Author: Daily Sabah With DPA

Türkiye aims to maintain the good relationship it enjoyed with the United States during Donald Trump’s first presidency into the second, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told an Ankara press conference on Monday. Erdoğan said he hoped his “friendship” with Trump would continue, speaking alongside Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico shortly before Trump’s inauguration. The Turkish president also offered his support in finding a peaceful solution to the war in Ukraine. Türkiye, a NATO member, maintains relations with both Russia and Ukraine and has acted as a go-between in the past.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte expects the return of Donald Trump as US president will “turbo-charge” the Western alliance. “With President Trump back in office we will turbo-charge defence spending and production,” Rutte posted on X. Rutte expressed “warm congratulations” to Trump on his inauguration as 47th US president and to JD Vance as vice president. “Together we can achieve peace through strength – through NATO,” Rutte concluded. Trump has called for NATO member states to devote 5% of their gross domestic product (GDP) to defence, up from the 2% NATO target. The new target would mean a doubling or…

The wealth of the world’s super-rich is growing ever faster, a study published on Monday by the development organization Oxfam has shown ahead of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos. According to the report, there were 2,769 billionaires worldwide in 2024, an increase of 204 compared to the previous year. At the same time, the number of people living below the World Bank’s poverty line is stagnating and the number of people going hungry is rising. Oxfam predicted that there would be at least five trillionaires worldwide a decade from now. The Oxfam report is based on data from…

Two-thirds of Germans (67%) expect relations between Germany and the United States to worsen once Donald Trump returns to the White House on Monday, according to a survey conducted by polling institute YouGov. Only 8% anticipate an improvement, while 17% believe the relationship will remain unchanged, the survey published on Monday showed. Trump’s second-term inauguration on Monday comes amid concerns in Germany that he may impose import tariffs to protect and create jobs in the US, potentially hurting Germany’s export-driven economy. The YouGov online survey, commissioned by dpa, found that 68% of the 2,078 people surveyed between January 10 and…

Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Sunday expressed concern at tech billionaire Elon Musk’s interventions in the German electoral campaign. “What should really worry us is that a man like Elon Musk, who has great media power, is backing extreme right-wing parties in Europe, for example in the United Kingdom, in Germany and in many other countries,” Scholz said during an election rally in Schwalbach am Taunus, near the western city of Frankfurt. “This should be criticized,” he added. Germany goes to the polls in early elections on February 23. Musk has praised the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) as the “only…

A 68-year-old wheelchair user died when he became trapped between two carriages of a Berlin metro train and collided with a barrier at the end of the platform, police in the German capital reported on Sunday. The passenger had attempted to reverse onto the train at the Brandenburg Gate station in the city centre on Saturday evening, when a wheel apparently got caught between the carriage and the platform edge, the report said. The man was dragged for several metres as the train departed. He collided with a barrier and fell onto the track, where he was fatally injured. He…

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Sunday that the momentum created by the Gaza truce should be used to work toward a Palestinian state living at peace with Israel. “We should seize on the momentum to commit to a Palestinian state that can coexist with the State of Israel,” Scholz wrote on the X social media platform. Gaza’s civilian population has “suffered enormously” during the war and their future “also concerns us”, he added. “Finally the guns have fallen silent. Finally, the Israeli hostages are freed. But now, more humanitarian aid must quickly get to Gaza”, Scholz said.

Ukrainian authorities on Saturday carried out actions against “traitors” President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his daily address. “Today, Ukrainian law enforcement agencies have also performed very well: the Security Service of Ukraine, the State Bureau of Investigation, the National Police, and our Prosecutor’s Office,” Zelensky said. “Traitors and various schemes that weakened our state and our Ukrainian society are being countered. And anyone who stands against Ukraine or defies the laws of Ukraine must remember that they will face a response.” The president did not provide any details regarding the actions. However, Ukraine’s SBU intelligence agency and the public prosecutor’s…

More than 30 people have been injured in a ski lift accident in the north-eastern Spanish resort of Astún, the regional government announced on Saturday. Nine people are in a critical condition and eight are seriously injured, according to the Aragón authorities. The exact cause of the accident in the Pyrenees is being investigated, they said. Initial findings suggest that a problem with the support cable might have caused a chair lift to become dislodged. The ski resort was immediately closed and numerous rescue operations are underway. Several ambulances and four helicopters have been deployed to rescue people and transport…

Israel’s Security Cabinet on Friday approved the deal with Hamas on a ceasefire in Gaza and the exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners, according to the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The decision had been expected despite the resistance of some far-right ministers. The deal now goes to Netanyahu’s coalition government for the final sign-off, which would pave the way for the agreement to go into effect on Sunday. Netanyahu said the agreement would help reach the goverment’s war goals, the prime minister’s office said in a statement. Specifically, the ceasefire is scheduled to begin on Sunday at 1015…