Day: February 3, 2023

Heavy snowfall in Austria have cut off 70 people from the outside world and caused traffic chaos, local media reported on Friday.

Due to the tense avalanche situation in the Austrian province of Styria, several roads had to be closed Thursday night, according to daily Kronen Zeitung.

It also said numerous vehicles got stuck on the roadway due to snow. In the meantime, traffic jams of 10 kilometers (six miles) in length occurred.

According to the reports, 80 centimeters (34.5 inches) of fresh snow fell within 24 hours. On Friday morning, several smaller avalanches are said to have already gone off.

In the Wildalpen region, 70 people are closed off from the outside world. In the Aflenzertal region, mayors called for children not to go to school on Friday.

Partly, roads must also be closed in the villages because of the danger of roof avalanches. In the province of Carinthia, a truck skidded and overturned because of the icy roads, as the Kronen Zeitung wrote. As a result, hundreds of liters of diesel leaked.

Source: Anadolu Agency

The Pentagon on Friday rejected China’s explanation for a mystery balloon found flying over US airspace, insisting that it is a “surveillance balloon.”

“The fact is, we know that it’s a surveillance balloon, and I’m not going to be able to be more specific than that,” Pentagon spokesperson Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters at a press briefing.

“We do know that the balloon has violated US airspace and international law, which is unacceptable. So we’ve conveyed this directly to the PRC (People’s Republic of China) at multiple levels.”

His comments came after a Chinese Foreign Ministry statement said the balloon was a “civilian airship used for research, mainly meteorological purposes.”

The ministry said the balloon deviated off course and entered US airspace, adding that Beijing “regrets the unintended entry.”

Ryder said the balloon had moved eastward and is “currently over the center of the continental United States.”

“Military commanders have assessed that there is no physical or military threat to people on the ground,” he said.

Asked if the US is considering shooting it down, Ryder said: “We’re monitoring the situation closely, reviewing options, but beyond that, I’m not going to have additional information.”

Earlier, State Department officials confirmed that Secretary of State Antony Blinken has postponed his planned trip to China after the discovery of the balloon.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Islamophobia needs to be recognized as a crime, a senior Malaysian official said on Friday, calling for "firmer" response by Muslim countries towards incidents of burning of the Muslims' holy book, the Quran.

"Anything that is Islamophobic can actually be regarded as something which is criminal in nature. So, much like anti-Semitism is a criminal offense in many other countries," Abdul Razak Ahmad, a special representative of Malaysia's foreign minister, told Anadolu in an interview.

"We should also make Islamophobia a criminal offense, especially in Muslim countries," said Ahmad, who praised the role of Türkiye for its strong reaction to a recent spate of Quran burnings in Europe that drew the anger of Muslims worldwide.

Referring to one such attempt in Norway in which authorities withdrew a permit previously given for a Quran burning following a warning from Ankara, Ahmad said the episode demonstrated the effectiveness of Turkish diplomacy.

"It shows that, you know, Turkish soft power works. And I think this is what we should do to actually be confronting these people and to engage with them and to tell them that, 'look we are offended and this is not the right way to do things and this is not a manifestation of an egalitarian society. And they should stop'," said that special representative on peacebuilding and countering Islamophobia.

Ahmad said that Türkiye, Saudi Arabia, and very few other countries had shown leadership against Islamophobia.

"I think our concern about Islamophobia is really about the globalization of Islamophobia, how Islam has been misinterpreted, how Islam has been subject to hatred by people who has minimum understanding of the religion. It's a very narrow understanding of the religion itself."

He stressed that it was important for Malaysia and Türkiye to work together in addressing Islamophobia, which he described as a global issue affecting the Muslim community.

The West has to be realistic, he underlined. "Freedom of expression, freedom of thought, freedom of speech can never be at the expense of undermining other people's religion, undermining faith, and undermining coexistence."

He also stressed that Islamic countries need to be more "responsive" towards the issue.

"They can burn another 1,000 or 1 million Qurans but you can never eliminate the teaching of Islam from the hearts and mind of the Muslims."

