Annual inflation in the area of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) rose to 4.6% in September, owing to high energy prices.

The figure was 4.3% this August and 1.3% in September 2020, according to data released by the OECD on Thursday.

Energy prices soared by 18.9% year-on-year in the OECD area, the highest rate of the last 13 years.

Food price inflation in the OECD area climbed to 4.5% in September from a year ago, versus 3.5% in August.

"Excluding food and energy, the OECD annual inflation rate rose slightly to 3.2% – the highest rate since April 2002 – after three months of stability at 3.1%," it added./agencies

An estimated 50% of the world’s population that live in coastal areas will be exposed to flooding, storms and tsunamis by 2030, the UN said Thursday.

Marking the World Tsunami Awareness Day, the UN and WHO compiled a list of tsunamis that took place in the last 100 years, their causes, effects on societies, dangers afterward and loss of life.

The report said that implementing the right policies and measures in the right place in advance can help prevent potential disasters.

The UN, which includes tsunamis as one of the most dangerous natural disasters, warned that urbanization and tourism should be prevented in tsunami-prone areas otherwise many would be at risk.

Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Thailand and Japan were among countries most affected.

According to UN and WHO data, approximately 260,000 people were killed from 58 tsunamis in the last 100 years.

It is known that India, Indonesia, Maldives, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Japan are countries that record the most tsunamis.

In recent years, the UNESCO Oceanographic Commission (IOC) has been conducting studies to coordinate tsunami early warning services.

The Tsunami Early Warning Stations and Mitigation Systems were established for the Pacific, Indian Ocean, the Caribbean and North-East Atlantic, Mediterranean and connected Sea regions.

With it, UNESCO aims to raise awareness about practices that should be performed to minimize the loss of life and property in tsunami disasters.

The IOC also organizes tsunami communication and evacuation drills through its training programs in member countries./agencies

A US court ruled Thursday in favor of Elon Musk's SpaceX against Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin in a $2.9 billion lunar lander contract lawsuit, as the space race between the world's two richest people intensified.

Judge Richard Hertling from the US Court of Federal Claims rejected Blue Origin's complaint that challenged NASA for "unlawful and improper evaluation of proposals" for a lunar landing.

After the ruling, NASA said it would resume work with SpaceX under their contract as soon as possible.

"There will be forthcoming opportunities for companies to partner with NASA in establishing a long-term human presence at the Moon under the agency’s Artemis program," it said.

The ruling was a major blow to Bezos who wrote on Twitter: "Not the decision we wanted, but we respect the court’s judgment, and wish full success for NASA and SpaceX on the contract."

Musk had a comical reply, using a meme from the 2012 science fiction film, Dredd, that read: "You have been judged."

The world's two richest men have been racing to space since NASA ended its space shuttle program in 2011 after three decades and the US moved to private contractors for space missions.

Musk's SpaceX is leading the race since 2010 when it became the first private company to successfully launch, orbit, and recover a spacecraft, and it has flown its Falcon 9 rockets more than 100 times.

Bezos flew to space on a suborbital flight on July 20 that lasted more than 10 minutes, which became the first fully automated flight with civilian passengers.

As of Thursday, Musk was on top of Forbes' Real-Time Billionaires List with a net worth of $320.5 billion, Bezos ranked second with $201.8 billion.

NASA's Artemis program aims to land the first woman and first person of color on the moon, returning humans to the Earth's only natural satellite after five decades when Apollo 17 last went there in 1972.

The first mission, Artemis I, is on track for 2021 without astronauts, while Artemis II will fly with a crew in 2023. Artemis III will land astronauts on the moon's south pole in 2024, according to NASA, with an estimated cost of $35 billion in the next four years.

Artemis, in mythology, is the twin sister of the sun god, Apollo, the name of NASA's program that put 12 astronauts on the moon in the late 1960s and early 1970s./aa

Illegal pushbacks should not happen in the EU, the chair of the European Parliament’s Civil Liberties Committee said after visiting Greece.

“Illegal pushbacks must not happen in the European Union, they have no place in the EU law,” Juan Fernando Lopez Aguilar told reporters at a joint news conference with Greek Minister of Migration and Asylum Notis Mitarachi, after the EU lawmakers’ visit to Greece.

A seven-member delegation of the European Parliament’s Civil Liberties Committee spent three days in Athens and the island of Samos to examine the situation of migrants and asylum-seekers on the ground.

