The European Commission on Tuesday urged German auto producer Volkswagen to pay compensation to all European consumers who were misled by the company on diesel vehicle emissions.

The EU executive body and national consumer protection authorities sent a joint statement to Volkswagen calling them once again to pay a settlement to all EU consumers caught in the "Dieselgate scandal," the European Commission announced.

According to the bloc, the car company's "commercial practices violate EU consumer protection law" and the "marketing of such diesel cars was a clear instance of a misleading practice banned in the EU."

"Six years ago 'Dieselgate' broke. Up until now, not all consumers have been compensated," EU Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders commented on the statement.

He criticized Volkswagen's "unfair treatment of consumers" and the company's unwillingness "to work with consumer organizations to find appropriate solutions for consumers."

The EU executive body also revealed a letter dated Aug. 8 last year in which Reynders called Volkswagen to "consider offering fair compensation to all affected consumers in the (European) Union."

In the letter, Reynders pointed out that all affected EU citizens deserved a "fair and comparable treatment" with those that the firm had already made payments to, such as in Germany, according to the bloc's consumer law.

In 2015, the US Environmental Protection Agency discovered that Volkswagen had installed a device on its vehicles to manipulate the results of emissions tests of turbocharge direct injection (TDI) diesel engines.

A subsequent investigation found that Volkswagen cars polluted more than the company advertised.

The firm sold over 11 million cars with the devices between 2009 and 2015 all over the world.

US consumers received $9.8 billion in settlement.

Last year, the producer promised to compensate German buyers, but excluded other EU nationals from the scheme./aa

An Albanian man was remanded in custody following the first court appearance on Tuesday over the charge of murdering a young school teacher 11 days ago.

Koci Selamaj, 36, was arrested in Eastbourne and charged with the murder of 28-year-old Sabina Nessa on Sept. 17.

Sabina Ness was attacked as she was taking a five-minute walk from home to meet her friends.

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.

Locals held vigils near where she was murdered.

Nessa’s sister Jebina Yasmin Islam said her sorrow could not be described in a vigil.

"Words cannot describe how we are feeling, this feels like we are stuck in a bad dream and can’t get out of it – our world is shattered, we are simply lost for words," she said.

“No family should go through what we are going through.”

In July, the British government released a strategy to fight violence against women and girls, pledging better support services for minority communities and a public health campaign to focus on perpetrator behavior.

Selamaj is due to appear at the Old Bailey on Thursday and he will be asked to enter a plea on Oct. 26./aa

Turkish humanitarian organization IHH on Tuesday delivered aid to Michel Boutros, a 90-year-old Christian who lives alone in Syria’s northern city of Idlib.

IHH came to know about the plight of Boutros following Anadolu Agency’s coverage of his story on Sept. 9.

Boutros, who is lovingly nicknamed ‘Al-Hajj’ by his neighbors, is the only Christian who insisted on staying in Idlib after all Christians left the city in the past years due to civil war.

He lives on donations from the church and philanthropists in his country and was thankful that he has never gone hungry.

Acting upon Anadolu Agency’s news coverage, an IHH team visited the old Christian at his home.

The team fixed Boutros’ defective hearing aid and delivered a package of aid containing sugar, rice, lentils, oil, olives, halva and cleaning materials such as detergent and soap among others, IHH’s youth wing Syria Officer Burak Parlakyigit told Anadolu Agency.

Parlakyigit stressed that the organization carries out charity works in many parts of the world without discriminating against religion, language or race.

He promised the organization will frequently visit Al-Hajj and help cater to his needs.

For his part, Boutros appreciated IHH’s help and extended his greetings to the youth of Turkey./aa

Turkey is ready to take part in post-pandemic efforts for a stronger world in all aspects, the Turkish president told the Global COVID-19 Summit on Tuesday.

"A new pandemic is not a possibility, it is only a matter of time," Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a video message. "Therefore, eliminating the deficiencies identified is not an option but a political responsibility."

"It is our duty to future generations to make the multilateral system robust and prepared against global health threats in the light of the lessons learned from the (COVID-19) pandemic," he continued.

He underlined that it is "a moral imperative" to support "the universal health right" of disadvantaged groups -- their access to vaccines, diagnosis, treatment, and personal protection tools.

Since December 2019, the coronavirus pandemic has claimed over 4.75 million lives in at least 192 countries and regions, with more than 232.4 million cases reported worldwide, according to the US-based Johns Hopkins University./aa

Minke whale hunting or "whaling" in Norway continues despite reactions by many, including scientists, environmental organizations and animal rights activists.

