Category: General

An Italian court has ruled that reports by victims of sexual violence are to be considered credible even years after the alleged offence has taken place, Il Messaggero newspaper reported on Tuesday.

“The credibility of the victim of a crime of sexual violence is not undermined by the fact that many years have passed between the beginning of the unlawful act and the reporting of the facts,” ruled Perugia appeal court judges, upholding the conviction of a man accused of raping his partner’s niece.

The young woman had filed a complaint six years after the alleged offence took place. (ANSA).

Source: Ansa News Agency (ANA)

The European Research Council (ERC) has announced today the winners of the latest round of its Starting Grants.

According to a European Commission press release, the funding, worth pound 628 million, will help researchers who stand at the beginning of their careers to launch their own projects, form their teams and pursue their best scientific ideas.

It is explained that the funding will enable researchers to, for example, study Venus’ atmosphere to better understand habitability beyond Earth, analyse parasites that cause malaria, or investigate how algorithms are used at work to supervise employees. The funded research covers all domains of research from physics and engineering to life sciences and social sciences and humanities.

?his new round of grants is estimated to create some 2,600 jobs for postdoctoral fellows, PhD students and other research staff, according to the press release.

The winners of this competition represent 44 nationalities and will carry out their projects at universities and research centres across 24 EU Member States and countries associated to Horizon Europe, it is added.

It is also noted that in this latest call, 2,696 applicants submitted proposals and 14.8% will receive funding, adding that female researchers won some 43% of grants, an increase from 39% in 2022.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

The Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement, Olivér Várhelyi will visit Ankara on 6-7 September 2023 to discuss bilateral relations and cooperation with Turkey. According to a European Commission press release this is the first official visit paid by an EU representative to the country following the Presidential elections in May this year.

It is added that during the visit, Commissioner Várhelyi will sign a pound 781 million contract providing EU funds for a social safety net for the most vulnerable refugees as part of the additional pound 3 billion funding pledged by the EU to continue supporting refugees in the country.

Furthermore, it is noted that the Commissioner will meet the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hakan Fidan; the Minister of Trade, Omer Bolat; the Minister of Family and Social Services, Mahinur Özdemir Göktas; the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, Alparslan Bayraktar, and the Minister of Industry and Technology, Mehmet Fatih Kacir.

The visit follows the conclusions of European Council last June, in which EU Leaders invited the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, and the European Commission to submit a report to the European Council on the state of play of EU-Turkey relations, building on the instruments and options identified by the European Council, and with a view to proceeding in a strategic and forward-looking manner. This visit also comes before the publication of the next Enlargement report, expected in October.

It is added that ahead of the visit, on 1 September the European Commission signed an association agreement with Turkey that opens access to the pound 7.5 billion Digital Europe Programme, which will, once entered into force, enable businesses, public administrations and other eligible organisations in the country to take part in projects that deploy digital technologies. With this agreement the Digital Innovation Hubs in Trkiye will be set up too.

The European Commission, the press release continues, has also proposed financial support of pound 400 million from the European Union Solidarity Fund (EUSF) to provide assistance to Turkey following the damages caused by the devastating earthquakes of February 2023.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

The UK stands ‘steadfastly aligned’ with international responses to issues relating to the Cyprus division, the Foreign Office has stated in response to a letter by the Board of British Cypriots addressed to Foreign Secretary James Cleverly.

These include relevant UN Security Council resolutions which the UK ‘continues to support’.

The letter references a 12 July UK UN Security Council presidency press statement on Cyprus that stressed the importance of implementing Council resolutions.

The Foreign Office states that the status quo in Cyprus creates serious difficulties for Cypriots and that the events of 1974 continue to cast a long shadow over the island.

‘We continue to believe that a just and lasting settlement is the best means of resolving the difficulties caused by the division of the island. Our commitment to support the UN to reach this remains unwavering and as a Guarantor Power and friend to all parties, we continue to engage all sides to encourage the flexibility required for the resumption of talks,’ concludes the letter.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

Andreas Gregoriou, Director General of the Ministry of Agriculture Directorate for Agriculture has highlighted the importance of research and development and the usage of green and digital technologies in agriculture.

According to an official press release, Gregoriou participated in the informal ministerial meeting on agriculture held by the Spanish presidency of the EU in Cordoba, Spain on September 4-5.

The EU Ministers discussed the role of new technologies as a tool for making agriculture more resilient to climate change, including the latest gene editing techniques.

Speaking during the discussion, Gregoriou said the usage of research and development, green and digital technologies will significantly assist in securing the production of a satisfactory quantity of food, while contributing towards tackling climate change.

He also stressed the support to small and medium-sized enterprises in this effort, while he underlined the importance of safeguard clauses for the protection of biodiversity, small agricultural businesses and the consumers.

Gregoriou also noted the importance of cooperation between all stakeholders in the agrifood chain as well as between member-states to come up with sustainable solutions for the future.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

The public prosecutor in Belgium will request the forfeiture of nationality for the defendants of the 2016 terror attacks, local media reported.

The prosecutor announced on Monday before the court that it will request the forfeiture for Mohamed Abrini, Ali El Haddad Asufi and Bilal El Makhouki, who have both Moroccan and Belgian nationalities, according to the daily Le Soir.