The EU lawmakers hold talks with the Greek authorities, representatives of EU institutions and agencies, as well as NGOs and international organizations.

The visit came after reports about the dire conditions of asylum-seekers in Greek camps and systematic pushbacks violating EU and international humanitarian law.

Lopez Aguilar admitted that the issue of illegal pushbacks and human rights violations were raised at all of their meetings with stakeholders, and stressed that all allegations had to be investigated.

“EU member states have to protect the external borders with full respect of fundamental rights of those seeking for international protection in the European Union, and Greece does exactly that,” the Greek minister said.

Mitarachi also explained that three independent monitoring mechanisms were currently working in the country.

“Greece happens to have the most vulnerable external border,” Lopez Augilar said, accusing other EU member states of “turning a blind eye” on the migratory pressure Greece has faced over the past years.

He also said the visit of the EP delegation aimed at helping the entire bloc to do better in migration management and to ensure that EU law is respected.

The EU lawmaker also called for the European Commission to monitor better EU member states’ compliance with fundamental rights when they protect the bloc’s external borders.

“We strongly demand and request from FRONTEX to be at the height of its full compliance of the mandate, impeding fundamental rights,” Lopez Aguilar added, referring to the allegations that the European Border and Coast Guard Agency’s had been complicit in maritime pushback operations to drive away migrants attempting to enter the EU via Greek waters.

Last month, a joint investigation of leading European media outlets revealed that pushback operations by security forces had become systematic practices in violation of EU and international humanitarian law.

German weekly Der Spiegel also published videos on its website showing masked Greek officers intercepting and disabling refugee boats in the Aegean Sea, endangering the lives of vulnerable asylum seekers./agencies

Two Christian brothers from Syria now live in their homeland in peace after the area where they once lived was liberated from the YPG/PKK terror group because of Turkey's cross-border operation.

Christian minorities in northeastern Ras al-Ayn province suffered the consequences of the occupation of their towns by the YPG/PKK terror group in July 2013.

Naum and Ziyad Melki had to leave their sister behind and flee the violence of the terror group. They took shelter in a refugee camp in Mardin province in southeastern Turkey.

After learning their sister was detained by the terrorists, Naum Melki returned to try to rescue her in May 2016. But he was detained by the terror group for three years.

The town was liberated as part of Turkey's Operation Peace Spring in October 2019. Ziyad Melki, who spent six years in Turkey, has returned to his homeland.

'Turkish brothers took good care of us'

Naum Melki told Anadolu Agency that Turks and institutions in Turkey, especially the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority and the Turkish Red Crescent, helped him and his brother from the moment they stepped into the country.

He said they were offered to be sent to Europe by Christian clergymen in Turkey. "We did not go to Europe because we had rights and lands. We refused to,” he said. “We always dreamed of going back to Ras al-Ayn one day."

He said the Syrian National Army and the Turkish army cleared the land of terrorists and worked to rebuild the liberated town.

"Whatever Turkey did for (the repair of) the mosques in the town, they did the exact same for the churches here," he noted.

He emphasized that the Christian community in Ras al-Ayn live in peace and harmony with other ethnicities.

"We frequently hear that the Western community is concerned about the presence of us, the Christians here, but we have never seen one of them here," he said.

He was critical of countries supporting the YPG/PKK terror group.

"On the contrary, we have seen the violations of the YPG terrorist group, which speaks of the so-called brotherhood of peoples, supported by the US."

Ziyad Melki noted that churches in the region have been protected by the Turkish and Syrian armies. "As a member of a Christian community, we perform our religious duties just as freely as other ethnicities here,” he said.

Syria has been embroiled in a vicious civil war since early 2011 when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests with unexpected ferocity.

More than 5 million civilians have since been displaced.

Since 2016, Ankara has launched a trio of successful anti-terror operations across its border in northern Syria to prevent the formation of a terror corridor and enable the peaceful settlement of residents: Euphrates Shield (2016), Olive Branch (2018), and Peace Spring (2019).

In its over 35-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US, and EU -- has been responsible for the deaths of at least 40,000 people, including women, children and infants. The YPG is the PKK's Syrian offshoot./aa

At least 18 billionaires and roughly 250 other ultra-wealthy individuals received stimulus funds intended to safeguard middle and low-income households from the coronavirus pandemic's economic onslaught, according to a recent report.