Source: Anadolu Agency

The German government has rejected a statement by Russian President Vladimir Putin on the alleged threat posed to his country by German tanks supplied to Ukraine.

The statements joined "a whole series of abstruse historical comparisons that are repeatedly used to justify the Russian invasion of Ukraine," government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said in Berlin during Friday's press conference.

If Putin claimed that German tanks threatened Russia as they did in World War II, then "that exposes itself," Hebestreit added.

Hebestreit continued that the German government was concerned with helping Ukraine defend itself in its "defensive struggle" against Russia's "war of aggression" by supplying Leopard 2 tanks.

Germany is doing this together with a whole host of other states, the government spokesman explained. But the German tanks were "aid deliveries and support services, not war participation," Hebestreit added at the press conference.

The Russian president, marking the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Stalingrad, had portrayed the Ukrainian war as a fight against a remake of Nazism, making a remark about the German tank deliveries.

"Unbelievable. Unbelievable, but fact. We are threatened again with German tanks - the Leopard tanks, which have iron crosses on them. And they want to fight again against Russia on the Ukrainian soil with the help of Hitler's successors," Putin said in his speech on Thursday.

Putin had at the same time warned those who would try to drive European countries - including Germany - into a war with Russia.

According to Putin, it is a misconception to think that Russia can be defeated on the battlefield.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Energy companies in the UK have been asked by the industry regulator Ofgem to stop the practice of forcefully exchanging regular energy meters with prepaid ones.

The directive came after the Times found that agents working for Arvato-Financial Solutions, working on behalf of British Gas, had forced their way into the home of a single father of three to install a prepaid meter.

The prepaid meters require the customer to pay their energy bill in advance and they are generally on a more expensive rate.

Due to the soaring cost-of-living crisis in the country, many homes in the UK had been willingly converting their meters to prepaid ones in order to track their usage and not face hefty bills. In cases where the customers are unable to afford to pay the bill, energy firms either cut the energy supply or fit prepaid meters.

In a press release, Ofgem said: “These are extremely serious allegations from The Times. We are launching an urgent investigation into British Gas and we won’t hesitate to take firm enforcement action. It is unacceptable for any supplier to impose forced installations on vulnerable customers struggling to pay their bills before all other options have been exhausted and without carrying out thorough checks to ensure it is safe and practicable to do so.”

The energy watchdog says they have launched a major market-wide review, investigating the rapid growth in prepaid meter installations.

“We are clear that suppliers must work hard to look after their customers at this time, especially those who are vulnerable. The energy crisis is no excuse for unacceptable behaviour towards any customer, particularly those in vulnerable circumstances,” the statement read.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Beijing on Friday said it regrets the “unintended entry” of a Chinese airship into US airspace.

“It is a civilian airship used for research, mainly meteorological, purposes,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

“Affected by the Westerlies and with limited self-steering capability, the airship deviated far from its planned course,” it added.

The Pentagon earlier said it was tracking a suspected Chinese high-altitude surveillance balloon over continental US.

“The Chinese side regrets the unintended entry of the airship into US airspace due to force majeure,” the statement said.

Beijing will “continue communicating with the US side and properly handle this unexpected situation caused by force majeure,” it added.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Pope Francis on Friday landed in South Sudan, the world’s youngest country and one of its most troubled, hoping to spur a stalled peace push and draw global attention to a devastating humanitarian crisis.

His flight from neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo landed in the capital Juba at around 3 p.m. local time (1300GMT), where thousands gathered to welcome him, including President Salva Kiir Mayardit.

The pope will spend three days in South Sudan, along with Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and Rt. Rev. Iain Greenshields, moderator of the Church of Scotland, on an ecumenical pilgrimage for peace.

In DR Congo, Francis called for forgiveness and a need to break what he termed a “cycle of violence.”

He urged Africa’s youth to craft a new future by overcoming ethnic rivalries and rooting out corruption, identifying them as the main issues fueling bloody conflicts on the continent.

Francis will remain in Juba until Sunday, where he will hold meetings with various officials, diplomats, church leaders, and civil groups, as well as people affected by the violence that has plagued South Sudan for years.

Source: Anadolu Agency