The Turkish Coast Guard rescued on Friday as many as 174 asylum seekers in the Aegean Sea after they were pushed back by Greek authorities, according to the Coast Guard Command. 

A coast guard team in the seaside town of Ayvalik, northwestern Balikesir province, rescued at least 28 asylum seekers from a rubber boat. They were taken to the command headquarters on Cunda Island.

Separately, a team was dispatched off Kusadasi district in Aydin province after learning that 83 asylum seekers were stranded on two lifeboats. They were later taken to the provincial migration office.

The coast guard also rescued four asylum seekers near Dikili district and 59 others off Foca district in Izmir. After routine checks, they were taken to the provincial migration authority.

Turkey has been a key transit point for irregular migrants who want to cross into Europe to start new lives, especially those fleeing war and persecution.

Turkey, which already hosts 4 million refugees, more than any country in the world, is taking new security measures on its borders to prevent a fresh influx of migrants./aa

Turkey’s vice president said Friday that pollution in the Mediterranean Sea caused by an oil leak from Syria is now only on the surface and carried no risk to Cyprus. 

Fuat Oktay and held a news conference alongside Turkish Cypriot President Ersin Tatar at the presidential complex in the Turkish capital, Ankara, where he said the spill began with a leak of fuel from a storage tank at a power plant near a refinery in the Baniyas region of Syria, recalling that Turkey also took immediate measures against the risk of oil hitting the shores in Cyprus.

“There were three marine vessels in Cyprus, and Turkey sent eight more, including trailers,” said Oktay, adding that the risk is gone for the moment.

“The view we see there is that pollution is now on the surface. Ee see that there is no pollution left to a very large extent, more piecemeal,” he said.

Referring to disasters that Turkey has faced lately, he noted that Ankara is pleased with the help and support received by the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) in the fight against such tragedies.

“Our mobilization to search for our losses with all decency continues. Now, we have entered a period of intense healing of our wounds,” he said.

“All of the buildings will be rebuilt and delivered no later than one year,” he said, mentioning that Turkey has to be more prepared for such incidents from now on.

Additionally, he talked about the current situation in Maras, Cyprus.

Underlining that the TRNC has a right to open the “ghost town” to the public, Oktay said that Turkey has always supported the Turkish Cypriots and that will continue.

“Greek Cypriots aim to increase the tension,” he said, noting that neither Turkey nor the TRNC will remain with their hands tied toward the issue.

- Decades-long dispute

Cyprus has been mired in a decades-long dispute between Greek and Turkish Cypriots, despite a series of diplomatic efforts by the UN to achieve a comprehensive settlement.

Ethnic attacks starting in the early 1960s forced Turkish Cypriots to withdraw into enclaves for their safety.

In 1974, a Greek Cypriot coup aimed at Greece's annexation led to Turkey's military intervention as a guarantor power to protect Turkish Cypriots from persecution and violence. As a result, the TRNC was founded in 1983.

It has seen an on-and-off peace process in recent years, including a failed 2017 initiative in Switzerland under the auspices of guarantor countries Turkey, Greece and the UK.

The Greek Cypriot administration entered the European Union in 2004, the same year Greek Cypriots thwarted a UN plan to end the longstanding dispute.

A UN-led unofficial Cyprus conference was held in Geneva in April to seek common ground to negotiate a lasting solution to the decades-old conflict.

Turkey, Greece and the UK also took part in the meeting.

Tatar said his country will also be holding bilateral meetings in September in New York, expressing its view on the Cyprus issue.

“I don't think that the two sides can reach a consensus on sovereign equality and the search for common ground has not achieved results at the moment. Still, we will be in New York and we will continue our contacts,” he said./aa

A teacher in France was suspended for praising the Taliban on his social media post, according to the Le Figaro newspaper.

Commenting on the Taliban taking over Afghanistan on his personal Facebook account, Khalid B., a math instructor in Nancy, northeastern France, said the group has "the will and the conviction, unlimited courage ..."

After the post, the teacher was suspended by the school administration and a screenshot of the post was sent to the prosecutor's office.

In a statement, prosecutor Francois Perain said there are enough elements to open an investigation against the teacher for advocating terrorism.

In France, advocating terrorism online is punishable by a fine of €100,000 ($119,000) and up to seven years in prison.

The Taliban seized control of Afghanistan after taking Kabul on Aug. 15, and are now in the process of forming a government. Foreign troops have completely withdrawn from the war-torn country./agencies

Major stock markets in Europe closed lower on Friday with US employment data disappointing markets.

STOXX Europe 600, which includes around 90% of the market capitalization of the European market in 17 European countries, was down 0.56% to 471.93 points.