Ira Rennert, George Soros and his son, Robert, were among the 18 billionaires who ProPublica, a nonprofit news outlet, determined received stimulus payments. The outlet combed through IRS records, finding that billionaires received the funds in the spring of 2020, according to its report published Wednesday.

The Soros told ProPublica via a representative they returned the checks.

The billionaires were able to receive the payments because they used tax write-offs that made them appear to come under the government's income threshold for determining who was eligible.

The CARES Act provided $1,200 payments to individuals who made less than $75,000 per year, or $2,400 for married couples who made less than $150,000. The IRS made the determinations based on the previous year's tax filings.

ProPublica said its analysis of IRS records determined that 270 taxpayers who collectively reported $5.7 billion in income received stimulus payments. All of the taxpayers reported a negative income for the prior year.

"Figures like these reveal a basic truth about the U.S. income tax system," ProPublica said. "Most people earn the overwhelming majority of their income via wages and take deductions where they can. But the income of the ultrawealthy as revealed on their taxes tells, at best, a partial story."/aa

Tunisia has issued an international arrest warrant for former President Moncef Marzouki, the state news agency TAP reported Thursday.

There were no details on the charges Marzouki faced, and the report said the arrest notice was issued by the communications office of the Tunis First Instance Court.

Speaking to the Qatar-based Al Jazeera news channel, Marzouki commented on the move, saying he was not surprised.

Noting that he was expecting such a move, the former leader said the arrest warrant is "a threat message for all Tunisians."

An investigation was launched against Marzouki on Oct. 15 for his statements on the International Francophonie Summit.

Speaking on France 24's Arabic channel, he said he tried to prevent the summit from being held in Tunisia as he believed it would support "the coup," referring to the seizure of near total power by President Kais Saied.

Marzouki, who was president from 2011 to 2014, also accused Saied of dividing the Tunisian people.

On July 25, Saied ousted the government, suspended parliament and assumed executive authority. While he insists that his "exceptional measures" are meant to "save" the country, critics accuse him of orchestrating a coup.

A new Cabinet was unveiled last month, two weeks after Najla Bouden was appointed as the country’s first female prime minister.

Tunisia has been seen as the only country that succeeded in carrying out a democratic transition after the popular "Arab Spring" uprisings in 2011.​​​​​​​/agencies

A US court ruled Thursday in favor of Elon Musk's SpaceX against Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin in a $2.9 billion lunar lander contract lawsuit, as the space race between the world's two richest people intensified.

Judge Richard Hertling from the US Court of Federal Claims rejected Blue Origin's complaint that challenged NASA for "unlawful and improper evaluation of proposals" for a lunar landing.

After the ruling, NASA said it would resume work with SpaceX under their contract as soon as possible.

"There will be forthcoming opportunities for companies to partner with NASA in establishing a long-term human presence at the Moon under the agency’s Artemis program," it said.

The ruling was a major blow to Bezos who wrote on Twitter: "Not the decision we wanted, but we respect the court’s judgment, and wish full success for NASA and SpaceX on the contract."

Musk had a comical reply, using a meme from the 2012 science fiction film, Dredd, that read: "You have been judged."

The world's two richest men have been racing to space since NASA ended its space shuttle program in 2011 after three decades and the US moved to private contractors for space missions.

Musk's SpaceX is leading the race since 2010 when it became the first private company to successfully launch, orbit, and recover a spacecraft, and it has flown its Falcon 9 rockets more than 100 times.

Bezos flew to space on a suborbital flight on July 20 that lasted more than 10 minutes, which became the first fully automated flight with civilian passengers.

As of Thursday, Musk was on top of Forbes' Real-Time Billionaires List with a net worth of $320.5 billion, Bezos ranked second with $201.8 billion.

NASA's Artemis program aims to land the first woman and first person of color on the moon, returning humans to the Earth's only natural satellite after five decades when Apollo 17 last went there in 1972.

The first mission, Artemis I, is on track for 2021 without astronauts, while Artemis II will fly with a crew in 2023. Artemis III will land astronauts on the moon's south pole in 2024, according to NASA, with an estimated cost of $35 billion in the next four years.

