Day: March 29, 2023

The cholera outbreak in eastern and southern Africa isn't just an outbreak -- it's an emergency for children, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said Tuesday. In a statement, UNICEF called for flexible funding to help not just protect more children and communities in need but devise more resilient systems to protect children in the future. 'For children, the risk is high,' it said, warning that the needs in affected communities in eastern and southern Africa are growing. The agency appealed for $171 million to respond to the increasing needs of 28 million people, including children and families in the region impacted by cholera. The funds will be allocated toward the provision of lifesaving water, sanitation and hygiene, health, risk communication, nutrition, child protection and education services for women and children affected by the outbreak. It said while generous partners have already contributed $18.3 million to support the cholera response, a regional funding gap needs to be swiftly bridged to broaden an effective response. 'Help us eradicate cholera and remove this burden from children and families who are already carrying too much,' UNICEF said. The worst cholera outbreaks to hit the region in years have been reported in 11 countries including Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Roughly 67,822 cases have been recorded with 1,788 estimated deaths, according to the UN agency's recent data. The current cholera epidemics are spreading in a context of extreme climatic events such as severe drought in the greater Horn of Africa and seasonal rains and tropical storms in southern Africa, according to the World Health Organization.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday denied any tension in relations with the United States, saying their alliance is 'unshakable'. 'Israel and the United States have had their occasional differences, but I want to assure you that the alliance between the world's greatest democracy and a strong, proud and independent democracy, Israel, in the heart of the Middle East, is unshakable. Nothing can change that,' Netanyahu said in a speech to the US State Department's Democracy Summit. He termed US President Joe Biden as his 'friend of 40 years.' Netanyahu's statements came amid reports about tension in Israeli-US ties over judicial overhaul proposed by the Israeli government, which triggered mass protests in Israel over the past weeks. US President Joe Biden said he will not receive Netanyahu at the White House soon, in a sign of US protest against the proposed judicial reform. On Monday, Netanyahu bowed to pressure and announced a temporary halt to the judicial overhaul plans.

Source: Anadolu Agency

European Union member states Croatia and Slovenia expressed their desire Tuesday to tackle irregular migration together. Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob and Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic met in Slovenia's Kranj region. In a joint press conference after the meeting, Golob and Plenkovic said they were willing to sign a police cooperation agreement. ''We will agree on joint police cooperation with Italy and Slovenia so our units can fight against irregular migration,'' said Plenkovic. He added that Croatia has 6,700 police officers and significant technological equipment to protect the countries in the Schengen Area from irregular migration. Golob noted that the number of irregular migrants entering Slovenia has increased. ''Together with Italy, we, as three countries, are looking for a way to follow the irregular migration corridors from the Bosnia-Herzegovina border to Italy,'' he said. He added that the final destination of irregular migrants is Italy.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Trkiye on Wednesday said it was ready to assist Hungary with natural gas delivery via the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP). "We, (Trkiye) together with Azerbaijan, are ready to provide all means of support in the delivery of natural gas to Hungary via TANAP," President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at a joint press conference with his visiting Hungarian counterpart Katalin Novak at the presidential complex in the capital Ankara. Hailing the longstanding ties between the two countries, Erdogan said the "helping hand" Hungary extended Trkiye after twin devastating earthquakes in February was the "solid example" of these strong relations. The 7.7 and 7.6 magnitude earthquakes struck 11 Turkish provinces - Adana, Adiyaman, Diyarbakir, Elazig, Hatay, Gaziantep, Kahramanmaras, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye, and Sanliurfa, claiming more than 50,000 lives. Over 13.5 million people in Trkiye have been affected by the quakes, as well as many others in northern Syria. "We discussed various aspects of Trkiye-Hungary relations at the meetings we held today," he added. Trade, military, economic, and cultural relations, were also on the agenda in the meeting between the two leaders, during which they watched footage from the earthquake, Erdogan noted. They also affirmed their common will to further strengthen ties based on an enhanced strategic partnership, Erdogan said, adding that the two countries agreed to hold a sixth meeting of their High Level Strategic Cooperation Council in the Hungarian capital Budapest in December. "We will celebrate 2024 as the year of Common Culture," said Erdogan, stressing that economic and commercial relations between Trkiye and Hungary were getting stronger. "Our trade volume reached $3.5 billion last year. We discussed steps to be taken with the aim of achieving our joint goal of $6 billion," Erdogan said. Erdogan also said that he and Novak emphasized the importance of developing cooperation between the two NATO allies in the defense industry. The Turkish president also said his country expects Hungary to "increasingly continue its support for making progress in the positive agenda in Trkiye-EU relations." Asked about Russia's war on Ukraine, President Erdogan said Ankara wanted to bring Moscow and Kyiv to start negotiations and "end the war with peace at the table." For her part, President Novak hailed Trkiye's role in the Black Sea grain initiative and urged an immediate cease-fire between Russia and Ukraine. She further noted that Trkiye was "indispensable for Hungary's energy security" and noted that her country needed the Turkish Stream. Novak also recalled Trkiye's role in combatting illegal migration, saying the country is "key" in preventing it. On NATO, Novak said her country favored the enlargement of the alliance and called for steps to be taken in this direction. Pointing to the Hungarian parliament's recent approval of Finland's bid to join NATO, Novak said: "A positive decision has been made in Hungary regarding Finland joining (the alliance), and the issue of Swedish accession is on the agenda and discussions are ongoing in the Hungarian parliament." Abandoning decades of military non-alignment, Finland and Sweden formally applied to join NATO last May. But Trkiye, a longstanding NATO member, asked the two Nordic countries to take concrete action against terrorist groups like the PKK and the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO). In June, Finland and Sweden signed a memorandum with Trkiye to address Ankara's security concerns, and senior diplomats and officials from the three countries have held various meetings since then to discuss the implementation of the trilateral agreement. Sweden passed an anti-terror law last November, hoping that Ankara would approve Stockholm's bid to join NATO. The new law, which will go into force on June 1, will allow Swedish authorities to prosecute individuals who support terrorist organizations. Trkiye said earlier this month that it would approve the process of Finland's NATO membership protocol in parliament.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Kiev has made it abundantly clear it cannot wage a counteroffensive without more weapons and ammunition from the West. The West, especially Washington, has shown no interest in a negotiated end to the conflict. In the meantime, Ukraine becomes smaller and smaller.

Source: Russia Today