Author: Anadolu Agency
The Kremlin has not received any substantive proposals from the US regarding a settlement in Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday. Peskov responded to remarks made by US special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, Keith Kellogg, at a news briefing in Moscow about a possible ceasefire ahead of peace talks, saying only a series of daily statements from Washington have been observed, many of which are later refuted. “We have nothing to add on this topic yet. There are many statements and reports that are later denied, altered, or dismissed as misinformation. There is neither a need nor…
Norway on Friday rejected Israel’s argument that countries opposed to its actions in Gaza should take in displaced Palestinians, stressing that the forced transfer of civilians is prohibited under international law. In response to an Anadolu email, Norway’s Deputy Foreign Minister Andreas Kravik noted that Palestine is the homeland of the Palestinian people. “The Palestinian people have a fundamental, independent right to self-determination and their own state,” he said, adding that this was the basis for the UN Partition Plan in 1947, after which Israel was recognized by Norway and a number of other countries in 1949. Kravik added that…
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Friday criticized US President Donald Trump’s executive order imposing sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC). “The International Criminal Court is one of the greatest accomplishments of international criminal law, and it enjoys backing from more than 120 countries,” she said in a statement. “It is built on fundamental principles: The enforcement of international criminal law and the independence of international courts-principles that create security for all. That is why we support the ICC, and that is why the ICC needs our support.” She drew a direct connection between the ICC’s effectiveness and global…
A Palestinian child was killed on Friday in an explosion caused by remnants of Israeli army munitions in the southern Gaza Strip. A medical source at the Nasser Hospital in the city of Khan Younis told Anadolu that Mohammad Al-Qadi, 10, was killed in the explosion in the Badr area in Rafah. A security source said that based on preliminary investigations, the exploded object was one of the war remnants left by the Israeli army in the area. On Jan. 29, Luke Irving, UN’s mine action program chief in the occupied Palestinian territories, said the threat of explosive ordnance in…
US President Donald Trump sought to deride Time magazine on Friday after it published a cover with tech billionaire and Trump ally Elon Musk sitting behind the president’s desk in the Oval Office. “Is Time Magazine still in business? I didn’t even know that. Elon is doing a great job. He’s finding tremendous fraud and corruption and waste,” he said, referring to Musk leading Trump’s efforts to take a “woodchipper” to the federal workforce. “He’s doing a very good job. I’m very happy with him.” The cover shows Musk behind the Resolute Desk at the Oval Office as many question…
More than 70 health care facilities have been damaged or destroyed in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo as escalating violence cripples medical services, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Friday. At a UN briefing in Geneva, WHO Representative Boureima Hama Sambo described the situation as “tense and volatile,” with hospitals overwhelmed by casualties and disease outbreaks. In hard-hit North Kivu alone, he said, 3,082 people have been injured and 843 killed, while attacks on medical centers have forced health workers to flee. Armed groups have occupied WHO-supported clinics, and emergency services are stretched beyond capacity, he added.…
US President Donald Trump continued to assail the US international aid and development agency Friday, claiming it is home to sweeping “fraud” and saying “nothing” can be done to reverse his efforts to close USAID. “USAID IS DRIVING THE RADICAL LEFT CRAZY, AND THERE IS NOTHING THEY CAN DO ABOUT IT BECAUSE THE WAY IN WHICH THE MONEY HAS BEEN SPENT, SO MUCH OF IT FRAUDULENTLY, IS TOTALLY UNEXPLAINABLE,” he said on his proprietary social media website. “THE CORRUPTION IS AT LEVELS RARELY SEEN BEFORE. CLOSE IT DOWN!” he added. The fraud and corruption to which Trump is referring is…
Air pollution kills 100 children younger than age five every day in East Asia and the Pacific, UNICEF said in a new report on Thursday. Air pollution, the “silent killer,” reaches its highest levels in many areas of the region during the dry season, which lasts from now until April. It is linked to nearly one in four deaths among children in the region. “The air they breathe, at a time when their bodies and minds are still developing, too often contains unhealthy levels of pollution that can comprise their growth, harm their lungs, and impair their cognitive development, robbing…
A US military service member and three defense contractors were killed when a light aircraft crashed Thursday in rice fields in the southern Philippines, the US confirmed. The US Indo-Pacific Command said an aircraft contracted by the US Department of Defense crashed in the Philippine province of Maguindanao del Sur during a routine intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance mission in support of US-Philippine security cooperation activities. The command said there were no survivors. The names of the crew are being withheld pending notification of their next of kin. The cause of the crash remains under investigation, and officials have not released…
Three people were killed in a helicopter crash Wednesday near the city of Parma in northern Italy, according to media reports. The crash is believed to have been caused by pilot error from heavy fog or a mechanical failure in the tail rotor. The victims included two pilots and Lorenzo Rovagnati, the head of Rovagnati, an Italian company that produces a variety of cured meats. Italy’s civil aviation authority has launched an investigation, and the Parma Public Prosecutor’s Office has ordered the examination of the helicopter’s black box.