International

Several Palestinians were martyred at Tuesday dawn as a result of the Israeli occupation aircraft bombing a house in the city of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip.Palestinian medical sources reported that four citizens, including two children, were martyred and several others were injured after the occupation bombed a house west of Rafah.The death toll from the ongoing Israeli occupation aggression against the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7 has risen to 32,845 martyrs and 75,392 injured, while thousands are still missing under the rubble and on the roads. The occupation forces are preventing ambulance teams from reaching them.

The Israeli occupation army carried out a massive, shockingly horrific military operation in Al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City over the course of the past two weeks, indiscriminately targeting and attacking Palestinians regardless of their civilian status, professional standing, gender, age, or health condition, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor said.Though the exact number of casualties from the atrocity is still unknown, preliminary reports suggest that over 1,500 Palestinians have been martyred, injured, or are reported missing as a result of the massacre at Al-Shifa, with women and children making up half of the casualties, Euro-Med Monitor said in a statement Monday.The massacre claimed the lives of at least 22 patients who were martyred in their hospital beds during the Israeli siege of the Medical Complex, amid the willful deprivation of their access to food, medical care, and supplies. The occupation army also purposefully prevented relief teams and representatives of international organisations from entering Al-Shifa to carry out humanitarian missions or evacuations, plus purposefully cleared the Complex of all working personnel particularly medical personnel either by summary execution or forced displacement or arrest, Euro-Med Monitor said.Al-Shifa Medical Complex is currently out of service due to the Israeli occupation army bombing and setting fire to every one of its buildings, including the mortuary and all internal and external courtyards and corridors, it added.Members of the Israeli army forced more than 25,000 Palestinian civilians to evacuate their homes in the vicinity of Al-Shifa Medical Complex. These forced evacuations occurred after Israel committed horrendous crimes against local families, including killing, direct targeting, besieging, and starving them, as well as arbitrary arrests and destroying and burning homes and civilian objects. According to initial estimates, the Israeli army demolished and set ablaze over 1,200 housing units in the vicinity of Al-Shifa Medical Complex, the Geneva-based organization said.Israel is still implementing its policy to forcefully evacuate the people of Gaza City and the surrounding areas, through forced displacement orders, extensive military operations, starvation, siege, and denial of the basic necessities of life, including medical care, Euro-Med Monitor said.Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor said that the international community must act swiftly and forcefully to defend Palestinian civilians against the genocide that Israel has been committing in the Gaza Strip for the past six months, an apply genuine pressure on Israel to cease its grave crimes in the region.

China has expressed strong opposition to the latest US revised rules on semiconductor export rules, saying that it will disrupt the global semiconductor market as well as cooperation between enterprises.The latest revision of semiconductor export controls came less than six months after the United States introduced the rules on Oct. 17, 2023, said China's Ministry of Commerce on Sunday.Global companies, including the US ones, need a stable and predictable business environment, but the United States has overstretched the concept of national security and arbitrarily revised the rules to tighten control measures, setting more obstacles for the normal trade cooperation between Chinese and American enterprises, imposing a heavier compliance burden and bringing remarkable uncertainties in the global semiconductor sector, it noted.The semiconductor sector is highly globalized after decades of growth and this is the result of the law of the market and the choice of enterprises, it said.As the world's largest semiconductor market, China is willing to work with all sides to boost mutually beneficial cooperation and promote the security and stability of the global semiconductor industrial chain and supply chain, it said.

Iran strongly condemned the attack carried out by the Israeli entity on the building of the Iranian consulate in Syria on Monday.In a statement reported by state-run IRNA news agency, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nasser Kanaani said: "Iran, while reserving its rights to take countermeasures, will decide on the type of reaction and punishment of the aggressor."He described this heinous attack as a gross violation of international regulations, especially the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations."This action should be condemned in the strongest terms by the international community and the United Nations, and necessary action should be taken against the aggressor," Kanaani stressed.He added that the dimensions of this attack are being investigated and the responsibility for its consequences lies with the Israeli entity.Earlier on Monday, the Israeli entity targeted the building of the Iranian consulate in the Syrian capital, Damascus, completely destroying it and leaving several killed and injured.