The US economy added 586,000 jobs in August, the fewest jobs in seven months amid concerns over Delta variant of the coronavirus.

London's FTSE 100 fell 0.36% to 7,138 points and Germany's DAX 30 slipped 0.37% to 15,781.

The French stock market, the CAC 40, decreased 1.08% to 6,690, while Italy's Borsa Italiana FTSE MIB 30 went down 0.64% to close at 26,064 and Spain's IBEX 35 was down 1.31% to 8,864.

On a weekly basis, STOXX Europe 600 decreased 0.09%, the FTSE 100 dropped 0.14%, the DAX 30 fell 0.45%, and the IBEX 35 was down 0.35%. While the CAC 40 rose 012%, FTSE MIB index was up 0.22%.

Retail trade volume slipped 2.3% in euro area, 1.9% in EU27 in July compared to previous month, Eurostat revealed Friday./agencies

A decade after his medical was license revoked, 47-year-old Jaison Hove of Zimbabwe is now allegedly involved in facilitating backdoor abortions -- an accusation he denies.

While many who know the former doctor say his is now richer than he was while practicing medicine, he has vehemently rejected claims that he has had any part in helping local women get the illegal abortions.

"I stopped practicing more than 10 years ago when I was accused of facilitating backdoor abortions, which wasn't true. I don't do illegal abortions," Hove told Anadolu Agency.

Diana Musindo, a 27-year-old resident of the Zimbabwean capital Harare's Mabvuku high density suburb, where Hove allegedly operates, said she has seen many local women getting help for their abortions from Hove.

"Obviously, Hove can't tell you he does abortion work because he knows it will land him in trouble," Musindo told Anadolu Agency.

Abortion in Zimbabwe

Under Zimbabwe's 1977 Termination of Pregnancy Act, abortion is only legally permitted under certain circumstances. If conducted illegally, it carries a penalty of up to five years in jail and or a fine.

Yet many women, and even minors like 16-year-old Lindiwe Muswere, seek the procedure illegally.

For Muswere, who says she is sex worker and has had numerous abortions, the procedure has gone smoothly.

However, backyard abortion facilities are often run by unlicensed midwifes and deregistered medical practitioners and carry the risk of severe complications.

Four out of 10 women who undergo abortions in Zimbabwe experience such complications, including hemorrhages or infection, with some even dying in the process, according to a survey of health professionals conducted by a local journal known as PLOS ONE.

Ballooning abortions

While about 66,800 abortions were performed in Zimbabwe in 2016, according to a 2018 study by PLOS ONE, authorities have said that this figure has risen to 80,000 by 2019.

"Illegal abortions in Zimbabwe have increased from 60,000 to 80,000 per annum -- which is very unsustainable," Ruth Labode, chairwoman of parliament's Portfolio Committee on Health and Child Care has told lawmakers.

Labode has pushed for the country to review the Termination of Pregnancy Act, which only permits abortion if there is a serious threat to the mother's life, a risk of permanent impairment to her physical health or grave physical or mental defects that may lead to severe handicap in the child, or if the fetus was conceived as a result of rape, incest, or intercourse with a mentally handicapped woman.

Economic hardships

Poverty has also seen many underage girls like Muswere resorting to abortion.

"How do I keep doing my job as a sex worker if I allow myself to have a baby? How do I look after the baby if I have no reliable source of income?" Muswere said.

Many like her are jobless and apparently represented in the country's unemployment rate, which the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions says is as high as 90%.

Under the country's punitive abortion laws, for women and girls like Muswere who want to terminate their pregnancies, they must find their own means -- legal or otherwise.

Backyard abortions the way to go

The only alternative for many has been to go underground, consulting a network of unregulated midwifes and deregistered doctors who claim that the pills and herbs they sell lead to abortion.

So, on the sidewalks in many Zimbabwean cities, including Harare, fruits and vegetables are not the only things for sale as vendors like 51-year-old Muchineripi Gumbo also hawk illegal abortion pills or herbs believed to end unwanted pregnancies.

"These herbs I sell are harmless and within a short space of time, one can terminate her pregnancy with no issues at all. This costs just $25," Gumbo told Anadolu Agency as she held up a bottle of a herbal concoction in downtown Harare.

Fueling abortions

Apart from deregistered doctors, public hospital staff are also in on the illegal abortions trade, helping them smuggle out abortion drugs.

"Staff in public hospitals sell us abortion drugs ... which when used, forces the uterus to contract, allowing it to eject any pregnancy-related tissue during or following an abortion," one illegal doctor in Harare, who declined to be named fearing reprisal, told Anadolu Agency.

