Author: Anadolu Agency

Türkiye’s unemployment rate in 2024 dropped 0.7 percentage points to a 12-year low of 8.7%, signaling a steady recovery in the job market, according to the latest figures released by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) on Thursday. The number of jobless age 15 and over fell by 151,000 from the previous year, bringing the total to 3.113 million. Unemployment among men dropped from 7.7% in 2023 to 7.1% in 2024, while the rate for women dropped from 12.6% to 11.8%. Meanwhile, labor force participation declined 0.9 percentage points to 54.2%. However, the employment rate climbed to 49.5%, up from 48.3%…

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky lent his support to a partial ceasefire that prohibits the targeting of energy sites, two of President Donald Trump’s senior officials said Wednesday. Delegations are slated to meet in Saudi Arabia “in the coming days” to discuss efforts to widen the ceasefire to the Black Sea ahead of a full ceasefire, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement released by the White House. “They agreed this could be the first step toward the full end of the war and ensuring security. President Zelensky was grateful for the President’s…

Pope Francis, the spiritual leader of Catholics and head of state of the Vatican, is continuing his recovery after being hospitalized for more than a month for respiratory illnesses, the Vatican reported on Wednesday. The Vatican shared the latest health report of the 88-year-old pope, who has been at Gemelli Hospital in Rome for 33 days with a diagnosis of bilateral pneumonia due to severe bronchitis he had in February. The report showed his clinical condition improving, with motor and respiratory physiotherapy continuing to make progress. Francis was unable to speak at two public events on Feb. 9 and 12,…

The presidents of the EU Commission and the EU Council on Wednesday stressed the need for a “just and lasting peace” for Ukraine. “A comprehensive, just and lasting peace for Ukraine must be the outcome of this terrible war,” said Ursula von der Leyen and Antonio Costa on X. In reference to Tuesday’s phone call between US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, they said: “We hope that yesterday’s phone call is progress in this direction” “We remain steadfast in our support for Ukraine,” von der Leyen and Costa added. In a 2 ½-hour phone call, Putin…

Achieving a ceasefire in the Ukraine war is “a necessary step towards peace,” China said Wednesday, in response to a phone call between the US and Russia’s presidents. “From the very beginning, China has advocated resolving the crisis through dialogue and negotiation,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told reporters when asked about the conversation between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump on Tuesday. Following the phone call, Trump said that he and Putin agreed on an “immediate” ceasefire that would temporarily halt attacks “on all energy and infrastructure” amid Russia’s war on Ukraine. “(The) Chinese side is…

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Wednesday declared his readiness to sign the draft of a peace deal agreed upon between his country and neighboring Azerbaijan. “The draft of Peace Agreement between #Armenia and #Azerbaijan is agreed and waiting to be signed. I’m ready to put my signature under the agreed draft,” Pashinyan said in a statement on X. Pashinyan’s remarks came as both Azerbaijan and Armenia separately announced an agreement on the draft of a peace deal last Thursday, set to end a decades-long conflict and establish diplomatic ties between Baku and Yerevan. Relations between the two former Soviet…

The annual inflation rate was down to 2.7% in the EU in February, from 2.8% in January, Eurostat announced on Wednesday. The rate was also down to 2.3% in the euro area last month from 2.5% in January, official figures showed. The lowest annual rates were registered in France (0.9%), Ireland (1.4%), and Finland (1.5%), with the highest annual rates recorded in Hungary (5.7%), Romania (5.2%), and Estonia (5.1%). Compared with January 2025, annual inflation fell in fourteen member states, remained stable in six, and rose in seven. In February 2025, the highest contribution to the annual euro area inflation…

Some 1,200 US and South Korean troops are participating in a large-scale battle command drill aimed at strengthening their combined readiness against North Korean “military threats,” South Korea’s army said Wednesday. The five-day exercise, running through Thursday, is being held at training facilities in Incheon, west of the capital Seoul, and the border town of Paju, Yonhap News reported. Troops from various units, including the 17th Infantry Division, the Chemical, Biological and Radiological Defense Command, and the Stryker Brigade Combat Team of the US 2nd Infantry Division/Korean-US Combined Division, are taking part in the drill. The exercise features computer-simulated drills,…

The effects of human-induced climate change are being felt by one in five people worldwide, a new report revealed on Wednesday. The report published by Climate Central, an independent science organization, found that at least 1.8 billion people—22% of the global population—faced temperatures significantly influenced by climate change every day from December 2024 to February 2025. Over the past three months, human-induced climate change, primarily from burning coal, oil, and methane gas, caused widespread extreme heat across most regions. During this period, almost 394 million people faced 30 or more days of “risky heat” intensified by climate change, with 74%…

The World Meteorological Organization reported that in addition to 2024 setting a new heat record for hottest year, the past decade from 2015 to 2024 marked the warmest period on record. In its latest report, the organization highlighted that the effects of climate change have rapidly intensified over the past decade, with 2024 seeing global temperatures increase by more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial era from 1850-1900. “The annually averaged global mean near-surface temperature in 2024 was 1.55 °C ± 0.13 °C above the 1850-1900 average. This is the warmest year in the 175-year observational record, beating the…