An international team of climate scientists and the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Center said Wednesday they found that man-made climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions makes heatwaves at least 150 times more likely to occur.
Recent rocketing temperatures are having a severe impact on millions of people and putting lives at risk, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) warned.
"Right now, we are witnessing heat records topple as temperatures rise, with terrifying consequences for millions of people around the world," said IFRC President Francesco Rocca, noting the Red Cross is investing and preparing.
The Red Cross said last week's record-breaking heatwaves in parts of the US and Canada would have been "virtually impossible" without the influence of human-caused climate change.
“The analysis found that climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions made the heatwave at least 150 times more likely to happen,” the statement said.
Communities across the globe are struggling to cope with the increased temperatures and frequency of heatwaves along with wildfires, drought, heat exhaustion and heat-related severe health risks, said the Red Cross.
"The Red Cross and Red Crescent network cannot combat the devastating impact of the climate crisis alone," added Rocca.
"There must be a concerted global effort to deal with the climate emergency, which represents the biggest threat to the future of the planet and its people."
He said national societies work with those hit hardest, including older people, homeless people, COVID-19 and underlying health conditions, those living in isolated areas and refugees and migrants./aa
A group of 50 people from Turkey arrived Wednesday in Bosnia and Herzegovina and will join a three-day Peace March to commemorate the 26th anniversary of the genocide in Srebrenica.
Tahir Caner Besok told Anadolu Agency that he heard about the Peace March in 2014 from a documentary.
"We searched but couldn't find much information while researching,” said Besok. “We couldn't find any information about it anywhere, including internet sites in Turkey. We actually came here into obscurity. We didn't know what the march would be like, what we would encounter."
Tulin Ocal Demirkiran said it was her third time attending and she has felt the pain suffered in the war every time she participated.
"We all want peace. We are marching for peace. We do not want the war to recur. I think the Peace March should be promoted more institutionally. Because it was not just a march, but a symbol for Bosnia," said Demirkiran.
Ebrar Arvas said she attended a collective funeral ceremony in 2019 where she was deeply impressed.
"I visited the memorial center in Srebrenica. I honestly did not know the gravity of the war. I was upset. I was angry with myself and shamed myself for not knowing," she said.
Traditionally, thousands from all over the world come to Nezuk every year to participate in the march.
Participants will march for three days beginning Thursday and spend nights in designated areas.
The march is expected to conclude at a cemetery in Potocari, a village in eastern Bosnia-Herzegovina, just northwest of Srebrenica, where a funeral prayer and burial ceremony will be held for victims.
Since 2005, thousands of people have attended the Mars Mira, or Peace March, following the same forest path used by Bosniaks when they fled the Srebrenica genocide.
More than 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were killed after Bosnian Serb forces attacked a UN "safe area" of Srebrenica in July 1995, despite the presence of Dutch troops tasked with acting as international peacekeepers.
Srebrenica was besieged by Serb forces who were trying to wrest territory from Bosnian Muslims and Croats to form a state.
The UN Security Council declared Srebrenica a "safe area" in the spring of 1993. But Serb troops led by Gen. Ratko Mladic overran the UN zone. Mladic was sentenced to life for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.
Dutch troops failed to act as Serb forces occupied the area, killing about 2,000 men and boys on July 11 alone. Some 15,000 residents of Srebrenica fled to the surrounding mountains but Serb troops hunted down and killed 6,000 in the forests.
The bodies of victims were found in 570 different parts of the country./aa
Syrian refugee and Olympic swimmer Yusra Mardini is set to compete for the Refugee Olympic Team at the Tokyo Summer Olympics, with the multi-sport event to begin on July 23.
"They don't share a nation, or a language. But they choose to keep their dreams alive. Yusra Mardini is a part of the Tokyo 2020 IOC Refugee Olympic Team," said the official Instagram account for the Olympics.
"Each of us has a different story. But there is something we all have in common: We chose to keep our dreams alive," she said in a video.
"We carried them with us. Across oceans and deserts and cities. We brought them together. To form a team greater than ourselves. One that defies borders and limits. A team that belongs to everyone. Because the starting line doesn't care who we are. Only that we'll face it, together," the 23-year-old added.
Mardini fled from war-torn Syria in 2015, four years after the civil war had begun.
Syria has been ravaged by a civil war since early 2011, when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protesters.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and more than 10 million displaced, according to UN estimates.
Mardini took refuge in Turkey but then faced a perilous sea crossing to Greece on a small boat.
During the journey on the Aegean Sea, the dinghy's engine stopped working and the boat took on water. Mardini and her sister Sarah jumped into the water to push and drag the boat carrying 20 people to the Greek island of Lesbos.
They spent three hours in the water. Then they traveled through Europe to Germany, where they live.
The UN appointed Yusra as the Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in 2017.
Mardini was previously named to compete for the Refugee Olympic Team at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, widely known as Rio 2016.