At least 575 whales were killed during the "fishing season" this year, the highest number in the last five years, according to a report by The Norwegian Fishermen's Sales Organization.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Vanessa Williams-Grey, a senior campaigner of Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC), said that whaling is an "environmental massacre," stressing that the slaughter of hundreds of minke whales is "unforgivable."

"It's a shame," she noted, referring to the killing of the most killed minke whales in 5 years this season, just days after the highest numbers of dolphins and whales were slaughtered in the Faroe Islands.

According to the Norwegian Ministry of Fisheries, the number of whales to be killed this year in the country is 1,278.

Whaling seen as 'normal'

WDC also shared the results of a survey conducted jointly with Norway's largest animal rights organization NOAH and the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI), with the Anadolu Agency.

The survey showed that an increase in whales killed this year would not profit the whaling industry.

The study also found that the proportion of Norwegians said to consume whale meat frequently was 4% in 2019, compared to 2% in this year.

Despite the reactions, Norwegian government officials describe whaling as "something normal."

Odd Emil Ingebrigtsen, Norwegian minister of fisheries, argues that whales are a good food source, linking whaling with the use of natural resources.

Controversial hunting methods

Norway has also been severely criticized for its "wild methods" of whaling and its concealment of these methods.

Whales are still wildly spearfished in the country as harpoons equipped with explosives penetrate about 30 centimeters into the whale and explode inside the marine mammal.

While it is easier to drag the whale to the boat with harpoons stuck in its flesh, 18% of the whales die in agonizing pain within 15 minutes due to this way of hunting.

Thousands of whales killed since 1993

It is stated that more than 9,500 minke whales have been killed in Norway since 1993.

Global whaling is regulated by the International Whaling Commission (IWC), which was established in 1946 to conserve whales and manage to whale.

Even though the IWC had a moratorium on commercial whaling issued in 1986, Norway and Iceland continued whaling by declaring official objections and setting their quotas./agencies

Electricity outages and “rationing” at peak hours in most of northeast China would contribute to global inflation, an expert warned on Tuesday.

“Coal and gas prices have skyrocketed just as the government has instituted new environmental standards for power generation,” Einar Tangen, a Beijing-based China analyst said.

Electricity "rationing" has been in effect since mid-September, causing concerns among the general public and impacting businesses.

The provinces of Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Liaoning are the three most affected.

Tangen said the Chinese authorities have been releasing reserves of gas and oil to meet the demand.

“But they will probably have to allow energy prices to rise, to keep manufacturing stable. Overall, it will add to global inflation,” said Tangen.

Reports emerging from China suggest several reasons behind the power outages including the supply-demand gap.

The ongoing crisis is being caused by a decline in wind-generated electricity and a decrease in coal-generated electricity owing to rising costs, while industry insiders strive to convince the people that the electrical supply will be restored.

China’s National Grid has said it was strengthening the “unified dispatch of the entire power network.”

It is exploiting the inter-regional and inter-provincial power transmission capacity.

The power breakdown has affected industrial production.

Tangen said consumers will have to pay more money “which will reduce disposable income and will have a downstream effect on inflation.”

According to the Chinese daily Global Times, an electrical outage in areas of Liaoning province lasted at least three days, and mobile phones had no signal.

Additionally, traffic lights were out of service, and escalators in malls and residential complexes were not working./agencies

One out of every five young people in the Netherlands suffered domestic violence during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, found a study released on Tuesday.

The report by Statistics Netherlands (CBS) said 12% of young people aged 16-24 were victims of violence, while 5% were victims of sexual violence.

It also said that 10% of the victims were restrained or forcibly controlled by others.

Emphasizing that the victims were mostly young girls and women, the report added that women often had to concede to violence./aa

Two civilians were killed and 19 others were wounded in twin bomb blasts in northern Syria, Turkish authorities said on Tuesday.

The National Defense Ministry said on Twitter that the bombs exploded in the area of Operation Euphrates Shield, Turkey's cross-border anti-terror offensive.

"The PKK/YPG terrorist organization does not give up on its felonious terrorist attacks targeting innocent civilians," it wrote.

"The PKK/YPG terrorist organization and its supporters, who have no other purpose than to murder innocent civilians, should not forget that we will continue to fight against all kinds of terrorist organizations for the peace and security of the region, and we will continue to neutralize the terrorists in their cells!" it added.

