Author: Web Desk

Russia on Wednesday said the West’s position on Israeli actions in the Gaza Strip is “going beyond morality and law because both are violated. ‘We consider the position of the West as going beyond morality and law because both are violated. There can be no double morality, no double interpretation of the same legislative and international legal norms,’ Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in response to a question by Anadolu at a news conference in Moscow. The spokeswoman emphasized that “when juggling with standards begins, it’s all immoral, because it’s not accidental, it’s a strategy.” “We have repeatedly spoken about the unacceptability of indiscriminate strikes,’ she said, adding that strikes on dense urban areas led to massive civilian casualties and the destruction of civilian infrastructure, including the largest Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza. As the Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip entered its 40th day, at least 11,320 Palestinians have been killed, including over 7,800 women a
nd children, and more than 29,200 others have been injured, according to the latest figures from Palestinian authorities. Thousands of buildings, including hospitals, mosques, and churches, have also been damaged or destroyed in Israel’s relentless air and ground attacks on the besieged enclave since last month. The Israeli death toll, meanwhile, is around 1,200, according to official figures.

Source: EN – Anadolu Agency

Six Italian energy companies, including giants Eni and Enel, were fined for a total of more than pound 15.6 million ($16.31 million) for charging consumers higher prices despite a state ban on unilateral hikes, Italy’s antitrust regulator said on Wednesday. The price increases were imposed between August 2022 and June 2023 when the Italian government banned unilateral price hikes for gas and electricity, in a move aimed at helping households and firms hit by a spike in energy prices. Enel was fined for up to pound 10 million, while Eni was ordered to pay pound 5 million for imposing higher prices to more than 4 million customers, without any previous warning. Regional providers Acea and Dolomiti Energia were also fined pound 560,000 and pound 50,000, respectively. The Italian unit of Spanish firm Iberdrola, meanwhile, was fined pound 25,000 for obliging customers to accept new contracts under “worsened economic conditions,” the Antitrust body said. Edison was fined only for pound 5,000 because it reimbu
rsed customers after raising prices, and its move affected a marginal number of people, according to the regulator.

Source: EN – Anadolu Agency

Calling for the establishment of a humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza, the UN relief chief on Wednesday said that the ongoing ‘carnage’ in the besieged Palestinian enclave must end. “As the carnage in Gaza reaches new levels of horror every day, the world continues to watch in shock as hospitals come under fire, premature babies die, and an entire population is deprived of the basic means of survival,” Martin Griffiths, the UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator said in a statement. “This cannot be allowed to continue,” Griffiths said, adding that the warring sides “must respect international humanitarian law, agree to a humanitarian ceasefire and stop the fighting.” As part of a 10-step plan he proposed to resolve the current Israel-Palestine conflict, he urged all parties to ‘allow UN, other humanitarian organizations, as well as public and private sector entities access to fuel in sufficient quantities to deliver aid and provide basic services in Gaza.’ He al
so underlined that implementation of a humanitarian cease-fire is needed to allow basic services to restart and essential commercial trade to resume.? “Such a ceasefire is also vital to facilitate the delivery of aid, allow the release of hostages, and provide respite to civilians,” he said. Earlier on Wednesday, the Israeli army began a raid of Al-Shifa Hospital, the largest hospital in the Gaza Strip, with 700 patients and thousands of internally displaced people inside. Israel acknowledged the move. Israel has claimed that members of Palestinian group Hamas were using the hospital as a base, a claim denied by both Hamas and hospital officials. Despite Al-Shifa’s status as a civilian facility, it has been bombarded by attacks in and around its grounds, and shortages of fuel and medical supplies due to Israel’s blockade have made medical care difficult at best. As the Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip entered its 40th day, at least 11,320 Palestinians have been killed, including over 7,800 women and chi
ldren, and more than 29,200 others have been injured, according to the latest figures from Palestinian authorities. Thousands of buildings, including hospitals, mosques, and churches, have also been damaged or destroyed in Israel’s relentless air and ground attacks on the besieged enclave since last month. The Israeli death toll, meanwhile, is around 1,200, according to official figures.

Source: EN – Anadolu Agency

Migrants in Germany are stopped more frequently by the police in public spaces, according to a new study published on Wednesday. The study has found that people who are perceived as foreign due to their physical appearance are stopped almost twice as frequently as those who are not. ‘Police stops based on physical appearance and not on a person’s conduct constitute inadmissible unequal treatment, and thus violate the prohibition of discrimination enshrined in Germany’s constitution,’ the Expert Council on Integration and Migration (SVR) said in its report. According to a national representative survey conducted by the institution, deciding factor for police checks in public spaces were often the person’s visible physical features, such as a dark complexion or headscarf. Among the survey respondents, who said that they are often perceived as foreign due to their physical appearance, 8.3% of them reported being stopped by the police without a seemingly credible reason. The figure was only 4.4% among the o
ther respondents. Around 15,000 people with and without a migration background were surveyed in the period between late November 2021 and early July 2022 for the SVR’s Integration Barometer.