There will be 29 athletes -- including Mardini --who will compete for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Refugee Olympic Team in Tokyo and represent 12 sporting branches including athletics, badminton, boxing, canoeing, cycling, judo, karate, taekwondo, shooting, swimming, weightlifting and wrestling.
They were named by the IOC ahead of the Summer Olympic Games in the Japanese capital./aa
Turkish businesspeople eye rebuilding Port of Beirut
July 08, 2021Turkish business circles are seeking to rebuild the Port of Beirut port that was destroyed by a massive explosion last August, said the chairman of Turkey-Lebanon Council of the Foreign Economic Relations Board of Turkey (DEIK) on Wednesday.
"In our meeting with Lebanese Economy Minister Raoul Nehme last month, we expressed interest to build the Port of Beirut based on the build-operate-transfer model," Abdulkadir Akkus told Anadolu Agency.
Once considered the Paris of Middle East, Lebanon has been struggling with a devastating economic crisis for nearly three years, amid protracted civil war, regional conflicts and political instability.
The crisis, which started in Oct. 2019, deepened further with the devastating explosions, that left at least 200 people dead and thousands others injured besides massive material damage.
Akkus said Lebanese officials are also in talks with France and China regarding the port's re-construction. "We would like to take this job ... we have proven ourselves (in this area)," he said.
A foreign currency shortage and devaluation of the national currency has crippled the import-dependent nation, leading to shortages of fuel, medicines and basic supplies.
Hassan Diab’s Cabinet resigned last year after the explosion, but politicians have so far failed to agree on forming a new government. His government has been acting in a caretaker capacity since then.
Akkus called for urgent formation of a new government, and then financial packages by international institutions such as the World Bank and IMF./aa
Global air travel demand improves slightly in May
July 08, 2021Demand for both international and domestic air travel showed marginal recovery this May compared to the previous month, though traffic remained well below pre-pandemic levels, a leading trade group said on Wednesday.
"Recovery in international traffic in particular continued to be stymied by extensive government travel restrictions," the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said in a statement
Demand for air travel, measured in kilometers traveled by paying passengers, increased 2.4% month-on-month in May and fell by 62.7% compared to May 2019.
That was a gain over the 65.2% decline recorded in April 2021 versus April 2019.
The IATA made all comparisons to two years ago, as figures in 2020 are distorted by the coronavirus pandemic.
International passenger demand slipped by 85.1% during the same period, with all regions except the Asia-Pacific contributing to this modest improvement.
"We are starting to see positive developments, with some international markets opening to vaccinated travelers," said Willie Walsh, IATA's director general.
Domestic travel continued to strengthen in May but declined by 23.9% compared to the pre-crisis period.
Among the key domestic markets, China and Russia recovered above pre-crisis levels, it highlighted, adding that India and Japan saw significant deterioration amid new variants and outbreaks./aa
A man who carried out the worst mass shooting in the history of the US state of Texas could have been prevented if the US Air Force had flagged his previous, dangerous behavior.
That was the ruling on Wednesday from a federal judge in San Antonio, who said on Wednesday the Air Force was 60% responsible for a former serviceman, Devin Kelley, opening fire inside a church in Southeast Texas in 2017. State officials put the death toll at 26 -- 25, plus one woman who was pregnant.
Judge Xavier Rodriguez ruled that no one else, not even Kelly's parents, knew that he had a violent history in the Air Force and had been discharged for bad conduct in 2014. The Air Force admitted that during Kelley's five-year tenure, he was convicted for domestic violence against his wife and also cracking the skull of his step-son.
But the Air Force never submitted that conviction information into the FBI database, which would have prevented Kelley from legally buying guns from licensed gun sellers and from buying the body armor he wore during the shooting. Had the information been submitted, Rodriguez said, "it is more likely than not that Kelley would have been deterred from carrying out the Church shooting."
Details of the shooting were horrifying: Kelley walked into the First Baptist Church in November of 2017, and proceeded up and down the center aisle, shooting victims as they cowered under pews, pausing only to re-load. The shooting was caught on the church's interior cameras.
He later crashed his truck during his escape, and with police closing in, he committed suicide. His motive was apparently anger at his estranged wife and his mother-in-law, but neither were in the church that day.
Families of the victims were unsuccessful in their effort to sue the sporting goods company that sold Kelley his weapons, but Judge Rodriguez has now allowed a trial to determine what damages the government owes to them./aa
47 irregular migrants rescued off Tunisian coast
July 08, 2021At least 47 irregular migrants were rescued off the coast of Medenine province in Tunisia, said an official from the Tunisian Red Crescent on Wednesday.
Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Munji Salim, the organization's Medenin director, said they rescued the migrants, mainly from Bangladesh and Egypt alongside Pakistan, Morocco, and Guinea, whose boats broke down.
They will later be transferred to a migrant shelter, he added.