Artemis, in mythology, is the twin sister of the sun god, Apollo, the name of NASA's program that put 12 astronauts on the moon in the late 1960s and early 1970s./aa

Spanish police said on Thursday that they have busted an international migrant-smuggling ring that illegally transported migrants from Pakistan into the EU.

Fifteen people were arrested in Spain, Romania, Croatia, and Slovenia, including the ring’s suspected leader.

Police intercepted the gang’s last operation at the border between Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Authorities discovered 77 Pakistani migrants, including four minors, traveling in an eight square-meter (86 square-foot) cargo container on a truck.

The migrants were traveling in “infrahuman conditions,” according to Spanish police, and had to punch holes in the cargo box’s roof to breathe.

“The police action helped avoid what could have been a tragedy,” said the police statement.

The investigation into the illegal migration ring began more than nine months ago when a Spanish citizen was found in Slovenia, carrying 53 irregular migrants in a truck.

Spanish officials then collaborated with authorities in seven European countries and EUROPOL to take down the ring.

The organization’s modus operandi involved picking up Pakistani migrants from a refugee camp in the Bosnian town of Bihac. The smuggling rings’ “shepherds” would then guide the migrants by foot over the mountains that separate Bosnia-Herzegovina from Croatia.

From there, the migrants were told to get into the small cargo containers, which brought them close to the Slovenian border. Then they got out of the containers and hiked across uncontrolled parts of the border to avoid getting caught.

Once in Slovenia, the migrants got back in the trucks and continued to Italy. Then they went to their final destinations, mainly Spain and Germany.

Police said the migrants using their services usually spent between €12,000 ($13,860) and €20,000 ($23,000) on the entire journey from Pakistan into the EU.

The organization has brought at least 400 migrants into the EU in recent months and has earned more than €2 million, according to Spanish police estimates./aa

COVID-19 deaths are rising globally and the death toll is much higher than the reported number of over 5 million as 56 countries have increased fatalities, along with reports of overwhelmed hospitals, the World Health Organization said Thursday.

"This should not be happening," WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus said at a COVID webinar in Geneva at which he criticized vaccine manufacturers for keeping jabs in the hands of wealthier counties and not getting them to parts of the world where they are needed.

"More than 5 million deaths have now been reported, and we know the real number is higher. We are still losing more than 50,000 of our sisters and brothers every week," said Tedros.

"Last week, 56 countries from all regions reported an increase in deaths from COVID-19 of more than 10%."

The WHO had heard reports from many countries about the lack of ICU (intensive care unit) beds, lack of supplies, and "overwhelmed health workers and hospitals" deferring other needed procedures.

Tools are there

"We have all the tools to prevent transmission and save lives," said Tedros.

He cited issuing an emergency use listing the day before for Covaxin, developed by Bharat Biotech, adding to those vaccines validated by WHO to prevent COVID-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2.

Emergency listing contributes to vaccine equity by enabling countries to expedite their regulatory approval to import and rollout vaccines, said the WHO chief.

"We encourage all vaccine manufacturers who have not yet received emergency use listing to contact WHO to discuss how to accelerate the process through rolling submissions.

"We continue to call on manufacturers of vaccines that already have WHO emergency use listing to prioritize COVAX, not shareholder profit," noted Tedros, referring to the facility backed by WHO and Gavi, the world vaccine alliance, for more equitable vaccine distribution.

He said WHO continued to hear excuses about why low-income countries have only received 0.4% of the world's vaccines, one being that low-income countries cannot absorb vaccines.

"That's not true," said Tedros. "With the exception of a few fragile conflict-affected and vulnerable countries, most low-income countries are ready to go."

He said the problem is that they cannot get the vaccines.

Another excuse from manufacturers is that low-income countries have not placed orders for vaccines.

"Most low-income countries are relying on COVAX, which has the money and the contracts to buy vaccines on their behalf. But manufacturers have not played their part," said Tedros.

"We still do not know when the manufacturers will deliver. We continue to call on all manufacturers to prioritize their contracts with COVAX and the African Vaccine Acquisition Trust or AVAT," said Tedros.

He said no more vaccines should go to countries that have already vaccinated more than 40% of their population.

The WHO chief said most countries with high vaccine coverage continue to ignore the health organization’s call for a global moratorium on boosters.

These are being distributed at the expense of health workers and vulnerable groups in low-income countries who are still waiting for the first dose./aa