"Per abortion, I make roughly $150 to $200 and in a good month I make sure I attend to about 15 to 25 abortion cases. It's a lot of money if you make your calculations," said the backyard doctor.

However, this has placed many lives at risk, with the Demographic Health Survey in Zimbabwe saying 30% of maternal mortalities are due to unsafe abortions.

The maternal mortality rate in Zimbabwe currently stands at 614 deaths per 100,000 live births, one of the highest worldwide, according to the UN Population Fund (UNFPA)./agencies

At least 48 people have died in the US northeast after Hurricane Ida's remnants caused record-breaking rainfall and mass flooding, according to multiple reports on Friday.

New Jersey continues to have the highest death toll with 25 fatalities recorded after roads became inundated with fast-moving floodwaters. A majority of those who died perished either in their cars after they became submerged, or after attempting to flee their vehicles in fast-moving waters, according to the Associated Press.

Further north in New York City, 13 people died, according to Mayor Bill de Blasio. Other deaths were recorded in Connecticut, Maryland, New York state and Pennsylvania.

Ida's overall death toll has hit 61, including deaths that occurred in three other states outside of the region.

State authorities from the Gulf coast to the northeast are continuing the cleanup effort after Ida made landfall on Sunday in Louisiana as a dauntingly powerful Category 4 hurricane, one of the strongest ever recorded in the continental US.

In New York City, authorities are continuing efforts to restore full train service as the Metropolitan Transportation Authority warned residents "service may not be frequent."

"Some lines have *extremely* limited service. In Queens, consider LIRR if possible," it said on Twitter, referring to the Long Island Rail Road, an alternative commuter rail system.

US President Joe Biden declared states of emergency in New York and New Jersey on Thursday, and is slated to travel to Louisiana on Friday to survey ongoing cleanup efforts and meet with local officials./agencies

A sit-in protest in Turkey's southeastern Diyarbakir province, launched on Oct. 3, 2019, entered its third year with hundreds of people flocking to the protest site to demonstrate that the families have been striving to get their children back from the PKK terror group.

The protest initially began with a handful of mothers who started a sit-in outside the office of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), which they accused of playing a role in their children’s disappearance.

It grew day by day as many other parents were inspired to join the protest for the sake of their abducted or forcibly recruited children.

“I was here among the protesters since the very first beginning, and was eventually able to accomplish my goal,” said Aysegul Bicer, mother of Mustafa, who surrendered to security forces following her protest.

“All mothers are determined to fight as long as it takes so they could reunite with their children,” she said. “Nobody can question a mother’s love for her children.”

Along with Bicer, a total of 31 other families have also reunited with their children since the start of the protest.

At least 234 families have participated in the protest that also spread to some other provinces including Izmir on the Aegean coast, Van and Mus in the east, as well as southeastern Hakkari and Sirnak provinces.

Mothers holding similar protests in these provinces also joined others in Diyarbakir, saying all these protesting mothers were their inspiration.

The participants carried banners and chanted slogans such as “Turks-Kurds are brothers, PKK is the traitor!” “Mothers’ hearts will erase the PKK,” “Our children are not raised for the PKK,” “Enough with the HDP/PKK terrorism!”

Family and Social Services Minister Derya Yanik, speaking at the event, said she had the utmost respect for the parents fighting to get back their children, and the Turkish state would continue to fight the terror elements.

Yanik noted that the terror group claimed to be fighting for the rights of Kurds, but its terror campaign has repeatedly targeted these people since the first day it was launched and the past 35 years brought nothing but blood and tears.

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./agencies

A child was killed and two civilians were injured following airstrikes by Russian warplanes in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province, according to Syria Civil Defense on Friday.

Firas Khalifa, the media officer of Syria Civil Defense, or White Helmets, told Anadolu Agency that the air bombardment killed a child and injured two civilians in the village of Kansafra.

He added that many small cattle also perished in the attack as the area was an animal shelter.

In a statement on its social media account, the opposition’s plane observatory group said the Russian warplane “took off at 10.02 a.m. (0702GMT) from the Khmeimim Base in Latakia province, (and) carried out an airstrike on Idlib’s southern village of Kansafra at 10.24 a.m. (0724GMT).”

In a separate incident, Bashar al-Assad regime forces shelled artillery on the villages of Fattire, Binin, and Shinan in the Jabal Zawiya region.

There have been no reports of casualties so far.

The latest attacks are in breach of a truce reached in May 2017 between Turkey, Russia, and Iran when the trio agreed to establish a de-escalation zone in Idlib, as part of the Astana meetings on the Syrian crisis.

The Syrian regime forces and their supporters, however, continue sporadic attacks, in violation of a cease-fire agreement signed in March 2020.

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