Azerbaijan-Armenia relations at the Foreign Affairs Council meeting. “I think we have to put the maximum pressure on Russia to really end this war, because it takes two to want peace. It only takes one to want war,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja…

Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Burhanettin Duran emphasized Türkiye’s growing diplomatic and economic footprint in Africa during the fourth annual Antalya Diplomacy Forum, held at the NEST Congress Center in Antalya’s touristic district Belek. Organized under the auspices of Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and led by Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, the forum brought together more than 6,000 participants from 155 countries, including heads of state, ministers, diplomats, academics, NGOs, and media representatives. Speaking to Anadolu — the forum’s official global communication partner — Duran highlighted the forum’s inclusive nature. “In this respect, the diplomacy forum we organized under the auspices…

Russian President Vladimir Putin is “mocking the goodwill” of his US counterpart Donald Trump, Poland’s Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski claimed on Monday. Sikorski told reporters following an EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Luxembourg that he was “shocked by the latest wave of Russian attacks” on Ukraine’s Kryvyi Rih and Sumy regions. The Russian missile attack on the city center in Sumy with two ballistic missiles carrying cluster warheads on Sunday killed at least 34 people and injured 117. The attack on Sumy occurred two days after Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, met with Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg. Following…

Over 1,500 Israeli armored corps troops, including generals, signed a petition on Monday demanding the Israeli government prioritize the return of hostages held in Gaza, even if it comes at the cost of ending the war in the enclave. According to the daily Maariv, the petition was signed by 1,525 members of the armored corps, ranging from riflemen to generals. They called on the government “to do everything possible to secure the release of the hostages-even if it comes at the cost of halting the fighting.” Signatories include soldiers who served in the tank units and later became civilians without…

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan spoke with his US counterpart Marco Rubio by phone on Monday and discussed the latest developments in Syria and the humanitarian situation in Gaza, diplomatic sources said. Fidan and Rubio discussed efforts to establish a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, the sources added. Fidan and Rubio met on April 3 in the Belgian capital of Brussels as part of a NATO foreign ministers meeting.

The EU foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, on Monday said, “Israel has the right to defend itself, but its current actions go beyond proportionate self-defense.” Foreign ministers of EU member states met in Luxembourg to discuss the Ukraine-Russia war, EU enlargement, the Western Balkans, and developments in Syria. After the meeting, Kallas told reporters that humanitarian aid to Palestinians must be protected from political manipulation and directed strictly toward those in need. “When it comes to the overall situation, then it’s very grave, and, of course, we really want the mediators to come back to the negotiation table and assume…

Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa, a towering figure in Latin American literature,, died at 89, his family said Sunday. “It is with deep sorrow that we announce that our father, Mario Vargas Llosa, passed away peacefully in Lima today, surrounded by his family,” said a family statement shared by his son Alvaro Vargas Llosa on X. “His departure will sadden his relatives, his friends and his readers around the world, but we hope that they will find comfort, as we do, in the fact that he enjoyed a long, adventurous and fruitful life and leaves behind him a body of…

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has warned that the ongoing conflict in Ukraine could escalate into a world war if Kyiv and its partners do not stand firm against further Russian advances. Speaking in an interview on CBS’ 60 Minutes program which aired Sunday, Zelensky argued that the security of the world is at stake due to the Ukraine conflict, which has been raging on for more than three years. “If we do not stand firm, he (Russian President Vladimir Putin) will advance further,” Zelensky said. Expressing this to be “not just idle speculation,” Zelensky claimed his Russian counterpart’s goal is…

Japan “won’t compromise” to rush through tariff talks with the US, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba told parliament on Monday. “We do not intend to make one compromise after another to conclude negotiations swiftly,” Ishiba told lawmakers, according to Kyodo News. The Donald Trump administration has imposed 24% on Japanese imports, particularly hitting sales of cars, steel and aluminum, but is currently attempting to negotiate with Washington as the US president granted a 90-day reprieve to all nations, except China, hit by his wide-ranging tariffs. Tokyo has repeatedly urged Washington to exempt Japan from the tariffs. Trump, however, has imposed a…