The streets of Marseille in southern France are filled with trash as garbage collectors went on strike, protesting the municipality's decision to increase working hours. 

Marseille decided that collectors will have to work 1,607 hours annually, 35 hours per week, without additional pay. Workers then went on strike because they used to work 1,286 hours annually.

After the work action began last Thursday, annual working hours were reduced to 1,530 but workers were not satisfied.

While about 10 unions support the strikes, Marseille and its surroundings are affected.

The strike is expected to continue as the municipality is not budging from its position.

Deputy Mayor Roland Mouren said the municipality has to abide by the law and could not make changes.

The strike has left the city center and its surroundings filled with garbage, and trash piles are visible around downtown Vieux Port, nearby restaurants and cafes.

Residents interviewed by Anadolu Agency demanded a swift solution to the crisis.

Turkey's environment and urbanization minister on Thursday said the 2016 Paris Agreement on climate change mitigation has become an agenda item of the parliament and his country would soon become a party to the deal once it is ratified.

Murat Kurum's remarks came during a pre-COP26 meeting held in Italy’s Milan city.

He said that his country would soon be part of the agreement to contribute to the efforts against climate change, and Turkey has already set a "net zero emission" target.

Kurum said the Turkish government has made it a priority to invest more in the future in green and sustainable development, and renewable energy.

The Turkish minister went on to note that Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports pointed out that the negative effects of climate change were moving toward an irreversible level and they would continue to be felt in a stronger, faster and more intensified manner in the future.

"Our expectation from COP26 is that all countries take a fair level of responsibility in the fight against climate change," the minister said, adding no country should be left behind and that technology should be shared especially with developing countries.

He argued that the problem was aggravating as the developed countries keep sending emission-producing industries to the developing countries which means the developing countries would not live up to reaching zero-emission goals.

Kurum also had a conversation with US special presidential envoy for climate John Kerry and UN Human Settlements Program (UN-Habitat) Executive Director Maimunah Mohd Sharif./aa

Turkey has played a significant role in managing the migration crisis, the Greek prime minister said on Thursday.

Speaking at a session held as part of the Athens Democracy Forum, Kyriakos Mitsotakis commented on matters pertaining to migration, fight against COVID-19 as well as the defense cooperation agreement signed with Paris.

Mitsotakis said his country would continue to defend its borders against irregular migration and would not allow the repeat of 2020 events.

Referring to over 4 million refugees hosted in Turkey, the premier said: "I've been very open in acknowledging the significant role that Turkey is playing in managing the migration crisis and that is why I urge Europe to work with Turkey constructively.”

“We have every interest in working with Turkey to contain illegal flow of migrants and to eradicate the smuggler networks that prey on vulnerable people...," he said.

"There has been a lack of European solidarity, the fact that we have not been able to agree on a common migration, asylum package due to the fact some countries consider this not to be the problem at all, placing all the burden on frontline countries. This is unfair," he said.

Arguing that the three new frigates to be bought from France would further boost the deterrent power of the Greek navy, he said: “I do not intend to enter into an arms race with Turkey and I'm always reaching out a hand of friendship to Turkey.”

The prime minister said the Greek navy considered the French option the best one, and his administration bought "the best ships at the best price" with a rapid delivery schedule.

On COVID-19, the prime minister said the Greek administration was trying to persuade people to get vaccinated.

According to the premier, the vaccination rate in Greece is "slightly below" the average that of the EU countries and the government would not impose mandatory vaccinations as it "would not be helpful."

However, he added, that the unvaccinated citizens would not have access to entertainment and sports events and that they will have to pay for their COVID-19 tests./agencies

Turkey on Thursday vowed to contribute to the fight against climate change.

This came in a meeting of the country’s National Security Council chaired by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the capital Ankara. The meeting lasted for about three and half hours.

In a statement issued following the meeting, the council said that global action plans against the threat of climate change must be implemented.

About the Cyprus issue and Greece’s arms purchases from France, it said that backing unilateral actions of Greece and the Greek Cypriot administration would deepen disputes in the region.


Ignoring Turkey’s well-intentioned and constructive approaches and suggestions on Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean is against both international law and the long-term interests of the EU, the statement said.

The statement also called on the international community to act together and take responsibility to overcome humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.