The request will also be made for Herve Bayingana Muhirwa, a Belgian-Rwandan national, and Oussama Atar (Belgian-Moroccan), who is presumed dead.

The session resumed after over a month and the court is set to decide on the sentences.

Six of the 10 accused, including figureheads Salah Abdeslam and Mohamed Abrini, were found guilty of ‘terrorist murder’ and attempted murder in July, according to the Belga news agency, while eight of the 10 were also convicted of participating in the activities of a terrorist group.

The two defendants were acquitted of all charges, the report added.

Following the seven-month trial, the largest in Belgium’s judicial history, with more than 900 civil plaintiffs taking part, the six people found guilty of terrorist murder and attempted murder were Salah Abdeslam, Oussama Atar, Osama Krayem, Mohamed Abrini, Ali El Haddad Asufi and Bilal El Makhoukhi.

Abdeslam is already serving a life sentence in France for his role in the Paris terror attacks, which took place a year before the Brussels attack.

On March 22, 2016, a suicide attack was carried out at Zaventem Airport and Maelbeek metro station in Brussels, killing 32 people and wounding 270 others.

Daesh/ISIS claimed responsibility for both attacks.

Source: Anadolu Agency

The Bulgarian defense minister said the ongoing war in Ukraine and other growing security risks forced the country to improve its defense capabilities.

Russia’s war against Ukraine, together with other growing security risks and threats, forced Bulgaria to rapidly build a strong defense within the framework of NATO and the EU, said Todor Tagarev during his opening lecture at the Rakovski Military Academy in the capital Sofia, the state-run BTA news agency reported on Monday.

‘It is imperative to overcome technological backwardness, achieve interoperability with allies, break with the residual Soviet legacy, and finally break dependence on Russia in terms of armaments and combat equipment,’ he commented.

However, Tagarev underscored that the demographic crisis in the country undermines efforts to strengthen the armed forces with well-trained and motivated personnel.

He added that Bulgaria will continue to support Ukraine by providing additional military aid.

‘Our common future security depends on the outcome of this war,’ Tagarev said.

According to the 2021 census, the population of Bulgaria is slightly over 6.5 million.

Taking over the power in June 2023, the new Bulgarian coalition government, led by Nikolai Denkov, has been pursuing an increasingly pro-Western and pro-Ukrainian foreign policy, despite strong opposition by President Rumen Radev as well as socialist and nationalist opposition parties.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Six miners were killed in an explosion inside a coal mine in northeastern Iran, according to local media on Monday.

Rescuers recovered the bodies of six miners killed in the explosion that took place on Sunday in Semnan province, the state news agency IRNA reported.

“An explosion occurred in the eastern Alborz coal mine at a depth of 400 meters underground due to the accumulation of gas inside a tunnel with a depth of 700 meters,’ said Kamal Taherian, the director of crisis management in Semnan.

In May 2021, two miners were killed in a similar incident at the same mining site.

These explosions are common in Iran due to the aging infrastructure of the mines amid US sanctions that prevent Tehran from importing new equipment.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Clashes continued on Monday between Arab tribes and the terror group PKK/YPG in the eastern Syria province of Deir ez-Zor.

Operations launched by Arab tribes against the PKK/YPG in Deir ez-Zor that started last week expanded with the participation of other Arab tribes.

As the terrorist group faces mounting resistance from Arab tribes who have been displaced by the PKK/YPG, it is gradually retreating from the villages it had previously occupied.

Since Aug. 27, a total of 33 villages have been liberated from YPG/PKK occupation in the rural areas of the Deir ez-Zor, Raqqa, and Hasakah provinces and the Manbij district of Aleppo.

The withdrawn PKK/YPG terrorists are resorting to night-time attacks in an attempt to inflict casualties on the Arab tribes.

The population of Deir ez-Zor, which the terror group occupied under the pretext of fighting Daesh/ISIS with the support of the US military, are Arabs.

The terrorist group is also forcibly recruiting Arabs and other children in the regions it occupies, as documented by reports by the UN and human rights groups.

The terrorists generate income by selling the oil they obtained by seizing oil wells in the region to Damascus through smugglers despite US sanctions. While the terror group uses this income for its own purposes, the people of the region are deprived of local services and much-needed aid.

Source: Anadolu Agency

The Lower House Transport and Labour committees are to hear CEO of Italian rail operator Rete ferroviaria italiana (RFI) Gianpiero Strisciuglio in relation to the rail disaster at Brandizzo station near Turin in which five track maintenance workers were hit and killed by a train on Wednesday night in a joint session on Tuesday, parliamentary sources said on Monday.

The committees will also hear representatives of trades union confederations CGIL, CISL, UIL and UGL and of the unions Usb, Orsa and Fast-Confsal.

The RFI employee responsible for the worksite on which the five maintenance workers were killed is one of two people under investigation in relation to the incident, as prosecutors try to establish why work was allowed to begin before there was confirmation that traffic on the line had been halted.

Sources say investigators believe work started even though the RFI employee was denied the all-clear for it to begin in three phone calls with network officials.

The other suspect is the worksite foreman, employed, like the victims, by contractor Sigifer. (ANSA).

Source: Ansa News Agency (ANA)