Author: Anadolu Agency

South Korea on Friday appointed new ambassadors to 11 countries, including its first-ever envoy to Cuba, Yonhap news reported. Lee Ho-yul, who was serving as a minister at the South Korean Embassy in Mexico, will serve as the ambassador to Cuba. South Korea established diplomatic relations with Cuba, a Cold War-era ally of Seoul’s arch-rival North Korea, in February last year. Cuba has already appointed Claudio Monzon Baeza as its top envoy to South Korea. Monzon assumed his post earlier this month.

Three Ka-32 helicopters and one Mi-26 have been deployed to combat a large fire in northwest Moscow, where a building allegedly housing an unauthorized hostel is engulfed in flames, covering an area of 2,000 square meters (over 21,500 square feet), the Emergency Situations Ministry said on Friday. A total of 155 personnel and 45 units of equipment are engaged in extinguishing the fire, which has spread across the 2,000-square-meter area, according to the ministry. Authorities said firefighters were called late to the scene, allowing the blaze to spread rapidly. “Preliminary reports suggest that the delayed emergency response to the fire…

A fire broke out at an oil refinery in Russia’s southwestern Volgograd region after an overnight drone attack from Ukraine, regional Governor Andrey Bocharov said Friday. Bocharov said the fire at the Lukoil refinery was caused by debris from a downed drone and was quickly extinguished. One worker was hospitalized due to the incident. Residents in Volgograd reported hearing explosions and spotting drone activity on the city’s southern outskirts, according to Russian media. Reports suggested that other industrial sites, including a power plant and an oil depot, were also targeted, though these claims have not been officially confirmed. Russia’s Defense…

There has been no progress in securing Washington’s approval for Russia’s new ambassador to the US, and the delay is becoming increasingly alarming, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Friday. “We remain in standby mode, with no movement on the agreement. Time is passing, and while we are not yet in the alarm zone regarding the length of this wait, we are gradually approaching it. I would like to hear a positive signal from Washington soon,” Ryabkov told the Russian state news agency TASS. He said the absence of an ambassador weakens the effectiveness of any diplomatic mission,…

US tech giant Apple reported record-breaking revenue and net income for the three-month period ending Dec. 28, 2024, marking the first quarter of fiscal 2025. Apple’s revenues rose 4% year-on-year to $124.3 billion, up from $119.6 billion in the same period last year, according to figures released by the company on Friday. Net income also grew 7%, reaching $36.3 billion. Earnings per share (EPS) rose from $2.18 to $2.40 for the period. “Our record revenue and strong operating margins drove EPS to a new all-time record with double-digit growth and allowed us to return over $30 billion to shareholders,” said…

Türkiye on Friday called on the UN Security Council to acknowledge the realities on the ground on the island of Cyprus and “reaffirm the inherent rights of the Turkish Cypriot people, namely their sovereign equality and equal international status.” “We once again emphasize that a just, lasting, and sustainable settlement of the Cyprus issue can only be achieved based on the realities on the ground,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement after the UN Security Council on Friday unanimously adopted a resolution to renew the mandate of the UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) for another year. The…

Türkiye’s tourism revenues in 2024 jumped 8.3% year-on-year to $61.1 billion, hitting a new historic high. Türkiye welcomed 62.2 million visitors in 2024, up 9% on a yearly basis, the Turkish Statistical Institute said on Friday. Average expenditures per capita from visitors in 2024 were $972 in total, and $97 per night. In 2024, visitors visited Türkiye mostly for “travel, entertainment, sporting, and cultural activities” with 64.9%. The number of Turkish citizens visiting abroad also rose 2.9% in 2024 on a yearly basis to 11.4 million. “Our tourism revenues exceeded our Medium Term Program target of $61.1 billion in 2024…

Belize has filed a declaration that it will join South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the court announced on Friday. “On 30 January 2025, Belize, referring to Articles 62 and 63 of the Statute, filed in the Registry of the Court a document containing an application for permission to intervene and a declaration of intervention in the case concerning Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip,” the court said in a statement. In December 2023, South Africa instituted proceedings against Israel, claiming…

A former Roman Catholic priest was sentenced Thursday to six years in prison for sexually abusing seven children more than 40 years ago. Eric Dejaeger abused six girls and one boy, ages 4 through 9, in the small hamlet of Igloolik, Nunavut, with a population of 2,000, in Canada’s Far North. The assaults took place between 1978 and 1982. It marked the fifth time Dejaeger has been convicted and sentenced for the abuse of dozens of children in the Canadian territory of Nunavut and Alberta. “He destroyed their childhood, hurt their relations with their families and ruined their relationship with…

France on Thursday ruled out sending military troops to Greenland, the world’s largest island and an autonomous Danish dependent territory with self-government and its own parliament. Speaking at the ministry’s weekly press briefing, spokesperson Christophe Lemoine responded to Anadolu’s question, saying that the principle of the inviolability of borders and sovereignty remains valid in Europe. He further said that French President Emmanuel Macron and Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot had reiterated this principle to their Danish counterparts during their visit to Paris earlier this week. “Sending (military) troops is out of the question,” he said. “The only matter at hand is…