Author: Turkiye Scoop

Citizens plead to authorities to address the pollution problem as water from a sewage pipeline mixed with seawater in Florya, a crowded beach on Istanbul’s European side. The seawater turned brown in one spot across the long beach as a drain cover leaked untreated water into the sea, emitting a strong stench. Municipality crews partially shut down the beach but media outlets reported the dirty water was still flowing into the sea. “This is dangerous for everyone. There are swimmers of all ages here but I wonder if they would take measures against this,” Hamdullah Öter, a swimmer, told Anadolu…

Farmers in Turkey’s southeast and northwest are concerned about the abundance of insects threatening their crops as the temperatures increase. Over the past few weeks, their fields have been invaded by grasshoppers and loxostege sticticalis, a moth species. Pesticides are the farmers’ only option against the small invaders nibbling on crops. In Yüksekova, a district of the southeastern Turkish province of Hakkari, some villages across a fertile plain suffer from an unprecedented number of grasshoppers taking over the fields. Kadir Dağdeviren, mukhtar of Yoncalı, one of the villages, says there are “too many” pests. “If this trend continues, we cannot…

Chancellor Olaf Scholz says Germany’s decision to reactivate coal and oil-fired power plants to relieve energy shortages because of the war in Ukraine is only temporary and his government remains committed to doing “everything” to combat the climate crisis. In a video message on July 16, Scholz expressed regret over Germany’s decision to fire up 16 dormant fossil fuel power plants and extend the operating permission for 11 more amid fears of further cuts in natural gas supplies from Russia. “The fact that because of Russia’s brutal attack on Ukraine we now have to temporarily use some power plants that we had already…

Long lines are back at food banks around the U.S. as working Americans overwhelmed by inflation turn to handouts to help feed their families. With gas prices soaring along with grocery costs, many people are seeking charitable food for the first time, and more are arriving on foot. Inflation in the U.S. is at a 40-year high and gas prices have been surging since April 2020, with the average cost nationwide briefly hitting $5 a gallon in June. Rapidly rising rents and an end to federal COVID-19 relief have also taken a financial toll. The food banks, which had started to see…

Spain women’s national player Marta Cardona scored a late goal that made all the difference for her side Saturday as the La Roja beat Denmark 1-0 and set a Euro 2022 quarterfinals date with England. A first defeat since 2019 to Germany in their second group game meant Jorge Vilda’s side needed a point to avoid an early exit. Spain was made to endure a nervous night at the Brentford Community Stadium until Cadona’s 89th-minute looping header made sure of its place in the last eight. Its status as favorites was rocked by the loss of Ballon d’Or winner Alexia…

The U.N. special envoy for Syria has expressed regret that talks between the regime and opposition scheduled to start on July 25 in Geneva “are no longer possible,” reportedly because Bashar Assad’s regime contends that Switzerland is not neutral because of its support for European Union sanctions against its ally Russia. U.N. deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq didn’t directly confirm the reason but said Monday that “we do reaffirm the neutrality of Switzerland as a venue for much of the work that the United Nations does.” Geneva is the major European headquarters for the 193-member United Nations. Syrian envoy Geir Pedersen…

The United Nations special envoy for Syria on Saturday said that the next session of the Syrian-led, U.N.-facilitated talks scheduled for July 25-29 in Geneva “is no longer possible.” Geir Pedersen said he regrets that the ninth session of the Constitutional Committee’s “Small Body” to find a constitution for the war-torn country will not take place. He did not give any specific reasons. “The Special Envoy stresses the importance of all the stakeholders in this conflict protecting and firewalling the Syrian political process from their differences elsewhere in the world and encourages them to engage in constructive diplomacy on Syria,”…

Ghana has officially confirmed two cases of the Marburg virus, a highly infectious disease similar to Ebola, its health services said on Sunday, after two people who later died tested positive for the virus earlier this month. Tests conducted in Ghana came back positive on July 10, but the results had to be verified by a laboratory in Senegal for the cases to be considered confirmed, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). “Further testing at the Institute Pasteur in Dakar, Senegal, has corroborated the results,” Ghana Health Service (GHS) said in a statement. GHS is working to reduce any risk of…

Two U.S. agencies fined Bank of America a total of $225 million on charges it wrongfully froze unemployment and other public benefit programs at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau imposed a $100 million penalty on Bank of America (BofA) for “botching” the disbursement of state unemployment programs during COVID-19, the agency said. “BofA automatically and unlawfully froze people’s accounts with a faulty fraud detection program, and then gave them little recourse when there was, in fact, no fraud,” the agency said in a news release. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency fined BofA $125…

Treasury and Finance Minister Nureddin Nebati is attending the gathering of G20 finance ministers and central bank chiefs in Indonesia where they seek strategies to counter the economic fallout from the war in Ukraine, inflation and other global crises. Nebati held a series of talks with his counterparts at the sidelines of the summit on July 15. As part of his bilateral meetings, he discussed the bilateral economic and commercial relations with South African Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana. “We emphasized the importance of increasing the trade volume between the two countries in the coming period, as well as improving our relations, especially in the industry…