Map of turkey and syria border

EU warned over Turkey cash pledges as VDL ‘shovels money’ into Erdogan’s pockets

March 23, 2023 by www.express.co.uk Leave a Comment

Flood waters rage in Turkey after February’s deadly earthquakes

Invalid email

We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info

Brussels has been warned to be “very wary” about approving funds to Turkey in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan should not be trusted to use the money wisely, it has been warned. The European Union and international donors on Monday pledged €7 billion (£6.2 billion) to help Turkey and Syria in the aftermath of the earthquake that devastated parts of the neighbouring countries last month.

The European Commission said after the fundraising conference in Brussels that €6.05 billion of the total pledge will be going to Turkey, in grants and loans.

The Commission added: “The European Commission and the EU Member States, as well as the European Investment Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development represent more than 50 percent of this total pledge of grants, with €3.6 billion euros.”

But in a warning to the Commission over disbursing funds to Ankara, Dr Alan Mendoza, Executive Director of the Henry Jackson Society, told Express.co.uk the bloc should be “very wary about shovelling money into Mr Erdogan’s pockets”.

He said: “While nobody can fail to be moved by the scale of human suffering caused by Turkey’s earthquake, the EU should be very wary about shovelling money into Mr Erdogan’s pockets in terms of relief.

Ursula von der Leyen pledged funds to Turkey to rebuild the country after the earthquake and floods (Image: Getty)

Erdogan put the cost of reconstruction at $104 billion (Image: Getty)

“The disaster has highlighted the corruption endemic in Turkish infrastructure projects seeing as earthquake preparations that should have been in place were mishandled.

“Any funds sent to Erdogan should therefore be carefully scrutinised and only released in tranches where it has been proven they have been used for the purposes intended.”

The magnitude 7.8 earthquake on February 6 killed more than 52,000 people — the vast majority in Turkey.

Nearly 300,000 buildings in Turkey either collapsed or were severely damaged, according to the country’s president.

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said at the time: “We have shown to the people in Turkey and Syria that we are supporting those in need.”

Survivors of the earthquake in rebel-held northwest Syria have received very little assistance because of deep divisions exacerbated by the country’s 12-year war. The EU said 15.3 million Syrians of a population of 21.3 million already required humanitarian assistance before the earthquake struck.

The bloc has been providing humanitarian aid to Syria since 2011 and wants to step it up. But it does not intend to help with reconstruction in the war-torn country, with EU sanctions against the Syrian regime of President Bashar Assad in place due to its continued crackdown against civilians.

Von der Leyen said the Commission pledged an additional €108 million in humanitarian aid for Syria on Monday.

Turkey ratifies Finland NATO bid, but awaits final parliament approval

March 23, 2023 by www.euronews.com Leave a Comment

The Turkish parliament’s foreign affairs commission approved a bill ratifying Finland’s bid to join NATO Thursday, according to state broadcaster TRT Haber . The bill is still waiting on approval from the parliament’s general assembly.

The move comes as Finnish President Sauli Niinistö formally sealed the Nordic nation’s historic bid to join the military alliance, Thursday, signing into law the required national legal amendments needed for membership of NATO.

Turkey and Hungary are the only two of NATO’s 30 existing members who haven’t ratified Finland’s bid. Admitting new countries requires unanimous approval from the alliance members, and the parliaments in Ankara and Budapest haven’t yet given the green light.

After delays of several months, the Hungarian parliament is finally expected to approve the Finnish accession into NATO on 27 March.

Despite, backing Finland joining NATO, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has held off approving Sweden’s bid. It isn’t clear either when Budapest will ratify Stockholm’s bid.

Last week Niinistö visited Ankara , where Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan pledged to move forward with ratifying Finland’s application, ahead of Turkey’s presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for 14 May.

Finland’s 200-seat Eduskunta parliament endorsed the country’s NATO bid with an overwhelming 184-7 majority at the beginning of March .

Finland and neighboring Sweden applied to become NATO members 10 months ago in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, abandoning decades of nonalignment.

This is seen by many experts as one of the biggest geopolitical ramifications of Moscow’s war in Ukraine. Finland’s border with Russia runs for a total of 1,340 kilometers (832 miles).

Finland and Sweden are close partners culturally, economically and politically. They submitted their bids together and planned to join the alliance at the same time.

On Wednesday, Swedish lawmakers overwhelmingly voted in favor of Sweden joining NATO , signing off on the country’s membership along with the required legislation.

Drone strike kills US contractor in Syria; US retaliates

March 23, 2023 by www.denverpost.com Leave a Comment

By LOU KESTEN and JON GAMBRELL (Associated Press)

WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. contractor was killed and five U.S. service members and one other U.S. contractor were wounded when a suspected Iranian drone struck a facility on a coalition base in northeast Syria on Thursday, the Pentagon said.

In a statement released late Thursday, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said U.S. Central Command forces retaliated with “precision airstrikes” against facilities in eastern Syria used by groups affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. The Defense Department said the intelligence community had determined the unmanned aerial vehicle was of Iranian origin.

“The airstrikes were conducted in response to today’s attack as well as a series of recent attacks against Coalition forces in Syria” by groups affiliated with the Revolutionary Guard, Austin said.

Overnight, videos on social media purported to show explosions in Syria’s Deir Ez-Zor, a strategic province that borders Iraq and contains oil fields.

Iran-backed militia groups and Syrian forces control the area, which also has seen suspected airstrikes by Israel in recent months allegedly targeting Iranian supply routes.

Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, which answers only to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has been suspected of carrying out attacks with bomb-carrying drones across the wider Middle East. In recent months, Russia has begun using Iranian drones in its attacks on sites across Ukraine as part of its war on Kyiv. Iran has denied being responsible for these attacks, though Western nations and experts have tied components in the drones back to Tehran.

The attack and the U.S. response threaten to upend recent efforts in the region to deescalate tensions, as Saudi Arabia and Iran have been working toward reopening embassies in each other’s countries. The kingdom also acknowledged efforts to reopen its embassy in Syria, whose embattled President Bashar Assad has been backed by Iran in his country’s long war.

U.S. Army Gen. Michael “Erik” Kurilla, the head of the American military’s Central Command, warned that American forces could carry out additional strikes if needed. “We are postured for scalable options in the face of any additional Iranian attacks,” Kurilla said in a statement.

Syria’s state-run SANA news agency did not immediately acknowledge any strikes. Syria’s mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

There was no immediate reaction from Iran over the strikes, which come during the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Qatar’s state-run news agency reported a call between its foreign minister and Jake Sullivan, the U.S. national security adviser. Doha has been an interlocutor between Iran and the U.S. recently amid tensions over Tehran’s nuclear program.

Qatar’s foreign minister also spoke around the same time with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian.

Austin said he authorized the retaliatory strikes at the direction of President Joe Biden.

The U.S. under Biden has struck Syria previously over tensions with Iran. In February and June of 2021, as well as August 2022, Biden launched attacks there.

U.S. forces entered Syria in 2015, backing allied forces in their fight against the Islamic State group. The U.S. still maintains the base near Hasakah in northeast Syria where Thursday’s drone strike happened. There are roughly 900 U.S. troops, and even more contractors, in Syria, including in the north and farther south and east.

“As President Biden has made clear, we will take all necessary measures to defend our people and will always respond at a time and place of our choosing,” Austin said. “No group will strike our troops with impunity.”

Syria’s war began with the 2011 Arab Spring protests that roiled the wider Middle East and toppled governments in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and Yemen. It later morphed into a regional proxy conflict that has seen Russia and Iran back Assad. The United Nations estimates over 300,000 civilians have been killed in the war. Those figures do not include soldiers and insurgents killed in the conflict; their numbers are believed to be in the tens of thousands.

The Pentagon said two of the wounded service members were treated on site, while three others and the injured contractor were transported to medical facilities in Iraq.

Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Met Office warn of ‘snow on Sunday’ as weather maps show where it’s coming

March 23, 2023 by www.dailystar.co.uk Leave a Comment

The Met Office has warned that snow could hit parts of the UK this Sunday (March 26) as temperatures take an icy plunge.

The UK’s weather agency said that Brits should expect cold air and some wintry showers to hit the north of the UK over the coming weekend.

Their forecast for this weekend reads: “Sunny spells and scattered, heavy showers on Saturday, perhaps more persistent rain in the south later. Giving way to colder air and some wintry showers Sunday, mainly north and east.”

Weather modelling maps and data from WXCharts go further, telling Scots to expect up to 2cm of snow per hour in and around Edinburgh, while the rest of the country should expect between 0.2cm and 0.6cm per hour flurries at times.

WXCharts also expect snow to hit near Newcastle and Manchester for a brief period in the afternoon on Sunday.

The flurries are expected to form over Scotland in the morning on Sunday before drifting southward and impacting some in the north of England.

Northerly winds could see the mercury plummet to -10C in Scotland and -1C south of the border.

While the Met Office has not yet issued a weather warning for Sunday or any other day this week, the latest forecast comes just hours after forecasters warned that the mild conditions Brits have been experiencing are set to come to an end.

A large front of wintery weather, similar to that experienced earlier this month, is expected to sweep in from the north as this month comes to an end.

Netweather forecaster Nick Finnis said that the UK should expect to end March on a cold note

His forecast for March 27 to April 2 reads: “With low pressure over Scandinavia, it looks likely that northerly winds will blow more frequently than usual, resulting in below average temperatures for much of the week.

“There will be plenty of dry sunny weather in western and northern parts of the UK in particular, but potential for cloudier weather for the south and east, also with some wintry showers developing at times when we get northerly and north-westerly outbreaks.

“Temperatures are forecast to be below average everywhere, probably by around 2C in most parts of the country.”

For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletter by clicking here .

READ NEXT:

Assistant Town Planner, 2 Others Held For 8l Bribe | Chandigarh News – Times of India

March 23, 2023 by timesofindia.indiatimes.com Leave a Comment

Assistant town planner, 2 others held for Rs 8 lakh bribe in Punjab

Representative image.

CHANDIGARH: The Punjab vigilance bureau on Wednesday arrested Ravi Pankaj Sharma, assistant town planner (ATP) of Jalandhar, and his two accomplices – Kunal
The probe agency has also formed teams to arrest Ashish Arora, the fourth accused in the case. The arrested accused were produced in court, which sent them on five-day police remand.Complainant Narinder Singh, director, Castle Heritage Company and a resident of
Narinder said he received a letter dated January 20, 2023 from the ATP Jalandhar mentioning that the municipal corporation had received a complaint suggesting that Bath Castle had been constructed without the approval of MC and the company was asked to submit the approved map plan and completion certificate within three days. Thereafter, I met the ATP and showed me a complaint made by private persons Kohli, Arora and Arvind Sharma, said Narinder.