Senior opposition Indian politician Arvind Kejriwal was moved to a high-security prison Monday after his arrest last month, a case supporters say is politically motivated and that comes ahead of elections.Kejriwal, 55, chief minister of the capital Delhi, had been held since his arrest on March 21 by the Enforcement Directorate, India's main financial crimes agency.On Monday he was transferred to prison for 14 days as investigations continue, his party said."Arvind Kejriwal has been sent to judicial custody for 14 days," Sanjeev Nasiar, legal chief of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), or Common Man Party, told reporters.Kejriwal's government is accused of receiving kickbacks while handing out liquor licences to private companies.His supporters say Kejriwal's arrest was aimed at sidelining challengers to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.Kejriwal, who denies the allegations, is a key leader in an opposition alliance formed to challenge Modi in the marathon six-week national elections beginning April 19.AAP's Nasiar said this party can now apply for bail for Kejriwal, but it was not immediately clear what will happen once the initial 14 days in prison comes to an end -- just days before voting begins.Many analysts see Modi's re-election as a foregone conclusion.

Turkey was at a "turning point" Monday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said after the opposition fighting his two-decade rule swept municipal elections in Istanbul, the country's emblematic megapolis, and other major cities.Near-final results showed the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) wresting the main cities and Anatolian provinces that were strongholds for Erdogan's Islamic conservative AKP party.Top urban centres Istanbul, capital Ankara, Adana, Bursa and Antalya were among municipalities to elect CHP mayors Sunday, less than a year after the knockback of a failed presidential challenge last May.Observers called it Erdogan's worst election defeat since his party took power in 2002.Many blamed inflation running at 67 percent and a crashing devaluation of the lira currency over the past year.Pro-government dailies Hurriyet and Yeni Safah on Monday highlighted the voters' "message" to incumbents.The result "can only be explained by the economy," wrote Abdulkadir Selvi, a commentator for pro-government daily Hurriyet seen as close to the Erdogan camp."A new wind has blown" through Turkey and the government now faces "a new political equation", he added.Erdogan himself acknowledged a "turning point" and vowed to "respect the decision of the nation".- 'Revolution at the ballot box' –Secular nationalist daily Sozcu, which opposes Erdogan, splashed "revolution at the ballot box" across its front page, while major opposition paper Cumhuriyet hailed a "historic victory".Victory for the CHP may have been expected in the economic and political capitals Istanbul and Ankara, which they claimed in 2019, but observers saw the broader anti-Erdogan surge as the strongest in almost 50 years, redrawing the electoral map.Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, the opposition's champion since taking the mayor's seat in Istanbul five years ago in a hard-fought battle, now looks set for a presidential run in 2028.The vote "marks the end of democratic erosion in Turkey and the resurgence of democracy," Imamoglu told supporters overnight, saying his victory had "immense significance".In Ankara, CHP mayor Mansur Yavas also bolstered his standing, topping his AKP opponent."We're going to see a race between Imamoglu and Yavas" for leadership, Hurriyet commentator Selvi wrote."Imamoglu is Erdogan's opponent in the country's next national elections," Soner Cagaptay of the Washington Institute posted on X.The Istanbul mayor "has a chance to become Turkey's president... Turkey never fails to surprise - (the) game is on," he added.Erdogan, who came to power as prime minister in 2003 before becoming president in 2014, said in early March that these municipal elections would be his last.The 70-year-old leader told dismayed supporters overnight that they "must not waste" the four years remaining before the next presidential vote.