Source: EN – Anadolu Agency

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he will host Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Berlin on Friday for talks on the Middle East turmoil and other international issues. ‘I spoke to President Erdogan on the phone, and as you may well know, I will be meeting him on Friday,’ Scholz told lawmakers on Wednesday during a question-and-answer session in the parliament. Scholz said they will be discussing various issues, including ‘their different views’ on the Israel-Hamas conflict. ‘It is also very important that there is clarity on this issue, and that we are very clear about our own position,’ he added. Turkish President Erdogan slammed Western governments on Wednesday for turning a blind eye to the civilian deaths and sufferings caused by Israel’s military strikes in Gaza. Chancellor Scholz has repeatedly said Israel has a right to defend itself against Hamas, and opposed calls for an immediate cease-fire in the Gaza Strip. But he is facing growing criticism at home for providing blanket support to
Israel, and claiming that the Israeli government is complying with international law. The Human Rights Watch sharply criticized Scholz on Wednesday, and said Tel Aviv is clearly violating international law by its military campaign. ‘It has stopped electricity and water for 2.2 million residents in Gaza and carried out attacks that violate international law – including on hospitals. All of these are war crimes,’ the group said on social media, adding that the crimes are documented.

Source: EN – Anadolu Agency

France on Wednesday expressed ‘deep concern’ over the Israeli military’s raid at Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza. ‘It stresses the absolute need for Israel to comply with international humanitarian law, which explicitly calls for the protection of hospital infrastructure and the principles of distinction, necessity, proportionality and precaution at all times and in all places. Any use of civilian infrastructure for military purposes is unacceptable,’ a French Foreign Ministry statement said. ‘The Palestinian people must not be made to pay for Hamas’s crimes. This particularly applies to people who are vulnerable, injured or sick, and to humanitarian personnel who are bravely continuing to carry out their work in extremely dangerous conditions,’ it added. Israel has launched relentless air and ground attacks on the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7. At least 11,320 Palestinians have been killed, including nearly 7,800 women and children, and over 29,200 others have been injured, accordi
ng to the latest figures from Palestinian authorities. Thousands of buildings, including hospitals, mosques and churches, have been damaged or destroyed in the Israeli offensive. The Israeli death toll, meanwhile, stands at 1,200, according to official figures.

Source: EN – Anadolu Agency

A nationwide strike by workers in Nigeria has paralyzed economic activities in the country at a time when it is grappling with high inflation. Members of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) will be going on the total and indefinite strike to demand the government fulfill an agreement on measures to address high transportation, food, medicine, and petrol prices following the removal of an oil subsidy, TUC President Festus Osifo told Anadolu. “Aside the government failure to implement our agreement, we are asking the government to bring the perpetrators of assault on NLC president to justice. The NLC president was in Imo State to address the non-payment of workers’ salaries and entitlements, but he was assaulted, beaten by policemen and things linked to the state government,” Osifo added. Operations have ground to a halt at banks and other financial institutions, seaports, the country’s state-owned Railway Corporation, the petroleum sector, and public schools in most parts of th
e country on Wednesday, the second day of the strike. Musa Njadvara, an economist and financial correspondent with UK-based daily The Guardian, said the productivity of the Africa’s largest economy would suffer due to the strike. “The ongoing strike will further compound the ailing economy, “It will worsen the current inflation because supply will drop sharply against high demand. Nigeria will lose more money. This will affect credibility of our economy in the eye of foreign investors,” he told Anadolu. Rasaki Dauda, who heads the Department of Economics at Redeemer’s University in the southwestern Nigerian town of Ede, warned that the strike would have a huge impact on Nigeria’s oil production. He said output may decline if the shutdown continues. Businessman Abdul Bala said he has lost about 4 million Nigerian Naira ($3,000) at the Apapa Lagos Seaport since Tuesday, when the strike started. This is the fifth strike this year by the workers union.

Source: EN – Anadolu Agency

A Greek court in the northern port city of Thessaloniki handed down life sentences to four Britons for trafficking cocaine, media reports said Wednesday. The four, who were arrested in July 2022 in relation to 300 kilos (661 pounds) of the drug, were found guilty of being part of a criminal organization, as well as aggravated drug possession and trafficking, according to public broadcaster, ERT. Each was fined pound 500,000 ($542,000), it added. The case file said cocaine was imported to Greece through the port of Thessaloniki in a container carrying bananas from Colombia. The four set up headquarters in a rented luxury villa in Thessaloniki and planned to smuggle cocaine to central and northern Europe and Australia.

Source: EN – Anadolu Agency

Slovenian Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon on Wednesday said that a humanitarian pause in the Gaza conflict is crucial. ‘In light of the unacceptable situation in Gaza and dramatic loss of life of children and patients in hospitals, immediate humanitarian pause, as called by the European Union, is crucial. It’s crucial to stop the violence and enable access of fuel, water, medical aid and food to those in need,’ said Fajon on X. As the Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip entered its 40th day, at least 11,320 Palestinians have been killed, including over 7,800 women and children, and more than 29,200 others have been injured, according to the latest figures from Palestinian authorities. Thousands of buildings, including hospitals, mosques, and churches, have also been damaged or destroyed in Israel’s relentless air and ground attacks on the besieged enclave since last month. The Israeli death toll, meanwhile, is around 1,200, according to official figures.

Source: EN – Anadolu Agency