Local sources said the bombs were planted in a motorcycle and a garbage container, both of which exploded at the same time in two separate places.

The wounded were taken to medical facilities in Jarabulus, which had been cleared of terrorist elements following Operation Euphrates Shield.

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 more than 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

Ahead of the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26), the Paris climate accord is at the top of the world's agenda again after a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) highlighted serious risks and at a time when the world continues to experience a rise in environmental disasters.

Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change reached an agreement to fight climate change and achieve a sustainable low-carbon future at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP21) in Paris on Dec. 12, 2015.

The Paris Agreement, defined as "a bridge between today's policies and climate-neutrality before the end of the 21st century," seeks to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change by keeping global average temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels over the next century and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius if possible.

But the Paris deal continues to be in contradiction in some of its goals and structure since while it is hailed by some due to its role in prompting policy-makers to take ambitious actions in fighting climate change, it is also highly criticized by many due to its "non-binding" nature and insufficiency on targets.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Levent Kurnaz, a professor at the Center for Climate Change and Policy Studies at Istanbul's Bogazici University, criticized the commitments countries have made towards reducing carbon emissions and the framework of the accord, saying there is no logical relationship between what we ultimately want to achieve and what countries say they will do.

"Even if all countries have kept their promises, this agreement is leading us towards 3.5 degrees Celsius of warming. So keeping promises is not enough. Countries need to improve their commitments a few times more so that this agreement will get somewhere," he noted.

Also, since it is not a binding agreement, there would not be any sanctions in case commitments are not fulfilled, which are serious shortcomings of the Paris Climate Accord, Kurnaz added.

One of the latest examples of the gap between what we ultimately want to achieve and what countries say they will do is a report by the Climate Action Tracker, an independent scientific analysis that tracks government climate action and measures.

The report, which was published on Sept. 15, pointed out that despite last month's landmark UN report stressing the urgency of the climate change crisis, countries are not on track to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) sufficiently.

"Even countries with strong targets are mostly not on track to meet them (needed action to reduce GHGs), while more have failed to bring forward stronger commitments for 2030," it added.

However, the Paris deal is seen as the countries' most powerful tool to increase their actions in terms of reducing carbon emissions and new developments are taking place in fighting climate change in this context.

In his recent address at the UN General Assembly, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey plans to submit the Paris Climate Agreement for approval to its parliament next month under the country's national determination contribution statement and in conformity with positive steps to be taken.

Also, speaking on the importance of world leaders expressing their determination to fight climate change in Glasgow from Oct. 31 to Nov. 12, COP26 President Alok Sharma hailed Turkey's carbon neutrality target by 2050, adding that Turkey's ratification of the Paris Agreement will also strengthen the world's fight against climate change.

IPCC report, COP26 meeting

Last month, the IPCC Working Group I report, Climate Change 2021: the Physical Science Basis highlighted that global temperatures will likely rise 1.5 degrees Celsius by around 2030.

Scientists and experts in the field noted that the report not only had something new in terms of the urgency surrounding climate change, it also highlighted and stressed warnings more than ever.

Kurnaz said the report actually said that all our calculations so far have been optimistic and the situation is worse than we thought in previous reports.

"For the first time, this report said, without any doubt, that the source of climate change is humanity. Previous reports used words like "probably,” "90% likely," he said, adding this is an important statement.

Baran Bozoglu, the head of the Climate Change Policy and Research Association, based in the Turkish capital Ankara, said the report did not say much different from the previous ones but examined things a little more regionally and specifically mentioned the effect of methane gas.

"In fact, the IPCC report didn't tell us anything we didn't know, saying that the effect will increase in different scenarios, and of course, it will be difficult to meet the 1.5 degrees target," he added.

The report tells us that it is the last exit so as not to be late, said Bozoglu.

In response to a question on how the report will be effective at the COP26 meeting, he said it would be very optimistic to expect that those who have not taken any steps so far will take action immediately due to the IPCC report.

"That's why I emphasize climate change adaptation. It is certain that the will to solve this crisis was not shown by the countries of the world at these meetings. Therefore, in order to be affected by this crisis in the least way, both our country and the whole world should focus on adapting to climate change."

Pointing out that the world has entered the implementation phase of the Paris deal, Kurnaz said that how the Paris Agreement will be implemented will be discussed at COP26.

"The Paris Agreement also does not carry very important conditions. The decisions to be made here will not change the world too much," he also noted.

COP26 will take place in Glasgow between Oct. 31-Nov. 12./agencies