MacMillan A digital tool considered vital in tracking viral falsehoods, CrowdTangle will be decommissioned by Facebook owner Meta in a major election year, a move researchers fear will disrupt efforts to detect an expected firehose of political misinformation.The tech giant says CrowdTangle will be unavailable after August 14, less than three months before the US election. The Palo Alto company plans to replace it with a new tool that researchers say lacks the same functionality, and which news organizations will largely not have access to.CrowdTangle has been a game-changer for years, offering researchers and journalists crucial real-time transparency into the spread of conspiracy theories and hate speech on influential Meta-owned platforms, including Facebook and Instagram.Killing off the monitoring tool, a move experts say is in line with a tech industry trend of rolling back transparency and security measures, is a major blow as dozens of countries hold elections this year -- a period when bad actors typically spread false narratives more than ever.In a year where elections are taking place in dozens of countries that are home to almost half the global population, "cutting off access to CrowdTangle will severely limit independent oversight of harms," Melanie Smith, director of research at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, told AFP."It represents a grave step backwards for social media platform transparency."Meta is set to replace CrowdTangle with a new Content Library, a technology still under development.It's a tool that some in the tech industry, including former CrowdTangle chief executive Brandon Silverman, said is currently not an effective replacement, especially in elections likely to see a proliferation of AI-enabled falsehoods."It's an entire new muscle" that Meta is yet to build to protect the integrity of elections, Silverman told AFP, calling for "openness and transparency."- 'Direct threat' –In recent election cycles, researchers say CrowdTangle alerted them to harmful activities including foreign interference, online harassment and incitements to violence.By its own admission, Meta -- which bought CrowdTangle in 2016 -- said that in 2019 elections in Louisiana, the tool helped state officials identify misinformation, such as inaccurate poll hours that had been posted online.In the 2020 presidential vote, the company offered the tool to US election officials across all states to help them "quickly identify misinformation, voter interference and suppression."The tool also made dashboards available to the public to track what major candidates were posting on their official and campaign pages.Lamenting the risk of losing these functions forever, global nonprofit Mozilla Foundation demanded in an open letter to Meta that CrowdTangle be retained at least until January 2025."Abandoning CrowdTangle while the Content Library lacks so much of CrowdTangle's core functionality undermines the fundamental principle of transparency," said the letter signed by dozens of tech watchdogs and researchers.The new tool lacks CrowdTangle features including robust search flexibility and decommissioning it would be a "direct threat" to the integrity of elections, it added.Meta spokesperson Andy Stone said the letter's claims are "just wrong," insisting the Content Library will contain "more comprehensive data than CrowdTangle" and be made available to academics and non-profit election integrity experts.- 'Lot of concerns' –Meta, which has been moving away from news across its platforms, will not make the new tool accessible to for-profit media.Journalists have used CrowdTangle in the past to investigate public health crises as well as human rights abuses and natural disasters.Meta's decision to cut off journalists comes after many used CrowdTangle to report unflattering stories, including its flailing moderation efforts and how its gaming app was overrun with pirated content.CrowdTangle has been a crucial source of data that helped "hold Meta accountable for enforcing its policies," Tim Harper, a senior policy analyst at the Center for Democracy and Technology, told AFP.Organizations that debunk misinformation as part of Meta's third-party fact-checking program, including AFP, will have access to the Content Library.But other researchers and nonprofits will have to apply for access or look for expensive alternatives. Two researchers told AFP under condition of anonymity that in one-on-one meetings with Meta officials, they demanded firm commitments from company officials."While most fact-checkers already working with Meta will have access to the new tool, it's not super clear if many independent researchers -- already worried about losing CrowdTangle's functionality -- will," Carlos Hernandez-Echevarria, head of the Spanish nonprofit Maldita, told AFP."It has generated a lot of concerns."