Pointing to the recently intensified attacks against civilians in northern Syria by the Bashar al-Assad regime, the council said that actions targeting civilians and damaging stability will disrupt the fragile balance in the region and impede a lasting solution.

The council also emphasized that the spread of terrorism, internal conflicts and political instability in Africa are major obstacles to the nations in the continent to achieve the prosperity they deserve.

Turkey will continue to contribute to the efforts for development by establishing security and stability in Africa, it added./agencies

Large fees from Syria's diaspora, who evaded obligatory military conscription, have become a major source of revenue for the cash-strapped Bashar al-Assad regime, said a recent report produced by an international consortium of investigative centers.

“Men who don’t pay face the threat of their family’s assets in Syria being seized,” said a report released by Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) on Tuesday.

Annual revenues from such fees could be between $2 and $3 billion in five years, OCCRP cited a parliamentary study from 2015.

Military service is mandatory for Syrian men between the ages of 18 and 42 and the stakes rose significantly in February when an army official announced on social media that a new regulation would allow authorities to confiscate the property of “service evaders” and their families.

Early this year many young Syrian men were faced with an unenviable choice: either enlist in the army of the regime that had made him a refugee or risks his family losing their properties in hometown.

Yousef, a 32-year-old Syrian living in Sweden, went to the Syrian Embassy in Stockholm in June to pay an $8,000 cash fee to be removed from the conscription list.

“This money will be used by the Syrian regime to buy weapons and kill more people,” Yousef told OCCRP.

About a quarter of Syria’s 17 million populations are men of military age, according to data from the World Bank.

With some 6.6 million Syrians have been forced to leave the country in the past decade, conscription is likely to be a problem for hundreds of thousands of young men.

Studies have shown that the threat of being conscripted is a major reason many refugees fear returning to Syria.

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

A former UK police officer who was charged with the murder of a 33-year-old woman has been sentenced to life in prison with a “whole life order” by a British court.

Wayne Couzens, 48, will spend all his life behind the bars after found guilty of kidnapping, rape and murder of Sarah Everard last March.

The sentencing came Thursday on the second day of the hearing.

Couzens used his police warrant card and handcuffs to stage an arrest before kidnapping the victim on March 3.

He then drove to Kent from London to rape before strangling her with his police belt and burning her body.

Couzens hired a car and bought adhesive tape before “hunting for a lone young female to kidnap and rape”, the prosecution told the court on Wednesday.

The former Metropolitan Police officer handcuffed her in the back seat of his car and “that was the start of her lengthy ordeal, including an 80-mile journey whilst detained which was to lead first to her rape and then her murder,” Tom Little QC told the court.

“I have not the slightest doubt that the defendant used his position as a police officer to coerce her on a wholly false pretext into the car he had hired for this purpose,” Lord Justice Fulford said.

He said: “It is most likely that he suggested to Sarah Everard that she had breached the restrictions on movement that were being enforced during that stage of the pandemic.

“Any explanation other than coercion fails to take into account her character and the evidence of the occupants of a passing vehicle who saw her being handcuffed.”

Fulford added: “Sarah Everard was a wholly blameless victim of a grotesquely executed series of offences that culminated in her death and the disposal of her body.”

'Detained by fraud'

Couzens had worked a shift as an armed police officer guarding the US Embassy in London hours before the kidnapping, got Everard into the hire car “by handcuffing her, as well as showing her his warrant card,” Little said.

“At some point fairly soon after driving from the pavement on to the South Circular and having not gone to a police station, Sarah Everard must have realised her fate.”

The prosecution added that the crimes were so serious, involving the abuse of his position and trust as a police officer.

Little said: “She was detained by fraud. The defendant using his warrant card and handcuffs as well as his other police issue equipment to effect a false arrest.”

He also said Everard was the victim of “deception, kidnap, rape, strangulation, fire.”

Everard’s kidnap and murder sent shockwaves across the country in March and women’s safety on streets has become a hot topic.

Earlier in September, Sabina Ness, a 28-year-old primary school teacher, was attacked and killed as she was taking a five-minute walk from home to meet her friends in London.

Her body was found near the One Space Community Center at Kidbrooke Park Road in Greenwich nearly 24 hours after the murder, according to the Metropolitan Police.

Nessa was a teacher at Rushey Green Primary School in Catford, southeast London./aa