Day: August 3, 2021

Spanish NBA guard Ricky Rubio has moved to the Cleveland Cavaliers from the Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for a 2022 second-round pick, cash considerations, and forward Taurean Prince.

The Cavaliers announced their new arrival on Tuesday.

Rubio, 30, played with 8.6 points, 3.3 rebounds, 6.4 assists and 1.44 steals in 26.1 minutes last season for the Timberwolves.

After starting his pro basketball career at the Timberwolves in 2011, Rubio also played for the Utah Jazz and Phoenix Suns, averaging 11.0 points and 7.6 assists in 631 NBA appearances.

He also helped Spain seal gold medals in the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup, EuroBasket 2011, and EuroBasket 2009.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Two Spanish firefighting planes started operating Tuesday in southwestern Turkey, assisting Turkey’s efforts to extinguish fires through both aerial and ground operations.

After landing at Mugla’s Dalaman Airport late Monday, 27 Spanish pilots of CL-415 planes worked to fight fires in the districts of Marmaris, Milas, and Koycegiz in coordination with Turkey’s fire management center.

In a Monday phone call with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, his Spanish counterpart Jose Manuel Albares conveyed Madrid’s solidarity and condolences for the fires’ victims.

Albares also told Cavusoglu about Madrid’s decision to send the two CL-415s and a Spanish Air Force C-295 transport plane, as well as a complete Military Emergency Unit (UME) team to help firefighting efforts, said a Spanish Foreign Ministry statement.

The Turkish government has said that a vast majority of the forest fires have been contained. At least eight people have been killed, with firefighters, locals, and volunteers working tirelessly to bring the blazes under control.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Two more PKK terrorists surrendered in Turkey as a result of persuasion efforts by security forces, the Interior Ministry said on Tuesday.

The ministry said the terrorists surrendered after fleeing the terror group thanks to the persuasion efforts by police and gendarmerie teams, bringing the number of terrorists who have surrendered through persuasion this year alone to 120.

The surrendered terrorists joined the PKK between 2014 and 2020 and were active in Turkey, Iraq, and Syria, the statement said.

It was determined that one of the terrorists joined the PKK in 1997 and was active in Iraq and Syria, while another member of the terror group was active in Europe.

According to Turkish officials, in recent years the terrorist PKK – battered and demoralized by Turkish security forces’ successful operations – has been hemorrhaging members and failing to attract new ones.

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 nearly 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Giorgio Chiellini, the captain of Italian football powerhouse Juventus, extended his contract with the club on Monday.

Juventus said on Twitter that Chiellini, 36, renewed his deal until 2023.

The Italian central defender has been playing for Juventus since 2005.

He scored 36 goals in 535 appearances for Juventus.

Chiellini helped his club win nine Italian Serie A titles.

He won the UEFA EURO 2020 title with the Italian national team in July.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Chinese gymnast Zou Jingyuan won a gold medal in men’s parallel bars at Tokyo 2020 Olympics on Tuesday.

Zou scored 16.233 points at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre.

Germany’s Lukas Dauser won a silver medal with 15.700 points while Ferhat Arican from Turkey bagged a bronze medal with 15.633.

Arican sealed the first-ever medal for Turkey in gymnastics.

Source: Anadolu Agency

A court in southern Turkey on Tuesday ordered that a suspect arrested over destructive forest fires be remanded in custody.

The 16-year-old was arrested last Friday over fires that broke out in Manavgat, Antalya last Wednesday and which damaged two buildings, a warehouse, and forestland before being contained the same day.

The court ordered the suspect remanded on charges of deliberately setting fire to a forest.

Turkish officials have voiced suspicions that arson may be responsible for at least some of the fires that began last week within a relatively short period.

Meanwhile, efforts continue to contain forest fires in various parts of Manavgat and other places in Turkey.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Turkey’s daily electricity consumption increased by 11.5% on Monday compared to the previous day, totaling 1,080,640 megawatt-hours, according to official figures of the Turkish Electricity Transmission Corporation (TEIAS) on Tuesday.

Hourly power consumption peaked at 53,641 megawatt-hours at 15.00 local time (1200 GMT) on Tuesday, data from TEIAS showed. The country’s electricity usage was at its lowest at 34,959 megawatt-hours at 07.00 local time (0400 GMT).

Electricity production amounted to 1,090,505 megawatt-hours on Monday, marking an 11.4% increase from Sunday.

Turkey’s electricity production from natural gas plants constituted 37.1% of total electricity consumption, hydroelectricity plants contributed 17% while imported coal plants comprised 16%.

On Monday, Turkey’s electricity exports amounted to 15,044 megawatt-hours, while imports totaled 5,349 megawatt-hours.

Source: Anadolu Agency