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) renewed its call for dialogue and diplomacy to stop the escalation in violence between Lebanon and the Israeli entity.UNIFIL said in a statement that with the escalation of violence across the Blue Line, they renew their commitment to dialogue and diplomacy and remain ready to support efforts toward a sustainable solution.Two days ago, the official UNIFIL Spokesperson Andrea Tenenti announced that three Observer Group Lebanon (OGL) from the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) military observers and one Lebanese language assistant on a foot patrol along the Blue Line were injured when an explosion occurred near their location.The UNIFIL was created by the UN Security Council (UNSC) in 1978 to confirm Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, restore international peace and security and assist the Lebanese Government in restoring its effective authority in the area. The mandate had to be adjusted twice, due to the developments in 1982 and 2000.In 2006, the UNSC enhanced the Force and decided that the mandate would among other things, monitor the cessation of hostilities in addition to accompanying and supporting the Lebanese armed forces as they deploy throughout the south of Lebanon.UNIFIL renews call for dialogue, diplomacy to stop escalation between Lebanon, Israeli entityThe United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) renewed its call for dialogue and diplomacy to stop the escalation in violence between Lebanon and the Israeli entity.UNIFIL said in a statement that with the escalation of violence across the Blue Line, they renew their commitment to dialogue and diplomacy and remain ready to support efforts toward a sustainable solution.Two days ago, the official UNIFIL Spokesperson Andrea Tenenti announced that three Observer Group Lebanon (OGL) from the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) military observers and one Lebanese language assistant on a foot patrol along the Blue Line were injured when an explosion occurred near their location.The UNIFIL was created by the UN Security Council (UNSC) in 1978 to confirm Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, restore international peace and security and assist the Lebanese Government in restoring its effective authority in the area. The mandate had to be adjusted twice, due to the developments in 1982 and 2000.In 2006, the UNSC enhanced the Force and decided that the mandate would among other things, monitor the cessation of hostilities in addition to accompanying and supporting the Lebanese armed forces as they deploy throughout the south of Lebanon.

One person was killed in an airstrike carried out by the Israeli entity on Sunday in southern Lebanon.Local sources explained that a drone belonging to the Israeli entity targeted a car in the town of Kounine in southern Lebanon, resulting in the death of a person inside.Israeli warplanes also launched rocket strikes targeting the towns of Blida and Meiss El Jabal, while artillery belonging to the Israeli army targeted the outskirts of the town of Wazzani.The Israeli entity continues to escalate its aggression on towns and villages in southern Lebanon, coinciding with its relentless and brutal aggression on the Gaza Strip since October 7th last year, resulting in casualties and injuries among civilians and forcing hundreds of families to flee their homes.

Thousands of Palestinians performed the Isha and Tarawih prayers in the Al Aqsa Mosque, despite the restrictions and constraints of the Israeli occupation.In a statement on Sunday, Islamic Endowments Department in Jerusalem said that 40,000 citizens performed the isha and tarawih prayers in Al Aqsa Mosque and its covered prayer rooms.Eyewitnesses said that the occupation forces deployed at the gates of Al Aqsa Mosque and in the Old City, and searched a number of citizens, while they were arriving to pray in the Al Aqsa Mosque.A number of those prevented from praying in Al Aqsa Mosque also performed prayers in the vicinity of the mosque.The occupation measures caused a decrease in the number of worshipers at Al Aqsa Mosque as a result of preventing citizens of the West Bank and Gaza Strip from reaching occupied Jerusalem, in addition to setting dozens of checkpoints in its various neighborhoods and at its entrances and the entrances to the doors of the Al Aqsa Mosque.

The Pakistani authorities revealed that ten people were killed and 12 others were injured due to heavy rain and snowstorms in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.According to official reports, the rain and snowstorms that have been affecting the province for the past two days have resulted in the death of eight children and two women. Nine children were left injured as well as two women and a man. Twenty-seven homes were damaged.The rain and snowstorms came after an earthquake measuring 4.9 on the Richter scale hit the Swat District and its surrounding areas in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province last Thursday.

The children of Gaza have little to eat, have had to flee their homes and have survived nearly six months of terrifying Israeli bombardment.But for a few precious minutes children in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the centre of the Gaza Strip laughed and yelped with joy.Clowns and acrobats performed for them in the courtyard of a school where their displaced families have been sheltering the bombing.The unrelenting war has taken a terrible toll on Gaza’s children. Most of the more than 32,782 people killed in the besieged territory since the October first week storming of Israel by Hamas fighters have been women and children.But for once they could forget all that horror as performers in rabbit costumes led them in a conga, pushing one injured boy in a wheelchair.Then it was then the turn of clown Omar al-Saidi to tickle their funny bones with zany antics at the expense of another jester.Wassim Lobed, whose support group organised the show and who acted as compere, said: “Traumas are beginning to appear on children so we are trying to provide psychological relief.“We hope to God that this war will end for the sake of our children in Gaza,” he added.So deep is the mental suffering of Gaza’s children that some hope to die quickly to escape the “nightmare”, a spokesman for the UN child welfare agency said on Tuesday.“The unspeakable is regularly said in Gaza” now, said Unicef spokesman James Elder, who is in the territory. After meeting young people, he said several teenagers said they were “so desperate for this nightmare to end that they hoped to be killed”.But Saidi, whose clown name is Uncle Zaatar, said he hoped the show had lifted some of that “burden” from the children’s shoulders.As the children clapped and cheered at the end, he said he hoped the “smile will remain on their faces forever”.

