Author: Anadolu Agency

A mayor in southeastern Italy has banned the residents of the Belcastro town from getting sick due to healthcare difficulties, according to media reports. The town, with half of the population being elderly people, is 45 kilometers (nearly 28 miles) away from the nearest emergency unit, and the only doctor in the town has limited working hours. Mayor Antonio Torchia issued a decree that bans Belcastro residents from getting sick, and advised them to rest and avoid treacherous activities, local media said Monday.

Kabul on Wednesday “totally rejected” US President-elect Donald Trump’s claim that outgoing President Joe Biden’s administration is paying billions of dollars to the Taliban in Afghanistan, claiming Washington did not pay a single penny and instead confiscated Afghanistan’s money. Hamdullah Fitrat, the Afghan Taliban’s deputy spokesperson, reacted strongly to Trump’s statement, saying the US is spending money to “serve its own interests.” “The United States’ claims regarding the provision of billions and millions of dollars in aid to the Islamic Emirate are entirely incorrect, and we categorically reject these assertions,” Fitrat said in a statement on X. Earlier on Tuesday,…

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Wednesday criticized US President-elect Donald Trump over threats to take over Greenland and Canada. “Borders must not be moved by force. This principle applies and it is a foundation of our peace order,” Scholz said in a statement. Trump had previously expressed interest in the Arctic island of Greenland, which belongs to Denmark. At a recent news conference at his Mar-a-Lago home, he did not rule out using the military to gain control of the Panama Canal or Greenland. The incoming American president, who will be inaugurated on Jan. 20, said he would also be…

Türkiye’s permanent representative to the UN on Wednesday called for the removal of sanctions and delisting measures against Syria to support the country’s recovery. “While the end of the (Bashar) Assad regime brings hope for the Syrian people and the region, the challenges ahead remain immense,” Ahmet Yildiz said at a UN Security Council session on Syria. He said that Syrians endured “years of unimaginable suffering and widespread destruction” under the Assad regime. “We must ensure accountability for the human rights violations and uses of chemical weapons by the Assad regime.” “In light of the dramatically changed dynamics in Syria,…

NATO ships will start guarding critical locations in the Baltic Sea later this week, Finnish public broadcaster YLE reported on Wednesday. Around 10 ships, which will include some ships from NATO’s Baltic Fleet on duty and some that will be deployed by certain NATO countries will conduct patrol and protection missions in the Baltic Sea until April, according to the broadcaster. Noting that the ships would be placed near energy and data cables, the broadcaster said: “They are expected to create a deterrent effect and increase the risk for those who might sabotage the cables.” BALTIC SEA INCIDENTS The Baltic…

The UN deputy high commissioner for human rights on Wednesday called on Russia to halt the summary executions of Ukrainian prisoners of war, saying such executions “constitute a war crime.”
 “I am deeply concerned by a significant increase in credible allegations of executions of Ukrainian military personnel captured by Russian armed forces. Summary executions constitute a war crime,” Nada Al-Nashif said in her speech on the findings of the human rights office’s periodic report on the situation of human rights in Ukraine. According to Al-Nashif, the office recorded 62 such executions in 19 separate incidents between September and November and…

Outgoing US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday that Washington has been working with Türkiye, which “has very legitimate concerns,” regarding the PKK terror group and terrorism. “We’ve been working very closely as well with our ally, our partner … (Türkiye) which has very legitimate concerns, of course, about the PKK and about terrorism, to navigate this transition, to navigate it in a way that I think leads to a resolution of many of those concerns,” Blinken said in a joint news conference with French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot in Paris. He emphasized efforts to address these challenges…

Germany on Wednesday criticized far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s call for destroying the Palestinian cities of Jenin and Nablus in the occupied West Bank just like Jabalia in northern Gaza. “We strictly reject these statements. They are not helpful. They are escalating and they do not help to find peace in the Middle East conflict,” deputy Foreign Ministry spokesperson Christian Wagner told journalists in Berlin. “We are very concerned about the situation in the West Bank,” he added in the wake of escalating tensions in the West Bank. On Monday, Smotrich called for the massive destruction in the West…

Russia has a special cyber-unit targeting Poland, said the country’s digital affairs minister, as reported by local media on Tuesday. No EU state faces more online Russian attacks than Poland, as showed by over 80,000 cyber-attacks from January to October 2024, said Krzysztof Gawkowski, who is also deputy prime minister, according to the public broadcaster TVP. He added that the Kremlin intends to interfere in Poland’s presidential election this May. Highlighting the extensive funding allocated to counter Russia’s cyber-warfare and a new special coordination center, Gawkowski argued that Poland has taken necessary steps to guard its cyberspace.

With a baby gorilla falling unexpectedly into its hands at Istanbul Airport, the government is asking the public for help in giving him a good name. On social media, the Turkish Agriculture and Forestry Ministry invited public suggestions for the young ape with the hashtag #BenceIsmi or #MyNameOfChoice. The gorilla, a 5-month-old male, was discovered in a shipment from Nigeria, seeking to transit through Türkiye without the necessary documentation. On Dec. 22, the ape was seized by Turkish Customs Protection teams as part of their efforts to combat illegal wildlife trafficking. Following the confiscation, the critically endangered infant was handed…