Author: Anadolu Agency

Ukraine’s top diplomat met with Ahmed al-Sharaa, leader of Syria’s new administration, during an unannounced visit to the country’s capital Damascus, local media reported on Monday. Syrian state news agency SANA reported on X that al-Sharaa hosted a high-level Ukrainian delegation led by Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, without providing further details on the meeting’s agenda. Ukrainian authorities have not disclosed the details of Sybiha’s visit to the country in advance. “Today in Damascus, I met with the leader of the Syrian administration Ahmed Al-Sharaa and personally conveyed the message of Ukraine’s President @ZelenskyyUa to the Syrian people: we are with…

South Africa has increased security and patrol along its border with Mozambique to prevent and combat any opportunistic crime that may arise as a result of the neighboring country’s ongoing protests, said a statement. Mozambique has been gripped by weeks of violent protests since late October, when the electoral authority declared 47-year-old Daniel Chapo of the ruling Frelimo the winner of the presidential elections with 71% of the vote, defeating opposition candidate Venancio Mondlane with 20%. The opposition rejected the results, claiming the vote had been rigged. The Constitutional Council was then tasked with overseeing the case, and last week…

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze on Monday said his country is continuing its policy to peacefully restore its territorial integrity. Speaking at the closing ceremony of an ambassadors meeting in the capital Tbilisi, Kobakhidze said resolving the issue of restoring Georgia’s territorial integrity is a main priority for them, and that they continue their policy of resolving the issue through peaceful means. Kobakhidze further said that Georgian diplomats are working intensively to defend the country’s interests in this regard in the international arena. In 2008, a five-day conflict broke out between Georgia and Russia over the breakaway regions of South…

Oman reiterated support on Monday for Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity during a visit to Iran. “Oman pursues a policy of non-interference in the internal affairs of countries and respects the choices of their people,” Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi told a press conference in Tehran with his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi. He voiced hope for Syria to restore its role and relations with other countries, especially Arab states. “Oman is working with the Arab countries to support Syria’s unity and sovereignty over its lands,” Albusaidi said. Bashar al-Assad, Syria’s leader for nearly 25 years, fled to Russia after anti-regime…

France’s Prime Minister Francois Bayrou arrived in Mayotte on Monday, following the devastation caused by Cyclone Chido, which struck a French archipelago in the Indian Ocean in mid-December. Bayrou spoke in Mamoudzou, Mayotte’s capital, and assured residents of the government’s commitment to addressing their immediate and long-term needs, according to BFMTV. “Our duty is to ask the question and try to provide answers. This will be done (…) through proposed laws that will isolate certain subjects,” the broadcaster quoted him as saying. He also dismissed rumors of mass casualties, saying, “The rumors of thousands of deaths are unfounded.” He noted…

China conducted four manned space missions as well as three cargo resupply missions over past two years with launch of 15 astronauts since the country completed its Tiangong space station two years back. In its first report detailing 181 scientific and application projects over the past two years, China Manned Space Agency said five separate crews with 15 astronauts completed extended stays in orbit. Four spacecraft return missions were also conducted, it added. The agency said it achieved at least 34 results, including those related to space life and human research, microgravity physical science research, and new space technology and…

Greece announced on Monday a national strategy to address internet addiction and excessive social media usage among minors, state news agency AMNA reported. Speaking at the launch event, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said: “It is the image of children glued to a mobile phone who lose touch with the world. We discover along the way that they have severe psychological problems – depression, isolation, distraction. It has to do with the dark side of technology.” Maintaining that a universal ban would not be ineffective, he said the examination of the state’s regulatory role and holding the companies that design algorithms…

A group of UN experts on Monday said that Israel “must face the consequences” of its campaign to undermine the legal framework for the protection of civilians in armed conflicts as the military aggression continues unabated. “As we have repeatedly reminded Israel, international humanitarian law comprises a set of universal and binding rules to protect civilian objects and persons who are not, or are no longer, directly participating in hostilities and limits permissible means and methods of warfare,” the experts said in a statement. “Rather than abide by these rules, Israel has openly defied international law time and again, inflicting…

An Israeli soldier was killed and seven others injured, including three in critical condition, on Monday when a house sheltering soldiers in Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza, was hit by an anti-tank missile, according to multiple sources. The Israeli military identified the fallen soldier as Sergeant Uriel Peretz, 23, from the Beitar Illit settlement near Jerusalem. He served in the Netzah Yehuda Battalion (97th) under the Kfir Brigade. In the same attack, three other members of the Netzah Yehuda Battalion sustained severe injuries and were taken to an Israeli hospital, the military said in a statement on X. While the army…

The spiritual leader of the Druze community expressed Syrians’ desire to establish a state that upholds the rule of law, embraces all its citizens and safeguards Syria’s sovereignty both within and beyond its borders. “Syrians want the establishment of a state that upholds the rule of law, is inclusive of all its people … and where everyone feels like a citizen,” Hikmet Selman al-Hijri told Anadolu. He said that minorities in Syria had not experienced such sectarian divisions until Bashar al-Assad’s regime came to power. “The Syrian regime promoted itself with labels such as a national, revolutionary, and that as…