Workers have lifted out the first, 200-tonne chunk of Baltimore’s collapsed bridge, officials said yesterday, as efforts get underway to clear the harbour of the steel structure destroyed by an out-of-control ship.Demolition crews using blow torches sliced through the upper part of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, which crumbled when the Dali cargo vessel lost power and struck it on Tuesday, killing six people.Authorities hope that removing the bridge — by cutting it into smaller sections and lifting them out — will help rescuers recover all the victims’ bodies as well as reopen the crucial shipping lane.“The first lift was made last night after the cutting of the top portion of one of the northern sections of the Key Bridge was completed,” said US Coast Guard spokeswoman Kimberly Reaves in a statement.“The piece removed last night was approximately 200 tonnes,” she said, adding it would be moved to a barge that, once filled with additional pieces, would be taken to a debris-holding site on land.As salvage operations continued yesterday, Maryland Governor Wes Moore said that “progress is beginning to happen despite the fact that it’s an incredibly complicated situation.” He said adverse weather conditions and underwater debris meant divers were unable to assist.Moore told CNN that a huge crane — the Chesapeake 1,000 that can lift 1,000 pounds — was being used in the salvage operation.Video footage shared on Saturday by the Unified Command — the overall response team that includes the US Coast Guard — showed sparks flying as crews suspended in cages cut through an upper section of bridge.Moore said the recovery would be a “long road,” adding “but movement is happening.” The difficult conditions have hampered efforts to recover the bodies of the road workers — all Latino immigrants — who died when the bridge collapsed, with just two of six bodies recovered so far.Shipping in and out of Baltimore — one of the United States’ busiest ports — has been halted, with the waterway impassable due to the sprawling wreckage.Moore told MSNBC yesterday that his priorities were recovering the victims’ bodies before reopening the channel.“It’s impacting the nation’s economy. It’s the largest port for new cars, heavy trucks, agricultural equipment. It’s impacting people all over the country,” he said.The ship veered towards the bridge due to power trouble, with the pilot issuing a Mayday call that allowed some road traffic to be stopped just before the collision at 1:30am after which the structure collapsed in seconds.Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told “Face the Nation” on CBS that there was no timeline to clear the harbour and reopen the port.“It takes a lot to make sure that it can be dismantled safely, to make sure that the vessel stays where it is supposed to be and doesn’t swing out into the channel, but it has to be done,” he said.

Some 9,000 patients in the Gaza Strip require evacuation for emergency care, with the war-torn Palestinian territory down to just 10 barely functioning hospitals, the head of the WHO said.“With only 10 hospitals minimally functional across the whole of #Gaza, thousands of patients continue to be deprived of health care,” World Health Organisation Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on X.Before the war, Gaza had 36 hospitals, according to the WHO.“Around 9,000 patients urgently need to be evacuated abroad for lifesaving health services, including treatment for cancer, injuries from bombardments, kidney dialysis and other chronic conditions,” he said.That is up from 8,000 in the WHO’s previous assessment at the beginning of March.Israel vowed to eliminate Hamas after the group’s unprecedented October first week storming of Israel, and has been bombing Gaza without respite, damaging many healthcare facilities.Violent ground combat has also been underway for weeks, sometimes around Gaza’s hospitals, which are also providing refuge for thousands who have lost their homes or fled the fighting.Gaza is subject to an almost complete blockade, and NGOs and the United Nations accuse Israel of preventing the delivery of humanitarian aid needed by the 2.4mn inhabitants who are mostly massed in Rafah at the territory’s southern tip. Israel has defended its policies as it pursues its stated goal of destroying Hamas, saying the UN should send more aid to Gaza, pushing back on reports by the UN and NGOs that cumbersome Israeli inspections are blocking food and other essentials. Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 32,705 people, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry.Tedros said that “so far, over 3,400 patients have been referred abroad through Rafah, including 2,198 wounded and 1,215 ill. But many more need to be evacuated.“We urge Israel to speed up approvals for evacuations, so that critical patients can be treated. Every moment matters.”Before the war, 50-100 patients a day were transferred to East Jerusalem or the West Bank, half of them for cancer treatment.

