Author: Anadolu Agency

Justin Welby will formally step down as Archbishop of Canterbury at the close of Monday, marking the end of his decade-long tenure as the Church of England’s spiritual leader. His departure follows his resignation in November over the Church’s mishandling of abuse allegations involving John Smyth, a sadistic abuser whose actions spanned decades. On Monday, the feast of Epiphany, Welby is expected to spend his final day in office privately at Lambeth Palace, attending two services—a lunchtime Eucharist and Evensong later in the afternoon. In the interim, the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, will assume leadership of the Church until…

Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called Monday for massive destruction in the West Bank cities of Nablus and Jenin as the case in Jabalia in northern Gaza. “Funduq, Nablus, and Jenin must look like Jabalia,” Smotrich said. His call came after three illegal Israeli settlers were killed in a shooting attack in the village of Funduq in the central West Bank. The extremist minister called for an urgent cabinet meeting to discuss what he called “a change in Israel’s approach” in the occupied West Bank. Jabalia was reduced to ruins amid Israel’s massive offensive in northern Gaza, which Tel…

The US shared “serious concerns” with Seoul after South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol imposed martial law last month, top diplomat Antony Blinken said Monday. Blinken was addressing a news conference in Seoul alongside his South Korean counterpart Cho Tae-yul. “We communicated (serious concerns) directly to the government,” Blinken said as South Korean investigators and police had their last day to execute an arrest warrant against Yoon, who has been impeached after he shocked the nation on Dec. 3 with his martial law decree. Blinken, however, said the US has “tremendous confidence in South Korea’s democracy.” The US alliance with…

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan discussed bilateral relations and regional developments with his US counterpart Antony Blinken over the phone on Monday. In a statement, the Saudi Foreign Ministry said the contact dwelt on regional developments and efforts made in this regard, without giving any further details. There was no immediate comment from the US Department of State on the report. The Middle East region has seen escalating developments in recent weeks following the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria and Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, which has killed more than 45,800 people, mostly women and…

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has rejected a claim by Roderich Kiesewetter, a prominent lawmaker of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), that he may meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin before Germany’s federal elections on Feb. 23. “That is a false claim. That is deeply indecent,” Scholz said at an event of his Social Democratic Party (SPD) in Berlin, RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland (RND) reported Sunday. He added that there is “no evidence whatsoever” that such a meeting had even been considered. Earlier, Kiesewetter wrote in a post on X that “we must prepare ourselves for an election campaign surprise. There are increasing…

At least 32 dolphins have died from a fuel oil spill in Russia’s Black Sea since Dec. 15, a local animal rescue group reported Sunday. The Delfa Dolphin Rescue and Research Center said it had found 61 dead cetaceans since an emergency was declared, with 32 killed “likely due to the fuel oil spill” and the rest believed to be linked to older incidents. A regional emergency regime was declared in the region on Saturday. It said most deaths occurred within 10 days of the disaster, primarily affecting vulnerable Azov dolphins. “For this period of time (outside the release season)…

Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen gave the leader of the far-right Freedom Party of Austria (FPO), Herbert Kickl, a mandate to form a new government with the Austrian People’s Party (OVP) after talks on Monday. In a press conference on Monday in Vienna, Van der Bellen said: “I did not take this step lightly.” “One of the most important tasks of the Federal President is to ensure that the country has a federal government,” he said. Last week, coalition talks between the OVP under the incumbent Federal Chancellor Karl Nehammer and the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPO) and…

Migrants crossing the English Channel to the UK have been reported for the first time in 2025, according to the Home Office data. The latest figures released on Sunday showed a total of 61 people were detected crossing the English Channel via a small boat on Friday. This marked the first Channel crossing of the new year after five days of no crossings since Dec. 29 when 291 migrants arrived in the UK soil in six boats. According to the Home Office the number of migrants arriving in the country via the English Channel increased by 25% in 2024 compared…

Emirati Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan held talks in Abu Dhabi on Monday with his Syrian counterpart Asaad al-Shaibani on bilateral relations and recent developments in Syria. Shaibani arrived in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) early Monday on his first visit to the Gulf country since the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime last month. The talks between the two sides took up ways to enhance relations between the two countries, the situation in Syria and latest regional developments, the state news agency WAM reported. Bin Zayed reaffirmed the UAE’s unwavering support for Syria’s independence and sovereignty…

Stockholm University has been found guilty of discrimination after it rejected the internship application of a Turkish student, Fatma Zehra Solmaz, citing Türkiye’s objections to Sweden’s NATO membership, according to the Swedish Equality Ombudsman (DO). The rejection in 2022 drew significant attention and led to an official apology from the university. Solmaz, a third-year psychology student at that time at Istanbul’s Ibn Haldun University, applied for a summer internship at Stockholm University as part of the Erasmus+ program. On Nov. 23, 2022, she reached out to Professor Per Carlbring, who leads a clinical psychology research group at the university, expressing…