Author: Anadolu Agency
Three Austrian parties have successfully negotiated to form the next government that will exclude the far-right Freedom Party of Austria (FPO), which won the September 29 parliamentary elections. After several rounds of talks, the Austrian People’s Party (OVP), Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPO), and liberal Neos party had a successful first round of negotiations, Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer of the OVP announced at a press conference on Monday evening in Vienna. “I can inform you today that we have completed the exploratory phase and are formally entering into government negotiations with the SPO and Neos,” Nehammer said. “We are…
Norway will seek an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) condemning Israel’s recent legislative measures against the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA). Norway’s Deputy Foreign Minister Andreas Motzfeldt Kravik has initiated consultations at the UN to draft a resolution urging the UN General Assembly to request an ICJ advisory opinion, The Guardian reported on Tuesday. The decision comes in response to Israel’s laws banning UNRWA’s operations within its territories and cutting state-level cooperation with the agency, which serves millions of Palestinian refugees. The Israeli Knesset passed the controversial laws on Oct. 28, citing alleged ties between…
China and Russia should strengthen the BRICS mechanism, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has told his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of the G20 summit. Wang and Lavrov met at the summit in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro on Monday, according to a Chinese Foreign Ministry statement. As the two countries commemorate 75 years of diplomatic relations, Lavrov said the bilateral relations between Moscow and Beijing were at an “unprecedented high level.” Wang told Lavrov that the two sides should work with BRICS partners to implement the outcomes of the Kazan Summit, expand and “strengthen the…
World Children’s Day this year for millions of children around the world is not about celebration but survival, according to a UNICEF spokesman, who told Anadolu that conflicts, climate crises and systemic neglect continue to devastate young lives. “World Children’s Day should be a day of celebration and a day of reflection. For those children in Gaza and Lebanon, their day is around survival, not celebration,” said James Elder. Five 5 million children are affected in Sudan, with 1 million under the age of 5 displaced by violent upheaval, he said. “In Ukraine, we’ve seen attacks have escalated heavily.” “It…
Brazilian Federal Police arrested five officers involved in an alleged plot to stage a military coup and murder President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and top government officials, authorities said Tuesday. Judge Alexandre de Moraes ruled that the arrest of a Federal Police officer and four military officers accused of participating in the “planning of a coup and the violent abolition of the democratic rule of law” be made public. The operation, “Copa 2022,” by those under investigation, wanted to monitor and arrest or assassinate key figures, such as de Moraes, Lula and Vice President Geraldo Alckmin, to overturn Lula’s…
UNICEF said on Tuesday that more than three children on average have been killed in Lebanon every day for the last two months, lamenting that “the intolerable is quietly transforming into the acceptable.” “Despite more than 200 children killed in Lebanon in less than two months, a disconcerting pattern has emerged: their deaths are met with inertia from those able to stop this violence,” UNICEF spokesperson James Elder said in a press briefing in Geneva. “For the children of Lebanon, it has become a silent normalization of horror,” Elder lamented, adding that at the same period, “many, many more” have…
The UK criticized on Tuesday Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recent decision to lower the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons, labeling it an act of “irresponsibility” from a “depraved Russian government.” A spokesperson for Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer denounced the move, calling it yet another example of Russia’s “irresponsible” behavior amid its ongoing war in Ukraine, according to Sky News. Speaking to reporters, the spokesperson said: “It would be fair to say it’s the latest example of irresponsibility that we have seen from the depraved Russian government, and we remain steadfast in our support for Ukraine.” The UK…
The UN human rights office on Tuesday urged COP29 to mobilize trillions of dollars rather than billions to limit temperature rise to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels. “We need COP29 to mobilize trillions-not billions-of dollars in climate finance to keep the increase in global average temperature under 1.5 degrees Celsius, and to catalyze more ambitious national climate commitments,” spokesperson Jeremy Laurence told a UN press briefing in Geneva as COP29 in Baku is now in its second and final week. Laurance said that those who have contributed the most to climate change to date should “pay more,” and those most affected…
The Russian Defense Ministry on Tuesday said that Ukraine attacked its Bryansk region with six US-made ATACMS ballistic missiles last night. According to a ministry statement, five missiles were shot down by the Russian air defense systems, the sixth was damaged and fell on the territory of a military facility in the Bryansk region, triggering a fire. The fire was extinguished and the fall did not lead to any casualties, the ministry said. Earlier, Ukraine’s General Staff said it struck with ATACMS missiles a military warehouse in Russia’s Bryansk region, located about 115 kilometers from the border. Brian Nichols, the…
Europe must bolster its own security in light of likely changes in US foreign policy, Poland’s foreign minister told reporters after a meeting in Warsaw with his counterparts from Germany, France, Italy, and Spain. “We agreed that Europe must take on greater responsibility for its own security, including through a more balanced distribution of burdens in NATO. Strengthening the European defense potential should go hand in hand with maintaining the US’ commitment to improving our security,” Radoslaw Sikorski said. “We are convinced that in the current geopolitical situation, cooperation between Europe and the US remains crucial for the security and…