Pope Francis urged the world to resist “the logic of weapons” in his Easter message at the Vatican yesterday, easing growing health fears as he greeted thousands of Catholics.The 87-year-old’s “Urbi et Orbi” (To the City and the World) blessing came after he led Easter Mass in front of 60,000 worshippers at Saint Peter’s Square while appearing in good spirits.In his traditional speech broadcasted worldwide, Francis condemned war as “always an absurdity and a defeat”, raising conflicts in Ukraine, Gaza, Sudan, Myanmar and beyond. He renewed appeals for a ceasefire in Gaza, calling for greater aid deliveries to the devastated territory and the release of hostages.The civilian population is “now at the limit of its endurance”, he said, lamenting the impact on children especially. “Let us not allow the strengthening winds of war to blow on Europe and the Mediterranean. Let us not yield to the logic of weapons and rearming,” he added. The pope proposed a “general exchange of all prisoners between Russia and Ukraine” as the war between the two countries grinds through its third year. Francis also urged world leaders to “spare no efforts in combatting the scourge of human trafficking” to free its victims. Moments before the blessing, Francis passed through the adoring crowd on his “popemobile” as pilgrims shouted “Long live the pope!”, waved flags and strained to take pictures.The pope on Saturday presided over the Easter Vigil at the Vatican in front of some 6,000 people from around the world, a day after his last-minute cancellation at a major Good Friday procession revived questions about his health.He delivered a 10-minute homily in Italian, speaking without any undue difficulty and condemning “the walls of selfishness and indifference” in the world.At the end of the two-and-a-half-hour service he showed little sign of fatigue, taking time to greet and bless some of the worshippers.In a brief statement Friday, the Vatican had said that “to preserve his health ahead of tomorrow’s vigil and the Easter Sunday mass, Pope Francis will this evening follow the Way of the Cross at the Colosseum from the Santa Marta Residence”, where he lives.

Bulgaria and Romania joined Europe’s vast Schengen area of free movement yesterday, opening up travel by air and sea without border checks after a 13-year wait.A veto by Austria however means the new status will not apply to land routes, after Vienna expressed concerns over a potential influx of asylum seekers.Despite the partial membership, the lifting of controls at the two countries’ air and sea borders is of significant symbolic value.“I travel often and this really eases things”, Kristina Markova, 35, said as she readied to fly out of the Sofia airport yesterday morning.“We got to the terminal in less than three minutes, including baggage check,” she said. “It’s a real improvement”.Admission to Schengen is an “important milestone” for Bulgaria and Romania, symbolising a “question of dignity, of belonging to the European Union”, according to foreign policy analyst Stefan Popescu.“Any Romanian who had to walk down a lane separate from other European citizens felt being treated differently,” he told AFP.“This is a great success for both countries, and a historic moment for the Schengen area — the largest area of free movement in the world,” EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement Saturday.“Together, we are building a stronger, more united Europe for all our citizens.”With Bulgaria and Romania, the Schengen zone now comprises 29 members — 25 of the 27 European Union member states as well as Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.Romania’s government said Schengen rules would apply to four sea ports and 17 airports, with the Otopeni airport near the capital Bucharest serving as the biggest hub for Schengen flights.More staff including border police and immigration officers will be deployed to airports to “support passengers and detect those who want to take advantage to leave Romania illegally”, it added.Random checks will also be carried out to catch people with false documents and to combat human trafficking.Bulgaria and Romania both hope to fully integrate into Schengen by the end of the year, but Austria has so far relented only on air and sea routes.Croatia, which joined the EU after Romania and Bulgaria, beat them to becoming Schengen’s 27th member in January 2023.Created in 1985, the Schengen area allows more than 400mn people to travel freely without internal border controls.While some have reason to celebrate, truck drivers, faced with endless queues at the borders with their European neighbours, feel left out.One of Romania’s main road transport unions the UNTRR has called for “urgent measures” to get full Schengen integration, deploring the huge financial losses caused by the long waits.“Romanian hauliers have lost billions of euros every year, just because of long waiting times at borders,” secretary general Radu Dinescu said.According to the union, truckers usually wait eight to 16 hours at the border with Hungary, and from 20 to 30 hours at the Bulgarian border, with peaks of three days. Bulgarian businesses have also voiced their anger over the slow progress.“Only three percent of Bulgarian goods are transported by air and sea, the remaining 97% by land,” said Vasil Velev, president of the Bulgarian Industrial Capital Association (BICA).“So we’re at three percent in Schengen and we don’t know when we’ll be there with the other 97%,” he told AFP.Bucharest and Sofia have both said there will be no going back.“There is no doubt that this process is irreversible,” Romanian Interior Minister Catalin Predoiu said this month, adding it “must be completed by 2024 with the extension to land borders”.