Every year, thousands of irregular migrants use Tunisia and Libya as a gateway to cross the Mediterranean to Europe in overcrowded boats, often dying in the process./aa
Turkish universities to be promoted in online fair
July 08, 2021A virtual fair to promote Turkish universities will be held on July 27-29, the head of Turkey’s Council of Higher Education (YOK) announced on Wednesday.
The second Study in Turkey YOK Virtual Fair 2021 will open its doors online, Yekta Sarac tweeted. The first edition was also held virtually due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“International students who want to study in Turkey will be able to get information on many subjects including admission conditions, quotas, programs, scholarships, accommodation, etc,” Sarac said.
“Our virtual fairs play an important role in ensuring the participation of more international students in our higher education system in our country, where more than 200,000 international students from 182 countries are educated."
Last year, in an opinion piece, Sarac wrote: “Today a total of 7.5 million students are studying in 207 universities in Turkey, making it the second-largest country of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) after Russia.”/aa
Shooting of star Dutch reporter raises European concern
July 07, 2021AMSTERDAM (AP) — European leaders and lawmakers expressed dismay Wednesday and rights advocates demanded justice after a veteran Dutch crime reporter was shot in the head in downtown Amsterdam following a TV appearance.
Peter R. de Vries, a journalist celebrated for his courageous reporting on the Dutch underworld, was fighting for his life in an Amsterdam hospital after the Tuesday night shooting.
Two suspects remained in custody Wednesday, while a third person detained Tuesday night was let go, according to a Dutch police statement. The motive for the attack was not disclosed.
Supporters brought flowers to the crime scene, still cordoned off by police.
The shooting shocked the Netherlands and prompted outrage from top Dutch officials, but it also struck a chord elsewhere in Europe, where such attacks are rare and where the killings of journalists in Slovakia and Malta in recent years raised concerns about reporters’ safety in developed, democratic societies.
“We might disagree with a lot we see in our media, but we have to agree that journalists investigating potential abuses of power are not a threat but an asset to our democracies and our societies,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told European Parliament lawmakers Wednesday.
European Council President Charles Michel called the shooting “a crime against our fundamental value of freedom of the press.”
De Vries, 64, had long been considered a possible target of the criminals he doggedly reported on. Police and prosecutors declined to comment on whether he received police protection.
De Vries won an International Emmy in 2008 for a television show he made about the disappearance of U.S. teenager Natalee Holloway while she was on holiday in the Dutch Caribbean island of Aruba in 2005.
Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders expressed “full solidarity” with de Vries’ family and all Dutch journalists on Wednesday, and called for those responsible for the shooting to be brought to justice.
The commissioner for human rights at the Council of Europe, Dunja Mijatović, tweeted, “Everything should be done to bring perpetrator(s) and mastermind(s) of this horrific crime to justice and ensure #SafetyOfJournalists in #Europe.”
Myanmar protesters commemorate 1962 student resistance
July 07, 2021BANGKOK (AP) — Pro-democracy demonstrators took to the streets Wednesday in cities and towns around Myanmar to commemorate students who lost their lives in 1962 when a military dictator violently suppressed protests against harsh university discipline implemented under his regime.
The 1962 protests at Rangoon University, named after the city now called Yangon, implicitly criticized the March 2, 1962, coup in which Gen. Ne Win ended parliamentary democracy and instituted military rule that would last five decades.
The events still resonate today in Myanmar, especially after the army’s Feb. 1 takeover that ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. Young people have played a leading role in resisting this year's seizure of power and hundreds have been killed by security forces.
Wednesday's protests were small and brief but enthusiastic, using the flash mob style that nonviolent demonstrators have adopted since government troops began using lethal force to suppress them. Other militants have taken up violence against the government.
In Yangon, the country’s biggest city, protesters flashed three-finger resistance salutes as they chanted declarations of unity and denunciations of the military. Several set off smoke bombs in colorful hues, lending a festive touch to the activity, conducted at a trot to avoid the authorities.
More than a dozen university student unions called on young people to protest military dictatorship as their forebears did in 1962, the online Mizzima news site reported.
Similar protests were held in Mandalay, the country’s second biggest city, and elsewhere, according to Myanmar media.
Students have historically been the vanguard in political change in Myanmar, starting when it was a British colony called Burma. But Ne Win's iron-fisted use of troops to crush the student protests in 1962 effectively halted serious political opposition for a generation until a major but unsuccessful 1988 democracy uprising.
One hundred or more students are believed to have been killed on July 7, 1962, and thousands were arrested. To symbolically crush the movement, Ne Win’s regime blew up the Rangoon University Students’ Union building, a historic center of resistance, the following day.
The National Unity Government, an opposition force formed this year by ousted lawmakers that calls itself the country’s legitimate ruling body, issued a statement Wednesday paying tribute “to all the comrades of the Student Youth Revolution who have sacrificed their lives ... for the sake of truth and justice."
It likened the country's current situation to the military repression of the past.
“Despite three generations of oppression at gunpoint and the destruction of life and property, the past youths’ spirit of love for the truth, the courage to stand up against injustice still lives on today,” it said./agencies
