Author: Anadolu Agency
Rising demand for clean energy technologies to fight climate change is shaping the future with investments in critical minerals, whose demand is set to triple by 2040, according to the International Energy Agency’s Global Critical Minerals Outlook report. Increasing geopolitical competition led critical minerals to become not only an economic but also strategic priority to those seeking to strengthen their position in green energy. Among the 4,000 minerals found across the globe, some are vital for the clean energy sector, such as lithium, nickel, cobalt, graphite, copper and rare earths. These all play key roles in green transformation and are…
Georgia on Thursday will host a trilateral meeting in the country’s capital Tbilisi with representatives of Azerbaijan and Armenia. A statement by Armenian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Ani Badalyan on Facebook said the meeting will be held at the level of deputy foreign ministers. She added that the talks will be dedicated to prospects for regional cooperation. No further information was provided on the talks. The meeting comes a day after talks between Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and his visiting Georgian counterpart Mikheil Kavelashvili in Baku, during which they affirmed the need for peace and security in the South Caucasus.
Myanmar’s military government on Thursday released nearly 5,000 prisoners, including some foreigners, while marking their traditional New Year, according to local media reports. Prisoners’ release began from Insein Prison, located in Yangon, where hundreds of their relatives received them outside the jail, Eleven Myanmar reported. Earlier, the junta government said that 4,893 prisoners would be released from prisons to participate in the state-building process. The junta also released 13 foreign nationals from different jails, without sharing the details of their nationality. These foreigners will be deported from the country. According to human rights groups, the military government arrested thousands of…
Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani arrived in Russia on Thursday for an official visit for talks with President Vladimir Putin. Al Thani’s plane touched down at Moscow’s Vnukovo-2 government airport, where he was welcomed by an official delegation. Following his arrival, the Qatari delegation headed to the Kremlin, where the two leaders are expected to discuss a broad range of issues related to bilateral cooperation, with a focus on trade, economic relations, and humanitarian collaboration. The agenda will also include several pressing international topics. Given Qatar’s involvement in facilitating humanitarian initiatives between Russia and Ukraine — such…
Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed on Wednesday to exhaust all efforts to secure the release of hostages from Gaza. Meeting in the Kremlin with Russian national Aleksandr Trufanov and his family, who was recently freed from Hamas captivity, Putin credited Russia’s longstanding ties with the Palestinian people for enabling Trufanov’s release. “Certainly, we’ll do everything possible to replicate such successes frequently, ensuring that all those still suffering similar hardships regain their freedom,” Putin said. Expressing gratitude to Palestinian group Hamas for releasing Trufanov, Putin made no political assessment of the broader situation in the region. “I think we have to…
The UN special rapporteur on the right to health on Thursday condemned a recent Israeli airstrike on Al-Ahli Hospital, the last functioning medical facility in northern Gaza, calling it a devastating blow to an already collapsed health system. “I am horrified to learn that the war on hospitals, health care providers and civilians continues, making the provision of health services even more impossible in a system that has already been brought to its knees,” Tlaleng Mofokeng said in a statement. Al-Ahli Hospital was struck by two Israeli missiles on April 13. The blasts severely damaged the emergency room, surgical operations…
Russia’s Supreme Court on Thursday suspended the country’s ban on the activities of the Taliban movement, the court’s press service announced. The Taliban has been designated a terrorist organization by Russia, but the ruling effectively suspends that label, though it remains under international UN sanctions. A representative of the Taliban was present at the Supreme Court session. The hearing was held at the request of the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office, which had filed a formal request seeking the suspension of the ban on the movement’s activities in Russia. The suspension satisfies “the administrative claim of the Prosecutor General’s Office of…
Moldova on Thursday announced that it will hold the country’s next parliamentary elections on Sept. 28. The decision on the date of the elections, which was initiated by deputies from the country’s ruling Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS), was made at a parliamentary session in which 57 lawmakers voted in support while 32 others abstained. The parliament has 101 seats. A statement by parliament said the draft decision “ensures compliance with the legal deadlines in order to hold the elections in a democratic, transparent, and efficient framework.” “This decision enters into force on the date of its publication in…
Russian President Vladimir Putin met Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Thursday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. “Putin today received Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who is visiting Moscow, at the Kremlin,” Peskov told reporters, without providing further details. The meeting comes ahead of the second round of US-Iran talks in Rome this weekend. The two countries held talks on Tehran’s nuclear program in Oman last weekend that both sides described as positive and constructive. Russia is one of the signatories to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal from which US President Donald Trump withdrew during his first term in 2018.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio began talks in Paris on Thursday aimed at reviving stalled negotiations for a ceasefire in Ukraine and addressing growing tensions between the US and Europe. On his first official visit to France, Rubio met with French President Emmanuel Macron and Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot. He was accompanied by Steve Witkoff, US President Donald Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine and the Middle East. “This visit will serve to assess the status of peace talks aimed at ending Russia’s aggression against Ukraine,” the French presidency, or Elysee, said in a statement. The discussions follow recent contacts…