China's online retail sales logged steady growth in the first two months of 2024, data from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce showed.In the period, online retail sales totaled 2.15 trillion yuan (about 303 billion US dollars), up 15.3% year on year, China's (Xinhua) news agency reported citing the ministry's data.Online retail sales of physical goods nationwide rose 14.4 % year on year to 1.82 trillion yuan, contributing 22.4 % to China's total retail sales of consumer goods.

Bulgaria and Romania officially joined Sunday the Schengen Area after a 13-year wait, allowing citizens of the two countries to freely travel by air and sea without border checks, which will keep their land borders closed to them for the time being.The Schengen Area is an area that includes 27 European Union (EU) countries, and it has abolished passport and immigration controls on their common internal borders.Despite this partial accession, which is limited to airports and seaports, the step is of great importance and constitutes a great success for both countries."This is a great success for both countries, and a historic moment for the Schengen area - the largest area of free movement in the world," EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement.Croatia, which joined the EU after Romania (19 million people) and Bulgaria (6.5 million people), members since 2007, has preceded them in this step, joining the Schengen Area in January 2023.With Bulgaria and Romania arriving joining Sunday, the Schengen zone will comprise 29 members - 25 of the 27 European Union member states as well as Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.The Schengen Area began as an intergovernmental project between five countries in 1985, namely Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands, and gradually expanded to become the largest free travel area in the world. In addition to facilitating people's travel freely without internal border controls, the Schengen Agreement greatly benefits the European economy. Schengen is the name of a small village in Luxembourg.

Turkish voters began heading to the polls on Sunday to elect their candidates in the local administration elections, for a term that will last for five years.Voting started at 7:00 am local time and runs through 4:00 pm in 32 eastern states. As for the remaining 49 provinces, voting starts at 8:00 am and closes at 5:00 pm, according to decision of the Supreme Elections Committee.The number of registered voters who are eligible to vote in the local elections is 61,441,882 voters.Voters cast their votes in 206,845 ballot boxes, in addition to 1,000 mobile boxes, distributed throughout the 81 Turkish states.

The Ministry of Emergencies in Kazakhstan announced the evacuation of more than 10,000 people, half of them children, in seven regions, due to floods caused by rapid melting of snow.Kazakhstan news agency (Kazinform) quoted the Ministry as saying in a statement that in the regions of Turkestan, Aktubinsk, Kostanay, West Kazakhstan, Akmola, Ulytau and Abay, 10,587 people were evacuated, including 5,101 children. Additionally, there are 5,497 people in temporary residence centers, including 1,739 children.In this context, Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Olzhas Bektenov said that the current floods in the country are the largest in recent years, as more than 400 residential buildings were flooded in seven regions of the country.